Concise Dictionary of Ancient History by P.G. Woodcock

Author:P.G. Woodcock [Woodcock, P.G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2013-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

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MAAT, Egyptian goddess, associated with Ra and Thoth, personifying physical and moral law. As goddess of truth she was identified by the Greeks with Themis. She had neither temples nor offerings, but presided in the judgment hall of Osiris when the souls were weighed. Judicial officials were allegorically called priests of Maat.

MACCABAEI (MACCABEES), later name of the Hasmonaeans, or Asmonaeans, an aristocratic family of Jews. In the 2nd cent. B.C. they overcame the Syro-Hellenic yoke, and established a line of priest-kings. Their history starts with Mattathias, an aged priest, who when ordered to sacrifice to the gods, killed the Syrian commissioner and a Jew about to obey the order, and, with his five sons, escaped to the mountains. The last of the race was Mariamne, by whose marriage with Herod the dynasty passed to the Herodians.

MACCABEES, BOOK OF, four books of the Biblical Apocrypha. The first and second are valuable historical writings, one covering the period of Jewish history from Antiochus Epiphanes to the death of Simon, i.e., from 175-135 B.C. The other covers part of the same period but is of less historical value. The third book is by way of being an historical romance, while the fourth is philosophical rather than historical.

MACEDONIA, a country of Europe which was bounded S. by Thessaly and the Aegaean; E. by Thrace; and W. by Illyria. Its principal towns were Edessa, Pella, Pydna, Philippi, Potidaea, and Thessalonica, the first two being capital in turn. The country was renowned for salt, gold, and silver mines, and for its vineyards. Macedonia did not become important until the reign of Philip II, 359-336 B.C. It reached its zenith under his successor, Alexander the Great, at whose death in 323 B.C. the Macedonian empire included Macedonia, Greece, Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, part of Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and central Asia. Under the Diadochi (the successors of Alexander), these colonies were contested among a number of claimants. In 278 B.C. Antigonus Gonatus established himself on the throne, but in 146 Macedonia became a Roman province.

MACER, AEMILIUS, Roman jurist, who lived under Alexander Severus, or a little later. He was either a contemporary of, or wrote after Ulpianus, for he cites him several times.

MACHAON, surgeon to the Greeks in the Trojan war, was son of Aesculapius. He led, with his brother Podalirius, the Thessalian troops. He was killed by Eurypylus, son of Telephus.

MACRINUS, MARCUS OPELLIUS SEVERUS, Roman emperor from A.D. 217-218, who instigated the murder of Caracalla, and ascended the throne. After a disastrous Parthian campaign the soldiers proclaimed Elagabalus emperor. Macrinus was defeated and killed.

MACROBIUS, AMBROSIUS THEODOSIUS, Roman grammarian and philosopher, who wrote towards the beginning of the 5th cent. A.D.

MAEANDER, in Ancient Geography, a river of Asia Minor, rising near Celaenae, in Phrygia, flowing W. by a devious course, and after being joined by the Lycus, crossing Caria, fell into the Icarian Sea. The word ‘meander’ is used literally and figuratively to denote a winding course.

MAECENUS, GAIUS CILNIUS, Roman patron of letters, born between 73-63 B.

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