Ancient History

At Lepenski Vir, a locality situated on the Serbian side of the Danube River, excavations were made, and they began in the year 1965, but after 1971 the place was covered by the river waters where the Portile de Fier Dam (The Iron Gates) is located. Several settlements were uncovered on top of each other or near each other, and 136 of the constructions found there had several altars of worship. The archaeologists who studied them concluded that the settlement was founded sometime towards the end of 8000 BCE, and they dated the constructions and the ceramics between 6500-5000 BC. Among some other objects of cult discovered, there was an egg made of calcar which was chiseled on the outside, and it has some kind of serpents painted in red on yellow background. On another egg made out of burned clay (see the picture below), there are 35 carved signs, out of which only seven of them are not among those used in the writing on the Lead Tablets discovered at Sinaia, and three of them represent the Tree of Life, with slight differences between them. Out of the 25 signs inscribed on this egg, which are also found on the Lead Tablets of the Gets, about which the Know-it-all angry hissing snakes hiss that they are fake, only two signs will appear in the Greek alphabet 6000 years later, therefore this is undeniable proof that they adopted the alphabet from the Pelasgians, and then they spread only lies about them, until they pushed them out of History, because this is their typical behaviour and nature so much appreciated by the entire European culture hatched in the 19th century, the so called of the " enlightened ones " , but in fact to us it is that of the " dark " ones of all kinds, and of all nations. This archeological proof also demonstrates to History that the Lead Tablets discovered at Sinaia are authentic and the information they convey is genuine. In 2013, two sandstone tablets, as small as a box of matches were discovered in a field, where often times vestiges of our prehistory have been uncovered. The place is located in the village of Handresti, Oteleni commune in Jassi County. They were from Cucuteni A and B Periods, that is 5500-3500 BC, because these ancient sites, at Cucuteni and Handresti are approximately 40 kilometers far from each other, proof that our prehistoric civilization existed east of the Carpathian Mountains.The inscriptions on the two stone tablets are identical to the writing symbols of the Gets on the Lead Tablets discovered at Sinaia. Out of the 16 letters written on the two stone tablets (eight on each of them), three are symbols which represent theosophical concepts, (the Lightning of the Heavenly Father, the Serpent of Knowledge, and the Celestial Egg or the Universe), and 13 of them are letters with phonetic value, which appear 4000 years later on the Lead Tablets discovered at Sinaia, therefore this also proves their authenticity. In the chart below, in the first row one can see the written signs inscribed on the tablets discovered at Handresti, while the row below shows some letters used in the Lead Tablets found at Sinaia. Letter Î written on the stone tablet found at Handresti, also appears written on the lead tablet of the Gets, but it was written 4000 years later, being used by the Romanians until 1863, when A.I. Cuza passed a law to ban the use of the Rumanian Cyrillic alphabet, in favor of the Latin one. Since the signs in the Cyrillic alphabet are found mostly in the alphabets of the Gets, this proves without a doubt that the tablets are authentic and the information they convey is true. In 2003, among the ruins of a prehistoric Palestinian city of Ashkelon were discovered pieces of 19 broken vases with some inscriptions on them, which proves that the local population knew at least

Oi Christianoi - Sezione antica, n. 26 ----- Su Ipazia di Alessandria e su Sinesio di Cirene molti hanno già scritto: Ipazia, una nota antica scienziata e filosofia, Sinesio, un nobile, suo allievo e poi vescovo cristiano; Ipazia, da alcuni presa in considerazione unicamente come vessillo del femminismo, Sinesio, spesso trascurato a fronte di più famosi Padri della Chiesa. La peculiarità del libro, che è frutto di un accurato studio critico delle relative fonti primarie e secondarie, consiste nel tipo di approccio: le due figure e le loro opere sono esaminate sullo sfondo dei differenti ambiti culturali in cui si sono sviluppate le vicende della loro vita, pur nella contemporaneità: la differenza di ambiti culturali consente di evidenziare di questa donna e di questo uomo non solo la validità del loro lungo rapporto amicale, testimoniate da alcune lettere di Sinesio a noi pervenute, ma anche l'alto valore interculturale di tale rapporto.

Germanicus and his large family (his wife Agrippina Major and nine children) embodied in Tiberius' Rome a new political model that looked beyond the boundaries of tradition and opened up to elements that had remained outside the scene of power until then. They bore the blood of the Julii and the Claudii, and this was an omen of a synthesis, which in the second part of the dynasty extended to include the partial but significant revival of the legacy of Mark Antony and some of his political choices. This book is the result of the International Conference held in the winter of 2019 in Perugia and it analyzes how a great figure, who did not succeed in fully consecrating himself, not only marked a significant part of the reign of the first successor of Augustus, but also the subsequent internal games of the first dynasty for the succession to power, whose results, certainly not by chance, saw the affirmation of his son, and then his brother and of his nephew.


Germanico e sua moglie Agrippina Maggiore, la sua numerosa famiglia (nove figli di cui ne morirono tre in tenera età) incarnarono nella Roma di Tiberio un modello politico nuovo, che guardava oltre i confini della tradizione e si apriva a elementi che erano rimasti al di fuori fino ad allora dalla scena del potere. Portavano il sangue dei Giulii e quello dei Claudii, e ciò era il presagio di una sintesi, che nella seconda parte della dinastia si estese fino a coinvolgere anche la parziale ma rilevante ripresa dell' eredità di Marco Antonio e di alcune linee della sua politica. Il volume, frutto del Convegno internazionale tenuto nell' inverno del 2019 a Perugia analizza in particolare come la figura di un grande personaggio, che non riuscì a consacrarsi appieno, improntò tuttavia di sé non solo una parte rilevante del regno del primo successore di Augusto, ma anche le successive partite interne alla prima dinastia per la successione al potere i cui esiti, non certo per un caso, videro l' affermazione consecutivamente del figlio, e poi del fratello e del nipote di Germanico.

Edited by Alessandro Galimberti e Roberto Cristofoli e Francesca Rohr Vio
Year: 2020
L'ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER
Series: Monografie del Centro Ricerche di Documentazione sull'Antichità Classica, 49
ISBN: 9788891320568
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 234
Size: 17 x 24 cm

Until the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, the Catholic Church had an almost unchallenged monopoly on public education in French Canada. Generations of French Canadian children were taught at the primary and secondary levels by various male and female religious orders according to a curriculum that infused almost every element of education with the fundaments of the Catholic Faith. But there is something of an apparent paradox at work when we consider this curriculum: how can an educational system that is so fundamentally Catholic give such prominence to pre-Christian Greek and Latin authors, and why did ‘pagan’ mythology and religious traditions figure so prominently in studies of all levels? Why did a Catholic system spend so much time teaching non-Catholic literature and religious material? This chapter addresses this question by examining in detail the place of mythology in a variety of primary pedagogical materials used in French Canadian schools from the foundation of the colony until the publication of the Commission Parent’s report in 1964. The evolving place of classical mythology in French Canadian education is tracked from the establishment of the colony in the 17th century through to the vociferous debates among the clergy over the place of pre-Christian authors in Catholic education which erupted in France in the mid-19th century and then spilled into French Canadian in the 1860s. The perceived benefits and threats posed by such a mythological education are analysed through the assertions of a variety of contemporary commentators. By means of conclusion, the prominence of Classical mythology and ancient authors in the curriculum is viewed in relation to the evolving national mythology of French Canada itself, according to which the French Canadian Catholic establishment becomes the direct successor to the Classical past.

Full volume is available open-access at this link:
https://www.wuw.pl/product-pol-14887-Our-Mythical-Education-The-Reception-of-Classical-Myth-Worldwide-in-Formal-Education-1900-2020-PDF.html

Los desórdenes políticos que caracterizaron el siglo III d. C. en Roma estuvieron alimentados por dos grupos de causas principales: las luchas intestinas para alcanzar el trono imperial, por una parte y consolidarlo en clave dinástica, y por
otra, la necesidad de atender los requerimientos de una sociedad que acusaba profundas transformaciones acumuladas desde mediados del siglo I d. C. Costes militares, administrativos, logísticos y de mecenazgo finalista, se suman a los derivados de la compra de voluntades en los ámbitos más próximos al poder. Todos ello se refleja en la necesidad de un flujo continuo de numerario acuñado en oro y plata. En una época donde no existe la política financiera y la única posibilidad real de actuar sobre la Economía del Estado es la política económica monetaria, la solución consistente en la adulteración por ley, principalmente, de la moneda de plata, lleva consigo su degradación, su devaluación y la aparición de un escenario persistente de inflación galopante. Es decir, los intentos de estabilización sólo producen a corto plazo, una precarización de las condiciones de vida de la población. Esta ponencia abordará este fenómeno en su origen, desarrollo, alcance y consecuencias en  relación con la evolución del Imperio en el siglo III d. C.

The political disorders that characterized the 3rd century A.D. in Rome were fed by two groups of mainsprings: the internal fights to reach the imperial throne, on one hand and it to be consolidated in dynastic key, and for other one, by the need to attend to society requirements that was accusing deep transformations accumulated from middle of the 1st century A.D. Military, administrative, logistic costs and finalist patronage, were added to those  that were from the wills purchase in the areas nearer to power. All it is reflected in the need of a constant flow of money coined in gold and silver. In a time where financial politics does not exist and the only real chance of success of managing on the State Economy was by means of economic monetary politics, the option consisting of enforcing by law demoting currency, principally, of silver  currencies, got its quality lost, devaluation and the emergence of a persistent and astonishing  situation of inflation. That is to say, the attempts of stabilization only produce in short term, a downgrade of the population living conditions. This paper will approach this phenomenon in its origin, development, scope and consequences in relation with the Empire evolution in the 3rd century A.D.

The Mont Saint-Michel is a small, rocky tidal island in France located in a large bay at the mouth of the Couesnon.
The granite massif of Mont Saint-Michel is crowned with a medieval abbey. It's a table moutain; a remaining of a prehistoric petrified treetop.
Since 1898, the spire of the abbey church has a statue of Saint Michael that protrudes a hundred and seventy meters above the bay. The island is located about 1 kilometer from the coast near the town of Avranches in Normandy . It was originally a tidal island : it was accessible by land at low tidebut at high tide it was surrounded by water. Today a narrow bridge, with shuttle service, runs to the island. Mont Saint-Michel, with its pedestrian streets, is only accessible to pedestrians.

The first text about an abbey is the 9th-century Latin text Revelatio ecclesiae sancti Michaelis in monte Tumba written by a chanoine living at Mont Saint Michel or at the Cathédrale Saint-André d'Avranches. This text was written at a time of power struggle between Brittany and the County of Normandy against Francia as well as during canon law reforms by Roman emperors.

When Christianity expanded to the area, around the 4th century, Mont Tombe, the original name of Mont Saint Michel, was part of the Diocese of Avranches. By the middle of the 6th century, Christianity had a stronger presence in the bay. By this time, Mont Tombe was populated by religious devotees, hermits (probably some Celtic monks) supplied by the curé of Astériac, (Asterix) who took care of the site and led a contemplative life around some oratories. The hermits Saint Pair and Saint Seubilion dedicated one of the oratories to Saint Étienne, midway through the mont and one to Saint Symphorien, at the foot of the rock.

Saint Aubert
In 710, Mont Tombe was renamed Mont Saint Michel au péril de la Mer ("Mount Saint Michael at the peril of the sea) after erecting an oratory to Saint Michael by bishop Saint Aubert of Avranches in 708. According to the legend, Aubert received, during his sleep, three times the order from Saint Michael to erect an oratory on the Mont Tombe. The archangel was reputed to have left his finger mark on Aubert's skull. This skull is displayed at the Saint-Gervais d'Avranches basilica with such a scar on it.

This sanctuary should be, according to the archangel, a replica of the Gargano in Italy (from the 5th century). Aubert had a local religious artifact removed and instead a circular sanctuary built, made of dry stones. Around 708, Aubert sent two monks to get some artifacts from the Italian sanctuary Gargano (a rock with his foot print and a piece of tissue from the altar). During this mission, the March 709 tsunami is supposed to have destroyed the Scissy forest and turned the Mont into an island. On October 16 709, the bishop dedicated the church and put twelve chanoine there. The Mont-Saint-Michel was born.

The remains of the oratory were found in the chapel Notre-Dame-Sous-Terre. This sanctuary contained the tomb of Aubert and most likely the artifacts brought from Gargano. The chapel Notre-Dame-Sous-Terre is today under the nave of the abbey-church.

The first buildings became too small and under the Western Roman Empire multiple buildings were added. Charlemagne chose saint Michel as a protector of his empire during the 9th century and tried to have the place renamed Mont-Saint-Michel, but during the Middle Ages it was usually called Saint-Michel-aux-Deux-Tombes (Saint Michel with two tombs) (Mons Sancti Michaelis in periculo maris, in reference to Tombelaine).

History of the abbey
Church of Saint Michel during 9th and 10th centuries
The Mont-Saint-Michel monks, during the first century of their institution, venerated the archangel Michael. The Mont became a place of prayer and study, but the stability period, known as the Neustria, during the reign of Charlemagne ended when he died. As the rest of Gaule was fighting invasions, religion and science found some welcoming in the diocese of Avranches and at the Mont-Saint-Michel.

At first, pilgrims kept coming to the Mont. After the Vikings captured the Mont in 847, the monks departed. But, as an island, it offered some protection for the local population and thus never stayed empty.

After the signature of the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, Rollo (Gange-Hrólfr "Rollo" Ragnvaldsson de Normandie) started repairing the damages inflicted to the religious buildings. He generously financed the Mont and called back the monks displaced by the war, returning the Mont to its previous condition.

The wealth and support that the Mont suddenly obtained from Rollo started to fundamentally affect its inhabitants, taking them away from their solitary, religious life. After William I of Normandy took over his father's title as Duke of Normandy in 927, he expanded his support toward monasteries until his assassination in 932; but his wealth, from which they benefited, further exacerbated their mundane life style. Because of their generous contributions to the Mont, the Dukes of Brittany Conan 1st, who died in 992, and Geoffrey 1st, who died in 1008, were buried in the Mont as benefactors.

RESUMEN: Este estudio se centra en la figura de Acilia Plecusa, una esclava que fue manumitida y contrajo un matrimonio legítimo con su propietario, Manius Acilius Fronto. Ellos eran originarios de la ciudad de Singilia Barba (Baetica) y formaron parte de una importante familia hispana del siglo II d. C. Los testimonios epigráficos nos muestran el destacado ascenso social de esta liberta que se encargó de costear inscripciones para homenajear tanto a sus familiares como a sus amigos más cercanos e influyentes.

ABSTRACT: This paper focuses on the figura of a freedwoman, Acilia Plecusa. She was a slave, but she was manumitted and got married to her owner, Manius Acilius Fronto. They were from Singilia Barba (Baetica) and belonged to an important family of the Second Century A. D. Inscriptions show us the outstanding social climbing of this freed woman, who took charge of financing the registrations to honour, not only her relatives, but also her closest and most influential friends.

""Ancient Greece is famous as the civilization which "gave" the world democracy. Democracy has in modern times become the rallying cry of liberation from supposed totalitarianism and dictatorship. It is embedded in the assumptions of Western powers who proclaim their faith in the global spread of democratic governance and at the same time wielded by protesters in the developing world who challenge what they view as the West's cultural imperialism. Thus, a lively and well informed treatment of the nexus between politics in antiquity and political discourse in the modern era is both timely and apposite.

As Kostas Vlassopoulos shows, much can be learned about the practice of politics from a comparative discussion of the classical and the contemporary. His starting point is that the value of looking back to a political system with different assumptions and elements can help us think, and even shape, what the future of modern politics might be. He discusses the contrasting political systems of Athens, Sparta and Rome; the political theories of thinkers like Plato, Aristotle and Cicero; how great events like the Peloponnesian War or the Roman civil wars shaped the course of political theory; and the discovery of freedom, participation and equality as political values in antiquity. Above all, the book shows how important and surprising an analysis of the ancient world can be in reassessing and revaluating modern political debates.""""

It is a common misconception that fides and bona fides are ethical principles with changeable content, shaped by the development of social and moral values. They belong instead, since time immemorial, to the tradition of the ius civile, and are deeply rooted in Roman social structure (and its needs) as interpreted by the priests and by the jurists. The standard of fides and bona fides is always objective: in the archaic period, the real status of the parties (fides as the 'credit' of the individual within the group); afterwards, an abstact stardard identified with the bonus vir. The two concepts developed therefore from early on an (outwardly) dualistic value: on the one side, the respect of the parties' agreement; on the other side, the respect of all the terms implied in the nature of the relationship.

The presence of arts and cultural institutions and networks is vital to the health of any global city, old, and new. But it is less apparent how we measure their contributions to quality of life issues in the rapidly changing mega cities of the global north or south.

How do we develop quantitative and qualitative measurements to assess the impact of arts and culture on the quality of life in cities? How do we balance issues of social justice and creativity in cities where the super-rich and the ultra-poor of the world reside and often collide? What is the role of public and private sectors in creating a healthy cultural ecology in a global city? How do we measure value beyond the economic impact of the arts—numbers of tickets sold, number of tourists visiting the city, the gentrification of a neighborhood? What are the key ingredients for a healthy cultural ecology of the city, taking into account artists, large established institutions as well as smaller arts organizations?  What are the barriers to the successful implementation of cultural policy in global cities?


Columbia University’s Committee on Global Thought, in partnership with Ford Foundation and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), organized a one-day
program to bring together scholars, policy makers, private sector and non-profit leaders, and practitioners—artists, architects, planners, community activists—to discuss some of these urgent issues around developing a better understanding of the role arts and culture can play in the social health of global cities.

The nature of the relationship between the Assyrian state and the Syro-Hittite states is often represented in the writings of archaeologists and ancient historians under the rubric of imperialism, Assyrian sovereignty, and the Syro-Hittite resistance, an unchanging formula largely based on center-periphery models. This structuralist model of fixed relationships is thus characterized as a firmly-set trajectory of power relations and a teleological narrative of conquest, ending without exception with the eventual and complete submission and subjugation of Syro-Hittite states to Assyrian military power. While Syro-Hittite states are represented as vulnerable and politically weak entities, the Assyrian state is referred as an “expansionistic imperial power” or “superior invading force”. Had they escaped direct Assyrian sovereignty, these peripheral communities were at least deemed “Assyrianizing” in their material culture. This a priori qualification of Syro-Hittite-Assyrian relationships as an imbalanced power distribution is an outcome of the preponderance of studies of Assyrian sovereignty with an obsession with the (cosmic) image of the sovereign in his visual and verbal manifestations. Secondly it is often assumed that the study of Assyrian imperialism has always operated through coercion and military violence. Alternative forms of engagement between the Neo-Assyrian state and the Syro-Hittite kingdoms such as diplomacy, political negotiation, trade, exchange of ideas, politics of settlement, land management, taxation or traveling craftsmen and circulation of technology and knowledge are much more rarely discussed. In this paper, I suggest that historical perspectives on the unchallenged Assyrian imperialism are often driven by the alluring, yet biased perspectives offered by the sumptuous, if not excessive corpus of Assyrian annalistic accounts, state sponsored texts, and imperial monuments. Therefore such perspectives prioritize short-term political histories of conquest and domination over other longer term and more horizontally distributed aspects of the past such as cultural practices, ecological histories, political landscapes, socialization, or material worlds. The historicist accounts of the Near Eastern past can be challenged and perhaps balanced by evidence offered by archaeological, material, and environmental research, which present alternative and often contrasting perspectives on these particular histories. Prioritizing textual evidence often leaves out the material flows, delicate negotiations of power, dynamics of trade and exchange and the politics of resource extraction. Attending to other forms of evidence allows us to reflect on the complexity of the relationships between Assyria and the Syro-Hittite states. In this article, I pay particular attention to such interactions and encounters that are other than military in nature, and give priority to material evidence that challenge standard imperialist narratives of Assyrian textual accounts.

"This book is the first-ever monograph on the family of royal converts from Adiabene including the broader perspective of the cultural and political environment of Hellenistic and Parthian Adiabene. It collects, arranges and discusses all available sources on the topic.
The study consists of three parts. Part 1 (chapters 1-5) is devoted to the longest ancient account on the Adiabene royalty from all ancient literature – Josephus, Ant. 20:17-96 (“the Adiabene Narrative”). It examines the Adiabene narrative as Josephus’ conscious literary product with all its rhetorical features and ideological agendas.
Part 2 (chapters 6-7) deals with other sources about the family of royal converts from Adiabene. Chapter 6 is devoted to Rabbinic traditions about Queen Helena and King Munbaz. Chapter 7 discusses all Jewish and non-Jewish literary sources which refer to the resting place of Queen Helena and to the palaces of the Adiabene royalty in Jerusalem, what is more, it also provides an updated discussion of relevant archaeological sites in Jerusalem (Le Tombeau des Rois and the Givati Parking Lot).
Part 3 (chapters 8-13) presents the material and political environment of Adiabene from the third century BCE to the third century CE. It discusses all available kinds of sources: geographical and ethnographical texts (chapter 8), archaeological sites (chapter 9), epigraphic and numismatic material (chapter 10), as well as onomastic evidence (chapter 11). Furthermore, chapter 12 provides a basic chronology of the Adiabene royalty in the Hellenistic and Parthian periods, and chapter 13 presents the political environment of Adiabene and Judea in the context of the international relations between Rome and Parthia."
P.S.
So far reviewed by K. Atkinson, Biblica 96 (2015) 635-638; D.M. Jacobson, Palestine Exploration Quarterly 147 (2015) 169-170; E. Kettenhofen, Anabasis. Studia Classica et Orientalia 6 (2015) 297-307; E. Lipiński, Polish Journal of Biblical Research 14 (2015) 201-207;  D.M. Downing, Journal of American Oriental Studies 137 (2017) 428-430; E. Nodet, Revue Biblique 122-124 (2015) 634-635; K. Berthelot, Syria 94 (2017) 415-416; J.-S. Caillou, L’Antiquité Classique 86 (2017) 517-519.

Che posto occupavano gli animali nell’antichità? Come noi oggi, anche i Greci e i Romani avevano a che fare con cani, cavalli, galline; avevano allevamenti, vivari, acquari, e adottavano pratiche zootecniche. Amavano i loro animali da affezione, mentre ne uccidevano altri e li mangiavano (magari dopo averli sacrificati in onore di una divinità). Conoscevano e usavano animali selvatici o feroci, o esotici come elefanti e pappagalli. Non mancavano, nel loro immaginario, creature aliene che si credeva popolassero paesi lontani, come l’India e l’Etiopia, patrie dei manticora, dei cinocefali e dei grifoni. Quello che per noi sono i dinosauri per loro erano i ciclopi, i pegasi, le chimere, gli uomini-toro. Un affresco suggestivo che restituisce per intero l’esotismo di un mondo scomparso.

Η διδακτική αυτή προσέγγιση αφορά στο σχεδιασμό και την υλοποίηση της διδασκαλίας στο πλαίσιο ενός μαθήματος φιλοσοφίας σχετικά με τις θεωρίες της γνώσης στη Β΄ Γενικού Λυκείου,  με  βάση  το διδακτικό  βιβλίο  Αρχές  Φιλοσοφίας  στο  πλαίσιο  του  αναλυτικού προγράμματος.  Πιο  συγκεκριμένα,  θα  προσπαθήσουμε  να  προτείνουμε  τον  εμπλουτισμό του κεφαλαίου 3: Αναζητώντας τη γνώση, ενότητα τρίτη: Θεωρίες για την πηγή της γνώσης, χρησιμοποιώντας  στοιχεία  θεωρίας  της  γνώσης  και  της  αντίληψης  των  Προσωκρατικών.  Στόχος  μας  είναι  να  εμπλουτίσουμε  το  κεφάλαιο  αυτό  με  στοιχεία  προσωκρατικής  φιλοσοφίας ως παλαιότερης χρονολογικά και προϋπάρχουσας εκείνης της Κλασικής εποχής  και των Νεοτέρων χρόνων.

This paper explores the principles underlying decisions to inscribe Athenian laws and decrees on stone, finding (against a recent paper by Michael Osborne) that many laws and decrees were not inscribed, including those of ephemeral significance. The basis of the paper is a comparative analysis of the inscribed record of 352/1-322/1 BC and the literary record of decrees proposed by Demosthenes, which extends across the same time period. It finds that three main criteria were relevant to decisions to inscribe: durability of intention; the intention to deliver a message; and religious content. The effect of the establishment of the state archive of papyrus copies of laws and decrees at the end of the fifth century is explored, and the existence of the archive identified tentatively as a factor, alongside others, explaining the very small number of extant inscribed laws from the fourth-century democracy (ca. 12) in comparison with the number of decrees (ca. 550-600).

Review:
"Liu Yang’s catalogue for the terracotta warriors…is an outstanding contribution to the literature on the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi as well as a beautifully illustrated record of the seminal objects from the Terracotta Warriors Museum. Readers will not be disappointed: China’s Terracotta Warriors is much more than yet another book about China’s most glorious excavation site"―Nancy Steinhardt, Orientations

"The extensively illustrated catalogue, one of the most detailed overviews of the Qin and the First Emperor yet published, is vital for anyone even remotely interested in this pivotal period in Chinese art, culture and history."―Martin Barnes Lorber, Asian Art

"The Minneapolis catalogue stands out as one of the most informative and groundbreaking in the mass of books on the terracotta warriors. Within the plethora of books about the First Emperor of China and the terracotta soldiers placed at his tomb, this volume is exceptional in its placing of the First Emperor in his context—a young ruler of a vassal state of questionable 'barbarian' influences forging an empire out of the ruins of an old world, a world he conquered with a invincible army and governed with an iron fist." —Chao-Hui Jenny Liu, China Review International

"This dazzling catalogue by Curator Liu Yang traces the development of the Qin state from the 9th century BCE to the reign of the First Emperor, through an array of sculpted works and architectural remains from Shaanxi province....Written by an internationally renowned cast of scholars, the volume features detailed chapters of manageable length, making it accessible to the undergraduates but also relevant to advanced researchers.....Overall, this is a much-needed update on a well-trodden subjects." —A.R.Miller, Choice

The principal theme of this volume is the importance of the public use of human remains in a historical perspective. The book presents a series of case studies aimed at offering historiographical and methodological reflections and providing interpretative approaches highlighting how, through the ages and with a succession of complex practices and uses, human remains have been imbued with a plurality of meanings. Covering a period running from late antiquity to the present day, the contributions are the combined results of multidisciplinary research pertaining to the realities of the Italian peninsula, hitherto not investigated with a long-term and multidisciplinary historical perspective. From the relics of great men to the remains of patriots, and from anatomical specimens to the skeletons of the saints: through these case studies the scholars involved have investigated a wide range of human remains (real or reputed) and of meanings attributed to them, in order to decipher their function over the centuries. In doing so, they have traversed the interpretative boundaries of political history, religious history and the history of science, as required by questions aimed at integrating the anthropological, social and cultural aspects of a complex subject.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a case for the Exodus mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as a historical event. In an academic environment where most people simply ignore certain parts of the Bible due to the so-called "supernatural" aspects, debates like this ultimately go around in circles more than necessary. The first body paragraphs of this paper, therefore, tackle the stigmas which keep the Exodus from being considered as a serious topic from which history can be determined in one way or another, beginning with a supposed lack of archaeological evidence which, ironically, is rather comparable to what is only slightly more available for the Scythians as compared to the Hebrews. The rest of the papers deals in various historical, linguistic, cultural, geographical, and literary contexts  from which the historicity of the event in question can be sufficiently determined in either the affirmative or negative. The coherence of the arguments made herein will be left up to all the qualified scholars in related fields to determine.

This paper addresses the construction of a " national " identity of the Athenian inhabitants during the tyrannical governance of Peisistratos and his sons (561/0-511/0 BCE 1) mainly through a series of religious practices, such as the transfer of cults from the rural areas to the city (asty) of Athens, the reorganization of the Panathenaia, the establishment of the City Dionysia, etc. The present paper investigates how this developed " national " consciousness in the late 6th century, in the sense of the citizens' nationalization within the borders of the Athenian city-state, could enable the political unification of Attica and the emergence of Democracy, taking into account the constitutional reforms of Kleisthenes the Alcmeonid, after the expulsion of the Peisistratidai. This paper focuses on the interpretation of the concept of political equality and the formation of a political identity of the Athenians in the late 6th century onwards, two notions which are treated here as very closely integrated. It was that political consciousness, following the constitutional changes of Kleisthenes, which led the Athenians to their first great military victories in the early 5th century over the Persians. These victories, which indisputably confirmed the strength of the constitution, will be brought, in short, into discussion in order to clarify the transition of Athens from the narrow borders of an archaic city-state to the rise of its naval empire in the " golden " 5th century via the newly-established Democracy.

Der vorliegende Band ist das Resultat einer Tagung in Iaşi, die unter dem gleichen Titel zwischen dem 24. und 27. September 2014 stattfand. Die Konferenz wurde gemeinsam von der Universität Konstanz, der Alexandru-Ioan-Cuza-Universität Iaşi und dem Archäologischen Institut der Rumänischen Akademie in Iaşi organisiert. Zentrale in diesem Band behandelte Fragen betreffen dabei die Integrationsleistung des römischen Reiches, die Fragen des Bürgerrechts und seiner Verleihungsmodalitäten, Fragen nach Identitäten und ihrer Manifestationen innerhalb und außerhalb des Imperiums. Besonders geht es aber auch um die Rolle der so genannten „Barbaren“, die mit dem griechischen Begriff nur unzureichend – auch im römischen Kontext – erfasst werden. Der Austausch mit ihnen und ihren Traditionen, die bei allem Romanisierungsdruck manifest blieben, hat auch Rom und sein Reich beeinflusst. Entsprechend stellt sich der Zugang, den die hier zusammengestellten Beiträge mit einem Fokus auf die römischen Donauprovinzen und deren benachbarte Gebiete suchen, kontextuell folgendermaßen dar

Data mining of Indus Script Corpora reveal the purpose of ceramic (stoneware) bangles (22), seals, fillets as dharma saṁjñā, 'badges of responsibility'.They are Corporate badges, with deciphered Indus Script inscriptions. Socio-cultural framework of a workshop (smithy-forge as a temple) for a cluster of Vedic villages unravels organization of artisanal-seafaring merchant society as a Corporation with ancient guilds.

The reference to an archaeological settlement of Sarasvati civilization is based on the finds of fire-altars in many sites (80% or over 2000 sites out of 2600 sites of the Indus valley civilization are on the banks of Vedic River Sarasvati), exemplified by the octagonal brick found in Binjor fire-altar (close to Anupgarh and Ganweriwala). At Anupgarh, the river forks into two channels: one flowing southwards towards Jaisalmer and another westwards towards Ganweriwala.


Binjor Indus Script seal PLUS fire-altar with octagonal brick (a signature tune of Vedic culture). See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/12/binjor-seal-with-indus-script.html 
Binjor seal with Indus Script deciphered. Binjor attests Vedic River Sarasvati as a Himalayan navigable channel en route to Persian Gulf
Locus of Binjor, near Anupgarh on Vedic River Sarasvati

There are clear intimations of precursors to corporate life in ancient Bharatam with the social organization of the samajam governed by the weltanchauung of dharma. By unambiguous allocation of socio-cultural responsibilities governing the economic activity and businesses (production and marketing) of Bharatam Janam in clusters of villages, dharma was enshrined as the inviolate principle of all cosmic phenomena manifested in material aspects of living.

There are clear indications that cororate form (sreni) was used for the business of people. One one ceramic (stoneware) bangle (m1639) such a sreni is clearly identified headed by a sreshthin, guild-master. Thus, millennia before the Roman proto-corporations, Bharatam Janam, 'metalcaster folk' had evolved a system of socio-cultural organization of commonwealths (janapadas) for conducting businesses. Assets of the sreni were deposited into the treasury of the commonwealth and were distinct from the assets of the individual members of the sreni, many of whom were artisans and seafaring merchants.
Location of Balakot, a site of Saraswvati civilization where a ceramic (stoneware) bangle with inscription was found. (Balakot 06)
See: http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/shell-working-at-ancient-balakot-pakistan/ Shell working at Ancient Balakot, Pakistan (Expedition, UPenn., Vol. 19, Issue 2, January, 1977)
  Balakot 06 Ceramic (stoneware) bangle with inscription

Intimations of such janapadas are seen in the way distinct badges (as corporate badges) evolved for specific functionaries. Roots of the corporate form detailed in Kautilya's Arthas'astra are to be found in the corporate identities indicated by distinct structural elements in Indus Script corpora such as ceramic (stoneware) bangles, fillets, seals -- all with inscriptions -- as Dharma saṁjñā Corporate badges. For an Economic History of Corporate form in Ancient India, see a paper by Vikramaditya S. Khanna (2005): http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=796464

It is possible to read the sã̄gāḍā°ḍī 'lathe, portable furnace' hieroglyph-multiplex as rebus: sanghar 'fortification'; jangada 'consignments on approval' The pronunciation in Gujarati is jangaḍ relatable to jangāḍiyo ‘a military guard who accompanies treasure into the treasury’ (of the commonwealth or guild)(Gujarati). Such a dharma saṁjñā 'corporate badge' may be the gold fillet with 'lathe' hieroglyph.

Gold paṭa, 'fillet'. Punctuated design on both ends. Mohenjodaro.


Executive summary: Socio-cultural framework of Vedic village clusters of Bronze Age

The workshops evidenced by circular platforms are Corporations of the Bronze Age, with the emergence of guilds of artisans with specific functions and responsibilities to promote the Corporation as a commonwealth. It was a smiths' guild at work on circular platforms of Harappa using tablets as category 'tallies' for the final shipment of package with a seal impression. each functionary in the guild had a recognizable paṭa 'badge' (Corporate badge of dharma, of responsibility assigned in a socio-cultural organization of the samajam). A Bronze Age village of Bharatam Janam or a cluster of such villages was a janapada, a Corporation of artisan guilds.

Three paṭa 'badges' are shown on the stone statue of the so-called 'priest-king' who wears a fillet on his forehead and also on hi right shoulder. A third badge is signified on his uttariyam (shawl) which is embellished with the hieroglyphs of 'trefoils' signifying tri-dhAtu 'three mineral' strands of dhā̆vaḍ 'smelter', with assigned functional responsibility.of a Potr 'purifier'.

It is suggested that many such badges were worn by artisans of a Vedic village of the Bronze Age; such badges were ceramic (stoneware) bangles.
  An "eye bead" made of gold with steatite inlay, Harappa. Fired steatite beads appear to have been extremely important to the Indus people because they were incorporated into exquisite ornaments, such as this "eye bead" made of gold with steatite inlay found in 1995 at Harappa [Harappa Phase]. https://www.harappa.com/slide/gold-disc
The central ornament worn on the forehead of the famous "priest-king" sculpture from Mohenjo-daro appears to represent an eye bead, possibly made of gold with steatite inlay in the center. https://www.harappa.com/slide/priest-king-forehead

 
The weltanchauung, 'world perception' of artisans in a Vedic village was governed by 1. dharma, assigned responsibilities and 2. the metaphor of a kole.l 'smithy-forge' as a kole.l 'temple'.
Male head probably broken from a seated sculpture. Finely braided or wavy combed hair tied into a double bun on the back of the head and a plain fillet or headband with hanging ribbons falling down the back. The upper lip is shaved and a closely cropped and combed beard lines the pronounced lower jaw.
  Male head shows the typical arrangement of the hair in a double bun, held in place by a thin fillet (badge) tied on the forehead.

Functions assigned were recognized by distribution of ceramic (stoneware) bangles worn as paṭa, 'socio-cultural honour-badges'. Such a paṭa m. ʻ slab, tablet, metal plate ʼ,was distinct from the seals and tablets.

Such a paṭa was a gold fillet with the inscribed sã̄gāḍā°ḍī 'lathe, portable furnace' hieroglyph-multiplex .

Hieroglyph: सांगड [ sāṅgaḍa ]  That member of a turner's apparatus by which the piece to be turned is confined and steadied. सांगडीस धरणें To take into linkedness or close connection with, lit. fig.Rebus 1: Sangara [fr. saŋ+gṛ1 to sing, proclaim, cp. gāyati & gīta] 1. a promise, agreement J iv.105, 111, 473; v.25, 479; sangaraŋ karoti to make a compact Vin i.247; J (Pali) Rebus 2: śã̄gaḍa 'catamaran'. Such a सांगड [ sāṅgaḍa ] is alsoa hieroglyph-multiplex, f A body formed of two or more (fruits, animals, men) linked or joined together.

Such a paṭa were two anthropomorphs of copper/bronze with spread legs of a human body. The rebus reading of the hieroglyph-multiplex (hypertext) on the badges: 1. helmsman, merchantman, (metal) suercargo, engraver, merchant, worker in wood and iron; 2. helmsman, (metal) supercargo, iron worker

Spread legs on both anthropomorphs signify कर्णक 'spread legs' rebus: 'helmsman'

Sharply defined inscriptions on each of the 22 ceramic (stoneware) bangles indicate 21 sharply assigned responsibilities within the guild for metalwork, for e.g. 21 functional allocations of responsibilitie of artisans delineated in a Vedic village:
1. iron smelting, furnace work (m1659)
2. metal casting, engraving, documenting supercargo (m1647)
3. bronze (casting)(m1646)
4. gota (laterite) (m1641)
5. Seafaring merchant, magnetite ingot workshop (m1643)
6. Smithy, forge (m1641)
7. Moltencast copper, brass (m1640)
8. Alloy metal mint, weapons, implements workshop, guild master workshop (m1639)
9. Bronze ingots, implements, magnetite ingots (m1638)
10. Metalcasting workshop (cire perdue?)(m1637)
11. Metal implements, weapons, smithy, forge (m1636)
12. Blacksmith, seafaring merchant (m1634)
13. Helman for supercargo boat, iron furnace work, metals workshop (m1633)
14. Metal casting, alloy mixing workshop (m1632)
15. dhā̆vaḍ 'smelter', supercargo of implements (m1631)
16. Magnetite ingots, furnace work, supercargo engraver (m1630)
17. Iron furnace work, metal casting of tin, helmsman supercargo of metals, bharat ‘mixed alloys’  metalworker (m1629)
18. Minerals workshop guild (h2576)
19. Magnetite ingots, smelter (h1010)
20. dhā̆vaḍ 'smelter' tri-dhAtu, '‘three minerals (H98-3516/8667-01)
21. Seafaring merchant, supercargo engraver(Blkt-6)

This Forum discussion aims to explore the topic of repatriation from a variety of viewpoints considering twenty-first century realities in the region. The contributions
fall into three main categories addressing general background matters, presenting case studies and offering future directions. We hop  that the differing perspectives assembled in this issue of JEMAHS will contribute to the ongoing debate regarding repatriation, curation and ownership of artifacts, some now housed far from their places of origin.

Chapter 3 from The City of Reason vol 1 Cities and Citizenship
by Dr Peter Critchley

The purpose of this study is to recover politics as a creative and rational arena of discourse capable of uniting disparate individuals within a reasonable commonality.

The citizen ideal as it was originally conceived and practised in classical Greece formed a complete contrast with modern notions of citizenship. The overarching ethic uniting citizens with each other within the polis was the organic and ecological conception of politics as integral to personal development. This is what the Greeks defined as paideia. As with so many of the classical terms defining politics, there is no adequate English translation with which to translate the meaning of this term in all of its richness. Paideia is normally translated as education, but the term connotes much more than this. By paideia the Greeks understood a formative and life-long process through which the individual became an asset to the polis, to his friends and family, capable of and willing to live up to the highest ideals of the community. The term is expansive and adumbrates a range of potentialities from the personal to the public. There is no English equivalent. The closest is the German concept of Bildung, which played a crucial role in Hegel’s political philosophy. This concept encompasses character development, growth, and a well-rounded enculturation so that the body politic is equipped with the knowledge and skills it needs to flourish. Bildung affirms the creative integration of the individual into the environment through the ability to shape, appreciate and transform that environment as his or her own world, an extension of one’s flourishing humanity. Educated thus, the individual acquires a comprehensive sense of duty as well as becoming capable of assuming ethical and political responsibility for the world around. The modern instrumental notion of means and ends is totally inappropriate in this context. The individual and the polis are simultaneously means and ends – the end of the polis is human self-realisation, the self-realisation of the citizen is the means by which the polis flourishes. Excellence in personal and public life are mutually conditional. The polis is the realised community of realised individuals. Education is therefore a unified process of self- and civic-development. Here is the answer to Marx’s question as to who shall educate the educator. If the polis is the ‘school’ in which the highest virtues of the individual as citizen were formed and given expression, it is also informed by the public commitment of the citizens. Politics was concerned not simply with administering the collective affairs of the polis but also with nurturing its members as public beings who were capable of assuming a citizen identity through developing the competence to appreciate and to act in the public interest. Paideia was both a civic schooling and personal training which cultivated both independence of mind and individual responsibility within an overarching civic culture and commitment. In comparison, modern notions of politics as the effective administration of public order and of education as the acquisition of knowledge and skills are remarkably thin. To the Athenians, politics and education go together as social practices. The conception is inherently organic and holistic, ruling out any instrumental means-ends rationality and the strict demarcation of distinctive spheres which pervades the modern world. Hellenic politics is concerned not merely with the efficient transaction of public business and the making of laws but with the human growth of its participants. The process by which the Athenians gathered as an ekklesia to decide upon policies was simultaneously a mutual education in which each learned the judgement to act justly according to an appreciation of civic ideals of right and wrong. The political realm was not strictly institutional and administrative but was indeed a process in being a continuous, everyday framework for intellectual, ethical, and personal growth. Paideia nurtured the capacity of individuals to participate in public affairs in a creatively meaningful sense, engaging their best abilities to promote the development of the polis and ensuring their own self-development, succeeding in determining their private affairs in accordance with the collective affairs of the public community.