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[German version] (from Latin talus, 'ankle', 'dice'). The four secure written records about the TL allow no final conclusion as to whether it was a Roman game of dice (thus [7. 1842]) or a type of staged presentation in which the performers wore a toga that reached down to their ankles. For Cicero (Cic. Att. 1,16,3; Cic. Off. 1,150), the TL was immoral and the lowest profession next to 'salve vendors' and 'dancers' (Entertainers); Quintilianus (Inst. 11,3,58) emphasises its frolicsomeness and implies song a…

[German version] (Τέρπνος; Terpnós). Famous citharode. When Nero became emperor in 54 AD, he summoned T., listened to him daily and used him as inspiration for his own music (Suet. Nero 20,1); towards the end of his reign (67) Nero was allowed to 'defeat' T. at the Períodos (Cass. Dio 8-10; Philostr. VA 5,7-8). Vespasian in contrast honoured T. with 200,000 HS on the occasion of the restoration of the Roman …

[German version] (πυρρίχη/ pyrrhíchē, Latin pyrrhica). A widespread and well-documented ancient weapon dan…

[German version] (Σακάδας; Sakádas). Poet and famous aulos player from Argos. He participated in the second organisation ( katástasis) of music in Sparta (Plut. Mor. 1134bc) and won the Pythian agṓn (Pythia [2]) three times in a row from 586 BC in Delphi, when solo performances of the aulos were introduced there (Paus. 10,7,3-5; 6,14,10; cf. Musical instruments V.B.1.). His winning piece, which described Apollo's …

(Σωκράτης; Sōkrátēs). [German version] [1] Sculptor from Thebes, c. 470 BC Sculptor from Thebes. He created a cult statue of Meter Dindymene for Pindar [2] in Thebes (Paus. 9,25,3) and therefore must have worked in the 'Severe Style' around 470 BC. Paus. 1,22,8 attributed a relief of the Charites and a Hermes Propylaios on the Acropolis in Athens to the philosopher S. [2] as the alleged sculptor. The relief of the Charites is identified as the model of a much-copied type. Because it is dated to around 470,…

(Θράσυλλος; Thrásyllos). [German version] [1] Athenian commander in the Pel…

[German version] I. Origins It is difficult to differentiate the concepts of basic acoustic and musical terms in the ancient European languages, just as it is in modern languages ( cf. German …

(Πτολεμαίς; Ptolemaís). [German version] [1] Daughter of Ptolemaeus [1] I and Eurydice [4] Daughter of Ptolemaeus [1] I and Eurydice [4]; presu…

(Ξενόφιλος/ Xenóphilos). [German version] [1] Comedy writer of the 5th cent. BC Comedy writer of the 5th cent. BC, victorious once at the Lenaia [1. test. 2] and possibly also once at the Dionysia [1. test. 1]; neither play titles nor fragments survive. Bäbler, Balbina (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG VII, 1989, 803.…

[German version] (ῥόμβος/ rhómbos, Lat. rhombus, ‘bull-roarer’), a wooden object which, when attached to a string (Schol. Clem. Al. Protrepticus 2,17,2) and twirled in the air (Eur. Hel. 1362), produced a loud (Schol. Apoll. Rhod. 1,1139), hissing (Schol. Clem. Al. …

(Θεόφραστος/ Theóphrastos). Peripatetic philosopher, c. 371/0-287/6 BC, pupil and successor of Aristotle (Aristoteles [6]). [German version] I. Life Peripatetic philosopher, c. 371/0-287/6 BC T., born in Eresus on Lesbos, is said to have been a pupil of Alcippus. If he also studied in Athens with Plato [1], he must have had contact not only with Aristotle (Aristoteles [6]), but also with Speusippus and Xenocrates. After Plato's death (347), T. followed Aristotle to Asia Minor, then to Macedonia when Aristotle was summoned to teach Alexander [4] (343/2). Both later returned to Athens, where Aristotle founded the Peripatetic School in 335 (Peripatos). After the death of Alexander (323), T. remained at Athens in spite of the anti-Macedonian sentiment there, and became head of the school. T. is said to have had 2,000 pupils, including the playwright Menander [4] and the politician Demetrius [4] of Phaleron, who probably enabled the foreigner …

[German version] The only surviving ancient Greek song with musical notation whose origin is neither liturgical nor dramatic. It is inscribed on a grave stele from the 1st century AD, found in…

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[German version] I. Egypt and Ancient Orient As in all ancient culture, dance played an important role in the Ancient Orient as well as in Egypt; the documentary evidence for the latter, however, is incomparably better, both in pictures and in texts ─ there was hardly a part of life not involving dance: dances accompanied ‘rites of passage’ were magic-apotropaic, ecstatic, worshipful, amusing-entertaining, and even eroticizing. Children, women, and men danced together in separate groups; alongside, the…

(Πορφύριος; Porphýrios), Neoplatonist philosopher and scholar. [German version] …

(Ὄλυμπος/Ólympos). Geography: [1-13]. People: [14-15]. [German version] [1] Home of the ›Olympian‹ gods, highest mountain in Greece (Latin Olympus) (Latin Olympus). Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Meyer, Ernst (Zürich) …

(Δάμων; Dámōn) [German version] [1] Prince of the Telchines Prince of the  Telchines. Father-in-law of Minos and ancestor of Miletus. When the Telchines were struck dead by lightning by Jupiter because they poisoned crops, D. and his family were spared in gratitude for hospitality provided. Only his daughter Macelo and her husband were among the victims (Nic. in the schol. Ov. Ib. 475).…

(Παγκράτης/ Pankrátēs). [German version] [1] Musician, archaic style Musician; according to Aristoxenus [1] an enthusiast of the archaic style ( trópos) of Pindar and Simonides (Plut. De Musica 1137f). Harmon, Roger (Basle) [German version] [2] Poet, 3rd-2nd cent. BC Hellenistic poet (3rd-2nd cent. BC), author of the didactic poem Θαλάσσια ἔργα ( Maritime works), of which three fragments, dealing with the pilotfish, the wrasse and the salp and their 'common' names, are preserved by Athenaeus (who always refers to him as Arkás). Identification with the homonymous author of a Bokchorē…

(Πλούταρχος/ Ploútarchos). [German version] [1] Tyrant of Eretria, 4th cent. BC …

(Πτολεμαῖος/ Ptolemaîos). Personal name meaning 'warlike' (not 'hostile'), first recorded in Hom. Il. 4,228; the name occurred in Macedonia in the 5th and 4th cents. BC, from where it spread to Thessaly, still in the 4th cent. (IG IX 2, 598). It became prominent with the Lagid dynasty, and became common, not only in Egypt, where it may at first have indicated solidarity with the dynasty, but also elsewhere. It underwent many deformations and transmutations. Ptolemies Famous persons: P. [1] I Soter, P. [6] III Euergetes; P. [22], the son of Caesar; the scientist Claudius P. [65]. Ameling, Walter (Jena) I. Dynasty of the Hellenistic kings in Egypt [German version] [1] P. I Soter (Σωτήρ; Sōtḗr). Founder of the dynasty of the Ptolemies. Born in 367/6 BC, the son of Lagus [1] (legend gives Philip II (Philippus [4] II) as the father, Curt. 9,8,22; Paus. 1,6,2) and …