bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
AnkhesenpepiII
Authors: Callender Vivienne
Published: December 2012

The name Ankhenes‐Pepi II (also known as Ankhenes‐Meryre II) incorporates the king's name, Pepi I‐Meryre, third ruler of the 6th Dynasty. Gourdon (2006: 99) notes that the name takes the form of an oath used in the late Old Kingdom and is like a declaration of allegiance to the king: “That Pepi lives for her,” or even, “She has taken an oath on Pepi.” The queen lived during the reigns of Pepi I and Pepi II. The first king was her husband, the second was her son.
Tausret
Authors: H. Wilkinson Richard
Published: December 2012

One of the few women to have ruled ancient Egypt as pharaoh, Tausret (also spelled Tausert, Taousert, Tawosret, Twosret, etc.) was the wife of Sety II; regent during the reign of his son, Siptah and then ruled independently as a female king after Siptah's death.
Arelate (Arles)
Authors: Heijmans Marc
Published: December 2012

Arelate (Arles) is an important ancient city situated in southern France, on the Rhône River currently located about 40 km from the Mediterranean coast.
Augusta Raurica (Augst)
Authors: Carroll Maureen
Published: December 2012

Augusta Raurica, modern Augst in Switzerland, was officially established as a Roman colony in Gaul by the Roman senator and consul Lucius Munatius Plancus in 44
BCE
. There is no physical evidence for occupation in this early period, but the colony was probably refounded 15–10
BCE
by the emperor Augustus.
Bagrada
Authors: Stone David L.
Published: December 2012

The Bagrada, the sole perennial river in Carthaginian territory in central North Africa, winds 365 km from eastern Algeria through a zone of valleys and depressions to the gulf of Tunis. Its origin lies in the vicinity of Thubursicu Numidarum (modern Khamissa); its mouth in antiquity lay near Utica (Utique).
Barcino (Barcelona)
Authors: Panzram Sabine
Published: December 2012

Barcino, modern Barcelona, is situated on Spain's east coast, about 90 km from Tarraco, and is the capital of the Hispanic province of Tarraconensis. A medium‐sized city, it had its peak in the second century
CE
. Its foundation goes back to the time of the Second Punic War and to an indigenous settlement, probably of the Laietani. There is very little literary or material evidence concerning the early period of the city. Local coinage bore the Iberian legend
ba.r.ke.no
. During the civil wars of the first century
BCE
the city took Caesar's side.
Carthage
Authors: Stevens Susan T.
Published: December 2012

Traditionally founded by Phoenicians led by the Tyrian Elissa, Vergil's Dido, asQart‐Hadasht(New Town), the city was strategically placed on the North African coast to control Mediterranean maritime trade, a monopoly contested first by the Greeks, then by the Romans in the Punic wars (264–146BCE).
Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester)
Authors: Holbrook Neil
Published: December 2012

Corinium Dobunnorum (modern Cirencester) was an important town in western Britain, its walls enclosing the second largest area (after Londinium (London) of any town in the province. It was the administrative center of the civitas of the Dobunni, and in the fourth century
CE
may have become the capital of the province of Britannia Prima.
Entremont
Authors: Moore Tom
Published: December 2012

The proto‐urban defended settlement (oppidum) of Entremont is situated in southern France, near modern‐day Aix‐en‐Provence.
Madauros (Madaura)
Authors: Saastamoinen Ari
Published: December 2012

Madauros (erroneously known as Madaura in earlier scholarship) is a small archaeological site with Roman and Byzantine remains.
Mediolanum (Milan)
Authors: Haussler Ralph
Published: December 2012

The toponym Mediolanum – also attested in Britain, Moesia, and Gaul, for example,
Mediolanum Santonum
(Saintes) – is conventionally translated as “center of the plain,” but (196f.; 221f.) suggests “sacred center.”
Rhine
Authors: Ollive Vincent
Published: December 2012

The Rhine is the main river in western Europe, with a length of 1,325 km and a catchment area of 185,000 km
2
. It was marked “Rhenus” on the
Tabula Peutingeriana
. From the Vorderrhein and the Hinterrhein, its sources in the Swiss Alps, it flows northward downstream from Basel, through France, Germany, and the Netherlands, to its delta in the North Sea. Its main tributaries are the Aare, the Ill, the Neckar, the Main, the Mosel, the Lippe, and the Ruhr. From the Alps to its confluence with the Mosel at Koblenz, the Rhine presents a hydrological regime mainly influenced by glacier and snow melt. This contrasted regime corresponds to a low stage during winter and a typical annual flood during late spring/early summer. After Koblenz, the Rhine changes its regime with a high stage during winter, mainly influenced by precipitation in small adjacent mountainous catchments.
Rome, city of: 9. Fourth century
Authors: Mayer Emanuel
Published: December 2012

In the fourth centuryCE, Rome experienced profound political and religious change. Most importantly, it ceased to be the functional capital of the Roman Empire. The city of Rome was no longer directly run by the emperors but by an imperially appointed official, the urban prefect. At the same time, the bishops of Rome were gaining political influence. As a result, Rome's cityscape underwent significant transformations. The city gradually changed from a major political center with grand public buildings into a place of pilgrimage with important churches. Rome's pre‐Christian cityscape was preserved throughout the fourth centuryCE, but neither the emperors nor the urban prefects added any secular buildings of note. Rome effectively turned into a museum of the old empire that coexisted with an emerging Christian topography which heralded the age of the Roman papacy (for map see the previous entry).
Rome, city of: 8. Tetrarchic
Authors: Mayer Emanuel
Published: December 2012

In imperial ideology, Rome always remained the capital of the Roman Empire.
Romuliana (Gamzigrad, Serbia)
Authors: Mladenović Dragana
Published: December 2012

Gamzigrad is a large fourth century
CE
fortified villa complex attributed to the Roman emperor Galerius, located in the valley of Black Timok, in eastern Serbia. Two rows of ramparts (300 m × 200 m), with 20 round towers, protect a complex consisting of a palace, two temples, a
horreum
,
thermae
, and other associated buildings. An earlier third century corridor‐style villa predates this monumental phase.
Sabratha
Authors: Leone Anna
Published: December 2012

The settlement of Sabratha, along the shore of Tripolitana (Libya), developed out of an
emporium
(trading post,
see
EMPORION
) founded by Phoenician merchants. The exact date of foundation is uncertain, although the natural harbor probably determined the occupation of the coastal area from the seventh century
BCE
; literary sources mention the settlement starting from the late fourth century
BCE
. Probably the original market square of the area became the forum of the Roman city. Some Punic mausolea in the area have been reconstructed by the Italian team (led by A. Di Vita), relocating blocks reused in later buildings. The original layout of the Punic city is still visible in the area between the sea and the Temple of Liber Pater.
Salona (Solin, Croatia)
Authors: Schrunk Ivancica
Published: December 2012

Located in central Dalmatia, at the estuary of the River Jadro, Salona was in origin an Illyrian settlement, a city and harbor of the Dalmatae according to Strabo.
Serdica (Sofia, Bulgaria)
Authors: Kirova‐Yovcheva Nadezhda
Published: December 2012

Ancient authors mentioned the name of the Thracian tribe
Serdi
, who settled permanently at the territory of Sofia.
Tarraco (Tarragona)
Authors: Panzram Sabine
Published: December 2012

Tarraco, modern Tarragona, situated on Spain's east coast, a World Cultural Heritage site (UNESCO) since 2000, was the capital of the Hispanic province of Tarraconensis.
Tiber
Authors: Witcher Robert
Published: December 2012

At about 400 km in length, the Tiber is the longest river of peninsular Italy.
Tolosa (Toulouse)
Authors: Cleary Simon Esmonde
Published: December 2012

On the river Garonne in southwestern Gaul, Toulouse was successively a major pre‐Roman center, from Augustus probably a
colonia
, and with the decline of Roman power the seat of a Visgothic kingdom.
Utica (Utique)
Authors: Morton Thomas J.
Published: December 2012

Initially located along the North African coast at the gulf of the Mejerda River (
see
Bagrada), Utica can claim a more ancient history than its nearby neighbor, Carthage.
Veii
Authors: Izzet Vedia
Published: December 2012

Veii was the closest Etruscan city to Rome. Used sporadically in the Bronze Age, the site was not permanently occupied until the Iron Age.
Tarracina
Authors: Colivicchi Fabio
Published: December 2012

Tarracina was a Roman maritime colony founded in 329
BCE
on the Volscian city of Anxur, conquered in 406 (Livy 4.59.4 ff.).
Vesuvius
Authors: Scarpati Claudio , Perrotta Annamaria
Published: December 2012

The volcano of Somma‐Vesuvius, located near Naples (southern Italy), buried Pompeii and Herculaneum during the 79
CE
eruption.
Vienna (Vienne, France)
Authors: Prisset Jean‐Luc
Published: December 2012

Capital of the Allobroges, a people settled between the Alps and the middle stretch of the Rhône, Vienna saw its most flourishing period during the first three centuries
CE
.
Sardinia
Authors: van Dommelen Peter
Published: December 2012

The island of Sardinia is the largest “true island” in the Mediterranean, as its size of just over 24,000 km2is only surpassed by Sicily, which is separated from the Italian mainland by just a few kilometers of sea across the Strait of Messina.
Talayotic culture
Authors: Perez‐Juez Amalia
Published: December 2012

The Talayotic culture emerged on the Balearic Islands of Majorca and Minorca at the beginning of the first millenniumBCE.
Sahara
Authors: McCarty Matthew M.
Published: December 2012

The Sahara stretches across Africa from the Atlas Mountains to the Sudan and Niger Delta.
Genava (Geneva)
Authors: Fuchs Michel E.
Published: December 2012

Ancient Genava (Geneva) was an
oppidum
, the Allobroges' fortified settlement, north of the Vienne colony in Isère (France).
Nemi, Lake
Authors: Bilde Pia Guldager
Published: December 2012

Lake Nemi is located in a volcanic crater of the Alban Hills about 25 km southeast of Rome.
Adrasteia
Authors: Roller Lynn E.
Published: December 2012

The name Adrasteia was used in different contexts. In one, Adrasteia was a nymph, sister of Ide and the Kouretes, who helped protect Zeus from his father Kronos after his birth on Mount Ida on Crete; she clashed cymbals to muffle the infant's cries.
Agamemnon
Authors: Kanavou Nikoletta
Published: December 2012

Homeric hero, king of Mycenai or Argos, leader of the Greek forces at Troy.
Agnostos Theos
Authors: Marx‐Wolf Heidi
Published: December 2012

According to Pausanius, Philostratus, and a number of other ancient sources, the Athenians used to worship a deity they called the “unknown god” (
agnostos theos
) or the “unknown daimon” (
agnostos daimon
).
Ahriman
Authors: De Jong Albert
Published: December 2012

Ahriman is the name of the Evil Spirit in Zoroastrianism (Avestanangra mainyu, “the evil spirit”). In most versions of Zoroastrian theology, the supreme god Ahura Mazda has an eternal uncreated opponent, who is his exact counter‐image. The origins of this notion go back to the Gathas of Zarathushtra, although the name of Ahura Mazda's opponent became fixed only in later Avestan times and the systematic juxtaposition of the two spirits ‐ and the cosmic history of their struggle ‐ was achieved only in the Achaemenid period.
Apotheosis and heroization
Authors: Kantirea Maria
Published: December 2012

Apotheosis or deification denotes the elevation of heroes and men to the status of gods; heroization signifies the placement of men in the sphere of heroes.
Bona Dea
Authors: Woodard Roger D.
Published: December 2012

Bona Dea (the “Good Goddess”), a deity of ancient Italy, was especially associated with women.
Bouphonia
Authors: Naiden F. S.
Published: December 2012

The Athenian sacrifice of the Bouphonia occurred annually at the altar of Zeus Polieus (Paus. 1.28.10–11). As part of the ritual, the axe used to kill the sacrificial ox was put on trial. The trial was a tradition supposedly dating from the first killing of an ox at this spot. The butcher of the ox had fled as though guilty of homicide, and the axe was tried instead. Pausanias says this trial was the origin of the homicide court at the Prytaneion.
Consus and Consualia
Authors: Green C. M. C.
Published: December 2012

While modern scholars have interpreted Consus as a harvest deity, the Romans identified him as a divine counselor to the King (Livy 1.9; Dion. Hal.
Ant.Rom
. 2.31.3).
Curses, Greece and Rome
Authors: Eidinow Esther
Published: December 2012

The term “curses” refers to a variety of ancient speech acts – some malicious, others supporting social order – invoking supernatural powers and reinforced by ritual.
Diasia
Authors: Mili Maria
Published: December 2012

Athenian festival celebrated in honor of Zeus Meilichios outside the city walls, at Agrai in the Ilissos area, on Anthesterion 23 (February/March).
Dioscuri
Authors: Bedigan Kirsten
Published: December 2012

The Dioskouroi (literally, “the youths of Zeus”; “Dioscuri” in its Latinized form) were the sons of Zeus.
Divination, Greece and Rome
Authors: Bonnechere Pierre
Published: December 2012

Divination (Greekmantike, Latindivinatio) encompasses all forms of interrogating the gods. Contrary to general belief, its purpose is not merely to “know the future.” Confronted with any immediate choice entailing unknown repercussions, the consultant depends on divination in order to act effectively and be released from excessive anxiety, when too many hidden things remain inaccessible to his reason.
Druids
Authors: Tommasi Chiara
Published: December 2012

A class of learned men, repositories of the traditional wisdom concerning gods and humans in Gallic society, druids were essentially priests and soothsayers, although their speculation encompassed practical matters too.
Elagabalus (deity)
Authors: Icks Martijn
Published: December 2012

Elagabalus – also Aelagabalus, Helagabalus, and so forth – was the chief god of the Syrian town of Emesa, modern‐day Homs, in Roman imperial times.
Furies
Authors: Mili Maria
Published: December 2012

This term covers a variety of supernatural beings with different names, whose relationship to one another is not clear.
Furrina and Furrinalia
Authors: Mueller Hans‐Friedrich
Published: December 2012

Sometimes spelled with one “r,” sometimes with two, Furrina appears as a singular goddess, but is often associated with a plural group.
Magical papyri, Greek
Authors: Hanesworth Pauline
Published: December 2012

The Greek magical papyri (PGM) are a collection of documents containing spells for an array of activities, including, though not limited to, protection, attraction of lovers, divination, exorcism, healing, cursing, and the creation of charms.
Hera
Authors: Dillon Matthew
Published: December 2012

According to myth, Hera was the eldest daughter of Kronos and Rhea; she became the wife of her youngest sibling Zeus.
Hermetic writings
Authors: Struck Peter
Published: December 2012

Even back to Herodotus' time, the Greeks wondered if foreign pantheons of gods might be mappable onto their own.
Human sacrifice, Greece and Rome
Authors: Bonnechere Pierre
Published: December 2012

Human sacrifice is a bone of contention for historians. The concept is elusive: should we distinguish between the victim that is offered to specific gods (human sacrifice) and the one that is not (ritual murder)? This issue very often superimposes modern categories on ancient texts, in which such a distinction is never obvious. Would this distinction remain valid if human sacrifice belonged to representation rather than reality? Comparisons with other cultures remain particularly hazardous if the phenomenon has not been thoroughly studied for each of them.
Isis in Greece and Rome
Authors: Dowling Melissa Barden
Published: December 2012

Isis was an Egyptian goddess who used her powerful magic to protect her husband Osiris and promote her son Horus on the throne of Egypt; she offered fertility and prosperity to worshippers.
Katabasis
Authors: Harrisson Juliette
Published: December 2012

From the Greek for “descent,”katabasiscan mean a descent from high ground, a journey from inland to the coast, or a return. In the context of myth, it usually refers to a descent to the land of the dead by a living person who later returns (rather than the natural descent of a deceased soul or an ascent by a ghost to visit the living).
Kouretes
Authors: Blakely Sandra
Published: December 2012

Kouretes represent mythological, historical and ritual types: earthborn dancers who defend the infant Zeus; pre‐Greek tribes of Aitolia, Akarnania, Peloponnese, Chalcis in Euboeia, and Crete; and rites of fertility, passage, prophecy, and mysteries.
Lares
Authors: McDonough Christopher M.
Published: December 2012

The Lares (singular, Lar) were a class of Roman tutelary deities. Though found on both the domestic and public level, Lar was employed as a synonym for “home” itself.
Ma
Authors: Roller Lynn E.
Published: December 2012

Ma was an Anatolian deity sometimes identified as a mother goddess.
Magi, Persian
Authors: de Jong Albert
Published: December 2012

The Old Persian wordmagu‐ means “priest.” It is well attested in documentary texts from the Achaemenid period, but its use in Old Persian royal inscriptions is limited to one specific case: that of the “usurper” Gaumata, who claimed to be Bardiya, king of the Persians, and who was unmasked and defeated by Darius.
Manes, di manes
Authors: King Charles W.
Published: December 2012

The
manes
or
di manes
were the deified dead, whom Romans worshipped at festivals like the
Parentalia
, at shrines within their own homes, and in other contexts (King 1998; 2009). The word
manes
lacks singular forms, but it would be misleading to conclude from the plural form that the Romans did not worship (or could not conceive of) individual dead. When it was required, Romans could shift to any of several other terms with singular forms in order to convey the idea of individual dead, as Ovid (
Fast
. 2.535–41) shifted from
manes
to the singular
umbra
while describing the
Parentalia
. They could also simply use
manes
as a singular word, if the context made that usage clear (e.g., Ovid
Met
. 6.566–70). Although there were contexts when Romans invoked collective groups of
manes
in rituals, as in the opening of the
Mundus
or the military
devotio
, much of Roman funerary cult focused on dead individuals who would be worshipped as
manes
at their specific tombs (during the
Parentalia
) or at home altars. Pontifical rules established connections between dead persons and their heirs, so that the obligation of heirs to worship specific
manes
accompanied the inheritance (Cicero
Leg
. 2.48–9; Evans 1985; King 1998: 268–78). The Romans attributed various powers to
manes
including the ability to extend worshippers' lives beyond what fate had decreed, to send messages in dreams, to enforce sworn oaths, and, in certain contexts like the military
devotio
, to kill enemies (King 2009; 1998: 336–80).
Mater Larum
Authors: Woodard Roger D.
Published: December 2012

Nominally the Mater Larum is the “Mother of the Lares,” that set of divine beings, perhaps chthonic in origin, which are affiliated with protection of Roman domestic and civic space.
Mountains, sacred
Authors: Roller Lynn E.
Published: December 2012

The Greeks and Romans had a strong sense of awe associated with isolated mountain regions and considered them a natural habitat for deities and for human encounters with the divine.
Mundus
Authors: King Charles W.
Published: December 2012

A
Mundus
was an underground Roman cultic site.
Nodens
Authors: Tomlin R. S. O.
Published: December 2012

Romano‐British god identified with Mars, worshipped at a shrine in Lydney Park (Gloucestershire) that flourished from the mid‐third to the mid‐fourth century
CE
, followed by decline; two statuettes found near Lancaster are the only evidence of wider cult.
Oedipus
Authors: Harrisson Juliette
Published: December 2012

In mythology, the son of Laius, king of Thebes, and Jocasta (called Epicaste in the
Odyssey
) and father of Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone and Ismene.
Pales and Parilia
Authors: Smith Christopher J.
Published: December 2012

The Roman deity Pales and the festival of the Parilia are connected with sheep and shepherds, although whether the Parilia is a festival to Pales, what kind of deity Pales was, and how ancient this whole complex of ideas was remain deeply uncertain.
Priests and priestesses, Roman
Authors: Várhelyi Zsuzsanna
Published: December 2012

There is no single term in Latin to designate priests, suggesting the varied origins of Roman priesthoods. In some instances we can trace Indo‐European origins behind individual words; for example, the *
dhe‐
stem in
sacerdos
, the generic Latin term for “priest,” also shows up in different form in the Latin verb
facere
, “to do,” and thus implies the “doing” of sacred actions.
Proserpina
Authors: King Charles W.
Published: December 2012

Often closely identified with the Greek goddess Persephone and her mythology, Proserpina was the Roman goddess married to the ruler of the underworld (Dis) and the daughter of a fertility goddess (Ceres).
Ptolemaia
Authors: Iossif Panagiotis P.
Published: December 2012

The Ptolemaia were part of the cult of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, especially associated with the cult of Ptolemy I Soter.
Purification, Greek
Authors: McMullen Paul Ian
Published: December 2012

Purification (Greekkatharmos) embodies a set of rituals, mediating between the ritualized states of pollution (miasma) and what is conventionally referred to by modern scholars as purity (hagneia).
Purification, Roman
Authors: Bradley Mark
Published: December 2012

Purification rituals were a defining feature of Roman religious practice, performed before most important public business and religious activity.
Religion, Anatolian
Authors: Roller Lynn E.
Published: December 2012

The religious traditions of Anatolia are notable for their diversity, reflecting the variety of ethnic groups and political states in the region.
Religion, Celtic
Authors: Tommasi Chiara
Published: December 2012

It is difficult to provide a survey of Celtic religion, because the varied sources (literary, epigraphical, and archaeological) extend over some two millennia, and because Celtic peoples settled in many different geographical regions, from Asia Minor to the Iberian peninsula.
Religion, Italic
Authors: Scopacasa Rafael
Published: December 2012

Italic religion comprises the religious beliefs and practices of Italic communities, which in ancient literature are referred to as “Sabines,” “Samnites,” “Latins,” “Picenes,” “Umbrians,” “Campanians,” “Lucanians,” “Veneti,” and “Messapians.” Despite its distinctive features, Italic religion shares important traits with other religions of the ancient Mediterranean, such as Greek and Etruscan.
Religion, North African
Authors: Bessi Benedetta
Published: December 2012

The geographic and climatic conditions of the vast area referred to as Africa by the ancient geographers, stretching from present‐day Libya in the East to Morocco in the West, “combine to produce a peculiar mix of connectivity and isolation that has affected ideas as much as economies” (Shaw 2007: 2); religion was no exception. The indigenous Libyan people always maintained a tribal organization and therefore their religious practices did not become a homogeneous phenomenon.
Religion, Roman
Authors: Engels David
Published: December 2012

Roman religion was characterized by polytheism, formalism, ritualism, pragmatism, and openness to the (careful) introduction of external elements, domestic and public cults being largely parallel.
Religious deviance and persecution
Authors: Rives James B.
Published: December 2012

The notion of religious deviance necessarily implies a religious standard from which to deviate, but it is difficult to identify such a standard in the Greek and Roman religious traditions: there was no foundational text like the Torah or the Bible, no explicitly formulated doctrine, and no hierarchy of religious authorities who could define or enforce adherence to a doctrine.
Rhomaia
Authors: Kantirea Maria
Published: December 2012

Rhomaiawere competitive festivals organized and celebrated by Greek cities in honor of the goddess Roma, during the late Hellenistic and early imperial periods. They were an integral part of the cult of the personified city of Rome after its emergence as the leading power in the eastern Mediterranean and constituted the religious confirmation of the relations of confidence, friendship, and alliance between the Roman state and the Greek world.
Rumina
Authors: Mueller Hans‐Friedrich
Published: December 2012

Our ancient sources overwhelmingly agree that Rumina (properlydiva Rumina) was the goddess of the (lactating) breast (ruma = mamma).
Sabazios
Authors: Roller Lynn E.
Published: December 2012

Sabazios was an Anatolian god often identified as Zeus. The Sabazios cult was widely disseminated in western Anatolia, including Lydia, Lycia, Phrygia, and the west coast of Asia Minor. In a fourth centuryBCEinscription from Sardis, Sabazios is linked with the Anatolian deities Angdistis (an alternate name for the Phrygian Mother) and Ma.
Seers,
G
reece
Authors: Gagné Renaud
Published: December 2012

Mantis
(plural,
manteis
) is the standard Greek term for “seer” or “diviner,” one of the reasons why there is some overlap in our sources between
mantis
and other, more marked terms such as
chresmologos
,
prophetes
,
chresmoidos
, or
theopropos
.
Skira
Authors: Stehle Eva
Published: December 2012

An Athenian festival celebrated by women separately, as we know from Aristophanes, who twice depicts women as plotting against men at the Skira (Thesm. 834,Eccl. 18), and Menander, who reveals that men expected to pay for wives to participate (Epit. 750).
Soul, Greece and Rome
Authors: Ramelli Ilaria L. E.
Published: December 2012

The notion of soul is a fundamental concept in the philosophical and religious landscape of the ancient Greco‐Roman world. In Homer,psychēindicates the vital breath, which keeps a human alive, and the unconscious, unknowing phantasm that after death goes into Hades.
Suovetaurilia
Authors: Bendlin Andreas
Published: December 2012

Suovetaurilia(orsuovitaurilia) were sacrifices of a pig (sus), sheep (ovis), and bull (taurus); this combination is documented in literary texts, inscriptions, and imagery.
Terminus
Authors: Mueller Hans‐Friedrich
Published: December 2012

Stubborn god of boundaries and their markers, Terminus would not yield his place through exauguration even for Jupiter when Tarquin was building Jupiter's Capitoline temple, which, for this reason, enclosed Terminus' stone, but provided an opening to the sky through its roof (Festus p. 505L; Dion. Hal.Ant. Rom. 3.69; ServiusAen. 9.446; Ov.Fast. 2.667–72).
Theos Hypsistos
Authors: Mitchell Stephen
Published: December 2012

Over 370 Greek inscriptions dating from the first century
BCE
to the fourth century
CE
, whose geographical range extends from the Black Sea to Egypt, including the Aegean, Asia Minor, and Syria, attest cults of Theos or Zeus Hypsistos, or simply Hypsistos (“the Highest”).
Theoxenia
Authors: Naiden F. S.
Published: December 2012

Theoxenia
was a kind of Greek sacrifice in which worshippers presented both meat and other food to gods or heroes, who supposedly attended the meal as guests, or
xenoi
.
Venus
Authors: Mueller Hans‐Friedrich
Published: December 2012

Venus emerges from Rome's historical records as an increasingly powerful deity of sex, war, and politics, whose most prominent patrons were generals and statesmen.
Vow, Greece and Rome
Authors: Hahn Frances Hickson
Published: December 2012

A vow is conventionally defined as a prayer promising an offering to a deity, conditional upon fulfillment of some request, a form often identified asda ut dem(“give so that I may give”). Thousands of inscriptions referring to the fulfillment of vows bear witness to this practice throughout Greek and Roman antiquity. Also numerous are votive offerings in a multitude of forms, including tripods, armor, toys, altars, temples, representations of body parts, and statuettes of humans and deities.
Xoanon
Authors: Donohue A. A.
Published: December 2012

Xoanon (plural xoana) is an ancient Greek word derived from the verb “to scrape.” In the field of classical archaeology, it is conventionally used to denote a wooden statue of great age and sanctity.
Pythian Games
Authors: Mili Maria
Published: December 2012

Major Panhellenic contest, one of the four of the
periodos
(“circuit”), held at Delphi as part of the festival Pythia during the month Boukatios (August/September) and organized by the amphictyony, which took control of the sanctuary in the early sixth century
BCE
.
Monstrum, Greek and Roman
Authors: Engels David
Published: December 2012

Monstrawere an important category of prodigies. The wordmonstrumis etymologically related tomonstrare, “to show”, andmonere, “to admonish” (FestusGloss. Lat. 122 L.; Serv. adAen. 2.681) and corresponds to the Greekteras. Monstracan globally be understood as synonymous with mostly biological abnormalities, although there are often terminological exceptions.
Agonistic festivals, Roman Empire
Authors: Van Nijf Onno M.
Published: December 2012

Festivals with athletic, equestrian, dramatic, or musical competitions (agones) stood in a centuries‐old tradition.
Army, Roman Empire
Authors: Speidel Michael A.
Published: December 2012

The Roman Empire is unthinkable without its army, mainly, of course, because of the army's role in the conquest, the occupation, and the defense of the vast territories under Roman rule.
Asia Minor
Authors: Mitchell Stephen
Published: December 2012

Asia Minor (also often Anatolia) is the name given by modern scholars, but more rarely in antiquity, to the region of modern Turkey from the Aegean to the River Euphrates (Georgacas 1971).
Baetica
Authors: Curchin Leonard A.
Published: December 2012

Baetica was a Roman province in southern Spain, named after its principal river, the Baetis (Guadalquivir).
Dacia
Authors: Schmitz Michael
Published: December 2012

The land of the Dacians (known to the Greeks as the Getae), located north of the Danube River in the region roughly analogous with modern‐day Romania, was a thorn in the side of nearby Roman provinces from the time of Caesar until its annexation by the emperor Trajan. Dacia was conquered by Trajan in 106 after two hard‐fought wars against the Dacian king Decebalus in 101 and 105. These wars and the conquest are depicted and celebrated on Trajan's Column situated in Rome.
Diplomacy, Roman and Byzantine
Authors: Lee A. D.
Published: December 2012

Roman dealings with other states and peoples were strongly shaped by war, but diplomacy also played an important part, whether in averting conflict or in its preliminaries and aftermath. Over time, changes in the character of the political organization of the Roman state and in its external circumstances had an impact on diplomatic practice and procedures, but formal institutions for the conduct of diplomacy never really developed, at least until the final stages of Late Antiquity, and even then only in limited ways.
Euphrates frontier (Roman)
Authors: Mitford T. B.
Published: December 2012

From the northern plains of Syria and Samosata, the Roman frontier stretched for almost 500 miles up the Euphrates valley and over the Pontic mountains to the Black Sea at Trapezos (Trabzon) (Figure 1).
Finance, Roman
Authors: Cascio Elio Lo
Published: December 2012

The financial institutions of early republican Rome were extremely rudimentary.
Fur
Authors: Cleland Liza
Published: December 2012

Contemporary ideas of “fur” (a luxury item epitomized by soft pelts, separate from Leather) are limited compared to ancient views embracing all hair‐bearing animal skins.
Greek Language in the Roman Empire
Authors: Arzt‐Grabner Peter
Published: December 2012

The Greek language always played an important role in the Roman Empire, particularly in government and culture.
Illyricum and the Balkans, Roman conquest of
Authors: Wilkes John
Published: December 2012

Europe's largest Mediterranean peninsula is bounded by three seas, the Adriatic, Aegean, and Black Sea, and on the north by the Danube, Europe'slargest river.
Cilicia
Authors: Wright Nicholas L.
Published: December 2012

Located on the southern coast of Anatolia, Cilicia was the strategic geopolitical nodal point which linked Anatolia and Europe with the Levant and Mesopotamia. Cilicia was divided into a number of sub‐regions.
Mauretania
Authors: Draycott Jane
Published: December 2012

Ancient Mauretania encompassed the North African Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts and associated inland territory, occupying modern Morocco and Algeria as far south as the Canary Islands, but not the country that bears the name Mauritania today.
Noricum
Authors: Kos Marjeta Šašel
Published: December 2012

The province of Noricum comprised southern Bavaria, most of modern Austria, and northern Slovenia.
Pantomime, Roman
Authors: Webb Ruth
Published: December 2012

Pantomime was one of the most popular, and controversial, theatrical entertainments in the Roman Empire.
Persia and Rome
Authors: Winter Engelbert
Published: December 2012

From the first centuryBCERome was the direct neighbor of an empire controlled by Persian dynasties.
Petra
Authors: Graf David F.
Published: December 2012

Petra (Aramaic
reqem
or
ragmū
, referring to the “multi‐colored” Nubian sandstone rock of the mountains surrounding the city) was the capital of the Nabataean kingdom, and center for the international trade in aromatics from south Arabia to the Mediterranean (from ca. 312/11
BCE
to 106
CE
).
Police, Greece and Rome
Authors: Brélaz Cédric
Published: December 2012

Although the term “police” derives from Greekpoliteia, “government,” and means in medieval Latin (politia) the fair administration of a community, there was no clear definition of the idea in Antiquity.
Ports, Roman
Authors: Steuernagel Dirk
Published: December 2012

The specific character of Roman ports, as opposed to harbors from other periods of antiquity, is due to the discovery and invention of building materials and building techniques that made an artificial construction of harbor basins possible regardless of landscape conditions such as natural bays.
Propontis
Authors: Bekker‐Nielsen Tønnes
Published: December 2012

The Propontis, literally the sea “before the Pontos,” connects the Mediterranean with the Black Sea (Strabo 13.1.1–11; Ptol. 3.9; 5.2.1; Plin.HN5.142–51).
Statues
Authors: Smith R. R. R.
Published: December 2012

Profligate statue use was a defining feature of “classical” city life in the ancient Mediterranean, from the Archaic to the Late Roman period.
Thessalonike, city
Authors: Kreinecker Christina M.
Published: December 2012

The ancient city of Thessalonike (modern Thessaloniki) was founded in 316/15BCEby Cassander, who married Thessalonike, the half‐sister of Alexander the Great and named the city after her.
Getae
Authors: Delev Peter
Published: December 2012

The Getae were a north Thracian tribal group (some of their constituent tribes are known by name, notably the Crobyzi and Terizi).
Narcissus, Claudius' secretary
Authors: Gibson Alisdair
Published: December 2012

Narcissus, imperial freedman, had been involved with Callistus in the conspiracy to murder the emperor Gaius in 41
CE
and became a confidant of the emperor Claudius (41–54).
Tacfarinas
Authors: MacDonald Eve
Published: December 2012

Tacfarinas (d. 24
CE
), a Roman auxiliary soldier, led the Musulmanii, a tribe that inhabited the southern regions of Africa Proconsularis and were joined by the Gaetuli and Cinithians, in a military rebellion against Rome in North Africa, which lasted from 17 to 24
CE
(Tac.
Ann
. 2.52; 3.20–1, 73–4; 4.23).
Adlocutio
Authors: Ng Michael
Published: December 2012

During the imperial period, an important feature of relations between the Roman army and their emperors was the
adlocutio
, a formal speech given to the soldiers during special circumstances.
Aemilian (Marcus Aemilius Aemilianus Augustus)
Authors: Harl Kenneth W.
Published: December 2012

Aemilian (Marcus Aemilius Aemilianus Augustus), Roman emperor for three months in 253, was born at Girba, Africa (modern Gerba, Tunisia) between 207 and 213CE(Aur. Vict.Epit. 31. 3).
Antesignani
Authors: Sage Michael
Published: December 2012

The name denotes those legionary maniples posted in front of the standards. Livy and Caesar provide our main sources of information about them.
Balbinus and Pupienus
Authors: Bonur Christopher
Published: December 2012

Marcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus (alternatively called Pupienus or Maximus, and sometimes Puplianus) (ca. 164 –238CE) and Decimus Caelius Calvinus Balbinus (sometimes called Albinus) (ca. 178–238) were jointly ruling emperors during the period in Roman history known as the Crisis of the Third Century.
Batavians
Authors: Kiernan Philip
Published: December 2012

The Batavians were a Germanic tribe in the northernmost part of Germania Inferior.
Constantius I Chlorus (Flavius Valerius Constantius Augustus)
Authors: Davis Raymond
Published: December 2012

Assessment of the emperor Constantius I (Caesar 293–305
CE
, Augustus 305–6;
PIR
2 F 390;
RE
1;
PLRE
1.227–8) is bedeviled by propaganda for his son Constantine the Great.
Ducenarii
Authors: Whately Conor
Published: December 2012

Strictly speaking,
ducenarius
(plural
ducenarii
) simply means “containing two hundred,” and the term initially referred to the possession of at least 200,000 sesterces by members of the Roman elite (Cass. Dio 55.13). In the Late Empire,
ducenarius
referred to a rank held by an equestrian official, as well as one of the non‐commissioned officers in the army.
Extraordinarii
Authors: Sage Michael
Published: December 2012

The
extraordinarii
were elite Italian allied infantry and cavalry serving with the legions. When new legions were levied, allied infantry and cavalry were raised at the same time. Allied communities were set quotas for both cavalry and infantry units, probably on a rotating basis.
Fabius Valens
Authors: Thornton Daniel James
Published: December 2012

Fabius Valens was a Roman commander who achieved notoriety during a period of civil war known as the “Year of the Four Emperors,” that is, 69CE. Originally from Anagnia and from an equestrian family, Valens' activities are known entirely in the context of that episode and almost exclusively from theHistoriesof Tacitus (books 1–3), and to a lesser degree, Plutarch's biographies of Galba and Otho and Josephus'Jewish War.
Forts, Roman
Authors: Bidwell Paul
Published: December 2012

Some forts had an area of less than a hectare, while there were fortresses as large as 56 hectares, accommodating two legions, as atVeteraand Oberaden in Germany.
Hadrian (Traianus Hadrianus Augustus)
Authors: Thornton Daniel James
Published: December 2012

Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, commonly known as Hadrian, was Roman emperor from 117–38
CE
.
Hasta/Hastati
Authors: Sage Michael
Published: December 2012

The main offensive weapon of the Roman phalanx, which was developed in the mid‐sixth century
BCE
, was the
hasta
or heavy thrusting spear.
Imaginiferi
Authors: Ng Michael
Published: December 2012

Units of the Roman army had standard‐bearers, referred to generally as
signiferi
(
see Signifer
).
Lollius Urbicus, Quintus
Authors: Thornton Daniel James
Published: December 2012

Quintus Lollius Urbicus was a distinguished official under Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, whose most important activity was as governor of Roman Britain (seeBritannia, Roman Empire) between the years 139 and 142CE.
Lucius Verus (Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus)
Authors: Gorrie Charmaine L.
Published: December 2012

Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus (130–169CE) was joint emperor with Marcus Aurelius from 161 until his death in 169.
Macrinus (Marcus Opellius Macrinus Augustus)
Authors: Gorrie Charmaine L.
Published: December 2012

Marcus Opellius Macrinus Augustus (164 or 166–218CE) was the first emperor who was not from the senatorial order, but an equestrian.
Maximinus Thrax (Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus Augustus)
Authors: Stern Gaius
Published: December 2012

The much hated Maximinus Thrax (r. 235–8CE) is sometimes called the first of the Barracks emperors, reigning during the crisis of the third century.
Nerva Augustus
Authors: Barrett Anthony A.
Published: December 2012

Marcus Cocceius Nerva, Roman emperor 96–98CE, was born on November 8 in a year given as 30CE(Cass. Dio 68.4.2) or 35 (Ps.‐Vict.Ep. de Caes. 12.11).
Otho (Marcus Otho Caesar Augustus)
Authors: Broadhead Will
Published: December 2012

Otho (32–69CE), emperor from January 15 to April 16, 69, was from a family that had over the previous two generations risen from equestrian status to senatorial prominence under the patronage of the Julio‐Claudian court: his grandfather was a favorite of Livia; his father a favorite of Tiberius and a much decorated officer and magistrate under Claudius.
Principales
Authors: Sage Michael
Published: December 2012

The
principales
of the Roman imperial army were soldiers who carried out certain specific duties.
Principia
Authors: Bidwell Paul
Published: December 2012

The
principia
served as the headquarters building of an auxiliary fort or legionary fortress.
Military standards, Roman
Authors: Maxfield Valerie
Published: December 2012

The various units of the Roman army carried a range of different standards whose origins lie with the early history of those units.
Vespasian (Vespasianus Augustus)
Authors: Thornton Daniel James
Published: December 2012

Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian, was Roman emperor from 69–79
CE
, and the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which lasted until 96.
Vestricius Spurinna, Titus
Authors: MacRae Duncan
Published: December 2012

Titus Vestricius Spurinna (24–after ca. 105
CE
) was a soldier and politician in the period from the civil wars of 68–69 to the accession of Trajan.
Slings, slingers
Authors: Gómez‐Pantoja Joaquín L.
Published: December 2012

The use of the sling (σφενδóνη,funda) dates back to the Neolithic Age, with the most ancient example found in the tomb of Tutankhamun.
Acilius, Gaius
Authors: Northwood Simon
Published: December 2012

Gaius Acilius was the senator who acted as interpreter for the three Greek philosophers, Karneades, Diogenes, and Kritolaos, who in 155
BCE
appealed to Rome on behalf of Athens.
Aemilius Lepidus, Marcus
Authors: Ramsey John T.
Published: December 2012

Marcus Lepidus (ca. 90–13/12BCE) was the younger son of the consul of 78, who died in Sardinia in 77 after fomenting an unsuccessful rebellion against the reforms of Sulla. His wife Iunia Tertia was the half‐sister of the tyrannicide Marcus Iunius Brutus. He was a man who always played a supporting, rather than a leading, role. He lacked decisiveness and a driving ambition to grasp power for himself. Yet the important assignments entrusted to him by Julius Caesar in the Civil War (49–45) demonstrate that he was not without talent.
Antonius, Marcus (Mark Antony)
Authors: Ramsey John T.
Published: December 2012

Marcus Antonius, “Mark Antony” (ca. January 14, 83–August 1, 30
bce
), was the eldest of three brothers born to M. Antonius Creticus (pr. 74), son of the famous oratorM. Antonius (cos. 99). His mother Julia was the sister of the consul of 64 and a distant relative of the Dictator Julius Caesar. His spendthrift father died in disgrace ca. 71, and his mother remarried. Antony's stepfather was P. Lentulus (cos. 71), who was executed by Cicero in 63 for his involvement in Catiline's conspiracy.
Campus Martius, republican
Authors: Bernard Seth G.
Published: December 2012

The Campus Martius, the field consecrated to Mars, was the area of Rome just outside the city walls and within the curve of the Tiber River. This location, extramural but still close to the city's center, gave the Campus a privileged political and religious position throughout Roman history. Its size alone was such that, when it was finally monumentalized in the Late Republic and Early Empire, the rest of the city seemed almost an appendage to it (Strabo 5.3.8).
Centuriation
Authors: Gargola Daniel J.
Published: December 2012

Centuriation, in Latin
limitatio
, denotes the process by which Roman officials prepared a large tract of land for distribution in small plots by marking out a network of boundary paths or
limites
.
Consuls
Authors: Polo Francisco Pina
Published: December 2012

Acting in close collaboration with the Senate, the two consuls were the chief magistrates of the Roman state throughout the republican period. The republic's highest office, like the Roman “constitution” itself, should be regarded as a “work in progress,” and analyzed by taking into account the changing historical circumstances of Roman history. According to Roman tradition, two consuls replaced the king as highest magistrates in 509BCE, as shown by the list of consuls in theFasti. However, it is unlikely that the republic was governed from the beginning by two magistrates acting as equal partners in power. Only after the enactment of the Licinio‐Sextian laws (367–366) do we have definite knowledge of a double magistracy. From that moment onwards, the consulship certainly existed. Until then it is uncertain whether consuls orpraetor maximusand otherpraetores, ormagister populi‐magister equitum, or under certain circumstancestribuni militum consulari potestate, were the highest magistrates of the Roman Republic. According to the tradition, Plebeians reached the right to stand for the consulship only in 367, the office being until then an exclusive office for Patricians.
Sulla (Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix)
Authors: Santangelo Federico
Published: December 2012

Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138–78BCE) belonged to a patrician family that had not attained the consulship since the early third centuryBCE.
Curia
Authors: Hopkins John North
Published: December 2012

In addition to being the name of the Roman Senate house, a curia was also any inaugurated site (templum) where senators met, and outside Rome it suggests a civic assembly hall. Located on the north rim of theComitium, probably under the modern church of SS. Luca e Martina, the Curia Hostilia was the first Senate house in Rome; Caesar replaced it with the Curia Iulia on the site now occupied by a Diocletianic reconstruction. The wordcuriaseems to derive fromco‐viria, a meeting of men, whence the building where they convened.
Dictator
Authors: Swithinbank Hannah J.
Published: December 2012

The Roman dictatorship was an extraordinary short‐term magistracy brought into effect during times of crisis, both military and domestic.
Equites, republic and empire
Authors: Owens E. J. , Hirt Alfred M.
Published: December 2012

The wordEques(pl.Equites) is related to the Latin for horse (equus)and means horseman. Hence the termEquitesis often misleadingly translated as “knights.” Traditionally, the origins of theEquiteslay in the military organization of early Rome. During the republican period, they evolved into a wealthy, socially eminent class, which exploited the business interests of the expanding Roman Empire, and a political pressure group. Augustus reformed theEquites(Ordo Equester) and began to use them as a second tier of administration in the running of Rome and the empire. Progressively their imperial responsibilities grew at the expense of the Senate, until by the reign of Diocletian they were appointed to all senior administrative and military positions in the empire. Subsequently, social and administrative developments degraded the order, and they disappeared as a distinct social class by the end of the fourth centuryCE.
Evander
Authors: Hogg Daniel
Published: December 2012

Evander is said to have been the founder of the first settlement on the Palatine, arriving in Latium from Arcadia sixty years before the Trojan War.
Flaminius, Gaius
Authors: Champion Craige B.
Published: December 2012

Gaius Flaminius (ca. 265–217BCE) was a “new man” (novus homo) in Roman politics; that is, he did not rise from an established political family at Rome, having produced consuls, censors, and triumphators in its past.