Search

[German Version] (Gk Σίβυλλα, Lat. Sibylla), originally probably the proper name of an individual female seer, of whom there is no surviving historical or literary evidence. The etymology of the name is obscure and was already debated in antiquity; cf. Varro in Lact. Inst. I 6.7; Pausanias X 12). The tradition regarding the Sibyl probably originated in the ecstatic movement of late Archaic western Asia Minor, whence it spread with Greek expansion. She is first mentioned by Heraclitus(DK 22, frgm. B 93: “The Sibyl, with frenzied mouth...”…

[German Version] (Lat. triumphus, from the ovation io triumpe) was the most significant Roman victory celebration, closely associated with the cult of Iupiter Optimus Maximus Capitolinus (Jupiter, Capitol). Its Etruscan features – purple garments, ivory scepter topped by an eagle, gold crown (Lat. corona Etrusca) – probably point to an origin in the 6th century bce under the monarchy, but ancient sources do not go back beyond the 1st century bce. A triumph was reserved to a victorious commander holding supreme power (Lat. imperium), usually as dictator, consul, or praetor, who…

[German Version] means “questioning the (souls of the) dead,” from Gk νεκρός, νέκυς/ nekrós, nékys, “dead (person) or corpse,” and μαντεία/ manteía, “oracle”; it is a mantic technique (Divination), practiced almost everywhere in the ancient world (in the ANE, and in Heb., Gk and Rom. traditions). It involves a living human being, sometimes with the help of ritual specialists (Gk ψυχαγωγός/ psychagōgós, “leader [up] of souls,” cf. Circe in Hom. Od. X, 504–540), questioning the deceased, either by calling up their “spirit” (Lat. evocare umbras, see Pliny, Naturalis historia XXX18), …

[German Version] Zosimus, historian and official (Lat. comes, exadvocatus fisci; see Phot. Bibl. 98) in Late Antiquity. An avowed ¶ adherent of the pagan cults, Zosimus wrote a “new history” in six books in Greek (ἱστορία νέα/ historía néa), probably between 498 and 518 ce. After a general historical introduction, it covers the imperial period down to Diocletian, describing in greater detail (with a gap between 282 and 305) the years immediately preceding the capture of Rome in 410, where it breaks off (probably unfinished). His principal…

[German Version] The Greek adjective ὀλύμπιος/ olýmpios (from Olympus as the gods’ dwelling and assembly place) denotes those gods “who have their houses there” (Gk ὀλύμπια δώματ᾿ ἐχοντες/ olýmpia dṓmat’ échontes, Hom. Il. I 18), hence Greek ὀλύμπιοι ϑεοί/ olýmpioi theoí; different from the Titans, but not distinct in kind: rather, in the sense of “all gods,” namely Zeus, Hera, Poseidon (although he lived in the sea), Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaistos, Hermes, and also Eris, Dione, the Muses, the Graces, and abstractions such as Himeros (yearning). The Greek adjective χϑόνιος/ cht…

[German Version] I. Greco-Roman Sibylline Material The Sibylline oracles of antiquity were oracles ascribed to Sibyl, always in Greek hexameters (Pseudepigraphy); the earliest date from the 5th century bce. Two corpora need to be distinguished: (1) the Sibylline Oracles (Gk οἱ Σιβύλλης χρησμοί/ hoi Sibýllēs chrēsmoí, “the oracles of Sibyl,” or τὰ Σιβύλλεια/ tá Sibýlleia, “the sibylline material”) and οἱ χρησμοὶ Σιβυλλιακοί/ hoi chrēsmoí Sibylliakoí, Lat. oraculaSibyllina), a primarily Judeo-Christian collection (see II and III below); and (2) the Sibylline Boo…

[German Version] (Gaius Sallustius Crispus; 86 – probably 35 bce), Roman politician and historian, tribune of the people in 52 bce. In the Civil War he backed Julius Caesar; in 46 he served as praetor and was appointed governor of Africa. After Caesar’s death he was active only as a historian. He wrote political monographs on his own period ( Coniuratio Catilinae, 64–62) and the recent Roman past ( Bellum Iugurthinum, 111–105) as well as a chronicle ( Historiae, 78–67), which remained unfinished and has survived only in fragments (primarily excerpted letters and speeches)…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies 1. The Greek Φύσις/ Phýsis is an abstract personification and an effective divine power. It is not restricted to any particular area of responsibility, and has no cult of its own or special iconography, with two exceptions: the votive relief of Archelaus of Priene (so-called “Apotheosis of Homer,” c. 120–130 bce), and the mosaic of Merida (2nd cent. ce; natura is between heaven, the sea, the Euphrates, the Nile, Tellus etc.). 2. In pre-Socratic natural philosophy (see also Nature), Physis may be personified and thought of as divine power (…