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[German version] The rebellious movement of the Circumcelliones (according to Augustine, from circum cellas vagare ) spread in Numidia around AD 340 in the region of the Donatist Church [1]. The Circumcelliones, about whom reports first appeared around 320, were poor field workers, mainly day labourers, who had given up their work and who were initially also joined by small landowners ruined by debt. Apart from financial problems around 340, the main reason for the movement's existence from 345 onwards was th…

(βάκχος; bákchos). [German version] I. Greece [German version] A. Mystes Βάκχος, βακχεύειν [1] ( Bákchos/bakcheúein) and related words refer to a type of raving (μανία, manía) predominantly expressed in the Dionysus cult ([1] where we also find a discussion about the word's origin; Hdt. 4,79). This essential characteristic of a Bacchus/Baccha was taken as a sign that he or she was possessed by the god (ἔνθεος, éntheos). The Bacchus/Baccha usually wore a thyrsus (or bakchos see below) and the skin of a deer (νεβρίς, nebrís). Although the thyrsus was seen as a particularly obviou…

[German version] 1. A. Etymological and conceptual history The term A. as a name for the continent has got a long and ramified history. The term A. (see 3 below) could only be used by the Romans as a description of the continent of A., when the ‘area’ described by the Latin term A. had come to coincide at least in parts with that described by the Greek term Λιβύη ( Libýē) -- but, at the earliest, this happened in the 2nd half of the 3rd cent. BC, i.e. because of the related concepts of ‘Northern A.’ or ‘Punic A.’. Indirectly, via the ‘partial term’, the ‘full ter…

[German version] [1] King of the Istri, defeated cos. A. Manlius Vulso in 178 AD Name (probably Roman nickname ‘the feaster’) of the king of the Istri ( rex E. Enn. Ann. 408 SK.; rex Aepulo Liv. 41,11,1, Apulo Flor. 1,26 [1]). In 178 he defeated consul A.  Manlius Vulso (MRR 1,395), but was ejected again from the captured Roman camp, where the victors were enjoying their supplies ( rex accubans epulari coepit, Liv. 41,2,12; 41,4,7). In 177 he was besieged in Nesactium, and killed himself after the capture of the city (41,11,6; a different account in Flor. 1,26). E. …

[German version] An otherwise unknown female deity to whom the   Arvales fratres devoted the sacrifice of the month of May; nothing is known about the connection of the Dea Dia (DD) with a Dia from Amiternum (CIL I2 2, 1546) and the Greek Dia. Her name derives from the adjective dius and is connected with the space of heaven, probably the ‘good light of heaven’. The thesis that DD is an indigitation ( Indigitamenta) of Tellus or of Ceres cannot be maintained. Scheid, John (Paris) Bibliography R. Schilling, Rites, cultes, dieux de Rome, 1979, 366-370.

[German version] [1] Servants of the cult of the Genius Augusti The Augustales, in a few civitates also called seviri Augustales or magistri Augustales (therefore today all usually designated Augustales), were employed from 12 BC onwards in most coloniae and municipia in the western part of the empire to ensure the care of the cult of the  Genius Augusti,  Numen Augusti and  Lares Augusti. Their office is comparable to the urban Roman vicomagistri and is, like it, a reasonably low one. The largest section of the Augustales were freedmen, but ingenui were also documented among them. A…

[German version] is god of the harvest of the grain crop. His name is derived from condere (‘harvest’). His festival was the   Consualia , his underground altar was in the valley of the Circus, south of the foot of the Palatine. The C. inscription transmitted by Tertullian (De spectaculis 5,7) can hardly have come from this altar and does not seem very old. Goddesses involved in protecting the grain crop (Seia, Segetia, Tutilina) were also venerated at the same location. In 272 BC, after his triumph …

[German version] A. Cult The Roman fraternity of the Arvales fratres (AF) consisted of twelve priests of senatorial rank who were co-opted to their office for life. At the head of the collegium was a magister elected annually, who each year was aided by a flamen. It appears from their names (Varro, Ling. 5,85) as well as from the rites carried out by them that the duties of the AF were connected to the fertility of the fields They celebrated the cult of the  Dea Dia and maintained her grove which was situated about 7-8 km west of Rome and …

I. History of the Concept and its Subsequent Influence [German version] A. Concept Human sacrifice (HS) is a form of killing considered lawful, similar to killing in pursuit of war, capital punishment, or a blood feud. It is, however, limited to the performance of offering rites that (a) are universally accepted in the respective religion and culture and (b) are conducted in a fashion similar to the sacrificial killing of other creatures. Killing in the context of other lawful rituals, such as the cult of the dead ( Gladiator) or the   devotio in battle, does …

[German version] The two festivals ( feriae) of the  Consus, the C., fell on 21 August and 15 December. On 21 August a form of harvest festival was celebrated: the flamen Quirinalis and the Vestals sacrificed first crops from the harvest at the underground altar of the Consus. Then the priests organized games with draught horses and mules; pastoral games are also mentioned (the rape of the Sabines is said to have taken place during these games). We know nothing of the second festival; probably the grain stores were ritually opened up on that day. Scheid, John (Paris) Bibliography Dumézil, 168 L…

[German version] A. Name The name Dĭāna (in older documents sometimes scanned as Dīāna) is derived from dĭus, ‘light as day, shining’; D. is the ‘bright one’. Varro's derivation of the name from Diviana (Ling. 5,68) or Deviana (GRF 226, no. 103) is only of aetiological value. Scheid, John (Paris) [German version] B. Functions Little is known about the original nature of the Italian D. As with all of the goddess' other characteristics, her name is laden with Hellenizing interpretations such that one can hardly approach the original form of Diana. D.…