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Article

Aezani  

Stephen Mitchell

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Near East
  3. Roman Material Culture
Was the most important city of northern *Phrygia in Roman times. The well-preserved ruins of the site are dominated by the peripteral (colonnaded) Ionic temple of *Zeus, dedicated under Domitian in ce 92. According to local legend Zeus was born in the Steunos cave which overlooked the river Pencalas near the city (the site has been identified and excavated). There were extensive sacred lands around the city, which were used to settle military colonists from the Attalid and Bithynian kingdoms. A long dispute over the revenues from this land was settled by Roman proconsuls of Asia in the 120s, and this appears to have unleashed a period of great prosperity in the 2nd cent. ce. During this time Aezani was transformed from a modest agricultural town (there are traces of late Hellenistic buildings and it may have been the minting centre for the people of Phrygia Epictetus) into an imperial architectural show-piece, with a theatre, a stadium, a large bath-house, several bridges across the river Pencalas which flowed through the city, and cemeteries full of elaborately decorated tombs. Aezani was an enthusiastic member of the *Panhellenion at Athens, where its best-known citizen and civic benefactor, M.

Article

Afranius, Burrus, Sextus  

Arnaldo Momigliano and M. T. Griffin

Article

Publication History:

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

Equestrian *procurator of *Livia Drusilla, *Tiberius, and *Claudius, came from Gallia Narbonensis (ILS1321, showing him patron of Vaison). As favourite of *Iulia Agrippina, he was appointed sole prefect of the praetorian guard (see praefectus praetorio) by Claudius in ce 51 and retained his post under *Nero. He was Nero's adviser for many years, and, with the younger *Seneca, was responsible for the first period of Nero's government. In 55 he survived an unfounded charge of conspiracy; in 59 he managed Nero's relations with the public after the murder of his mother. He opposed Nero's divorce from *Octavia (3), which only took place after his death in 62. That he was poisoned is asserted by Suetonius and Cassius Dio, but regarded by Tacitus (Ann. 14. 51) as unproven.

Article

Afranius, Lucius (1), Roman poet, 2nd half of 2nd cent. BCE  

Peter G. M. Brown

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature
Afranius, Lucius, author of fabulae togatae in the second half of the 2nd cent. bce, the most famous and best represented author of this genre, with over 40 titles and 400 lines surviving; perhaps also an orator, but the implications of Cicero, Brut. 167 are disputed. He praised *Terence and admitted borrowing material from *Menander (1) (but also from other authors, both Greek and Latin), and his plays included pederastic themes; see togata.

Article

Afranius, Lucius (2), Roman consul, 60 BCE  

Guy Edward Farquhar Chilver and Ernst Badian

Article

Publication History:

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

Afranius, Lucius, a *novus homo born in *Picenum (ILS878), served under *Pompey against *Sertorius. He was praetor (probably 72 or 71 bce) and proconsul in either Cisalpine or Transalpine Gaul, winning a triumph (Cic. In Pis.58), and again served as a legate of Pompey against *Mithradates VI (66–61). As consul 60 he was overshadowed by his colleague Q. *Caecilius Metellus Celer, and was therefore ineffective on Pompey's behalf. His consular province was one of the Gauls, probably Cisalpina (see cisalpine gaul), but there is no evidence that he ever proceeded to it. From c.53 he governed Hither *Spain as Pompey's legate with three legions, and in 49 commanded at *Ilerda. Pardoned by *Caesar, he returned to Pompey, though charged with treachery by other Pompeians. He escaped from *Pharsalus, but was captured and executed after Thapsus.

Article

Africa (Libya), exploration  

Joyce Reynolds

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Near East
Africa was distinguished from Asia as the third continent by c.500 bce, with the Nile, later usually the Red Sea, as divider; but its interior and, even at the most extended period of knowledge, its coasts south of Cape Delgado on the east and Cape Yubi on the west, remained substantially unknown, locations of marvels and geographical features uncertainly identifiable (Ptol. Geog. 4). Some believed it circumnavigable (Hdt. 4. 42) and triangular in shape (Strabo 17. 3. 1), but no circumnavigation is satisfactorily attested (see hanno (1); eudoxus (3)), and there are modern scholars who think it impracticable for ancient ships; pure theorizing could account for the traditions. An inconsistent belief in a land bridge from Africa to Asia in fact prevailed (Ptol. 7. 3. 6).In Egypt, and to some extent in Cyrenaica, Greeks could supplement autopsy with local information, cf. Herodotus on the Nile valley (2. 29–31), the inland route therefrom, via oases, possibly to the Atlas (4. 181–3), and a Libyan foray perhaps reaching the Niger, more probably Chad (not the Nile as he supposed; 2. 32–3). Extended knowledge of the *Red Sea and NE coasts came from *Alexander (3) the Great's Indian expedition, more under Ptolemaic rule in Egypt, and still more in Roman times as a result of increasing trade with India (see especially, Peripl.

Article

Africa, Roman  

William Nassau Weech, Brian Herbert Warmington, and R. J. A. Wilson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Roman History and Historiography
  3. Roman Material Culture
The *Punic Wars made Rome heir to the Carthaginian empire. In 146 bce she left most territory in the hands of *Masinissa's descendants, but formed a new province (Africa) in the most fertile part. This covered about 13,000 sq. km. (5,000 sq. mi.) of north and central Tunisia, north-east of a boundary line (the fossa regia, ‘the royal ditch’) from Thabraca to *Hadrumetum; it was governed by a praetor from Utica. Except for *Utica and six other towns of Phoenician origin which had supported Rome rather than Carthage in the Punic Wars, most of the land became *ager publicus. Although the attempt by Gaius C. *Sempronius Gracchus to found a colonia at Carthage failed, Roman and Italian traders and farmers settled in the province in large numbers, and many of C. *Marius (1)'s veterans settled west of the fossa regia. After the battle of Thapsus in 46 bce*Caesar added to the existing province (thenceforth called Africa Vetus, ‘Old Africa’) the Numidian territory of Juba I (Africa Nova, ‘New Africa’).

Article

Agamemnon  

Herbert Jennings Rose and Jenny March

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
06 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Agamemnon, in mythology son of *Atreus (or, occasionally, of Atreus' son Pleisthenes), brother of *Menelaus (1), and husband of *Clytemnestra; king of *Mycenae, or *Argos (1), and, in Homer, commander-in-chief of the Greek expedition against Troy, taking with him 100 ships, the largest single contingent (Il. 2. 569–80). He had a son, *Orestes, and three daughters, Chrysothemis, Laodice, Iphianassa (Il. 9.145); *Iphigenia, whom Homer does not mention, seems to be a later substitution for Iphianassa, as does *Electra (3) for Laodice (Xanthus, fr. 700 PMG).Homer depicts Agamemnon as a man of personal valour, but lacking resolution and easily discouraged. His quarrel with *Achilles, who withdrew in anger and hurt pride from battle when Agamemnon took away his concubine *Briseis, supplies the mainspring of the Iliad's action, with Achilles' refusal to fight leading to tragedy. The Odyssey (1.

Article

Aganippe  

Article

Publication History:

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

Aganippe, in mythology, daughter of the river-god Permessus (Paus. 9. 29. 5: spelling ‘Ter-’), nymph of the spring of that name on *Helicon (Callim. fr. 696 Pf.), sacred to the *Muses.

Article

Agapenor  

Article

Publication History:

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

Agapenor (Ἀγαπήνωρ), in mythology, leader of the Arcadian contingent against Troy (Il. 2. 609); son of *Ancaeus. On the way back from Troy he arrived at Cyprus (Lycoph. 479 ff.), where he founded *Paphos and a temple of *Aphrodite and settled (Paus. 8. 5. 2).

Article

Agasias (1), son of Dositheus, Ephesian sculptor, c. 100 BCE  

Thomas Bertram Lonsdale Webster and Andrew F. Stewart

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture

Agasias (1) Ephesiansculptor, son of Dositheus, active c.100 bce. He signed the Borghese Warrior from Anzio, now in the Louvre, a nude figure striding forward to parry an attack from above. Its ‘flayed’ anatomy and attenuated proportions look back to the school of *Lysippus (2).

Article

Agasias (2), son of Menophilus, Ephesian sculptor, c. 100 BCE  

Andrew F. Stewart

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture
Agasias (2) Ephesiansculptor, son of Menophilus, active on *Delosc.100 bce. A fallen Celt is often associated with one signed base, dedicated by C. Marius; attributions include the bronze ‘Worried Man.’BibliographyJ.

Article

Agatharchides, of Cnidus, Greek historian, geographer, and Peripatetic philosopher, c. 215–after 145 BCE  

Kenneth S. Sacks

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Greek History and Historiography
  3. Philosophy

Who lived most of his adult life in *Alexandria (1), eventually leaving, perhaps in flight to Athens after 145. He was not, as previously believed, regent to *Ptolemy (1) IX but was in the service of *Heraclides (3) Lembus. His major works, for which there are fragmentary remains, include: Asian Affairs (Τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν), probably a universal history that extended to the *Diadochi; European Affairs (Τὰ κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην), perhaps to his own time; and On the Red Sea (Περὶ τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης) in five books (some preserved by Diodorus, bk. 3, and Photius). These large-scale histories, interlaced with *anthropology and *geography, provided a model for *Posidonius (2). He attacked the Asianic prose style, and *Photius calls him a worthy disciple of *Thucydides (2) in expression. He may have voiced hostility toward the Ptolemies, from whom he may have fled.

Article

Agatharchus, painter  

Karim Arafat

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture

Painter of Samos. He was the first to make a skēnē, for Aeschylus (probably for a revival at the time of the *Peloponnesian War), and wrote a book on ‘skēnē-painting’, which inspired *Anaxagoras and *Democritus to write on perspective (Vitr. De arch. 7 pref. 11). He was the first painter to use perspective on a large scale (isolated instances occur on vases from the mid 6th cent. bce), probably in architectural backgrounds for plays. His quick work is contrasted with *Zeuxis (1)'s slowness (Plut. Per. 13. 3). Plutarch (Alc. 16. 4), Demosthenes (21. 147), and Andocides (4. 17) say he was compelled by *Alcibiades (c.430 bce?) to paint his house (with perspective scenes?). The story is of interest not least for suggesting that private houses were usually not painted. See painting, greek.

Article

Agathias  

Steven D. Smith

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Late Antiquity
Agathias of Myrina (c. 532 to c. 580 ce), also known as Agathias Scholasticus, was a lawyer, poet, and historian active during the reigns of the Emperors Justinian I, Justin II, and Tiberius II. The epigrams on contemporary subjects and traditional themes that he and his circle composed and that he himself collected and published were widely read in the 6th century and later. His Histories, a lively continuation of the work of Procopius, remains a crucial source for the events of the 550s ce.A lawyer (scholastikos) by profession, Agathias (c. 532-c.580) came from Myrina, on the western coast of Asia Minor. Some knowledge of his family can be gleaned from Agathias’s works. His father Memnonius was also a lawyer, and his mother Pericleia died when he was only 3 years old (Anth. Pal. 7.552). He had two siblings; nothing is known of his brother, but his sister Eugenia was a brilliant woman, who, like Agathias, had a talent for poetry and rhetoric and who also had some knowledge of the law (.

Article

Agathinus, Spartan doctor, 1st cent. CE  

J. T. Vallance

Article

Publication History:

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

Agathinus (Claudius Agathinus) a Spartandoctor of the 1st cent. CE, associated with the medical sect of the *Pneumatists and by at least one ancient source with the establishment of an eclectic medical sect founded on Pneumatism with additional doctrines from medical Empiricism and *Methodism. He was a pupil of *Athenaeus (3) of Attaleia, and was linked with the Stoic philosopher L. *Annaeus Cornutus. He may have taught the physicians *Archigenes and *Herodotus (2). Fragments of his doctrines are reported by *Galen and *Oribasius, amongst others. He wrote influential works on pulsation (grudgingly praised by Galen, 8. 748 Kühn), on semi-tertian fevers, and on the use of hellebore; little is now known of their contents.

Article

Agathocles (1), tyrant  

Klaus Meister

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
Agathocles (1) tyrant, later king of *Syracuse, born 361/0 bce in Thermae, Sicily. His father Carcinus, an exile from *Rhegium, received Syracusan citizenship under *Timoleon343/2 and owned a large pottery manufactory. The young Agathocles took part in various military enterprises and early on nurtured political ambitions. The oligarchy of six hundred that ruled Syracuse after Timoleon's death distrusted the active young man with popular tendencies and he was banished c.330. During his exile he attempted to obtain a power base in southern Italy, operating as a condottiere in *Croton or *Tarentum. He successfully relieved Rhegium when it was besieged by the six hundred, thereby toppling the oligarchy. Recalled by the people in Syracuse he was exiled again after the oligarchs had been reinstated. Subsequently he threatened the oligarchs and their Carthaginian allies (see carthage) with a private army of mercenaries from the Sicilian inland. Hamilcar changed sides and through his mediation Agathocles was able to return to Syracuse and in 319/8 was made ‘stratēgos with absolute power in the cities of Sicily’ (FGrH239 B 12).

Article

Agathocles (2), of Cyzicus, grammarian, c. 275/265–200/190 BCE  

Nigel Wilson

Article

Publication History:

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

Agathocles (2) of Cyzicus, grammarian, c. 275/65 –200/190 bce, quite possibly to be identified with the local historian (FGrH472). He was a pupil of *Zenodotus. A small number of fragments attest an interest in myth and cosmology in *Homer.

Article

Agathon  

Andrew Brown

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
Agathon, son of Tisamenus of Athens, was the most celebrated tragic poet after the three great masters. (See tragedy, greek.) He won his first victory at the *Lenaea in 416 bce, and the occasion of *Plato (1)'s Symposium is a party at his house in celebration of that victory. Plato emphasizes his youth in the Symposium and portrays him as a boy in the Protagoras (315d), of which the dramatic date is about 430, so he must have been born after 450. In the Protagoras he is seen in the company of the *sophist*Prodicus, and he appears to have been influenced in style by *Gorgias (1). In 411 he heard and approved *Antiphon (1)'s speech in his defence (Arist. Eth. Eud. 3. 5)—this suggests anti-democratic sentiments—and in the same year he was caricatured in *Aristophanes (1)'s Thesmophoriazusae.

Article

Agathos Daimon  

Robert Parker

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Agathos Daimon (Ἀγαθὸς Δαίμων), ‘good god/destiny/fortune’. He is particularly closely associated with the proper use of *wine (cf. modern toasts such as ‘cheers’, ‘good luck’): he received small libations of unmixed wine after meals, and in *Boeotia sacrifice was made to him before the new vintage was broached. But the idea expressed in his name could also be understood more broadly, as is clear from the later-attested practice of dedicating houses and small temples to him, often in association with Agathe Tyche (Good Luck); like other protective figures he was sometimes represented as a *snake.

Article

Agdistis  

Francis Redding Walton and John Scheid

Article

Publication History:

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

Agdistis, a form of the Phrygian mother-goddess; at *Pessinus*Cybele was called Agdistis (Strabo 469, 567). According to the myth (see attis), she was originally androgynous. Her cult spread to various parts of Anatolia, to Egypt (by 250bce), to Attica (with that of Attis in Piraeus 4th–3rd, cents., IG 22. 4671; at *Rhamnus, 83/2 bce), *Lesbos, and *Panticapeum. At Lydian *Philadelphia (2) her private shrine (1st cent. bce) enforced a strict moral code (Syll. 3 985; O. Weinreich, Sitz. Heidelberg1919). There and elsewhere Agdistis appears with theoi sōtēres. See anatolian deities.