bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Asia Minor, Hellenistic
Authors: Dmitriev Sviatoslav
Published: December 2012

The history of Asia Minor following the death of Alexander III, The Great comprised diverse forms of interaction between the Hellenistic kingdoms that emerged on the ruins of his empire, local Greek and non‐Greek cities, different non‐Greek peoples, indigenous or migrant, and the Romans, who would establish their control over that region through contacts with cities and client‐kings and, eventually, by founding provinces.
Asoka
Authors: Mairs Rachel
Published: December 2012

Asoka (ca. 304–232
BCE
; Sanskrit
Aśokah
, “without sorrow,” also commonly transliterated “Ashoka”) was ruler of the Indian Mauryan empire from around 269 until his death (Thapar 1997; Falk 2006). He was son of Bindusara and grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Dynasty. Asoka occupies an important position in the ancient Indian historical and epigraphic tradition, where he appears as a ruthless conqueror and subsequently as a patron of Buddhism. He is also one of the few Indian rulers whose dealings with the west, especially with the kings of the Hellenistic eastern Mediterranean and with the Greek‐speaking population of Arachosia, are well documented.
Attalos I
Authors: Coloru Omar
Published: December 2012

Attalos I of Pergamon (r. 241–197BCE), the son of Attalos, youngest nephew of Philetairos, and of Antiochis, daughter of Achaios (Strabo 13.4.2), was the first member of the Attalid Dynasty to assume the title of king. While Philetairos, founder of the dynasty, and his nephew Eumenes I were quite obscure dynasts still trying to consolidate their power and to affirm their independence from the Seleucids, Attalos I managed to bring the small principality of pergamon into the number of the Hellenistic monarchies. Several major events contributed to this result.
Attalos II
Authors: Kosmetatou Elizabeth
Published: December 2012

Attalos II Philadelphos, second son of Attalos I and Apollonis, king of Pergamon (ruled 160–138
BCE
).
Autonomy
Authors: Dmitriev Sviatoslav
Published: December 2012

“Autonomy” (autonomia) primarily defined the right of a city to create and use its own laws, whereas “freedom” (eleutheria) indicated the city's independence from external domination.
Bactria
Authors: Lerner Jeffrey. D
Published: December 2012

Bactria, corresponding to northern Afghanistan, whose capital was the important commercial city of Bactra‐Zariaspa (modern Balkh), was demarcated by the plain extending from the Paropamisos (Hindu Kush) in the south to the Oxos (Amu Daria) river in the north (e.g., Strabo 11.8 [513–514]).
Benefactors
Authors: Dmitriev Sviatoslav
Published: December 2012

Throughout ancient Greek history, people occupying preponderant social positions were expected to act as benefactors (euergetai) for the rest of the community.
Boundary disputes
Authors: Ager Sheila L.
Published: December 2012

Disputes over territory have been a leading cause of interstate wars throughout history.
Brennos
Authors: Mitchell Stephen
Published: December 2012

Brennos is a personal name attested in the former Celtic regions of the Roman Empire and especially in Galatia in Asia Minor.
Captive
Authors: Bielman Anne
Published: December 2012

The term “captive” (Greek
aichmalotos
, Latin
captivus
) expresses a notion that was present throughout Greco‐Roman history.
Civil war, Hellenistic
Authors: Gray B. D.
Published: December 2012

Civil war(Stasis), defined as war between parties claiming to be the legitimate members or rulers of a single political unit, was common in the Hellenistic period – in cities, leagues, and monarchies. This was a reflection of socio‐economic, political, and cultural tensions and a factor that weakened the Greek world in its relations with Rome.
Demetrios II (Macedonian king)
Authors: Müller Sabine
Published: December 2012

Demetrios II, the son of Antigonos II Gonatas and of Phila, born ca. 275
BCE
, was brought up as crown prince, being educated by the Stoic Persaios, a student of Zeno of Kition patronized by Antigonos.
Dikaiarchos, Aitolian
Authors: Antonetti Claudia , Cavalli Edoardo
Published: December 2012

Among the magistrates of the Aitolian League named “Dikaiarchos”, the most important one from a historical point of view was the son of Alexander and the brother of Thoas from Trichonion, who was politically active in the first quarter of the second centuryBCE.
Diogenes Laertius
Authors: Dorandi Tiziano
Published: December 2012

We know nothing of Diogenes Laertius' life and personality.
Diplomacy, Hellenistic
Authors: B. Scholten Joseph
Published: December 2012

The Hellenistic era witnessed the apogee of interstate diplomacy among the peoples of the ancient Mediterranean world.
Epidosis
Authors: Migeotte Léopold
Published: December 2012

In ancient Greek, the noun
epidosis
meant “donation” and, like the cognate verb
epididonai
, it applied to any kind of generosity. However, modern historians generally use the noun to identify a group of donations which combined as subscriptions. Such donations could be organized by private associations and local communities, for instance demes and garrisons. But they could also be applied to the whole city, hence being public in the literal sense of the word. The latter variety is the one most abundantly illustrated by epigraphic evidence from the fifth entury
BCE
to the second century
CE
, and it is the one dealt with here.
Epigamia
Authors: Rousset Denis
Published: December 2012

The Greeks generally practiced civic endogamy, which resulted in marrying someone from one‐s own city. Furthermore, citizenship was most often reserved for the children of two citizen parents, as is attested for example by an Athenian law of 452/1
BCE
.
Epigraphy, Greek
Authors: Rousset Denis
Published: December 2012

Greek epigraphy aims at deciphering, editing, and commenting upon the texts that are written, either carved or painted, in the Greek alphabet on hard surfaces (especially stone, but also bone, metal, glass, clay, and mosaics), while those texts written on papyrus or parchment, as well as the ostraca found in Egypt (not in Athens), conventionally come within the area of papyrology.
Ethnos
Authors: Corsten Thomas
Published: December 2012

Ethnos(Greekéthnos, pl.éthne) in general designates a group of creatures, be it animals or humans.
Eumenes I
Authors: Kosmetatou Elizabeth
Published: December 2012

Eumenes I was the son of Eumenes and the adopted son of his paternal uncle Philetairos, the Attalid Dynasty's founder, whom he succeeded in 263
BCE
.
Eurydike, wife of Philip Arrhidaios
Authors: Carney Elizabeth
Published: December 2012

Adea (ca. 336–16
BCE
), daughter of Kynnane (Philip II of Macedon's daughter by the Illyrian Audata) and of Amyntas, son of Perdikkas III, took the name “Eurydike” when she married (322/1) Philip III Arrhidaios, the half‐brother of Alexander III, The Great (Arr. in
FGrH
156 F9.23).
Euthydemos of Bactria
Authors: Mairs Rachel
Published: December 2012

Euthydemos I (ca. 260–200BCE) was king of Bactria from around 230. He founded a dynasty which, most notably under his son Demetrios I, extended the control of the Greco‐Bactrian kings south of the Hindu Kush into Arachosia and India.
Foundations (Hellenistic)
Authors: Cohen Getzel M.
Published: December 2012

The colonizing activity of Alexander III, the Great and of his successors resulted in the establishment of Greco‐Macedonian foundations throughout the Middle East and parts of central Asia.
Frontiers, Hellenistic
Authors: Rousset Denis
Published: December 2012

The Greek world is without a doubt the ancient civilization that held the greatest number of borders.
Gynaikonomos
Authors: Stavrianopoulou Eftychia
Published: December 2012

Gynaikonomoiwere officials who exercised supervisory functions on female public conduct.
Hieron I of Syracuse
Authors: Zambon Efrem
Published: December 2012

Hieron I (d. 467
BCE
) was the brother of Gelon, and when the latter died (478/7) he became tyrant of Syracuse, greatly increasing the power and the influence of his city, both in Sicily and in southern Italy. He possessed great personal prestige also in mainland Greece: he won several times in the chariot races at Delphi and Olympia, and he made dedications in the two sanctuaries to celebrate his athletic triumphs and his military successes in the West.
Illyrian wars
Authors: Souza Philip De
Published: December 2012

The Illyrian wars were a series of conflicts involving Rome and the warlike tribes that inhabited some of the Dalmatian islands, much of the eastern coastline of the Adriatic, and parts of its hinterland.
Ipsos
Authors: Wheatley Pat
Published: December 2012

Ipsos was the site in central Phrygia (modern Çayirbagi in Turkey) of a critical battle between the surviving Successors of Alexander the Great, in the summer of 301BCE. Once known as the “Battle of the Kings,” this confrontation proved a watershed in the evolution of the Hellenistic kingdoms.
Kingship, Hellenistic
Authors: Hannestad Lise
Published: December 2012

The death of Alexander III the Great in Babylon in 323BCEleft a vacuum not only in the leadership of his huge army, but also leadership of Macedonia, since he had no obvious successor, his still unborn son by his Iranian wife and his mentally handicapped half brother being the only blood‐related options.
Kinship, between cities and peoples
Authors: Sammartano Roberto
Published: December 2012

As Herodotus explains (8.144.2), the whole Greek‐speaking people was envisaged like one big “family” composed of kinsmen. Nevertheless, within this wide “family” there were various degrees of blood relationship due to the ancestral subdivision of the Hellenic people into the earlygeneof Aiolians, Ionians, and Dorians.
Koine dialect
Authors: Colvin Stephen
Published: December 2012

The term koine comes from the Greek phrase
hē
koinē
dialektos
“the common dialect,” and refers to the language spoken across the Greek‐speaking world from Alexander the Great to Late Antiquity. Prior to this, there was no “standard” Greek language; each political unit in Greece used its own dialect and (if it wrote) its own alphabet. The Greeks themselves grouped their dialects into three main families (Attic‐Ionic, Doric, and Aeolic), which corresponded to their ideas about ethnic divisions among themselves.
Koinon
Authors: Corsten Thomas
Published: December 2012

Koinon(pl.koina) is a Greek “word of many meanings” (Larsen 1968: 193), derived from the Greekkoinos, “common.” In many cases the exact significance of a given occurrence is uncertain.
Ktesibios of Alexandria
Authors: Petrovic Ivana
Published: December 2012

Ktesibios of Alexandria was a third‐century
BCE
innovator and founder of pneumatics, a study of the use of pressurized gas to affect motion. Since Ktesibios' work
Hypomnemata mechanika
is lost, we must rely on the writings of those to whom it was still available (Vitruvius) and on the report of Philo of Byzantium, who saw Ktesibios present his inventions, such as the air valve (
Belopoiika
77f.).
Leonnatos
Authors: Heckel Waldemar
Published: December 2012

Leonnatos, son of Anteas, was a relative of Eurydike, the mother of Philip II. He was born ca. 356 and grew up at the court as a
syntrophos
of Alexander the Great.
Letters, Hellenistic royal
Authors: Michels Christoph
Published: December 2012

Letters of Hellenistic monarchs form indispensable primary sources for the functioning of their kingdoms as well as their foreign relations. They are preserved primarily on inscriptions but also on papyri and in ancient literature.
Lyceum
Authors: Haake Matthias
Published: December 2012

Until the third centuryBCEthere were three gymnasia in Athens, all three built near sanctuaries: the Academy, the Kynosarges, and the Lyceum.
Lysimachos
Authors: Heckel Waldemar
Published: December 2012

Lysimachos was the son of Agathokles, a man, apparently, of Thessalian origin, though not as humble as Theopompos claims.
Lysippos
Authors: Bobou Olympia
Published: December 2012

Lysippos (active ca. 370–300
BCE
) was one of the most innovative sculptors of the late Classical and Hellenistic period, working primarily in bronze and equally adept at portraiture, depictions of deities, heroes, personifications, and even animals, all in different scales. His versatility, innovations, and productivity (more than 1,500 statues, Pliny
HN
34.37) ensured his everlasting fame in antiquity and beyond.
Macedonian wars
Authors: Eckstein Arthur , Čašule Nikola
Published: December 2012

Four wars fought between the Kingdom of Macedon and its allies, and the republic of Rome and its allies, the Macedonian wars took place between ca. 215 and 148BCE.
Menander
Authors: Iversen Paul A.
Published: December 2012

Menander (342/1–292/1 or 291/0BCE;IGXIV 1184), son of Diopeithes, a distinguished Athenian from Kephisia (IGII21926.19), and of Hegestrate, was the “star” of New Comedy (scholium adDion. Thrax 20.5) and was particularly noted for his pithy one‐liners (gnomai monostichoi).
Mithradatic wars
Authors: Kantor Georgy
Published: December 2012

A series of military conflicts between Rome and the king Mithradates VI Eupator of Pontos between 89 and 63BCEresulted, after some early victories for the Pontic king, in the destruction of his kingdom, vast expansion of the area directly governed by Rome in Asia Minor and the Levant, and removal of the last serious threat to Roman domination in the region.
Nabis of Sparta
Authors: Kralli Ioanna
Published: December 2012

Nabis (ca. 250–192 bce), of Eurypontid descent, was sole ruler of Sparta between ca.
Perseus, Macedonian king
Authors: Čašule Nikola
Published: December 2012

Perseus (213–165 or 162BCE), king of Macedonia 179–168, revived Macedonian power and pursued a foreign policy which led to conflict with Rome in the Third Macedonian War. Perseus' defeat at the Battle of Pydna in 168 resulted in the partition of Macedonia and the end of the Macedonian monarchy.
Pharnakes I of Pontos
Authors: Kleu Michael
Published: December 2012

Pharnakes I, son of Mithradates III, became king of Pontos in 196 or 185
BCE
and died between 170 and 154. He has to be regarded as the most important Pontic ruler up to this point.
Philodemos, Epicurean
Authors: Kosmetatou Elizabeth
Published: December 2012

Greek Epicurean philosopher and poet from Gadara (modern‐day Umm Qais, Jordan). He studied in Athens under the Epicurean Zeno of Sidon, moved to Italy in the mid‐70s, and enjoyed the patronage of Lucius Calpurnius Piso, father‐in‐law of Julius Caesar, residing in his villa in Herculaneum, known today as “Villa dei Papiri.”
Philopoimen
Authors: Roy James
Published: December 2012

Philopoimen of Megalopolis (ca. 253–182
BCE
) was a leading statesman and
strategos
(“general”) of the Achaian League in the period when Rome was becoming dominant in the Greek world, and he tried to preserve the league's freedom of action.
Philosophy, Hellenistic
Authors: Stein Nathanael
Published: December 2012

By convention, the Hellenistic period begins with the death of Alexander the Great (323BCE) and ends with the battle of Actium in 31BCE.
Phraates V of Parthia
Authors: Heller André
Published: December 2012

Phraates V Phraatakes (“little Phraates”), son of king Phraates IV of Parthia and of his concubine Musa, reigned from 2
BCE
to 4
CE
. The earliest he could have been born is 19
BCE
, if Musa was given as a gift by Augustus in 20. Musa later persuaded Phraates IV to send his other sons to Rome.
Pontos
Authors: Kleu Michael
Published: December 2012

Pontos was a Hellenistic kingdom situated in Asia Minor and ruled by the Mithradatic Dynasty.
Poseidippos
Authors: Porter James I.
Published: December 2012

Active in the first half of the third centuryBCE, Poseidippos was an epigrammatist famous and honored in his own lifetime (seeEpigram).
Proverbs, Greek
Authors: Tzifopoulos Yannis
Published: December 2012

Greek proverbs (
paroimiai
) were concise, pithy, and “popular” expressions of wisdom, which belonged to the genre of wisdom literature.
Pythagoreanism
Authors: Engels David
Published: December 2012

Pythagoreanism was founded by Pythagoras around 530, in southern Italy, and was probably the most important Presocratic philosophical school; it was strongly influenced by Orphic theology (seeOrpheus and Orphism) and itself had a heavy influence on Platonic thought.
Rhetoric, Greek
Authors: Kremmydas Christos
Published: December 2012

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion; it should be distinguished from oratory, the oral performance of this art.
Ruler cult, Greek and Hellenistic
Authors: Aneziri Sophia
Published: December 2012

Divine honors for mortals who had political and/or military power were not an invention of the Greek world.
Seleucid era
Authors: Heller André
Published: December 2012

The Seleucid era (abbreviated as SE) is a system of numbering years which was introduced by Seleukos I Nikator in the year 312/1
BCE
.
Sieges and siegecraft, Classical and Hellenistic
Authors: Chaniotis Angelos
Published: December 2012

The siege, usually in the form of the blockade of a city or a fort, was a common form of Greek warfare since early times, although less common than open battles and skirmishes (Garlan 1974: 106–53, 160f.; Chaniotis 2005).
Speusippos
Authors: Gray B. D.
Published: December 2012

Speusippos (ca. 410–339BCE), Plato's nephew, wrote philosophical works on ethics, politics, law, theology, metaphysics, and logic (now lost, but listed in Diog. Laert. 4.4–5) and succeeded Plato as scholarch (head) of the Academy.
Sympoliteia
Authors: Scholten Joseph B.
Published: December 2012

Sympoliteiais Greek for a joint or shared citizenship or constitution. This concept and practice was among the most sophisticated state forms developed by the Greeks, and is arguably their most influential institutional legacy.
Zenodotos of Ephesos
Authors: Petrovic Ivana
Published: December 2012

Zenodotos of Ephesos (ca. 325–260BCE) was the first head of the Alexandrian library.
Zeuxis
Authors: Coloru Omar
Published: December 2012

Zeuxis (before 222–after 189
BCE
), son of Kynagos, was the most prominent officer and right‐hand of Antiochos III megas.
Logistics (Greek)
Authors: Sekunda Nicholas V.
Published: December 2012

Most Greek campaigns were fought by a limited number of troops over short periods of time and over short distances, and it was the responsibility of the citizen soldier to feed himself.
Kritolaos, Achaian
Authors: Dmitriev Sviatoslav
Published: December 2012

A prominent politician and a general of the Achaian League, Kritolaos determined Achaian policy, including the league's relations with Rome, whose interference in Greek affairs had become much more pronounced in the mid‐second centuryBCE: it culminated in an open assault on the Achaian League and in the destruction of Corinth in 146BCE.
Actia
Authors: Bell Sinclair
Published: December 2012

The “Actian games” comprised several sports festivals that were held to commemorate Augustus' victory over Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra VII at the sea battle off Cape Actium in 31BCE.
Agrippina the Younger
Authors: Barrett Anthony A.
Published: December 2012

Agrippina the Younger (14–59CE) was the daughter of Augustus' ambitious grand‐daughter, Agrippina the elder, and of Germanicus, the highly popular nephew and adopted son of Tiberius. She would exploit these powerful family connections relentlessly. She was born in 14CEon the Rhine frontier, where her mother had accompanied Germanicus. By 17 the family had returned to Rome, where Agrippina participated in her father's Triumph. She remained there when Germanicus went to Syria, where he died in 19.
Apuleius
Authors: Harrison Stephen J.
Published: December 2012

Apuleius, writer and orator, was born into the local elite ca. 125CEat Madauros (Madaura) in Africa Proconsularis, and educated in Carthage, Athens, and Rome; at Athens, he gained enough philosophy to be calledphilosophus Platonicusby himself and others.
Ara Pietatis
Authors: Hardiman Craig I.
Published: December 2012

The Ara Pietatis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Piety) is an altar of Julio‐Claudian date that follows in the tradition of earlier Augustan altars such as the Ara Pacis Augustae and the Ara Providentiae.
Arena
Authors: Futrell Alison
Published: December 2012

Arena refers especially to the space which housed Rome's spectacular blood events: themunera, or gladiatorial combats, and thevenationes, or wild animal “hunts,” as well as the execution of public justice that came to be associated with them.
Cento
Authors: Harrison Stephen J.
Published: December 2012

The Latin tradition of cento post‐dated and largely used the poems of Vergil familiar to all educated Romans.
Classical scholarship,history of
Authors: Butterfield David
Published: December 2012

Classical scholarship surveys all aspects of the ancient Greco‐Roman world from the second millenniumBCEto the mid‐first millenniumCE.
Donatus, Tiberius Claudius
Authors: Harrison Stephen J.
Published: December 2012

Tiberius Claudius Donatus (not to be confused with the earlier scholar Aelius Donatus) is known only as the author of the extantInterpretationes Vergilianae, a line‐by‐line commentary on Vergil'sAeneid, dedicated to his son Tiberius Claudius Maximus Donatianus; its epilogue implies that the author is now old but would still like to write further, more factual exegesis of theAeneid.
Fascism and ancient Rome
Authors: Stone Marla
Published: December 2012

Italian Fascism located the Roman Empire, as an idea and as a model, at the center of its politics and culture.
Forum Augustum
Authors: Claridge Amanda
Published: December 2012

Paid for by the emperor Augustus and given as a gift to the Roman people in his own name and those of his grandsons Gaius and Lucius Caesar on May 12 (or possibly August 1), 2
BCE
, the Forum Augustum (Forum of Augustus) was the second of the grand extensions to the old Roman Forum.
Gladiators
Authors: Futrell Alison
Published: December 2012

Combat performances appear in diverse cultures through time, most notoriously, perhaps, in the Roman phenomenon of themunera, the gladiatorial games.
Golden Age
Authors: Holford‐Strevens Leofranc
Published: December 2012

The Golden Age is a mythical period of peace, ease, and abundance, when human beings enjoyed the earth's fruits without agriculture, land ownership, animal slaughter, slavery, or navigation. Such conditions supposedly obtained under Kronos/Saturn, before his overthrow by Zeus/Jupiter; this conception is accommodated by Hesiod (Op. 106–201) within a succession of human races: golden, silver, bronze (the first of Zeus's reign), followed by the Heroes and the present iron race, each except the Heroes morally inferior to its predecessor (a hint of a better future remains undeveloped). Similar four‐age schemes are found in Near Eastern cultures; as a Greek, Hesiod thought of people rather than periods and needed to include the Heroes, superior but warlike.
Gromatici
Authors: Peterson John W. M.
Published: December 2012

The
gromatici
, named for the surveying instrument the
groma
, were instructors and (usually) practitioners of land survey. They wrote from the Flavian period onward; the earliest surviving manuscript probably dates from the sixth century
CE
. Some works are illustrated. Epigraphic and archaeological evidence supports these sources and confirms the land surveyor's role as planner and administrator, as well as expert witness.
Cinna, Gaius Helvius
Authors: Salvo Davide
Published: December 2012

Gaius Helvius Cinna (Brixia 90?–44BCE) was a Latin Neoteric poet, a friend of Catullus, with whom he was probably in Bithynia in 57/6 (Catull. 10).
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Authors: Harrison Stephen J.
Published: December 2012

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65‐8BCE) was one of the greatest Latin poets and wrote in a variety of genres over a poetic career of some three decades.
Humor and satire, Greece and Rome
Authors: Nisbet Gideon
Published: December 2012

A joke can reveal much about the individual who tells it, and more about the culture that he or she inhabits. Humor invites us to realize that something important has been concealed or disguised; satire comically exaggerates and distorts a perceived underlying truth. Like parody, ancient humorous and satirical texts typically affirm (while at times playfully burlesquing) the approved values and norms of the societies that produced them. The ancient genres of non‐serious literature may thus help historians explore ancient ideologies. If we try to mine them for material “facts” the joke usually turns out to be on us.
Lucan (Annaeus Lucanus, Marcus)
Authors: Cowan Robert
Published: December 2012

Lucan (39–65CE), epic poet of theBellum civile(Civil War, also known as thePharsalia), was born in Corduba, grandson of Seneca The Elder (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) and nephew of Seneca The Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca); he was educated at Rome, but recalled from philosophical studies in Athens by Nero. He became an intimate of theprinceps, being appointed quaestor and winning a prize at the Neronia festival in 60 for a panegyrical poem. However, Lucan's relations with Nero deteriorated, perhaps because of poetic rivalry, and he eventually joined the Pisonian conspiracy (65). When it was discovered, he is alleged to have tried to betray his confederates, including his mother, before committing suicide.
Philhellenism
Authors: Gallia Andrew B.
Published: December 2012

In ancient history, “philhellenism” refers to the behavior of non‐Greeks (typically Romans) who adopted Greek habits or pursued policies favorable to Greek states. The term derives from the adjectivephilhellen(”Greek‐loving”), which was deployed by the Greeks themselves to describe foreign rulers, like the Egyptian pharaoh Amasis (Hdt. 2.178), from whom they received benefits.Philhellenalso applied to individuals, such as Hieron I of Syracuse (Ael.VH9.1), who expressed a particular affinity for Greek culture. Both meanings may be imputed to its appearance in an inscription from Boiotian Akraiphia (Syll.3814=ILS8794), in which the Roman emperor Nero, who not only immersed himself in Greek pursuits but also proclaimed Achaia's freedom from taxation in 67CE, is celebrated as a lover and benefactor of Greece. However apt this conflation of political action with cultural sympathy may appear in particular circumstances, it is important to bear in mind thatphilhellenwas primarily an etic label, which reveals more about the aspirations of the Greeks who deployed it than it does those of the potentate to whom it was applied. Reputation and reality were not always commensurate (cf. Cic.Att. 1.15.1; Plut.Ant. 23.2).
Philosophy, Roman
Authors: Campbell Gordon Lindsay
Published: December 2012

The formal study and writing of philosophy at Rome began a good deal later than in Greece, and Roman philosophy was based originally upon Greek thinking.
Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus)
Authors: May Regine
Published: December 2012

Titus Maccius Plautus (active ca. 205–184
BCE
, from Sarsina in Umbria) is the earliest comic playwright of
fabulae palliatae
(Latin comedy with Greek subject matter) of whose output complete plays survive. Ancient biographies claim that he worked as a stagehand, lost all his money in a business venture, and worked in a mill, but are unreliable and probably fictitious. Even his name is uncertain, as Maccius may be a reference to the Atellana (native Italian farce) fool Maccus, and Plautus (“flatfoot”) a nickname from mime. At one time, about 130 plays were attributed to him, some erroneously (Gell.
NA
3.3).
Saeculum
Authors: Holford‐Strevens Leofranc
Published: December 2012

Saeculum
properly denotes the longest human lifespan. The Etruscans believed that cities were allotted a fated number of
saecula
, each ending with the death of the longest‐living person born on its first day, but the Romans equated the
saeculum
with a hundred years; tradition made the twelve vultures seen by Romulus to promise the city twelve such
saecula
of existence.
Silius Italicus, Tiberius Catius Asconius
Authors: Cowan Robert
Published: December 2012

Silius Italicus (ca. 25–103CE) was a long‐lived and adaptable politician and poet, whose principal achievement was the composition of thePunica, an epic poem in seventeen books about the Second Punic War .
Swimming
Authors: Poliakoff Michael B.
Published: December 2012

Swimming was technically advanced in Antiquity. It was frequently described in literature and depicted on ancient monuments, with several different strokes discernible. Remarkably, there is only minimal evidence of competition (Paus. 2.35.1).
Vindolanda tablets
Authors: Bowman A. K.
Published: December 2012

The Latin writing tablets from Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort about a mile south of Hadrian's Wall, were discovered by the archaeologist R. E. Birley in excavations of parts of the pre‐Hadrianic timber forts during the period 1974–2004.
Wonders of the world
Authors: Brodersen Kai
Published: December 2012

A canon of seven “sights” of man‐made art and architecture is first attested in the second century
BCE
in a Hellenistic context: in the Laterculi Alexandrini (P. Berol. 13044 v, cols. 8–9) and in a poem by Antipater of Sidon (
Anth. Pal
. 9.58), referring to the pyramids of Egypt, the city wall of Babylon, the hanging gardens of Semiramis in the same city, the temple of Artemis at Ephesos, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, and the colossus of Rhodes. While the number “seven” remains stable until Late Antiquity, and is sometimes used to celebrate an “eighth” wonder (e.g., the Colosseum at Rome in Martial,
Spect
. 1, or St. Basil's hospital in Gregory of Nazianzus,
Or
. 43.63 = 
PG
36.577), the items listed vary, and replace “wonders” in the list by others.
Diktys of Knossos
Authors: Thornton Daniel James
Published: December 2012

Diktys of Knossos, also known as Dictys Cretensis, was a legendary companion of the Cretan prince Idomeneus during the war against Troy, and is the alleged author of an
Ephemeris
of the Trojan War preserved in a Latin translation in the following (likely fictional) circumstances.
Aesthetics
Authors: Porter James I.
Published: December 2012

The task of establishing the reach of aesthetic thought, experience, and reflection in ancient Greece and Rome immediately runs up against two formidable challenges.
Musonius Rufus, Gaius
Authors: Engels David
Published: December 2012

The life of C. Musonius Rufus of Volsinii, Roman
eques
and Stoic philosopher, is mostly known through the
Suda
. Born before 30
CE
as son of Capito and teaching Stoicism at Rome, he was in the entourage of the senator Rubellius Plautus at his banishment to Asia Minor by Nero about 60.
Atia
Authors: Beness J. Lea
Published: December 2012

Atia was the daughter of M. Atius Balbus of Aricia and Julia, the sister of
Julius Caesar (C. Iulius Caesar)
.
Aelia Capitolina
Authors: Weikert J. Christopher , Klein Konstantin M.
Published: December 2012

Aelia Capitolina was a Roman colony founded in the wake of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135/6
CE
) by the emperor Hadrian at the site of the ancient city of Jerusalem. The city's name referred to Hadrian's
Gens
, the Aelii, a common component in names of Roman cities, and to
Iuppiter Capitolinus
, to whom the Jews had to pay a special tax (
fiscus Iudaicus
) since the first Jewish Revolt. During the reign of Septimius Severus the city received the additional name
Commodiana
.
Alexandra Salome
Authors: Seeman Chris
Published: December 2012

Alexandra Salome (Hebrew: Shelamzion) was a member of the Hasmonean family, the Jewish dynasty that ruled much of Palestine from the late second through early first centuriesBCE.
Alphabets and scripts, Judaism
Authors: Stökl Ben Ezra Daniel
Published: December 2012

The ancient Hebrew alphabet (often called “Paleo‐Hebrew”) started as a local form of the regional (“Phoenician”) alphabet.
Apocalypse of Abraham
Authors: Witakowski Witold
Published: December 2012

The book of revelation to Abraham (Knigï otkrovleniya Avrame), son of Terah, son of Nahor, …, son of Jared, as the fuller title reads, has been preserved only in the Old Slavonic version. It consists of two parts:
Apocalypse of Zephaniah
Authors: Witakowski Witold
Published: December 2012

The
Apocalypse of Zephaniah (AZ)
is known only from fragments: a short quotation in Clement of Alexandria's (d. ca. 215
CE
)
Stromata
(5.11.77.2), and two fragments in Coptic: a short one in the Sahidic dialect, and a longer in the Akhmimic.
Apocryphon of Ezekiel
Authors: Minov Sergey
Published: December 2012

An apocryphal book attributed to Ezekiel was in circulation in antiquity.
Assumption of Moses
Authors: Magliano‐Tromp Johannes
Published: December 2012

TheAssumption of Mosesis a Jewish writing from the first centuryCE, presumably composed in Judaea. Some scholars also refer to it as theTestament of Moses. It is preserved only in a fragmentary Latin palimpsest from the fifth or sixth century, as well as in a small number of quotations in early Christian literature (including the New Testament letter of Jude); these quotations guarantee the identification of the writing as theAssumption of Moses‐in the manuscript itself, the title is lost.
Belial/Beliar
Authors: Woolstenhulme Guinevere T.
Published: December 2012

Belialandbeliarare Greek equivalents of the Hebrew wordbeliyya‘al,meaning “wickedness” or “worthlessness.” Outside the Hebrew Bible, Belial is the leader of the forces of darkness. Proposed etymologies include the rootbala‘,“to swallow,” and a combination of beli, “without,” and eitherya‘al,“worth,” or‘ala,“to go up.”
Ben Sira, Wisdom of (Ecclesiasticus)
Authors: Seeman Chris
Published: December 2012

The Wisdom of Ben Sira is a Jewish writing of the early second centuryBCE.
Beth She‘arim
Authors: Koltun‐Fromm Naomi
Published: December 2012

The ancient Israelite city of Beth She‘arim, located in the lower
galilee
, was probably first settled in the Iron age, but its earliest literary mention comes from
josephus
in the first century
CE
(Joseph.
Vit
. 118–19).
Copper Scroll
, the (Dead Sea Scrolls)
Authors: Dimant Devorah
Published: December 2012

The
Copper Scroll
, found in Qumran cave 3 (3Q15), consists of twelve columns written on three copper leaves.
Divination, Jewish
Authors: Johnson Scott Fitzgerald
Published: December 2012

The practice of divination appears repeatedly in the Hebrew Bible from Genesis through the exilic prophets (Hebrew roots:
qsm, nhš
,
kšp
).
Essenes
Authors: Mason Steve
Published: December 2012

This article concerns the Essenes described by Philo of Alexandria, Pliny the Elder, and Flavius Josephus.
Festivals, Jewish
Authors: Ben Ezra Daniel Stökl
Published: December 2012

Festivals (Hebrewhag, mo'ed), especially the weekly sabbath, were highly important for the formation of Jewish collective identity. Through prayers, Torah study, and ritual symbolism, festivals were a central institution of Jewish education for children and adults alike and a point of attraction for non‐Jews.
Hanina ben Dosa
Authors: Koltun‐Fromm Naomi
Published: December 2012

Hanina ben Dosa, according to rabbinic tradition, was a first‐century
CE
miracle worker, healer, and rabbi, a student of Yohanan ben Zakkai.
Hillel, Rabbi
Authors: Rapps Seth M. , Fine Steven
Published: December 2012

Proto‐rabbinic leader in mid‐first century Palestine, Hillel, usually called “the Elder,” and occasionally “the Babylonian,” is viewed by rabbinic sources as the founding father of the “school of Hillel” and as the central figure of late Second Temple period Judaism.
Isaiah
Authors: Cogan Mordechai
Published: December 2012

Isaiah, son of Amoz, was a Judaean prophet, active during the last third of the eighth century
BCE
, whose teachings are preserved in the biblical Book of Isaiah.
Iulius Alexander, Tiberius
Authors: Honigman Sylvie
Published: December 2012

Born about 14–16CEinto an elite family of Alexandrian Jews, Tiberius was the nephew of Philo of Alexandria, the Jewish philosopher.
Job
Authors: Miller Charles William
Published: December 2012

The book of Job represents one of the high points in the history of world literature.
Jubilees, Book of
Authors: Seeman Chris
Published: December 2012

Also referred to as “The Little Genesis,” theBook of Jubileesis an interpretive retelling of the biblical narrative from the creation of the world to the inauguration of the Sinai covenant.
Judeo‐Christians
Authors: Koltun‐Fromm Naomi
Published: December 2012

The terms “Jewish Christianity,” “Judeo‐Christianity,” and the like are inventions of nineteenth‐century Christian studies scholars.
Lives of the Prophets
Authors: Minov Sergey
Published: December 2012

TheVitae Prophetarumis a relatively short composition, comprising biographical legends about prophetic figures from the Old Testament.
Marriage, Jewish
Authors: Marks Susan
Published: December 2012

Marriage constitutes the recognized union of two persons.
Martyrdom and martyrs, Jewish
Authors: Bilde Per
Published: December 2012

Today, the words “martyr” and “martyrdom” are general terms, denoting voluntary suffering and death for the sake of some higher value.
Martyrdom of Isaiah
Authors: Halverson Taylor
Published: December 2012

The
Martyrdom of Isaiah
tells the Jewish legendary story of the prophet Isaiah's death at the hands of king Manasseh of Judah.
Masada
Authors: Goldfus Haim , Arubas Benjamin Y.
Published: December 2012

The archaeological ruins of Masada are located on top of a raised rock‐mass, near the southwestern shores of the dead sea.
Minim
(rabbinic appellation of “heretics”)
Authors: Kalmin Richard
Published: December 2012

Early Palestinian rabbinic sources (second to third century
CE
) urge avoidance of
minim
(heretics), contact with whom is depicted as dangerous but sought after because of their skill as healers and the attractiveness of their “words.”
Mishnah and Tosefta
Authors: Greenfield Noah , Fine Steven
Published: December 2012

The Mishnah is the basic document of rabbinic Judaism, providing the general framework for the redaction of its companion volume, the Tosefta, and serving as the foundation for the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds.
Papyri, Jewish
Authors: Noy David
Published: December 2012

The earliest papyri written by or concerning Jews come from Elephantine on the southern border of Egypt, sixth to fourth centuries
BCE
(
see
Elephantine Papyri). Some light is thrown on Palestine under Ptolemaic rule by the Zenon Archive of the third century
CE
.
Pishra de‐Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa(Jewish magical text)
Authors: Bohak Gideon
Published: December 2012

ThePishra de‐Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa(i.e., the “Spell‐loosener of R. Hanina ben Dosa”) is a short Jewish magical text of a Late Antique Babylonian provenance.
Proselytes and proselytism, Jewish
Authors: Rotman Youval
Published: December 2012

The Greek termproselytos, literally “the one who has arrived at a place,” appears in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew biblical wordger: a foreigner who has come to dwell, referring also to foreigners who have come to dwell among the Israelites, accepting their law.
Psalms of Solomon
Authors: Atkinson Kenneth
Published: December 2012

ThePsalms of Solomonis a collection of eighteen pseudonymous poems that recount an unknown Jewish community's response to the 63BCERoman conquest of Jerusalem. Composed in Hebrew, it survives only in Greek and Syriac translations. Although the authorship of thePsalms of Solomonis unknown, the terminology and theology of several poems are reminiscent of many Dead Sea Scrolls. ThePsalms of Solomonwas likely written by several authors, and collected together at a later date for liturgical use. The collection was probably attributed to Solomon because of the similarity between canonical Psalm 72, which is ascribed to this biblical king, and the reference to the “son of David” inPsalms of Solomon17.21.
Qumran
Authors: Babkina Svetlana V.
Published: December 2012

Qumran or Khirbet (Arabic “ruins”) is a small ruined settlement on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea excavated soon after the discovery of the Dea Sea Scrolls in 1947. The settlement was known from the mid‐nineteenth century and was described as “the remains of Gomorrah” or as a frontier stronghold.
Rabbinic literature
Authors: Fraade Steven D.
Published: December 2012

Rabbinic literature includes texts that comprise the collected teachings and traditions of the rabbinic sages of Palestine (Land of Israel) and Babylonia from the first centuryCEthrough the fifth centuryCE.
Religion, Jewish
Authors: Satlow Michael L.
Published: December 2012

The word “Judaism” is rarely attested in Antiquity, in any language.
Salome Alexandra
Authors: Ilan Tal
Published: December 2012

Salome Alexandra was a Hasmonean queen (seeHasmoneans), the wife and then successor (76–67BCE) of Alexander Jannaeus. She is principally mentioned in the writings of Josephus but also in Rabbinic Literature and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Her Hebrew name – Shelamzion – is recorded correctly only in the latter. Scholars assume that Jannaeus married Salome, the widow of his childless brother and predecessor Aristobulus I, in a levirate union. There is, however, no evidence for this assertion.
Sefer Assaph ha‐Rofe(Jewish medical text)
Authors: Kottek Samuel
Published: December 2012

TheBook of Medicines(Sefer Assaph ha‐Rofe) attributed to Assaf ben Berakhyahu – on whom no biographical data are extant – is considered the earliest medical work written in Hebrew.
Sefer ha‐Razim(theBook ofMysteries) (Jewish magical text)
Authors: Harari Yuval
Published: December 2012

Sefer ha‐Razim(the Book of Mysteries) is the earliest Jewish magical treatise known to us. It was composed in fine Hebrew, probably in Egypt or Palestine, during the second third of the first millennium.
Shammai, Rabbi
Authors: Fine Steven , Semach Sasha
Published: December 2012

Rabbinic leader in mid‐first‐century
CE
Palestine, Shammai, usually called “the Elder,” and Hillel are viewed by Rabbinic sources as the “founding fathers” of the “schools of Hillel and Shammai,” and as central figures of late Second Temple period Judaism.
Shem, Treatise of
(Jewish astrological text)
Authors: Leicht Reimund
Published: December 2012

The
Treatise of Shem
is an astrological almanac attested in a Syriac, a Palestinian Aramaic, and three Judeo‐Arabic versions (
see
Aramaic and Syriac).
Shimon ben Laqish, Rabbi
Authors: Kalmin Richard
Published: December 2012

Rabbi Shimon ben Laqish was one of the most important Palestinian Amoraim. Like Rabbi Johanan (
see
Johanan, Rabbi), with whom he routinely dialogued, he flourished in Tiberias, one of the major cities in Palestine, with a heavy concentration of Rabbis.
Tefillin
Authors: Cohn Yehudah B.
Published: December 2012

The Hebrew/Aramaic plural nountefillinfirst appears in the Mishnah (seeMishnah and Tosefta, designating a pair of small leather cases, whose parchment contents are inscribed, according to rabbinic convention, with four biblical passages (Ex 13:1–10, 11–16; Deut 6:4–9, 11:13–21 – these latter two are also found in theShemaprayer).
Temple, Jewish, in Jerusalem
Authors: Pastor Jack
Published: December 2012

The Temple in Jerusalem was the major religious institution of the Jewish people and Jewish religion, Judaea, and at times most of the geographical area of Israel‐Palestine. Aside from its central importance as a religious‐cult center, it served also as a political and judicial center, and even as the main fortress of Jerusalem.
Temple, Samaritan, on Mount Gerizim
Authors: Klein Konstantin M.
Published: December 2012

Mount Gerizim (Hebrew:
Har Gərizzim
, Samaritan:
Ar‐Gerizim
) is a hill, rising up to a height of 880 m, close to the modern city of Nablus (ancient
Neapolis
/
Shekhem
).
Tobit, Book of
Authors: Seeman Chris
Published: December 2012

The Book of Tobit is an ancient Jewish novel that tells the story of Israelites deported from their homeland to the Assyrian Empire in the late eighth centuryBCE(an event mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: 2 Kgs 15:29, 17:3–6).
Administration, Late Antique
Authors: Schmidt‐Hofner Sebastian
Published: December 2012

From Diocletian onwards, the Roman imperial administration rapidly expanded to become the largest and most complex bureaucracy in the history of the ancient world, with an estimated number of 30,000–40,000 imperial officials (excluding those of the cities). The structure, responsibilities, and social implications of this bureaucratic machine are amply documented in sources such as the legal codes of the era, the Notitia Dignitatum or the works of John Lydus.
Alans
Authors: Lawrence Thomas Christopher
Published: December 2012

The Alans were a group of nomadic peoples originally located in the region of the River Don and the Sea of Azov. They first appear in sources from the first century, including Seneca'sThyestesand Josephus'Jewish Wars.
Arabic and old Arabic
Authors: Klein Konstantin M.
Published: December 2012

Arabic (and old Arabic as a stage in the development of Arabic) is a Semitic language of the North Arabian group, which itself is classified as Central Semitic. This group is divided into South Arabian and North Arabian. The North Arabian languages themselves consist of Ancient North Arabian (which is attested in five dialects: Taymanitic, Dadanitic, Safaitic, Hismaic, and Thamudic) and Arabic, which encompasses old Arabic, Classical Arabic, and Middle Arabic, as well as the Arabic dvernacular dialects.
Aramaic and Syriac
Authors: Law T. M.
Published: December 2012

In the first millennium
BCE
Aramaic, like Akkadian and Sumerian before it, became the
lingua franca
of the Near Eastern world. Unlike its predecessors, however, Aramaic's reach extended far beyond its center, and it was used from Egypt in the south to Anatolia in the north to India in the east. Through many permutations, Aramaic has survived over a span of ca. 3,000 years and is attested in ancient inscriptions, seals, coins, manuscripts, and now in the modern spoken dialects of several Middle Eastern communities. To describe Aramaic, scholars have used various systems of classification, but the one followed here divides the language by chronology into Old, Imperial, Middle, Late, and Modern.
Augustine of Hippo
Authors: Perrin Michel‐Yves
Published: December 2012

Augustine's first biographer, Possidius, the bishop of Calama (today Guelma in Algeria), was able to write some time after the death of the Bishop of Hippo (today Annaba in the same country), to whom he had been a disciple and friend for fourteen years, “so many were the works he dictated, and published, so many expositions did he give in the church, which were also transcribed and corrected, either against the heretics, or commenting on the canonical books for the instruction of the holy sons of the church, that a scholar could hardly read and know them all” (Life of Augustine18.9).
Axum
Authors: Haas Christopher
Published: December 2012

Axum (or Aksum) was a Late Antique kingdom comprising extreme northern Ethiopia and central Eritrea. It flourished between the third and seventh centuries
CE
, during which time it became a major regional power. Its eponymous capital is located in the Ethiopian province of Tigray at the northern edge of the Ethiopian highlands.
Basil of Caesarea
Authors: Beagon Philip
Published: December 2012

Basil of Caesarea, along with his brother, Gregory of Nyssa, and their friend, Gregory of Nazianzus, is one of the so‐called Cappadocian Fathers. The collective influence of this trio was extensive in the creation of Christian orthodoxy in the second half of the fourth century
CE
. Basil's career exemplifies the fusion, not uncommon in that century, of Roman aristocrat and Christian bishop. As well as helping to define doctrine in the wake of the Arian controversy, particularly with regard to the nature of the Holy Spirit, Basil played a seminal role in the introduction of communal monasticism in the Eastern Church, and he was later to be a source of inspiration for the ascetic endeavors of Benedict.
Benedict of Nursia
Authors: Perrin Michel‐Yves
Published: December 2012

Book II of the
Dialogues
, which is attributed by the large majority of critics to Gregory the Great (590–604), represents the principal source for any attempt at a biography of Benedict of Nursia; its author names several eye‐witnesses who provided details, especially for the last part of Benedict of Nursia's life.
Bible, translation and diffusion
Authors: King Daniel
Published: December 2012

By 700CEthe Bible was known from Ireland to China and Ethiopia.