Authoritative reference provides entries covering all aspects of classical civilization: history, politics, ethics, moral law, punishment, family life, society, religion, mythology, reception, technology, and scholarship.

Table of Contents

• Preface to the first edition
• Preface to the second edition
• List of new and replacement entries in the second edition
• List of maps
• Index to Initials of Contributors
• Thematic listing of entries
• Abbreviations
• How to use this Companion
• The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization
• A
• abortion
• Academy,
• Achilles,
• Actium
• Acts of the Apostles
• adoption
• adultery
• Aegae (Vergina)
• Aeneas,
• Aeneas Tacticus,
• Aeschines (c.397–c.322 bc), Athenian orator
• Aeschylus, Athenian tragic dramatist.
• aetiology
• Africa (Libya), exploration
• Africa, Roman
• after-life
• Agamemnon,
• age
• age classes
• agōnes
• agora
• agrarian laws and policy
• agricultural implements
• agricultural writers
• agriculture, Greek
• agriculture, Roman
• Agrippa (Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa),
• Agrippina, Iulia Agrippina, ‘the Younger Agrippina’ (ad 15–59),
• Ai Khanoum
• Aias (Lat. Aiax, Eng. Ajax)
• Ajax
• Alcaeus, lyric poet,
• Alcibiades (451/0–404/3 bc),
• Alcman, lyric poet,
• alcoholism
• Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon), 356–323 bc,
• Alexandria
• Amazons,
• Ammianus Marcellinus (c.ad 330–95),
• amphitheatres
• Anacreon, lyric poet,
• anatomy and physiology
• Andocides (c.440–c.390 bc),
• animals, attitudes to
• animals, knowledge about
• anthologies, Latin
• anthropology
• Antigonus Gonatas (c.320–239 bc),
• Antigonus the One-eyed (Monophthalmos) (c.382–301 bc),
• Antioch
• Antiochus III (Antiochus the Great) (c.242–187 bc),
• Antiphon,
• anti-Semitism (pagan)
• Antoninus Pius, Roman emperor ad 138–61,
• Antony, Mark (Marcus Antonius), Roman statesman and general.
• Aphrodisias
• Aphrodite.
• Apollo,
• Apollonius of Rhodes (Apollonius Rhodius),
• Apollonius of Tyana,
• Appian
• aqueducts
• Ara Pacis,
• archaeology, classical,
• archaeology, underwater
• Archilochus Greek iambic and elegiac poet,
• architecture
• archives
• Ares,
• Aristophanes,
• Aristotle (384–322 bc), philosopher,
• armies, Greek and Hellenistic
• armies, Roman
• arms and armour
• Arrian (Lucius Flavius Arrianus) c.ad 86–160.
• art, ancient attitudes to
• art, funerary, Greek
• art, funerary, Roman,
• art, Jewish
• Artemis
• artillery
• artisans and craftsmen
• Asclepius (Lat. Aesculapius)
• Asia, Roman province
• Asia Minor
• astrology,
• astronomy
• Athena
• Athens (history)
• Athens (topography)
• athletics
• atomism,
• Atticus (Titus Pomponius Atticus), b. 110 bc
• Augustine, St (Aurelius Augustinus) (ad 354–430)
• Augustus (63 bc–ad 14),
• Aurelius, Marcus,
• B
• Babylonia
• Bacchanalia
• Bacchylides (c.520–450 bc), lyric poet,
• Bactria
• banks
• barbarian
• baths,
• belief (ancient religious)
• bilingualism
• biography, Greek
• biography, Roman
• biology
• body
• Boeotian confederacy
• books, Greek and Roman
• books, sacred and cultic
• booty
• botany
• boulē,
• Brauron
• breast-feeding
• bribery, Greek
• bribery, Roman
• brigandage (Gk. lēsteia, Lat. latrocinium),
• Britain, Roman
• Brutus (Marcus Iunius Brutus),
• Byzantium
• C
• Caesar, Julius (Gaius Iulius Caesar),
• cakes
• Caligula, Roman emperor.
• Callimachus,
• camps
• capitalism
• Caracalla,
• careers
• Carian language
• Carthage (Qrtḥdšt (= ‘New Town’); Gk. Karchēdōn; Lat. Carthago)
• Cassius Dio (c.ad 164–after 229), Greek senator and author
• catacombs, Jewish,
• Catiline (Lucius Sergius Catilina),
• Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato), or ‘Cato the Censor’ (‘Censorius’) (234–149 bc),
• Cato the Younger Marcus Porcius Cato, or ‘Cato of Utica’ (‘Uticensis’) (95–46 bc),
• Catullus (Gaius Valerius Catullus), Roman poet.
• censorship
• Centaurs (Greek Kentauroi),
• centuriation,
• chariots
• chastity
• chemistry
• childbirth
• chorēgos,
• Christianity
• Chrysostom, Dio
• Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero),
• Cincinnatus (Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus),
• circumcision
• circus,
• Cisalpine Gaul
• cities
• citizenship, Greek
• citizenship, Roman
• Civil Wars, Roman
• Claros
• class struggle,
• Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus) (10 bc–ad 54),
• Cleisthenes, Athenian politician,
• Cleopatra VII (69–30 bc),
• climate
• Clodia,
• Clodius Pulcher, Publius,
• closure,
• Cocceius Nerva, Marcus,
• coinage, Greek
• coinage, Roman
• colonization, Greek
• colonization, Hellenistic
• colonization, Roman
• Colosseum,
• colour, ancient perception of
• comedy (Greek), Old, Middle, and New
• comedy, Latin
• commerce
• Commodus, Lucius Aurelius,
• confederacies
• Constantine I, ‘the Great’ (Flavius Valerius Constantinus) (c.ad 272/3–337),
• Constantinople
• consul,
• contraception
• conversion
• cookery
• Coriolanus (Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus) (Gaius in Dion. Hal. and Plut.),
• corn supply
• corruption
• court,
• Crassus, (Marcus Licinius Crassus),
• creolization
• Crete, Greek and Roman
• curses
• cursus honorum,
• Cybele (Gk. Kybelē; Lydian form Kybēbē, Hdt. 5. 102),
• Cynics
• Cyprus,
• Cyrene (mod. Shahat)
• Cyrus the Great (OP Kuruš),
• D
• dance (reception)
• dancing
• Darius I (OP Darāyavauš),
• dead, disposal of
• Dead Sea Scrolls,
• death, attitudes to
• debt,
• Delian League,
• Delos
• Delphi
• Delphic oracle,
• deme,
• Demeter,
• democracy, Athenian
• Demosthenes (384–322 bc),
• diagrams
• Diana
• dictator,
• Dio (Cassius),
• Dio of Prusa (Dio Cocceianus, later called Dio Chrysostom (‘Golden-Mouthed’)) (c.40/50-110/120 ad), Greek orator, writer, local politician and moralist,
• Diocletian (Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus), originally named Diocles.
• Diodorus (Diodorus Siculus)
• diolkos,
• Dionysius I, born c.430 bc,
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Greek critic and historian,
• Dionysus (Linear B Diwonusos),
• disease,
• dissection
• dithyramb,
• divorce
• Domitian (Titus Flavius Domitianus),
• drama
• dreams
• dress
• E
• earthquakes
• ecology (Greek and Roman)
• economic theory (Greek)
• economy, Greek
• economy, Hellenistic
• economy, Roman
• ecstasy
• education, Greek and Roman
• Egypt
• Egyptian deities
• ekklesia,
• ekphrasis,
• Elagabalus (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus),
• elections and voting
• Electra,
• elegiac poetry, Greek
• elegiac poetry, Latin
• elephants
• Eleusis
• emotions
• encomium/enkōmion
• Ennius, Quintus (239–169 bc), epic and dramatic poet.
• Epaminondas (d. 362 bc),
• Ephesus
• Ephorus, of Cyme (c.405–330 bc),
• epic
• Epicurus (b. *Samos, 341 BC; d. Athens, 270 bc), moral and natural philosopher.
• epideictic
• epigram, Greek
• epigram, Latin
• epinician poetry,
• equites
• Eratosthenes, of Cyrene (c.285–194 bc),
• Eros,
• ethics
• ethnicity
• Etruscans (Gk. Tyrsēnoi, Lat. Tyrrheni, Etrusci),
• Eucratides I (‘the Great’), Graeco-Bactrian king c.170–145 bc.
• euergetism,
• Euripides,
• Eusebius, of Caesarea (c.ad 260–339), prolific writer, biblical scholar and apologist,
• experiment
• explanation, historical
• F
• Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, Quintus,
• Failaka (off Kuwait).
• family, Roman
• famine
• fantastic literature,
• federal states
• film
• finance, Greek and Hellenistic
• finance, Roman
• fishing
• Flamininus (Titus Quinctius Flamininus),
• food and drink
• food supply
• Forma urbis,
• forum Romanum,
• freedmen, freedwomen
• freedom in the ancient world
• friendship, ritualized
• G
• Gaius (Gaius Iulius Caesar Germanicus) (‘Caligula’), (ad 12–41), emperor,
• games (agōnes)
• gardens
• Gaul (Cisalpine)
• Gaul (Transalpine)
• Gellius, Aulus, Roman miscellanist,
• gems
• gender,
• genealogy,
• genre,
• geography
• Germanicus (Germanicus Iulius Caesar),
• ghosts
• Giants,
• gladiators, combatants at games
• glass (Gk. hyalos (also ‘rock crystal’), Lat. vitrum).
• Gordian III (Marcus Antonius Gordianus),
• Gorgias of Leontini, (c.485–c.380 bc),
• Gracchus, Gaius (Gaius Sempronius Gracchus),
• Gracchus, Tiberius (Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus),
• Greece (geography)
• Greece, prehistory and history of
• Greek language
• gymnasium
• gynaecology
• H
• Hades,
• Hadrian (Publius Aelius Hadrianus),
• Hadrian's Wall
• Hannibal, Carthaginian general.
• Hector,
• Helena Augusta,
• Helios,
• Hellenism, Hellenization,
• Hellenistic philosophy
• Hephaestus
• Hera
• Heracles,
• Herculaneum
• heresy
• Hermes
• Herodotus, of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum on the Aegean coast of Turkey), historian.
• Hesiod,
• heterosexuality
• Hieronymus of Cardia historian and statesman,
• Hippocrates, Hippocratic corpus
• historiography, Greek
• historiography, Hellenistic
• historiography, Roman
• history of classical scholarship
• Homer
• homosexuality
• Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
• household
• houses, Greek
• houses, Italian
• housework,
• hubris,
• Hyperides (389–322 bc), prominent Athenian statesman,
• I
• Icaros (mod. Failaka),
• imagery
• immortality
• imperialism
• imperium
• incest,
• India
• industry (Greek and Roman).
• initiation
• interest, rates of
• intolerance, intellectual and religious
• Ionian Revolt
• Isaeus, Athenian speech-writer (c.420–340s bc)
• Isocrates (436–338 bc),
• Italy
• ivory (Gk. elephas, Lat.ebur),
• J
• Janus,
• Jews
• Jocasta
• Josephus (Flavius Iosephus) (b. ad 37/8), was a Greek historian but also a Jewish priest
• judges, foreign,
• Julia,
• Julian ‘the Apostate’ (Flavius Claudius Iulianus),
• Julii Caesares
• Julius Caesar
• Juno,
• Jupiter
• Justinian's codification
• Juvenal (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis), Roman satirist.
• K
• kingship (basileia)
• kinship
• L
• labour,
• Laius (Laïos),
• Latin language
• law and procedure, Athenian
• law and procedure, Roman
• law in Greece
• lawyers, Roman
• Lefkandi
• legal literature
• Lepidus (Marcus Aemilius Lepidus),
• Lesbos (now Lesvos or Mytilini),
• libraries
• Libya
• limes
• literacy
• literary criticism in antiquity
• literary theory and classical studies
• Livia (Livia Drusilla), b. 58 bc,
• Livy (Titus Livius),
• Londinium (mod. London)
• Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) (ad 39–65),
• Lucian (Gk. Loukianos), of Samosata in SE *Asia Minor (b. c. ad 120),
• Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus),
• Luwian
• Lycophron
• Lycurgus,
• lyric poetry
• Lysander (d. 395 bc),
• Lysias, Attic orator.
• Lysimachus (c.355–281 bc),
• M
• Maccabees
• Macedonia
• Macedonian language
• madness
• Maecenas, Gaius
• maenads,
• magic
• magistracy, Greek
• magistracy, Roman
• manuscripts
• maps
• Marius, Gaius,
• markets and fairs
• marriage law
• Mars,
• Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis),
• Marxism and classical antiquity
• Masada
• masculinity
• materiality
• mathematics
• matriarchy
• Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the
• meals
• Medea,
• medicine
• Mediterranean
• mercenaries
• Mercury (Lat. Mercurius),
• Messal(l)ina
• metics
• migration
• mineralogy
• Minerva
• mines and mining
• Minoan civilization,
• miracles
• Mithradates VI (Eupator Dionysus) (120–63 bc),
• Mithras,
• monopolies,
• mosaic
• Muses,
• music in Greek and Roman life
• Mycenaean civilization
• mysteries
• mythology
• N
• Naevius, Gnaeus (c.280/60–200 bc), dramatic and epic poet
• narrative, narration
• nationalism
• nature
• navies
• navigation
• Nemrut Dağ (Mt. Nemrut)
• Neptune (Lat. Neptunus),
• Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar),
• Nerva, Marcus Cocceius,
• Nicias (c.470–413 bc), Athenian politician and general.
• Nicopolis
• Nike,
• nomads
• Notitia Dignitatum
• novel, Greek
• novel, Latin
• O
• Octavian
• Odysseus
• Oedipus,
• oligarchy (‘the rule of the few’),
• olive
• Olympia
• opera
• oracles
• orality
• Orientalism
• Orpheus,
• Ostia
• ostracism
• Ovid
• P
• Paestum (mod. Pesto)
• painting, Greek and Roman
• Palmyra (Tadmor)
• Pan,
• Parthia, Parthian empire
• pastoral poetry, Greek
• pastoral poetry, Latin
• pastoralism, Greek
• pastoralism, Roman
• patricians
• patronage, non-literary
• Paul, St
• Pausanias,
• Peloponnese
• Peloponnesian War
• Pergamum
• Pericles (c.495–429 bc), Athenian politician,
• Persephone/Kore,
• Persepolis
• Persia
• Persian Wars
• personification,
• Petronius Arbiter,
• philhellenism
• Philip II (382–336 bc), king of Macedon and architect of Macedonian greatness.
• philosophers and politics
• philosophy
• Phoenicians (Gk. Phoinikes, Lat. Poeni),
• physics
• physiology
• pilgrimage (Christian)
• Pindar, lyric poet,
• piracy
• Pisistratus (Gk. Peisistratos),
• plague (Gk. loimos, Lat. pestis),
• Plato of Athens, c.429–347 bc,
• Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus), comic playwright,
• plebs,
• Pliny the Elder (ad 23/4–79),
• Pliny the Younger (c.ad 61–c.112),
• Plutarch (Lucius (?) Mestrius Plutarchus) of Boeotian Chaeronea; b. before ad 50, d. after ad 120; philosopher and biographer.
• police
• polis (plur. poleis),
• political theory
• politics
• pollution, the Greek concept of
• Polybius (c.200–c.118 bc), Greek historian
• Pompeii
• Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus), b. 106 bc
• popular culture
• population, Greek
• population, Roman
• pornography
• portraiture, Greek
• portraiture, Roman
• Poseidon
• postal service
• pottery, Greek
• pottery, Roman
• prayer
• Presocratic philosophers,
• priests (Greek and Roman)
• prison
• procurator
• propaganda
• Propertius, Sextus,
• proscription,
• prosopography
• prostitution, sacred
• prostitution, secular
• provincia/province
• Ptolemy I (Ptolemaeus) Soter (‘Saviour’) (c.367–282 BC)
• Ptolemy II Philadelphus (‘Sister-loving’) (308–246 bc),
• publicani
• Punic Wars
• punishment, Greek and Roman practice
• pygmies,
• Pyrrhus of Epirus (319–272 bc),
• Pythagoras, Pythagoreanism
• Pytheas (c.310–306 bc), Greek navigator
• Q
• Quintilian (c.ad 35–sometime in the, 90s).
• R
• race
• rape
• reception
• reciprocity (Greece)
• records and record-keeping, attitudes to
• religion
• religions, ancient, cognitive anthropology of
• Res gestae
• Rhamnus
• rhetoric, Greek
• rhetoric, Latin
• Rhodes
• ‘Riace warriors’,
• ritual
• roads
• Romanization
• Rome (history)
• Rome (topography)
• Romulus and Remus,
• ruler-cult
• S
• Sabbath
• sacred laws
• sacrifice, Greek
• sacrifice, Roman
• Sadducees,
• Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus), Roman historian, probably 86–35 bc.
• Samaritans
• Samos
• sanctuaries
• sanitation
• Sappho,
• satire (Lat. satura)
• satyrs and silens
• scholarship, ancient
• scholarship, history of classical (from the Renaissance)
• Scipio Aemilianus (Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus (Numantinus)),
• Scipio Africanus (the elder), (Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus),
• sculpture, Greek and Roman
• Second Sophistic
• Sejanus (Lucius Aelius Seianus), d. ad 31,
• Seleucids,
• Seleucus I (Nicator) (Conqueror) (c.358–281 bc),
• senate
• Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca), (Seneca the Younger)
• senses, ancient conceptions of
• Septimius Severus, Lucius,
• Sertorius, Quintus, (c.126–73 bc),
• Seven Wonders of the ancient world,
• Severus Alexander (Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander), Roman emperor ad 222–35.
• Sicily
• Silius Italicus (Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus) (c.ad 26–102), Roman politician and poet,
• Simonides, Greek poet,
• sin
• slavery
• Social Wars
• Socrates (469–399 bc), Athenian
• Socratic dialogues
• Solon Athenian politician and poet,
• sophists
• Sophocles, Athenian tragic playwright.
• soul
• Spain
• Sparta
• sphinx,
• stadium (Gk. stadion),
• Statius, Publius Papinius Roman poet.
• status, legal and social
• Stesichorus, Greek lyric poet,
• Stoicism,
• Strabo
• Suetonius (Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus) (b. c.ad 70), Roman biographer.
• suicide
• Sulla (Lucius Cornelius Sulla), surnamed Felix, ‘Lucky’, born c.138 bc
• supplication, Greek
• sycophants (Gk sykophantai),
• symposium
• synagogue (Gk. synagogue),
• synoecism (Gk. synoikismos),
• Syracuse (Gk. Syrakousai, mod. Siracusa)
• Syria
• T
• Tacitus, Roman historian.
• Tadmor
• Tarquinius Superbus, Lucius,
• technology
• temple
• Terence (Publius Terentius Afer),
• textile production
• theatres (Greek and Roman), structure
• theatricality
• Themistocles (c.524–459 bc), Athenian politician
• Theocritus,
• Theopompus
• Theseus,
• Thessaly
• Thucydides,
• Tiberius (Tiberius Iulius Caesar Augustus), emperor (b. 16 November 42 bc; d. 16 Mar. ad 37)
• Tibullus, Albius,
• Timaeus
• timber
• time-reckoning
• Titus (Titus Flavius Vespasianus), Roman emperor,
• toga
• topos,
• torture
• tourism
• trade, Greek
• trade, Roman
• tragedy, Greek
• tragedy, Latin
• Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Traianus),
• Transalpine Gaul
• translation
• transport, wheeled
• tribune of the plebs
• tribus,
• tributum
• trierarchy
• trireme
• triumph
• trophies (Gk. tropaia, Lat. trophaea, from tropē, a turning i.e. rout of the enemy).
• Troy (mod. Hisarlık)
• Tullius, Servius,
• Twelve Tables
• tyranny (tyrannos, ‘tyrant’, was perhaps a Lydian word)
• U
• Ulysses
• urbanism
• V
• Valerius Flaccus (Gaius Valerius Flaccus Setinus Balbus),
• Varro (Marcus Terentius Varro) (116–27 bc),
• Velleius Paterculus, Roman historical writer,
• Venus
• Vergina
• Vespasian (Titus Flavius Vespasianus),
• Vesta, Vestals
• villa
• Vindolanda tablets
• Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) (70–19 bc), Roman poet.
• Vitruvius (Pol(l)io),
• vivisection
• Vulcan
• W
• wall of Hadrian
• warfare, attitudes to (Greek and Hellenistic)
• water (Gk. hudōr, Lat. aqua)
• wealth, attitudes to
• wheel, wheeled transport
• wine (Greek and Roman)
• women
• X
• Xanthus
• Xenophon
• Xerxes I (OP Khšāyaršā),
• Z
• Zeus,
• Chronology
• Select bibliography
• Maps