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abacus  

Serafina Cuomo

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Science, Technology, and Medicine
An abacus (ἄβαξ, ἀβάκιον), a counting board, was the usual aid to reckoning in antiquity. The Greeks and Romans alike used a board with vertical columns, on which (working from right to left) units, ... More

Abaris  

Alan H. Griffiths

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Greek Myth and Religion
Abaris, legendary devotee of *Apollo from the far north, a shamanistic missionary and saviour-figure like *Aristeas whom *Pindar (fr. 270 Snell–Maehler) associated with the time of *Croesus—perhaps ... More

Abdera  

James Maxwell Ross Cormack and Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Ancient Geography
Abdera, a flourishing Greek city east of the Nestus river on the coast of *Thrace (Diod. Sic. 13. 72. 2). It was traditionally founded as a colony of *Clazomenae in 654 bce, a date for which ... More

abortion  

Robert Sallares

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Gender Studies, Science, Technology, and Medicine
Abortion was controversial in antiquity. Doctors taking the Hippocratic Oath (see hippocrates (2)) swore not to administer abortifacients, but other Hippocratic texts suggest that prostitutes (see ... More

Abydos  

Stephen Mitchell

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Near East
Was the best harbour on the Asiatic side of the *Hellespont. In the Iliad (2. 836) an ally of Troy and then a Thracian settlement, it was colonized c.700 bce by Milesians (see ... More

Academy  

D. Sedley

Online publication date:
Jul 2015
Subject:
Philosophy
Academy, public *gymnasium at Athens, sacred to the hero Academus, north-west of the Dipylon gate. It gave its name to the school founded there by *Plato (1) in the early 4th cent. and maintained by ... More

Acamas  

Emily Kearns

Online publication date:
Mar 2016
Subject:
Greek Myth and Religion
Acamas, son of *Theseus and brother of *Demophon (1). Unknown to the Iliad, the brothers are certainly present at Troy in the Iliu Persis (fr. 4 Davies), and free their grandmother *Aethra from her ... More

Acanthus  

Simon Hornblower

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Ancient Geography
Was probably a 7th-cent. colony of *Andros (Thuc. 4. 84) near the narrowest point of the Akte prong of *Chalcidice, and thus close to the canal dug in 480 bce on the orders of *Xerxes I of Persia ... More

Acarnan  

W. M. Murray

Online publication date:
Mar 2016
Subject:
Greek Myth and Religion
Acarnan, eponym of *Acarnania. He was the son, with Amphoterus, of Callirhoë (the daughter of Acheloüs) and *Alcmaeon (1) (who had settled in the *Achelous floodplain to escape the *Erinyes). Later, ... More

Acarnania  

W. M. Murray

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Ancient Geography
Acarnania, a district of NW Greece, bounded by the Lonian Sea, the gulf of Ambracia, and the *Acheloüs river. The district is divided into three main regions: (1) a rugged coast with small bays and ... More

Acastus  

Herbert Jennings Rose

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Greek Myth and Religion
Acastus, in mythology, son of Pelias (see neleus); he took part in the Argonautic expedition and the Calydonian boar-hunt (see argonauts; meleager (1)). When *Peleus took refuge with him, Acastus' ... More

Acca Larentia  

C. Robert Phillips

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Roman Myth and Religion
Acca Larentia, obscure Roman goddess with a festival on 23 December (*Larentalia or Larentinalia). Valerius Antias (fr. 1 Peter) makes her a prostitute, contemporary with *Romulus, who left her ... More

Accius, Lucius, dramatic poet and literary scholar, 170–c. 86 BCE  

H. D. Jocelyn and Gesine Manuwald

Online publication date:
Mar 2016
Subject:
Latin Literature
Of freedman birth. In Rome he had friendly relations with D. *Iunius Brutus Callaicus (consul 138). Anecdotes suggest that Accius believed that literary talent demanded in its context more respect ... More

acclamation  

Ernst Badian

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Roman History and Historiography
Vocal expressions of approval and good wishes in ritual form were an important part of Roman life, both private (e.g. at weddings) and public (for actors and the presiding magistrate at public ... More

Acestes  

Stephen J. Harrison

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Latin Literature
Acestes (ΑἰγέστηςΑἴγεστος), character in mythology, founder and king of *Segesta (Egesta) in Sicily and of Trojan descent (cf. Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1. 52.1–4; Schol. Dan. Aen. 1. 550; schol. on ... More

Achaea  

Catherine A. Morgan

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Ancient Geography
Region on the north-east of the Peloponnese, between the Corinthian Gulf and the Chelmos and Panachaikon mountains. Historically a federation of small territories (Paus. 7).Achaea was settled from ... More

Achaean Confederacy, Greek  

R. M. Errington

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Greek History and Historiography
Achaean Confederacy, federal organization developed by the twelve Achaean cities (see achaea) united in the cult of Zeus Hamarios. First mentioned in 453 bce as Athenian allies, Achaea's independence ... More

Achaean Confederacy, Roman  

Antony Spawforth

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Roman History and Historiography
Permitted to reform after 146 bce, at first on a local basis only, the confederacy survived until at least the mid-3rd cent. ce, chiefly as a vehicle (from c.ce 50) for a federal *ruler-cult based at ... More

Achaemenid art  

Michael Vickers

Online publication date:
Mar 2016
Subject:
Near East
The official sculpture of the Persian empire was made in a distinctive style which owed much to Mesopotamian forerunners, and like them tended to the glorification of the ruler. It used to be thought ... More

Achaemenids  

Pierre Briant

Online publication date:
Dec 2015
Subject:
Near East
The term, as used by Herodotus (1. 125), refers to one of the three clans (phrētrē) of the Pasargadae tribe to which the Persian kings belonged; its eponymous ancestor was supposedly Achaemenes (Hdt. ... More

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