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Article

Eleutheropolis  

Dov Gera

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 November 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Jewish Studies
Eleutheropolis (Arabic Beit Jibrin; Hebrew Beth Govrin, Beit Guvrin) is situated in Judea’s Shephelah on the southwesterly road from Jerusalem to Ascalon. This area was known as Idumaea in the Hellenistic period, the city of Maresha being an important centre. Presumably, the destruction of Maresha by the Parthians in 40bce pushed the city’s survivors to resettle some 2 km to the north and to form the village of Beth Govrin. A locality of that Semitic name, Βαιτογαβρεῖ (ἢ Βαιτογαβρά), Baetogabrei or Baetogabra, is attested in the 2nd century ce (Ptol. Geog. 5.16.6). In 199/200ce, when traveling through Syria Palaestina to Egypt, the emperor Septimius Severus refounded Beth Govrin as a polis, naming it Lucia Septimia Severiana Eleutheropolis. The city’s coins, all issued under the Severans starting with Septimius Severus’s own reign and extending to that of Elagabalus (Aurelius Antoninus (2)), disclose Eleutheropolis’s original pagan character, for they portray various deities including Tyche, Zeus Heliopolitanus, and a river god.

Article

Thebes (2), capital of pharaonic Egypt  

Joseph Grafton Milne and Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Near East
Thebes (2) (ancient Egyptian name Waset, modern Luxor), sometime capital of pharaonic *Egypt, visited by *Herodotus(1) (2.143), and still an important city at the Macedonian conquest, whereafter it was superseded as the administrative centre of the Thebaid by *Ptolemais(2). In Strabo's day it was no more than a group of villages (17.1.46, 815–816 C), having suffered through serving twice (207/206 and 88 bce) as a base for indigenous revolts against the Ptolemies; and in 30 or 29 bceC. *Cornelius Gallus sacked the city following anti-Roman unrest. Even so, Ptolemaic patronage of Egyptian religion extended to the Theban temples. Sporadic building continued under the Principate at least as late as c. 150ce; but the Egyptian cult in the temple of Amon (Karnak) had been abandoned before the late 3rd century, when the complex became a Roman fortress and pharaonic statuary was carefully buried. Long before, the Theban monuments had become a centre for Roman *tourism, above all the colossi of *Memnon and the pharaonic tombs.

Article

economy, Hellenistic  

Zosia Archibald

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Alexander the Great’s empire, which stretched from the Danube and the western shore of the Black Sea in the north to the Indus valley and Indian Ocean in the east, did not survive his death. Competition among his successors involved almost constant warfare, strategies to secure desirable commodities, and a nearly insatiable need for cash reserves. Whereas the founders of the new kingdoms were predominantly cavalrymen, the soldiers of succeeding generations were armed settlers and frontiersmen. The technology of warfare also underwent rapid changes at the start of the Hellenistic era, when siege machinery and artillery were introduced. Maintaining empires required different armies and resources, bringing wealth to countryside as well as city.The organizational template created by cities in the 4th century bce provided an efficient and flexible model of economic as well as social organization that enabled cities of all cultural and linguistic origins to become focal points of economic expansion under the kingdoms of .

Article

Caesarea (2) in Palaestina  

Joseph Patrich

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
  2. Christianity
  3. Jewish Studies
  4. Roman History and Historiography
Caesarea Maritima was founded (22–10/9 bce) by Herod (1) the Great. Named after Caesar Augustus, Herod’s patron, it served as the administrative capital and main port of his kingdom of Judaea, later the Roman province of Syria-Palaestina. Herod’s building projects are described in detail by Flavius Josephus (AJ 15.331–341; BJ 1.408–415). Many of its structures have been uncovered in the archaeological excavations carried out at the site since the 1950s. In 71 ce, Caesarea became a Roman colony and Latin became the official language. A praetorium for the financial procurator provinciae was erected there by Vespasian and Titus in 77/78 ce. In the 2nd–4th centuries it was a prosperous city where Gentiles, Jews, Samaritans, and Christians lived side by side. It was a centre of intellectual activity.Caesarea (2) in Palaestina (Qisri, Qisrin in the Rabbinic sources), also known as Caesarea Maritima, was founded (22–10/9bce) by .

Article

Eleutherna  

Antonis Kotsonas

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 April 2021
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture
Eleutherna is an ancient city on the Aegean island of Crete. It is located 25 km (15.5 miles) south-east of the modern city of Rethymno and is adjacent to the villages of Eleutherna and Ancient Eleutherna. The ancient site is centred on a narrow, long hill located between the north-western foot of Mount Ida and the north coast of Crete. The hill rises to 340 m (1,115 feet) above sea level, extends in a north to south direction, is flanked by two streams, and overlooks lowland areas extending northwards to the Aegean Sea.The name Eleutherna derives from the name of one of the Cretan daemons called Kouretes (Steph. Byz., s.v. Ἂωρος, Ἐλευθεραί, Ἐλεύθερνα). According to Stephanus of Byzantium, Aoros and Saoros were earlier names of the city, while Apollonia was a later one (Steph. Byz., s.v. Ἂωρος, Ἀπολλωνία κγ´, Ἐλευθεραί).Greek mythology considered Eleutherna as the home of Linus, son of .

Article

Lyktos  

Antonis Kotsonas

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 April 2021
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Material Culture
Lyktos (or Lyttos, from the Classical period on) is an ancient city on the island of Crete. It is located on the central part of the island, a short distance to the east of the modern town of Kastelli Pediadas and close to the village of Xydas (also spelled Xidas). The ancient site occupies a double acropolis which is part of the northwest foothills of the Lasithi mountains, and is crowned by two modern chapels. The acropolis of Lyktos rises to an elevation of over 600 m (2,000 ft) and overlooks the fertile plain of Pediada. The name Lyktos may refer to the highland location of the site (Steph. Byz., s.v. Λύκτος).The history and culture of Lyktos is amply documented in ancient literature and epigraphy (I.Cret. I xviii), to a degree which is unusual for any Cretan city. Indeed, Lyktos has produced the second largest epigraphic record from anywhere on Crete (after .

Article

Thessaly  

Bruno Helly

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Geography
Thessaly, region of northern Greece, divided into the four tetrades (districts) of *Thessaliotis, *Hestiaeotis, *Pelasgiotis, and *Phthiotis, along with the so-called perioecic regions (see perioikoi) of Perrhaebia (see perrhaebi), Magnesia, Achaea Phthiotis, and Dolopia. Comprising two vast plains divided by the modern Revenia hills, Thessaly is enclosed by mountains (notably *Olympus(1), *Ossa, *Pelion, Othrys, and Pindus) which, far from forming obstacles to communication with neighbours, are pierced by valleys and passes with the generic ancient name of tempē (cf. tempe), by which, in all periods, travellers, merchants, and armies have reached the Thessalian plains. Thessaly has access to the sea only by the gulf of *Pagasae, with its two neighbouring ports, the one in the bay of Volos, in antiquity successively Iolcus, Pagasai, and *Demetrias, and the other in the bay of Halmyrus (Pyrasus, or Demetrieum, absorbed c.

Article

Martial, Latin poet  

Luke Roman

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Latin Literature

Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis, born c. 38–41 ce in Bilbilis, Spain, died c. 101–104) was a Latin poet who came to Rome around 64 ce. His early works were linked to specific occasions: the De Spectaculis, written for the inaugural games of the Colosseum in 80 ce, and the Xenia and Apophoreta (published c. 83–85 ce), associated with the celebration of the Saturnalia. Over the course of his subsequent career, Martial published twelve numbered books of epigrams. His version of epigram, which became canonical in later centuries, was the result of a highly distinctive series of interventions. Drawing on a range of Greek and Latin literary models, he imprinted onto epigram a constellation of recognizable traits: the set-up and punchline structure of epigrammatic wit, a materialist focus on quotidian realities, the forthright use of obscene language, and a relaxed mood of carnivalesque festivity. The genre of epigram, thus inflected and reconfigured, allowed Martial to position himself in relation to the canonical Augustan poets and define his poetic role under authoritarian emperors.

Article

munus  

Arjan Zuiderhoek

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
In the sense most commonly encountered in our sources, munus (pl. munera) means a public service rendered by a citizen to his community, in the form, for instance, of a (financial) donation, military service, or holding public office. Under the empire, munera was the term for those civic public contributions or services carried out by citizens that did not necessarily bring prestige (dignitas), unlike magistracies (honores), which did. The term munera covered an extraordinarily wide range of public duties. Best known among these are the financial contributions, often tied to particular offices, made by members of the city councils (decuriones, curiales). An especially notable munus was the organizing and financing of gladiatorial shows, for which the term munera became shorthand.Munus (pl. munera) originally means a gift, an act of kindness, or a service freely and dutifully rendered (e.g., to the gods, in the form of sacrifice; or to the dead, in the form of proper burial or funeral games), yet it was most commonly used as a term for a public service provided by a citizen to his civic community. This might for instance encompass a public gift, military service, or the holding of a magisterial post. .

Article

inequality  

John Weisweiler

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
20 June 2022
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Greek History and Historiography
  3. Late Antiquity
  4. Near East
  5. Roman History and Historiography

The just distribution of social goods was fiercely debated in the ancient Mediterranean and the ideologies of egalitarianism and inegalitarianism developed in Rome and Athens shaped Euro-American political thought from the Enlightenment onward. By contrast, the study of actual income and wealth distributions in ancient societies is a more recent development. Only in the early 21st century have scholars begun to make systematic attempts to quantify levels of inequality in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. Since we lack the documentary sources on which the study of inequality in contemporary economies is based, most of these reconstructions rely on a combination of modelling and the interpretation of isolated figures found in literary texts. This fragmentary evidence suggests that in the best-attested regions of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East inequality was considerable. In particular, the formation of large territorial states—most notably the empires of Babylon, Persia, and Rome—facilitated the concentration of wealth into fewer hands. But it is unclear whether inequality increased over time. At least, there is no unambiguous evidence that wealth and income were more unequally distributed in late antiquity than in earlier periods of Roman history.