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Article

age  

Robert Garland

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Gender Studies
The division of life into age-groups was prominently adhered to in antiquity, though there was considerable disagreement as to their precise identification. The Pythagorean philosophers (see pythagoras) identified four (Diod. Sic. 10. 9. 5), whereas Hippocratic writers (see hippocrates (2)) acknowledged seven ages of man, each seven years in length (Poll. 2. 4). Since adult society was primarily organized on a two-generational principle, a threefold division probably served most practical purposes, viz. παῖς, νέος, and γέρων in Greek, puer, iuvenis, and senex in Latin. Mental ability was judged to be strictly a function of ageing, as indicated by the fact that there were minimum age qualifications for administrative and executive posts. So an Athenian councillor had to be 30 years old, as, probably, did a Spartan *ephor (see also age classes). Similarly the Roman *cursus honorum or ladder of office prescribed minimum ages for all magistracies. Belief in the magical power inherent in certain *numbers, notably seven and three, meant that certain ages were believed fraught with danger.

Article

age classes  

Robert Sallares

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
A method of social and political organization in *Sparta and Crete in the Classical period. Traces of analogous institutions in other Greek states permit the hypothesis that age-class systems played an important role in the development of the *polis throughout the Greek world in earlier periods. In the Spartan *agōgē (educational system) boys were removed from their parents at the age of 7 and allocated in annual age classes (bouai, ‘herds’) to tutors who were responsible for their upbringing. At 12 the boys entered pederastic relationships with young adults (e.g. *Agesilaus and *Lysander). The *krypteia, a head-hunting ritual with a police function, occurred at initiation into adulthood, after which all members of each age class married simultaneously. Age-class control of marriage, along with segregation of the sexes until the age of 30, probably had important demographic consequences linked to Sparta's manpower problems. Completion of the various stages of the system, which also provided the basis for military organization, conferred political rights and duties. In old age some individuals obtained considerable political power through membership of the *gerousia (council of elders).

Article

Agennius Urbicus  

Brian Campbell

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Agennius Urbicus, writer on surveying (see gromatici) produced commentary on *Frontinus' treatise On Land Disputes.

Article

Agenor, Phoenician king  

A. Schachter

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
When his daughter, *Europa, disappeared, he sent his sons—*Phoenix (1), Cilix, and *Cadmus—to find her. They failed (*Zeus having abducted her to Crete), but founded respectively the Phoenician and Cilician peoples and Boeotian *Thebes (1) (Apollod. 3. 1. 1, with Frazer's notes).

Article

agentes in rebus  

Arnold Hugh Martin Jones and R. S. O. Tomlin

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Late Antiquity
The detested frumentarii (see postal service) were abolished by *Diocletian, but were soon replaced by ‘agents’ perhaps purposely ill-defined, who likewise served as couriers between the court (comitatus) and the provinces. They were civilians, but they enrolled as troopers and rose by seniority through the same grades as non-commissioned soldiers. As they became more senior, they served as curiosi supervising the public post, and finally as chiefs of staff (principes) to the praetorian prefects, urban perfects (see praefectus praetorio; praefectus urbi), proconsuls, *vicarii, and eastern duces (see dux). Their duties included making reports on the provinces, and they gained a reputation as secret police (Aur. Vict. Caes. 39. 44) and for extorting illicit tips (Lib., Or. 14. 14), but their real role was to be the trusted emissaries of the central government. Ponticianus, a pious Christian instrumental in the conversion of St *Augustine, was an agens in rebus; Augustine's friend and fellow-townsman Evodius was another.

Article

ager publicus  

Andrew Dominic Edwards Lewis

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Roman Law
Ager publicus, public land, comprised lands acquired by Rome by conquest from her enemies or confiscation from rebellious allies. By tradition there was, as early as the 5th cent. bce, dispute between patricians and plebeians as to whether such lands should be retained in public ownership but open to exploitation on lease by wealthy possessores (possessors; see possession, legal) or distributed in private ownership amongst the poorer classes. In practice much of this land seems to have been assigned to the use of Roman and, after 338, Latin colonies (see ius latii). The Licinio-Sextian laws of 367 bce (see licinius stolo, c.) purported to limit the amount of public land possessed by any one citizen to 500 iugera or 140 ha. (350 acres).Public land continued to be acquired during subsequent centuries; the conquest of *Cisalpine Gaul added large areas of land which were either distributed amongst colonies or offered to citizens as smallholdings on permanent lease. Elsewhere, particularly in the south of Italy, large tracts remained in the hands of the state and were regularly leased out by the *censors to wealthier citizens in return for large rents.

Article

Agesilaus II, Spartan king of the Eurypontid house, c. 445–359 BCE  

Paul Cartledge

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
30 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
Agesilaus II (c. 445–359 bce), Spartan king of the junior, *Eurypontid line. Son of *Archidamus II by his second wife, he was not expected to succeed his older half-brother *Agis II and so went through the prescribed educational curriculum (*agōgē) like any other Spartan boy. In 400 he unexpectedly secured the succession, with the aid of his former lover *Lysander, ahead of Agis' son Leotychidas, whose parentage was suspect (rumour had it that his true father was the exiled *Alcibiades).The first king to be sent on campaign in Asia, where his proclaimed aim was to liberate the Greeks from Persian suzerainty, Agesilaus achieved some success against the Persian viceroys *Pharnabazus and *Tissaphernes in 396–5 before his enforced recall to face a coalition of Sparta's Greek enemies in central and southern Greece. The battle of *Coronea (394) was a Pyrrhic victory, and, despite some minor successes of his around *Corinth and in *Acarnania (391–388), the coalition was defeated not on land by Agesilaus but at sea by the Spartan *nauarchos*Antalcidas with a Persian-financed fleet.

Article

Agiads  

Paul Cartledge

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Law

The Agiads were the senior royal house at Sparta, descended mythically from the elder of Heraclid twins (Hdt. 6. 52; see heracles); the junior was known as the *Eurypontids. The origins of the Spartan dual kingship are unknown, but the office was entrenched in the ‘Great Rhetra’ ascribed to the lawgiver *Lycurgus (2) (Plut. Lyc. 6) and persisted until the end of the 3rd cent. bce. Distinguished Agiads included *Cleomenes (1) I, his half-brother *Leonidas (1), and *Cleomenes (2) III. The latter effectively terminated the traditional dyarchy in c.227 by installing his brother on the formerly Eurypontid throne.

Article

Agis II, Spartan king of the Eurypontid house, c. 427–400 BCE  

Paul Cartledge

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
(the first to be given a name belonging naturally to the *Agiads) from c.427 to 400 bce; he was son of *Archidamus II by his first wife. He achieved widespread prominence in 418, as nominal victor of the Battle of *Mantinea, a success that both stilled powerful domestic criticism of his leadership and restored Sparta's authority in the Peloponnese and outside. In 413, perhaps glad to escape scandal on his own doorstep, he was appointed general commanding the Peloponnesian forces in central Greece, and permanently occupied a fortified base actually within Athens' borders at *Decelea. The centre of the *Peloponnesian War, however, shifted to Asia, and Agis' role in the eventual reduction of Athens by siege in 404 was subsidiary to that of *Lysander. In the aftermath of victory Agis voted for the condemnation of his Agiad fellow king *Pausanias (2) on a charge of high treason.

Article

Agis III, Spartan king, 338–330? BCE  

Albert Brian Bosworth

Article

Publication History:

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

Agis III, king of Sparta (338–?330 bce), *Eurypontid. Ascending the throne at a time of humiliation, when Sparta had lost her borderlands to *Philip (1) II of Macedon, he devoted himself to reviving his city's fortunes. Inconclusive intrigues with the Persian commanders in the Aegean (333) led to intervention in *Crete, where he attracted 8,000 Greek mercenaries, refugees from *Issus. With their support he declared open war in the Peloponnese during (it seems) summer 331. *Elis, *Tegea, and the *Achaean Confederacy joined his cause, but the Athenians fatally stood aloof. *Antipater (1) was able to raise a coalition army 40,000 strong, profiting from the common detestation of Spartan expansionism, and relieved the siege of *Megalopolis. Agis suffered a crushing defeat. He died heroically, but left Sparta enfeebled beyond redemption.

Article

Agis IV, c. 262–241 BCE  

Paul Cartledge

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
Agis IV (c. 262–241 bce), son of Eudamidas, ascended the *Eurypontid throne in c. 244, at a time of domestic crisis. Concentration of estates in a few hands, heavy indebtedness of the majority, depletion of citizen numbers, and desuetude of the ancient civic regimen were ills he proposed to remedy by an alleged return to the aboriginal ‘Lycurgan’ order (see lycurgus (2)). But the cure proved as dangerous as the diseases. Opposition was overcome by impeaching and forcing into exile his fellow king Leonidas, driving an uncle into exile, and unprecedentedly deposing a board of *ephors. The reforms were apparently passed but could not be implemented before Leonidas staged a counter-coup while Agis was abroad assisting his allies of the *Achaean Confederacy against Aetolia (see aetolian confederacy) and had him executed by the ephors on his return. High-minded but impractical, he fell before more astute political operators. His death became the legend around which a new generation rallied (see cleomenes (2) iii).

Article

Aglaurus  

Emily Kearns

Article

Publication History:

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

Daughter of the Athenian king *Cecrops, Aglaurus makes her best-known appearance in myth and art alongside *Pandrosus and Herse; disobeying *Athena's instructions, the sisters opened the chest where the child *Erichthonius was kept, and what they saw caused them to hurl themselves off the Acropolis to their deaths. But there are clear signs that Aglaurus' origins are separate from her sisters. She had an independent sanctuary at the east end of the Acropolis, and unlike Pandrosus she was linked more closely with adolescents and young fighters (the *ephēboi) than with babies. Her divine connections cover both *Ares, by whom she had a daughter Alcippe (see halirrhothius), and Athena, being associated especially with the goddess's festival, the *Plynteria. The name Aglauros or Agraulos is also sometimes given as that of the wife of Cecrops.

Article

Agnodice  

Helen King

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Gender Studies
  2. Science, Technology, and Medicine

Appears in *Hyginus (3) (Fab.274) in a list of discoverers and inventors. She is described as an Athenian girl who lived at a time when there were no *midwives, because women and slaves were forbidden to learn medicine; this scenario matches no known historical period. Disguising herself as a man, Agnodice studied medicine under ‘a certain Herophilus’, and then practised medicine at Athens successfully, challenging the professional monopoly on the part of male doctors. Accused by her jealous rivals of seducing her patients, Agnodice demonstrated her innocence by performing the gesture of anasyrmos, lifting her tunic to expose her lower body. This revelation led to a charge of practising medicine unlawfully, but she was saved when the wives of the leading men lobbied the *Areopagus in her defence. Hyginus claims that Athenian law was then changed so that freeborn women could study medicine.

Article

agōgē  

Stephen Hodkinson and Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Gender Studies
  2. Greek History and Historiography
The Spartan public upbringing (never in fact so-called in surviving writers of the 5th and 4th cents. bce). Its reconstruction is bedevilled by poor and conflicting sources and modern debate over how far the reconstituted ‘customs (ethē) of *Lycurgus (2)’ of Roman Sparta reflect continuity with the Classical past. The Classical upbringing seems to have been a public system running parallel (Ducat, below) to any private arrangements for the more conventional education of young Spartans and incorporating archaic elements, especially ones based on *initiation. It was supervised by the paidonomos (‘boy-herdsman’), and embraced males aged 7–29. Only the immediate heirs to the kingships (see agiads; eurypontids) were exempt. There were three general stages, the paides (boys), paidiskoi (bigger boys), and hēbōntes (young men), probably representing ages 7–13, 14–19, and 20–29; among the paidiskoi (for sure), individual year-classes were separately named. The paides were trained in austerity, obedience, and mock battles by older youths within subdivisions of age-mates called variously in the sources ilai or agelai, sometimes with their own internal leadership, sometimes led by older youths.

Article

agōnes  

Stephen Instone and Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
30 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature

(1) The term agōn (ἀγών) and its derivatives can denote the informal and extempore competitive struggles and rivalries that permeated Greek life in the general fight for success and survival (cf. Hes. Op. 11–26), especially philosophical, legal, and public debates; action between opposing sides in war; medical disputes. Competitive behaviour in this last area is illustrated by the Hippocratic work (see hippocrates (2)) On Joints, which at one point (Art.70) envisages a medical assistant, in his struggle to realign a dislocated thigh, enjoying an agōn or contest with the patient (cf. also Art. 58: medical rivalry in producing prognoses). A corollary of the agonistic drive was the prominence as a motive for action of *philotimia (love of honour), which could turn into over-ambition and jealous rivalry, and, in its worst form, lead to *stasis (strife) and political upheaval (cf. Pind. fr. 210 Snell–Maehler; Thuc. 3. 82. 8).

Article

Agonium  

C. Robert Phillips

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Roman Myth and Religion
Agonium, name for 9 January, 17 March, 21 May, and 11 December in the Roman calendar; also Agonalia (Ov. Fast. 1. 324; possibly Agnalia at 1. 325), Agonia (Varro, Ling. 6. 14), and Dies agonales (Varro, Ling. 6. 12), when the *rex sacrorum sacrificed in the *Regia (Festus Glossaria Latina 104 and Ov.

Article

agora  

Jamieson C. Donati

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Greek Law
  3. Greek Material Culture
In the ancient Greek city, the agora was a multifunctional venue for public administration, the buying and selling of goods, religious affairs, and other social and cultural interests. Most cities whether big or small had a designated agora, oftentimes situated at a prime locale—a sign of its fundamental importance in the community. The etymological use of the term agorē by Homer, particularly in his description of the city of the Phaeacians, shows that within the early Greek polis the agora became a daily gathering venue for citizens, often for political and military meetings, but also for religious events and athletic contests. Excavations reveal that the agora from c. the 7th to the mid-5th century bce was architecturally an unassuming place, and it did not need to be more than an open area with a scattering of administrative, commercial, and sometimes even domestic structures. In addition, its setting was frequently associated with the cult of a poliadic deity (temple) or local hero (heroon). The Athenian Agora is an exceptional case where buildings for political assemblies were erected following democratic reforms c.

Article

Agoracritus, Parian sculptor  

Andrew F. Stewart

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture
Agoracritus, Parian sculptor, active c. 440–400 bce. A pupil of *Phidias, he made a bronze Athena Itonia and Zeus/Hades for *Coronea in Boeotia, a marble Mother of the Gods for the Metroon in the Athenian agora (see athens, topography), and a colossal marble *Nemesis for *Rhamnus. Pausanias (1. 33. 3), who erroneously attributes the Nemesis to Phidias, describes it in detail, and fragments in Rhamnus, Athens, and London have led both to the recognition of copies and to the partial reconstruction at Rhamnus (along with its base) of the original. Nemesis was standing, holding an apple-branch in one hand and a phiale in the other, and wearing a crown embellished with nikai and deer. The base showed *Leda presenting the goddess's daughter, *Helen, to her in the presence of *Tyndareos and his children. Forecasting Helen's abduction and the Trojans' eventual punishment, this scene may also have hinted at Sparta's responsibility for both the Trojan and the *Peloponnesian War.

Article

agoranomoi, Greek  

Alain Bresson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Law
The agoranomoi were the magistrates who, in the Greek cities, were in charge of policing and organizing the market. Their role was to make sure that transactions were conducted according to the laws of market, which primarily meant preventing cheating on the quality of the goods offered for sale and on the weights and measures used by sellers. Their tasks could also include watching over the nature and quality of the coins used as means of exchange. They were in charge of monitoring prices and, in some cases, they set prices of goods—some basic foodstuffs like fish or meat. They also had to make sure that the market supply of essential goods remained adequate. The number of agoranomoi decreased in the late Hellenistic period (in Athens, from ten in the Classical period to only two). Late Hellenistic and Roman period magistrates belonged to the well-to-do stratum of the population in the cities, and the agoranomoi were no exception.

Article

agrarian laws and policy  

Andrew Lintott

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Roman Law
Allocation of land by the community is attested in the Greek world at the times of new city foundations (colonies; see colonization, greek), and when land was annexed (*cleruchies). There is also some evidence for legislation restricting the disposal of allotments by sale or inheritance, in order to maintain the original land-units which sustained the households. On the other hand, there developed strong resistance to the notion of redividing the city's territory so as to change the proportions of private landholdings: a promise not to propose anything of the kind was included in the oath of the Athenian jurymen. See also sparta.At Rome agrarian legislation played a large part in the history of the republic and the struggles between the aristocracy and the *plebs. It is hard to know how far we should trust the evidence about the early republic, since often the details of the narratives in *Livy and *Dionysius (7) seem to have been elaborated in the light of late-republican experience.