bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Guadalquivir
Authors: Hidalgo Rafael
Published: December 2012

The Guadalquivir River, over 700 km long, crosses the south of the Iberian Peninsula from east to west, from its source in the Sierra de Cazorla (Jaén) to its mouth in Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz). On reaching the Atlantic Ocean it opens into a broad estuary of a width of approximately 4 km at the point where the estuary flows into open sea. Its current name derives from the Arabic Wadi al‐Kabir (“great river”). In pre‐Roman times it was probably given the name of Tartessos, whereas with the arrival of Rome it was called Baetis (Strabo 3.2.3–11). The Guadalquivir, like other Spanish rivers, brings together a good part of this country's most important history. Since prehistoric times, it has been the focal point around which the towns and cities of the southern peninsula have shaped themselves.
Herculaneum
Authors: Camardo Domenico , Court Sarah
Published: December 2012

Herculaneum is an archaeological site on the Bay of Naples in southern Italy, best known as the Roman town that was destroyed – along with Pompeii – by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79
CE
.
Hippo Regius
Authors: Rossiter Jeremy
Published: December 2012

The town of Hippo Regius (“Royal” Hippo), modern Annaba in Algeria, first enters the historical record at the end of the third centuryBCEas a possession of Masinissa's Numidian kingdom.
Leptiminus/Leptis Minor
Authors: Stirling Lea , Stone David L.
Published: December 2012

Leptiminus (Lamta, Tunisia) was an important harbor town, although not in the premier league of Roman ports with Ostia, Alexandria, Carthage, and Lepcis Magna.
Massilia (Marseilles)
Authors: Guyon Jean
Published: December 2012

Founded about 600
BCE
, Marseilles (Greek: Massalia; Latin: Massilia) was an important Greek colony in the west Mediterranean, and it remained a major center of maritime trade throughout the Roman and Late Antique periods.
Messana
Authors: Shepherd Gillian , Zambon Efrem
Published: December 2012

Messana (modern Messina) in the northeastern corner of Sicily was founded as Zankle in ca. 730
BCE
by Greeks from Euboea, although Thucydides (6.4.5) also records a prior establishment by pirates from Cumae in Italy.
Monte Testaccio
Authors: Peña J. Theodore
Published: December 2012

Monte Testaccio (Italian for “Potsherd Mountain”) is an artificial mound comprised almost entirely of fragments of olive oil amphoras, located in the Emporium district of Rome. This feature appears to have been created by the systematic disposal of containers for oil imported to Rome by the Roman state that was stored in the Horrea Galbana, a state‐owned warehouse located immediately to its north.
Motya
Authors: Pope Spencer
Published: December 2012

Located near the northwestern tip of Sicily, nearly opposite Marsala, the Isola Lunga protects a small lagoon in which lies the island San Pantaleo, ancient Motya.
Naissus (Nis)
Authors: Ilić Olivera
Published: December 2012

Naissus was a Roman city located in an area of the present‐day city of Niš (southeastern Serbia). The origin of the city's name is not quite clear (one assumption is that the city was named after the river on whose banks it was constructed –
Navissus
).
Nemausus (Nîmes)
Authors: Haeussler Ralph
Published: December 2012

Nemausus (modern Nîmes), situated in southern Gaul on the road from Italy to Spain (the
via Domitia
of 118
BCE
), was the “capital” of the Volcae Arecomici.
Novaesium (Neuss)
Authors: Kiernan Philip
Published: December 2012

Neuss is located on the west bank of the Rhine, approximately 30 km downstream from Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne) and just to the north of the Erft River. It is one of the earliest settlements and military sites of Roman Germany. The ancient name, Novaesium, is first attested by Tacitus in his description of the Batavian Revolt of 70
CE
(Tac.
Hist
. 4.26). Prior to the Roman period, the area was inhabited by the Germanic Eburones, who were wiped out in the course of Caesar's conquest of Gaul. The area remained virtually uninhabited until it was resettled with the Germanic Ubii in either 39 or 20
BCE
by Agrippa. Excavations have so far failed to locate the site of the earliest Ubian settlement at Neuss.
Noviomagus Batavorum (Nijmegen)
Authors: Kiernan Philip
Published: December 2012

Ulpia Noviomagus (Municipium Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum, not to be confused with other Celtic places called Noviomagus), now Nijmegen in the Netherlands, was the civitas capital of the Batavians, and the third most important city in the province of Germania Inferior after Cologne and Xanten.
Numantia (Spain)
Authors: Goffaux Bertrand
Published: December 2012

The Celtiberian town of Numantia is famous for its resistance to Rome during the second centuryBCE. It was defeated and destroyed by Scipio Aemilianus in 133, but was rebuilt afterwards.
Oea
Authors: Morton Thomas J.
Published: December 2012

The Carthaginians established a trading post at Oea (modern Tripoli), adjacent to an excellent natural harbor.
Ostia
Authors: Delaine Janet
Published: December 2012

Ostia was a Roman colony at the mouth of the River Tiber, serving as coastal protection, naval base, and commercial entrepôt for the city of Rome, some 22 km upstream.
Piazza Armerina
Authors: Wilson R. J. A.
Published: December 2012

The Roman Villa near Piazza Armerina consists of 45 rooms plus corridors covering some 1.5 ha (outbuildings remain undiscovered). It is renowned for the variety and sheer quantity of its polychrome figured and ornamental mosaic floors. The date is disputed. Pottery found in floor make‐up suggests a date of ca. 320/25–330
CE
, the generally accepted chronology; recent arguments for a later date (ca. 375), at least for geometric mosaics, can be discounted. The notion that the villa belonged to an emperor (Maximian?) is now discarded by most scholars: it was more likely the property of a rich private
dominus
, a senator, whether Italian or Sicilian is unknown. Candidates suggested include governors of Sicily (Domitius Latronianus, Betitius Perpetuus) or other senators (L. Aradius Valerius Proculus, Ceionius Rufius Albinus), but the evidence is inconclusive: the
dominus
' identity is unknown.
Pompeii
Authors: Ellis Steven J. R.
Published: December 2012

Pompeii is the best known of all Mediterranean archaeological sites, having been famously buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79CE, and then fabulously brought back to “life” following its (re)discovery in the mid‐eighteenth century (Figure 1).
Pont du Gard
Authors: Fiches Jean‐Luc
Published: December 2012

This masterpiece of Roman architecture is part of the 50 km long aqueduct which conveyed the water from the Eure valley (near Uzès) to Nemausus (NîMes), one of the largest towns in Gaul.
Porolissum
Authors: De Sena Eric C.
Published: December 2012

Located in northwestern Romania, Porolissum (modern‐day Moigrad) was established in 106
CE
under Trajan. It served as the primary military base in the hierarchy of the Roman defensive network in northwestern Dacia, with secondary fortresses located at Tihǎu, Romita‐Certiae, Romanaşi, and Buciumi. In addition to protecting a major corridor through the Carpathian Mountains, Porolissum's location affords a commanding view of a 30 km stretch of the Roman
limes
and offers a line of vision toward one of the most important native Dacian sites, Şimleu Silvaniei, some 25 km to the west, probably the
Dacidava
mentioned by Claudius Ptolemaeus (
Geography
3.8 Dacia).
Pyrenees
Authors: Sablayrolles Robert
Published: December 2012

The mountain range of the Pyrenees extends 400 km from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, reaching a peak altitude of 3,404 m at the Aneto. In the protohistoric period, the eastern part of the Pyrenees was settled by Iberians (on the north and south slopes), while those whom Caesar called Aquitani peopled the west. Linguistic criteria (as seen through place names) show that these zones divided around the center of the massif, at the valley of the Ariège to the north and in the valleys of the Nogueras to the south. Evidence from archaeology and toponyms indicates a rather limited Celtic influence. Although Strabo (4.1.1) depicts the Pyrenees as a boundary between Celts to the north and Iberians to the south, one may argue that this arrangement was a later development created by Roman provincial administration and continued in national developments of the nineteenth century.
Ravenna
Authors: Yasin Ann Marie
Published: December 2012

Situated on the southern branch of the Po River in northeast Italy, Ravenna served as capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402–476. From the later fifth to the mid‐eighth century Ravenna effectively remained capital of Italy, first under Germanic and Ostrogothic kings and then under Byzantine control, until it fell to the Lombards in 751. The best preserved and most important material remains from the ancient city are its rich collection of Late Antique churches, mosaics, and sarcophagi. These monuments offer valuable evidence for the history of artistic production between the early Christian and medieval periods, an historically underrepresented art era due to the iconoclastic destructions of the eighth and ninth centuries in the Byzantine East.
Rome, city of: 5. Flavian and Trajanic
Authors: Conlin Diane Atnally
Published: December 2012

The history of Flavian Rome began with bloodshed, fire, and destruction. In mid‐December of 69, the soldiers of Vitellius battled the invading Flavian forces led by M. Licinius Crassus Mucianus.
Satricum
Authors: Gnade Marijke
Published: December 2012

Satricum (nowadays Le Ferriere) is the name of an ancient Latin settlement, situated ca. 60 km south of Rome in the province of Lazio.
Syracuse
Authors: Metcalfe Michael
Published: December 2012

Syracuse was one of the most powerful
poleis
in the central Mediterranean from the sixth to third centuries
CE
, and was lauded by Cicero as one ofthe largest and most beautiful cities of his day (Cic.
Verr
. 2.4.117).
Tartessus
Authors: Martí‐Aguilar Manuel Álvarez
Published: December 2012

Tartessus was a designation used by Latin authors for the Roman city of Gades/Gadir and, in a broad sense, the province of Hispania Baetica, and even Hispania more generally.
Teutoburgiensis Saltus (Kalkriese)
Authors: Wells Peter S.
Published: December 2012

According to Tacitus (60–62), the Teutoburgiensis saltus (Teutoburg Forest) was where the remains of Varus and his legions lay after the great battle with Arminius in 9
CE
.
Thugga (Dougga)
Authors: Morton Thomas J.
Published: December 2012

Placed at a spectacular location, Thugga overlooks the Wadi Khaled Valley (in modern Tunisia).
Thule
Authors: Grane Thomas
Published: December 2012

Thule (Θούλη, Thyle) is an island situated in the northernmost reaches of the ancient world, first mentioned by Pytheas of Massalia in his work “On the Ocean” from the mid‐fourth century
BCE
This work exists only through references by other ancient writers such as
STRABO OF AMASEIA
(1.4.2–5; 2.4.1; 2.5.8; 4.5.5.) or Pliny the Elder (
HN
2.187; 4. 104).
Tibur (Tivoli)
Authors: Guldager Bilde Pia
Published: December 2012

Tibur was an ancient city of Latium about 27 km west of Rome. It was located where the Tiburtine Hills meet the Roman Campagna by the falls of the Aniene River, under the modern city of Tivoli.
Tomis
Authors: De Sena Eric C. , Bilde Pia Guldager
Published: December 2012

The ancient city of Tomis (Tomoi, modern Constanţa, in the Dobruja region of Romania) was founded as a Greek colony, on a peninsula that juts into the Black Sea some 80 km to the south of the Danube delta.
Vasio (Vaison‐la‐Romaine)
Authors: Anderson James C.
Published: December 2012

Vasio,
civitas
capital of the Vocontii, arose on the right bank of the Ouvèze River when a native
oppidum
on the left bank was abandoned and the still extant Roman bridge constructed (
see
Oppida).
Velitrae
Authors: Bilde Pia Guldager
Published: December 2012

Velitrae (modern Velletri) is an ancient town of Latium located 30 km southeast of Rome in the Alban hills by the Via Appia. Ample Proto‐historic finds, primarily from graves, demonstrate activity at the site from the tenth century
BCE
onwards.
Verulamium (St. Albans)
Authors: Rogers Adam
Published: December 2012

Verulamium lies in Hertfordshire, southeast England, 1 km west of St. Albans and 30 km northwest of Londinium (London).
Vetulonia
Authors: Izzet Vedia
Published: December 2012

Vetulonia, in North Etruria, was densely occupied by the eighth century
BCE
. It consisted of at least two concentrations of habitation, and a corresponding series of cemeteries.
Viminacium
Authors: Mladenović Dragana
Published: December 2012

Viminacium is a Roman city and the capital of the Roman province Moesia Superior
Vindobona (Vienna, Austria)
Authors: Öllerer Christoph
Published: December 2012

Prior to Roman occupation, the site of today's Vienna lay within the territory of the Boii, a Celtic tribe. Their settlement in the area of Vienna is proven by numerous archaeological excavations.
Virunum (Zollfeld, Austria)
Authors: Dolenz Heimo
Published: December 2012

Until the end of the second century
CE
the Municipium Claudium Virunum was the capital of Noricum.
Volaterrae
Authors: Terrenato Nicola
Published: December 2012

Volaterrae (modern Volterra) is a major Etruscan and Roman city in northern Tuscany, still in existence after over three thousand years of continuous occupation.
Waldgirmes, Germany
Authors: Benario Herbert W.
Published: December 2012

Waldgirmes, part of the small community of Lahnau‐Waldgirmes, is located in the German Bundesland of Hessen.
Xanten, Germany
Authors: Wilson R. J. A.
Published: December 2012

The Roman city of
colonia Ulpia Traiana
was founded ca. 99
CE
on the site of an existing settlement (from ca. 40
CE
) of the local pro‐Roman tribe, the Ciberni (
Cibernodurum
).
Taula
Authors: Perez‐Juez Amalia
Published: December 2012

A taula, or more strictly, a taula precinct, is a religious building distinguished by an enormous central pillar that supports a heavy perpendicular slab – the actual taula.
Naveta
Authors: Perez‐Juez Amalia
Published: December 2012

A naveta is a megalithic structure built on the Balearic Islands of Majorca and Minorca during the Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. The name derives from its unusual shape, resembling an upside‐down boat. Its cyclopean architecture of large limestone blocks, fitted together without mortar, make these buildings outstanding landmarks in the territory.
Helvetii
Authors: Fuchs Michel E.
Published: December 2012

The Helvetians occupied the Swiss Plateau and had a well‐defined territory bordered by the Rhine, Lake Constance, the Rhône, Lake Geneva, Jura, and the Alps. Julius Caesar, in his
Conquest of Gaul
(1.2), even reports its size: “two hundred and forty miles long and a hundred and eight miles wide,” that is to say, 355 km × 266 km.
Octodurus – Forum Claudii Vallensium (Martigny, Switzerland)
Authors: Dubosson Benoît
Published: December 2012

Octodurus was a small Celtic settlement, the capital of the Veragri, located where the Great St. Bernard Pass opens out into the Rhône plain. In the middle of the first century
CE
, it was replaced by a new Roman town,
Forum Claudii Vallensium
, that would later become the first episcopal see in the region of Valais.
Lousonna (Lausanne)
Authors: Cramatte Cédric
Published: December 2012

Lousonna
was a
vicus
of the Helvetii that developed on the shores of Lake Geneva. Its rapid development and economic growth was a result of its strategic position at the crossroad of important land and river routes leading from the south of Gaul and Italy to the Rhine provinces. The name of Lousonna appears in the Peutinger Table, the Antonine Itinerary, and several stone inscriptions.
Viviscus (Vevey, Switzerland)
Authors: Dubosson Benoît
Published: December 2012

Viviscus
or
Biviscus
was a town of secondary importance situated on Lake Geneva's northeastern shores, on the border between Germania Superior and the
Graiae
and
Poeninae
Alps.
Turicum (Zürich)
Authors: Cramatte Cédric
Published: December 2012

Turicum
is a
vicus
of the Helvetii that developed on each side of the Limmat, at the mouth of Lake Zurich.
Vicques, villa (Switzerland)
Authors: Cramatte Cédric
Published: December 2012

Vicques is an important
villa rustica
situated in the middle of the Jura mountains, 30 km away from
Colonia Augusta Raurica
.
Maghreb
Authors: Hughes Ryan
Published: December 2012

The Maghreb (al‐Magrib al‐‘Arabī, also rendered Maghrib) is an Arabic term meaning “the west,” and more generally refers to the region of northwestern Africa that extends from the Senegal River Valley in southwest Mauritania to the eastern Libyan and western Egyptian deserts.
Buthrotum/Bouthrotos (Butrint, Albania)
Authors: Hernandez David R.
Published: December 2012

On the coast of Epirus, Buthrotum/Bouthrotos was an ancient port city, located opposite the island of Corcyra.
Fregellae
Authors: Bilde Pia Guldager
Published: December 2012

Fregellae is an ancient town of Latium adiectum located near modern Ceprano (central Italy).
Amphitheater
Authors: Morton Thomas
Published: December 2012

The amphitheater ‐ a large oval structure with banks of seating for viewing games in a central Arena ‐ is one of the most recognizable forms of Roman architecture, and the Colosseum in Rome is its most famous example.
Colosseum
Authors: Morton Thomas J.
Published: December 2012

Martial (
De speet
. 2) states that Vespasian built an amphitheater on the site of the artificial lake in Nero's
Domus Aurea
in order to return to the people of Rome that which was taken away from them after the great fire of 64
CE
.
Adonis
Authors: Reed J.D.
Published: December 2012

In Greek and Roman mythology, a mortal favorite or lover of Aphrodite/Venus. He and the ritual lament for him, the Adonia, are most plausibly derived from the Mesopotamian Tammuz via West Semitic speakers, as his name–fromadon, “lord”–suggests (Burkert 1979: 105–8).
Adventus
Authors: Stone Shelley C.
Published: December 2012

The Latin word
adventus
, “arrival,” was often used to designate the arrival of an important person (Verg.
Aen
. 6.798) or a god (Cic.
Nat. D
. 1.105; Sen.
Apocol
. 5).
Aeneas
Authors: Muse Kevin
Published: December 2012

Aeneas is one of the foremost Trojan warriors in theIliad, son of the goddess Aphrodite and the mortal Anchises. When rescuing him from the hands of Achilles, Poseidon says that Aeneas and his descendants are fated to rule the Trojans after Troy's fall.
Agrionia
Authors: Dillon Matthew
Published: December 2012

A festival celebrated principally at Orchomenos but also at Chaeronea, both in central Greece. Plutarch in the second century
ce
provides the main details in an account of a specific celebration at Orchomenos.
Ajax
Authors: Kanavou Nikoletta
Published: December 2012

Name (Greek Aias) borne by two Homeric heroes, known as greater Ajax, son of Telamon (and Periboia or Eriboia), and lesser Ajax, son of Oileus. ?he Telamonian Ajax, by far the more illustrious of the two, was king of Salamis.
Aletheia
Authors: Smith Amy C.
Published: December 2012

The abstract concept Aletheia, Truth, is personified in literature as a daughter of Zeus (Pind.
Ol
. 10.3–4 and fr. 205) and nurse of Apollo (Plut.
Symp
. 657e).
Amphidromia
Authors: Hamilton Richard
Published: December 2012

The Greek birth ceremony called the Amphidromia (“run‐around”) is defined only in a few fragmentary late dictionaries and commentaries on various classical texts, and there is a good chance that these definitions are simply guesses based on the name itself and the understanding that the ceremony involved a newborn: a group (midwives? Naked males?) ran around something (the family hearth? the child?) five or seven (or ten) days after the baby was born. A few sources add that friends and relatives sent octopus or squid as gifts.
Amulets, Greece and Rome
Authors: Pollard Elizabeth Ann
Published: December 2012

Amulets—in Greek,periapta, periamma(literally, “things tied around”) and in Latin,lamella, lamina(denoting the metal sheets on which they were engraved)—were worn to garner protection and other benefits for the wearer.
Anahita
Authors: Jong Albert De
Published: December 2012

Anahita was one of the most popular Iranian deities in antiquity. Originally, she was a river goddess and goddess of fertility.
Anakes
Authors: Bedigan Kirsten
Published: December 2012

The Anakes (“Lords”) were male divinities of indeterminate identity, worshipped either as independent gods, or as an alias for other deities (Paus. 10.38.3). Worship of the Anakes was located mainly in Attica, although evidence for the cult is known elsewhere (Hemberg 1955).
Anthesteria
Authors: Hamilton Richard
Published: December 2012

Though apparently widespread, the Anthesteria is described only for Athens, where it was celebrated on the 12th (or 11th, 12th, and 13th ‐ the ancient evidence is contradictory) of the month Anthesterion (“flowering,” roughly, February).
Antisemitism, anti‐Judaism
Authors: Seeman Chris
Published: December 2012

Antisemitism is an ideology and political movement that seeks to remedy the ills of society by eradicating Jews from its midst.
Apollo
Authors: Konaris Michael
Published: December 2012

Apollo was a major Greek god, son of Zeus and Leto, twin brother of Artemis.
Apotropaic gods
Authors: Marx‐Wolf Heidi
Published: December 2012

Apotropaic gods are those whom people in antiquity turned to in order to avert evil, bad luck, misfortune, illness, and suffering.
Argei
Authors: Newsome David J.
Published: December 2012

The term
Argei
designated two elements of a purification ceremony in Rome: twenty‐seven shrines throughout the city and twenty‐seven straw effigies, which were thrown into the Tiber from the Sublician Bridge on May 15.
Armilustrium, Tubilustrium
Authors: Smith Christopher J.
Published: December 2012

The Roman festival of the Armilustrium, “Purification of Arms,” was celebrated annually on October 19, and was a purificatory ceremony that brought an end to the Roman military season.
Asebeia
Authors: Leão Delfim F.
Published: December 2012

The wordasebeiais usually translated into modern languages as “impiety,” although its exact religious and juridical overtones are not easy to define.
Atargatis
Authors: Dirven Lucinda
Published: December 2012

Atargatis is a Semitic goddess, whose name is a compound of Ashtarte and Ateh, which literally means “the goddess Anat” (Drijvers 1980: 88).
Bacchanal(ia)
Authors: Orlin Eric
Published: December 2012

The Bacchanalian affair offers an unusual example of religious repression during the Roman Republic, an exception to normal Roman practice.
Bendis
Authors: Petrovic Ivana
Published: December 2012

Bendis was a Thracian goddess who was equated with Greek Artemis, Hekate, or Persephone.
Capitoline Triad
Authors: Orlin Eric
Published: December 2012

The Capitoline Triad was composed of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, who occupied the three cellas in the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Georges Dumézil suggested that the original threesome would have consisted of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus, as representatives of the original three Indo‐European social groups: rulers, warriors, and farmers. However, good evidence for the worship of that triad at the site is lacking, and Roman sources, late though they may be, consistently report only the presence of Juno and Minerva alongside the primary deity of the Roman state.
Caristia
Authors: Dolansky Fanny
Published: December 2012

Celebrated on February 22, this family festival, also called Cara Cognatio (“Dear Kinsmen”), immediately followed the Parentalia. Relatives gathered for a feast, believing commensality could mend strained relationships (Val. Max. 2.1.8), and exchanged gifts, sometimes also with friends (Martial 9.54, 9.55). Ideally, the celebration was marked by the presence of the goddess
Concordia
and absence of dysfunctional relations (Ov.
Fast
. 2.623–32). By the mid—fifth century
CE
, it was conceived as a day when grudges against the dead were abandoned (Pol. Silv.), and probably later became the festival of St. Peter's Chair (Bomer 1957/58
ad
2.617; Salzman 1990: 47, 160–1).
Carmen Saliare
Authors: Hickson Hahn Frances
Published: December 2012

The
Carmen Saliare
is an archaic Roman hymn, sung by priests called Salii as they performed ritual dances through the city of Rome. The ritual took place over a period of several days in March and October, the traditional opening and close of a primitive war cycle.
Caves, sacred, Greece and Rome
Authors: Wagman Robert
Published: December 2012

Karst geology favors the formation of caves in Mediterranean countries. In Greece and Italy, these were used as places of worship as early as the Stone Age. Many of them continue to house religious practices today, generally regional cults of saints and the Virgin.
Charms, spells, Greece and Rome
Authors: Pollard Elizabeth Ann
Published: December 2012

Charms (Greekepoidaiandgoeteiai, Latincarmina; cf. the Latin verbsincantareandexcantare) are verbal formulae with magical efficacy; that is, the chanting of these verses or words was thought to bring about a desired effect, including positive results such as healing, ambivalent goals such as consummating erotic relationships, and more deleterious aims such as bodily harm or even death.
Chresmologos
Authors: Gagné Renaud
Published: December 2012

The
chresmologos
is a type of diviner in archaic and classical Greece. What distinguishes the
chresmologos
from the more inclusive term
mantis
, “seer,” is not always clear in our sources, although the two terms are usually presented as distinct from each other.
Chthonic deities, Greece and Rome
Authors: Mili Maria
Published: December 2012

Chthonic deities are a category of Greek gods taking their name fromthe word
chthon
, meaning “earth.” The category became prominent in nineteenth‐century scholarship, where the chthonic deities were held to be in opposition to the Olympian deities.
Clementia
Authors: Dowling Melissa Barden
Published: December 2012

Clemency, pardoning a criminal or an enemy defeated on the battlefield, became an important political quality in the Late Republic, especially in Julius Caesar's civil war propaganda.
Cult clothing, Greek
Authors: Gawlinski Laura
Published: December 2012

The Greeks did not have specialized costumes intentionally created for exclusive use during cultic activity, but clothing did play important roles in ancient Greek religion. Clothing and accessories could differentiate cultic functionaries from participants, visually communicate social and cultic standing, and underscore the importance of ritual propriety. It also became a part of ritual action when dedicated to a deity.
Cybele
Authors: Roller Lynn E.
Published: December 2012

Cybele was the name used for a female deity of Phrygian origin whose worship was widely disseminated throughout the ancient Mediter‐ranean world.
Demons, Greek and Roman
Authors: Smith Gregory A.
Published: December 2012

Demons have a long and continuous history from Homer through Late Antiquity. While there were important and sometimes divergent developments throughout the period, certain features recur with insistent frequency. These include a conception of demons as somehow “between” human beings and the higher gods, a close link between demons and the course of human events, a persistent but not exclusive association of demons with misfortune in particular, and a close connection between demons and the human soul.
Diktynna
Authors: Roller Lynn E.
Published: December 2012

Diktynna was a goddess of hunting and fishing who was worshipped on Crete (Hdt. 3.59).
Earth deities, Greece and Rome
Authors: Norton Elizabeth A.
Published: December 2012

Many Greco‐Roman goddesses are said to have had some form of power over earth and fertility, and some have close connections with the earth. However, the Earth as a deity is slightly harder to define in both myth and history. The Greek personification of the Earth is Gaia, also called Ge, and her Roman equivalent is Tellus, the Terra Mater.
Epione
Authors: Mylonopoulos Ioannis
Published: December 2012

Most literary sources on Asklepios and his family identify Epione as the god's wife. Based on the etymology of her name, which derives from the Greek term
epios
(soothing), Epione appears to be some sort of personification, most probably of the gentle care essential to successful recuperation. Only in Athens (
IG
II
2
4473), Epidauros (
IG
IV
2
1, 384), Pergamon (
IvP
III 72), and Kos (
Iscr. di Cos
EV 219) does epigraphic evidence identify Epione as a cultic figure and not simply as a mythological one. Although Epione is usually recognized as a Koan figure, Hausmann (1948: 31) suggested that the Epidaurians invented her.
Epiphany, Greece and Rome
Authors: Renberg Gil
Published: December 2012

The concept of “epiphany” was central to the religious beliefs of both the Greeks and the Romans, though more evident in Greek sources.
Evocatio
Authors: Orlin Eric
Published: December 2012

Evocatio
is a ceremony by which the Romans transferred to Rome the chief divinity of a city that they were besieging.
Expiatory rites, Greece and Rome
Authors: Naiden F. S.
Published: December 2012

The expiatory rites of the Greeks and Romans were mostly the same as other rites, but differed in having the aim of mollifying divine anger.
Faunus and Fauna
Authors: Holland Lora L.
Published: December 2012

Faunus and Fauna (plural Fauni) are indigenous Latin prophetic deities whose voices issue from groves; Roman state divinities, in contrast, communicate with humans via signs from the natural world.
Felicitas
Authors: Dowling Melissa Barden
Published: December 2012

Felicitas, the Roman Personification of good luck, brought both martial and political success and was connected to
Fortuna
.
Flamines
Authors: Várhelyi Zsuzsanna
Published: December 2012

Roman priests associated with the worship of individual deities — unlike other Roman priesthoods.
Fordicidia
Authors: Smith Christopher J.
Published: December 2012

This Roman festival took place on April 15. The key descriptive text is Ovid,
Fasti
4.629, with additional commentary in Varro (
Ling
. 6.15) and Festus (74L, 91L).
Funerary cult, Greek
Authors: Fabiano Doralice
Published: December 2012

The expression “funerary cult” refers to ritual activities addressed to the dead that take place after the burial with “some degree of recurrence in place and repetition over time”.
Funerary cult, Roman
Authors: King Charles W.
Published: December 2012

As expressed through a variety of rituals, Roman funerary cult was the active worship of themanes(ordi manes), Rome's deified dead.
Harpokrates
Authors: Dowling Melissa Barden
Published: December 2012

Harpokrates is the Greek name for Horus the Child, son of Isis and Osiris, the manifestation of the sun at dawn, an integral part of the cycle of Osiris' death and rebirth as Horus. He appears frequently nursing at Isis' breast or as a chubby boy with a finger pressed to his lips.
Hero cult
Authors: Ekroth Gunnel
Published: December 2012

Heroes were persons who had lived and died and who received some kind of religious attention locally after their death by a group outside the immediate family. Hero cult is a Greek phenomenon, although there are cases of Roman figures described in similar terms.
Hierosylia
Authors: Schipperheijn Marlies P.
Published: December 2012

Hierosylia
is a Greek word denoting the theft of money, sacred items, or even people from a sacred precinct, generally a temple.
Homonoia
Authors: Smith Amy C.
Published: December 2012

Homonoia, “oneness of mind,” brings together unrelated groups, including poleis. This political ideal was contrasted with stasis, civil strife, in the fifth centuryBCE(Funke 1980; Rosler 2005: 210–14).
Hymns, Roman
Authors: Hahn Frances Hickson
Published: December 2012

Roman hymns (carmina) were choral prayers, distinguished from other prayers especially through their performance bya group.
Iphigeneia
Authors: Kanavou Nikoletta
Published: December 2012

Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. According to the legend, she was sacrificed by her father at Aulis to placate the wrath of Artemis and allow the ships to sail to Troy.
Janus
Authors: Holland Lora L.
Published: December 2012

Janus is the Roman god of doorways and archways (Latin
ianua
). His name is given to January, the gateway into the New Year (Ov.
Fast
. 1), and to the Janiculum Hill. He has no Greek counterpart, but in Indo‐European terms Janus seems to be “a personification of transitional spaces through which one must walk in order to begin an under‐taking” (Taylor 2000: 2).
Libations, Greek
Authors: Ekroth Gunnel
Published: December 2012

A libation is a ritual outpouring of liquids. Libations were part of all sacrifices but could also be performed as independent rituals. The common terms for the rituals arespondaiandchoai. The former term is most frequent and referred to a controlled outpouring of a small amount of liquid for the Olympian gods by the help of a jug and a phiale.Choaiwere poured out entirely and were used for libations to the gods of the underworld, the heroes and the dead.
Libertas
Authors: Almagor Eran
Published: December 2012

A politically charged concept in Rome, negatively understood as “freedom from” the arbitrary dominion of another, denoting a right not due to acivisby nature, but granted by the laws.
Libitina
Authors: Mueller Hans‐Friedrich
Published: December 2012

The goddess Libitina, or Venus Libitina, presided over funerals.
Libri pontificales
Authors: Johnson Michael
Published: December 2012

Libri pontificalesand similar terms most often designate antiquarian treatises on pontifical matters, less frequently documents kept by the pontifical college.
Matres/matronae
Authors: Tommasi Chiara
Published: December 2012

More than one thousand inscriptions and altars of the imperial age witness how widespread was the cult of helping goddesses, dispensers of abundance, in both Celtic (from Cisalpine Gaul to Britain, probably in Spain) and Germanic (Rhine valley) areas.
Matronalia
Authors: Dolansky Fanny
Published: December 2012

The Matronalia on March 1, sometimes labelled a “women's festival” (Wissowa 1912: 185; Scullard 1981: 87) due to the prominence of women in the rites and its perceived origins in their actions during the Sabine War (Ov.
Fast
. 3.179–232; Plut.
Rom
. 21.1) is better characterized as a domestic celebration.
Megalesia
Authors: Roller Lynn E.
Published: December 2012

The Megalesia festival honored the Roman goddess Mater Deum Magna Idaea, the “Great Idaean Mother of the Gods,” or Cybele.
Metragyrtai
Authors: Dirven Lucinda
Published: December 2012

Metragyrtaiare followers of Meter (“the Mother”) who are named after their most conspicuous activity: the collecting of goods (agyrtes) for Meter or Cybele.
Mithras and Mithraism
Authors: Sauer Eberhard
Published: December 2012

Worshipped in windowless cave‐like temples or natural caves (conventionally called mithraea) across the Roman Empire, by exclusively male congregations (Clauss 1992; Griffith 2006), few ancient deities have aroused more curiosity than the sun god Mithras.
Moon deities, Greece and Rome
Authors: Hijmans Steven E.
Published: December 2012

The moon (Selene in Greek, Luna in Latin) was a minor goddess in Greek and Roman religion.
Eleusis, Mysteries of
Authors: Wallensten Jenny
Published: December 2012

Every year people from all over the Mediterranean set out for the Attic town of Eleusis to celebrate secret rites in honor of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Kore. All Greek‐speaking men and women (not tainted by blood‐guilt) could participate, and these Eleusinian Mysteries, promising a better afterlife for the initiated, came to enjoy immense popularity.
Myth
Authors: Hitch Sarah
Published: December 2012

Myth is the label used by modern audiences to refer to the corpus of traditional tales about Greek and Roman gods and heroes as portrayed in creative art and literature.
Navigium Isidis
Authors: Dowling Melissa Barden
Published: December 2012

The Navigium Isidis (Greek Ploiaphesia) was an annual festival in the cult of Isis marking the opening of the sailing season on March 5.
Nehalennia
Authors: Tommasi Chiara
Published: December 2012

The worship of Nehalennia is documented in the second and third centuries
CE
in the region inhabited by the Morini, along the North Sea: important sanctuaries have been found near Domburg and Colijnsplaat (The Netherlands).
Neptunus
Authors: Mueller Hans‐Friedrich
Published: December 2012

Cicero names Neptune as one of the great gods that Romans from the time they were small children came to know from paintings and sculpture (
Nat. D
. 1.81).
Numen
Authors: Thornton Daniel James
Published: December 2012

Numen
, plural
numina
, is the divine will of a god in Roman religion, etymologically connected with a nodding of the head.
Nymphs
Authors: Pache Corinne Ondine
Published: December 2012

Nymphs are local nature deities. The wordnymphê, which can also be used to describe a human bride, evokes the nymphs' beauty and youthfulness.
Omens, Greece and Rome
Authors: Engels David
Published: December 2012

Omens – there is no Greek equivalent corresponding precisely to the Latin word
omina
– designated apparently coincidental events seemingly indicating the future, their specific predictive significance residing only in their extraordinary “à propos” in relation to a certain situation (Val. Max. 1.5.1).
Ops
Authors: Mueller Hans‐Friedrich
Published: December 2012

The Latin wordopsmeans literally “might, power, wealth.”
Orgia
Authors: Mili Maria
Published: December 2012

The word, of which the modern equivalent (“orgies”) carries strong associations of revelry and sexual debauchery, seems in ancient times to have had a more sober meaning.
Ostanes
Authors: de Jong Albert
Published: December 2012

Ostanes is a legendary Persian sage (magus), who figures frequently in a wide variety of texts on magical and alchemical subjects from Antiquity.
Paganism, Greece and Rome
Authors: Sandwell Isabella
Published: December 2012

Paganism is the term modern scholars use to describe the non‐Judaeo‐Christian religions of the Greco‐Roman world. It is also one of the most problematic concepts in the scholarship of the ancient world, because it is derived from ancient Christian usage and because it can distort the diverse Greco‐Roman religious traditions that it seeks to describe.
Pan
Authors: Thomas Oliver R. H.
Published: December 2012

The Greek god Pan (or Aigipan) embodied life in the periphery, in particular that of the billy‐goat and goatherd. Since ca. 490
BCE
this personification was frequently readapted, largely by educated city‐dwellers. Pan is free‐ranging; he is lustful but normally frustrated; he is associated with uncanny echoes, hallucinations, pan‐ic attacks, and trances; he hunts small game, and plays the pipes (especially his pan‐pipes). Some early representations depict a quadrupedal or bipedal goat, but most often he is a hybrid with goat‐like features especially on the head and legs. Vase‐painters emphasize his bestiality, and often relate him to satyrs and so increasingly to Dionysos' thiasos. However, the common
aposkopeuon
pose presents him as a goatherd peering after flocks, and his goat‐like features may be almost entirely downplayed, as in some statues inspired by Polykleitos. Although Pan was rarely a civic god (a factor which conditions our archaeological sources), he appears widely on coinage, and his worshippers ranged from herdsmen to the wealthy. The name “Pan” is probably related to Indo‐European words like “pastor.” A relationship with Indian Pushan remains doubtful.
Persephone, Kore
Authors: Wallensten Jenny
Published: December 2012

The Greek goddess Kore or Persephone was widely worshiped in the ancient world, usually together with her mother Demeter and/or her consort Hades (or Pluto).
Pietas
Authors: Thornton Daniel James
Published: December 2012

Pietas was a Roman goddess who was the deification ofpietas, one of the Roman “cardinal virtues” embodied in theMos Maiorum, through which one conveys an attitude of reverence and respect for one's parents and family, the Roman state and institutions, and the gods generally.
Plants, sacred, Greece and Rome
Authors: Hitch Sarah
Published: December 2012

As symbols of fertility and growth, plants were particularly central to cults of Demeter (Roman Ceres) and Dionysos (Roman Bacchus), as well as many other deities in their various roles in the promotion of procreation and the health of the community.
Pluto
Authors: Wallensten Jenny
Published: December 2012

For the ancient Greeks, Pluto (Greek
Plouton
) was another name for the king of the underworld, Hades; it referred to a benign aspect of that otherwise pitiless god, or was understood as a euphemism for the frightening name of Hades (Plat.
Crat
. 403a).
Plynteria
Authors: Dillon Matthew
Published: December 2012

Throughout the Greek world, women had charge of washing and dressing the statues of goddesses.
Pollution, Greece and Rome
Authors: Bradley Mark
Published: December 2012

The best definition of pollution or dirt is “matter out of place,” that which is excluded from a system (Douglas 1966: 35).
Pomona
Authors: Mueller Hans‐Friedrich
Published: December 2012

A priest (
flamen Pomonalis
; Festus portent 144.10– 14L; Varro
Ling
. 7.45) and a sacred grove (
Pomonal
) in the Solonian field (
ager Solonius
) outside Rome between Ostia and Ardea (Festus p. 296.15–17L) point to great antiquity and a deity of fruits (
dea Pomorum
; Servius
Aen
. 7.190; cf. Aug.
De civ. D
. 4.24 and 4.34), but whether that god was originally called Pomona (a female goddess) or by some other name remains a topic of dispute among scholars:
pomum
, or “fruit,” could, for example, also yield the masculine form
Pomonus
(and inscriptions from outside Rome attest indeed to other forms).
Portunus
Authors: Mueller Hans‐Friedrich
Published: December 2012

Cicero derives Portunus from the Latin word for harbor (
portus
;
Nat. D
. 2.66).
Prayer, Greek
Authors: R. H. Thomas Oliver
Published: December 2012

Prayer is the verbalized, most articulate aspect of communication between humans and deities.
Prayer, Roman
Authors: Hahn Frances Hickson
Published: December 2012

Prayer is a speech act explicitly or implicitly directed to a divine audience, although there may be a human audience as well.
Processions, Greek
Authors: Wenman Cassandra L.
Published: December 2012

The procession (Greek
pompe
) was a vital part of ancient Greek ritual involving the movement of ritually important individuals, artifacts (
hiera
), and/or sacrificial animals to and from a sacred destination. Processions are most often associated with
polis
festivals, although they are also vital to some mystery religions.
Proerosia
Authors: Hitch Sarah
Published: December 2012

The Proerosia is a harvest festival, best attested as part of the Athenian state calendar of annual festivals. The name, “pre‐plowing,” is probably derived from the Greek prepositionproand the noun for plowing,arotos(Dow and Healey 1965: 15).
Proskynesis
Authors: Almagor Eran
Published: December 2012

A term denoting gestures of both reverence to deities and deference to superiors.
Quindecimviri sacris faciundis
Authors: Várhelyi Zsuzsanna
Published: December 2012

Literally, “a college of fifteen men to perform sacred actions.”
Quinquatrus
Authors: Mueller Hans‐Friedrich
Published: December 2012

How closely the two Roman festivals called
Quinquatrus
were connected with each other or with Minerva remains unclear.
Religion, Dacian
Authors: Hijmans Steven E. , Bocancea Emanuela
Published: December 2012

Dacian religion largely eludes us, not least because its study was long hampered by nationalist ideologies (Schäfer 2004: 179–81).
Religion, Roman, terminology of
Authors: Engels David
Published: December 2012

Religio
is defined by Cicero as “whatever refers to the care of gods and the ceremonies related to them” (Cic.
Inv. rhet
. 2.161), a definition showing the essentially formalistic nature of Roman religion (compare also Cic.
Nat. D
. 2.8, where
religio
is equated with
cultus deorum
, “the cultivation of the gods”).
Religion, Syrian
Authors: Dirven Lucinda
Published: December 2012

It is hard to distinguish Syrian religion along the lines of Greek and Roman religion; despite several similarities, the religious worlds of cities and villages in Syria during the Hellenistic and Roman periods look very different.
Rex sacrorum
Authors: Smith Christopher J.
Published: December 2012

The Roman priesthood of the
rex sacrorum
or
rex sacrificulus
(Livy 2.2.1) is in large part obscure, but we can identify some basic facts.
Rosmerta
Authors: Tommasi Chiara
Published: December 2012

Rosmerta, whose name is explained as “great provider” (‐
smert
‐ appears elsewhere in Celtic onomatology), is mostly represented as the partner of Mercury.
Sacrifice, Roman
Authors: Bendlin Andreas
Published: December 2012

No single Roman term adequately encompasses the modern category of “sacrifice.”Sacrum facereand its cognatesacrificare, “to perform an activity related to the sacred sphere,” have been taken by scholars to mean “to render sacred” and to denote one essential function of Roman sacrificial practice, namely the transfer of sacrificial material from the profane to the sacred realm, but the material does not unequivocally support such an interpretation.
Salacia
Authors: Holland Lora L.
Published: December 2012

Salacia is a water goddess. Wissowa (1912: 225–9) locates her among the
di indigetes
since she is often coupled with Neptune as Salacia Neptuni, perhaps as an abstraction or a representation of a power of Neptune.
Sibyls and Sibylline books, Greece and Rome
Authors: Cline Rangar
Published: December 2012

Early Greek sources such as Heraclitus (ca. 535 – ca. 475BCE) treat Sibyl (sibylla) as the personal name of a single prophetess, which was then transferred to later seers. As the legend of the Sibyl spread, she began to be associated with multiple locations.
Sistrum
Authors: Dowling Melissa Barden
Published: December 2012

A
sistrum
was a hand‐held rattle used in religious rituals by priests and worshippers in the Near East and in Egypt from the third millennium
BCE
on, gradually spreading across the Mediterranean world.
Sodales
Authors: Várhelyi Zsuzsanna
Published: December 2012

Literally “companions,” fellow members of a fraternity, as in the earliest use of the word in an early inscription (
CIL
I
2
2832a, ca. 500
BCE
), where the
suodales
of Poplios Valesios make an offering to Mars.
Stones, sacred
Authors: Gaifman Milette
Published: December 2012

In Greek and Roman antiquity numerous stones – rough and shaped, stationary and portable – were held sacred. These varied in size, form, and religious meaning.
Sulis
Authors: Tomlin R.S.O.
Published: December 2012

Romano‐British goddess of the hot springs at Bath (
Aquae Sulis
, “the waters of Sulis”), which the Romans turned into the hot‐water spa still unique in Britain by trapping the principal spring (
fons Sulis
) in a massive reservoir now under the King's Bath.
Summanus
Authors: Mueller Hans‐Friedrich
Published: December 2012

A god who hurled lightning, Summanus is well‐attested in Latin inscriptions, and he enjoys persistent, although infrequent and contradictory, mention in Latin literature from Plautus, who treats him humorously (
Curc
. 415–16), to Late Antique Christian authors, who disparage him (August.
De civ. D
. 4.23). Inscriptions from Rome document a powerful divinity whose lightning strikes were expiated (
CIL
VI 206; 2107; 30879; 30880; cf. Livy 32.29.1).
Temples, Greek
Authors: Warburton David A.
Published: December 2012

Greek temples can be approached as (1) monumental architecture and as (2) places of worship. The latter stresses their role the former buildings and typology.
Theogony
Authors: Newington Samantha
Published: December 2012

The term “theogony,” from Greek
theogonia
(literally, “god‐generation”), denotes myths that deal not only with the genesis and genealogy of the gods, but more fundamentally with cosmology.
Samothrace, Mysteries of
Authors: Bedigan Kirsten
Published: December 2012

The Mysteries of Samothrace were centered upon the Great Gods (
Theoi Megaloi
, also known as the
Theoi Samothrakes
).