Part 1
A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Transcriber’s Notes │ │ │ │ │ │ Punctuation has been standardized. │ │ │ │ To facilitate usage by modern readers, most abbreviated │ │ Latin words and names have been expanded to their common │ │ non-abbreviated form. (Example: Hom. expanded to Homer; │ │ Hor. expanded to Horace.) Also, labels have been added to │ │ references for book (bk.), chapter (ch.), line (li.), and │ │ letter (ltr.) for clarity. │ │ │ │ Characters in small caps have been replaced by all caps. │ │ │ │ Non-printable characteristics have been given the following │ │ Italic text: --> _text_ │ │ bold text: --> =text=. │ │ │ │ This book was written in a period when many words had │ │ not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have │ │ multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in │ │ the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated │ │ with a Transcriber’s Note. │ │ │ │ The symbol ‘‡’ indicates the description in parenthesis has │ │ been added to an illustration. This may be needed if there │ │ is no caption or if the caption does not describe the image │ │ adequately. │ │ │ │ In the listings, the alphabetical order of topics has been │ │ corrected, but no topics have been added or removed. The │ │ letters “I” and “J”, and the letters “U” and “V”, are │ │ considered synonymous and alphabetized together by the author.│ │ │ │ Footnotes are identified in the text with a superscript │ │ number and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which │ │ they appear. │ │ │ │ Transcriber’s Notes are used when making corrections to the │ │ text or to provide additional information for the modern │ │ reader. These notes are identified by ♦♠♥♣ symbols in the │ │ text and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which │ │ they appear. │ │ │ │ Some of the tables at the end are extra wide and may require │ │ scrolling to the right to see the entire table. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
LEMPRIERE’S CLASSICAL DICTIONARY.
A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY
CONTAINING A COPIOUS ACCOUNT OF ALL THE PROPER NAMES MENTIONED IN ANCIENT AUTHORS
WITH
THE VALUE OF COINS, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES USED AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS
AND
A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
BY
J. LEMPRIERE, D.D.
Illustration: (‡ Colophon)
LONDON GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LIMITED NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON AND CO. 1904
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. At the Ballantyne Press
PREFACE
TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.
IN the following pages it has been the wish of the author to give the most accurate and satisfactory account of all the proper names which occur in reading the Classics, and by a judicious collection of anecdotes and historical facts to draw a picture of ancient times, not less instructive than entertaining. Such a work, it is hoped, will not be deemed a useless acquisition in the hands of the public; and while the student is initiated in the knowledge of history and mythology, and familiarized with the ancient situation and extent of kingdoms and cities that no longer exist, the man of letters may, perhaps, find it not a contemptible companion, from which he may receive information, and be made, a second time, acquainted with many important particulars which time, or more laborious occupations, may have erased from his memory. In the prosecution of his plan, the author has been obliged to tread in the steps of many learned men, whose studies have been directed, and not without success, to facilitate the attainment of classical knowledge, and of the ancient languages. Their compositions have been to him a source of information, and he trusts that their labours have now found new elucidation in his own, and that, by a due consideration of every subject, he has been enabled to imitate their excellences, without copying their faults. Many compositions of the same nature have issued from the press, but they are partial and unsatisfactory. The attempts to be concise, have rendered the labours of one barren and uninstructive, while long and unconnected quotations of passages from Greek and Latin writers, disfigure the page of the other, and render the whole insipid and disgusting. It cannot, therefore, be a discouraging employment now, to endeavour to finish what others have left imperfect, and with the conciseness of Stephens, to add the diffuse researches of Lloyd, Hoffman, Collier, &c. After paying due attention to the ancient poets and historians, from whom the most authentic information can be received, the labours of more modern authors have been consulted, and every composition distinguished for the clearness and perspicuity of historical narration, or geographical descriptions, has been carefully examined. Truly sensible of what he owes to modern Latin and English writers and commentators, the author must not forget to make a public acknowledgment of the assistance he has likewise received from the labours of the French. In the Siècles Payens of l’Abbé Sabatier de Castres he has found all the information which judicious criticism, and a perfect knowledge of heathen mythology, could procure. The compositions of l’Abbé Banier have also been useful; and in the Dictionnaire Historique, of a literary society, printed at Caen, a treasure of original anecdotes, and a candid selection and arrangement of historical facts, have been discovered.
It was the original design of the author of this Dictionary to give a minute explanation of all the names of which Pliny and other ancient geographers make mention; but, upon a second consideration of the subject, he was convinced that it would have increased his volume in bulk, and not in value. The learned reader will be sensible of the propriety of this remark, when he recollects that the names of many places mentioned by Pliny and Pausanias occur nowhere else in ancient authors; and that to find the true situation of an insignificant village mentioned by Strabo, no other writer but Strabo is to be consulted.
This Dictionary being undertaken more particularly for the use of schools, it has been thought proper to mark the quantity of the penultimate of every word, and to assist the student who can receive no fixed and positive rules for pronunciation. In this the authority of Smethius has been followed, as also Leede’s edition of Labbe’s Catholici Indices.
As every publication should be calculated to facilitate literature, and to be serviceable to the advancement of the sciences, the author of this Dictionary did not presume to intrude himself upon the public, before he was sensible that his humble labours would be of some service to the lovers of the ancient languages. The undertaking was for the use of schools, therefore he thought none so capable of judging of its merit, and of ascertaining its utility, as those who preside over the education of youth. With this view, he took the liberty to communicate his intentions to several gentlemen in that line, not less distinguished for purity of criticism, than for their classical abilities, and from them he received all the encouragement which the desire of contributing to the advancement of learning can expect. To them, therefore, for their approbation and friendly communications, he publicly returns his thanks, and hopes that, now his labours are completed, his Dictionary may claim from them that patronage and that support to which, in their opinion, the specimen of the work seemed to be entitled. He has paid due attention to their remarks, he has received with gratitude their judicious observations, and cannot pass over in silence their obliging recommendations, and particularly the friendly advice he has received from the Rev. R. Valpy, master of Reading School.
For the account of the Roman laws, and for the festivals celebrated by the ancient inhabitants of Greece and Italy, he is particularly indebted to the useful collections of Archbishop Potter, of Godwyn, and Kennet. In the tables of ancient coins, weights and measures, which he has annexed to the body of the Dictionary, he has followed the learned calculations of Dr. Arbuthnot. The quoted authorities have been carefully examined, and frequently revised: and, it is hoped, the opinions of mythologists will appear without confusion, and be found divested of all obscurity.
Therefore, with all the confidence which an earnest desire of being useful can command, the author offers the following pages to the public, conscious that they may contain inaccuracies and imperfections. A Dictionary, the candid reader is well aware, cannot be made perfect all at once; it must still have its faults and omissions, however cautious and vigilant the author may have been; and in every page there may be found, in the opinion of some, room for improvement and for addition. Before the candid, therefore, and the impartial, he lays his publication, and for whatever observations the friendly critic may make, he will show himself grateful, and take advantage of the remarks of every judicious reader, should the favours and the indulgence of the public demand a second edition.
A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD TO THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST, AND IN THE EAST
¹In the following table, I have confined myself to the more easy and convenient eras of before (B.C.) and after (A.D.) Christ. For the sake of those, however, that do not wish the exclusion of the Julian period, it is necessary to observe that, as the first year of the christian era always falls on the 4714th of the Julian years, the number required either before or after Christ will easily be discovered by the application of the rules of subtraction or addition. The era from the foundation of Rome (A.U.C.) will be found with the same facility, by recollecting that the city was built 753 years before Christ; and the Olympiads can likewise be recurred to by the consideration that the conquest of Corœbus (B.C. 776) forms the first Olympiad, and that the Olympic games were celebrated after the revolution of four years.
Before Christ.¹ The world created in the 710th year of the Julian period 4004
The deluge 2348
The tower of Babel built, and the confusion of languages 2247
Celestial observations are first made at Babylon 2234
The kingdom of Egypt is supposed to have begun under Misraim the son of Ham, and to have continued 1663 years, to the conquest of Cambyses 2188
The kingdom of Sicyon established 2089
The kingdom of Assyria begins 2059
The birth of Abraham 1996
The kingdom of Argos established under Inachus 1856
Memnon the Egyptian said to invent letters, 15 years before the reign of Phoroneus 1822
The deluge of Ogyges, by which Attica remained waste above 200 years, till the coming of Cecrops 1764
Joseph sold into Egypt by his brethren 1728
The chronology of the Arundelian marbles begins about this time, fixing here the arrival of Cecrops in Attica, an epoch which other writers have placed later by 26 years 1582
Moses born 1571
The kingdom of Athens begun under Cecrops, who came from Egypt with a colony of Saites. This happened about 780 years before the first Olympiad 1556
Scamander migrates from Crete, and begins the kingdom of Troy 1546
The deluge of Deucalion in Thessaly 1503
The Panathenæa first celebrated at Athens 1495
Cadmus comes into Greece, and builds the citadel of Thebes 1493
The first Olympic games celebrated in Elis by the Idæi Dactyli 1453
The five books of Moses written in the land of Moab, where he dies the following year, aged 110 1452
Minos flourishes in Crete, and iron is found by the Dactyli by the accidental burning of the woods of Ida, in Crete 1406
The Eleusinian mysteries introduced at Athens by Eumolpus 1356
The Isthmian games first instituted by Sisyphus king of Corinth 1326
The Argonautic expedition. The first Pythian games celebrated by Adrastus king of Argos 1263
Gideon flourishes in Israel 1245
The Theban war of the seven heroes against Eteocles 1225
Olympic games celebrated by Hercules 1222
The rape of Helen by Theseus, and, 15 years after, by Paris 1213
Troy taken, after a siege of 10 years. Æneas sails to Italy 1184
Alba Longa built by Ascanius 1152
Migration of the Æolian colonies 1124
The return of the Heraclidæ into Peloponnesus, 80 years after the taking of Troy. Two years after, they divide the Peloponnesus among themselves; and here, therefore, begins the kingdom of Lacedæmon under Eurysthenes and Procles 1104
Saul made king over Israel 1095
The kingdom of Sicyon ended 1088
The kingdom of Athens ended in the death of Codrus 1070
The migration of the Ionian colonies from Greece, and their settlement in Asia Minor 1044
Dedication of Solomon’s temple 1004
Samos built 986
Division of the kingdom of Judah and Israel 975
Homer and Hesiod flourished about this time, according to the marbles 907
Elias the prophet taken up into heaven 896
Lycurgus, 42 years old, establishes his laws at Lacedæmon, and, together with Iphitus and Cleosthenes, restores the Olympic games at Elis, about 108 years before the era which is commonly called the first Olympiad 884
Phidon king of Argos is supposed to have invented scales and measures, and coined silver at Ægina. Carthage built by Dido 869
Fall of the Assyrian empire by the death of Sardanapalus, an era placed 80 years earlier by Justin 820
The kingdom of Macedonia begins, and continues 646 years, till the battle of Pydna 814
The kingdom of Lydia begins, and continues 249 years 797
The triremes first invented by the Corinthians 786
The monarchical government abolished at Corinth, and the Prytanes elected 779
Corœbus conquers at Olympia, in the 28th Olympiad from the institution of Iphitus. This is vulgarly called the first Olympiad, about 23 years before the foundation of Rome 776
The Ephori introduced into the government of Lacedæmon by Theopompus 760
Isaiah begins to prophesy 757
The decennial archons begin at Athens, of which Charops is the first 754
Rome built on the 20th of April, according to Varro, in the year 3961 of the Julian period 753
The rape of the Sabines 750
The era of Nabonassar king of Babylon begins 747
The first Messenian war begins, and continues 19 years, to the taking of Ithome 743
Syracuse built by a Corinthian colony 732
The kingdom of Israel finished by the taking of Samaria by Salmanasar king of Assyria. The first eclipse of the moon on record March 19th, according to Ptolemy 721
Candaules murdered by Gyges, who succeeds to the Lydian throne 718
Tarentum built by the Parthenians 707
Corcyra built by the Corinthians 703
The second Messenian war begins, and continues 14 years, to the taking of Ira, after a siege of 11 years. About this time flourished the poets Tyrtæus and Archilochus 685
The government of Athens intrusted to annual archons 684
Alba destroyed 665
Cypselus usurps the government of Corinth, and keeps it for 30 years 659
Byzantium built by a colony of Argives or Athenians 658
Cyrene built by Battus 630
The Scythians invade Asia Minor, of which they keep possession for 28 years 624
Draco established his laws at Athens 623
The canal between the Nile and the Red sea begun by king Necho 610
Nineveh taken and destroyed by Cyaxares and his allies 606
The Phœnicians sail round Africa, by order of Necho. About this time flourished Arion, Pittacus, Alcæus, Sappho, &c. 604
The Scythians are expelled from Asia Minor by Cyaxares 596
The Pythian games first established at Delphi. About this time flourished Chilo, Anacharsis, Thales, Epimenides, Solon, the prophet Ezekiel, Æsop, Stersichorus 591
Jerusalem taken by Nebuchadnezzar, 9th of June, after a siege of 18 months 587
The Isthmian games restored and celebrated every first and third year of the Olympiads 582
Death of Jeremiah the prophet 577
The Nemæan games restored 568
The first comedy acted at Athens by Susarion and Dolon 562
Pisistratus first usurped the sovereignty at Athens 560
Cyrus begins to reign. About this time flourished Anaximenes, Bias, Anaximander, Phalaris, and Cleobulus 559
Crœsus conquered by Cyrus. About this time flourished Theognis and Pherecydes 548
Marseilles built by the Phocæans. The age of Pythagoras, Simonides, Thespis, Xenophanes, and Anacreon 539
Babylon taken by Cyrus 538
The return of the Jews by the edict of Cyrus, and the rebuilding of the temple 536
The first tragedy acted at Athens on the waggon of Thespis 535
Learning encouraged at Athens, and a public library built 526
Egypt conquered by Cambyses 525
Polycrates of Samos put to death 522
Darius Hystaspes chosen king of Persia. About this time flourished Confucius the celebrated Chinese philosopher 521
The tyranny of the Pisistratidæ abolished at Athens 510
The consular government begins at Rome after the expulsion of the Tarquins, and continues independent 461 years, till the battle of Pharsalia 509
Sardis taken by the Athenians and burnt, which became afterwards the cause of the invasion of Greece by the Persians. About this time flourished Heraclitus, Parmenides, Milo the wrestler, Aristagoras, &c. 504
The first dictator, Lartius, created at Rome 498
The Roman populace retire to mount Sacer 493
The battle of Marathon 490
The battles of Thermopylæ, August 7th, and Salamis, October 20th. About this time flourished Æschylus, Pindar, Charon, Anaxagoras, Zeuxis, Aristides, &c. 480
The Persians defeated at Platæa and Mycale on the same day, 22nd September 479
The 300 Fabii killed at Cremera, July 17th 477
Themistocles, accused of conspiracy, flies to Xerxes 471
The Persians defeated at Cyprus, and near the Eurymedon 470
The third Messenian war begins, and continues 10 years 465
Egypt revolts from the Persians under Inarus, assisted by the Athenians 463
The Romans send to Athens for Solon’s laws. About this time flourished Sophocles, Nehemiah the prophet, Plato the comic poet, Aristarchus the tragic, Leocrates, Thrasybulus, Pericles, Zaleucus, &c. 454
The first Sacred war concerning the temple of Delphi 448
The Athenians defeated at Chæronea by the Bœotians 447
Herodotus reads his history to the council of Athens, and receives public honours in the 39th year of his age. About this time flourished Empedocles, Hellanicus, Euripides, Herodicus, Phidias Artemones, Charondas, &c. 445
A colony sent to Thurium by the Athenians 444
Comedies prohibited at Athens, a restraint which remained in force for three years 440
A war between Corinth and Corcyra 439
Meton begins here his 19 years’ cycle of the moon 432
The Peloponnesian war begins, May the 7th, and continues about 27 years. About this time flourished Cratinus, Eupolis, Aristophanes, Meton, Euctemon, Malachi the last of the prophets, Democritus, Gorgias, Thucydides, Hippocrates, &c. 431
The history of the Old Testament finishes about this time. A plague at Athens for five years 430
A peace of 50 years made between the Athenians and Lacedæmonians, which is kept only during six years and ten months, though each continued at war with the other’s allies 421
The scene of the Peloponnesian war changed to Sicily. The Agrarian law first moved at Rome 416
Egypt revolts from the Persians, and Amyrtæus is appointed king 414
The Carthaginians enter Sicily, where they destroy Selinus and Himera, but they are repulsed by Hermocrates 409
The battle of Ægospotamos. The usurpation of Dionysius 405
Athens taken by Lysander, 24th of April. The end of the Peloponnesian war, and the appointment of 30 tyrants over the conquered city. About this time flourished Parrhasius, Protagoras, Lysias, Agathon, Euclid, Cebes, Telestes, &c. 404
Cyrus the younger killed at Cunaxa. The glorious retreat of the 10,000 Greeks, and the expulsion of the 30 tyrants from Athens by Thrasybulus 401
Socrates put to death 400
Agesilaus of Lacedæmon’s expedition into Asia against the Persians. The age of Xenophon, Ctesias, Zeuxis, Antisthenes, Evagoras, Aristippus of Cyrene, and Archytas 396
The Corinthian war begun by the alliance of the Athenians, Thebans, Corinthians, and Argives, against Lacedæmon 395
The Lacedæmonians, under Pisander, defeated by Conon at Cnidus; and, a few days after, the allies are defeated at Coronæa, by Agesilaus 394
The battle of Allia, July 17th, and the taking of Rome by the Gauls 390
Dionysius besieges Rhegium, and takes it after 11 months. About this time flourished Plato, Philoxenus, Damon, Pythias, Iphicrates, &c. 388
The Greek cities of Asia tributary to Persia, by the peace of Antalcidas, between the Lacedæmonians and Persians 387
The war of Cyprus finished by a treaty, after it had continued two years 385
The Lacedæmonians defeated in a sea-fight at Naxos, September 20th, by Chabrias. About this time flourished Philistus, Isæus, Isocrates, Arete, Philolaus, Diogenes the cynic, &c. 377
Artaxerxes sends an army under Pharnabazus, with 20,000 Greeks, commanded by Iphicrates 374
The battle of Leuctra, July 8th, where the Lacedæmonians are defeated by Epaminondas the general of the Thebans 371
The Messenians, after a banishment of 300 years, return to Peloponnesus 370
One of the consuls at Rome elected from the plebeians 367
The battle of Mantinea gained by Epaminondas, a year after the death of Pelopidas 363
Agesilaus assists Tachos king of Egypt. Some of the governors of Lesser Asia revolt from Persia 362
The Athenians are defeated at Methone, the first battle that Philip of Macedon ever won in Greece 360
Dionysius the younger is expelled from Syracuse by Dion. The second Sacred war begins, on the temple of Delphi being attacked by the Phocians 357
Dion put to death, and Syracuse governed seven years by tyrants. About this time flourished Eudoxus, Lycurgus, Ibis, Theopompus, Ephorus, Datames, Philomelus, &c. 354
The Phocians, under Onomarchus, are defeated in Thessaly by Philip 353
Egypt is conquered by Ochus 350
The Sacred war is finished by Philip taking all the cities of the Phocians 348
Dionysius recovers the tyranny of Syracuse, after 10 years’ banishment 347
Timoleon recovers Syracuse and banishes the tyrant 343
The Carthaginians defeated by Timoleon near Agrigentum. About this time flourished Speusippus, Protogenes, Aristotle, Æschines, Zenocrates, Demosthenes, Phocion, Mamercus, Icetas, Stilpo, Demades 340
The battle of Cheronæa, August 2nd, where Philip defeats the Athenians and Thebans 338
Philip of Macedon killed by Pausanius. His son Alexander, on the following year, enters Greece, destroys Thebes, &c. 336
The battle of the Granicus, 22nd of May 334
The battle of Issus in October 333
Tyre and Egypt conquered by the Macedonian prince, and Alexandria built 332
The battle of Arbela, October 2nd 331
Alexander’s expedition against Porus. About this time flourished Apelles, Callisthenes, Bagoas, Parmenio, Philotas, Memnon, Dinocrates, Calippus, Hyperides, Philetus, Lysippus, Menedemus, &c. 327
Alexander dies on the 21st of April. His empire is divided into four kingdoms. The Samian war, and the reign of the Ptolemies in Egypt 323
Polyperchon publishes a general liberty to all the Greek cities. The age of Praxiteles, Crates, Theophrastus, Menander, Demetrius, Dinarchus, Polemon, Neoptolemus, Perdiccas, Leosthenes 320
Syracuse and Sicily usurped by Agathocles. Demetrius Phalereus governs Athens for 10 years 317
Eumenes delivered to Antigonus by his army 315
Seleucus takes Babylon, and here the beginning of the era of the Seleucidæ 312
The conquests of Agathocles in Africa 309
Democracy established at Athens by Demetrius Poliorcetes 307
The title of kings first assumed by the successors of Alexander 306
The battle of Ipsus, where Antigonus is defeated and killed by Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassander. About this time flourished Zeno, Pyrrho, Philemon, Megasthenes, Crantor, &c. 301
Athens taken by Demetrius Poliorcetes, after a year’s siege 296
The first sun-dial erected at Rome by Papirius Cursor, and the time first divided into hours 293
Seleucus, about this time, built about 40 cities in Asia, which he peopled with different nations. The age of Euclid the mathematician, Arcesilaus, Epicurus, Bion, Timocharis, Erasistratus, Aristyllus, Strato, Zenodotus, Arsinoe, Lachares, &c. 291
The Athenians revolt from Demetrius 287
Pyrrhus expelled from Macedon by Lysimachus 286
The Pharos of Alexandria built. The Septuagint supposed to be translated about this time 284