- ἀκρίς
- ἀκρίς, ίδος, ἡ (Hom. et al.; PTebt 772, 2 [236 B.C.]; PColZen 114 m, 6; LXX, TestSol; GrBar 16:3; Philo; Jos., Ant. 2, 306; SibOr 5, 454) the desert locust: ‘Schistocerca gregaria’; locust, a migratory phase of the grasshopper, of the family Acrididae, even today commonly eaten by the poorer people in Arabia, Africa, and Syria (cp. Aristoph., Ach. 1116; Diod S 3, 29, 1f; Strabo 16, 4, 12; Theophyl. Sim., Ep. 14; Pliny the Elder 6, 35; Lev 11:22): used as food by John the Baptist (other, less prob., interpr. of ἀ. in ELohmeyer, Joh. d. T. ’32, p. 50, 4) Mt 3:4; Mk 1:6; the widespread notion that the ἀ. were carob pods (St. John’s-bread; so TKCheyne, EncBibl s.v. ‘husks’) is supported neither by good linguistic evidence nor by probability (s. HastDB s.v. ‘husks’ and ‘locust’); s. also ἐγκρίς. They appear at the fifth trumpet Rv 9:3, 7. Fiery locusts (in an apocalyptic vision) Hv 4, 1, 6.—SKrauss, Z. Kenntnis d. Heuschrecken in Palästina: ZDPV 50, 1927, 244–49; HGrégoire, Les Sauterelles de St Jean: Byzantion 5, 1930, 109–28; FAndersen, The Diet of John the Baptist: Abr-Nahrain 3, ’63, 60–74; GKeown, ISBE 3:149–50.—On Rv: Boll 68–77; 145f; against him JFreundorfer, D. Apk. d. Ap. J. u. d. hellenist. Kosmologie u. Astrologie 1929.—DELG.
Ελληνικά-Αγγλικά παλαιοχριστιανική Λογοτεχνία. 2015.