Search

[German version] [1] Goat or nymph, who nourished Zeus as a child (αἴξ aíx). According to the post-Hesiodic myth, Zeus was fed and nourished as a child in the Cretan cave by a goat ( Amalthea) or a nymph by the name of ‘Goat’. Zeus kills her, uses her coat as a shield ( Aegis) in the battle of the Titans and in gratitude sets her among the stars (Eratosth. Catast. 13 Capella; Ant. Lib. 36). The nymph is the mother of Aegipan and Aegocerus (Capricorn, Eratosth. Catast. 27). The representation of the constellation of Ἡνίοχος ( Hēníochos; Auriga) bearing the goat on the shoulder and her two …

[German version] I. Ancient Near East and Egypt The plough (Sumerian APIN, Akkadian epinnu, Egyptian …

[German version] The Archive of Nicanor consists of a group of ostraca found in Coptus (O.Petr. 220-304; O.Bodl. II 1968-1971; O.Brux.Berl. 7; Ostrakon), which are dated between AD 6 and AD 62. These are receipts for transport services provided by the καμηλίτης/ kamēlítēs (O.Petr. 225) Nicanor and his family or partner by camel between Coptus and Myos Hormos and Berenice [9] on the instruction of various people. This was also the route by which trade was carried on between the Roman Empire and Arabia, Africa…

[German version] The two Sasernae, who were probably members of the  gens Hostilia and are described in Columella as pater et filius (Columella 1,1,12), were the authors of a Latin work on agriculture published between 146 and 57 BC; they were considered the earliest Latin agrarian writers after Cato [1] (Columella 1,1,12; Plin. HN 17,199). Columella and Plinius [1] rated their work highly (Columella 1 praef. 32; 1,1,4: “ non spernendus auctor rei rusticae Saserna”; 1,1,12; Plin. HN 17,199: ' peritissimi'). From mentions in Varro, Columella and Pliny it is possible to re…

[German version] The scythe ( falx faenaria; Greek: χορτοδρέπανον/ chortodrépanon) was regarded in Antiquity as a kind of sickle and distinguished from it terminologically only by means of an adjective. Its use remained limited to Italy and the northern and western parts of the ancient world; in Greece, by contrast, it was unknown in Antiquity. Scythes were used for mowing grass and hay (Varro Rust. 1,49,1). Plinius distinguishes a shorter Italian type and a longer Gaulish one (Plin. HN 18,261: “falcium …

[German version] The importance of the stabling of livestock (SOL) in Graeco-Roman Antiquity is currently supposed by scholars to have been rather low, and it is assumed that it was mostly restricted to working animals. As the Homeric epics show, cattle were mostly kept on gr…

[German version] I. The Near East and Egypt (Sumerian udu, sheep, u8, ewe, udu.nita, fat-tailed sheep; Akkadian immeru (culture word) [4]; Egyptian zr ( wp.t). The Near East lies in the natural range of the Asiatic mouflon ( Ovis orientalis), which was apparently used in various locations for the breeding of wool sheep; the earliest examples for this important step [8] come from the area of south-eastern Asia Minor/northern Levant/northern Mesopotamia in the 7th millennium BC [7. 73]. From the 7th/6th millennia BC on, the sheep play…

(* Mgn = ‘(god's) gift’; Greek Μάγων; Mágōn). [German version] [1] Carthaginian king (?), 2nd half 6th cent. BC Carthaginian, leading figure (king?) in the 2nd half of the 6th cent. BC; successor of Malchus [1], efficient promoter of Carthaginian power (Iust. 18,7,19; 19,1,1; [1. 173f.; 2. 475f.]), to whom a great army reform with the goal of the deployment of mer…

[German version] The extent and type of animal husbandry in ancient  agriculture was essentially determined by the availability of fodder, which in turn was dependent on the respective geomorphologic and climatic conditions. Thus, Boeotia was famous in the Homeric period for its meadows rich in green fodder (ποίη/ poíē; Hom. Il. 2,503; H. Hom. 3,243; 4,190); fodder was also available from fallow fields and woodlands; in addition there were pastures (λειμών/ leimṓn; Hom. Il. 2,461-469). Specifically, Homer mentions a type of clover (λωτός/ lṓtós ( lotus) and wild  parsley (σέλινον/ s…

[German version] VG was as significant as the cultivation of grain, wine and olives (Olive oil), the so-called Mediterranean triad, to which in recent times legumes have been added. Its great significance is also evident from the large amount…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt The sickle is a classic harvesting tool with a largely unaltered basic form: a curved blade with its edge on the inside, made of wood, ceramic, copper/bronze or iron. The earliest evidence of sickles in Egypt and the Near East is from the 8th/7th millennia BC: flint or obsidian blades with traces o…

[German version] I. Ancient Near East See horticulture Ruffing, Kai (Münster) [German version] II. Classical Antiquity The cultivation of fruit trees (ἀκρόδρυα/ …

[German version] I Greek (Παλλάδιος; Palládios). [German version] [I 1] Greek rhetor, 4th cent. Greek rhetor of the first half of the 4th cent. AD (Suda s.v.…

(οἶνος/ oînos; Lat. vinum). [German version] I.Egypt and Ancient Near East Archeological finds (excavations, pictorial representations in tombs) as well as Egyptian and Roman texts contain a plethora of information about the growing, production and use of wine in Egypt from the Early Period to the Ptolemaic-Roman Period. Wine (Egyptian jrp; Coptic ērp; Old-Nubian orpj/ē; cf. in Sappho 51 ἔρπις/ érpis [9. 46], probably an old foreign cult word [7. 1169]) was grown primarily in Lower Egypt or the Nile Delta and in the oases, clearly because of the favourab…

[German version] RM ( vallus, carpentum) are known from the descriptions of Pliny (Plin. HN 18,296) and Palladius (Pall. Agric. 7,2,2-4); there are some pictorial depictions on reliefs from the Gallic and Germanic provinces, while the literary sources indicate only Gaul as the area of distribution. The RM consisted of a box fitted with wheels on both shorter sides; the front was open and fitted with a row of…