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Aemilius Paullus, Lucius (4), Roman consul, failed conspirator against Augustus, 1 CE  

Theodore John Cadoux, Robin Seager, and Ernst Badian

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Roman History and Historiography

Aemilius, Lucius, younger son of Paullus *Aemilius Lepidus and Cornelia, daughter of *Scribonia and a Scipio, and husband of *Iulia (4), was consul in ce 1. Towards ce 8 he conspired against *Augustus and was executed; the engagement between his daughter Lepida and the youthful *Claudius (the future emperor) was broken off in consequence of this and of Iulia's disgrace (later she married a M. Silanus, probably M. *Iunius Silanus (3), the consul of ce 19: for two of their children, ‘abnepotes Augusti’ (‘great-grandchildren of Augustus’), see Tac. Ann. 13. 1).

Article

Aemilius Scaurus, Marcus (1), Roman censor, 109 BCE  

Ernst Badian

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Roman History and Historiography
Aemilius, Marcus, of patrician, but recently impoverished and undistinguished family, according to Cicero had to work his way up like a *novus homo. He amassed wealth (not always reputably), gained the support of the Caecilii Metelli, and became consul (with a Metellus) 115 bce, defeating P. *Rutilius Rufus. As consul he humiliated the praetor P. *Decius Subulo, triumphed over Ligurian tribesmen, and was made *princeps senatus by the censors (one a Metellus) although probably not the senior patrician alive. He also began building a road (*via Aemilia Scauri) linking the *via Aurelia and the *via Postumia. Increasingly powerful in the senate, he married *Caecilia Metella (1) and became the leader of the Metellan family group, then at the height of its glory. Though himself suspect because of his negotiations with *Jugurtha, he became chairman of one of the tribunals set up by C.

Article

Aemilius Scaurus, Marcus (2), Roman praetor, 56 BCE  

Ernst Badian

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Roman History and Historiography
Aemilius, Marcus, son of M. *Aemilius Scaurus (1) and *Caecilia Metella (1), hence stepson of L. *Cornelius Sulla. Quaestor under *Pompeyc.65 bce, he intervened in Judaea and Nabataea, chiefly for his personal profit. As aedile 58 he issued coins (RRC422), together with his colleague P. *Plautius Hypsaeus, commemorating his inglorious campaign against the king of the Nabataeans as a victory. He also gave extravagant games, spending his enormous wealth. As praetor 56 he presided over the trial of P. *Sestius, then governed Sardinia (55), where he tried to recoup his fortunes. Prosecuted repetundarum (see repetundae) in 54 (before *Cato (Uticensis)), he was defended by *Cicero and other eminent men and was acquitted. Standing for the consulship of 53, he was accused (like the other candidates) of *ambitus, defended by Cicero, but convicted through the hostility of Pompey, whose divorced wife *Mucia he had married.

Article

Aeneas  

Stephen J. Harrison

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
  2. Roman Myth and Religion
Aeneas, character in literature and mythology, son of *Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. In the Iliad he is a prominent Trojan leader, belonging to the younger branch of the royal house, (13. 460–1, 20. 179–83, 230–41), and has important duels with *Diomedes (2) (5. 239 ff) and *Achilles (20. 153 ff.), from both of which he is rescued by divine intervention. His piety towards the gods is stressed (20. 298–9, 347–8), and *Poseidon prophesies that he and his children will rule over the Trojans (20. 307–8).This future beyond the Iliad is reflected in the version in the lost cyclic Iliu Persis (see epic cycle) that Aeneas and his family left Troy before its fall to retreat to Mt. Ida, which led later to accusations of his treachery (e.g. Origo gentis Romanae 9. 2–3). The departure of Aeneas from Troy is widely recorded, and the image of Aeneas' pious carrying of his father *Anchises on his shoulders in the retreat is common in Greek vases of the 6th cent.

Article

Aeneas Tacticus  

David Whitehead

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Literature

Aeneas (Aineias) Tacticus, probably the Stymphalian general of the Arcadian koinon (see arcadian league) in 367 bce (Xen. Hell. 7. 3. 1); anyway the earlies (-surviving) and most historically interesting of the ancient military writers (tactici). Of several treatises only his Siegecraft (Poliorcetica) is extant, internally datable to the mid-4th cent. via the clustering of contemporary illustrations of its precepts (and linguistically important for its embryo form of the koinē). Concerned more with defence against than prosecution of siege-warfare, it offers unique insights into the stresses of life in small communities with warfare and revolution constantly threatening. See siegecraft, greek.

Article

Aenesidemus, of Cnossus, Sceptic philosopher  

Gisela Striker

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Aenesidemus of Cnossus, sceptical philosopher, revived Pyrrhonism (see pyrrhon) in the 1st cent. bce, probably as a reaction to the decline of scepticism in the Academy under *Philon (3) of Larissa. He taught at some point in *Alexandria (1). His works are lost, but versions of his ‘Modes of Inducing Suspension of Judgement’ (Τρόποιτῆςἐποχῆς) are preserved by Philon (4) Judaeus, Diogenes Laertius, and Sextus Empiricus. Photius (Bibl. cod. 212) has a summary of his Πυρρώνειοιλόγοι (‘Pyrrhonian Arguments’) in eight books, dedicated to L. *Aelius Tubero, an Academic and friend of Cicero. Sextus also ascribes to Aenesidemus a set of modes of argument against causal explanation.

Article

Aenianes  

Peter Sidney Derow

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
Aenianes, a people situated east of *Dodona in the Homeric Catalogue (Il. 2. 749) who moved later into the upper Spercheios valley. There they developed into a tribal state and belonged to the Pylaic and then the Delphic *amphictiony. Dependent on the *Aetolians from 272–167bce, they continued as an independent koinon into Roman times.

Article

Aenus  

James Maxwell Ross Cormack and Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
Aenus, a flourishing Greek city, originally an Aeolic foundation (Hdt. 7. 58. 3), just east of the river Hebrus (Alc. fr. 29 Lobel) on the coast of *Thrace. The modern Enez is on the site of the ancient city. Like Abdera, Aenus owed its wealth to its geographical situation. Not only did it command the trade that descended the Hebrus valley, but also it provided a route alternative to the Bosporus (1) and the Dardanelles for trade that wished to reach the Aegean from the Black Sea; merchandise could be disembarked at Odessus, sent overland to the Hebrus valley and then down to Aenus. Thus Aenus lay at the entrance to the natural route to the rich cornlands, ranches, forests, and fruit-producing regions of eastern and central Thrace. It also derived considerable revenue from its fisheries. As a tributary state, it paid a large sum, twelve talents, to the *Delian League, in 454 bce.

Article

Aeoliae insulae  

D. W. R. Ridgway

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
Aeoliae insulae, the volcanic Aeolian islands, 40 km. (25 mi.) north-east of Sicily, had a flourishing neolithic culture based on the obsidian industry and well represented in the Diana plain and Castello (Lipari), a natural fortress with a succession of neolithic, bronze age, Greek, and Roman settlements. The islands took full commercial advantage of their position between east and west in the early bronze age, when the local Capo Graziano culture has been equated with the Aeolians of Greek legend and imported Mycenaean pottery provides the first absolute dates in the prehistory of western Europe. Aegean contact continued in the middle bronze age (Milazzese culture): contact with the peninsular *Apennine culture recalls the Liparus legend (Diod. Sic. 5. 7) and gave rise to the late bronze age–early iron age *Ausonian culture, with its parallels at Milazzo for the proto-*Villanovan urnfields of the mainland. The Cnidian–Rhodian colony of Lipara was founded in 580–576 bce, and conquered in 252 by Rome; Lipari in particular provides much valuable information about provincial life and death in Greek and Roman times.

Article

Aeolis  

Donald Ernest Wilson Wormell and Stephen Mitchell

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
Aeolis, the territory of the northernmost group of Greek immigrants to the western coast of Asia Minor, covering the coastal strip from the entrance of the Hellespont to the mouth of the Hermus—a linguistic and ethnographic, not a geographical unit. Near the end of the second millennium bce the Aeolians, deriving from *Boeotia and *Thessaly, planted their first settlements in *Lesbos, and thence expanded northwards to Tenedos, and along the mainland coast to the east and the south. There must have been considerable racial fusion with the local *barbarian inhabitants, but the Aeolians brought with them their own dialect (see dialects, greek) and created a distinctive style of architectural decoration. Most of the Aeolian cities derived their livelihood from agriculture, commerce being of minor importance in Lesbos. The settlements in the south may have formed a league, whose religious centre was the temple of *Apollo at Gryneum.

Article

Aeolus  

J. N. Bremmer

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Aeolus, (1) the Homeric ruler of the winds (Od. 10. 1–79). Unlike Virgil (Aen. 1), Homer makes him a human by suppressing the idea that winds are minor deities. (See wind-gods.) He lives in Aeolia, a floating island, in the furthest west. His six sons and six daughters have married one another. Already the 5th cent. found this incest intolerable: *Euripides (Aeolus) made Aeolus force his daughter *Canace to commit suicide because of her love for her brother *Macareus; Ovid (Her.11) paints the drama in shrill colours. In Hellenistic times he was worshipped by the Liparaeans (Diod. Sic. 20. 101. 2).(2) The son of *Hellen and eponym of the Aeolians occurs first in Hesiod (frs. 9, 10 M–W) but is clearly presupposed by Homer (Il. 6. 154; Od. 11. 236 f.). His original home is the north of Greece, where many of his descendants are located. (3) Son of *Poseidon and Melanippe, who is exposed together with his brother Boeotus.

Article

Aepytus  

Madeleine Jost

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

Aepytus, name of three heroes connected with Arcadia. (1) Aepytus son of Hippothoüs entered the abaton of *Poseidon at *Mantinea, and was blinded and killed by the god. (2) Youngest grandson of (1), Aepytus son of Cresphontes, king of *Messenia, and of Merope, daughter of Cypselus son of Aepytus (1), was exiled when his father and brothers were murdered, but returned to avenge them and take power. (3) Aepytus son of Elatus reigned over Arcadia and was buried at the foot of Mt. Cyllene.

Article

Aequi  

Edward Togo Salmon

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Roman History and Historiography
Aequi, simple Italic tribe inhabiting the valleys of the Himella, Tolenus, and upper *Anio; their dialect probably resembled Oscan (see sabellic languages). Expanding from the highlands towards Latium, by 500 bce they held the mountains behind *Tibur and *Praeneste, and for 70 years, despite their small numbers (Livy 6. 12), they proved even tougher enemies to the *Hernici, Latins (see latini), and Romans than their Volscian allies. They established themselves on the Alban hills and were not expelled until 431 (see algidus). Thereafter, however, Aequi are only casually mentioned until 304, when they apparently occupied their original central Italian area. Rome now almost exterminated them; she established Latin colonies at *Carsioli and *Alba Fucens, gave the surviving Aequi civitas sine suffragio and rapidly romanized them (Livy 9. 45, 10. 1. 9). The Aequian nation thus disappeared, although a municipium Aequiculorum sive Aequiculanorum is still recorded after 90 bce (Plin.

Article

aerarii  

Andrew Dominic Edwards Lewis

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Roman Law

Aerarii, payers, were a class of Roman citizens who had incurred the *censors' condemnation for some moral or other misbehaviour. They were required to pay the poll-tax (*tributum) at a higher rate than other citizens. The origin of the class is obscure. Mommsen argued that a payer was originally one who had no landed property and was therefore disqualified from certain public rights such as voting and military service but had to pay the poll-tax in proportion to his means.

Article

aerarium  

Graham Burton

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Roman Law
  3. Roman Material Culture
Aerarium, derived from aes, denotes ‘treasury’. The main aerarium of Rome was the aerarium Saturni, so called from the temple below the Capitol, in which it was placed. Here were kept state documents, both financial and non-financial (including leges (see lex (1)) and *senatus consulta which were not valid until lodged there), and the state treasure, originally mainly of bronze (aes) but including also ingots of gold and silver and other valuables. The *tabularium (1) was built near it in 78 bce.The aerarium was controlled by the quaestors under the supervision of the senate, with a subordinate staff of scribae, *viatores, etc. The *tribuni aerarii, men of a property-class a little below the knights, were probably concerned with making payments from the tribes into the treasury. The aerarium sanctius was a special reserve, fed by the 5 per cent tax on emancipations. Treasure was withdrawn from it in 209 bce and on other occasions.

Article

Aërope  

Jenny March

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Aërope, daughter of *Catreus, king of Crete, and given by her father to *Nauplius (2) to be sold overseas. She married *Atreus (or, in some versions, Pleisthenes) and gave birth to *Agamemnon and *Menelaus (1). While married to Atreus, she committed adultery with his brother Thyestes, to whom she secretly gave the golden lamb which allowed him to claim the throne. But *Zeus expressed disapproval by reversing the course of the sun (Eur.

Article

aes  

Michael Crawford

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy

Aes, bronze, also more loosely copper or brass, hence (a) money, coinage, pay, period for which pay is due, campaign; (b) document on bronze. The earliest Roman monetary system involved the weighing out of bronze by the pound or its fractions (see weights); transactions per aes et libram, by bronze and balance, became fossilized in Roman private law as a formal means of transferring ownership. Sums recorded in the sources as ‘so many aeris (gravis, heavy, or rudis, raw)’ are to be taken as intended to mean so many pounds of bronze and then so many coins weighing (more or less) a pound and called asses. In the late 140s bce, the Roman state changed from reckoning in asses to reckoning in sestertii = ¼ denarius = 4 asses each; at this point certain valuations were probably transferred from asses to the same number of sestertii, although the real value was different.

Article

Aeschines (1), c. 390–c. 322 BCE  

Edward Harris

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Law
  2. Greek Literature
Aeschines was an Athenian politician and orator. He came from a respectable family but was not a member of the wealthy elite. He worked as a secretary for the Council and Assembly, then as an actor. He participated in the embassies that negotiated the Peace of Philocrates with Philip II and argued for its ratification. After the Second Embassy to Philip, Demosthenes and Timarchus accused Aeschines of treason. Aeschines convicted Timarchus of being a homosexual prostitute, which discouraged Demosthenes from bringing his accusation to court until 343/342. Aeschines was acquitted by a narrow margin, but lost influence. He defended the Athenians against the charges of the Locrians at a meeting of the Amphictyons in 339. He accused Ctesiphon of proposing an illegal decree of honours for Demosthenes in 336, but he lost the case by a wide margin at Ctesiphon’s trial in 330.Ancient critics consistently included Aeschines in the canon of the ten great Attic orators. Cicero ranked him second only to .

Article

Aeschines (2) Socraticus  

Michael Gagarin

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Literature
  3. Philosophy

(4th cent. bce), of the *deme of Sphettus in Attica, a devoted follower of *Socrates, was present at his trial and death. He wrote speeches for the lawcourts and taught oratory, but fell into poverty and took refuge at the court in *Syracuse, returning to Athens after the expulsion of *Dionysius (2) II in 356. Best known as the author of Socratic dialogues which resemble *Xenophon (1)'s more than *Plato (1)'s, Aeschines was apparently not an original thinker, and his Socrates expounds common ethical views. Although only fragments survive today, seven dialogues were considered genuine in antiquity: Alcibiades, Axiochus, Aspasia, Callias, Miltiades, Rhinon, Telauges. The first of these was partly intended to defend Socrates against charges of corrupting the young *Alcibiades. The dialogues of Aeschines were highly esteemed for their style and their faithfulness to Socrates' character and conversational manner.

Article

Aeschylus, Athenian tragic dramatist  

Alan H. Sommerstein

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
30 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
Aeschylus was probably born at *Eleusis in 525/4 bce (Marm. Par.). He fought at the battle of *Marathon (Marm. Par.; Vita 4, 11) and probably at *Salamis ( *Ion (2) of Chios, FGrH 392 F 7). His first tragic production was in 499 (Sudaαι357 with π 2230), his first victory in 484 (Marm. Par.); thereafter he may have been almost invariably victorious, especially after the death of *Phrynichus (1)c.473 (he gained thirteen victories altogether, Vita13). Of his surviving plays, Persians was produced in 472 (his chorēgos being the young *Pericles (1) ) and Seven against Thebes in 467. Suppliants, part of a production which won first prize over *Sophocles (1) (POxy. 2256. 3), is probably later than Seven (despite the predominant role of the chorus and other features once thought to prove it very early); its exact date is uncertain. The Oresteia (comprising Agamemnon, Choephori (‘Women Bearing Drink-offerings’), and Eumenides, with the lost satyr-play Proteus) was Aeschylus' last production in Athens, in 458.