The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization
The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization
Editors: Hornblower, Simon, Spawforth, Antony and Eidinow, Esther
Publication Year: 2014
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Inc.
Price: Core Collection Only

ISBN: 978-0-19-870677-9
Category: History - History, Ancient
Image Count:
136
Book Status: Available
Table of Contents
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.
This book is found in the following Credo Collections:
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