The primitive Greek door-fastening was a horizontal bolt working in staples behind the door (μοχλὸς θύρας, ὀχεύς; sera, claustrum). From the outside the bolt was drawn by a strap passing through a hole in the door; it was withdrawn by inserting through a second hole a bar (κλείς, clavis) bent twice at right angles, so that its end engaged in a groove in the bolt. This bar is the ‘temple key’ of Greek art. Subsequently a slot was cut in the bolt, into which a vertical peg (βάλανος) fell as the bolt moved forward; then a βαλανάγρα had to be employed to hook up the peg before the bolt could move back. It remained long in use, with growing complexity of the slots and correspondingly of the prongs of the key. The modern form of lock in which the key rotates the bolt on a pivot is not found before Roman times, but is then common, as are movable padlocks. The key in art is often a symbol of power, as when *Hecate holds the key of *Hades (κλειδοῦχος, clavigera); to give or take back the household keys was a Roman form of divorce.
Article
Simon Hornblower
Labraunda, sanctuary of *Zeus Labraundos in *Caria, between *Mylasa (to which it was linked by a sacred way) and *Amyzon, occupying a mountainous and beautiful position. (Hdt. 5. 119 speaks of Zeus Stratios but the inscriptions mostly have Zeus Labraundos, a part-Greek part-indigenous deity; cf. *Sinuri.) The 4th-cent. bce Hecatomnid *satraps built lavishly at the sanctuary, laying it out afresh (see idrieus; mausolus) and their well-carved dedications can still be seen on the site. Other inscriptions, ILabraunda nos. 40 (= RO no. 55) and 42, illustrate the political activities and policies of *Mausolus and *Pixodarus. Thereafter there was a gap in building activity until Roman imperial times, but from the Hellenistic period there is an extensive dossier concerning the interesting figure of Olympichus, who was first a general of *Seleucus (2) II and then became in effect an independent operator, like Mausolus before him. But Olympichus had to obey the instructions of, without being formally subordinate to, *Philip (3) V of Macedon.
Article
Donald Michael Bailey and Michael Vickers
Were made of *gold, *silver, *iron, *lead, *bronze, and ceramic. Only the last two kinds survive in any quantity; the epigraphic record is concerned with metal lamps alone. Lamps were not only used for *lighting, but served as votive offerings in sanctuaries and as tomb-furniture. They might be placed on stands, or be suspended on chains or cords. *Olive oil was the usual fuel. Middle and late Minoan (see minoan civilization) clay and stone lamps are plentiful, usually having unbridged nozzles; otherwise, recognizable lamps of the early iron age only survive in the eastern Mediterranean. *Homer has but a single reference to a lamp (Od. 19. 34), of gold, but pottery ‘cocked-hat’ lamps of Athenian manufacture (akin to examples known in the Levant) are found from the 7th cent. bce. The more efficient bridged nozzle was introduced, probably in Asia Minor or the islands, soon afterwards. Thereafter Greek lamps have a tendency to become less open and shallow. Silver-rich *Athens would appear to be the main innovator of new forms; metal and ceramic versions were exported and copied over much of the Greek world.
Article
Robin Osborne
Traces of regular division of settlement space have been found even in Dark-Age Zagora on *Andros. Some early Greek colonies (see colonization, greek), notably *Megara Hyblaea, show a degree of planning in the organization of urban space in strips along major arterial streets, and in the reservation of an area for a communal *agora. Many Archaic foundations show a grid of rectangular blocks divided by large streets, although in some colonies (e.g. *Selinus, *Himera) the imposition of a regular street plan was subsequent to the initial settlement. In Greece proper, an Archaic (6th cent.) grid is now attested at *Halieis.The more or less ordered subdivisions of urban space in colonial foundations probably had a social and political correlate in the approximately equal status of colonial settlers. This is explicit in inscriptions about the setting up of colonies in the Classical period, where equal division is extended to the countryside also (e.g. Syll.
Article
Oliver Rackham
The wonderful beauty and diversity of Greece was seldom fully appreciated by ancient Greeks (to whom it was commonplace). Greece has a rich flora and fauna, with many species peculiar to the country, or to one mountain or island (especially *Crete).
The land comprises six ecological zones:
In pre-neolithic times Greece was more wooded than now; in the drier east the trees probably formed savannah, with spaces between them. Crete and other islands may have differed from the mainland, owing to their peculiar faunas (nearly all extinct by the Classical period) including dwarf elephants and hippopotamuses. During the neolithic and bronze ages the landscape was increasingly affected by human activity and by a change to a more arid *climate. The date and nature of deforestation are controversial, but there is no good evidence that Classical Greece was more wooded than today.
Article
Oliver Davies and David William John Gill
Is mined in part for the extraction of *silver from its ores. Some of the major sources in the Greek world were located at *Laurium in *Attica, on *Siphnos, and in *Macedonia. There were extensive workings in Anatolia (see asia minor). In the western Mediterranean, lead was mined on *Sardinia and in Etruria (see etruscans). Roman extraction took place in *Spain, *Gaul, and *Britain. Stamped lead ‘pigs’ show that lead was being extracted from the Mendips shortly after the Roman invasion of Britain (CIL 7. 1201). In the late empire lead mines were operating in the Balkans. Lead isotope analysis has allowed different sources to be identified. Thus lead from Archaic deposits in Laconia, as well as traces identified in Roman skeletal material from Britain, can be traced back to Laurium.Buildings associated with the extraction of silver from the argentiferous lead ore have been excavated at Laurium. Litharge (the by-product of this process) has been found in protogeometric and even bronze age contexts. In the Greek world lead was used to form the core of bronze handles, to fix steles to their bases, and for small offerings (such as those found in the sanctuary of *Artemis Orthia at *Sparta).
Article
Andrew F. Stewart
Leochares, Athenian sculptor, active c. 370–320
Article
P. J. Parsons
By the end of the 5th cent. bce, books were in general circulation, even if some regarded them as a fad of intellectuals like *Euripides (Ar. Ran. 943, cf. fr. 506 KA); Athens had booksellers (Eup. fr. 327, Aristomenes (2) fr. 9, KA), and exports reached the Black Sea (Xen. An. 7. 5. 14), see euxine. Individuals collected the best-known poets and philosophers (Xen. Mem. 4. 2. 1); an imagined collection of the later 4th cent. bce includes *Orpheus, *Hesiod, *tragedies, *Choerilus (probably (2)), *Homer, *Epicharmus, and all kinds of prose, including Simus' Cookery (Alexis fr. 140 KA). Of famous collectors (Ath. 1. 3a), *Aristotle took first place (Strabo 13. 1. 54); but his library, like that of the other philosophic schools, remained private property (for its chequered history, see Strabo, ibid.; Plut. Sull. 26. 1–2).Institutional libraries begin with the Hellenistic monarchies; the ‘public’ library of *Pisistratus (Gell.
Article
Nicholas Purcell
Tall monuments which might function as navigational marks were an early feature of ancient harbour-architecture (Archaic examples are known on *Thasos). The idea became celebrated with the building of the 100-m. (328-ft.) tower on the Pharus island at *Alexandria (1), which gave its name to the architectural genre (c.300–280 bce, by Sostratus of *Cnidus (Strabo 17. 1. 6)), and the colossus of *Helios at *Rhodes (280 bce, by *Chares (4) of Lindus (Plin. HN 34. 41)): both so famous as to be reckoned among the *Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Beacon-fires made such monuments more visible by night as well as by day: but their function as signs of conquest and displays of prestige was as important. Claudius' lighthouse tower at *Portus, intended to rival the Pharus, became a symbol of Rome's port and its activities. The (partly preserved) lighthouse at Dover castle, and its opposite number at Boulogne (*Gesoriacum) suggested the taming of the Channel; another survives at La Coruña (*Brigantium) at the Atlantic extremity of Spain.
Article
Frederick Norman Pryce and David William John Gill
The ancients knew two methods: the burning of oil in a lamp (see lamps) and the combustion of a solid substance. In Minoan (see minoan civilization) and in Classical times lamps were preferred for indoor illumination, and in the Roman empire they were sometimes employed for streets and on exteriors of buildings. The torch (λαμπάς) was more generally used out of doors and also for interiors during the early iron age. The Greek torch was generally of wood (δαΐς), a branch or a bundle of twigs (δετή). The Italians preferred candles of tallow (candela) or beeswax (cereus), which were mounted on metal candelabra. Lanterns were also freely used, candles or lamps enclosed within horn or (in imperial times) glass. *Antioch (1) was one of the few cities in antiquity to provide street lighting (Amm. Marc. 14. 1. 9) along with (late antique) *Ephesus.
Article
Ellen E. Rice
Lindus was the most important of the three independent Dorian cities of *Rhodes until the *synoecism with *Ialysus and *Camirus created the federal Rhodian state in 408/7 bce. The city occupies a prominent headland with good harbours on the central SE side of Rhodes, and controlled most of the southern half of the island. Early cemeteries attest neolithic and Mycenaean occupation (see mycenaean civilization), and Lindus appears with the other Rhodian cities in *Homer (Il. 2. 656). In the 7th cent. Lindian colonists founded *Gela in Sicily and *Phaselis in Lycia. One of the tyrants governing Lindus in the early 6th cent. was Cleobulus, one of the ‘*Seven Sages’, whose so-called tomb (a round pre-Hellenic structure) lies on a nearby headland. Lindus appears in the Athenian *tribute lists.The important cult of *Athena Lindia existed from at least the 10th cent.
Article
Gregory S. Aldrete
Greek term for a type of body armour made of linen. Corselets made of linen and other textiles were employed by a wide variety of cultures across the Mediterranean basin, including the Greeks, Macedonians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians, Etruscans, Samnites, Lusitanians, and Romans, from at least the 7th centurybce through the first several centuries of the Roman Empire.In shape, the linothorax is a subcategory of a particular design of body armour that has been labeled Type IV armour (in the classification scheme proposed by E. Jarva, 1995), or more colloquially as a tube-and-yoke, or composite, corselet. In ancient art, this form of armour is usually depicted as being composed of two sections: a rectangular piece that wraps around the torso forming a tube shape whose two ends are then tied together on one side of the body, and a C-shaped shoulder piece whose two arms (epomides) are pulled down on either side of the head and then tied to attachments on the chest. Additionally, strips (pteruges) were affixed along the lower edge of the tubular piece, in either a single or a double row, to offer some protection to the groin and thighs.
Article
Thomas James Dunbabin, Charles William John Eliot, and Simon Hornblower
The Long Walls (τὰ μακρὰ τείχη or σκέλη, ‘legs’), were built between 461 and 456 bce to connect Athens with her ports, *Phaleron and *Piraeus. (Thuc. 1. 107. 1, 108. 3, remarkably his only references to internal affairs in the *Pentekontaetia, apart from 1. 107. 4: attempt by enemies of the democracy to stop the building of the Long Walls, i.e. the walls were identified with *democracy. But see below for—oligarchic—*Corinth.) About 445 the Phaleric wall was replaced by a third, parallel to the north or Piraeus wall. They were destroyed by the Spartans to flute music in 404 (Thuc. 5. 26. 1), rebuilt by *Conon(1) in 393, but allowed to fall into a half-ruined state by 200 (Livy 31. 26. 8). The walls to Piraeus were about 6½ km. (4 mi.) long and c. 180 m. (200 yds.) apart; the traces visible a century ago have now almost entirely disappeared. The course of the Phaleric wall is uncertain. The main road from Piraeus to Athens lay outside, the road inside being primarily military. The Long Walls were used in the *Peloponnesian War to make Athens into an isolated fortress, in which most of the population of Attica could live on seaborne provisions.
Article
James Roy
Lycosura, a small town with an important sanctuary in SW *Arcadia, situated in the hills west of the main Megalopolitan basin, belonged to the Parrhasians, but on the foundation of *Megalopolis was allowed, because of its sanctuary, to survive as a separate polis surrounded by Megalopolitan territory. Though claiming to be the earth's oldest city, its known history and archaeology run from the 4th cent. bce. The sanctuary and surrounding area have been excavated (but not traces of the walled town). Lycosura was an important religious centre with cults of several deities, but the most significant was *Despoina, who had an imposing Doric temple and colossal cult statuary by *Damophon of Messene. Unfortunately the dates of both the temple and the statuary are disputed, suggestions ranging from the 4th cent. bce to the Hadrianic period; both may belong to the early 3rd cent. bce (but see damophon).
Article
Andrew F. Stewart
*Sicyonian sculptors, active c.370–315 bce. The two, who were brothers, worked exclusively in bronze. Lysippus was by far the more prolific and famous, producing gods, heroes, agonistic victors, portraits, animals, and even metal vases; Lysistratus is known only for his portrait of Melanippe and for his innovative technique. He took plaster life-masks from his subjects, made adjustments on the wax castings thus obtained, and based his portraits on them (Plin. HN 35. 153). He also took casts from statues, presumably either for workshop consultation or for reproduction (and sale?).Lysippus was also an innovator. Aggressively independent (Plin. HN 34. 61), he acknowledged the Doryphorus of *Polyclitus (2) as his master only ironically (Cic. Brut. 86, 296). This is consistent with *Pliny (1)'s report (HN 34. 65) that he abandoned Polyclitan four-square proportions for a slim physique and small head that made his figures look taller, and cultivated great precision of detail. This approach explains his success as a portraitist (see portraiture).
Article
Andrew F. Stewart
According to *Pliny (1), HN 34. 66, Lysippus (2) left three sons and pupils, Laippus (probably Daippus, misreading the initial Δ as Λ), Boedas, and Euthycrates. Elsewhere, he adds *Chares (4) of Lindos and Phanis, and *Pausanias (3) (6. 2. 6) adds *Eutychides of Sicyon. In HN 34. 51, Pliny dates Eutychides, Euthycrates, and 〈D〉aippus to 296–293 bce, and in 34. 67 and 83 he remarks that Tisicrates of Sicyon and Xenocrates of Athens belonged to the school's second generation. Its last member was Tisicrates' son Thoenias, active c.250–230 bce.Working exclusively in bronze, the school inherited Lysippus' technique, style, and clientele: the Successor-monarchs (*Diadochi), the new eastern cities, those of old Greece, and private individuals. Euthycrates was the most renowned, ‘imitating his father's rigour rather than his elegance, preferring to find favour in the austere rather than the graceful style’ (HN 34.
Article
Donald Emrys Strong and Hazel Dodge
Under μάρμαρος, marmor, the ancients included granites, porphyries, and all stones capable of taking a high polish. In the third millennium bce the white marbles of the Greek islands were used for Cycladic sculpture. The Minoans employed coloured marbles and breccias for vases and furniture and in architecture for facings and column bases. The Mycenaeans also used coloured marbles, including green porphyry and rosso antico, for furniture and architectural decoration. Neither used marble as a building stone or for sculpture.The fine white marbles of Greece and the Greek islands were widely used for architecture and sculpture from the 7th cent. bce onwards. Grey Naxian and white Parian, the best of the island marbles, were used for both sculpture and architecture; see naxos (1) and paros. The Pentelic quarries to the north-east of Athens (see Pentelicon) supplied a fine-grained marble for the *Parthenon and other 5th-cent. bce buildings in the city and its territory.
Article
Marcus Niebuhr Tod and Ellen E. Rice
Marmor Parium, an inscribed marble stele, originally about 200 cm. high by 69 cm. wide (79×27 in.), set up at *Paros (hence its name; also known as the Parian Marble). Two fragments of this important inscription survive, one of which, brought from Smyrna (mod. Izmir) to London in 1627, is now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (save the upper part, which perished during the English Civil War and is known only from a 1628 transcription), while the other, discovered at Paros in 1897, is now in the museum there. The text lists chronological events, not always accurately, and together with other ancient chronicles is important for the understanding of ancient Greek chronology. The events commemorated form a curious medley, drawn chiefly from political, military, religious, and literary history. The compiler of the inscription, whose name is lost, claims to have ‘written up the dates from the beginning, derived from all kinds of records and general histories, starting from *Cecrops, the first king of Athens, down to the archonship (see archontes) of Astyanax (?) at Paros and Diognetus at Athens’, i.
Article
Richard Seaford
Masks, as in many other pre-modern cultures, were used in Greece and Rome in cult and in dramatic representations. We have terracotta representations of grotesque masks worn in adolescent rites of passage in the cult of *Artemis Orthia in Sparta (see Spartan cults), and depictions of the wearing of animal masks in the cult of *Demeter and Despoina at *Lycosura in Arcadia (see Arcadian cults and myths). Masks were often worn in the cult of *Dionysus, and the masks of *satyrs and of Dionysus were sometimes not worn but at the centre of ritual action. Notable among the figures imagined in terms of a frightening mask is the *Gorgon. In Roman religion a notable use was of the *imagines, ancestral masks displayed in the atrium of a noble family and worn by the living at funerals (along with the mask of the deceased). Whereas the Greek word for mask (πρόσωπον) also means face, the Latin persona probably derives from the Etruscan phersu, a masked figure, who is depicted in a 6th-cent.
Article
Kelly L. Wrenhaven
In ancient Greece and Rome, masturbation was viewed with good-humored disdain. Although it was not apparently subject to the same kinds of scathing attacks that Greek comedy makes on male same-sex activity, it was certainly connected with a lack of sophistication. In line with sexual subjects in general, references are found primarily in Greek comedy and sympotic art of the Archaic and Classical periods, where it is typically associated with barbarians, slaves, and satyrs, all of whom fall into the category of the “Other,” or the anti-ideal. All were deemed lacking in sophrosyne (“moderation”) and enkratia (“self-control”) and were associated with uncivilized behavior. The Greeks had a varied terminology for masturbation. The most commonly found verb is dephesthai (“to soften”), but several other words and euphemisms were used (e.g. cheirourgon, “self-stimulation”).1The comedies of Aristophanes (1) provide the majority of references to masturbation and largely associate it with slaves. The lengthiest reference is a joke that occurs near the beginning of Knights, when Slave B tells Slave A to masturbate in order to give himself courage.
