bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pigs
Authors: Carlà Filippo
Published: December 2012

Domesticated pigs are known in Mesopotamia and Anatolia from the eighth to seventh millenniumBCE.
Plow
Authors: Spanier Ethan
Published: December 2012

The plow was a crucial tool in the development of sedentary agriculture.
Port of trade
Authors: Möller Astrid
Published: December 2012

A “port of trade” is a theoretical concept developed by Karl Polanyi (1886–1964) to describe the phenomenon of a particular kind of trading post.
Prosphora
Authors: Yiftach‐Firanko Uri
Published: December 2012

In documentary material from the early Roman period, the term
prosphora
(“something that has been brought to; offering”) is used for the designation of a dowry category.
Publicani
Authors: Malmendier Ulrike
Published: December 2012

The economic activities of thepublicaniin ancient Rome are one of the most astonishing modern feature of the Roman economy.
Ransom
Authors: Stern Gaius
Published: December 2012

The ransom of prisoners often occurred when the victors believed they could obtain more money from ransom than from enslaving the POWs. Typically, dangerous POWs were executed, women and children enslaved.
Royal road(s)
Authors: Graf David F.
Published: December 2012

Royal road(s) (
hodos basilike
) signify the communication system of imperial regimes, referring primarily to the Persian royal mounted courier service, essentially the
missus dominicus
of the Great King, that dispatched royal messages to the various provinces.
Salt
Authors: Clarysse Willy
Published: December 2012

Salt is a regular necessity for both humans and animals.
Seals, Greece
Authors: Meyers Rachel
Published: December 2012

Greek seals, which can also be referred to as gems, stamps, or signets, are small objects (1–3 cm) made of precious stones or metal.
Tanning, tanners
Authors: Flohr Miko
Published: December 2012

Tanning is a chemical treatment turning transient animal hides into durable leather.
Temple economy, Greek and Roman
Authors: Bubelis William S.
Published: December 2012

Although the concept of “temple economy” is a modern one, it is clear that Greek and Roman temples (and sanctuary complexes) could concentrate and redistribute potentially significant amounts of wealth through their own administrations and also serve as hubs for other economic activity on the part of worshippers and the wider community.
Temple treasuries (tamieion, tamiai)
Authors: Chankowski Véronique
Published: December 2012

Temple treasuries possessed very important assets accumulated in coin and other forms. Since this wealth was generally plundered during the past, we know of such reserves only through literary texts and inscriptions. The treasures of the gods were usually placed under the responsibility of treasurers, who typically had to account for their management to local urban authorities.
Tessera numularia
Authors: Andreau Jean
Published: December 2012

Thetesserae numulariaare small rods of bone or ivory, between 3 and 10 cm long, which consist of a rectangular parallelepiped body and ahead the shape of which varies from one period to another. We do not know their Latin name; they are called tesserae numularia because of the research of Herzog (1919), who concluded that they had been attached to sealed sacks of coins.
Transhumance
Authors: Howe Timothy
Published: December 2012

Transhumance is a specialized form of animal production where sheep, Goats, Cattle, or horses move between winter lowland and summer upland pastures, in order to exploit seasonal grazing.
Transport, Greece
Authors: Howe Timothy
Published: December 2012

About 80 percent of Greece consists of mountains or steep hills.
Villa
Authors: Marzano Annalisa
Published: December 2012

In Latin the word villa refers to a mansion located outside the urban perimeter, which included land (called eitherfundusorpraedium), and was provided with a residential part (pars urbana) and service quarters (pars rustica) with agricultural production facilities, such as presses for wine and olive oil, threshing floors, but also kilns for producing bricks and tiles if the estate had the appropriate natural resources.
Villages, Greek
Authors: Andrews Smaranda
Published: December 2012

Ancient Greece was a land of small‐scale farmers who mostly lived in small towns and villages. During the Dark Age, after the dissolution of the Mycenaean palaces, the ties that had linked political centers and villages no longer existed, leaving small settlements politically autonomous and economically isolated.
Weights and measures, Roman
Authors: Duncan‐Jones R. P.
Published: December 2012

Measures were needed in early societies, because of inheritance and market exchange. Dividing a farm between heirs meant assessing its size. And grain could only be exchanged or paid in tax if the amounts could be identified. Originally gourds or animal skins might be used as units of capacity. Different advances led to the invention of geometry, literally “land‐measurement,” together with artificial containers for measuring capacity, as well as weights and balances.
La Tène
Authors: Collis John
Published: December 2012

The site of La Tène was discovered in the 1850s when the Swiss lakes were artificially lowered, but it was also excavated in the 1860s and 1908.
Administration, Late Antique Egypt
Authors: Palme Bernhard
Published: December 2012

Late Antique Egypt exhibits the typical post‐Diocletian fragmentation into smaller administrative units and the division between civilian and military authority that had been in effect since approximately 308
CE
throughout the empire.
Apiones
Authors: Mazza Roberta
Published: December 2012

“Apiones” indicates an aristocratic family of Egyptian origin that entered the Constantinopolitan Senate at least from the mid fifth centuryCE. The denomination derives from one of the two names of heads of the household, Apion and Strategius, which alternate in successive generations.
Avidius Cassius, Gaius
Authors: Speidel Michael A.
Published: December 2012

Gaius Avidius Cassius (130/131–175CE), a member of a prominent Syrian family from Cyrrhos, was a celebrated Roman general, consul, and governor of Syria, who laid claim to the empire under Marcus Aurelius.
Boukoloi
Authors: Speidel Michael A.
Published: December 2012

Boukoloi (“herdsmen”) was the Greek name given to the inhabitants of the swamps and marshes in the northwest of the Nile Delta.
Camel
Authors: Zimmerle William
Published: December 2012

The domestication of the camel revolutionized the economy of the ancient world.
Cleopatra IV
Authors: Llewellyn‐Jones Lloyd
Published: December 2012

The somewhat shadowy figure of Cleopatra IV was the (possibly eldest) daughter of Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III, born around 138–135
BCE
.
Germanicus' visit to Egypt
Authors: Speidel Michael A.
Published: December 2012

In early January of 19
CE
, Germanicus (15
BCE
–19
CE
), the nephew and adopted son of the emperor Tiberius, interrupted his political mission in the Roman dominions of Eastern Anatolia and the Near East for a visit to Alexandria and Egypt. The historian Tacitus, our main source for the prince's journey, claims in his
Annates
(2.59–61) that while Germanicus' official motive was his concern (
cura
) for the province, he actually just wanted to study the country's antiquities.
Jews, in Alexandria
Authors: Honigman Sylvie
Published: December 2012

The Jews in Alexandria formed the most important Jewish community of the Greco‐Roman world outside Palestine in cultural terms.
Law, Greco‐Roman Egypt
Authors: Yiftach‐Firanko Uri
Published: December 2012

In the Ptolemaic period, royal legislation had the ultimate legal authority. What the king decreed had to be followed, notwithstanding any conflicting provisions elsewhere. Yet no Ptolemaic king aimed at creating an exhaustive law code, covering all aspects of everyday legal activities, comparable to those available in Greek city‐states: rather, in the sphere of private law, royal legislation focused on key issues, whose regulation was indispensable for the country's peace and prosperity, as well as for the administration of justice.
Museum (Alexandria)
Authors: Quattrocelli Luana
Published: December 2012

The Museum of Alexandria, together with the Library (seeLibrary of Alexandria), was an institution dedicated to the accumulation and advancement of human knowledge. As the name implies, it was a place devoted to the Muses. It was primarily characterized as a palatial structure intended to attract and accommodate individuals of the highest standing in the arts and sciences.
Naukratis
Authors: Villing Alexandra
Published: December 2012

Naukratis, the Greekpolis, trading post (Emporion), and Egyptian town, was the earliest Greek settlement in Egypt. Occupied from the seventh centuryBCEto the Middle Ages, it was the main trading port in the western Nile Delta until the Hellenistic period and a major point of Greek–Egyptian intersection. Situated on the eastern bank of the Canopic branch of the Nile between Alexandria and Memphis, it belonged to the district of the Saite capital Sais, some 20 km to its east. The Greek toponym Naukratis, first attested epigraphically in the first half of the sixth centuryBCE, may be a transcript of one of the town's Egyptian names,Nokradj, documented since 554BCEand possibly of Libyan origin.
Papyrology
Authors: van Minnen Peter
Published: December 2012

Papyrology is the study of ancient ink‐written texts on Papyrus (plural: papyri) and other writing materials, such as potsherds (ostraca) and tablets. The bulk of these papyrological texts are written on papyrus and derive from Egypt. For practical reasons, tablets with text scratched on them are not usually regarded as papyrological (except those from Egypt), whereas early (often fragmentary) parchment manuscripts (mainly from Egypt) usually are.
Pharos, Egypt
Authors: Trachsel Alexandra
Published: December 2012

Pharos is the name of the oldest lighthouse in Antiquity. Originally, it is the name of the island facing Egyptian Alexandria where the lighthouse was built in the first decades of the third century
BCE
.
Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II
Authors: Nadig Peter
Published: December 2012

Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (b. ca. 182
BCE
) held the kingship from 170/69–116.
Raphia, battle of
Authors: Verhoogt Arthur
Published: December 2012

The battle of Raphia, a city near Gaza, took place in June 217BCEbetween the armies of Ptolemy IV Philopator and Antiochos III. The battle was the culmination of the Fourth Syrian War, which started when Antiochos invaded Syria in 219.
Revolts, Egyptian
Authors: Fischer‐Bovet Christelle
Published: December 2012

Revolts in Hellenistic Egypt consisted of rebellions and riots, which occurred sporadically from the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–221) until the year following the Roman conquest (29).
Writing materials
Authors: Colomo Daniela
Published: December 2012

The writing materials used in antiquity were stone (
see
Epigraphy, Greek; Epigraphy, Latin; Epigraphy, Pharaonic Egypt), Papyrus, animal skin (especially parchment), wood, metal, clay, bone, ivory, and textiles. Papyrus and parchment, in roll and codex format, were used on a large scale for record‐keeping and book production in the Greco‐Roman world.
Coinage, Byzantine Egypt
Authors: Foss Clive
Published: December 2012

Under the Roman Empire, Egypt struck an anomalous coinage centered on a base silver tetradrachm, whose purity and size declined drastically after the late second century.
Agatharchides of Knidos
Authors: Farrington Scott
Published: December 2012

Agatharchides, born in Knidos, flourished in the last half of the second century
BCE
and authored works of historiography, ethnography, and geography.
Aitia
Authors: Longley Georgina M.
Published: December 2012

Aitia
means “cause,” “accusation,” “responsibility,” “reason/motive.”
Androtion
Authors: Harding Phillip E.
Published: December 2012

Androtion (ca. 410–340BCE) was an Athenian politician and author from a wealthy family, which owned property in the deme Gargettos, in the Mesogaia. His father, Andron, may have been a member of the Four Hundred oligarchs who ruled Athens in 410/9. Androtion himself is reported to have studied under the rhetorician Isocrates, but corroborating evidence is lacking.
Antisthenes of Rhodes
Authors: Wiemer Hans‐Ulrich
Published: December 2012

Antisthenes of Rhodes (born not later than 220BCE) was a Rhodian politican and the writer of a historical monograph (FGrH508) that included a detailed account of the sea battle atchios, fought by the Rhodians againstphilip V of macedon; when it began and when it ended is unknown.
Atthidographers
Authors: Harding Phillip E.
Published: December 2012

“Atthidographer(s)” is the name given by modern scholars to the authors of the local chronicles of Athens/Attica. Similarly, the genre in which these authors worked is referred to now as Atthidography.
Barbarians,barbaroi
Authors: Gillett Andrew
Published: December 2012

The figure of the barbarian was fundamental to classical Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman historiography, from its rise inathensthrough to Late Antiquity.
Cato, Marcus Porcius (Cato the Elder),
Origines
Authors: Walter Uwe
Published: December 2012

Cato was the first “to expound the deeds of the Roman people” (F 1.1 Beck/Walter) in Latin prose around 170
BCE
.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius
Authors: Fantham Elaine
Published: December 2012

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43BCE), statesman, orator, and writer, is our main source for the culture and history of the Roman Republic in its last generation, and fundamental to the moral and political thought of the Latin Fathers (Augustine, Jerome, Lactantius), of the humanist renaissance of Italy, and of the eighteenth‐century Enlightenment in Europe and America.
Coelius Antipater, Lucius
Authors: Beck Hans
Published: December 2012

Lucius Coelius Antipater was a Roman historian who lived in the age of the Gracchi. Born into a plebeian family at the lower stratum of the Roman aristocracy (Badian 1966: 16), he did not aspire to a political career.
Constantinian Excerpts
Authors: Banchich Thomas M.
Published: December 2012

The
Constantinian Excerpts
were compiled at the command of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (r. 913–959) and comprised fifty‐three thematically arranged volumes of extracts from at least twenty‐five historians, the earliest being Herodotus, the latest George Hamartolos.
Curtius Rufus, Quintus
Authors: Müller Sabine
Published: December 2012

Quintus Curtius Rufus is the author of theHistoriae Alexandri Magni Macedonis, the only known Latin historiographical monograph on Alexander III, the Great. Of the ten books, Books 1 and 2 are lost, Books 3, 5, 6, and 10 are lacunose. The surviving text covers the events from Alexander's settlements in Lycia and Pamphylia (333BCE) to the arrangements after his death (323), thus offering the fullest ancient account of his successor generals' politics.
Dexippos of Athens
Authors: McInerney Jeremy
Published: December 2012

Born ca. 200–5
CE
into a prominent Athenian family, P. Herennius Dexippos is an important source for the history of the mid‐third century.
Empeiria
Authors: Longley Georgina M.
Published: December 2012

Empeiria
means “experience.” Ancient historians emphasized their experience to assert their authority;
empeiria
was increasingly seen as indispensable for the historian's task.
Emphasis
Authors: Longley Georgina M.
Published: December 2012

Emphasis
refers to the “vividness” of an account or description and was part of the ancient historian's aim.
Ephoros
Authors: Kellogg Danielle L.
Published: December 2012

Ephoros (
FGrH
70), from the city of Kyme, Asia Minor, was an historian who lived ca.
Geography
Authors: Kaplan Philip
Published: December 2012

Geography, the systematic study of the earth, its lands, and peoples, was born as a discipline in the Greek world, produced by the same intellectual movement that gave rise to natural philosophy and history.
Historia Augusta
Authors: Johnston Andrew C.
Published: December 2012

Historia Augusta
(
HA
) is the conventional modern title given to a collection of thirty biographies of Roman emperors and usurpers, spanning the period from Hadrian (117
CE
) to Numerian (285); in actuality there are seventy individuals whose lives are treated, as several of the later biographies each encompass multiple persons (e.g., the three Gordians).
Lucceius, Lucius
Authors: Serrati John
Published: December 2012

Lucius Lucceius was a prominent and wealthy aristocrat from the Late Roman Republic.
Medical writers
Authors: Hanson Ann Ellis
Published: December 2012

Greek medicine is but one strand in the tapestry of ancient healing in the eastern Mediterranean over the course of millennia.
Mucius Scaevola, Publius
Authors: Beck Hans
Published: December 2012

Born into the prestigious Roman clan of the Mucii, Publius Mucius Scaevola moved quickly through the ranks of the
cursus honorum
.
Phylarchos
Authors: Thornton John
Published: December 2012

Phylarchos (ca. 272–188BCE) was a historian, possibly from Athens.
Pontifical Chronicle
Authors: Forsythe Gary
Published: December 2012

Pontifical Chronicle is a term used by modern scholars to describe an archive of basic factual material concerning the Roman state, compiled from early times onward by the chief priest (
pontifex maximus
), who headed the Roman state religion.
Poseidonios
Authors: Grillo Luca
Published: December 2012

Poseidonios (ca. 135–51
BCE
) was a philosopher, historian, scientist, teacher, and author of letters and miscellaneous treaties.
Pragmatic history
Authors: Thornton John
Published: December 2012

“Pragmatic history” (pragmatikēhistoria) is the expression Polybius employs (1.2.8; 35.9; 3.47.8; 6.5.2; 9.2.4; 12.25e.1; 36.17.1) to define his own kind of history.
Quintilian
Authors: Fantham Elaine
Published: December 2012

Born (ca. 40
CE
; died ca. 96) in Calagurris, Spain, Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus) came to Rome as a teenager to study rhetoric with Domitius Afer: he practiced as an advocate under Vespasian (70–79), who appointed him to a salaried chair in Rhetoric. He spoke before Titus' mistress, Queen Berenike of Judaea, in what may have been a domestic hearing (
Institutio
4.1.19). He lost his young wife and both sons as children (
Inst
. 6 preface). He was a distinguished teacher, counting Pliny the Younger and Domitian's nephews among his pupils. A cultural conservative and almost unquestioning admirer of Cicero, he composed a work around 89 on the causes of corruption in rhetorical style: it did not survive.
Strabo of Amaseia
Authors: Roller Duane W.
Published: December 2012

Strabo of Amaseia (ca. 65BCE–25CE), famous for his extantGeographika, came from a distinguished family in Pontos, in northern Asia Minor.
Theopompos of Chios
Authors: Corcella Aldo
Published: December 2012

Theopompos, son of Damasistratos, of Chios, was a Greek rhetor and historian of the fourth centuryBCE(FGrH115).
Timaeus of Tauromenium
Authors: Champion Craige B.
Published: December 2012

Timaeus (ca. 356–260BCE), son of Andromachos, of Sicilian Tauromenium (mod. Taormina), was the most important Greek historian of the western Mediterranean before Polybius.
Timagenes of Alexandria
Authors: Harvey Paul B.
Published: December 2012

Timagenes of Alexandria (ca. 80–before 5BCE(seeAlexandria, Egypt)), was taken captive and enslaved by the proconsul Aulus Gabinius in 55BCE, when the latter restored to his throne Ptolemy XII “Auletes” (seePtolemy XII Neos Dionysos Auletes).
Topography
Authors: Serrati John
Published: December 2012

According to Ptolemy (Geog. 1.1.3‐5), the study of topography was a subdivision of the wider study of geography.
Zosimus, historian
Authors: Croke Brian
Published: December 2012

Zosimus (fifth centuryCE), bearing the title of “advocate for the treasury” (advocatus fisci) that reflects his career position at some stage, wrote what he called a “New History.”
Achaian War
Authors: Kosmetatou Elizabeth
Published: December 2012

The Achaian War (146
BCE
) was a conflict between Rome and the Achaian League which culminated in the sack of Corinth by the army of the consul Lucius Mummius (Polyb. 38.9–18; 39.2–6; Paus. 7.9–16).
Acilius Glabrio, Manius
Authors: Kosmetatou Elizabeth
Published: December 2012

M. Acilius Glabrio was a general and statesman of the Roman Republic.
Aitolian League
Authors: Antonetti Claudia , Cavalli Edoardo
Published: December 2012

The Aitolian League was a confederation of Greek tribes and cities, which flourished especially in the third centuryBCE; originally constituted on a territorial and ethnic basis (the Aitolianethnos, Western Greece), after the death of Alexander the Great it gradually expanded in central Greece, eventually clashing with many of the great powers of the time – Rome included.
Alexander Balas
Authors: Iossif Panagiotis P.
Published: December 2012

Alexander (ca. 170–145
BCE
), born in Smyrna, was probably of Semitic origin: his original name was “Balas,” a Greek form of the Semitic epithet
Ba'al
, the Lord (Just.
Epit
. 35.1.6–7).
Alexander, nephew of Gonatas
Authors: Panagopoulou Katerina
Published: December 2012

Alexander (ca. 290–245BCE), son of Krateros, a half‐brother of Antigonos Gonatas and step‐grandchild of Demetrios Poliorketes, married Nikaia around 279 (Livy 35.26; Plut.
Antigonos I Monophthalmos
Authors: Meeus Alexander
Published: December 2012

Antigonos Monophthalmos (ca. 382–301BCE), a Macedonian nobleman, served the Macedonian kings Philip II and Alexander III, the great, as general, and later became one of the main contenders in the Wars of the Successors (seeSuccessors, Wars of). The nickname Monophthalmos (“the One‐Eyed”) was given him after he lost an eye in battle at an unknown time. Antigonos likely married Stratonike, his only known wife, rather late in life, as their oldest son, Demetrios, was not born until 336, their second son Philippos being born not much later (Plut.Demetr. 2.1–2).
Antigonos III Doson
Authors: Kralli Ioanna
Published: December 2012

Antigonos III (r. 229–221BCE), nephew of Antigonos Ii Gonatas and grandson of Demetriosi Poliorketes, ascended to the Macedonian throne initially as regent for the minor Philipv of Macedon, son of Demetrios II (hence perhaps the epithetDoson: “he who will give”). Doson married Philip's mother and adopted the boy, thus assuring Philip's succession and proving his own loyalty to the Antigonid Dynasty.
Apollonis, wife of Attalos I
Authors: Iossif Panagiotis P.
Published: December 2012

Apollonis (ca. 240–175/4–159
BCE
), daughter of a civic dignitary from Kyzikos, wife of Attalos I, and mother of Eumenes II, Attalos II, Philetairos, and Athenaios, was a key figure in the creation of Attalid propaganda: Attalos' marriage to her (223) symbolized the importance the Attalids accorded to the Greek cities, and she was praised as a model queen and mother (
OGIS
248 and 308; Polyb. 22.20; Strabo 13.4.2; Plut.
De frat. amor
. 480C). Her visit to Kyzikos in 185, with Eumenes and Attalos, was theatrically staged to advertise the unity of the royal family (Polyb. 22.20) and the devotion of her sons, as represented on the reliefs of her temple (
Anth. Pal
. III). Eumenes founded a city named after her (Strabo 13.4.3–5).
Arbitration, international
Authors: Ager Sheila L.
Published: December 2012

The employment of disengaged third parties to settle international disputes is a phenomenon of great antiquity.
Areus of Sparta
Authors: Kralli Ioanna
Published: December 2012

The Agiad Areus I (ca. 320–265
BCE
) ascendedto the throne as a minor (309/8), when Sparta had sunk into political and military insignificance. During his reign Sparta emerged out of obscurity, attempting to resume leadership of the Greeks.
Chandragupta
Authors: Ricot Richard Pierre
Published: December 2012

Chandragupta (Greek
Sandrakottos
), who lived ca. 340–297
BCE
, founded the large Mauryan Empire in India.
Cleopatra II
Authors: Capponi Livia
Published: December 2012

Cleopatra II was a member of the Ptolemaic royal house that ruled Egypt. She was the eldest of the three children of Ptolemy V Epiphanes (d. 180) and Cleopatra I (d. 176).
Cleopatra VII
Authors: Clauss Manfred
Published: December 2012

Cleopatra VII was born at the end of 69BCE,as daughter to King Ptolemy xii neos dionysos auletes. We know nothing about her youth, not even the customary anecdotes and prodigies–which is unusual for a person of this rank: the Romandamnatio memoriaewas effective in her case. The identity of her mother is not known.
Comedy, New
Authors: Iversen Paul A.
Published: December 2012

New Comedy was the last major form of Greek comedy, and its creative heyday ran from the time of Alexander III, the Great to the middle of the third centuryBCE.
Demetrios II (Seleucid king)
Authors: Iossif Panagiotis P.
Published: December 2012

Demetrios II (ca. 159–125
BCE
), Seleucid king and son of Demetrios I, was sent to Knidos with his brother when Alexander Balas attacked Syria around 152–151.
Demetrios' War
Authors: Holton John Russell
Published: December 2012

Demetrios' War (or the Demetrian War) featured an Antigonid‐Epirote alliance against the Aitolian and Achaian Leagues, erupting during Aitolian aggression against Akarnania in ca. 239BCEon Demetrios II's marriage to Phthia of Epirus (Olympias' daughter: Just.Epit. 28.1–4) and lasting throughout Demetrios's tenure as sole king (239–229).
Diadem
Authors: Muccioli Federicomaria
Published: December 2012

Together with the purple robe, the diadem was a typical symbol of royal power in antiquity.
Diagramma
Authors: Poddighe Elisabetta
Published: December 2012

The
diagramma
was an ordinance or law, issued “in the name of the kings” by the royal chancery of the Macedonian and Hellenistic kingdoms and dealing with a variety of subjects: imposing a new constitution, prescribing the recall of exiles or the creation of a new lawcode, regulating court procedures, solving border disputes, or prescribing a tax law.
Diodoros Pasparos
Authors: Kosmetatou Elizabeth
Published: December 2012

Diodoros Pasparos was a Late Hellenistic benefactor who received unprecedented, for a Greek non‐royal person, honors in his native Pergamon for his political and diplomatic activities during the Mithradatic Wars (89–63).
Epigram
Authors: Fantuzzi Marco
Published: December 2012

Epigrammaandepigraphewere originally almost synonymous: both referred to “en graved” writing on a material that had not been specially constructed to receive writing (such as a waxed tablet, parchment, or papyrus).
Heliodorus
Authors: Strootman Rolf
Published: December 2012

Heliodorus of Antioch (ca. 220–175BCE), the son of Aischylos, was a Seleucid courtier and high official in the first half of the second centuryBCE. Heliodorus was one of the leadingphiloi(“friends”) of Seleukos IV Philopator (187–175), and after the king's death he became regent for his infant son.
Hellenistic period (concept of)
Authors: Bugh Glenn R.
Published: December 2012

There was no such concept as a “Hellenistic period” in antiquity, at least not in terms of those who lived in the period between Alexander the Great.
Cassander
Authors: Wheatley Pat
Published: December 2012

Son of Antipater and ruler of Macedonia between 316 and 297BCE, Cassander is the victim of a hostile source tradition, as he was antipathetic to Alexander III, The Great (Plut.Alex. 74.2–6;Demetr. 37.3;Reg.imp.apoph. 180 f.) and directly responsible for eliminating his family and causing the extinction of the Argead Dynasty (Diod. Sic. 19.105.1–3; 20.28; Just.Epit. 15.2.3–5).
Kleanthes of Assos
Authors: Haake Matthias
Published: December 2012

The philosopher Kleanthes of Assos (331/30?‐231/30 or, more probably, 230/29BCE) was the second head of the Stoa. Not much is known with certainty about his life. He became scholarch (head of the school) after the death of Zeno Of Kition, the school's founder and his teacher (261/60), and remained in this function for more than thirty years, until his suicide. Because of his great age, his date of birth has been a matter of controversy: against the background of textual problems in Diogenes Laertius and some logical assumptions, his birth has been placed around 310, but this dating is not convincing.
Kouropedion, Battle of
Authors: Psoma Selene
Published: December 2012

The Battle of Kouropedion was the last one fought between the Successors of Alexander III, the great.
Krateros, Macedonian
Authors: Heckel Waldemar
Published: December 2012

A Macedonian noble form Orestis, Krateros son of Alexander served Alexander III, The Great as phalanx commander between 336 and 330
BCE
.
League of Corinth
Authors: Wallace Shane
Published: December 2012

“League of Corinth” is a modern name, not attested in Antiquity. It is frequently, but not exclusively, used to describe the alliance of Greek states founded at Corinth by Philip II of Macedon in spring 337BCE. It lasted until Alexander's death in June 323. Part of its charter survives on stone, while a speech attributed to Demosthenes provides further information on its organization (GHI76; (Dem.) 17 =On the treaty with Alexander).
Leonidas of Tarentum
Authors: Gutzwiller Kathryn
Published: December 2012

Leonidas of Tarentum (first half of the third centuryBCE) was one of the major Hellenistic epigrammatists. Attributed to him are 103 epigrams, mostly in elegiac meter. He specialized in dedications and epitaphs, although most of his epigrams appear to be literary rather than inscriptional. Dedications of spoils from the Lucanians (Anth. Pal. 6.129, 6.131) provide historical references (before 272BCE). In a self‐epitaph (Anth. Pal. 7.715), he claims to have lived a wandering life and to lie buried far from his native Tarentum; elsewhere (Anth. Pal. 6.302) he celebrates an ancestral mode of self‐sufficient poverty.
Lycophron
Authors: Hurst André
Published: December 2012

Lycophron of Chalkis (ca. 330 to mid‐third centuryBCE) is known as a tragic poet, and also as the author of the most obscure of poems: a prophecy of Kassandra by the titleAlexandra.
Navies, Greek
Authors: Gabrielsen Vincent
Published: December 2012

Seafaring and sea‐fighting are eminent features of the ancient Greek and Hellenistic worlds.
Perdikkas, son of Orontes
Authors: Heckel Waldemar
Published: December 2012

Perdikkas was a prominent Macedonian noble, perhaps a distant relative of the Argead royal house.
Pharnakes II, son of Mithradates VI
Authors: Kleu Michael
Published: December 2012

Pharnakes II (ca. 97–47
BCE
), son of Mithradates VI , reigned over the Bosphoran kingdom from 63 to 47
BCE
. The historical tradition of his government is sparse.
Piracy
Authors: de Souza Philip
Published: December 2012

Although the Greek and Latin vocabulary for the two was largely the same, ancient piracy is distinct from banditry, not merely because of its maritime aspect, but also because of the greater range which ships give to piratical activities.
Polyperchon
Authors: Meeus Alexander
Published: December 2012

Polyperchon (ca. 380–after 308
BCE
), son of Simmias from Tymphaia, was a Macedonian general who served under Alexander III, The Great, and afterward played an important role in the Successor wars (
see
Successors, Wars of).
Proxenia
Authors: Cojocaru Victor
Published: December 2012

The titleproxenosderives from the wordxenos(guestorfriend).
Prusias
I
of Bithynia
Authors: Kleu Michael
Published: December 2012

Prusias I (ca. 250–ca. 182
BCE
), son of Ziaëlas, was king of Bithynia from ca. 230/29 until his death. He was a friend and ally of Philip V of Macedon and the last king of his dynasty who was able to pursue an independent policy. Under his reign the Kingdom of Bithynia had its greatest expansion.
Pydna, battle of
Authors: Čašule Nikola
Published: December 2012

Fought on June 22, 168, between the forces of Rome commanded by the consul L. Aemilius Paullus and those of Macedon under king Perseus, the battle of Pydna was the decisive military engagement of the Third Macedonian War.
Thessalonike, Macedonian
Authors: Carney Elizabeth
Published: December 2012

Thessalonike (ca. 342–ca. 295
BCE
), daughter of Philip II of Macedon by Nikesipolis of Pherai (Ath. 11.784c, 13.557c) and thus half‐sister of Alexander III, The Great, became wife to the first non‐Argead ruler of Macedonia, Cassander. Her mother died soon after giving birth to her, and apparently Thessalonike remained, still unmarried, in the entourage of Olympias, until Cassander forced Olympias to surrender at the siege of Pydna in 316
BCE
.
Tigranes II–IV of Armenia
Authors: Coloru Omar
Published: December 2012

Tigranes was the name borne by several kings of the Artaxiads of Armenia. This dynasty, taking advantage of the Seleucid defeat at Magnesia in 189
BCE
, had begun to reign independently.
Treaties, Hellenistic
Authors: Dreher Martin
Published: December 2012

The form, character, and stipulation of Greek interstate treaties in the Hellenistic period remained basically the same as in Classical Greece.
Triparadeisos, treaty of
Authors: Meeus Alexander
Published: December 2012

Around the early autumn of 320 – or, unlikely, 321BCE– theDiadochoi(“Successors”), as Alexander's successors are known, gathered at Triparadeisos, a city (or perhaps a region) in Syria, to reorganize the administration of the Macedonian Empire (Diod. Sic. 18.39; Arr.Succ. F1.30–8). After the murder of Perdikkas, a new official had to be appointed to represent the incompetent kings Philip III and Alexander IV and to govern the state.
Tyranny
Authors: Lewis Sian
Published: December 2012

Greek philosophers made a clear distinction between a king – a constitutional monarch – and a tyrant – a sole ruler whose power was outside the law. The primary definition of tyranny is drawn from: “a sole ruler who is not required to give an account of himself, and who rules over subjects all equal or superior to himself to suit his own interest and not theirs” (Politics1295a: 19–23).
Women, Hellenistic
Authors: Günther Linda‐Marie
Published: December 2012

There is literary, documentary epigraphic, and archaeological evidence of women of the Hellenistic period (ca. 330–30BCE).
Dio Chrysostom
Authors: Engels David
Published: December 2012

Dio Cocceianus, later apostrophized asChrysostomos(“Golden‐Mouthed”), was a Greek orator and a Stoic philosopher of the Second Sophistic (seesophists, roman empire).
Obsequens, Iulius
Authors: Engels David
Published: December 2012

The small book with the (unauthentic) title
Iulii Obsequentis ab anno urbis conditae quingentesimo quinto prodigiorum liber (imperfectus)
(Iulius Obsequens' [fragmentary] book of prodigies that occurred since the 505th year of the city's foundation) has only been conserved through a 1508 edition by Aldus Manutius, which was then popularized in 1552 by Lycosthenes in an illustrated version including material from other sources to fill gaps in the 1508 edition. The original is lost.
Bricks and brick making, Roman
Authors: Graham Shawn
Published: December 2012

Prestige building projects in Rome and Italy, coupled with increasing urbanization throughout the western Mediterranean, provided the impetus for the development of brick‐faced concrete at the end of the Late Republic and during the Augustan period.
Postcolonialism
Authors: Quinn Josephine Crawley
Published: December 2012

Postcolonialism could be seen as an anachronistic approach to the classical world, insofar as it is a reaction to the modern experience of colonialism: the process of the territorial occupation and domination of much of Asia, Africa, and the Americas by Europeans from about 1500, such that, by the 1930s, 85 percent of the world's land surface was composed of European colonies or excolonies.
Core–periphery
Authors: Quinn Josephine Crawley
Published: December 2012

Core‐periphery models attempt to explain inequalities between places.
Declamationes
Authors: Dominik William
Published: December 2012

Declamationeswere oratoric exercises on imaginary themes that were designed to train aspiring Roman politicians and lawyers in public debate and judiciary cases.
Deformity
Authors: Garland Robert
Published: December 2012

The plight of the deformed was perhaps more terrible than that of any other group in the ancient world.
Festivals, Greece and Rome
Authors: Holford‐Strevens Leofranc
Published: December 2012

The general Greek word for a festival isheorte, which connotes not only the religious ritual, but feasting and enjoyment.
Juvenal (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis)
Authors: Whitton Christopher L.
Published: December 2012

Juvenal (60s?–130s?
CE
) is the last of the canonical Roman satirists, whose sixteen
Satires
(the last fragmentary) are a mordant and racy denunciation of Rome's social collapse. Almost every claim about Juvenal's life is open to question bar the cognomen “Iuvenalis” and a
terminus post quem
of 127 for
Satires
15; he is usually taken to be an equestrian, possibly provincial, writing from the late 110s to around 130 (Syme 1979a, b).
Longus
Authors: May Regine
Published: December 2012

Longus (ca. second/third century
CE
) is the author of the four‐book Greek novel
Daphnis and Chloe
, recounting a boy and girl's exposure by their respective elite parents and upbringing by herdsmen on Lesbos, highlighting their gradually developing mutual love and growing awareness of their sexuality, culminating in their recognition as elite citizens and marriage.
Maecenas, Gaius
Authors: Harrison Stephen J.
Published: December 2012

GaiusMaecenas(ca. 70–8BCE) was one of Augustus' closest supporters.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Authors: Davis Josiah Edwards
Published: December 2012

Publius Ovidius Naso (43
BCE
–18
CE
) was the most accomplished elegist that Rome produced, and is notable for the sheer volume and unprecedented variety of his works.
Petronius
Authors: Harrison Stephen J.
Published: December 2012

Petronius, author of the partially extantSatyrica, is likely to be the Petronius described by Tacitus as “arbiter of elegance” at the court of Nero, who was forced to suicide in 66CE(Ann. 16.17–20).
Proverbs, Roman
Authors: Harrison Stephen J.
Published: December 2012

Proverbs, here defined as anonymous, traditional sayings of general import and popular form, were widely cited and employed by writers of all kinds of Latin poetry and prose from the earliest times; they were naturally especially common in literary genres of more colloquial style (comedy, verse, and Menippean satire, Cicero's private letters).
Sulpicia, Flavian poet
Authors: MacRae Duncan
Published: December 2012

Sulpicia was a Latin poet under Domitian and the subject of two epigrams by Martial.
Servius
Authors: Harrison Stephen J.
Published: December 2012

Servius (called Maurus/Marius Servius Honoratus in some manuscripts, but none of the names apart from thenomenis sure) was an importantgrammaticusand commentator on Latin literary texts active in Rome ca. 400CE; he appears as a youthful character in theSaturnaliaof Macrobius (dramatic date 383/4), and may have been dead by the time theSaturnaliawas actually composed (ca. 430).
Simonides
Authors: Boedeker Deborah
Published: December 2012

Simonides of Keos (ca. 556 (or 532)?–467BCE), son of Leoprepes and uncle of the poet Bacchylides, was arguably the most successful poet in the Panhellenic world of the late sixth/early fifth century.
Agrippa
II
Authors: Schwartz Daniel R.
Published: December 2012

Agrippa II (ca. 27/28
CE
–ca. 93? 100?), was the son of Agrippa I. Educated in Rome, he remained there upon the death of his father in 43/44, Claudius preferring to reinstate direct Roman rule in Judaea.
Akiba, Rabbi
Authors: Fine Steven
Published: December 2012

Akiba (or Akiva), son of Joseph, was a Palestinian rabbinic leader and supposed supporter of the Bar Kokhba revolt as a result of which he was executed by the Romans (ca. 132
CE
). Akiba is a towering figure in Rabbinic Literature, his approaches to jurisprudence and biblical interpretation having been formative in the development of rabbinic culture.
Alkimos, Jewish high priest
Authors: Amitay Ory
Published: December 2012

Alkimos,aliasYaqim (Jos.AJ20.235) was high priest in Jerusalem for three or four years concurrently with the activities of Judas Maccabaeus (ca. 163/2–159BCE).
Angels, Jewish
Authors: Cline Rangar
Published: December 2012

Angels in Jewish texts are typically denoted by the Hebrewmal'ak, meaning messenger, or, as in the Septuagint and other Hellenistic texts, by the Greek term for messenger–angelos.
Apocalypses, Jewish
Authors: Collins John J.
Published: December 2012

The word “apocalypse” is derived from the Greekapokalypsis, meaning revelation, but it is used as a genre label for revelations relating to eschatology.
Apostasy, Jewish
Authors: Kireeva Natalya
Published: December 2012

Apostasy is the term used by a community to describe former coreligionists who have renounced the religion they were born in or embraced, and usually have changed their religion.
Incantation bowls, Babylonian
Authors: Levene Dan
Published: December 2012

Babylonian incantation bowls, also known as magic bowls, are a type of amulet that consists of an incantation written on domestic earthenware dishes.
Chaeremon
Authors: Schneider Thomas
Published: December 2012

Chaeremon (ca. 10–80
CE
) was an Alexandrian scholar, Egyptian priest (
hierogrammateus
), and Stoic philosopher.
Damascus Covenant
, the (Dead Sea Scrolls)
Authors: Dimant Devorah
Published: December 2012

This work was given its title after the sojourn in Damascus of the community described therein and the new covenant its members concluded there (CD VI, 5, 19; VIII,21 [= XIX, 33]).
Daniel (and Greek additions to)
Authors: Collins John J.
Published: December 2012

The Book of Daniel, as found in the Hebrew Bible, consists of twelve chapters.
Diaspora, Jewish
Authors: Mendels Doron
Published: December 2012

The word “diaspora,” which like so many Greek words entered European languages, derives from
diaspeiro
(the verb meaning “to spread”). As a technical term referring to societies that stem from one nation or “ethnos” and dwell among foreign nations, the word occurs in the Hebrew Bible several times (e.g., Deuteronomy 28:64; Jeremiah 30:11). In its appearances in the Bible, the term
Pezura
(Hebrew for Diaspora) when it relates to the people of Israel usually has a heavy theological overtone.
Dietary restrictions, Jewish and Christian
Authors: Rosenblum Jordan D.
Published: December 2012

What, how, and with whom one eats make strong statements about one's identity. This observation did not escape the attention of ancient Jews, Christians, and others.
Ezekiel the tragedian
Authors: Atkinson Kenneth
Published: December 2012

Ezekiel the tragedian was a Hellenistic Jewish poet.
Galilee, Sea of
Authors: Klein Konstantin M.
Published: December 2012

The Sea of Galilee (also the Lake of Gennesaret or Sea of Tiberias) is the world's lowest freshwater lake, located in the Jordan Great Rift valley.
God‐fearers
Authors: Noy David
Published: December 2012

The Greek termtheosebes(God‐worshipper) is found in numerous inscriptions, particularly from Asia Minor, and seems to correspond to the New Testament description “fearing/worshipping God” (e.g., Acts 13:16), so it has become conventional to refer to the people so described as God‐fearers.
Hekhalot/Merkabah literature
Authors: Boustan Ra'anan S.
Published: December 2012

Hekhalot literature represents the earliest extensive collection of Jewish mystical writings from Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Hekhalot compositions are characterized by a unique, if eclectic, literary style.
Honi the Circle‐Maker
Authors: Koltun‐Fromm Naomi
Published: December 2012

According to Jewish tradition, Honi the Circle‐Maker was a pious man and miracleworker, who lived in first century
BCE
Jerusalem.
Jason, Jewish high priest
Authors: Amitay Ory
Published: December 2012

Jason, son of Simon II and brother of Onias III, was the last high priest of the Oniad Dynasty to serve in the Jerusalem temple.
Jews
Authors: Gruen Erich S.
Published: December 2012

The Jews had a long history of dwelling under the hegemony of greater powers. After the end of the Davidic Dynasty, they fell beneath the shadow of a succession of overlords, whether near or far: Babylonians, Persians, Ptolemies, Seleucids, and Romans. A form of autonomy existed briefly for the Jews in the time of the Hasmoneans and Herod, but even that was cramped by the need to peer regularly over their shoulders at, and seek the collaboration of, either Seleucids or Romans. Under the circumstances, how would Jews formulate and express a sense of their own identity in the larger world of the Mediterranean and Near East – where they regularly played a subordinate role?
Magic, Jewish
Authors: Harari Yuval
Published: December 2012

Magic was manifestly forbidden in the Bible as well as in the later, rabbinical law.
Oniads
Authors: Capponi Livia
Published: December 2012

The period from the end of the third century to circa 170BCE, which Momigliano (1975) called the “prehistory of the Maccabean revolt,” was agitated by the feud between two Jerusalem families, the Tobiads and the Oniads.
Shimeon ben Shatah, Rabbi
Authors: Ilan Tal
Published: December 2012

Shimeon ben Shatah was, according to rabbinic literature, a Jewish sage dating to the reigns of the two Hasmonean monarchs – Alexander Jannaeus (104–76
BCE
) and his wife and successor, Salome Alexandra (76–67).
Simon bar Giora
Authors: McLaren James
Published: December 2012

Simon bar Giora (d. 71CE) was actively involved as a leader of Jewish forces in the war of 66–70. He is best remembered as the general chosen to be executed at the culmination of the Triumph of Vespasian and his sons in 71 to celebrate the victory over the Jews.
Soul, Jewish
Authors: Calabro David
Published: December 2012

The English word “soul” corresponds roughly to four Hebrew words:
nefesh
,
neshamah
,
ruakh
, and
'ov
. In the Hebrew Bible, allusions to concepts of the soul, its relation to the body, and its existence apart from the body can be understood using philological and comparative evidence. Later Jewish sources contain extensive discussion on the nature of the soul, showing a wide diversity of beliefs.
Testament of Abraham
Authors: Dochhorn Jan
Published: December 2012

TheTestament of Abrahamis a story about the death of Abraham, the righteous one.
Wisdom of Solomon
Authors: Seeman Chris
Published: December 2012

The Wisdom of Solomon, also known as the Book of Wisdom, is a Jewish writing of the Hellenistic or early Roman period.
Alaric
Authors: Lawrence Thomas Christopher
Published: December 2012

Alaric was a Gothic general and perhaps a king. The first known episode in his career was an attack on the entourage of the emperor Theodosius at the River Hebrus in 391.
Anastasios of Sinai
Authors: Booth Phil
Published: December 2012

Anastasios of Sinai (ca. 600–700
CE
) is one of the most important Christian theologians and social commentators of the seventh‐century Near East. The manuscript tradition attributes several substantial works to an author of that name: most importantly, the
Hexaemeron
(a mystical interpretation of the creation narrative); two sermons on the constitution of man; a sermon against the monotheletes; the
Hodegos
or
Viae Dux
(a defense of Chalcedonian doctrine against miaphysitism and monotheletism); the
Questions and Answers
(on various aspects of Christian practice and belief); the
Tales
(three collections of edifying stories); and several homilies.
Arabs
Authors: Klein Konstantin M.
Published: December 2012

Today, Arab people are often defined as an ethnic group whose members share certain cultural, though most importantly, linguistic similarities, above all the knowledge of Arabic as their mother tongue.
Ariminum (Rimini)
Authors: Negrelli Claudio
Published: December 2012

Ariminum was the ancient name of present‐day Rimini, situated along the northwestern Adriatic coast, south of Ravenna, Italy. Formerly part of the Augustan Regio VIII and later of the province of Flaminia, it was capital of the Pentapolis under the Byzantine empire (seventh to eighth century).