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Article

Clazomenae  

George Ewart Bean and Susan Mary Sherwin-White

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Near East
Clazomenae (mod. Klazumen), one of the twelve cities of the *Panionium, situated on the south shore of the gulf of Smyrna on a small island joined to the mainland by a causeway. The original settlement was on the mainland, where large numbers of the terracotta *sarcophagi peculiar to Clazomenae have been found. The move to the island came ‘from fear of the Persians’ (Paus. 7. 3. 9), apparently at the time of the *Ionian Revolt (500–494 bce). About 600 bce Clazomenae successfully repulsed an attack by the Lydians under *Alyattes, but later fell to *Croesus. In the *Delian League the city was at first assessed at one and a half talents, but during the *Peloponnesian War this was raised to six and even to fifteen talents; the reason for this is uncertain. By the *King's Peace (386 bce) Clazomenae came under Persian rule, which ended with *Alexander (3) the Great.

Article

Cleopatra I, c. 215–176 BCE  

Dorothy J. Thompson

Article

Publication History:

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

Daughter of *Antiochus (3) III and *Laodice (3) and wife (from 193) of *Ptolemy (1) V Epiphanes. On Epiphanes’ death in 180 bce she acted as regent for her elder son *Ptolemy (1) VI, and on her death four years later, he took the title Philometor (‘Mother-loving’).

Article

Cleopatra II, c. 185–116 BCE  

Dorothy J. Thompson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Near East
Cleopatra II (c. 185–116 BCE), daughter of *Cleopatra I and *Ptolemy (1) V and both sister and wife of first *Ptolemy (1) VI Philometor (from 175) and then (from 145) his successor (and brother) *Ptolemy (1) VIII Euergetes II. Her children (by Philometor) were Ptolemy Eupator, *Ptolemy (1) VII Neos Philopator, *Cleopatra III and Cleopatra Thea, and (by Euergetes) Ptolemy Memphites. Her long life was marked by dynastic strife in which she looked to the population of *Alexandria (1) for support. Supplanted in Euergetes’ affection by her daughter, Cleopatra III, in 132–130 she engaged in a civil war against her husband-brother and his new wife. Euergetes fled to Cyprus with Cleopatra III and although he was back in control from 130 mother and daughter only reached an uneasy reconciliation in 124. The reconciliation of Euergetes and his two wives, Cleopatra mother and daughter, was marked by an amnesty decree in 118 (PTeb.

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  

Christelle Fischer-Bovet

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Near East
  2. Roman History and Historiography
Cleopatra VII (69–30 bce), “Thea Philopator” (“father-loving goddess”), “Thea Neotera” (“the younger goddess”), and Philopatris (“loving her country”), ruler of Egypt (52–30 bce), as well as of Cyprus (47–30 bce), Libya, and Coele-Syria (37–30 bce), the last ruler of the Macedonian dynasty of the Ptolemies and the best known of all the Cleopatras, was the daughter of Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos (“the new Dionysos”), nicknamed Auletes (“flute-player”), and of his sister Cleopatra VI Tryphaina, or possibly of an Egyptian noblewoman. She ruled first as co-regent with her father (52–51 bce), then jointly with her younger brother Ptolemy XIII, with the Roman people as guardian as requested in Ptolemy XII’s will. She ruled alone in 51/50 bce until she was exiled by her brother (50/49–48 bce) and re-established by Julius Caesar as joint ruler with Ptolemy XIII, then with her younger brother Ptolemy XIV (48–44 bce).

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  

Martin Worthington and Mark Chetwood

Article

Publication History:

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

The cuneiform writing system originated in Southern Iraq in the mid-to-late 4th millennium bce and was used into the Common Era. Hence for over half of human history there were people writing in cuneiform. Extant sources suggest that it was the usual script for writing Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, and Elamite. Cuneiform documents, mostly consisting in clay tablets, are thus attested from Egypt and Turkey in the West to Iran in the East. The majority are written in Sumerian and/or Akkadian, and stem from ancient Iraq.

The cuneiform script1 has no punctuation, no equivalent of capital letters, and spaces are not normally left between words (though Old Assyrian frequently used a single vertical wedge as “word divider”). Sight-reading cuneiform, at least in Sumerian and Akkadian, and particularly for complex writings such as poetry, was probably a process of “fits and starts,” and not as smooth as sight-reading is for us today.

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.