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Article

Adrasteia  

Emily Kearns

Article

Publication History:

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

Adrasteia, a goddess apparently of the ‘mountain mother’ type, like *Cybele, associated with *Phrygia, but well known to the Greeks from a fairly early date. In the Phoronis, the *Idaean Dactyls are described as the ‘servants, skilled of hand, of mountain Adrasteia’ (fr 2 Davies, EGF, and Bernabé, PEG), and she was named also in *Aeschylus’ Niobe (TrGF 3 F158); *Antimachos identified her with *Nemesis. In Athens, her cult was established before 429/8 bce, when she is grouped together with *Bendis in the accounts of the ‘treasurers of the other gods’; thus the cult was publicly funded, and could be seen as ‘official’. But in contrast with Bendis, we know nothing more of her Athenian cult.

Article

Adrastus (1), Greek epic hero  

A. Schachter

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

Adrastus (1), described in the Iliad as former king of *Sicyon (2. 572), was worshipped there at least until the 6th cent. (Hdt. 5. 67). Best known as the leader of the first Argive expedition against *Thebes (1) (and possibly the second as well), he was the only one to survive, escaping on the semi-divine horse *Arion (1) (Il. 23. 346–7; Thebaid fr. 6 Davies). He had undertaken the expedition to restore one son-in-law, Polynices, to the throne, and was to have done the same for the other, *Tydeus of Calydon (Hutchinson, on Aesch. Sept.575).

The tradition which made Adrastus king at *Argos (1) may owe something to the interpolation of a patrilineal descendant into a matrilineal regal line (Finkelberg). His connections with cult sites other than Sicyon (Colonos Hippios, *Eleusis, *Megara) derive from the influence of the epic.

Article

Adrastus (2), of Aphrodisias, Peripatetic philosopher, 2nd cent. CE  

Andrew Barker

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Science, Technology, and Medicine
RE, of Aphrodisias, *Peripatetic philosopher (2nd cent. ce). His influential writings included commentaries on the order of *Aristotle's works (mainly philological); on Nicomachean Ethics and *Theophrastus' Characters (historical and literary); on Categories and on Physics; and on *Plato (1)'s Timaeus (mathematical and scientific, relating Pythagorean and Aristoxenian harmonics and contemporary astronomy to Platonic cosmology (see aristoxenus; pythagoras (1)).

Article

Adrianus, of Tyre, c. 113–193 CE  

M. B. Trapp

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature

Adrianus (Hadrianus) of Tyre (c. CE 113–93), sophist, pupil of *Herodes Atticus; held the chairs of rhetoric at Athens and Rome. One short *declamation attributed to him survives. See second sophistic.

Article

Adriatic Sea  

Max Cary and W. M. Murray

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
30 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
Adriatic Sea (Gk. ὁ Ἀδρίας; Lat. Mare adriaticum or superum), used as an alternative to ‘*Ionian Sea’ for the waters between the Balkan peninsula and Italy, and like ‘Ionian’, sometimes extended to include the sea east of Sicily. In neolithic times seafarers from the south settled around the gulf of Valona at the entrance to the Adriatic (c.80 km. (50 mi.) north of Corcyra). In the bronze age there is evidence for trade in Baltic *amber and perhaps in Bohemian *tin while weapons apparently came by sea from the north to Italy and to Greece, with ports of call in between. Seafarers from the Adriatic occupied the Nidhri plain in *Leucas, where they built tumulus burials like those known from Albania in the Middle Helladic period. In historical times, Greek exploration of the Adriatic was said to be the work of the Phocaeans (see phocaea), who penetrated to its upper end by 600 bce (Hdt.

Article

Adulis  

Robert G. Morkot

Article

Publication History:

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

Adulis or Adule, on the west coast of the Red Sea (at Zulla in Annesley Bay near Massawa), was used by Ptolemy II and III for elephant-hunts (see elephants), and became an important export-mart for African and re-exported Indian wares, a caravan-route leading thence inland. Greeks and Indians frequented it. When the Aksumite kingdom rose (1st cent. ce, see axumis) Adulis became its main port and base (for voyages to East Africa and *India), surpassing all others in the 3rd cent. ce. Two famous inscriptions (combined in OGI54) are among its monuments.

Article

adultery, Greek  

Mark Golden

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Law
At Athens, a law (attributed to *Draco or *Solon) allowed a man who killed another he found in the sexual act with his wife, mother, sister, daughter, or concubine held for the purpose of bearing free children, to plead justifiable homicide; such adulterers might also be held for ransom. It is probable that there was also a graphē against adulterers, possible that those caught in the act were delivered to the *Eleven for summary execution or trial. Adulterous wives had to be divorced, and were excluded from public sacrifices. As for unmarried women, Solon supposedly permitted a κύριος (‘controller’, male representative at law) to sell a daughter or sister into slavery if he discovered she was not a virgin. No instances are known, however, and indeed some husbands too probably preferred to respond (or not) to adultery without recourse to the law, so avoiding public dishonour. Many states are said to have allowed adulterers to be killed with impunity (Xen. Hiero 3.

Article

adultery, Roman  

Adolf Berger, Barry Nicholas, and Susan M. Treggiari

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Roman Law
Roman tradition ascribed to fathers and husbands great severity in punishing illicit sexual behaviour by daughters or wives. Such misconduct was stuprum in married or unmarried women, an offence against chastity (pudicitia); adulterium described sexual intercourse between a married woman and a man other than her husband. Until the legislation of Augustus, regulation was chiefly in the hands of the family: adultery probably always justified divorce; a family council might advise the paterfamilias (husband or father in whose power the woman was (see patria potestas)) on this and other sanctions, possibly including execution. The immediate killing of adulterers/adulteresses taken in the act was defensible (morally and in court) but probably not legally prescribed. Other physical violence against the adulterer is a literary commonplace. Adultery in the late republic, like the seduction or rape of an unmarried woman, entitled the father or husband to sue the man for damages (for *iniuria, insult) and not only to divorce the wife but to retain part of her dowry.

Article

advocacy  

Barry Nicholas

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Roman Law
This article considers advocacy as a profession. For advocacy in its wider sense and in particular for its techniques, see rhetoric.A party to a Roman trial might entrust the presentation of his case to an advocate (advocatus, patronus, causidicus). These men, who appear as a class in the late republic under the influence of Greek rhetoric, and of whom *Cicero and the younger *Pliny (2) are prominent representatives, were orators rather than *lawyers. They would necessarily have, or acquire, some knowledge of law (Cicero evidently knew a lot), but their reputations were founded on their skill in forensic rhetoric. They and the jurists regarded each other as distinct classes, with different (and in the eyes of the other class inferior) functions, though occasionally an advocate might become a jurist. Advocates were forbidden to accept any reward for their services, but this rule was evidently often ignored and by the end of the 2nd cent. ce imperial recognition was given (Dig.

Article

Aeacus  

Alan H. Griffiths

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Aeacus (Αἰακός), ancestral hero of *Aegina, whose eponymous nymph bore him to *Zeus; to give him company, Zeus turned the island's ant population into humans, transforming murmēkes into ‘Myrmidons’ (Hes. fr. 205 M–W; cf. Ov. Met. 7. 517–660). As a primeval figure, he was naturally close to the gods, and unlike e.g. *Tantalus or *Ixion he retained their favour; according to Pindar (a sedulous propagator of Aeginetan legends) he helped *Apollo and *Poseidon build the walls of *Laomedon's Troy (Ol. 8) and even settled disputes between the gods themselves (Isocrates 8. 24). Famous for his justice and piety in life, he became a judge in the Underworld (Pl. Ap. 41a, Grg. 524a; Isoc. 9. 14 f.; cf. Ar. Ran. 464 ff.). He was the founder of the warrior clan of the Aeacidae: his sons *Peleus and *Telamon (1), exiled for the murder of their brother *Phocus, fathered *Achilles and Ajax (see aias (1)) respectively.

Article

Aecae  

H. Kathryn Lomas

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Roman Material Culture
Aecae, *Daunian city 25 km. (15 ½ mi.) south-west of Foggia. A Roman ally, it defected to Hannibal in 216 bce but was recaptured. Colonies were founded under Augustus and Septimius Severus, and it became a stage on the *via Traiana. Aerial photography shows a large area of *centuriation nearby.

Article

Aedepsus  

Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Roman Material Culture

Aedepsus (mod. Loutra Aidepsou), Euboean coastal town dependent on *Histiaea, famous in antiquity for its hot springs, known to Aristotle (Mete. 2. 366a) and still in use. It prospered in imperial times as a playground for the wealthy, equipped with luxurious swimming-pools and dining-rooms (Plut. Mor.

Article

Aedesius, d. c. 355 CE  

Anne Sheppard

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Late Antiquity

Of *Cappadocia, *Neoplatonist, pupil of *Iamblichus (2) and teacher of *Maximus (3) Chrysanthius, Priscus, and Eusebius Myndius. He set up a school of philosophy in Pergamum. No writings survive.

Article

aediles, Roman magistrates  

A. N. Sherwin-White and Andrew Lintott

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Roman Law
The aediles originated as two subordinates of the tribunes of the plebs whose sacrosanctity they shared. Their central function was to supervise the common temple (aedes) and cults of the plebs, those of *Ceres and *Diana on the *Aventine, but they also acted as the executives of the tribunes. With the addition in 367 bce of two aediles curules, elected from the patricians, the aedileship became a magistracy of the whole people, but the subsequent functions of both sets of aediles can be chiefly explained as patronage of the urban plebs. After the admission of plebeians the curule magistracy was held alternately by either order, but in the empire was omitted by patricians. Aediles were elected annually, the plebeii in the *conciliumplebis, the curules in the *comitiatributa. Curules ranked below praetors, plebeii at first below tribunes but eventually with the curules.

Article

aedituus  

Herbert Jennings Rose and John North

Article

Publication History:

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

Aedituus (older form, aeditumnus), the keeper or sacristan of a consecrated building in Rome (aedes sacra). The word was applied to a wide range of officials, including both men of high rank charged with control of the building and those who carried out the lowly tasks of cleaning etc.

Article

Aëdon  

Herbert Jennings Rose

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Aëdon (Ἀηδών), in mythology, daughter of *Pandareos, the son of Hermes and Merope. She married Zethus and had two children, Itylus and Neïs. Envying *Niobe, Amphion's wife, for her many children, she planned to kill them, or one of them, at night; but Itylus was sleeping in the same room as they and she mistook the bed and so killed him. In her grief she prayed to be changed from human form, and became a nightingale (ἀηδών).

Article

Aedui  

John Frederick Drinkwater

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Roman History and Historiography
Aedui, a highly developed *Celtic people who occupied most of modern Burgundy. They appealed to Rome against the *Arverni and *Allobroges (121 bce) and received the title of fratres consanguineique. During the Gallic War they gave valuable though not whole-hearted support to Caesar, and when they finally joined *Vercingetorix in 52 bce their support was lukewarm.

Article

Aegae  

Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond

Article

Publication History:

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

In northern Pieria, overlooking the coastal plain of Macedonia. Founded by the first of the Temenid kings and thereafter the site of their tombs, it has been made famous by Manolis Andronikos, who excavated a pre-Temenid cemetery of tumuli and then, in 1977, three royal tombs of the 4th cent. bce. Two were intact. The frescos, the offerings in gold, silver, ivory, and bronze, and the weapons were of the highest artistic quality. Tomb II was almost certainly that of *Philip (1) II (for an alternative view, that *Philip (2) Arrhidaeus was buried here, see E. Borza, In the Shadow of Olympus (1990), 256 ff.). Earlier and later burials have also been found. Theatre, palace, and acropolis stand above the cemetery area. Excavations continue.

Article

Aegean Sea  

Eric Herbert Warmington

Article

Publication History:

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

Aegean Sea, between Greece and Asia Minor. To it the modern name Archipelago was originally applied, but the ancient Greeks derived the name Aegean variously from *Theseus' father *Aegeus, who drowned himself in it; from Aegea, Amazonian queen (see amazons), who was drowned in it; from *Aegae city. They subdivided it into Thracian, along Thrace and Macedonia to the north coast of *Euboea; Myrtoan, south of Euboea, Attica, Argolis, west of the *Cyclades; Icarian, along (Asiatic) coasts of *Caria and Ionia; Cretic, north of *Crete. Some, like *Strabo, treated the last three as separate, ending the Aegean at *Sunium in Attica. The whole Aegean contains many islands in three groups: along the Asiatic coast, including *Lesbos, *Chios, *Samos, *Rhodes; a small group off *Thessaly; Euboea and the Cyclades, a continuation or reappearance of the mountains of the Greek mainland.

Article

Aegeus, Athenian hero  

Emily Kearns

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Aegeus, Athenian hero, father of *Theseus. As son of *Pandion and brother of *Pallas (2), *Nisus (1), and *Lycus (1), he received at the division of *Attica the area around Athens, although in Beazley, ARV2 259. 1 his place is taken by Orneus, indicating that he may be a latecomer in this group. When king of Athens, he consulted the *Delphic oracle about his childlessness, but failing to understand the reply (a figurative injunction to abstain from sex until his return home) fathered Theseus on *Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen. Later he married *Medea, who attempted to poison Theseus on his arrival in Athens, and was therefore driven out by him. When Theseus returned from Crete, he or his steersman forgot to raise the agreed sign on the ship, and Aegeus, thinking his son was dead, threw himself off the acropolis or into the sea (in this version called ‘Aegean’, Αἰγαῖον πέλαγος, after him).