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Lapithae

(183 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Λαπίθαι/ Lapíthai, Latin Lapithae). Mythical Thessalian tribe (Hom. Il. 2,738ff.; Str. 9,439ff.), particularly known for their battle with the Centaurs. According to a late version, they were descendants of an eponymous ancestor Lapithes or Lapithas, who was himself descended either from Apollo and a daughter of the river god Peneius (Stilbe) or from Ixion and the slave Dia (Diod. Sic. 4,63,2; 5,58,5; Paus. 5,10,8; schol. Apoll. Rhod. 1,40). Descent from Ixion would make the L. en…

Centaurus

(78 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
(Κένταυρος; Kéntauros). [German version] [1] Father of the centaurs According to Pind. Pyth. 2,21ff. son of  Ixion and  Nephele (the supposed Hera). C. fathers the  centaurs with the mares of Pelion (Diod. Sic. 4,70). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [2] Ship According to Virgil (Aen. 5,122; 10,195), name of a ship with the figure of a centaur. Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [3] Constellation The constellation C., usually identified with  Chiron or  Pholus. Walde, Christine (Basle)

Pathos

(689 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (πάθος/ páthos, i.a. 'passion', Latin. i.a. perturbatio animi, affectus), provoking emotion for the purpose of persuasion, occupies a central position in all major ancient and aesthetic literary works (catharsis). The first reference text is Aristotle's Rhetoric [6], which posits that the audience is convinced in three ways: through ethos (ethical self-presentation of the speaker), pathos (the presentation of the subject matter in a way calculated to produce an emotional response from the listener) and logos (logic…

Mnemonics

(675 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] A. Memoria as part of the rhetorical system In Graeco-Roman antiquity, a speech was supposed to be delivered from memory, i.e. without written aids (exception: Cicero's speech to the Senate on his return from exile; he merely prefaced it with some improvised words of thanks, Cic. Planc. 74). Recall of phrases, thoughts, and arguments of the rhetorical system were also indispensable for the orator: memoria, the ‘treasure-house of recollection’, is the foundation of every form of rhetoric (Cic. Inv. 1,9; Rhet. Her. 3,28). On that basis, memory is one of the five  partes or…

Iphicles

(146 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Ἰφικλῆς; Iphiklês, also Ἴφικλος; Íphiklos). Son of  Alcmene and  Amphitryon, twin (half-)brother of  Heracles, for whose godlike powers he is used as a foil. In their cot he flees from the snakes, which Hercules strangles (Pherecydes FGrH 3 F 69). I. participates in the Calydonian Hunt and in Hercules' Trojan campaign (Diod. Sic. 4,49,3). With Automedusa, daughter of Alcathous, he fathers  Iolaus. After the battle against Erginus, Hercules is married to Creon's older daughter Megara,…

Inventio

(687 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (εὕρεσις, heúresis: invention, finding sc. of ideas). In the system of rhetoric, inventio denotes the first of five production stages in the compositon of a speech (  partes orationis ; apart from inventio,   dispositio ,   elocutio ,   memoria ,   pronuntiatio ). Within the separation of verbal realization ( verba) and ideas ( res), which permeates all rhetoric in antiquity and counteracts this quintuple division, the inventio together with the dispositio, to which it is inseparably linked, belong to the res that are conceded a peculiarly concrete status. The inventio s…

Antithesis

(99 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (ἀντίθετον, ἀντίθεσις; antítheton, antíthesis), contrapositum, contentio, assigned to the list of conceptual and verbal figures, but also part of rhetorical argumentation as such. It is therefore relevant for the theory of expression (rhetoric) as well as for the theory of cognition and contemplation (dialectics, e.g. in Heraclitus: war and peace as opposites). Antithesis creates a semantic broadening through a critically-dividing or a mediating juxtaposition of two (or more) words, wo…

Metaphor

(1,239 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
(μεταφορά/ metaphorá, ‘transference’; Latin loan translation: translatio). [German version] A. Definition of the problem and its classification in the rhetorical system The discussion of metaphor and other forms of figurative speech, which today is taking place with great emphasis in various fields (linguistics, neurophysiology, psychology, and philosophy), has its origin in Aristotle, who dealt with metaphor in the ‘Poetics and ‘Rhetoric. In keeping with these origins, metaphor finds its place in the rhetorical sys…

Hercules Oetaeus

(191 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] Roman tragedy by an unknown author, handed down in the corpus of  Seneca's tragedies. This drama, the longest in antiquity (1996 v.), has been subject to highly controversial assessments, mostly depending on whether Seneca's authorship is accepted or rejected (extremes [1] and [2], mediating [3]). The subject, the events leading up to the death of Hercules and his apotheosis, is treated originally, despite artistic and intelligent  intertextuality with Soph. Trach., Ovid (Epist. 9 and Met. 9) and to Seneca's Hercules Furens. The stylization of Hercules as sav…

Cerberus

(377 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Κέρβερος, Kérberos). A guard dog that belongs to the standard repertoire of the Graeco-Roman  Underworld who signals and prevents any unauthorized entry into, or departure from, the realm of the dead. He often appears at the side of  Hades and/or  Persephone. In the Hellenistic age C. in a changed form was also associated with the god  Sarapis (Macrob. Sat. 1,20,13-14). C. is mentioned for the first time -- although without a name or any more detailed description -- in Homer in connection with the adventures of  Hercules in the Underworld…

Celaeno

(85 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
(Κελαινώ, Kelainṓ, of κελαινός/‘dark’). [German version] [1] Lover of Poseidon One of the  Pleiades (Hes. fr. 275,2 Rzach; Ov. Fast. 4,173), by Poseidon mother of Lycus (Apollod. 3,111; Eratosth. Katasterismoi 23) and of Nycteus (Hyg. Poet. Astr. 2,21). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [2] One of the Harpies One of the  Harpies living with the Strophades, who predicts to the Aeneads that they would devour their tables before the founding of the city (Verg. Aen. 3,209-258; cf. Val. Fl. 4,453ff.). Walde, Christine (Basle)

Morpheus

(110 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Μορφεύς). One of the many sons of Hypnus (of ‘Sleep’, Latin Somnus) who personify the dream life of people. With his brothers Icelus and Phantasus M. is responsible for the realistic form of dream images. M., who appears to Alcyone in the form of her dead husband Ceyx, in particular, became proverbial in the tradition of Ovid (‘lie in M.'s arms’). The ‘dream artists’, mentioned only by Ovid (Met. 11,633-676) in his description of the caves of sleep localised in Cimmeria, are amon…

Ceyx

(253 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] ( Κήϋξ; Kḗyx). Son of Hesperus and Philonis (Apollod. 1,7,4), king of  Trachis. C. grants asylum to Hercules in his flight from Calydon, who went from there to his death on the Oeta, and to his spouse Deianira (Apollod. 2,7,6; Diod. Sic. 4,57,1). C. later also receives the Heraclides, whom he must however send on their way (Hecataeus FGrH 1 F 30). C.'s life is marked by blows of fate: his son Hippasus participates in Hercules' campaign against Oechalia and loses his life (Apollod. 2…

Melpomene

(133 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Μελπομένη/ Melpoménē; Lat. Melpomena; descriptive name: ‘she who sings’; cf. Diod. Sic. 4,7: M. because of the melody that affects the listeners). One of the nine Muses (Hes. Theog. 77). According to Achelous [2], she is the mother of the Sirens (Apollod. Ep. 7,18). For a long time, M. remains the least specific and most rarely mentioned Muse. She is regarded as the patron of tragedy, especially of the lyric choral parts, and is depicted with, among other things, theatrical masks (c…

Momos

(113 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Μῶμος/ Mômos). Greek personification of censoriousness, son of Nyx/Night (Hes. Theog. 214). In the Kýpria, M. is an advisor to Zeus (Kypria fr. 1 EpGF). Iulianus (Ep. 50) tells that M. was gripped by excessive rage, because he could find no fault with Aphrodite. After Callimachus, who often refers to him in his literary feuds as the embodiment of the stupid, carping caviller (e.g. Callim. H. 2,113; Callim. Fr. 393), M. is often mentioned in later literature (Lucian. Iuppiter tragoedus 19ff; Lucian. Verae historiae 2,3). In his Oneirokritiká (Artem. 4 pr.), the drea…

Lavinia

(300 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
(Greek Λαῦνα/ Laûna). Name of two female characters who are linked with the Aeneas myth ( Aeneas). [German version] [1] Daughter of Anius Daughter of Anius - the priest king of Delos at the time of the Trojan War (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,59,3) - who marries Aeneas (Ps.-Orig. 9,2,5) and later as a seer accompanies him on his wanderings. L. dies on the site where Lavinium is built (Isid. Orig. 15,1,52). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [2] Daughter of Latinus and Amata Daughter of Latinus and of Amata who after the death of her brother is the sole heir to the throne (Ve…

Hyperion

(139 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Ὑπερίων; Hyperíōn; on the etymology [1]). In the tradition of Hesiod one of the  Titans, who with his sister Theia fathers the gods of light Helios ( Sol),  Selene and  Eos (Hes. Theog. 134; 371-374; Apollod. 1,2,8). Opinions are divided on his participation in the  titanomachy (schol. Hom. Il. 14,274 Dindorf contra Serv. Aen. 6,580). In Homer, however, H. is an epithet (Hom. Od. 1,8) as well as an independent term for Helios (Hom. Il. 19,398, but especially in Roman poetry: e.g. …

Pierides

(91 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
(Πιερίδες/ Pierídes; Lat. Pierides or Pieriae). [German version] [1] Epithet of the Muses Name for the Muses after the place of their residence (Hes. Theog. 53). Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [2] The nine daughters of Pierus The nine daughters of Pierus (Paus. 9,29,4) and Antiope, they challenged the Muses to an artistic competition, were defeated and turned into magpies (Ov. Met. 5,671ff.)  (Ov. Met. 5,294ff.; Antoninus Liberalis 9,1ff.). According to Antoninus Liberalis l.c. their names were Acalanthis, Colymbas, Iynx…

Romanius Hispo

(123 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] Latin rhetor and advocate in the early Imperial Period. His intelligence and gift for oratory allowed him to work his way up from modest circumstances to being a welcome guest at the court of Tiberius [II 1] (Quint. Inst. 6,3,100; Tac. Ann. 1,74). In the quaestor Caepio [1] Crispinus' treason case against the praetor Granius [II 3] Marcellus he appeared as a joint plaintiff. Seneca [1] the Elder's numerous mentions of him express admiration for his extraordinary command of the lan…

Comparison

(446 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] In ancient rhetoric, the terms εικών/ eikṓn (literally ‘image’, ‘illustration’: often for short comparisons), παραβολή/ parabolḗ (especially for similes) as well as Latin simile, similitudo cover diverse phenomena dominating a word, sentence or even a text that create a relationship between two facts or spheres of the imagination. The primary function of emphasis placed the comparison close to the  topos (Quint. Inst. 4,1,70), and the exemplum (5,11,22; but cf. Cic. Inv. 1,49), the figurae sententiarum (Cic. De or. 3,201 = Quint. Inst. 9,1,31;  figures). A theory…

Cycnus

(327 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
(Κύκνος; Kýknos, Latin Cygnus; ‘swan’). Name of several heroes whose common element is their relationship with swans. Among these the most important are: [German version] [1] Son of Ares and Pelopea Son of  Ares and of Pelopea (Apollod. 2,5,11: the Pyrene), king of Amphanae, husband of Themistonoe. In the grove of Apollo in Thessalonian Pagasae, C. robs pilgrims travelling to Delphi and invites them to participate in chariot races which he always wins (detailed narration [Hes.] scut. 57ff.). He kills the losers and decorates …

Nyx

(651 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
(Νύξ/ Nýx; Lat. Nox, night). In antiquity, the night as a sphere of the eerie and the hidden was regarded not simply as a natural, daily phenomenon that shaped people's lives but as a goddess and personification. It is difficult to draw clear boundaries between these realms. [German version] A. Genealogies In variously accentuated genealogies of gods [1], N. is a cosmogonic power. In Hesiod, N. belongs to the first generation of gods along with other appearances of light (Hes. Theog. 123ff.; 211; 744ff.; cf. her authority in Hom. Il. 14,259). Sh…

Mnemosyne

(278 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Μνημοσύνη/ Mnēmosýnē, Latin Moneta; Liv. Andronicus, Odusia fr. 21 Morel-Büchner-Blänsdorf). Goddess of memory (cf. Mneme). As a daughter of Uranus and Gaia M. belongs to the oldest generation of Titans (Hes. Theog. 135), who represent cosmic and social concepts. After spending nine nights with Zeus, she became the mother of the nine Muses who bring human beings joy and temporary light-heartedness (Hes. Theog. 54 ff.; Pind. Nem. 7,15; Pind. Isthm. 6,75). Parallels to Zeus’s other lo…

Muses

(1,502 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
(Greek Μοῦσαι/ Moûsai, Latin Musae; Camenae: see below; etymology contentious [3. 7f.]; ancient attempts at a solution, e.g. Pl. Crat. 406a; Diod. Sic. 4,7,3-4; Etym. M. 589,40; further details [3. 5f.]). [German version] A. General The M. are a specific of the religion and of the cultural self-conception of the Greeks. Far from being mere personifications of the arts, they are rather the expression of the capacity, granted to man alone, for self-reflection and taking a place in history. As goddesses of memoria (memory and the means of remembering, the…

Parallelism

(130 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (from Greek παράλληλοι/ parállēloi, 'standing or lying side-by-side'). As a transpositional figure of speech (Figures) parallelism, like hyperbaton, antithesis and chiasmus, is part of embellished speech ( ornatus). It designates (at least two) coordinated sentence units of equal rank that relate to one another and also deviate from normal word order (Quint. Inst. 9,3,80f.). If the number of syllables in the words and the length of the two sentence units are identical, this is called isokolon; if they are approximately equal, the term used is parison. In order to…

Calchus

(71 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Κάλχος; Kálchos). King of the Daunians ( Daunia), lover of  Circe prior to the arrival of Odysseus. Because he continues to importune her against her will, she drives him to madness with enchanted food and drink. As a Daunian army begins looking for him, Circe releases him from her spell, but only after C. promises never to set foot on her island again (Parthenius 12). Walde, Christine (Basle)

Alliteration

(127 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] The term was coined by the Neapolitan humanist G. Pontano (14th cent.) for the frequent repetition of the same consonant (also, vowel in initial position) or of the same syllable in a word group. However, the phenomenon of alliteration was already known in the practical use of ancient rhetoric (it corresponds to a positively understood homoeoprophoron, related to paronomasia). Alliteration results in a closer linking of sentence parts and creates a mnemotechnical effect (e.g. in Germanic alliteration). It is used most often in aphorisms (Suet. Iul. 37,2: veni, vidi…

Silence

(751 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Greek σιγή/ sigḗ, σιωπή/ siōpḗ and associated verbs; Latin silentium, taciturnitas, quies and associated verbs). Even though Graeco-Roman Antiquity bears the stamp of a culture of speech (Rhetoric), many testimonies from ancient literature, religion, philosophy, medicine and general understanding betray a high awareness of the importance of silence, which had its own forms of expression and performance [2; 4; 12]. Programmatic statements on silence are found throughout Antiquity, e.g. in Pi…

Phosphoros

(146 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Φωσφόρος/ Phōsphóros, 'bringer of light'; also Ἑωσφόρος/ Heōsphóros, 'bringer of dawn'; Latin Lucifer [1], cf. Cic. Nat. D. 2,53). Term for the planet Venus as a light-bringing human-friendly morning star, which is identical - as was recognised at an early stage - to the evening star Hesperos (Parmenides, 28 A 1 DK; Pl. Epin. 987b). In mythology, however, the idea of two stars always remained: here P., like Hesperos, is a son of the dawn Eos and the Titan Astraeus (He…

Ceteus

(27 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Κητεύς; Kēteús). Mythical king in Arcadia, son of  Lycaon; according to Pherecydes in Apollod. 3,7,2 also the father of  Callisto. Walde, Christine (Basle)

Dream interpretation

(1,823 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[English version] The multi-voiced discourse conducted within Graeco-Roman Antiquity regarding dreams and dream interpretation in religion, literature, everyday life, philosophy, divination/mantic art and medicine shows clear signs of cultural determination [19]. Despite striking breaks with tradition - above all through Christianity - a relatively high degree of continuity in dream discourses can be observed since Antiquity [18]. Among other things, this is probably owing to the fact that the anc…

Carmen de figuris

(133 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] Factual poem in 185 Latin hexameters, dealing in alphabetical order with rhetorical  figures; it was designed as an aide-mémoire in the teaching of rhetorics. It was evidently based on  Rutilius Lupus and  Alexander [25], son of Numenius. As a rule, three lines are offered per figure (the Greek designation, one line for the Latin definition, two lines of examples from Greek and Latin classics). The writer is anonymous (the addressee Messius is perhaps identical with Arusianus Messius); the late Lat…

Tropes

(488 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (τρόποι/ trópoi; singular τρόπος/ trópos, rhetorical term, literally 'turn', from τρέπεσθαι/ trépesthai, 'to turn'; the original technical term was metaphorá, which later acquired its more preicse meaning: Aristot. Poet. 21,7,1457b; Latin verbum translatum: Quint. Inst. 8,3,24, translatio or tropus [1. 205-208]). In rhetoric, tropes have their place in the category of elocutio / ornatus in verbis singulis: in contrast to figures, which have  their effect on the surface of the text, e.g. in the word order, tropes are phrases used in a …

Terpsichore

(96 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Τερψιχόρη, 'she who delights in choral dances'). One of the Muses (Hes. Theog. 78), whose name indicates responsibility for  chorus and dance (Pind. I. 2,7; Korinna, fr. 935 Page; Pl. Phdr. 259b-d; Anth. Pal. 9,504) and is connected with paideía   (Diod. 4,7). She wears a wreath of laurel and ivy and her attributes are the lyre and the flute. Some accounts make her the mother of Linus (Suda s. v. Λίνος), Hymenaeus [1] (Alci. Epist. 1,13), Rhesus (Aristoph. Hypothesis zu Eur. Rhes.) and the Sirens (Apoll. Rhod. 4,895). Muses Walde, Christine (Basle)

Iphitus

(135 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Ἴφιτος; Íphitos). Son of  Eurytus [1] of Oechalia and Antiope (or Antioche) who was killed by Hercules because his father and brothers (except for I.: Apollod. 1,128) did not give Hercules  Iole as his wife, as had been promised to him as a prize for his winning at archery. The legend is told in Hom. Od. 21,14ff. (where the bow of Odysseus is a gift from I.), in the lost epic Oichalías hálōsis, and also in Soph. Trach. 225ff., Diod. Sic. 4,31,2ff. and Apollod. 2,127ff. According to another version, I. arrived at the stronghold of Tiryns searching for…

Allegory

(1,080 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] ἀλληγορία ( allēgoría; first documented as a rhetorical term in Cic. Att. 2,20,3), from ἀλληγορέω ( allēgoréō; ‘I say something other [than I mean]’); Lat. translatio, inversio, immutatio, permutatio. In rhetoric, allegory does not refer to a hermeneutical method ( Allegorical poetry,  Allegoresis). Instead, rhetoric deals with the production of allegories and with their effectiveness as a strategy of argumentation (  argumentatio ). However, the rhetorical treatment of allegory also faces fundamental questions of languag…

Polyhymnia

(134 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Πολύμνια/ Polýmnia, less often Πολυύμνια/ Polyýmnia, one 'with many songs' or 'polyphonic choral song'; cf. Diod. Sic. 4,7,2 ff.). One of the nine canonical Muses, seldom mentioned individually in verse (Ov. Fast. 5,9-54). Despite her unambiguous name, her sphere of activity is non-specific and multifaceted. In Horace (Carm. 1,1), P. is to be understood as a Muse who immortalizes great matters with great songs. She is known as the inventor of the lyre (schol. Apoll. Rhod. 3,1-5a) and …

Senecta, Senectus

(58 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Latin 'old age'; Greek Γῆρας/ Gḗras). Daughter of Erebus and Nyx/Night (Cic. Nat. D. 3,17,44), personification of old age (Hor. Epod. 8,4), often mentioned in connection with illnesses and human suffering (cf. Sen. Epist. 108,28: “senectus enim morbus est”): Verg. Aen. 6,275; Sen. Herc. f. 696; Sil. Pun. 13,583 et passim. Walde, Christine (Basle)

Leimone

(11 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] Daughter of Hippomenes [2]. Walde, Christine (Basle)

Cerambus

(110 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Κέραμβος, Kérambos). Son of Euseirus (son of Poseidon) and the nymph Eidothea; a shepherd on the Othrys, he invents the panpipes and the lyre, and his playing sets the nymphs dancing. He does not follow Pan's advice to flee from the imminent, icy cold winter. C. and his flock freeze to death under the mass of snow. The nymphs transform him into a beetle with long feelers resembling a lyre (Antoninus Liberalis 22; Cerambyx: stag beetle; cf. Hsch. s.v. Κεράμβυξ). However Ovid in con…

Cambles

(86 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Κάμβλης; Kámblēs, also Κάμβης; Kámbēs). Mythological king of Lydia. His insatiable appetite (perhaps caused by poison given to him by his enemies) drives him to cannibalism. Driven mad by hunger, he devours even his own wife. Upon waking the next morning with the rest of her hand in his mouth and realizing what he had done, he kills himself (Xanthus, Lydiaca, fr. 12., FHG vol. I, 36ff.; Nicolaus of Damascus FGrH 2 A 90 F 28; Ael. VH 1,27). Walde, Christine (Basle)

Speeches, Genres of

(10,896 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] A. Definition and Historical Overview of the Development of the Genres of Speech (CT) Already in the epics of Homer, the Attic tragedies, among historiographers and in philosophy, the prominent areas of public speech become crystallised in reflection, however sublimated, of socio-cultural reality: speeches of advice, defence and accusation, epitaphs and encomia. Yet it was Aristotle, in his Rhetoric (Book I), who created the first reference text, influential to this day, of a canonic threefold division of the genres of speech (Greek: génē …

Celmis

(81 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Κέλμις, Kélmis; older form evidently Σκέλμις in Callim. Fr. 100,1 Pf. and Nonnus, Dion. 14,39; 37,164). One of the  Daktyloi Idaioi skilled in the blacksmith's craft. Proverbially, C. ἐν σιδήρῳ (Zenob. 4,80) according to a passage in the Sophoclean satyr play Kōphoí (TGF, fr. 337 N.2) is used to describe excessively power-conscious persons. C., who is the playmate of the boy Zeus in Ovid (Met. 4,281f.), is transformed into steel because he reviles Rhea. Walde, Christine (Basle)

Obscuritas

(337 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] ('Lack of clarity' sc. of expression); corresponds with the Greek noun σκότος ( skótos, 'darkness') with the adjective σκοτεινός ( skoteinós); ἀσάφεια ( asápheia, 'unclearness'). Obscuritas is a central term in ancient rhetorical and literary-aesthetic discussions. For the Greeks, obscuritas has a positive connotation in the context of solemn inspirational mantic art and oracles in particular, but as a quality of the language of poetry , it is a matter of controversy. In the Frogs of Aristophanes, the archaic-obscure Aeschylus and the modern-perspicuous …

Thalia

(284 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
(Θάλεια/ Tháleia, Θαλία/ Thalía, Lat. Thalia; related to the Greek θάλλειν/ thállein, ‘to sprout, grow, thrive’, esp. in reference to fruit trees; cf. Diod. Sic. 4,7). Hesiod counts T. among (1) the Muses, (2) the Nereids and (3) the Charites; generally, she is related to the realm of fertility. Later literary references show a deliberately vague distinction between Muses and Charites. [German version] [1] Muse One of the Muses (Hes. Theog. 77), associated with comedies (e.g. Anth. Pal. 9,504; attribute: comic theatre mask; ‘the light muse’, cf. T.-Theater, Hamburg) as well as mi…

Labyrinth

(1,193 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
(λαβύρινθος; labýrinthos, labyrinthus). [German version] A. The concept The term ‘labyrinth’ denotes in current usage either the labyrinth in the narrow sense; or in the broad sense, any maze or confusing, large building (especially since the Hellenistic period as a motif in literature or in the pictorial arts); or else in a figurative sense, it is used as a metaphor or allegory for the vagaries and deceptions of human life. This last sense can increasingly be observed after the 3rd cent. AD. Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] B. The labyrinth in the narrow sense The labyrinth in …

Cyclopes

(334 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Greek Κύκλωπες; Kýklōpes, singular Κύκλωψ; Kýklōps, Latin Cyclopes, singular Cyclops; etymology see below). C. is the term used to describe about 18 groups or individual figures in Greek myth who differ not just in their descent and location but also in their outward form and characteristics. As early as antiquity, Hellanicus (FGrH 4 F 88) was the first to undertake systematization and to attempt to trace them back to a single ancestor, Cyclops, son of  Uranus and/or the king of Thrace (Schol. Eur. Or. 965). People distinguished in particular between: 1. the C. w…

Metamorphosis

(1,201 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
Terminology: Greek μεταμόρφωσις ( metamórphōsis; ‘transformation’); Latin transfiguratio, mutatio, with the verbs mutare, refigurari, transformare. [German version] A. Definition Metamorphoses are specific types of myths, particularly widespread in Ancient Greece, whence they found their way into Roman literature. Two types may be distinguished: (1) temporary transformations of gods (for instance Zeus in various erotic adventures), magicians, or tricksters for deceptive purposes, etc.; (2) lasting transformations …

Cleio

(157 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Greek Κλείω; Kleíō, Latin Clio; on the etymology from κλεός, ‘fame’ cf. Diod. Sic. 4,19; Plut. Symp. 9,14; Cornutus 14). One of the Muses ( Muses; Hes. Theog. 77); as a nymph of the springs (Plut. De Pyth. or. 17,402c-d) or an  Oceanid (Verg. G. 4,341), C. is also a goddess of the waters, which is frequently associated with poetic inspiration [1]. Since Pindar (e.g., Pind. Nem. 3, 1-2; Pind. Ep. 3,3; 12,1-29; Pind. Ol. 2,1-2; cf. Hor. Carm. 1,12,2) and Bacchyl. (3,1-3; 12,1-3; 13,9,2…

Iphianira

(46 words)

Author(s): Walde, Christine (Basle)
[German version] (Ἰφιάνειρα; Iphiáneira). Name of two different Greek heroines: of one, the daughter of the Argive king Megapenthes, the same story is told as of  Iphianassa [1] (Diod. Sic. 4,68,4); the other is the sister of  Amphiaraus (Diod. Sic. 4,68,5). Walde, Christine (Basle)
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