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L.

(55 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Abbreviation of the Roman praenomen Lucius. In the Roman numbering system, L denotes the value 50 and probably developed from the bisection of the Greek aspirate Θ (via the form , which found no use as a letter in the early Latin alphabet). Italy, alphabetical scripts; Numerical systems Eder, Walter (Berlin)

Zenobius

(737 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Furley, William D. (Heidelberg) | Bowie, Ewen (Oxford)
(Ζηνόβιος/ Zēnóbios). [German version] [1] General of Mithridates [6] VI, 1st cent. BC General of Mithridates [6] VI in the first of the Mithridatic Wars (89-85 BC). He captured Chios in 86 BC and organized, despite the payment of the imposed fine of 2,000 talents, deportation of the entire population to the Black Sea (App. Mithr. 180-187; Colchis: Ath. 6,266), in order to warn other cities against secession (cf. Syll.3 785, lines 13-15). During a subsequent stay in Ephesus (still in 86: [1. 172 f.]), however, he was killed by the citizens, who feared a simila…

Amali

(250 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] The A. form the royal dynasty of the East Goths and, with regard to reputation, stand above the royal dynasty of the West Goths, the  Balthi. The family tree of the A., which was developed by Iordanes (died 79) in AD 551 and began with Gaut, indicates godly origin; the eponym of the tribe, Amal, stands only in the fourth place. Iordanes relies upon Cassiodorus, who outlined shortly after the death of the Amal Theoderic the Gr. (526) in his (lost) history of the Goths an origo Gothica, which, in turn, took up an already-existing gentile tradition that had been cultiv…

Messalina

(727 words)

Author(s): Strothmann, Meret (Bochum) | Stegmann, Helena (Bonn) | Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] [1] Statilia M. Third wife of Nero Born between AD 30 and 40, daughter of T. Statilius Taurus ( cos. 44), married her fourth husband M. Atticus Vestinus (= M. Iulius [II 147] Vestinus Atticus, cos. 65) in 63/4. In 65, emperor Nero forced Vestinus to commit suicide so that he could take M. as his (third) wife in 66 (Tac. Ann. 15,68,3; Suet. Nero 35,1; IG IV 1402 and IV2 604: M. as Nero's wife). In the same year, she was installed as Augusta. As a widow, she was courted by Otho in 69 (Suet. Otho 10,2). M., who was deified during her lifetime (as noted in the Acts o…

Ager Romanus

(297 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] As distinct from the ager peregrinus, the 'foreign territory', ager Romanus (AR) was the area of the state of Rome inhabited by Romans (including the city). It consisted of privately owned real estate ( ager privatus) and public lands ( ager publicus ). Parts of the ager publicus could be transformed into ager privatus through the settlement of Roman citizens ( assignatio viritim, 'man by man'; or in closed citizens' colonies, cf. coloniae C) or could be completely divided from the AR to become ag er peregrinus when colonies with their own state areas were establis…

Topos

(215 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
(τόπος/ tópos). [German version] [1] Administrative unit Territorial subdivision of a nome ( nomós [2]), attested from the Hellenistic period onwards in Egypt and in its external possessions (Syria, Palestine, southern Asia Minor); also as an administrative unit under the Seleucids and Attalids (Attalus, with stemma), probably with a similar structure but not understood in detail [1. 440]. In Egypt a topos comprised several villages or kômai (Kome B), and therefore formed a unit of intermediate size, which had no pharaonic antecedent, unlike the nome and kome, but was newly form…

Sarmaticus

(154 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] A victory title assumed by Roman emperors to indicate a military success over the Sarmatians (Sarmatae). After AD 175, Marcus [2] Aurelius and his son Commodus were the first to bear the epithet Sarmaticus following the peace treaty with the Iazyges. Maximinus [2] Thrax and his son Maximus bore the title Sarmaticus maximus from AD 236. Although Sarmatian tribes continued to threaten the Danube border, Diocletianus was the first to accept the title Sarmaticus maximus again in AD 285 (three more times from then on). After Diocletian, all the Augusti of the…

Prison sentence

(108 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Neither Greek nor Roman law is familiar with prison sentences as punitive detention in the modern sense (otherwise [1]). As a rule, until the trial the accused remains free (in Rome a kind of pre-trial confinement is permissible for political crimes), a convicted criminal only stays in prison until the execution of the sentence. Also, private detention of a debtor for a creditor, precisely regulated in Rome from the time of the Law of the Twelve Tables onwards, is not to punish but rather to force payment. Addictus; Carcer; Desmoterion Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography 1 …

Amyrtaeus

(173 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
(Ἀμυρταῖος; Amyrtaîos). [German version] [1] Ruler of Sais, 1st half of the 5th cent. BC of Sais, joined the Aegean rebellion begun by the Libyan  Inarus and supported by Athens (Thuc. 1,109) against the Persian king  Artaxerxes I and held the Nile delta after the victory of the Persians (again supported by Athens; Thuc. 1,110,4; Plut. Cimon 18) for several years. His son Pausiris was reinstated by the Persians in the rulership (Hdt. 3,15). Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] Egyptian king (404-398 BC) probably the grandson of no. 1, listed by Manetho as the only king of…

State

(1,994 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Neumann, Hans (Berlin) | Müller-Wollermann, Renate
[German version] I. General Neither the states of the ancient Near East nor those of classical antiquity had a word corresponding to the modern, impersonal concept of the state. There was no abstract idea of state separate from the ruler or distinguished by law. In particular, the state did not appear as a perpetrator of action. The use of the term 'state' for these pre-modern societies is none the less justified, because, on the one hand, they did fulfil the minimum formal criteria: permanent state…

Social Wars

(1,037 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
Wars within or between ancient alliance systems (Socii; Symmachia; Symmachoi). The term does not include punitive expeditions by the leading power against individual alliance members. The following wars were already called SW (πόλεμος συμμαχικός/ pólemos symmachikós, bellum sociale) in Antiquity: [German version] [1] War by Athens against allies of the 2nd Athenian League, 357-355 BC The war by Athens against seceded allies of the Second Athenian League from 357-355 BC, which put Athens into serious military and financial difficulties (Symmoria). Du…

Thesmophylakes

(118 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (θεσμοφύλακες /thesmophýlakes, from thesmós = 'law, ordinance' and phyláttein = 'to guard'). 'Guardians of ordinances', a rarely recorded collegium in Classical Greece (for Elis: Thuc. 47,9) with scarcely identifiable powers. Recorded in the Hellenistic period in Boeotia (IG VII 3172,178; cf. Plut. Mor. 292d thesmophylákios nómos) and on Ceos (IG XII 5,595B) as an authority which saw to the enforcement of judicial punishments and (on Ceos) brought law suits against officials. In Ptolemaic Egypt (recorded for Alexandria [1], thesmophylakes were the leaders …

Pleminius, Q.

(116 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Propraetor. Legate of Cornelius [I 71] Scipio in Locri [2] after it was regained in the war with Hannibal in 205 BC (second of the Punic Wars). In 204 the Locrians' complaint in the Roman Senate about P.' despotism, which was tolerated by Scipio, and about the pillage of the sanctuary of Persephone was used by Q. Fabius [I 30] in his motion to relieve Scipio of his command (Liv. 29,19,6). A senatorial commission, friendly to Scipio, established his innocence in Locri, however, and brought P. to Rome, to be put on trial by the people's tribunes for perduellio

Status

(1,436 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle) | Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen) | Eder, Walter (Berlin)
(lit. 'standing', 'condition', 'position'). [German version] [1] In rhetoric (Rhetoric). The Latin rhetorical term status (Quint. Inst. 3,6,1; Cic. Top. 25,93) or constitutio (Quint. Inst. 3,6,2: 'ascertainment' i.e. of the point in dispute) equates to the Greek στάσις/ stásis (Quint. Inst. 3,6,3; Cic. Top. 25,93; Isid. Orig. 2,5,1). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] A. Definition In the rhetorical system (Rhetoric), status ('standing of the matter of dispute') was the determination, arrived at by a series of questions ( summa quaestio, 'crucial question': Quint. I…

Audoin

(173 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] From AD 540/41 held the regency for Walthari (the minor son of King Wacho) and after Walthari's death (in 547/48) became king of the  Langobards. He led the Langobards to Pannonia, where they were settled by Justinian and probably entrusted with the task of securing the Danube border against the Franks. In the battles against the neighbouring Gepids he was insufficiently supported by Justinian, although A. sent a large army to  Narses in Italy in 552. Nevertheless, he achieved vic…

Governor

(586 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] The modern term 'governor' merges numerous designations of regular officials and functionaries in the ancient Near East and Graeco-Roman antiquity into one. The common factor of all these positions was the fulfilment of military and administrative duties (i.e. 'governing') far from the centre of rule, in clearly geographically defined areas (Eparchia; Provincia; satrapy, s. Satrap) and by order of and in the place of the actual political ruler. Representatives and deputies of the …

People

(355 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Like the modern term 'people' (in the sense of population, broad masses, lower social class, ethnic group, nation among others) the ancient terms which were used for 'people' (δῆμος/ dḗmos [1] and populus ) were not clearly defined. But dḗmos and populus never meant 'population' since both referred only to citizens with political rights (Citizenship; Census). Dḗmos could mean all of the citizens of a country, but also only the lower classes, the 'masses', who were also called οἱ πολλοί/ hoi polloí ('the many'), πλῆθος/ plḗthos ('mass') and ὄχλος/ óchlos ('rabble', 'mo…

A.

(35 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Abbreviation of the common Roman name Aulus. A. is of Etruscan origin (Aules?) and was also used as a cognomen in the imperial period. Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography Salomies, 11, 24, 165.

P.

(73 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] is used as an abbreviation of the Roman name Publius and very often appears on coins and in inscriptions to stand for functions and titles (e.g. PM = pontifex maximus; PP = pater patriae). For the numerous meanings of P in numismatics and epigraphics see [1. 310-319] and [2. XLIV-XLIX]. Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography 1 A. Calderini, Epigrafia, 1974 2 H.Cohen, J.C. Egbert, R. Cagnat, Coin-Inscriptions and Epigraphical Abbreviations of Imperial Rome, 1978.

Triumph, Triumphal procession

(1,123 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
Ritual marking the end of a campaign of warfare. At the same time it constituted the army's rite of entry into the city and the highest attainable honour for the general. [German version] I. Name and origins The Latin triumphus is derived from the interjection io triump(h)e, which had formed from the Greek cry θριάμβε/ thriámbe in the cult of Dionysus (Varro, Ling. 6,68; Serv. Aen. 10,775) and was originally a plea for the manifestation of the god, comparable to the fivefold triumpe in the cult song of the Arvales fratres [8. 38-55; 7. 223]. The supposed origin …

Emmenids

(27 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Sicilian dynasty of tyrants from Acragas, who were closely related to the  Deinomenids in Syracuse (genealogical table with the Deinomenids). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

Hellenism

(576 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] ( hellēnismós). In antiquity from the time of Aristotle or his pupil  Theophrastus, this was the name for the correct use of the Greek language ( hellēnízein = ‘speaking Greek’), but it is not attested as a term until the 2nd cent. BC (2 Macc 4,13) and there designates the Greek way of life, disapproved of from a Jewish point of view. Based on the meaning of Hellenism, originating among Alexandrian scholars at almost the same time, as ‘Greek spiritual world’, Christian writers then use Hellenism in the sen…

Persian Wars

(1,830 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] [1] Struggles between Persians and Greeks Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] A. Terminology and sources The modern use of the term PW in a wider sense refers to the struggle between the ' Hellenes and Barbarians' (Hdt. prooemium) during the time between the Ionian Revolt (500-494 BC) and the middle of the 5th cent. BC; in a narrower sense the attacks on Greece by the Persians (Achaemenidae) under the kings Darius [1] I. and Xerxes I., which were repelled at Marathon in 490 and at Salamis and Plataeae in 480/479…

Tranquillitas

(246 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Until the 1st cent. BC, the usual meaning of tranquillitas is 'peace, stillness' (as late as in Caes. B Gall. 3,15,3); after that, under the influence of Stoicism and the philosophy of Epicurus (analogous with the Greek γαλήνη/ galḗnē, 'calm' = 'peace of mind'), the word becomes the Latin philosophical term for 'calmness of mind' ( maris t.: Cic. Tusc. 5,6,16; t. animi: Cic. Fin. 5,8,23; cf. Sen. Dial. 9: De tranquillitate animi). In combination with 'security' and 'peace' (cf. Cic. Leg. agr. 1,24; Cic. Off. 1,20,69; Cic. De orat.1,1,2) t. gained political significance…

Syrian Wars

(1,000 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] In modern scholarship, the term SW refers to a group of six wars fought between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids for possession of southern Syria (between the River Eleutherus, modern Nahr al-Kabīr, north of Byblus and the eastern frontier of Egypt at Rhaphia; cf. map 'The Hellenistic states in the 3rd Cent. BC'; Coele Syria) between 274 and 168 BC. The war between Antiochus [5] III and Rome (192-188, treated in App. Syr. 11), which is often referred to as a 'Syrian War', is not included in them. The precondition for the SW was the state of possessions following the p…

Parties (political)

(229 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] The modern term cannot be applied to antiquity. However, even in ancient polities, there were groupings which formed temporarily for the achievement of political ends ( hetairía [2]; factiones ), though they developed no fixed membership or longer-term political programmes. It did also happen that citizenries divided into separate 'partisan affiliations' reinforcing differing conceptions of political content and methods in a quasi-programmatical way ( oligarchía / dēmokratía ; optimates / populares ), playing out differences concer…

Council meetings

(160 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] of increasing complexity served in ancient society to reduce and regulate conflict for the purpose of enabling collective action. Independently of the respective constitutional form, council meetings (CM), whose members were usually drawn from economically powerful and socially respected circles, supported the  ruler in decision-making (cf.   basileús ,   gerousía ; the Roman senate under the monarchy), formulated a consensus of peers in the aristocracy (  Áreios págos ;   senatus ) and prepared the resolutions of the popular assemb…

Poppaea

(628 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Goffin, Bettina (Bonn)
[German version] [1] P. Sabina Daughter of Poppaeus [1] Sabinus, 1st cent. AD Daughter of Poppaeus [1] Sabinus, married to T. Ollius, then, after his death, to P. Cornelius [II 33] Lentulus Scipio (proconsul of Asia in AD 41/2). She was the mother of P. [2] Sabina by T. Ollius, and by Scipio probably of P. Cornelius [II 49] Scipio Asiaticus, whose cognomen indicates that he was born in Asia. P. was regarded as the most beautiful woman of her day (Tac. Ann. 13,45,2), was embroiled in numerous scandals (Tac. Ann. 11,2,1) and committed suicide in AD 47 to a…

Epilycus [2]

(212 words)

Author(s): Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) | Eder, Walter (Berlin)
(Ἐπίλυκος; Epílykos). [German version] Epilycus Writer of comedies Comedy writer, whose surviving work consists of the title of one play (Κωραλίσκος; Kōralískos, The little lad from Crete? cf. Phot. p. 198,15) and of nine fragments; fr. 3 (remnants of catalectic anapaestic tetrameters) and fr. 4 (catalectic anapaestic dimeter in Doric dialect) show that he belonged to the Old Comedy (late 5th, early 4th cent. BC). Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG V, 1986, 170-173. [German version] [2] Nephew of Andocides [1], 2nd half of the 5th cent. BC The son of Teisander…

Sacramentum

(1,721 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Mali, Franz (Fribourg)
[German version] I. General remarks In contrast to ius iurandum , which in Latin generally refers to the oath itself and the act of swearing an oath, the sacramentum ('oath') has to do with the obligations an individual assumes vis-à-vis the god who is invoked (usually Iuppiter (I. B) in his function as Dius Fidius or 'all gods'). The sacramentum threatens that one may become sacer , in thrall to a god and consequently outlawed, by taking an oath affirming a false statement or failing to keep a promise made under oath (assertive or promissory oath) [1. 76-84]. Eder, Walter (Berlin) …

Capitolium

(1,021 words)

Author(s): Förtsch, Reinhard (Cologne) | Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] I. Capitol Hill in Rome, consisting of a summit called C. in the south (46 m) and the Arx in the north (49 m), linked by the depression of the asylum. Until Trajan's forum was built, the C. was the south-western spur of the Quirinal and linked with it by a bridge. From archaic times, buildings on the C. had to have very deep foundations because of unfavourable geological conditions; in addition, since ancient times, there have been landslides, terracing (in the 15th and 16th cents.), as well as other substa…

Tirocinium fori

(151 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] ('period of recruitment for the forum', in distinction to a military one; Tiro [2]) describes both the public presentation in the forum of a young man from the upper classes after his donning the toga virilis ( deductio in forum: Suet. Aug. 26,2; Suet. Tib. 54,1; Suet. Nero 7,2) and the ensuing approximately one year period of education for famous politicians, orators and lawyers (Cic. Lael. 1,1: cf. Cic. Brut. 89,306). The instruction did not happen systematically, but rather by constant accompaniment and observation …

Political administration

(4,328 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Renger, Johannes (Berlin) | Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)
[German version] I. General The states of antiquity had no executive PA independent of government and legislature in the sense of the modern separation of powers. The triple division of constitutions, indicated in Aristot. Pol. 1297b 35-1301a 15 ( tría mória, 1297b 37), into a decision-making, legislating organ ( tò bouleuómenon), an executive element ('on the offices': tò perì tàs archás) and judicature ( tò dikázon) owes more to the schematically working mind of the author than to a political concept as such, especially since the fields defined show conside…

Xiphares

(121 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (Ξιφάρης/ Xiphárēs). Son of Mithridates [6] VI and Stratonice [7], who was killed by his father in 64 BC in revenge for the betrayal of his mother (App. Mithr. 502-505). In 64 Stratonice - without knowing that X. was with his father - had handed over a fortress (Sinoria?) which had been entrusted to her by Mithridates after losing a battle against Pompeius [I 3] in 66 ( Mithridatic Wars C), together with all its treasures to Pompeius [III 1] who promised in return to spare X. if he should fall into Roman hands (Plut. Pompeius 36,6; Cass. Dio 37,7,5). Eder, Walter (Berlin) Biblio…

Timaeus

(1,738 words)

Author(s): Baltes, Matthias (Münster) | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Hübner, Wolfgang (Münster) | Matthaios, Stephanos (Cologne)
(Τίμαιος; Tímaios). [German version] [1] Main speaker in Plato's [1] Timaeus T. of Locri [2] Epizephyrii in southern Italy (Τίμαιος Λοκρός/ Tímaios Lokrós), the main speaker in Plato's [1] Timaeus, was in Antiquity regarded as a Pythagorean [1.83-85]. The Suda s.v. T. (IV p. 553,26f. Adler) and the scholia to Pl. Tim. 20 A Greene report that he wrote on mathematical problems, on nature and on the life of Pythagoras [2] (μαθηματικά, περὶ φύσεως, περὶ τοῦ Πυθαγόρου βίου/ M athēmatiká, Perì phýseōs, Perì toû Pythagórou bíou) [1.85]. One treatise, in the Doric dialect [2.11-19], ent…

Pons

(1,427 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Todd, Malcolm (Exeter) | Waldherr, Gerhard H. (Regensburg) | Burian, Jan (Prague) | Graßl, Herbert (Salzburg) | Et al.
[German version] [1] Roads and bridges, construction of see Roads and bridges, construction of Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] Voting bridge The term pons (generally in the plural form of pontes) was also used for the narrow 'voting bridges' in Rome which members of the comitia had to cross on the way to cast their votes. It is argued that the saying Sexagenarios de ponte (deicere) with its incitement to throw sixty-year olds from the bridge (Cic. Rosc. Am. 100; Fest. 452; Macrob. Sat. 1,5,10) stemmed from the demand by younger voters to bar older o…

Q.

(75 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Abbreviation of the Roman first name Quintus; in the formula SPQR ( SenatusPopulusQueRomanus) for Que (= postpositive 'and'); in inscriptions frequently for the relative pronoun qui, quae, quod (e.g. Q[ui] I[nfra]S[cripti]S[unt] = 'the undersigned') and for q uaestor . Rare on coins, mostly for Quinquennales, the five-year celebration of an emperor's rule. In MSS, Q stands as the numeral for 500,000. Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography H. Chantraine, s. v. Q, RE 24, 1963, 621-623.

Elections

(1,601 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Within the sphere of state and politics, elections serve to appoint organs (individuals or committees), who were generally entrusted for a set period of time by the majority of qualified voters with the preparation or execution of community tasks; in monarchic systems, political elections are of no importance. There is no information regarding the appointment of functionaries (for military tasks or within the jurisdiction) in early aristocracies, but it is likely that selection wa…

Twelve Cities, League (Etruscan) of

(471 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] The federation of 12 cities or tribes into an alliance was an old and widespread occurrence in the Mediterranean region and well beyond (cf. the 12 tribes of Israel). The number 12, which had symbolic significance, emphasized internal closeness and, at the same time, differentiation from the outside. Political/military goals in the sense of a defensive community or a federation for the arrangement of common policies cannot be identified in any of the ancient leagues of twelve citi…

Ataulfus

(228 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Brother-in-law of Alarich ( Alaricus [2]), AD 410-415 king of the West Goths. Probably by order of Alarich active as army commander in Pannonia, A. was summoned by him in 408, reached Italy in 409 and was named comes domesticorum equitum by the usurper  Attalus [11]. After the death of Alarich in 410 he gave up Alarich's African plans and in 412 on the advice of Attalus travelled to Gallia to the usurper  Iovinus. A. soon came into conflict with him and in 413 handed him over to Dardanus, the Gallic praefect of the Emp…

Praefectus iure dicundo

(132 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] PID were officials of the urban Roman legal magistracy ( praetor ), who dispensed justice in Italy in the Republican period, among Roman citizens living far from Rome in communities where political organization was either lacking or rudimentary ( forum, conciliabulum , oppidum I.). PID neither had the right to scrutinize existing law courts, nor did they constitute an instance of appeal ( appellatio ). A praefectura was thus both the (temporary) seat of the official and the legal district for which he was responsible. With developing urban organization in Italy, (cf. mu…

R.

(70 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Abbreviation for Romanus (SPQR), for Roma and in connection with publicus for res ( res publica ); rare abbreviation for the cognomen Rufus. On imperial coins R often stands for restitutor, the 'restorer' (of the empire, the unity of the empire etc.). Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography A. Calderini, Epigrafia, 1974, 321-323  H. Cohen, J. C. Egbert, R. Cagnat, Coin-Inscriptions and Epigraphical Abbreviations of Imperial Rome, 1978, 71-74.

Illyrian Wars

(464 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] The name Illyrian Wars (IW) is given to two wars conducted by Rome in  Illyricum in 229 to 228 and in 219 BC. The First Illyrian War of 229-228 was waged against  Teuta, widow of Agron [3], who after the latter's death (in 231?) continued his politics of expansion (230: annexation of Phoenice, and treaties with Epirus and Acarnania). In 229, when she had reached far south beyond the Straits of Ortranto, and laid siege to Corcyra, Epidamnos, and Apollonia [1], and also defeated a f…

Tamos

(95 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (Τάμως /Támōs) from Memphis in Egypt, representative ( hýparchos) of Tissaphernes in Ionia (Thuc. 8,31,2; 8,87,1 and 3; for the year 411), took part in Cyrus [3]'s rebellion in 401 BC as a commissioner ( epimelētḗs) for Ionia/Aeolis (Diod. 14,19,6) and a naval leader (Xen. An. 1,2,21; 1,4,2) and after the death of Cyrus at Cunaxa fled to Egypt, where he and his sons were killed by Psammetichus [6] (according to Diod. Sic. 14,35,3-5; probably a royal name for Amyrtaeus [2]), who intended to take possession of T.'s fleet and wealth. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

D

(81 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] is used in Lat. as an abbreviation of the Roman praenomen  Decimus. As a numeral the letter D stands for the value 500. Like the numeral  C (= 100) it is derived from a letter of the western Greek alphabet not used in the Latin alphabet: Φ (phi), which stands for the value 1,000; the letter form D, indicating half the value of 1,000, was derived by bisection of the Greek symbol (right half). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

Tolerance

(4,834 words)

Author(s): Cancik-Lindemaier, Hildegard (Tübingen) | Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Fitschen, Klaus (Kiel) | Hollender, Elisabeth (Cologne) | Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg)
I. Terminology and philosophy [German version] A. Modern concept The general modern meaning of the word 'tolerance' is the readiness of individuals, groups or states to permit the opinions, ways of life and philosophical and religious convictions of others to 'have validity' alongside their own. Today, the meaning of the word ranges from 'sufferance' (e.g. in the sense of constitutional law: the sufferance of immigrants, diverse confessions, religions) to the emphatic affirmation of the 'different' pheno…

Aristocracy

(1,692 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Neumann, Hans (Berlin) | Stein-Hölkeskamp, Elke (Cologne)
The term aristocracy, when used for ancient societies, must be distinguished from the term aristocracy used in the Middle Ages and in modern times. The aristocracy of antiquity is lacking lordly property as the basis of rule over people who work the land, and also, in principle, an authority that can justify aristocratic status. Heredity and exclusive class thinking are especially weakly pronounced in the Greek areas, even if often through the handing down of property and personal connections, e…

Aligern

(92 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Son of Fredigern, youngest brother of the last Ostrogoth king Teja. After his death (AD 552) A. held the fortress of Cumae with the royal insignia and treasure for over a year (Agath. 1,8,6; Procop. 8,34,19 f.), until he handed it over, probably at the end of 553 to  Narses (Agath. 1,20,1-7). In Narses' service he fought against the Franks (Agath. 1,20,9-11) and took part in his victory over the Alemannian  Butilinus at Casilinum in 554 (Agath. 2,9,13; PLRE 3A, 48). Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography Stein, Spätröm. R., 2, 603 ff.

Triumvirate

(232 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (Latin triumviratus, literally 'alliance of three men'). Non-titular appellation (e.g. in Suet. Aug. 27,1; Vell. Pat. 2,86,2) for the special power which Aemilius [I 12] Lepidus, Antonius [I 9] and Octavianus agreed to at Bononia for themselves and which was granted to them, initially for five years, in November 43 BC by plebiscite ( lex Titia; see tresviri [3]). Echoing this, modern scholarship also calls the informal 'group of three' of Caesar, Pompeius [I 3] and Licinius [I 11] Crassus (end of 60 BC) a triumvirate, though it lacked a…

Poroi

(181 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (πόροι/ póroi, literally 'ways'; plural of póros) in ancient Greece were ways of securing revenues (Xen. Hell. 1,6,12) and later also referred to incomes and sources of income themselves, both in the private and in the public sector ( Chrēmatistikḗ ; Aristot. Pol. 1259a 3-36; Syll.3 284,23). In public finances poroi include not only tolls and taxes from non-citizens ( Métoikoi ), but also income from rents and leases on state property, running state monopolies (mines), court fees and other incomes ( Poristaí ). In his Póroi Xenophon outlines a sy…

Zenodotus

(1,870 words)

Author(s): Baumbach, Manuel (Zürich) | Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Albiani, Maria Grazia (Bologna) | Matthaios, Stephanos (Cologne) | Neudecker, Richard (Rome) | Et al.
(Ζηνόδοτος/ Zēnódotos). [German version] [1] Of Ephesus, Alexandrian philologist Alexandrian philologist from Ephesus ( c. 325-260 BC; Suda s. v. Ζ. Ἐφέσιος). Baumbach, Manuel (Zürich) [German version] I. Life Alexandrian philologist from Ephesus Z. was employed as tutor to the royal princes at the Ptolemaic court before his appointment in 285/4 BC as the first director [1. 147-148] of the library (II B 2.a) in Alexandria [1]. In addition to a classification of Greek poetry (most notably epic and lyric works), Z. developed in …

Patriarchy

(1,724 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
(literally 'rule of the fathers'). [German version] A. General comments Patriarchy is a modern term referring to the position of authority of adult men in the family, in establishing relationships between the family and society and in fulfilling political responsibilities. The word patriarchy gained its significance in academic discourse through Bachofen [1], who saw the organization of ancient society according to a 'paternal principle' as following, in terms of development and institutional history, a p…

Cassiodorus

(1,366 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Zaminer, Frieder (Berlin)
[German version] A. Life Flavius Magnus Aurelius C., a senator, born c. AD 490, came from a family of the senatorial aristocracy -- probably of Syrian origin (the name refers to the Syrian Zeus Kasios), but for generations settled in Scylacium (Squillace in Calabria) -- which was very influential in Bruttium and Sicily ( primatus: Cassiod. Var. 1,4,14) and carried out important political tasks (PLRE 2, 263f., C. 1 and 2). As a comes sacr. larg. of Odoacer, C.'s father (PLRE 2, 264f.) went over to Theoderic at the right time (AD 490), handed Sicily over to him without …

Pomponius

(5,501 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Nadig, Peter C. (Duisburg) | Kierdorf, Wilhelm (Cologne) | Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld) | Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Et al.
Name of a Roman plebeian family probably deriving from the Italic praenomen Pompo, tracing back, like the Aemilii, Calpurnii and Pinarii, to one of the sons of Numa Pompilius (Plut. Numa 21,2; cf. Nep. Att. 1,1). In the 3rd century BC the Mathones (cf. P. [I 7-9]) achieved consulship, but later the family was insignificant. The most prominent member was a friend of Cicero, T. P. [I 5] Atticus. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] P., Cn. People's tribune in 90 BC People's tribune in 90 BC, killed in the Civil War in 82; Cicero quite often heard him in his youth; his j…

Cassius

(5,432 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Giaro, Tomasz (Frankfurt/Main) | Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) | Et al.
Name of a plebeian gens (cf. Tac. Ann. 6,15,1), the representatives of whom have been known historically since the middle of the 3rd cent. BC. The most important family, especially in the 1st cent. BC, are the Cassii Longini. A patrician C. (around 500 BC, C. I 19) is rare. I. Republican age [German version] [I 1] C., C. Governor of Asia 89-88 BC Praetor 90 BC (?), in 89-88 governor of the province of Asia whence he, with M'. Aquillius [I 4], induced Nicomedes of Bithynia to attack  Mithridates (MRR 2,34). He then had to retreat from the victorious Mithridat…

M.

(69 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Abbreviation of the Latin personal name Marcus and (already in antiquity with an apostrophe: M') Manius. As a numerical sign, M stands for the number 1,000, but it was not derived from mille (Latin word for thousand), rather it came about by reforming the Greek letter Φ ( phi), which was not adopted into the Latin alphabet (see D as a numerical sign). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

Nero

(1,990 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Eder, Walter (Berlin)
Hereditary cognomen in the younger line of the Claudii family (Claudius; from the 2nd half of the 3rd cent. BC); according to ancient etymology of Sabine origin, meaning ‘brave’ (Suet. Tib. 1.2; Gell. NA 13.23.7f., etc.). With Livia's children [2] from her first marriage with Ti. Claudius [I 19] Nero - the later princeps Tiberius and N. Claudius [II 24] Drusus (the Elder) - the name passed into the Julio-Claudian imperial house (stemma: Augustus). Whereas Tiberius retained N. as an epithet, his brother bore it as praenomen, as did their sons Drusus [II 1] (the Younger) and…

Porsenna

(347 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] P., Lars. Etruscan king of Clusium (present-day Chiusi) at the end of the 6th cent. BC ( Porsena in Hor. Epod. 16,4; Macrob. Sat 2,412; inscription. Porsina, CIL VI 32919; Greek Πορσίνας/ Porsínas: Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 5,21,1); probably Etruscan proper name, possibly derived from zilath purthne , the term for the highest office in Etruscan towns. According to Roman tradition (Liv. 2,9,1-14,9; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 5,21,1-34,5) P. wanted to reinstate Tarquinius Superbus, who had taken refuge with him, as king of Rome. However he withdrew,…

Cniva

(116 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Gothic king who, together with other tribes, made forays over the Danube into Moesia and Thrace in AD 250, inflicted a severe defeat on the emperor Decius as he was advancing to relieve Philippopolis (Plovdiv) and, in breach of his agreement with the usurper Priscus, had the city pillaged. In their retreat Decius and his son Herennius took up position near Abrittus, but C. enticed the Roman army into a swamp, encircled and annihilated it. Both emperors fell. Their successor Trebon…

Amalafrida

(77 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Elder sister of Theoderic the Great, mother of  Amalaberga and  Theodahad, married in her second marriage around AD 500 the Vandal king Thrasamund in Carthage in order to support the alliance politics of her brother, which until the death of Thrasamund in 523 also succeeded. His successor Hilderic turned away from Theoderic, however, and at the latest in 525 disposed of A. and her followers. Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography H. Wolfram, Die Goten, 31990, 307 f.

Curia

(309 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] [2] Assembly place of the municipal council in Rome C. (pl. curiae) was the name of the assembly place of the municipal council in Rome (  senatus ; Fest. p. 42) and also in many   coloniae and municipiamunicipium ) of Italy and the Roman provinces (cf.   curiales ). As opposed to the comitiumcomitia ), the assembly place of the people in the open air, the curia is always a building on a piece of land belonging to the community or a god and mostly it is at the   forum of the town or close to it. Council chambers of non-Roman towns can also be called curiae (Liv. 24,24,5 and 9: Syrac…

Portorium

(105 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] General Roman term for toll. Originally imposed probably only in ports ( portus; [1. s. v.], however, derives portorium from porta, 'gate, door'), extended with the spread of Roman rule in Italy and the provinces to all land and sea tolls. The collection of p. was leased to companies (Publicani), which used the additional services of an extensive staff of slaves and freed slaves, the portitores ('toll officials'). From the 2nd century AD onwards the state Gradually collected tolls with its own personnel (cf. Procurator). For tollable goods, ra…

Citizenship

(235 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] In Graeco-Roman antiquity terms comparable to the modern term citizenship,   politeía (πολιτεία) and   civitas , originally not only designated individual rights but also the totality of citizens, the political organization of citizens in the sense of a constitution and an autonomous community. Citizenship was usually attained by being born to parents with citizenship (  conubium ) or granted by resolution of the community or an authorized person, in Rome also through private manumission from slavery (  manumissio ). Admission to citizensh…

Athens

(11,799 words)

Author(s): Goette, Hans Rupprecht (Athens) | Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) | Niehoff, Johannes (Freiburg) | Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Funke, Peter (Münster)
(Ἀθῆναι; Athênai; Lat. Athenae). [German version] [1] Capital of Attica This item can be found on the following maps: Writing | Theatre | Caesar | Christianity | Dark Ages | Grain Trade, Grain Import | Hellenistic states | Celts | Limes | Macedonia, Macedones | Marble | Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Natural catastrophes | Persian Wars | Punic Wars | Rome | Athletes | Attica | Attica | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Education / Culture | Mineral Resources Goette, Hans Rupprecht (Athens) [German version] I. Geography A. is the primary location …

Flavian Dynasty

(738 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Modern term for two series of Roman emperors in the 1st and 3rd/4th cents. AD, who were descended from the same family: one series of succession was founded in AD 69 by T. Flavius  Vespasianus (69-79) and was continued to AD 96 by his sons  Titus [3] (79-81) and  Domitianus [1] (81-96); the other series, which is occasionally called the ‘Second Flavian Dynasty’, was founded by the house of Flavius Valerius  Constantinus [1] I, which fictively began with (Flavius)  Claudius [III 2]…

Rex

(661 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum)
[German version] [1] King Rex (pl. reges; Indo-Germanic * rḗg̑-s, Old Indo-Aryan rā́j-, Celtic -rīx) in Latin denotes a king; in the Greek world, the Indo-Germanic term probably gave way in the Mycenaean period to the ruler designations anax ( wanax ) and basileús . The Imperial and Byzantine word ῥῆξ ( rhêx) was originally a mere Greek transliteration of the Latin rex and generally refers to tribal kings of foreign peoples. According to the root of the word * h3reg̑- ('to straighten', 'to stretch out'), the job of the rex was to 'rule', i.e. to keep the world 'upright' and perpendic…

Philanthropa

(151 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (φιλάνθρωπα/ philánthrōpa, neuter? pl. 'philanthropic <decrees>'). Specific, publicly announced measures by the Ptolemaic kings on economic and/or political preferential treatment (e.g. tax reduction, amnesty) for the population of the kingdom or certain groups (see Ptolemaeus [9] VI. Philometor; Ptolemaeus [12] VIII. Euergetes II.). As a rule, the philanthropa's aim was to prevent unrest which was threatening or had already arisen, and of also increasing the favourable reception of the respective ruler. On inscriptions in Hell…

Butilinus

(87 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Alemannic duke in Frankish service. In AD 539, he accompanied king Theudebert I on a campaign to Italy. In 552, B. accepted a request for help by the Goths and, on his own initiative, crossed Italy together with his brother Leuthari and reportedly 75,000 men down to the straits of Messina. After great success ini- tially, the venture came to an end in 554 near Casilinum where B. lost a battle against Narses and his life as well. PLRE 3A, 253f. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

Troezen inscription

(242 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] An inscription discovered in Troezen in 1959 ([1; 2]; translation in [3. 20 f.]) with the text of a decree of the Athenian People's Assembly proposed by Themistocles (the 'Decree of Themistocles'), which decreed the evacuation of the inhabitants of Attica to Salamis and the repatriation of exiles before the naval battle of Cape Artemisium (Persian Wars) in 480 BC; in its present form, it can be dated to the 3rd cent. BC [4. 2; 2. 48]. Its authenticity was soon doubted and the TI w…

Zenis

(113 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Gärtner, Hans Armin (Heidelberg)
(Ζῆνις/ Zênis). [German version] [1] Sub-satrap of Pharnabazus [2], 5th cent. BC Z. from Dardanus [4], sub-satrap of Pharnabazus [2] in the Troad (in Xen. Hell. 3,1,10: Aeolis); after his death, his wife Mania [3], with the assent of Pharnabazus, took over power and ruled successfully until her assassination shortly before the arrival of Dercylidas in 411 BC (Xen. Hell. 3,1,14; 3,1,16). Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] From Chios, author of a work on his homeland, 4th cent. BC? (also Ζηνεύς/ Zēneús). Writer from Chios, possibly 4th cent. BC; he wrote 'about his hom…

Envoys

(181 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (Greek ἄγγελοι/ ángeloi, πρέσβεις/ présbeis, ἀπόστολοι/ apóstoloi; Lat. missi, nuntii). Despite a lively inter-state exchange, antiquity had no fixed institution for maintaining contact with foreign states through envoys in the sense of constant representation. Envoys were mostly appointed for a certain period, for certain duties and with set competencies. The importance of the work is shown from the fact that they were never appointed by  lot but in Greece as a rule were selected by the p…

Latin Wars

(582 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] is the term for the military conflicts between Rome and the Latin League ( Latini D.) - of which Rome was not a member - and between Rome and individual Latin towns that sporadically occurred from the beginning of the Republic (about 510 BC) to the dissolution of the League by Rome in 338 BC. The first Latin War can be considered as an attempt of the Latins to end Rome's dominant position. Rome had become the dominant power among the Latins under its kings Servius Tullius [I 4] and Tarquinius [12] Superbus (cf. Liv. 1,52) and made it …

Late Antiquity

(3,268 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Effenberger, Arne (Berlin)
[German version] I. The historical period In modern historical research, Late Antiquity (LA) is the period following the crisis of the Roman Empire in the 3rd cent. AD from the reigns of Diocletian (284-305) and Constantine [1] (307-337) to the end of the Empire in the West (deposition of Romulus [2] Augustulus 476) or the dissolution of the Western Empire into several Germanic successor states during the 5th cent. or even to Justinian's [1] (527-565) standardization of Roman law and failed attempt t…

Snake Column

(142 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Votive gift of the Greek states that were taking part in the Persian Wars against Xerxes to Apollo of Delphi in the form of a bronze column of three snake bodies intertwined like a rope, with their heads bearing a gold tripod-type cauldron. On their coils are inscribed in the Doric dialect the names of 31 Greek states, beginning with the Spartans ( Laked[ aimónioi]). The gold cauldron was stolen in the third of the Sacred Wars (356-346 BC) by the Phocians (Paus. 10,13-19), the column was taken by the emperor Constantinus [1] to Constantinople,…

Hellenistic states

(1,445 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] A. Historical development Hellenistic states (HS) evolved from the collapse of  Alexander [4] the Great's empire in the eastern Mediterranean and Near Asia, and from the imitation by individual rulers in Sicily and southern Italy ( Agathocles [2],  Hieron [2] II) of Hellenistic government and administrative institutions. After the death of the 32-year old Alexander, who left behind no heirs competent to govern nor any solid imperial administration, the empire's unity was at risk: its…

Struggle of the orders

(1,082 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Modern term for the confrontation between the patricians ( patricii ) and plebeians ( plebs ) at Rome, which began in 494 BC with the foundation of the people's tribunate and ended in 287 BC with the recognition of the decisions of the plebs ( plebiscitum ) as generally binding laws ( lex, leges ) (but s. [1], who puts the end only as late as 217/6). Only the relatively homogenous patriciate should here be understood as an 'order'. The plebs was highly fragmented both socially and economically, and moreover the plebeian clientes of the patricians were …

Colonization

(5,996 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Deger-Jalkotzy, Sigrid (Salzburg) | Briese, Christoph (Randers) | Bieg, Gebhard (Tübingen)
I. General information [German version] A. Definition The term colonization is used to refer to several waves of settlement movements in the area around the Mediterranean in the period from the 11th cent. BC up to the Roman imperial era, which significantly alter the settlement geography of the Mediterranean world and have a decisive and lasting effect on the course of ancient history. In general the term colonization is not used to refer to the immigration in the 3rd and 2nd millenia of Indo-European …

Potter's oracle

(234 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Prophetic oracle, fragments transmitted in three Greek papyri of the 2nd and 3rd cents. AD (texts in [1. 195-209]; partly translated in [4. 412-415]; on Imperial Period interest in the PO see [3. 194-199]). On the 'Island of the Sun' a potter sent by Thot unfolds, in the presence of a (fictional) king Amenophis (as spokesman of Chmun the god of pottery? [1. 184 f.]), a terrible portrayal of the physical and moral decline of Egypt and its inhabitants [2. 168-170] in a period of foreign ru…

Leon

(1,337 words)

Author(s): Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) | Cobet, Justus (Essen) | Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Engels, Johannes (Cologne) | Folkerts, Menso (Munich) | Et al.
(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…

Ramnes

(275 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Ramnes, Titi(ens)es and Luceres (as in Liv. 1,36,2, but in 1,13,8 and Cic. Rep. 2,20,36: R(h)amnenses) are the  Etruscan (Varro Ling. 5,55; see also [1. 218, 581]) names of the three tribus established by Romulus [1] (according to Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 4,14,2 and Gell. NA 15,27: organised by families) which were each divided into 10 curiae and thus formed the primary structuring of the Roman people and army (30×10 equestrians, 30×100 infantry: Varro Ling. 5,89; Liv. 1,13,8). Ennius's derivation of the term R. from Rom…

Ktistes

(318 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Frateantonio, Christa (Gießen)
[German version] (κτίστης; ktístēs). Ktistes (from Greek κτίζειν/ ktízein, ‘to make habitable, to settle’ or ‘to found, set up’) is (next to archēgétēs and oikistḗs; Latin conditor) the term used in the Greek language area in pre-Christian times to describe founders of cities. In inscriptions from the Hellenistic period ktistes also often means founder of games or other public institutions (cf. e.g. CIG 2851). Christian authors use ktistes in the sense of Creator (God) (of the earth, flora, fauna etc.). Ktistes in the sense of city founder could be a god (particularly Apoll…

Factiones

(1,211 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Hönle, Augusta (Rottweil)
[German version] I. Republic In Rome the permanent or temporary union between people who were mostly of high rank so as to preserve or assert similar interests. Initially used in the sense of a kinship connection (Plaut. Trin. 452; 466; 490), factiones gain a pejorative meaning in the late Roman Republic (‘clique’, ‘coterie’ in [1. 103 and passim]) as the term for an oligarchical group (Cic. Rep. 1,68; Caes. B Civ. 3,82f.) that was mostly reproached for moral inferiority (Sall. Iug. 31,15) and always for striving for power ( dominatio). For instance, political fellow travellers ( Syllana …

Merismos

(80 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (μερισμός; merismós from μερίζειν; merízein = ‘to divide, distribute’) in Athens the name for the ‘distribution’ of funds from tax incomes by the apodéktai to the appropriate officials ( archaí ). The sums allocated were determined by the council of the polis ( boulḗ ) and had to be struck off immediately after distribution ([Aristot.] Ath. pol. 48,1-2). Merismos is not attested before the 4th century BC ( Taxes III. B.). Eder, Walter (Berlin) Bibliography Rhodes, 557-560.

Bessas

(101 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Goth of Thracian origin (born around AD 480), whose family did not accompany Theoderic to Italy in AD 488. He served as an officer in Justinian's army against the Persians, under  Belisarius in the reconquest of Italy, as also against the Goths and in his old age in Syrian territory. He achieved high rank ( dux Mesopotamiae 531; mag. mil. vacans in Italy 535-546; mag. mil. per Armeniam 550-554), was even patricius, but was finally banished for having a too nonchalant attitude towards his duty as a consequence of excessive financial dealings. PLRE 2, 226-229. Eder, Walter (B…

Spartocids

(83 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Ruling dynasty in the Regnum Bosporanum, named after its founder Spartocus [1] I, who took over the power from the Archaeanactids of Panticapaeum in 438/7 BC. The dynasty, which distinguished itself in the Classical and early Hellenistic periods with a brisk trade in corn in the Aegaean (primarily with Athens), came to an end in 109 BC with the handing over of power by its last ruler, Paerisades [6] V, to Mithridates [6] VI of Pontus. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

Prothytes

(69 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (Προθύτης; Prothýtēs). Theban, leading anti-Macedonian politician who, relying on Athenian help, in 335 BC advocated the secession of Thebes from Macedonia. Swiftly advancing on Thebes, Alexander [4]  the Great (Diod. 17,8,2) demanded in vain his surrender (Plut. Alexandros 11,7). He was probably killed in the defence of the city, which involved heavy losses (Arr. Anab. 1,8,1-8; Diod.  Sic. 17,14,1; Plut. Alexandros 11,12). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

Rulership

(2,483 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Cancik-Kirschbaum, Eva (Berlin) | Kahl, Jochem (Münster) | Wiesehöfer, Josef (Kiel)
[German version] I. General Rulership is here understood as political rulership, i.e. a reciprocal social relationship serving to create and permanently preserve the social order through political organization. Rulership is based on fixed rules applying both to the ruler(s) and the ruled; thus those ruled generally assent blindly to the authority of the ruler(s), or are at least so minded as to tolerate it. As a system of order, rulership appears in different forms: in the ancient Near East and Egyp…

Areobindus

(290 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] [1] Flavius A. Cos. 434 AD Father of Dagalaifus, grandfather of A. [2], in AD 434 consul together with Aspar Ardabur. As magister militum ( comes foederatorum?) he defeated a Persian officer in single combat in 422, in 441 Theodosius II sent him as magister militum against the Vandals to Africa but he missed his opportunity because he stayed too long in Sicily. He was defeated by Attila in 443 (as was Aspar). In 447 patricius; died in 449 (PLRE 2, 145 f., A. 2). Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] Flavius Areobindus Dagalaifus Areobindus Cos. 506 AD Son of Dagalaifus,…

Rulers

(2,915 words)

Author(s): Cancik-Kirschbaum, Eva (Berlin) | Kahl, Jochem (Münster) | Wiesehöfer, Josef (Kiel) | Eder, Walter (Berlin)
I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. Terminology Designations for rulers include: (1) descriptive terms like the Sumerian LUGAL (literally 'big man'), equated in vocabularies with the Akkadian šarru ('shining one(?)'), malku ('adviser', Hebrew melek), Hittite ḥaššu- ('well-born one'); furthermore, Sumerian NUN and Akkadian rubāum ('most excellent one'), and Sumerian EN, Akkadian bēlu, Hittite išḫa- ('lord'); these apply regardless of the size and structure of the area of rule. Feminine forms are recorded. (2) Culture and epoch specific titles (a…

Year of four emperors

(516 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Modern term for the year AD 69, in which four emperors – some at the same time, some in swift succession – ruled the Roman Empire (Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian), and in the broader sense for the period between Iulius [II 150] Vindex's revolt against Nero (beginning of AD 68) in Gaul and the elevation to emperor of  Vespasian (1 July 69 in Egypt, 3 July 69 in Syria) or its recognition by the Senate in Rome (21/22 December 69). Galba [2], from an ancient patrician family, sided with Iulius Vindex's rebellion, was proclaimed empe…

A. A.

(52 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Abbreviation of the blanket name A(ulus) A(gerius), which, in Roman juristic writing, serves as the designation for the plaintiff (  actio ). N(umerius) N(egidius) stands for the defendant. In addition, the names Titius, Gaius or Sempronius are used for the designation of a third party. Eder, Walter (Berlin)

Toparches

(29 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (τοπάρχης; topárchēs). 'Leader (ἄρχειν/ árchein = rule) of a district ( tópos)'; in the Hellenistic period the highest civil administrative official in a tópos (q.v.). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

Assemblies

(2,182 words)

Author(s): Renger, Johannes (Berlin) | Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] I. Ancient Near East There was at various periods and in various regions of the ancient Near East a spectrum of manifestations of collective bodies with diverse powers of decision-making  and capacities for implementation. Crucial to the role of such collective bodies was on the one hand the nature of their historical genesis, and on the other hand the nature of their integration into the prevailing system of rulership. There were no popular assemblies as in the Classical Mediterranea…

Amalaberga

(96 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Daughter of  Amalafrida and niece of Theoderic the Great, married to the king of the Thuringians Herminafridus (Iord. Get. 299; Procop. 5,12,22; 8,25,11; Cassiod. Var. 4,1) c. AD 510 in order to cement an alliance against the Franks. After the conquest of the Thuringian kingdom and the death of her husband in 534 she fled to her brother Theodahad in Ravenna. Her son Amalafridus and a daughter went to Constantinople after the taking of Ravenna by  Belisarius, where Justinian married the daughter to the Langobard Audoin (PLRE 2, 63). Eder, Walter (Berlin)

Eparchos

(160 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (ἔπαρχος; éparchos). Head of an   eparchía , a territorial administrative unit in Hellenistic states, especially in the  Seleucid kingdom. It is disputed whether eparchos ever was an official title for the holder of civil and military power in a subdivision of the satrapy ( Satrap) because in this context it is not attested epigraphically. The first appearance of the term eparchos for a governor in Seleucid territory in Polybius [2] (5,46,7) suggests that eparchos was formed as an analogy to the term eparchía (the Greek term for a Roman province) and describes …

Epigoni

(430 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin) | Latacz, Joachim (Basle)
(ἐπίγονοι; epígonoi, ‘future generations’, ‘descendants’). [German version] [1] Second generation of successors of Alexander [4] the Great Second generation of successors of Alexander [4] the Great in regions of the former Alexandrian Empire. Regarding the term Epigoni, see  Diadochi and Epigoni. Eder, Walter (Berlin) [German version] [2] Early Greek epic Lost early Greek epic (only one hexameter certain to belong to it has survived, and that is the introductory verse: F 1 Bernabé = F 1 Davies, see below) which belonged to the Theban part of th…

Amorges

(150 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (Ἀμόργης/ Amórgēs). Persian, illegitimate son ( nóthos: Thuc. 8,5,5) of the satrap of Sardis Pissuthnes; from Caria he resumed his father's rebellion against the Persian king Darius [2] II, which had failed before 413 BC. No later than 412 BC Athens made an attempt at cooperation with A. (Thuc. 8,19,2), in breach of a treaty with Darius [2] II (And. Or. 3,29; cf. Epilycys), if payments to an Athenian general in Ephesus in the year 414 [1. no. 77, Z. 79] were for assistance for A. (as in…

Severan dynasty

(979 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] The SD, also referred to as 'The Severans', 'Severan era', or, owing to the origins of the family in Africa and Syria, the 'African/Syrian emperors', lasted c. 40 years from the accession of their founder, Septimius [II 7] Severus (AD 193-211), via his sons by Iulia [12] Domna, Caracalla (198-217) and Geta [2] (209-211), to Iulia Domna's great nephews Elagabalus [2] (218-222) and Severus [2] Alexander (222-235). The sequence of Severan emperors was interrupted for about a year (April 217-mid 218) by the rul…

Telonai

(317 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] (τελῶναι/ telônai, Sg. τελώνης/ telṓnēs; 'tax leaseholders', from τέλη/ télē = 'taxes' and ὠνή/ ōnḗ = 'buying, lease'); private entrepreneurs or businesses in the Greek domain, comparable with the Roman publicani (see Cic. Ad Q. fr. 1,1,33). They either purchased for a lease guaranteed to the state, the right to collect taxes and tolls for a certain period in a defined area as well as the right to exploit mines, or they received a certain sum of money from the state and had to provide an agr…

Hellenic League

(343 words)

Author(s): Eder, Walter (Berlin)
[German version] Modern term for the league of c. 30 Greek states (31 in Plut. Themistocles 20,3; cf. Snake column) which swore an oath to unite against the Persians in the autumn of 481 BC, immediately prior to the attack of Xerxes [1] I and whose representatives ( próbouloi: Hdt. 7,172,1) met regularly in the sanctuary of Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth, beginning no later than the spring of 480. The first meeting took place in 481 in Sparta (Paus. 3,12,6), the leading Greek power of the time (cf. Thuc. 1,18,2), or on the Isthmus (Hdt. …
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