Ancient history Books

Book SynopsisGods, kings and merchants, a way of designating religion, politics and the economy: three spheres which in the modern world are quite distinct, even if they do interact constantly. The aim of this book is to show that their boundaries were far more fluid in the Mesopotamian civilisation: gods could act as money lenders, kings could invoke divine will to refuse extradiction, the dead could serve as a reference for how the living should behave, and wealthy merchants could live in residences modelled on those of kings... This civilisation preceded the "Greek miracle" which Jean-Pierre Vernant has quite correctly defined as a "process of change which led to the emergence, as distinct areas, of the blueprints for the economy, politics, law, art, science, ethics, and philosophy". In a direct continuation of his earlier book published in 2010, Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia, D. Charpin here examines in greater depth the situation which existed in Mesopotamia in the first half of the second millennium BC, using texts discovered in numerous archives throughout the entire Near East, especially those found at Mari eighty years ago.

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Book SynopsisSénèque respecte scrupuleusement l'orthodoxie stoïcienne en affirmant à plusieurs reprises que l'intégrité physique, en tant qu'«indifférent» moral, ne doit en aucun cas être un objet d'attention. Toutefois, parallèlement à ces considérations, il compose une ÷uvre dans laquelle la souffrance physique occupe une place considérable. La présente étude, à travers l'examen des théories et des représentations du dolor physique dans l'÷uvre philosophique de Sénèque, se propose de résoudre ce paradoxe apparent, et de déterminer précisément les fonctions d'un tel emploi. Après avoir défini la notion de dolor physique, elle démontre l'omniprésence du motif du corps souffrant et en dégage les raisons contextuelles. Elle envisage en outre la dimension médicale des représentations de la souffrance, afin de définir le niveau des connaissances techniques du philosophe et l'origine des théories pathologiques et thérapeutiques qui affleurent dans son ÷uvre. Enfin, elle examine le dolor physique au sein de la pensée philosophique de Sénèque afin de démontrer que le dolor possède une fonction éthique de premier ordre, aussi bien d'un point de vue théorique que pratique.

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Book SynopsisGreco-Roman diet and cuisine have recently received considerable attention, resulting in a wide array of studies on food production and consumption, cooking techniques, purchasing power and idealised diets. The current volume brings together a collection of papers investigating the nexus between food and identity in cross-cultural settings from Classical Greece until the rise of Christianity. Whenever different cultures engage in a process of exchange, food and cuisine are among the first aspects of identity to meet, clash and enrich each other. The authors analyse the various channels of mutual influence between different cultures and the deliberate choices made by producers and consumers. Because choice always carries information on people's standing in society, their willingness (or refusal) to adapt and their view on the 'other', this volume contributes to the study of cultural interaction and integration in Antiquity through the lens of one of the most accessible items of exchange, viz. food.

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Book SynopsisIn Roman cities, boundaries were an important way of defining spaces. The significance of such boundaries was mediated by specific cultural rules. Besides physical boundaries, such as city walls and gates, also immaterial ones, such as the pomerium, demarcated an urban context. Certain civic boundaries were highly visible and relevant to everyone, while others were important to only a small number of people. This book takes a new approach to Roman urban boundaries and city planning by exploring the dynamics and interaction between urban development processes, city limits and the law. As a result, Roman attitudes towards the symbolic meanings of civic boundaries can be better understood. Not only landownership influenced and determined the use of urban space and its boundaries; also conflicts and constant negotiations between law, culture and tradition, politics, and the dynamics of everyday urban life were important for the way the Romans approached urban limits.

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Book SynopsisScribal practices across disciplines are often explored through divisions between words, stiches and verses, sections, scribal hands and marks, correction and copying procedures. This volume offers a different perspective: writing as shown here is, at its heart, a deeply social practice connecting narrative to the different categories of knowledge (linguistic, political, administrative, legal, historical and geographic) and literacy. The twelve essays investigate how scribal practices are related to the construction of knowledge and challenge the conventional boundaries. They address various types of knowledge whose potential is triggered by certain needs and values in the context of Antiquity, Late Antiquity and Medieval Islam from al-Andalus through Egypt, Syria to Iraq, Anatolia and Bactria as far afield as Ethiopia. The vast majority of the papers are related thematically and the overall connection between the articles is the salient feature of this volume. The papers also demonstrate how the local context has shaped scribal practices allowing for cross-cultural comparison.

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Book SynopsisIn this volume twenty-two studies published by Willy Evenepoel in international journals and collections during the period 1978-2010 have been brought together, namely two general contributions (one about the study of early Christian poetry, another about the place of poetry within Late Antique Christianity), fourteen contributions on Prudentius, five on Paulinus Nolanus' Carmina natalicia and, finally, one on Dracontius' De laudibus Dei. The collection does not only enhance the availability of the contributions in question, it also allows the readers to get a better perspective on the interconnection between the contributions at hand. The author has added extra value to the collection by supplying indices and also by adding a large critical survey of the recent research on the subjects that are dealt with in the collection.

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Book SynopsisA large number of Aramaic inscriptions from the 9th century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D. are revisited in this fourth volume of Studiees. After the stele of Tel Dan, the epitaph of Kuttamuwa from Zincirli, and the inscription found at Tepe Qalaichi, Aramaic dockets from Dur-Katlimmu are re-examined, distinguishing a court ruling concerning theft, agreements regarding mortgage, guarantee, indemnity, barley and silver loans, and the particular nsk-loan. Next are examined "cadastral" reports from Idumaea, some inscriptions from Hellenistic times, a divorce bill from the Roman period, several Palmyrene dedications, epitaphs, and honorific inscriptions, as well as some Hatraean texts, mainly related to Adiabene. Finally, Mercionism is considered as background of a saying on "two gods", ascribed to Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba. Like in the preceding volumes of Studies, detailed indexes list the inscriptions, the personal names and the place-names examined, as well as other subjects.

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Book SynopsisAsceticism, and the antidote it offers to contemporary secular disappointments in fifth-century Gaul, is the central theme in the second part of Book 7 of Sidonius Apollinaris' correspondence. Addressing a state of ferment in which the closely-knit Gallo-Roman elite is shifting its moral and religious parameters along with its political certainties, these letters only reveal their full significance - this commentary claims - when read as ascetic documents mirroring the mentality of the monks of Lérins. This second volume of Writing to Survive follows the first (LAHR 2) in scope and method, providing detailed philological underpinning as well as a wealth of thematic research. Together, these two volumes constitute an important contribution towards the comprehensive range of commentaries on Sidonius' work planned by the 'Sidonius Apollinaris for the Twenty-First Century' project for publication in the LAHR series. Like its companion volume, this work will be of interest to classicists and medievalists, to literary scholars and church historians, to those concerned with philological and historical intricacies and those interested in the broader development of literature and mentalities in Late Antiquity.

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Book SynopsisThe Roman Empire featured an infrastructure that allowed reliable communication between the emperors and all parts of the Roman administration, known as uehiculatio during the Principate and as cursus publicus from the late third and early fourth century CE onwards. This study aims, firstly, to explore the factors that led to the establishment of the cursus publicus with its two sub-divisions (cursus uelox, cursus clauulari(u)s); and, secondly, to show through a comprehensive review of the structure, history, and development of the cursus publicus in the fourth century that this system was firmly integrated into the imperial administration and streamlined to such a degree that it could be used with unprecedented effectiveness by the end of the fourth century.

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Book SynopsisThis volume, publishing the proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt (New York, 2011), presents the results of the latest research and discoveries in the field which are leading to a better understanding of the origins of the Ancient Egyptian civilization. The 31 articles are organised under three major headings: Tell el-Farkha and Lower Egyptian Sites; Abydos, Hierakonpolis and Upper Egyptian Sites; Objects and Iconography. Each contribution provides new insights into the variety of factors contributing to the rise of the distinct form of the early Egyptian state. Recent discoveries from major sites such as Hierakonpolis, Abydos, and Tell el Farkha, are the subject of different articles, but also other sites, such as Abu Rawash and the area of the First Cataract, are discussed.

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Book SynopsisThe late Roman villa of Caddeddi, near Noto in south-east Sicily, first came to light over forty years ago. Built in the second half of the fourth century AD, it is chiefly known for its three figured mosaic pavements, which after careful restoration in Syracuse were returned to the site prior to its opening to the public in 2008. This book describes in detail these and other pavements at Caddeddi, and concludes that, as at the more famous villa of Casale near Piazza Armerina a generation before, they are likely to be the work of North African mosaicists fulfilling an overseas commission for the villa's owner. The book attempts to place the mosaics and the villa itself in their wider Sicilian and Mediterranean context, with discussion ranging over such topics as late Roman villas elsewhere in Sicily, the iconography of myth and personification, peacock-feather helmets, the participation of the military in the Roman animal trade, the parallels between the mosaic floors of Caddeddi and those of Roman North Africa, the development of a new Roman saddle type in the fourth century, and military footwear fashionable at the same time. Of particular note are the 197 illustrations, 184 of them in full colour, which highlight the vividness and vivacity, as well as the polychromatic variety, of these stunning late Roman mosaics.

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Book SynopsisEl colegio de los sodales Flauiales Titiales, encargado del culto a los diui Flavios, fue una de las piezas clave de la justificación del poder imperial en época de Tito y Domiciano. A pesar de su importancia histórica, como medio de legitimación dinástica de la gens Flavia, no existía, hasta la fecha, una bibliografía específica sobre el mismo. A lo largo del presente estudio, analizaremos la creación, composición, contexto y evolución del colegio durante los gobiernos de Tito y Domiciano, a la vez que intentamos dilucidar la aparente relación del colegio de culto imperial con el flamen Dialis, a través de los datos historiográficos, epigráficos, arqueológicos e iconográficos que han llegado hasta nosotros al respecto.

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Book SynopsisCe recueil de vingt-huit études offertes à Ariel Shisha-Halevy par ses collègues et amis est représentatif des nombreux domaines où ce grand linguiste s'est illustré durant sa carrière à l'Université hébraïque de Jérusalem. Part belle est faite à l'égyptien, dans toutes ses phases, et notamment au copte, dont le dédicataire se plaît à dire que nous n'en connaissons encore que l'écriture. On trouve ainsi dans la première partie, «Orient», des articles analysant toutes sortes d'aspects linguistiques de cette langue - constructions grammaticales, dialectes, lexicographie - et concernant divers types de textes, littéraires et documentaires, ainsi que deux études consacrées à l'arabe. L'irlandais et le gallois, autres domaines de prédilection d'A. Shisha-Halevy, sont représentés par quatre articles illustrant l'«Occident», tandis qu'une partie «Varia» clôt l'ensemble.

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Book SynopsisEn se criblant mutuellement d'origines obscures et dégradantes, de cruauté, de lâcheté, d'incompétence oratoire et littéraire, de débauches, de luxure, d'ivrognerie et autres traits infamants, Octavien et Marc Antoine, entre 44 et 30 a. C. n., tentèrent de démolir systématiquement l'image de leur adversaire politique respectif auprès de divers publics. Or, le rôle joué par ces invectives n'a pas encore suffisamment retenu l'attention de la recherche, ce qui est d'autant plus regrettable que le genre rhétorique de la uituperatio se prête à merveille à une utilisation critique du concept de propagande et remet en question la primauté généralement accordée aux émissions monétaires et à la poésie. Par sa structure tripartite, ce livre offre, pour la première fois, une vue globale de la uituperatio de cette période, analysée tour à tour selon les thèmes rhétoriques des invectives, les publics auxquels elle s'adresse, et les formes et les supports par lesquels elle est véhiculée. Il démontre que, par sa virulence et la vigueur de son expression, la uituperatio ne devient pas seulement une arme de guerre, mais préfigure aussi les fondements idéologiques du Principat augustéen. By blaming each other for obscure and degrading origins, cruelty, cowardice, oratorical and literary incompetence, debaucheries, luxury, drunkenness and other slanders, Octavian and Mark Antony, between 44-30 BC, endeavoured to destroy their respective political foe's reputation in the eyes of various publics. Unfortunately, until now, invectives have not yet benefitted from the academic attention they deserve, which is doubly regrettable as the rhetorical genre of uituperatio is a perfect illustration for the use of propaganda in Antiquity and helps to contest the traditional focus put on coinage and poetry. Through its tripartite structure, the present book offers, for the first time, an encompassing view of the uituperatio of this period, analysed in turn according to the rhetorical themes of the invectives, the public concerned, and the forms and supports by which it is conveyed. It demonstrates that, by its srenuous and fierce expression, the uituperatio not only became a tool of war, but also prefigured the ideological basis of the Augustan Principate.

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Book SynopsisThis volume brings together a selection of papers presented at two conferences on Jewish-Christian interaction in Antiquity held in Leuven and Aix-en-Provence in 2013 and 2014. It aims to introduce a different approach to this crucial topic and some new issues following from this. Specialists of Ancient Judaism, Early Christianity, Patristics, Late Antiquity, Rabbinic Studies, Papyrology, Epigraphy, Hagiography, and Gnosticism have focused on such topics as the consequences of the Jewish wars for the relations between Jews and Christians in Palestina, the cultural and religious exchange between the two communities in Alexandria, Smyrna, Syria, the Jewish-Christian polemics in Rabbinic literature, the papyrological and epigraphic evidences of the Jewish and Christian presence in Egypt and Rome, the coexistence of Jews and Christians in Northern Italy, Hispania, North Africa, Gaul, etc. The papers are arranged chronologically (from the 1st to the 7th century CE) as well as geographically (the Eastern and Western part of the Roman Empire). The volume offers both "general surveys" and "case studies", each of them exploring different aspects of Jewish-Christian interaction.

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Book SynopsisThis volume contains the proceedings of the twenty-third Annual Egyptological Colloquium, held at the British Museum in 2014, augmented by additional papers. The twenty-three contributions investigate functionality, iconography and manufacture of ancient Egyptian coffins from the First Intermediate Period to the eighth century AD. The authors explore the conceptual aspects which lay behind the production of coffins through the study of iconography and texts, examining the functional role of these complex objects as 'structured compositions' which were designed to play an important part in transforming the deceased occupants and perpetuating their existence beyond death. Reinstating coffins in their archaeological and societal contexts, the papers reflect on the circumstances in which they were made, considering workshop practices and regional variability, and studying coffins not only individually but also as components of larger conceptual entities in which the mummy, the burial chamber and the tomb itself all had specific meanings. Several contributions focus on areas of current interest, such as the post-burial adaptation and reuse of coffins, considering how these issues relate to the economic environment in which they were made and to changing attitudes towards the immutability of burial arrangements.

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Book SynopsisFrom the Mountains to the Sea proposes an innovative synthesis of recent archaeological research on town formation and urbanisation, and connected Roman colonisation, of the central part of Adriatic Italy. Frank Vermeulen analyses the formation and character of Roman towns in this still somewhat understudied area of central Italy, thus contributing to a better understanding of the lasting Roman impact on conquered societies in Italy as a whole. During the past decade much archaeological fieldwork has been conducted on urban sites in this area, including exciting field surveys, and it is now high time for a geographical and historical contextualisation of the more than 40 Roman urban sites known in this area, based on a careful review of the scholarly tradition and the bringing together of much new, often unpublished or preliminary published, field data. The result is the first comprehensive synthesis of the urban phenomenon in a region characterized by one of the most dense town networks of the Roman Empire. Some of the main sub-themes to discuss when dealing with Roman-inspired urbanism are present in this book, including: town formation, town planning, the structural relationship town-territory, religious aspects and urban sanctuaries, public buildings (fora, basilicae, baths, porticoes, theatres, amphitheatres, macella, etc.) and domestic architecture. But beyond the mostly archaeologically-driven investigation of architectural features of the colonies and all other towns in the study region, there is an attempt to understand the disposition and functioning of all the individual town centres in their wider context of territory, region and state. An additional important feature of the book is the gazetteer of urban sites which forms a starting point for all those working in Roman Italy.

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Book SynopsisThis book comprises twenty-two articles devoted to First Millennium Egypt, all intended to honour Antony Leahy, whose interest in this period is well known to scholars of this period. Both archaeology and philology are represented in this volume as well as studies on history and material culture. The interlocking interpretation of texts and objects is also noteworthy. The paper by Karl Jansen-Winkeln re-examines the question of the Libyan or Egyptian nature/origin/ethnic identity of the Third Intermediate Period, whilst others are more specific in their scope. Chronological discussions concerning the order of the kings of the 25th Dynasty in Egypt and Nubia are presented by Gerard Broekman and Roberto Gozzoli. Several objects belonging to a king Djehutyemhat are described by Troy Sagrillo. Statues belonging to the Memphite governor, chancellor and scribe to the king Horsematuyemhat; the Theban governor Nesptah A; the admiral Hor, who presumably lived in Tell el Yahudiya; and the royal tutor Ankhefensenmut from Permanu are discussed by Mélanie Cressent, Frédéric Payraudeau, Campbell Price and Oliver Perdu respectively, with the latter arguing for an identification of Permanu with Kom Firin. The Theban choachytes of the Third Intermediate Period are studied by Cynthia Sheikoleslami, whilst Maria Cannata reports on the remains of an embalmer’s cache from the Saite Period. The minor arts of the First Millenium BC are addressed by Claus Jurman, who writes on a number of seals, Julia Budka, who deals with Twenty-fifth Dynasty votive pottery from Abydos, Benjamin Hinson, who reports on the presence of bells in First Millennium private tombs, and John Taylor, who discusses two lost Twenty-second Dynasty Theban cartonnages. Other studies examine the possibility of a third large Twenty-first dynasty cache at Thebes (David Aston); the possible location of the tomb of Osorkon III at Thebes (Michinori Ohshiro); the use of Pyramid texts in Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Dynasty tombs (Antonio Morales); Saite warfare (Alan Lloyd) and Thirtieth Dynasty Apis burials (Didier Devauchelle). The volume also comprises philologically orientated contributions on Glorification Texts (Martin Bommas) and the Horus Throne in djet and neheh (Stephen Gregory). The collection of articles is rounded off by Günter Vittmann’s account of a previously unpublished letter written in abnormal hieratic from Amheida in the Dakhleh Oasis.

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Book SynopsisThe Bibliotheke of Diodoros of Sicily is the most voluminous Greek historiographical text from the pre-Christian era, and contains the only preserved continuous account of Classical Greek history; for many aspects of this history, such as the events in Sicily, the rise of Macedon under Philip II or the history of the Successors, it is our main or only source. It is thus often used as a source by ancient historians, and a great deal of energy has been spent on identifying which sources Diodoros himself used. Interest in Diodoros as an author in his own right, however, is a comparatively recent phenomenon. The contributors to this volume, junior scholars as well as leading international experts, set out to confront the old and new approaches to Diodoros, studying his first century BC context, questions of genre and purpose, his relationship to his predecessors, composition and narrative technique, the role of the gods and myth in the work, the use of speeches, and Diodoros’ interest in themes like war, writing, language and politics. In so doing they offer exciting new insights into the Bibliotheke and the development of Greek historiography, which in turn also shed important new light on the old question of Diodoros’ value as a source. This book is of interest to students of Greek and Roman history, myth, and ancient historiography in general.

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Book SynopsisThe present volume, based on a conference on Ancient Near Eastern historical geography and toponymy held at the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) on 27-28 February 2014, brings together 12 contributions by Belgian and international specialists on various aspects of this field of research. They deal with the entire Ancient Near East (Anatolia, Levant, Mesopotamia and Iran). Chronologically, the various contributions in the volume discuss topics situated in the 3rd, 2nd and 1st Millennia BC. The articles in this volume are arranged geographically, starting with items on Anatolia, followed by studies on Mesopotamian and Levantine topography and finally a third part on ancient Iran and Elam. They will doubtlessly demonstrate the high importance of the study of historical geography and toponymy for our understanding of the history of the Ancient Near East and will also stimulate the research on the historical geography of the ancient Near East.

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Book SynopsisCet ouvrage présente une étude multidisciplinaire sur l’histoire de Byblos basée sur l’exploration et la confrontation de différentes sortes de sources. L’auteur divise l’histoire de Byblos en quatre périodes principales. Entre la fin du deuxième millénaire et le milieu du 9e siècle, Byblos qui continue à conserver ses liens privilégiés avec l’Égypte jouissait d’une certaine indépendance qui lui a permis de se développer et d’entretenir des relations avec les habitants de Huelva en Espagne. Cependant, entre 853 et 610, Byblos, et à cause des conquêtes assyriennes, n’a pas uniquement perdu son indépendance, mais elle était contrainte de prêter allégeance aux souverains assyriens en versant des tribus. Cette situation n’a pas changé durant l’époque babylonienne qui a duré moins qu’un siècle. Durant l’époque perse (539-333), Byblos qui faisait partie de la province de Transeuphratène, a reconstruit sa flotte, et a émis ses propres monnaies. Faute de document, Byblos n’a pas pu révéler encore tous ses secrets.

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Book SynopsisIn this book the author examines how two bishops in the Theban region contributed to the rise of a new, anti-Chalcedonian church hierarchy, which became the forerunner of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Abraham of Hermonthis (ca. 590-621) and Pesynthius of Koptos (599-632) are exceptional, since a large number of their professional documents (mostly in Coptic) is preserved. By applying Social Network Analysis to these documents, the author reconstructed their individual social networks and linked them to a wider regional network that was centered on monastic communities in Western Thebes (west of modern Luxor), but also included a large number of civil officials, clergymen and lay men and women. In addition, a social model of episcopal authority was adopted, in order to evaluate how the bishops used their authority and to explain what made Pesynthius so extraordinary that he is still remembered as a saint by the Coptic Orthodox Church.

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Book Synopsis`Imaging and Imagining the Memphite Necropolis’ is a mixture of archaeological, literary and iconographic studies, all relating to the representation, visualization and reconstruction of the material culture and art of the ancient Egyptian burial grounds of the city of Memphis through time. This Liber Amicorum is offered to René van Walsem on the occasion of his retirement. He has been lecturer in Egyptology at Leiden University since 1979 and was joint field director of the Dutch archaeological mission at Saqqara from 1999 until 2007. The volume contains twenty-four articles written by academics from around the world, all of whom have been part of, and have been influenced by, René van Walsem’s extensive professional career. The contributions are divided into five themes: Material Culture – Finds at the Necropolis, relating amongst others to the (Anglo-)Dutch excavations of the New Kingdom tombs of Horemheb, Maya & Merit, Meryneith, and others, at Saqqara; Epigraphy – Texts and History, highlighting some surprising textual material connected to Saqqara; Theoretics – Religion and Theory of Egyptology, dealing with the material culture of ancient Egypt in particular, art history in general, and the scientific methodology applicable to both fields; Mastabas – Scenes of Daily Life, revolving around the interpretation of iconographic programmes in Old Kingdom elite tombs of the Memphite Area, including the necropoleis of Giza, Abusir, Saqqara, Dashur and Meidum; Funerary Equipment – Coffins and Stolas, focussing on coffins and specific iconographic details. Touching upon the different subjects to which René has made important contributions, the authors imagine new interpretations, and offer images of the Memphite necropolis in various epochs.

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Book SynopsisThe North Kharga Oasis Survey (NKOS) presents the results of archaeological exploration carried out over seven years in the northern part of Kharga Oasis, the largest and most southern oasis of Egypt’s Western Desert. This area had seen limited archaeological exploration until 2001, when NKOS began. NKOS has discovered and documented sites dating to all eras, ranging from the Prehistoric to the Late Antique. They include temporary camps, rock art sites, settlements, tombs, temples, industrial areas, Roman forts, fields, complex irrigation systems, and a network of routes that connect the sites together, as well as linking Kharga to the Nile Valley, Dakhla Oasis, Sudan, and beyond. The distribution, types of sites, and water acquisition strategies illustrate the changing interactions between humans and the landscape, which has fluctuated between wet and dry over time. Illustrated with maps, plans, drawings and photographs, the archaeological heritage of North Kharga is revealed for the first time.

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Book SynopsisThis volume is devoted to aspects of performance in Hellenistic poetry. This theme is approached from various angles. Although drama has long been regarded as typical of fifth century Athens, there is an increasing awareness among classical scholars of the importance of drama also for the Hellenistic period. In that period too drama was still written and performed, but at the same time it also was an important object of study and a source of inspiration for works in other genres, such as the epic of Apollonius Rhodius, for new literary forms like the idylls of Theocritus or the mimiambs of Herodas, or for literary experiments such as the extended messenger speech in the Alexandra of Lycophron. Besides, performance was never restricted to drama, but from the archaic period onwards was essential to the presentation of poetry to an audience and thus remained an integral part of Greek cultural life in all periods, also in times of increasing literacy like the Hellenistic period. Therefore in this volume also epic and didactic poetry as well as shorter works from, e.g., a cultic, ritual or sympotic sphere have been studied from the point of view of performance. The various articles show that the focus on performance is a fruitful perspective for looking at Hellenistic poetry.

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Book SynopsisThe framework of this history of the Kingdom of Israel is based on information provided by epigraphic sources. They show that the religion and the ethnic identity of Israel connect traditions of semi-nomadic tribes of the Cisjordanian highland with conceptions and practices of pastoralists living in Transjordan, Midian, Negeb, and Sinai. They are known as Shasu in Egyptian texts, which provide the earliest written sources. The book is divided in six chapters. The first one deals with the proto-history of Israel in the second millennium B.C., starting with the mention of the Joseph-El and Simeon tribes in the Egyptian Execration texts of the 19th-18th centuries B.C. Jacob-El, Reuben, and Israel appear somewhat later, as well as the Shasu of the Yahwe-El area in Northern Sinai. The figure of Moses is related to this region and dates presumably from the second half of the 12th century B.C., when starts the period of the Judges. Graeco-Aegean Philistines settled in Canaan in the late 12th century were a serious menace to the confederation of Israelite tribes whose elders decided ca. 980 B.C. to adopt a royal government system. The first king was Saul, followed by his son Ishbaal. The unsettled period of David’s and Solomon’s reigns (ca. 960-927 B.C.) still belongs to the transition period from tribal confederacy to monarchy, continued by wars between Israel and Judah and by internal troubles. This is examined in chapter II. Chapter III deals with the dynasty of Omri, which ruled from ca. 882 to 749 B.C., a period documented also by Moabite, Neo-Assyrian, and Aramaic inscriptions which show that Jehu belonged to an Omride side-branch and that Jehoram and Ahaziah were killed by Aramaeans at the battle of Ramoth Gilead (841 B.C.), not by Jehu or his men. The rule of the Omrides was followed by a restless period and by Assyrian invasions ending with the annexation of the country to the Assyrian Empire and deportations of some of its elite, as presented in chapter IV. Since monotheism goes to the hearth of Israelite self-understanding, chapter V examines the religion of Israel, characterized by the cult of El, whose identity was specified by the full name Yahwe-El. A certain continuity of the Israelite political entity appears in the Persian period with Samarian governors, often members of the Sanballat lineage, as proposed in chapter VI.

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Book SynopsisCet ouvrage se propose d’étudier les façons dont la pensée religieuse et l’imaginaire grec de l’époque archaïque se représentaient quelques pans du réel qui ne se laissaient jamais voir ni atteindre: l’éther, l’air et l’abîme marin. Exclus du vécu, les espaces insondables ne se laissent définir ni représenter que par un processus dialectique qui entraîne des opérations mentales plus abstraites que les voies de la connaissance empirique. Cependant, donner une forme visible à l’invisible est une façon pour la pensée humaine d’innover et de construire mentalement à partir de modèles réels et connus. Les représentations des espaces insondables s’avèrent ainsi, jusqu’à un certain point, porteuses de toutes les autres représentations en matière de spatialité. L'étude des déplacements à travers différents niveaux du monde inaccessibles à la vision et au savoir humain, plutôt que l'analyse des descriptions statiques des paysages qui constituaient le milieu environnant quotidien de l’homme grec, permet de mieux comprendre comment on considérait l’espace et comment on s’y rapportait. L’espace étant dessiné par la qualité des lieux parcourus bien plus que par des formes qui lui sont propres, les espaces insondables se révèlent aptes à mettre en valeur des représentations spatiales plus proches d’une définition abstraite de l’espace. L'étude des schémas de déplacement à travers les espaces invisibles, que ce soit les parcours des dieux, ceux des mortels ou d’autres entités, forces physiques et substances privilégiées dans le commerce avec le divin, permet de mieux cerner les façons dont l’imagination et l’abstraction, plutôt que l’expérience vécue, ont contribué, à leur façon, à structurer l’espace et à forger l’image du monde comme kosmos, monde mis en ordre et soumis autant aux lois physiques qu’aux lois divines. Car, si l’espace est savamment structuré, c’est parce qu’il est religieusement investi. De plus, donner une forme vivante et visible l’incorporel, l’insondable et l’insaisissable est une façon pour la pensée religieuse archaïque d'innover et de faire apparaître l’idée de profondeur dans la vie spirituelle, ainsi que celle de l’unité du vivant et du cosmos.

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Book SynopsisThis volume examines the dynamic concept and changing reality of Roman citizenship from the perspective of the provinces in Rome’s vast, multi-ethnic empire, both before and after Caracalla’s grant of universal citizenship in 212 CE. In Greek communities, and in Jewish and Christian conceptual and actual constructed communities, the Roman definition of citizenship had a profound impact on the shape of abstract ideas of community, discourse about communal membership and peoplehood, and legal and civic models. Just as Roman citizenship was forever redefining its restrictions and becoming ever-more inclusive, so the borders of the other communities to which Greeks, Christians and Jews claimed “citizenship” were also flexible, adaptable, dynamic.

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Book SynopsisIn the summer of 484 BCE Babylonia revolted against Xerxes, king of Persia. In recent years, a debate has crystallized around the nature of Xerxes’ response to this challenge. This volume continues and expands this debate. It collects nine essays on the cuneiform text corpus dated to the period before, during and after the revolts. This material enables the authors to evaluate the nature of Xerxes’ policies in the sphere of society, science, religion, law, administration and economy against the long-term history of the region. The contributions are by Paul-Alain Beaulieu, Johannes Hackl, Michael Jursa, Karlheinz Kessler, Mathieu Ossendrijver, Reinhard Pirngruber, Małgorzata Sandowicz and Caroline Waerzeggers.

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Book SynopsisDas “Who's who around Deir el-Medina” behandelt das Versorgungspersonal (smd.t) der Arbeitersiedlung erstmals in Form einer Gesamtschau aller (potenziellen) Angehörigen und Tätigkeiten. In rund 1500 meist hieratischen administrativen Quellen aus der Ramessidenzeit konnten dabei gut 600 Männer ermittelt werden, die 12 verschiedenen Berufsgruppen angehörten. Die ermittelten Berufe sind zwei Hauptgruppen zuzuweisen. Während die Arbeiten der spezifisch in Deir el-Medine belegten Holzbringer/-schneider, Wasserträger und Gipshersteller (= Gruppe 1) kaum Vorkenntnisse erforderten, waren für die Ausübung der Berufe der Gruppe 2 (Fischer, Gärtner, Töpfer, Wäscher, Konditoren und Schmiede), die auch außerhalb Deir el-Medines in Ägypten gut belegt sind, sowohl Ausrüstung als auch Ausbildung und Erfahrung notwendig. Anhand einer diachronen Darstellung, zu deren Erarbeitung auch Informationen aus anderen Zeitstufen und Quellengattungen herangezogen wurden, zeigt die Studie, dass die Entstehung des Versorgungspersonals auf Neuerungen unter Ramses II. zurückgeht: Die zuvor siedlungsintern geregelten einfachen Aufgaben der Gruppe 1 wurden in ein spezifisch für Deir el-Medine eingerichtetes Versorgungspersonal ausgelagert und mit den extern ausgeführten Aufgaben der Gruppe 2 kombiniert. Dazu adaptierte man ein für Handwerker und Arbeitskräfte anderer Institutionen bereits übliches Organisationsprinzip. Dieses Arbeitssystem führte rund drei Generationen später, zu Beginn der 20. Dynastie, zur Ausbildung einer gewachsenen Sozialstruktur, die in den reich dokumentierten Regierungszeiten Ramses' III. und IV. detailliert rekonstruiert werden kann. Dabei wurde deutlich, dass die Entstehung und die Zusammensetzung dieses Versorgungspersonals während der 19. und 20. Dynastie wesentlich durch die geographische, administrative, soziale, politische und ökonomische Entwicklung Deir el-Medines beeinflusst wurde, was das Versorgungspersonal zu einer flexiblen Gruppierung machte, deren Zusammensetzung, Anzahl und Arbeitsleistung mehrfach verändert und angepasst wurde. Die mehrheitlich aus Schriftquellen gewonnenen Ergebnisse ließen sich mit Informationen zu den Nutzungsphasen des Dorfes, zu den Anlagen im Tal der Könige und im Tal der Königinnen sowie zu den Millionenjahrhäusern in Einklang bringen und mit dem Erhaltungszustand der Quellen korrelieren. Die Studie präsentiert ein differenziertes Bild Deir el-Medines, wobei die diachrone Betrachtung Veränderungen und Entwicklungen während der Ramessidenzeit erkennen lässt, die einen stetigen Wandel innerhalb der Berufsbilder in und im Umfeld der Arbeitersiedlung über einen Zeitraum von rund 250 Jahren offenbaren.

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Book SynopsisThe Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Phoenician Culture (EDPC) is the result of a wide-ranging international project and is intended to be an in-depth and up-to-date standard reference work for Phoenician studies. It is a series in the form of an encyclopaedia with the structure of a dictionary, comprising about 2,000 entries, written by circa 200 contributors from 20 different countries. Current knowledge on the Phoenicians and Carthaginians (with close attention to their various interactions with other cultures) will be presented as a sequence of themed volumes, all closely interrelated, dealing respectively with religion, language and written sources, socio-economic life, and archaeological sites of both the Levant and the Central and Western Mediterranean. As part of a collection, each volume should be considered as belonging to a set: in one sense independent but at the same time inseparable from the others in respect of both the amount of information and the network of cross-references linking the various lemmata. The present volume, dedicated to historical characters, is a compendium of historical and historically documented individuals, arranged alphabetically and organized using criteria that are meant to be as consistent as possible. Like the thematic volumes to follow, the present volume is a reference work: it is based on a piece by piece reconstruction of the whole of `Phoenician’ history (understood in its widest sense) through its various protagonists at every level.

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Book SynopsisL’ouvrage explore l’histoire et la société nabatéenne dans son évolution à travers presque cent cinquante inscriptions et papyri datés. Le plan en cinq parties présente les documents provenant du royaume nabatéen, puis les grandes inscriptions funéraires de Hégra, ensuite celles trouvées en dehors des limites du royaume, enfin celles datant de l’époque romaine; un dernier chapitre fait le point sur les aspects paléographiques. D’importantes annexes présentent les listes selon l’ordre du catalogue et selon leurs datation, leur répartition régionale, leur typologie, les éléments de datation utilisés, les nombres et les chiffres, les concordances épigraphiques, les lieux de conservation, une chronologie, des index et une bibliographie. À travers les formules juridiques redondantes et les épithètes royales très développées, souvent négligées par la recherche, on discerne le rôle des archives du palais royal de Pétra ou des temples comme celui de la Mesure à Hégra au Ier siècle de notre ère.

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Book SynopsisAt the time of the clearing of the tomb of Tutankhamun Howard Carter and his team made meticulous handwritten notes of every single object found. Yet a full scholarly publication of the majority of them has yet to be undertaken. This book presents a catalogue of the ornamental calcite vessels with an introduction and a discussion of their artistic merit, at times disputed, as well as their purpose during the life of Tutankhamun and after his death. Most of them were designed to contain scented unguents so precious that they proved irresistible to robbers in antiquity. Their intricate design combining utilitarian use with symbolic forms and ornamentation paired with a near perfect state of preservation makes them rare examples of royal arts and crafts of late 18th dynasty Egypt. The book is illustrated with original black & white photographs, most of them taken at the time of the discovery by Harry Burton, as well as some drawings made by Howard Carter. The colour photographs are by Sandro Vannini.

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Book SynopsisThis book presents the proceedings of a conference held by the 'Alexandru Ioan Cuza' University of Iasi in November 2017. Scholars from Iasi, Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca gathered to present not only the recent results of their work, but to discuss in which ways the river frontier has influenced economic, social and religious interchange. Roman frontiers have been studied with an emphasis on multiple intercultural dimensions. Scholarship has focused mainly on the political situation (the emergence of Roman domination and administration in the provinces), the economy (trade and traffic between Romans and Barbarians), military issues (the role of the army as a peacekeeper and as a bearer of cultures) and religious aspects (mutual impact of religious habits), etc. This volume aims to broaden the perspective on Roman riverine frontiers. The studies presented here, focusing on the provinces Dacia and Moesia inferior, investigate how rivers enhance or hamper connectivity on frontiers and thus shape riparian areas as multifunctional spaces with different functions. The present volume therefore proposes several steps to expand our understanding of riverine settings in border regions of Roman rule. These riverine border regions are characterised by a significant presence of the Roman military, extensive economic activity and religious interchange.

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Book SynopsisThis special volume of the Hellenistica Groningana, in honour of the achievements and career of Professor M.A. Harder, revisits the poetry of Callimachus (theme of two earlier Hellenistic Workshops). A number of renowned international scholars in the field of Hellenistic studies reflect on new perspectives in Callimachean scholarship, inspired among other by Annette Harder's 2012 edition of Callimachus' Aetia. Their questions aim to contextualize and analyze Callimachus’ poetry in novel ways, inspired by both new literary theory and historical insights and a solid body of existing scholarship. How do Callimachus’ learned elegies relate to the genre of didactic poetry? How do his aetiological narratives straddle the border between fiction and reality? What is their basis in Hellenistic scholarship, and in Near Eastern or Egyptian poetic traditions? How and why do later Greek poets incorporate Callimachean poetics, and so facilitate his reception in Latin poetry? What is Callimachus’ attitude to gods and divine rulers in his hymnic poetry? These and many more questions are addressed, creating new perspectives in Callimachean scholarship, as the title indicates.

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Book SynopsisThe history of emotion is an important interdisciplinary research field, not least because it touches fundamental questions about the distinction between psychobiology-based universals and socio-cultural, path-dependent and thus relative peculiarity. Conceptual incongruities between what is today understood as emotion and various views on emotions in antiquity should not distract from the fact that, while emotions do have a history, they substantially belong to all human experience as such. Visual media and images open perspectives for transcultural research that differ from the testimony of texts. Their study can thus make a major contribution to a better understanding of emotions in the Ancient Near East. How where gestures, body posture, facial expressions etc. visualized in images from Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt and what role does the visualization play in communicating emotions? The first part of the present volume takes concrete examples as a starting point and discusses the fundamental question whether or not emotions were represented and can thus be studied in Ancient Near Eastern art. Approaches and arguments are controversial: Some authors argue that there are no visualizations of emotions, but only cultural roles and ritual embodiments. Their view is contrasted by other contributors, who assume that one may detect non-verbal expressions hiding emotions in visual respresentations and that it is crucial to specify the appropriate tools and methodologies to interpret them in an adequate way. The second part offers five additional theoretical reflexions from comparative, linguistic and art-historical perspectives. With such a broad interdisciplinary approach including Assyriology, Egyptology, Near Eastern archaeology and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies, the volume offers a large panorama of the most important research positions on a fundamental topic. The book results from workshop discussions held in June 2015 during the 61st Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Bern and Geneva. Contributors include John Baines, Dominik Bonatz, Izak Cornelius, Margaret Jaques, Othmar Keel, Sara Kipfer, Florian Lippke, Silvia Schroer, Andreas Wagner, Elisabeth Wagner-Durand, and Wolfgang Zwickel.

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Book SynopsisThe 17th International Aegean Conference / Rencontre égéenne internationale MNEME was organised by the University of Udine, Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage, and the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Department of Humanities, starting from the many suggestions given by several studies which have been recently devoted to the perception of and confrontation with the past in ancient societies as well as to the manifold practices of memory including memorializing and memory keeping. Scholars have focused on the important function of social memory for the construction of collective identities including ethnicity. Construction, re-use and manipulation of the past have been identified in several contexts as ideological strategies favouring cultural continuity. On the one hand, well-defined chronological limits have been reconsidered following the evidence of long-term dynamics based on the reproduction of relevant social practices through space and time. On the other hand, phenomena of cultural discontinuity and innovation have also resulted in being profoundly connected to the approach that ancient communities had towards their past, which they variously expressed in monumental architecture, funerary layout, iconographic and stylistic traditions and social practices in both ceremonial and domestic contexts. Furthermore, fragmentation, sacrifice or storage of material culture and economic resources - phenomena relevant to different systems of political economy - are in turn strongly connected to the practice of memory, with an impact on the cultural landscape including settlement as well as funerary domains.

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Book SynopsisThis volume in honour of Margaret Cool Root gathers seventeen contributions on Achaemenid Persian art, ranging from the European re-discovery of Persepolis, via Achaemenid glyphic art, evidence of polychrome sculpture, and Achaemenid impact in the satrapies, to possible reflections of Persepolitan art in Classical Greece. The contributors are colleagues and, in a number of cases, former students of Margaret Root. As a whole, the volume reflects the wide range of Root’s interests and her impact on the field of Achaemenid studies.

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Book SynopsisLe tome XXXIII des Archives royales de Mari avait pour but de réunir les textes qui ont trait aux premières années du règne de Zimrî-Lîm, le dernier roi de Mari. Vu la quantité du matériel épigraphique à disposition, il doit être en fait complété par un tome XXXIV. Ce premier volume fait apparaître les figures politiques majeures qui ont administré les Bord-de-l’Euphrate comme on appelait alors le royaume de Mari, soit surtout Bannum et Sumu-hadû, des personnalités dont la réalité avait été mal perçue. Un second volume doit réunir les textes qui concernent en majorité les Nomades mâr yamîna, les soi-disant Benjaminites, qui après avoir aidé au renversement du pouvoir instauré par le roi d’Ékallatum, Samsî-Addu, (RHM) se sont rebellés contre le nouveau monarque. Il doit réunir la documentation qui concerne deux générations de rois bédouins ainsi que ceux qui ont aidé le roi de Mari à venir à bout des rebelles. Ces ouvrages ARMT XXXIII et XXXIV cherchent à établir la chronologie des textes, autant ceux qui ont déjà été publiés (et aujourd’hui souvent difficiles d’accès) que ceux qui étaient encore inédits. Les chercheurs disposeront ainsi d’une documentation qui va de la prise de Tuttul par les gens de Zimrî-Lîm, au repli des forces d’Eshnunna, abandonnant leur projet de dominer la partie orientale du RHM. Le cadre géographique est tout entier dans la Syrie actuelle, mais inclut pour une bonne part de la documentation qui concerne l’Ouest de la Haute-Djéziré, le Taurus, la vallée du Balih, et l’amont de l’actuelle Der ez-Zor, toutes contrées mal documentées jusqu’à présent pour l’époque dite «amorrite», soit le XVIIIe siècle avant notre ère. Une telle entreprise a son utilité dans la mesure où elle présente l’ensemble de la documentation disponible, tout en respectant l’unité des dossiers, ce qui n’a pu qu’entraîner des chevauchements dans la documentation, tous les dignitaires n’étant pas apparus ni disparus au même moment. Elle a, naturellement, ses fragilités dans la mesure où aucune lettre n’est explicitement datée et où plusieurs documents ont pu se croiser, sans compter que la plupart du temps il est difficile de connaître le suivi des opérations annoncées, certains programmes pouvant être abandonnés. L’état matériel de la documentation laisse, en outre, beaucoup à désirer, les tablettes cunéiformes ayant été trouvées par grandes masses difficilement gérables. Le travail d’édition a été opéré à partir d’un jeu de transcriptions et d’une couverture photographique que l’on pourra consulter sur la base de données ARCHIBAB.

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