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[German version] I. Italo-Roman An o ppidum (plural oppida) was originally the fortress of an Italian tribe, the principal settlement of a civitas (A.) or pagus , which was fortified with earthworks. The aborigines lived in the mountains "without walls in villages and scattered" (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,9,2). Oenotrus, a mythical founder of cities, colonized small towns ( póleis mikrás, Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,12,1) in the mountains - namely oppida. Cato [1] knew of 34 oppida among the gentes of the Euganei (Plin. HN 3,133). Remains of such fortified oppida have been discovered in the m…

(κόσμοι; kósmoi). [German version] [1] Official in Cretan cities Name of the highest official in Cretan poleis, before the 3rd cent. BC, also attested as ho kósmos (singular) or hoi kosmíontes (plural). Kosmoi had political and military leadership functions in addition to their representative and judicial duties. The department of the kosmoi could include up to 10 officials and a ‘leader’ ( startagétas = stratēgós; later prōtókosmos). It made political decisions and was subject to the control of the people. If they performed their office well, the kosmoi could be elected to the co…

(Φιλοκλῆς; Philoklês). [German version] [1] Athenian demagogue Athenian demagogue, elected to the office of stratēgós in 406/5 BC and dispatched with the fleet to Conon [1] at Samos, both of whom thereupon were in command of the fleet in the Hellespont. Re-elected as a stratēgós, and subsequently partially to blame for the defeat in 405 BC at Aigos Potamos, P. was captured and executed by Lysander [1] for having had the crews of two captured Spartan triremes thrown into the sea (Xen. Hell. 1,7,1; 2,1,32f.; Diod. Sic. 13,104,1f.; Paus. 9, 32,9; Plut. Lysander 13,1f.; Plut. Sulla 42,8). Schmi…

(Πάμφιλος; Pámphilos). [German version] [1] Athenian soldier, 4th cent. BC Athenian hípparchos and stratēgós. In 389 BC, he erected a permanent emplacement on Aegina and besieged the island, but had to be relieved after five months, himself besieged by the Spartan Gorgopas. Convicted of embezzlement and fined heavily at Athens, P. still owed the city five talents at his death after having sold his estates (Lys. 15,5; Xen. Hell. 5,1,2; Aristoph. Plut. 174; 385; Plat. fr. 14 PCG; Dem. Or. 39,2; 40,20 and 22). Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) Volkmann, Hans (Cologne) Bibliography Davies, 36…

(Ἀρχίας; Archías). [German version] [1] Corinthian, founder of Syracuse 733 BC Son of Euagetes of Corinth, probably belonging to the family of the  Bacchiadae. He left Corinth following a serious dispute, and, on the instruction of the Delphian oracle, led colonists to lower Italy. In about 733 BC, he founded  Syracusae in Sicily (Thuc. 6,3,2; Str. 6,2,4; Plut. Mor. 772e-773b).  Colonization Stein-Hölkeskamp, Elke (Cologne) Bibliography W. Leschhorn, Gründer der Stadt, 1984, 13-16 H.-P. Drögemüller, s. v. Syrakus, RE Suppl. 13, 817-819. [German version] [2] Politician from C…

(Λέων; Léōn). Cf. also Leo. Byzantine emperor Leo [4-9]. Sicilian place name L. [13]. [German version] [1] Spartan king, 6th cent. BC Spartan king, Agiad ( Agiads), grandfather of Cleomenes [3] I (Hdt. 5,39); is said to have been successful in war together with his fellow king Agasicles in the early 6th cent. BC, but to have been defeated by Tegea (Hdt. 1,65). Sparta is said to have already achieved eunomía (‘good order’) before his time [1. 45ff.]. Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) Bibliography 1 M. Meier, Aristokraten und Damoden, 1998. [German version] [2] Tyrant of Phlius, 6th cent. BC Tyran…