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[German version] C. Iulius S. Grammarian and compiler of the 3rd (end) or the 4th century AD. Author of the Collectanea rerum memorabilium ('Collections of Curiosities'), dedicated to (Oclatinius ?; cf. [1]) Adventus (not the cos. of 218). The work, which inclines in the first part towards mythical history and in the second towards paradoxography, manifests a 'national' programme in its structure. It begins with a history of Roman origins and follows with a periegesis, starting in Italy, of the oikoumene as a framework for relaying curiosities. This works…

(ἐτυμολογία, literally ‘science of the true meaning of a word’; Latin etymologia). Modern linguistics ([1]; cf. [2]) considers etymology the study of word formation processes [3] and the shifts in sound and meaning in the prehistory of words from which it attempts to gain insight into the relationships of words and languages. By contrast, ancient etymology attempted an interpretative determination of the ‘actual’ meaning (ἔτυμον/ étymon) of (proper) names or words, which did not preclude the correct analysis of a composite or derivative. Etymology was introdu…

[German version] The anonymous Compendium disciplinarum, a short encyclopaedia of 15 small ch., was considered until 1583 (L. Carrio) to be the final part of De die natali by  Censorinus [4], as it joins on smoothly in his MSS, although it is probably garbled at the beginning. Cosmogony, astronomy, geography (Aristotelian-geocentric), geometry and postulates according to  Euclides, music theory (Aristoxian?) and metrics according to the theory of prototypes are treated, overall therefore approximately the quadrivium acco…

[German version] Modern history of literature summarizes the national investigation of the pre-literary past conducted from the 2nd cent. BC to the 3rd cent. AD under the term antiquarian literature and distinguishes sacral, legal, local antiquities (legends of establishment and foundation) as well as genealogical and chronographical (Roman speciality area:   fasti ) constructs, and above all linguistic etiological (etymological) constructs applied by grammar. Specialist and language analysis are brilliantly linked by M. Terentius  Varro and ordered by disciplines (Antiqui…

[German version] A. Systematic Perspective Ancient TL is defined 1. by its object, 2. by its literary form, and 3. by its function. Sallmann, Klaus (Mainz) [German version] 1. Objects TL includes general and specialized presentations of ancient science, arts, and techniques. TL dealing with manual work is seldom transmitted, except, for instance, for the cookbook by Caelius [II 10] Apicius and the works of the Roman Surveyors. Technology is also not represented until late; practical transmission must have been usual. Rhetori…

[German version] C.' liber artis architectonicae (name and title not ascertained until 1871/1879): a vulgarized, individual adaptation of Vitruvius on domestic architecture, survives in MSS of Vitruvius. If it came down via  Gargilius Martialis [1], then it belongs in the middle or [2] at the end of the 3rd cent. AD; C. is quoted in  Palladius and in  Isidorus of Seville. Sallmann, Klaus (Mainz) Bibliography Edition: F. Krohn, Vitruv, 1912, 262-283. Bibliography: 1 M. Wellmann, Palladius und Gargilius Martialis, in: Hermes 43, 1908, 1-31 2 H. Plommer, Vitruvius and later Roma…

[German version] High state official under Domitian, Nerva and Trajan, military and technical specialist author. He probably began as an officer under  Domitius [II 10] Corbulo [1. 150], in AD 70 he was praetor urbanus (Tac. Hist. 4,39), i.e. in a prominent position in the absence of the consuls Titus and Vespasian, in 73 he became cos. suff., then until 77/78 as successor to  Petilius Cerialis governor ( legatus Aug. pr. pr.) in Britannia (Tac. Agr. 17,3), in 83 he campaigned against the Chatti together with Domitian (plans for the Low and Upper German limes? [1…

[German version] (-ter, -trius, -τριος). Roman astrologer, possibly of the 3rd cent. AD (differently in [1]), who, according to Lyd. De ostentis p. 24,5 Wachsmuth, revived the prophetic  astrology and magic of  Petosiris, perhaps as an alternative to the Middle Platonic  demonology. He wrote De cometis (Lyd. Ost. p. 35,8, chs. 11-16; Adnotationes super Lucan. 1,529), and about powers of the underworld such as  Typhon (Serv. Aen. 10,272), the title Catabolica infernalia (according to Fulg. Exp. Verg. p. 86 Helmet) is doubtful.  Astrology Sallmann, Klaus (Mainz) Bibliography 1 E. Ri…

[German version] Following the  Alexander Romance by  Iulius [IV 23] Valerius, Ambrosianus P 49 sup. records an anonymous, abbreviated version ( breviarium, § 3) of the Alexander story under the title Itinerarium Alexandri, which is based on  Arrianus' [2] Anabasis, but also on Iulius Valerius' translation of (Ps.-) Callisthenes and other texts. The text is dedicated to  Constantius II and dated 340 (the emperor died in April) and promises, as an encouragement for the planned Parthian war, also a report of Trajan's Parthian campaign…

[German version] Usually understood as the language used in specialist and technical writing. In ancient prose, strictly speaking the only established genres were oratory and (since Herodotus) historiography. Treatments of the arts and academic subjects were stylistically open, ranging from dry, specialist (esoteric) prose (the texts of Aristotle’s lectures), via highly stylized, mimetic dialogue (exoteric), to ceremonial or artificially didactic poetry. Particular dialects remained typical of som…

[German version] [1] P. Secundus, C. (Pliny the Elder) Roman historian and orator, 1st cent. Roman equestrian [1], cavalry officer, government official, historian, orator, encyplopaedist. Sallmann, Klaus (Mainz) [German version] I. Life P. was born in AD 23/4 in Novum Comum (Gallia Transpadana, modern Como). Under emperor Claudius [III 1], he served as an officer and financial administrator in the provinces ( procurator), simultaneously active as an encyclopaedist and versatile author. Apparently unmarried, he took his widowed sister Plinia and her son C. …

[German version] I. General An encyclopaedia is a work containing the ‘totality of knowledge’ for a whole field or for individual disciplines. The word is derived from Greek   enkýklios paideía (ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία), whose Latin translation orbis doctrinarum is closer to the modern understanding of encyclopaedia. The term is first documented in a letter of AD 1490 to Poliziano [12; 13]. Encyclopaedia and ‘Encyclopaedism’ (cf. French encyclopédisme, Italian enciclopedismo) are modern words and concepts that may be used within certain limits for antiquity (on their …

[German version] [1] C. S. Paullinus A senator, already of praetorian rank in AD 42, thus born AD 11 at the latest (Cass. Dio 60,9). As legate to Claudius [III 1], he founded his reputation as a military commander by penetrating deep into Moorish territory across the Atlas in 42. As Tacitus (Hist. 2,37,1) calls him vetustissimus consularium, his consulate probably dates from before 45. It is uncertain whether he accompanied Claudius to Britannia in 43. Probably in 58 he took over the governorship of Britannia from Q. Veranius [1. 765 f.]. He conquered…

Commonly occurring cognomen (cf. PIR2 2, 145-147). [German version] [1] C. Friend of Ovid, c. 0 AD Friend of Ovid and of Aurelius Cotta Maximus; Ovid consoles Cotta on the death of C. (Pont. 1,9) [1. 90]. Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] [2] C. Eques from Alba Pompeia, c. 100 AD Eques from Alba Pompeia, admitted to the Senate by Trajan (CIL V 7153; PIR2 C 647). Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] [3] C. Conspirator against Antoninus Pius (?), 2nd cent. AD Supposed conspirator against Antoninus Pius; fictitious letter in SHA Avid. Cass. 10,1. (PIR2 C 644). Eck, Werner (Cologne) …

[German version] [1] One of the 30 tyrants Character invented by the author of   Historia Augusta ; one of the so-called 30 tyrants, supposedly usurper under Claudius Gothicus, he was killed after seven days. For vita, SHA Tyr. Trig. 31,12; 32,8-33,6. PIR2 C 656. Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) Bibliography K.-P. Johne, Kaiserbiographie und Senatsaristokratie, 1976, 122-28. [German version] [2] Caelius C., C. High official, 4th cent. AD High official of the time of  Constantinus the Great. He is known only from an inscription from Campania (ILS 1216), where the offi…

[German version] [1] Mentioned in Josephus, Bl. Mentioned in Jos. BI 1,398 as ἡγεμών ( hēgemṓn) of Syria, c. 25-23 BC. Identification uncertain. Most recently [1. 17 f.]. Eck, Werner (Cologne) Bibliography 1 E. Da̧browa, The Governors of Roman Syria, 1998. [German version] [2] V. Terentius, M. (Reatinus) Roman polymath author, 116-27 BC The most important Roman polymath author. M. Terentius Varro: Works     No. (in text)     Title (Latin)     English title or subject    State of preservation1     Edition; Testimonia; Catalogus Hieronymi2 (=  C)     1 (II 5)     Aetia     Ori…

Uncommon Latin praenomen , abbreviation V. The etymology of the name is unknown. Like the identical nomen gentilicium, it derives from the Osco-Umbrian Vībie/o-. Related nomina gentilicia were Vibidius, Vibuleius, Vibulenus. The praenomen and its feminine equivalent Vībia- were loaned into Etruscan as Vipie and Vipia respectively. The nomen gentilicium formed from that, Vipi(e)na, appears in Latinized form as Vibenna . Steinbauer, Dieter (Regensburg) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] V. Curius Prefect of Caesar, to whom troops of L. Manlius [I 18] Torquatu…

Praenomen of Oscan origin, particularly widespread in Upper Italy (cf. S. Gellius [3], S. Abbius Oppianicus); later also occurring as nomen gentile with many variants [1. 37, 237, 469]. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] A Samnite, in 90 BC a leader of the Itali in the Social Wars [3], later (81?) on the Roman side. Proscribed at the age of 80 in 43 BC, he distributed his property and burned himself to death in his empty house (App. B Civ. 4,102). Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) [German version] [I 2] A slave and close friend of Cicero's brother Quintus, from 61 to 59 BC Quintus' pro…

Italian surname (on its Etruscan connection cf. [1. 182f.]). In the 5th and 4th cents. BC we encounter the patrician family of the Lucretii Tricipitini (among others with the rare praenomen Hostus) which later died out; from the 3rd cent. BC onwards several plebeian families are known (Gallus, Ofella, Trio, Vespillo). The most important bearers of the name are Lucretia [2] from early Roman history and the poet L. [III 1]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] L. Prosecutor of M. Livius Drusus [I 5] Claudianus In 54 BC he prosecuted M. Livius Drusus …