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[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Byzantium | Peloponnesian War | Persian Wars | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) (Μήθυμνα; Mḗthymna). City on the north coast of the island of Lesbos, formerly Molivos, today again officially M., on a hill jutting into the sea. M. was one of the five póleis of Lesbos (Hdt. 1,151; Strab. 13,2,2) with a considerable amount of territory after the subjugation of Arisbe ( c. 600 BC). The ancient history of M. was dominated by continual rivalry with Mytilene. M. was involved in the founding of Assus in Asia Minor (Strab.…

[German version] (Πεδιῆς; Pediês). Deme of Lindos on Rhodes, possibly on the coastal plain to the north of Lindos [1. 747]. It had its own tribute payment in the Delian League (between 2000 drachmas and 1 talent: ATL 1, 370f.). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography 1 F.Hiller von Gärtringen, s.v. Rhodos, RE Suppl. 5, 731-840. Id., Die Demen der rhodischen Städte, in: MDAI(A) 42, 1917, 171-184.

[German version] (Καίρατος; Kaíratos). River on Crete. On its western bank lies  Cnossus, occasionally also referred to as C. (Str. 10,4,8; Callim. H. 3,44; Eust. in Dionys. Per. 498). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography M. S. F. Hood, D. Smyth, Archaeological Survey of the Knossos Area, 21981.

[German version] Area in Bruttium. The only reference was found on an epigraphical copy of the Senatus Consultum deBacchanalibus from 186 BC, containing instructions for the local administration (CIL I2 581,30 in agro Teurano; cf. ILLRP 2, 511). Judging by where the bronze tablet was found (Tiriolo), the Ager Teuranus should be localized in the vicinity thereof.  Bacchanalia Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography Nissen 2, 945.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Dark Ages | Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Persian Wars | Delian League (Ἰάλυσος; Iálysos). City on the north coast of the island of Rhodes; with  Lindus and  Camirus one of the three ancient cities of Rhodes. Situated c. 15 km south-west of Rhodes city, on the western slope of the 267 m-high mountain Filerimos (ancient name Achaía, Diod. Sic. 5,57,6; Ath. 8,360e), which functions as the acropolis of I. Settlement and necropolis from the Mycenaean period at the present-day village of Trianda. …

[German version] (Μάταλον; Mátalon). Town on the Southern coast of Crete (Strab. 10,4,11; Stadiasmus maris magni 323), originally the harbour for Phaestus (Pol. 4,55,6), later for Gortyn; now called Matala. According to one myth, this is where Zeus made landfall after abducting Europa. Only a few classical remains from the Roman period. Some early Christian cliff graves on the northern side of the bay, now partly below sea-level. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography H. Buhmann, s.v. Matala, in: Lauffer, Griechenland, 410 I. F. Sanders, Roman Crete, 1982, 161.

[German version] City in the area of the  Hernici (Plin. HN 3,63), today Alatri. Like Ferentinum and Verulae, A. did not participate in 307-306 BC in the war of the Hernici against Rome (Liv. 9,42,11) and was therefore rewarded like them with autonomy and   conubium (Liv. 9,43,23). A few structural ruins, i.a. an aqueduct and wall. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography Nissen 2, 654.

[German version] Region in northern  Campania (Plin. HN 14,62) between Mons Masicus and Volturnus, known particularly for its wines (Plin. HN 23,24). From 340 BC under Roman control (land distribution to Roman settlers: Liv. 8,11,13 f. 12,12). Pillaged by Carthaginians in the war against Hannibal (Liv. 22,13,9). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography Nissen 2, 689 f.

[German version] (from Arabic ṣaḥrā, 'desert'; cf. Hdt. 2,32: τὰ ἐρῆμα τῆς Λιβύης/ tà erêma tês Libýēs, 'the desert region of Libya'; Mela 1,50: deserta Africae). The indigenous people today call only individual parts of the S. by their own name. The largest desert on earth, situated in North Africa, with an expanse from the Atlantic in the west to the Red Sea in the east ( c. 6000 km; c. 8 million km2). The S. underwent several cyclical climatic changes (Climate) in prehistoric times that shaped the vegetation and the natural profile; the last of these changes in…

[German version] Main settlement of the Illyrian Iapodes, now Cakovac near Ogulin (in modern Croatia). It was destroyed in 35 BC by the future Augustus (App. Ill. 19-21; Cass. Dio 49,35,2-4). In the Roman period, M. had the status of a municipium (CIL III 10060). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography J. J. Wilkes, Dalmatia, 1969.

[German version] From a historio-geographical perspective, the term landscape carries several basic implications and connotations. Generally speaking, it can designate a space where historically relevant events have taken place. It is then attributed the quality of a historical source, to be interpreted in a variety of ways. Of further interest is the reciprocal relationship between man and landscape in terms such as: how did man perceive, design, and change the landscape? And how, on the other ha…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Dark Ages | Crete (Ὀλοῦς; Oloûs). Dorian port on the northern coast of Crete, on the western part of the bay of Mirabello on the isthmus of the Spinalonga peninsula, modern Elounda. But for a basilica with splendid mosaics from the 5th cent. AD, the remains of O. are under water. In the Hellenistic period, a considerable prosperity developed in O., due not least to its double harbour, with correspondingly growing political significance. The history …

[German version] (Greek: Σαμ(μ)ώνιον/ Sam(m)ṓnion). Promontory on the northeastern tip of Crete, modern Kavo Sidero. Strong winds often prevented seafarers from rounding the cape. S. served ancient authors as a fixed point of reference for geographical information and the communication of distances between the islands of the Aegean Sea (cf. Str. 2,4,3; 10,3,20; 10,4,2 f.; 10,4,5; 10,4,12; 10,5,18; Dionys. Per. 110; Mela 2,112; Plin. HN 4,58; 60 f.; 71: promunturium Samonium; Ptol. 3,17,5; Stadiasmus maris magni 318 f.; 355; Acts 27:7: Σαλμώνη/ Salmṓnē in connection with the…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Delian League | Athenian League (Second) (Ἄντισσα; Ántissa). Harbour town in the north-west of  Lesbos, c. 9 km north-east of the modern Antissa, settled from the 14th cent. BC. A. was a member of the  Delian League, and participated in the secession of Lesbian towns on the initiative of  Mytilene (Thuc. 3,18. 28). It was a member of the Second Athenian Confederacy. In 167 BC, it was destroyed by the Romans, and its population resettled in  Methymna (Liv. 45,31,14; Plin. HN 5,139). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography R. …

[German version] River, also known as Eurotas (Pol. 8,35,8), 40 stades (Pol. loc. cit.) or 5 miles (Liv. 25,11,8) from Tarentum. In 212 BC, Hannibal built a camp on its banks. Mentioned in Virgil (Georg. 4,12,6), Horace (Carm. 2,6,10), and Propertius (2,34,67). Its water is praised as particularly suited for the washing of wool (Mart. 2,43,3; 4,28,3; 5,37,2; 8,28,3; 12,63,6; Stat. Silv. 3,3,93). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography Nissen 2, 870.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete | Education / Culture (Ἀπτάρα, Ἀπτέρα; Aptára, Aptéra). Port in the north-west of  Crete on a 230 m high plateau, today Aptara; on coins and in inscriptions Aptara, in literature Aptera (ancient explanation of the name: Steph. Byz. s. v. A.; Paus. 10,5,10). Signs of settlement from the 2nd millennium BC. Frequently involved in interstate politics in early Hellenistic times. In 220 BC under pressure from  Polyrrhenia A. terminated its alliance with  Knossos (Pol. 4,55,4). There is evidence of a   symmachia …

[German version] Roman castellum in Dalmatia on the Salona - Narona road (Plin. HN 3,142: N.; Nerate: other MS traditions; Geogr. Rav. 4,16: Netrate; 5,14: Nerente), modern Jesenice east of Split/Croatia. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography A. Mayer, Die Sprache der alten Illyrier, 1957, 240f.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Social Wars | Socii (Roman confederation) | Theatre | Tribus | | Coloniae | Coloniae | Italy, languages | Latini, Latium | Oracles | Regio, regiones Harbour town in southern Latium, modern Anzio. According to first treaty between Rome and Carthage, dated by Polybius back to 508/507 BC [1], this town, rich in tradition (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,32), was at that time under Roman control (Pol. 3,22,11). Soon after, A. came under the influence of the  Volsci, and was thus inv…

[German version] Region in  Latium between   mons Albanus and the coast of the mare Tyrrhenum. Its name is derived from the town of Pometia (Cic. Rep. 2,44; Liv. 2,16,8; 17,5 f.; 25,6; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 4,50; 6,29), which it has not been possible to localize. Probably towards the end of the 6th cent. BC, the ager Pomptinus (AP) came into the possession of the neighbouring  Volsci. Rome's reaction to this was -- supposedly as early as 492 BC -- the foundation of the colony of  Norba (Liv. 2,34,6; Dion. Hal. …

[German version] (Ῥύτιον/ Rhýtion). City in southern central Crete (Plin. HN 4,59), today's Rhotasi. Traces of settlements from late Minoan to Venetian periods. First literary mention at Hom. Il. 2,648 (reference to its being well populated). Rhytium was important beyond its borders as a cultic site for Zeus Skylios [1. 141]. Politically, R. was dependant on Gortyn  (Str. 10,4,14). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography 1 H. Verbruggen, Le Zeus crétois, 1981. H. Beister, s. v. Pyrgos, in: Lauffer, Griechenland, 580  M. Guarducci, Inscriptiones Creticae 1, 1935, 303 f.  I. F.…

[German version] (Μαραθήσιον; Marathḗsion). Town on the west coast of Asia Minor (ruins at the Ambar Tepe [1]); after an exchange with Samos, it belonged to the territory of Ephesus (Scyl. 98; Steph. Byz. s.v. Μ.; Plin. HN. 5,114). From 478/7 BC it was a member of the Delian League (ATL 1,336f.; 515; 2,80; 3,204; 307). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography R. Meriç et al (Ed.) IK 17,1, 1981, 111 (with inscriptions 3112-3114), 100 (map). Magie 2, 886.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Aegean Koine (Λεβήνα; Lebḗna). City on the southern coast of Crete (Str. 10,4,12; Plin. HN 4,59) near the modern village of Lendas. Older form of the name: Λεβήν/ Lebḗn. There is evidence that it was already settled in the Minoan period. Initially important as the harbour for Gortyn, L. became a religious centre from the 4th cent. BC onwards because of its sanctuary of Asclepius founded at a healing spring (the visible remains of the temple as well as the stoa and nympha…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete (Ἔλυρος; Élyros). Extensive urban settlement in south-western Crete (Steph. Byz. s.v. E.) near Rodovani east of Kandans. Archaeological data: some Roman ruins (town walls, theatre, aqueduct). Syia was Elyrus' port (Steph. Byz. s.v.). It is possible that E. belonged to the koinon of the western Cretan Oreioi, who probably entered an alliance with Magas of Cyrene between 280 and 250 BC [1. 1; 2. 468]; from 183 BC, it was part of the alliance of thirty-one Cretan cities with Eumenes…

[German version] (Κεραία; Κεραῖαι; Keraía, Keraîai). Town on Crete in the north-west of the island, of undetermined location between Lappa and Polyrrhenia (Steph. Byz. s.v. Βήνη). In the Lyttian War (220 v.Chr.), C. -- together with other Cretan towns -- seceded from Cnossus and Gortyn (Pol. 4,53,6). In 183 BC, it was one of the Cretan towns to enter an alliance with Eumenes II of Pergamum [1. 179]. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography 1 M. Guarducci (ed.), Inscriptiones Creticae IV, 1950.

[German version] (Λευκὰ ὄρη; Leukà órē). The ‘white mountains’ in western Crete, up to 2,482 m high (Str. 10,4,4). Uncultivated and inaccessible with a remarkable stand of cypress trees (Plin. HN 16,142; cf. Theophr. Hist. pl. 4,1,3), in Plin. HN 31,43 also mentioned in connection with the search for sources. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography J. Bowman, Kreta, 1965, 271ff. P. Faure, Noms de montagnes crétoises, in: L'Association G. Budé. Lettres d'humanités 24, 1965, 426-446.

[German version] Linguistically, a forest in Latin (Serv. Aen. 1,310) is differentiated according to the degree of human cultivation ( silva, nemus,   saltus ) and the associated religious sphere ( lucus,  ‘Grove’). On one hand, forests caused fear and discomfort (Cic. Nat. D. 2,6; Plin. HN 12,3), on the other hand they were valued as places of (even productive) rest and recuperation (Plin. Ep. 1,6,2; 9,10,2; Tac. Dial. 9,6; 12,1). Forests received an extremely negative connotation among Romans in the context of the military …

[German version] (Ἅληξ; Hálēx). River in southern Bruttium, modern Alice. According to Timaeus (FGrH 566 F 43b) and Strabo (6,1,9) the border river between Rhegium and Locri (Paus. 6,6,4, however, says Caecinus). In the Peloponnesian War (426 BC) scene of an Athenian expedition against Locri (Thuc. 3,99). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography Nissen 2, 955.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete (Λισος; Lisos in inscriptions, Λισ(σ)ός; Lis(s)ós in literature; cf. Λίσσα; Líssa, Scyl. 47; Ptol. 3,15,3; Tab. Peut. 8,5). City on the south-western coast of Crete, to the west of modern Sougia, in a position protected by mountains and only open to the sea. From the late 4th cent. BC, L. with Elyrus, Hyrtacina and Tarrha formed the koinón of the oreíoi (‘mountain dwellers’). The city was occupied from the Classical to the Byzantine periods. Of supraregional importance was the Asclepium with the me…

[German version] (Δίκτη; Díktē). Mountain in Crete, not identifiable with certainty. In particular Str. 10,4,12 indicates that in antiquity, D. was not in the Lassithi Hills as today, but rather designated the Modi ridge (539 m) on the eastern tip of Crete and that this was the birthplace of Zeus (cf. Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2,61; Diod. Sic. 5,70,6; Ath. 9,375f.). At the Minoan town of Palaikastro there was a sanctuary of Zeus Diktaios. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography P. Faure, Nouvelles recherches de spéléologie et de topographie crétoises, in: BCH 84, 1960, 189-220 E. Meyer,…

[German version] Town of the Histri, probably modern Medulin (Croatia) in southern Histria. Like Faveria, it was conquered by the Romans in 177 BC (Liv. 41,11,8). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography V.Vedaldi Iasbez, La Venetia Orientale e l'Histria, 1994, 354f.

This item can be found on the following maps: Byzantium | Peloponnesian War | Persian Wars | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Education / Culture (Μυτιλήνη; Mytilḗnē). [German version] A. Geography City in the southeast of the island of Lesbos, of great political, economic and cultural signficance throughout antiquity. M. owed its prominent position not least to its favourable topographical situation. The earliest settlement, founded by Aeolians in about 1200 BC, was on the modern Kastro Hill and was separated by an a…

This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Theatre | Ionic | Natural catastrophes | Peloponnesian War | Pergamum | Persian Wars | Phoenicians, Poeni | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (ἡ Σάμος/ hē Sámos, Lat. also Samus). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) [German version] I. Geography Island in the southeastern Aegean Sea, only c. 2 km from the mainland of Asia Minor (at Mycale); connected in prehistoric times; total area 476 km2. The island is crossed by a chain of mountains (Ampelus according to …

(Πάρος; Páros). Island in the Cyclades (195 km2, 22 km long, 16 km wide), west of Naxos [1], south-west of it is the island Antiparos. [German version] I. Geography and early settlement history The landscape is shaped by Mt.Marpessa [2] (modern Prophitis Ilias) - heavily forested in Antiquity, today largely bare - with a height of up to 771 m. The foothills of the mountain stretch to the fertile coasts. Already settled in the Neolithic, P. developed into a significant site of the Cycladic culture. Important find spots are Na…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Aegean Koine (Ἀμνισός; Amnisós). Harbour settlement, belonging to  Knosos during the Minoan period (Epineion: Str. 10,4,7), situated on the northern coast of  Crete, 8 km east of  Heracleum on the river A. (modern Karteros); remains of the Minoan town structure (i. a. ‘Villa of the Lilies’); its name is listed on the place name register of Amenophis III [1. 67 ff.] and in the clay tablet archives of Cnossus; it was f…

[German version] City in  Latium on the   mons Albanus near modern Castel Gandolfo. According to legendary documents making every effort to ensure the connection of Rome with Troy, founded by  Aeneas' [1] son  Ascanius (in the Roman version also Iulus, Verg. Aen. 1,267, or Iullus, Cato HRR fr. 9). An early position of supremacy in Latium is probable. Most likely already in the 7th cent. BC, Alba Longa (AL) was incorporated by Etruscan-dominated Rome. Tradition has ascribed this to King Tullus Hostilius (Liv. 1,29; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,31,3-6). The population was relocated to Rome, the mon…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete (Λατώ; Latṓ). City in the east of Crete, situated in an isolated mountain area at a height of c. 400 m, with a good view of the coast, 15 km away from modern Agios Nikolaos. Already settled in the Minoan period but then deserted by the inhabitants. In the 8th cent. BC, Doric re-establishment and then in the ancient and classical period one of the most prominent towns on the island. Numerous inscriptions document the engagement of L. in international politic…

[German version] Name of two road stations in Italy: one on the Via Aemilia Scauri near Populonia (Tab. Peut. 4,2; Geogr. Rav. 4,32; It. Ant. 292,4) and the other on the road from Siena to Chiusi (Tab. Peut. 4,4; Geogr. Rav. 4,36; Ptol. 3,1,49). Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart)

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete (Πραισός/ Praisós). City in eastern Crete (Scyl. 47) on the peninsula of Sitia, near the modern village of Nea Praisos (Vaveli) between three acropoleis. The location was already settled in the Neolithic Period (cult site in a cave to the north west of the town). Numerous remains from the Minoan and Mycenaean periods survive (megalithic building in the south; tholos tombs in the necropolis north of the town, in use from the 15th-2nd cents. …

[German version] There is no Greek or Latin term to be found in ancient literature corresponding to the modern 'volcano'; nevertheless, individual volcanic phenomena are identified, such as lava-flow: Greek ῥύαξ/ rhýax (< ῥέω/ rhéō, 'to flow'; cf. also Theophrastus's Perì rhýakos toû en Sikelíai mentioned in Diog. Laert. 5,49), Lat. Vulcanius amnis ('Vulcanic stream', Claud. Rapt. Pros. 172; from Latin Vulcanius, 'pertaining to Vulcan and his works'), saxa liquefacta 'liquified rocks' (Verg. Aen. 3,576) or massa ardens 'blazing mass' (Iuv. 10,130). For the Roman god see Volcanus. I…

[German version] Town in Liburnia (Tab. Peut. 5,4; ILS 1989), modern-day Nadin/Croatia, on the road from Iader to  Burnum. The Roman town was built in the time of Augustus on an earlier indigenous settlement. As a Roman colonia and as municipium to the tribus Claudia, N. was part of the regio X of Italy (Plin. HN. 3,130).There is documentary evidence for the following officials: II viri, aediles and an officialis Naeditarum (CIL III 2860-2876). The town's aristocracy came from the indigenous families. The preservation of social structures and cultic observances i…

[German version] In Roman tradition the name given to the earliest inhabitants of  Latium (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,10; Lydus, Mag. 1,10). The etymology of the name is uncertain: Lycoph. 1253 hints at a derivation from Βορείγονοι ( Boreígonoi;  Aeneas [1] was prophesied that he would settle ἐν τόποις Βορειγόνων; en tópois Boreigónōn); others -- on the presumption that the A. pursued a nomadic way of life -- formulate an onomastic development from Aberrigenes ( aberrare) to A. (Paul. Fest. 19; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,10; Auctor de origine gentis Romanae 4,2). The origin of the A. is equa…

[German version] (Μόχλος). Small island  situated on the north-east coast of Crete and south-east of the Gulf of Mirabello. In Antiquity the island was probably connected to the mainland by an isthmus. Costly finds from the Minoan necropolis indicate considerable prosperity. Mochlos was also important in Roman (remains of walls and towers) and Byzantine times. Roman containers for holding fish lie beneath the surface of the water close to the mainland. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography H. Beister, s.v. M., in: Lauffer, Griechenland, 439  J.W. Myers et al., Aerial Atlas …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Persian Wars | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Education / Culture (Ἔρεσος; Éresos). City on the west coast of Lesbos (Str. 13,2,4; Plin. HN 5,139; Ptol. 5,2,29; Mela 2,101), 4 km south of today's town of Eresos near Skala Eresou. Few archaeological remains: ring wall of the acropolis, port facilities from the 5th/4th cents. BC, relics of the Hellenistic city wall, Roman cisterns; early Christian churches from the 5th cent., i.a. a basilica of St.…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Crete (Πολυρρηνία/ Polyrrhēnía). City in north-western Crete (Ptol. 3,17,10; Str. 10,4,13; Scyl. 47: Πολύρρηνα/ Polýrrhēna; Plin. HN 4,59: Polyrhenum) south of the Bay of Kissamos in an exposed position on a steep hill on the site of a village still called P. today. P. is one of the oldest Doric settlements in Crete (the place name is pre-Greek with its own dialect [1]). At the beginning of the 3rd cent. BC, P., through the mediation of Sparta, entered into an a…

(Ἀμύκλαι; Amýklai). [German version] [1] Pre-Greek settlement This item can be found on the following maps: Sparta | Dark Ages | Aegean Koine Pre-Greek settlement on and at the foot of the hills bearing the chapel of Agia Kyriaki, inhabited from the early Helladic to the imperial Roman period (Paus. 3,18,6-19,6; IG V 1, 515), c. 5 km south of  Sparta near the modern Tsausi. In historical times, it was a ὠβή ( ōbḗ) of Sparta with its own ephors and other officials (cf. Syll.3 932). The region seems to have reached its peak in the 7th/6th cent. BC. From the late Mycenaean period, it housed a sa…

This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Theatre | Byzantium | Commerce | Hellenistic states | Asia Minor | Colonization | Natural catastrophes | Peloponnesian War | Pergamum | Pompeius | Rome | Rome | Athletes | Athenian League (Second) | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture (Ῥόδος; Rhódos). [German version] I. Geography Island in the southeastern Aegean Sea, off the southwestern coast of Asia Minor, now part of the Dodecanese archipelago, with an area of 1400 km2. A good part of the ancient history of the island was shaped by its geographical situ…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Christianity | Dark Ages | Grain Trade, Grain Import | Hellenistic states | Hellenistic states | Crete | Apollo | Limes | Macedonia, Macedones | Pompeius | Rome | Rome | Education / Culture [German version] I. Location One of the biggest and most important cities of Crete, in the Mesara plain on the river Lethaeus, between the villages of Agi Deka and Mitropolis, 16 km (Str. 10,4,7: 90 stadia) from the Libyan Sea, also transmitted as Gortyna and Gortyne. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) [German version] II. Historical development The earli…

(Νάπη/ Nápē, ‘wooded gorge, valley’). [German version] [1] Settlement on Lesbos Settlement on Lesbos, in the territory of Methymna, with a temple of Apollo Napaios (Str. 9,4,5; Steph. Byz. s.v. N.). N. cannot be precisely located. The temple, however, may have been the cultic site to the west of the modern village of Napi in the district of Klopedi. Sonnabend, Holger (Stuttgart) Bibliography H.-G. Buchholz, Methymna: Archäologische Beiträge zur Geschichte und Topographie von Nordlesbos, 1966, 206f.  W. Günther, s.v. N., in: Lauffer, Griechenland, 454f. [German version] [2] In Att…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt Forcible deportations of combatants and civilians during wars were common practice (though on varying scales) in many periods of the history of the Ancient Orient and Egypt. Deportations had a dual purpose: they made possible the creation of an unfree and, therefore, easily exploited labour force, and they were a convenient means of lastingly weakening the military and economic potential of defeated tribes, cities and states. In Mesopotamia deportations appear to have been a source of unfree labour as early as the late 4th…

(Ἱεράπολις; Hierápolis). [German version] [1] Important town in south-west Phrygia This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Christianity | Natural catastrophes | Oracles | Pergamum Important town in south-west Phrygia (as opposed to the town of same name in the ‘Pentapolis’ of central Phrygia) at the edge of the Lycus valley on the road in the Hermus valley from Sardis to Apamea, famous for its thermal springs whose water leaves white limestone terraces when evaporating; they gave the place its modern name Pa…