A new encyclopedia on antiquity in several volumes is highly welcome nowadays. The Kleine Pauly (KlP) was published 1964-75, the shorter Lexikon der Alten Welt (LAW) dates from 1965. 1 The third edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary was published just in December 1996. 2 There was no multivolumed reference representing the current research of classical studies like the Lexikon des Mittelalters (LMA) for medieval studies. 3 Der Neue Pauly (DNP) will be successor of KlP, but in 12 volumes instead of 5. The type area is easier to survey, the pages are bigger and have wider margins. The single volumes have about 600 pages, which is less than KlP (about 790 pages). Volumes 13-15 are intended for the reception of the antiquity. Two managing editors, the philologist and historian of ancient religions Hubert Cancik (Tübingen) and the ancient historian Helmuth Schneider (Kassel), have developed the new concept, assisted by 23 subject editors, covering all branches of classical studies, from history, philology and archaeology to sciences, oriental studies and linguistics. According to the preface, more than 700 contributors are engaged in the DNP-Volumes. However, it is not planned to replace the eighty-three-volumed Realencyclopaedie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (Pauly-Wissowa) (1896-1980), 4 which is unique in the Humanities, because its articles are often real monographs. The contributors list of DNP 1 contains about 350 researchers – round about the half Germans, the others Europeans and Americans. Foreign-language articles have been translated into German. The reviewed volume has many more illustrations than KlP: 22 excellent plates 5 and more than 20 line drawings and stemmata. The Volumes 2-12 are to be published in the next 6 years, every year two volumes. This first part will contain approximately 7200 pages—much more than KlP (c. 3900 pages), which is not only due to longer articles, but also to new ones. Long articles are divided in numbered sections; nearly every article has bibliographical notes—unlike KlP. What is completely new, is the second part on the reception of the antiquity (DNP 13-15), which is to be published 1998-2000, 6 but the delimitation of DNP 1-12 is not really clear: Volume 1-12 contain partly information on the aftermath, e.g. “Anthologia” or “Achilleus”. There are only a few references to Volume 13-15, e.g. “Ara Pacis Augustae” refers to “Faschistisches Antikenbild” (in small capitals).
In Ancient History represented by three subject editors 7 longer thematic entries (Dachartikel) offer an interesting enhancement: The article “Africa” is now much more extended and has parts about religion and the late antiquity; 8“Aegypten” is illustrated by two nice maps, but the one on the economy of Egypt is not mentioned in the text, although Egypt is very important for Greece’s and Rome’s corn supply. The articles about Greek landscapes contain rich information on history. What is new, are the articles “Adoptivkaiser, Adventus, Aegaeische Koine, Agelai, Agoge, Agrargesetze, Almosen, Alter” or “Arbeitslosigkeit” (unemployment), referring to historical terms, especially economic ones or such of daily life; historical groups or political terms are also discussed: the accessible article “Adel”, teamwork of 4 scholars, is divided into introduction, Orient, Greek and Roman world. More persons from the Bible, the orient, 9 late antiquity and Arabia are included. So you can find basic information on “Aaron, Abraham, Adam”, 10 but also holy men like “Alexios” (of Edessa, 5th century AD). Oriental kings like “Ahab” (of Samaria, 9th century BC) are mentioned as well as authors like the Syrian “Aphrahat”. The caliph “Abubakr” (632-34 AD) and the “Amorische Dynastie” (ruling in Byzanz in the 9th century) indicate that a very far-reaching understanding of antiquity has been presented—from the Aegean Koine (c. 1500 BC) to the early medieval age (600/800 AD) (preface VI). But the Germanic empires are not treated in the same way: e.g. Alboin, who conducted the Langobards to Italy, is not mentioned. The Francs seem to be taken into account only until Chlodovechus (Clovis, 482-511 king).
The Classical authors 11 are now supplemented by many only fragmentary ones like the elegiac poet Agamestor or the tragic poet Agathenor. The tragedy “Alcestis Barcinonensis”, which was recently (c. 1982) found, is also treated. These new articles are useful, but some of the articles about the well known authors are not completely sufficient. One problem is the new distinction between bibliography and notes. The bibliographies are not always divided in texts, commentaries and literature (e.g. “Achilleus Tatios”). Some articles don’t contain enough bibliographic help, e.g. “Ailianos (1)”—a handy text is missing; “Ampelius”—only the HLL 12 is mentioned as literature. The excellent article “Accius” uses a whole column for literature—that’s too much; “Appianos” gives no positive information about probable sources like Asinius Pollio for the Civil Wars. The editorial staff of DNP should take care of the homogenization of the bibliographical help, because indications about actual editions, translations and commentaries are very often consulted in my experience. Very good articles are “Aischylos”, “Alexandros (of Aphrodisias)” or “Aristoteles”. There are some new Dachartikel concerning the genres of ancient literature e.g. “Agrarschriftsteller”, “Annalistik” or “Antiquare”. Linguistics and study of text 13 are deeply discussed, cf. the long articles “Abkürzungen” and “Allegorese”. Linguistic terms like “Ablaut” (vowel gradation) or “Aktionsart” (verbal aspect) are treated as well as the “Anagnorisis” in tragedy. Ancient languages and its families have now separate articles (“Aegyptisch”, “Afroasiatisch”).
Ancient cities, which attracted our interest last time in excavations, but also some smaller ones, are mentioned in DNP now, e.g. Aalen (Germania superior), Abodiacum (Raetia), Achradine (Part of Syrakus), Acquarossa (Etruria) or Agathopolis (Thracia) or Aksak (in northern Babylonia). Progress of ancient geography 14 is obvious in the articles about Greek landscapes like “Akarnanien” or “Aitolia”. All attic Demes and Phyles shall be included as entries. Geography and archeology 15 are connected through topography, the study of the structure of the ancient cities. The high interest in Roman topography, perceptible through the lexica of Richardson and Steinby, 16 is presented in the articles “Amphitheater”, “Ara Pacis” or the Roman arches. Famous art like the “Alexandermosaik” has now its own entry, also anonymous artists like the “Achilleus-Maler” are mentioned. All articles on gods and mythological characters are supplemented with iconographic information; the inclusion of material sources was one of the aims of the editors (pref. VI). Most of the articles are written by the subject editor, Fritz Graf, so that a very coherent treatment of ancient religion was realized. 17 New articles mostly deal with oriental gods and festivals (“Ahura Mazda”, “Akitu-Fest”), but also systematic topics like “Aitiologie”.
Ancient sciences are represented by very good articles written by the subject editors Christian Huenemoerder (science; technics) and Vivian Nutton (medicine). 18 It’s not possible to characterize all the different topics here. It’s not easy to review a Lexikon on the basis of one volume dealing with articles only to “Arithmos”. Qualities and shortcomings become apparent during a longer work with it and the other volumes. While the concept of subject editors and the inclusion of new approaches to antiquity is convincing, there are some formal problems. First, the editorial staff should try to change non-uniform bibliographies, most concerning the articles on ancient authors, and to extend the bibliographies, if important titles are missing. Second, the articles falling behind the KlP should be refused by the editorial staff. The submitted articles have to propose conspicuous enhancements and extensions in comparison with KlP to fulfill the encyclopedic demand. The editors should bear in mind that the delimitation between DNP 1-12 and DNP 13-15 (reception) has to be explained. References to DNP 13-15 are necessary in many of the articles of DNP 1. Likewise it should be considered, whether cultural contacts between the ancient peoples should be taken into account more often. That justifies the more extensive treatment of the orient, the Byzantine or the Germanic empires. The publisher should have patience to remove the initial difficulties, which are very typical for multivolumed reference works. 19 The publication of two volumes every year seems to be an aim set too high. Other ambitious projects like the renowned LMA published only one volume of comparable size every year. A high quality encyclopedia is likely impossible in less than 10 years, just because the part on reception (DNP 13-15) is completely lexicographic new ground.
1. KlP is available in 5 paperback-volumes for 168,- DM (Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1979), LAW in a three-volumed special edition for 98,- DM (Augsburg: Weltbild Verlag, 1994). Each of these has some already known shortcomings, e.g. KlP the scattered supplements, LAW the not redeemed promises of the editors (cf. the extended review of J. Bleicken/ M. Fuhrmann/ K. Parlasca, Gnomon 39 (1967) 737-758).
2. Ed. by S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth, Oxford: Oxford UP 1996, Pp. 1640. stlg 60. The 6250 articles from 364 scholars are shorter than the articles in DNP, which will consist of more than 24000 entries in the end (2002 AD).
3. Lexikon des Mittelalters, Munich 1980 ff., Vol. 7 (Planudes-Stadt) was published 1995. Every volume has about 1100 pages, so that it is more comprehensive than the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. J.R. Strayer, 12 Vols., New York 1982-85.
4. A new index to this work is announced for 1997. The publisher of this index and DNP, Metzler, has a WWW-Server with further information and test articles: http://www.metzler.de.
5. Some are reproductions from the TAVO ( Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients), a collection of maps with broad explanation in books.
6. The managing editor is Manfred Landfester. The subject editors are Maria Moog-Gruenewald (comparative literature), Filippo Ranieri (history of law), Volker Riedel (education), Margarita Kranz (ancient philosophy), Fritz Graf (religion), Eder (note 7), Fehr and Hoecker (note 15).
7. Walter Eder for ancient history in general; Gerhard Binder, cultural history; Helmuth Schneider, economic and social history.
8. The article in OCD 3, p. 33-35, doesn’t deal extensively with religion and the late time, but has a more detailed account on urbanism and economy of the Roman province.
9. Subject editor for Jewish studies and Eastern Christianity is Johannes Niehoff; for Oriental studies: Hans Joerg Nissen and Johannes Renger.
10. M. Fuhrmann criticized in his review in the Neue Züricher Zeitung, 1 October 1996, p. B21, that other theological articles like Abel, Absalom or Amos are missing.
11. Subject editors are Glenn W. Most (Greek philology) and Joerg Ruepke (Latin Philology, Rhetoric).
12. Handbuch der Lateinischen Literatur, only volume 5 available (Munich 1989; volume 4 announced for 1997). A French translation is on hand: R. Herzog (ed.): Restauration et Renouveau: La litterature latine de 284 à 374 après J.-C. Turnhout 1993. cf. the positive review of J. O’ Donnell, BMCR 94.7.2.
13. Subject editors are Bernhard Forssman, linguistics, and Hans Christian Guenther, “Textwissenschaft”.
14. Subject editor is Eckart Olshausen.
15. Two subject editors take care of archeology and aftermath: Burkhard Fehr and Christoph Hoecker.
16. L. Richardson: A New Topographic Dictionary of Ancient Rome, Baltimore/London 1992 (cf. D. Harmon, BMCR 4.4.23); E.M. Steinby (ed.): Lexicon topographicum urbis Romae, Roma; Vol. 1 (A-C) 1993; 2 (D-G) 1995 (cf. C. Edwards, CR 45 (1995) 135-137; 46 (1996) 354-356).
17. The quality of these articles was also praised by M.H. Dettenhofer, Tagesspiegel, 2 October, 1996.
18. Other ancient sciences are supervised by Andre Laks (philosophy), Gottfried Schiemann (law) and Frieder Zaminer (music).
19. Karl Christ deplores in his review ( Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 5 November 1996, p. L 15) the obvious pressure of time, responsible for many inconsistencies, but recommends the modern lemmata and shows the editors his admiration.