Search Results

Sign in Modify your search

Perform this search in

Narrow Your Choices

Availability

Subject

 121-140 of 369 Results  for:

Clear all

Article

Cleopatra III  

Dorothy J. Thompson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Cleopatra III, daughter of *Ptolemy (1) VI and *Cleopatra II, was seduced and married by *Ptolemy (1) VIII Euergetes II in 140/139 bce. She spent much of her life in conflict with her mother, whom she followed as her uncle's wife. Following Euergetes’ death (in 116) she ruled with first her elder (*Ptolemy (1) IX Soter II) and then (from 107) her younger son (*Ptolemy (1) X Alexander I). The drama of this final stage of her career, epitomized in 105/bce (PColon. 2. 81) when she served instead of the king as priest in the royal cult, is variously reported; all agree that different sons were favoured successively and that Cleopatra met a violent end (in 101 bce). New appointments in the dynastic cult (see ruler-cult) reflect the troubled times; in 115 three new priestesses joined the cult of this powerful queen.

Article

Cleopatra VII, 69–30 BCE  

Dorothy J. Thompson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Near East
  2. Roman History and Historiography
Cleopatra VII (69–30 bce), the final and best known of the Ptolemies, was daughter of *Ptolemy (1) XII (Auletes). On the latter's death in 51 she became queen, alone at first and subsequently with her younger brothers, first *Ptolemy (1) XIII (who opposed Caesar) and then (47–45) with *Ptolemy (1) XIV. A joint reign with *Ptolemy (1) XV Caesar (Caesarion, reputedly Caesar's son) is recorded from 45 bce. Her later children by Mark Antony were the twins Alexander and Cleopatra (born 40 bce after Antony's winter in *Alexandria (1)), and Ptolemy Philadelphus (born 36). In 37/6 she marked Antony's gift to her of Chalcis in Syria by instituting a double numeration of her regnal years (year 16 = 1). She died by her own hand (and the bite of a royal asp) soon after Octavian (see augustus) took Alexandria on 3 August 30.

Article

Cnidus  

John Manuel Cook and Susan Mary Sherwin-White

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Near East
Cnidus, a *Dorian city, founded perhaps c.900 bce, and claiming descent from *Sparta, was situated on a long peninsula (Reşadiye), in the gulf of *Cos (SW Asia Minor), and was a member of the Dorian Hexapolis. Originally set on the SE coast of the peninsula (modern Datça), the Cnidians moved probably (though this is controversial) in the 360s to a magnificent strategic and commercial site at the cape (Tekir). The fortifications and two protected harbours are still open to view. Failing in the attempt to convert their peninsula into an island, the Cnidians yielded to the Persians (after 546). After the Persian Wars they joined the *Delian League, but warmly espoused the Spartan cause after 413. Cnidus again came under Persian rule by the *King's Peace (386). Subjected to Ptolemaic control (see ptolemy(1)) in the 3rd cent. and perhaps Rhodian in the early 2nd, Cnidus was a civitas libera (*free city) under Roman rule from 129 bce.

Article

colonization, Hellenistic  

Pierre Briant

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
*Plutarch, in the eulogy of his hero *Alexander (3) the Great (De Alex. fort.), made the foundation of cities the linchpin of the achievement of Alexander, who wished to spread Greek civilization throughout his realm. Although we must be mindful of the predictable ideology which has structured Plutarch's argument, as well as distrustful of the number of cities attributed to the conqueror (70!), it is nevertheless true that Alexander's conquest opened the countries of the middle east to Greek immigration. The Greeks, however, could only imagine life in cities with Greek-style houses, streets, public buildings, civic institutions, and a rural territory where the colonists could hold plots of land (klēroi; see cleruchy). Begun by Alexander, usually as military colonies rather than cities proper (*Alexandria (1) in Egypt is an exception), this policy was followed by his successors and developed further by the *Seleucids.

Article

Commagene  

Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, J. David Hawkins, and Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Near East
Country on the west bank of the upper Euphrates, first known as the neo-Hittite kingdom of Kummuh with a capital of the same name at *Samosata. Its history can be partially reconstructed from Assyrian sources c.870–605 bce, and hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions of its kings dating c.805–770 bce have been found. In 708 bce it was conquered and annexed to the Assyrian empire (see assyria), remaining a province until 607 bce.It was incorporated into the *Seleucid empire by the reign of *Antiochus (3) III at the latest; it became an independent kingdom c.162 bce when its governor, Ptolemaeus, revolted against the Seleucids (Diod. Sic. 31. 19a). His son Samos was succeeded as king by Mithradates Callinicus (c.96–c.70). The latter's son, *Antiochus (9) I, submitted to *Pompey in 64 bce and was rewarded with a piece of Mesopotamia; he was deposed by Antony in 38 bce for abetting the Parthian invasion.

Article

Commagenian, Greco-Iranian religious syncretism  

Bruno Jacobs

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 November 2016
Subjects:
  1. Near East
The religious syncretism associated with the Commagenian dynasty, combining Greek and Iranian elements, is a phenomenon linked exclusively to king Antiochus I (c. 69–36bce). Whereas its Greek component reflected contemporary paradigms, the Iranian one was constructed by combining supposed tradition with elements drawn from contemporary religious practice.The syncretistic approach is best identifiable in three male deities, known from numerous inscriptions. Each of their names combines one to three Greek elements with a single Iranian one into the following theokrasiai: Zeus-Oromasdes, Apollon-Mithras-Helios-Hermes, and Artagnes-Herakles-Ares.1In his inscriptions Antiochus essentially dedicates himself to the worship of all the gods. But at least one of his early texts refers to two named deities: Artemis Diktynna and Apollon Epekoos.2 Some years later, when the three syncretistic gods start to appear instead of those, they occur beside another named deity, a goddess sometimes called Hera Teleia (e.g. A 251), and sometimes All-nourishing Commagene (e.g. N 56f.

Article

Coptus  

Walter Eric Harold Cockle

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Near East

Coptus (mod. Qift), a nome-capital of Upper *Egypt on the east bank of the Nile. The temple of Min, repaired by Ptolemy II (see ptolemy(1)), remained important until the Christian period. The focus of caravans to the *Red Sea, it conveyed Indian maritime trade to *Alexandria (1). In the first century ce Coptus exceeded *Thebes (2) in population, attracting *Palmyrene merchants. As the centre of *Aurelius Achilleus' revolt *Diocletian largely destroyed it c. ce 297. The tariff inscription of ce 90 is important.

Article

Cos  

William Allison Laidlaw and Susan Mary Sherwin-White

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
  3. Roman History and Historiography
A fertile island of the Sporades, situated in the SE Aegean, on the north–south trading route along the coast of Turkey and onwards to Cyprus, Syria, and Egypt. After Mycenaean occupation, the island was colonized, in the ‘Dark Ages,’ by *Dorians, perhaps from *Epidaurus, whose arrival may be identified with the establishment of the settlement attested by the cemeteries at the Seraglio (c.1050–c.750 bce). It was a member of the Dorian Hexapolis. The Doric dialect continued to be used into late antiquity (e.g. POxy. 2771: ce 323).In the late Archaic period the island was subject initially to Persia and to the Lygdamid (see artemisia(1)) dynasty of *Halicarnassus, which faced Cos across the straits between the island and Turkey, and then to Athens. Cos is not attested as a member of the *Second Athenian Confederacy (founded 378 bce) and perhaps did not join.

Article

costus  

Daniel Potts

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Near East

The root of Saussurea lappa, an Indian plant found mainly in Kashmir; from Skt. kúṣṭhaḥ, cf. Gk. κόστος (Theophr. Hist. pl. 19. 7. 3; Peripl. M. Rubr. 39, 49), Old South Arabian qsṭ. Called simply radix, ‘the root’, by the Romans (Plin. HN 12. 25. 41), it was used as a spice, a perfume, and an ingredient in various ointments.

Article

cotton  

Stephanie Dalley

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Near East

Cotton is first attested from excavations in the Indus valley for the early second millennium bce; cotton plants were imported into *Assyria by Sennacheribc.700 bce, who attempted to grow them at *Nineveh. Herodotus 3. 106 mentions cotton as an Indian crop. It spread during Hellenistic times into *Ethiopia, *Nubia and Upper *Egypt, and perhaps later into Indo-China. Early fibres seem to come from the tree Gossipium arboreum rather than the bush Gossipium herbaceum. The word cotton may perhaps be derived from West Semitic ktn, at first ‘tunic’ in general, later the linen tunic worn by priests. A connection with the early Akkadian textile or garment kutinnu is doubtful.

Article

Croesus, last king of Lydia, c. 560–546 BCE  

Percy Neville Ure and Simon Hornblower

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Near East

Croesus, last king of *Lydia (c. 560–546 bce), son of *Alyattes. He secured the throne after a struggle with a half-Greek half-brother, and completed the subjugation of the Greek cities on the Asia Minor coast. His subsequent relations with the Greeks were not unfriendly; he contributed to the rebuilding of the Artemisium at *Ephesus (Hdt. 1. 92 and Tod no. 6) and made offerings to Greek shrines, especially *Delphi; anecdotes attest his friendliness to Greek visitors and his wealth. The rise of *Persia turned Croesus to seek support in Greece and Egypt, but *Cyrus (1) anticipated him: Sardis was captured and Croesus overthrown. His subsequent fate soon became the theme of legend: he is cast or casts himself on a pyre, but is miraculously saved by Apollo and translated to the land of the *Hyperboreans or becomes the friend and counsellor of Cyrus.

Article

crucifixion  

George Ronald Watson and Andrew Lintott

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Christianity
  2. Near East
  3. Roman Law
  4. Roman Material Culture
Crucifixion seems to have been a form of punishment borrowed by the Romans from elsewhere, probably *Carthage. As a Roman penalty it is first certainly attested in the *Punic Wars. It was normally confined to slaves or non-citizens and later in the empire to humbler citizens; it was not applied to soldiers, except in the case of desertion. *Constantine I abolished the penalty (not before ce 314). Two inscriptions of the 1st cent. ce from *Cumae and *Puteoli have been found containing the contract of the undertaker both of funerals and of executions of this kind (see lex(2), ‘lex libitinaria’). The general practice was to begin with flagellation of the condemned, who was then compelled to carry a cross-beam (patibulum) to the place of execution, where a stake had been firmly fixed in the ground. He was stripped and fastened to the cross-beam with nails and cords, and the beam was drawn up by ropes until his feet were clear of the ground. Some support for the body was provided by a ledge (sedile) which projected from the upright, but a footrest (suppedaneum) is rarely attested, though the feet were sometimes tied or nailed.

Article

Ctesias  

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Ctesias of Cnidus was a doctor at the court of Artaxerxes II and the author of a history of Persia and other works. He seems to have studied, and possibly practised, medicine at Cnidus. The exact time and reason for Ctesias’ arrival in Persia (maybe as a prisoner of war) is unknown. He is attested at the battle of Cunaxa in 401bce, when the armies of two royal brothers, King Artaxerxes II and Prince Cyrus, clashed over the right to the throne. There is every possibility that Ctesias was Artaxerxes’ physician before the revolt of Cyrus, and certainly after the battle Ctesias received numerous honours from the king (T3, 6b). He was resident in Persia for seventeen years (c. 413–397bce) as the king’s physician (T5). It appears that he also cared for Artaxerxes’ wife, Stateira, and his revered mother, Parysatis (T11d). In 399–397bce he left the Persian heartland for Cyprus and served as a go-between for Artaxerxes in his negotiations with Conon, who at the time commanded a Persian fleet in the Aegean under the orders of the Cypriot king Evagoras I of Salamis.

Article

Ctesiphon  

Malcolm Andrew Richard Colledge and Josef Wiesehöfer

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Near East
Ctesiphon, on the river Tigris, c. 96 km. (60 mi.) above *Babylon, part of the city agglomeration al-Mada’in (together with Seleuceia, Veh Ardashir). Originally, it was a village garrisoned by *Parthia from c.140 bce as an Asiatic stronghold opposite Hellenistic *Seleuceia (1), becoming (from c.50 bce?) a city and *Arsacid residence within roughly circular walls. After Roman invasions (ce 116, 166) had damaged Ctesiphon but especially Seleuceia, Ctesiphon became *Babylonia's chief city, taken by *Septimius Severus (197–8), on whose arch at Rome (203) it may appear, domed. Ardashir (*Artaxerxes (4)) made it the place of coronation, and after him it became the main *Sasanid-empire residence (conquest by Carus ce 283; unsuccessful attacks by Odaenathus 262/3, Julian 363 and Heraclius 628), seat of the Nestorian Catholicus and of a Jewish exilarch. Sasanian kings built palaces and added suburbs; ruins of fortifications and an impressive brick-vaulted palace arch, Taq-e-Kesra (‘Arch of Chosroes’), survive. In 637 Arabs took it.

Article

Cunaxa  

John F. Lazenby

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Near East
A small town on the *Euphrates near Bagdhad, where *Cyrus (2), younger son of *Darius II of Persia, was defeated and killed by his elder brother, *Artaxerxes (3) II, in 401 bce. The battle is chiefly interesting for the ease with which Cyrus’ Greek *mercenaries, on his right, defeated Artaxerxes’ left, with the loss of only one man. *Xenophon (1), who was serving among the Greeks, has left us a vivid description of their charge at the double, shouting their war-cry—‘Eleleu’—and some clashing their spears on their shields to frighten the enemy horses (An. 1. 8. 17–20). Even after Cyrus himself had been killed and the rest of his army had fled, the Greeks still managed to rout the remainder of Artaxerxes’ army, in a second attack. It was after this battle, and the subsequent treacherous capture of their commanders, that the Greeks began the long march home which is the main subject of Xenophon's Anabasis.

Article

cuneiform  

Benjamin Fortson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Linguistics
  2. Near East

Cuneiform denotes any of at least three writing systems of ancient Mesopotamia and the surrounding areas. It is characterized in its classical form by signs consisting of one or more wedge-shaped strokes (cf. Latin cuneus, “wedge”). The first such script to emerge, and the one most widely used, was Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform, which developed in what is now southern Iraq in the late 4th millennium bce. Its antecedents were more primitive methods of mercantile record-keeping using pictograms and tally marks. The earliest stages of the script contained patently pictographic signs drawn in clay with a pointed stylus. A later shift to the use of a reed with the end cut at an oblique angle produced the classic wedge-shaped impressions. The breaking-up of images into sets of wedges together with a gradual reduction in the number of strokes plus a ninety-degree rotation of the signs increased their abstractness and elevated the wedges (initially just an accidental byproduct of the writing technology) to an important design element. It became aesthetically prized in its own right and was carried over onto other media such as stone. The wedges were also imitated in the two other unrelated scripts that are also called cuneiform: Old Persian and Ugaritic.

Article

Cybele  

Francis Redding Walton and John Scheid

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Near East
  2. Roman Myth and Religion

Cybele (Κυβέλη; Lydian form Κυβήβη, Hdt. 5. 102), the great mother-goddess of Anatolia, associated in myth, and later at least in cult, with her youthful lover *Attis. *Pessinus in Phrygia was her chief sanctuary, and the cult appears at an early date in *Lydia. The queen or mistress of her people, Cybele was responsible for their well-being in all respects; primarily she is a goddess of fertility, but also cures (and sends) disease, gives oracles, and, as her mural crown indicates, protects her people in war. The goddess of mountains (so Μήτηρ ὀρεία; Meter Dindymene), she is also mistress of wild nature, symbolized by her attendant lions. Ecstatic states inducing prophetic rapture and insensibility to pain were characteristic of her worship (cf. especially Catull. 63).

By the 5th cent. bce Cybele was known in Greece; she was soon associated with *Demeter (H. Thompson, Hesp.

Article

Cyprus  

Hector Catling

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Near East

Cyprus, third largest Mediterranean island (9,282 sq. km.: 3,584 sq. mi.) was of strategic and economic importance to the Mediterranean and near eastern powers, and significant both to their relations with western Asia and with one another. It is vulnerable to the power politics of its neighbours, by one or other of whom it has often been occupied or governed, and whose mutual conflicts have sometimes been fought out on its soil or its seas. Though mountainous (the highest points on its Troödos and Kyrenia ranges are 1,951 and 1,023 m. (6,403 and 3,357 ft.) respectively), its central plain (Mesaoria) is fertile, while its extensive piedmont and river-valley systems are suited to crop and animal husbandry. The island suffers intermittently from serious seismic disturbance. Rainfall is uncertain, drought endemic, and fertility dramatically responsive to irrigation capacity. Copper ore, chiefly located in the Troödos foothills at the junction of igneous and sedimentary deposits, has been exploited since prehistory. Timber resources played a major role in the region's naval history.

Article

Cyrus (1), 'the Great', Persian king, d. 530 BCE  

Pierre Briant

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Near East
Cyrus the Great (OP Kuruš), son of *Cambyses I, who became c.557 bce king of the small kingdom of Anshan in *Persia. Beginning in 550 he fought extensive campaigns in which he conquered, respectively, *Media (550/49), *Sardis and *Lydia (546), *Babylonia, and the neo-Babylonian empire (539). At some point (before or after 539?) he conquered central Asia. He was thus the first Persian king to bring together territories into an imperial framework, to whose organization he contributed substantially. In general, the Greek (especially the Cyropaedia of *Xenophon (1)), Babylonian (‘Cyrus cylinder’), and Judaean sources (Ezra) present him as a conqueror welcomed by the local inhabitants. This apologetic tendency reflects both the expectations nourished by certain groups (e.g. the Jews later associated permission to rebuild the Jerusalem temple with Cyrus’ Babylonian conquest) and a policy continued by his successors: i.e. forging collaborative links with the local élites. This willingness to accommodate local conditions went hand-in-hand with tight control, as shown by the fact that land was confiscated to benefit the crown and Persian nobility. The royal administration also maintained a close watch over the fiscal obligations of the Babylonian sanctuaries. His achievement as founder of the empire was symbolized by the building of a royal residence in Persia, *Pasargadae, where his tomb was also constructed.

Article

Cyrus (2), 'the Younger', brother of Artaxerxes (2) II, d. 401 BCE  

Pierre Briant

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Near East
Cyrus the Younger, second son of *Darius II and Parysatis. In 408 bce he was given an overarching command in Asia Minor to enable him to mount an effective fight against Athenian positions. When his ally *Lysander defeated Athens (405/4), he was actually at the Persian court for the coronation of his elder brother Arsikes/Arses, who took the throne-name *Artaxerxes (2) II. Supported by his mother, he returned to Sardis where he put in train preparations for a coup d'état. He mounted his attack with an army of regular contingents from Asia Minor, reinforced by Greek mercenaries, in the spring of 401, thus taking full advantage of the problems faced by the Persians in Egypt, which was slipping from their control at this time. He led his army to Babylonia; a battle was fought at *Cunaxa in which Cyrus lost his life. The reasons for his defeat were primarily political. Contrary to assertions in apologetic literature (esp. Xen. An.