Showing papers in "Antiquity in 1981"

The two Indian epics vis - à - vis archaeology

Abstract: The historicity of the two Indian epics, viz., the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyana, has been the subject of heated debate ever since these epics attracted the attention of scholars, both in India and abroad. Thus, while there are some who hold that every event mentioned in these epics is historically true, there are others who regard them as mere figments of the imagination. Apart from the possibility that ‘orthodoxy’ and ‘reactionary attitude’ may respectively be partly responsible for such extremely divergent views, the confusion seems to arise from the fact that these epics are neither contemporary documentation of the episodes concerned nor have their texts remained immune from large-scale interpolations.

L'oracle d'Apamée

Abstract: Quoique peu nombreuses, les sources tant litteraires (Dion Cassius, LXXIX, 8, 5-6 et LXXIX, 34, 2-4 ; Libanius, Orat., XLVIII, 14 et Epist., 1351) qu'epigraphiques (JGRR, I, 4 = IG, XIV, 2482 ; CIL, XII, 1277) s'accordent a attester l'importance essentielle du sanctuaire oraculaire de Zeus Belos dans l'histoire religieuse et culturelle d'Apamee. A ce dieu cosmique de caractere oriental (Fortunae rector et magister mentis), on associera la presence d'un Tycheion dans la ville et la permanence d'une tradition neoplatonicienne. Dans ce contexte s'explique aussi l'acharnement de l'eveque Marcel a detruire le temple monumental dedie au dieu (Theodoret, Hist, eccl., V, 21, 7-10).

Contenu et effets de l'initiation isiaque

Abstract: L'initiation est un acte capital apportant la promesse d'une immortalite bienheureuse, donnant naissance a une vie de la grâce placee sous la protection bienveillante d'Isis et d'Osiris, permettant l'accession au sacerdoce ou procurant au moins une place privilegiee au sein du culte, revelant la signification profonde des mythes et des dieux, et enfin debouchant sur la gnose d'Osiris, qui rend possible une participation a la nature inalterable de ce dieu. La commemoration du mythe osirien formait le canevas de l'initiation aux sacra d'Osiris, tandis que l'initiation a Isis revelait la destinee funeraire.

La chevelure d'Isis

Abstract: A la mort d'Osiris, dit Plutarque (De Is. et Os., 14), Isis coupa une de ses boucles et prit le deuil a Coptos. Ce temoignage, dont la valeur a ete contestee, est confirme par les sources egyptiennes et grecques. Celles-ci font apparaitre que la chevelure d'Isis joue un role considerable dans le culte egyptien, que le deuil de la deesse a Coptos est atteste par plusieurs documents, et que les adeptes de la religion egyptienne se rasent en certaines circonstances, notamment a l'occasion de deuils qui ont un caractere religieux.

Préoccupations érudites dans la tradition du règne de Romulus

Abstract: La tradition du regne de Romulus connait le phenomene de l'amplification erudite, les ecrivains anciens gonflant leur recit avec des notices puisees a des sources diverses (antiquaires, grammairiens, juristes) et plus ou moins bien integrees a leur narration : il peut s'agir de pseudo-etymologies, d'anecdotes etiologiques, d'anachronismes, de variantes multiples. Ces notices erudites repondent a differentes finalites, et l'accueil qui leur est reserve varie

Les Grecs et leurs serpents. Premiers résultats de taxonomique des sources anciennes

Abstract: Ancient Greek herpetology is often assumed to be unrelated to the criteria and classification of modern science. The snakes have been stated to be unidentifiable from their characteristics and description as given in the ancient tradition, and therefore most of them have been declared "mythical" or "fabulous". Yet, when combined with the evidence available in modern herpetology, the ancient data from Greece both in texts and archaeological pieces are found to be more reliable than formerly expected. It is possible to identify the genera and even the species, in some well-documented cases. The examples developed in this article deal with the non-poisonous snakes (Colubrids) involved in the daily life and in the religion of the ancient Greeks. The snakes related to deities such as Asclepios, the god of medicine, are to be identified with the European Rat-snakes (Elaphe gen.), two species of which are especially involved in his cult and symbols : Elaphe quatuorlineata and Elaphe longissima.

The late Hallstatt chieftain's grave at Hochdorf

Abstract: The roots of Celtic civilization can be seen to lie in the hill strongholds of late Hallstatt period in Eastern France, Switzerland and Southern Germany, distinguished by their Mediterranean contacts: these have been classed as the residences of chieftains, Furstensitze, by Kimmig (1968). Three of these Furstensitze have particularly attracted archaeological attention in the last 30 years, in Southern Germany, the Heuneburg on the Upper Danube (Kimmig, 1968; Kimmig/Gersbach, 1971), and the Hohenasperg near Ludwigsburg (Zurn, 1970), and in Burgundy Mt Lassois near Châtillonsur-Seine (Joffroy, 1960). The excavation of the Heuneburg was mainly confined to the settlement site itself, whereas we know the Hohenasperg only from the graves surrounding the site. The excavation of the Grafenbuhl tumulus by Hartwig Zurn in 1964/65 (Zurn, 1970) has shown, however, that the importance of the Hohenasperg must have been at least equal to that of the Heuneburg.

The first ‘Woodhenge’ in Middle Europe

Abstract: In 1967 the regional museum for prehistory at Halle (Saale) began an excavation in the field known as the Schalkenburg, near Quenstedt, which lies in Hettstedt district, on the eastern edge of the Harz mountains, about 50 km north-west of Halle, in the south-west of the German Democratic Republic (PL. xxva). The excavations were carried out annually in the months of July and August (Behrens & Schroter 1980), and their aim was to investigate a settlement of the neolithic Bernburg culture.

Le symbolisme funéraire de la chouette

Abstract: La presence de petites figures de chouette en or dans le mobilier des tombes myceniennes (Kakovatos, Ano Englianos, Peristeria) est liee au symbolisme funeraire qui etait attache a l'oiseau de nuit dans l'antiquite, en particulier a son role apotropaique. Les allusions a ce symbolisme chez les auteurs anciens permettent d'en preciser la nature. Les documents archeologiques posterieurs confirment par ailleurs l'interpretation proposee.

Persuasion et violence chez Platon

Abstract: La presence continue, dans les Dialogues, du couple peitho-bia fait echo a l'important debat, moral et politique, qui mit aux prises divers penseurs du Ve siecle. Pour le clarifier, Platon etend la problematique aux domaines de la psychologie et de la metaphysique. S'il opte resolument pour une ethique de la juste persuasion, fondee sur la recherche du vrai, et s'est efforce d'y conformer sa conduite, certaines de ses conceptions politiques, en raison de l'idealisme qui les inspire, restent, sous ce rapport, fort equivoques.

Archaeological retrospect 2

Abstract: It is initially flattering to receive an invitation to be retrospective in ANTIQUITY. The moment of truth comes soon, however, as thought about writing begins. Was the growth of one's career and ideas about archaeology so smoothly flowing and well reasoned as casual and doubtless fatuous fancy first recalls? How fairly have earlier attempts at retrospection (and I've attempted several: 1972a, 1972b, 1974) corresponded to reality, and what, if anything, remains to be said? What follows, therefore, is offered most diffidently. My old teacher, Henri Frankfort, claimed the most important element in the formation of a career was good luck: I have certainly had my share of it.

The first Welshman: excavations at Pontnewydd

Abstract: Pontnewydd Cave lies in the Elwy Valley, near the western edge of the Vale of Clywd (FIG. 1), six km north-west of the modern town of Denbigh. The site first became well-known through the successive investigations of the nineteenth-century geologists Professors William Boyd Dawkins and T. H. McKenny Hughes, the latter working with the Reverend D. R. Thomas, then Vicar of Cefn. Boyd Dawkins' s excavations at the site (1874, 286–7; 1880, 192) yielded a fauna which included hippopotamus, but no artifacts were observed. The work of Hughes & Thomas (1874; Hughes, 1887) seems to have been confined principally to scouring Boyd Dawkins' s dumps, and yielded not only fauna but also evidence of the presence of man in the form both of artifacts and of a human molar tooth, since lost. This molar has long excited interest on account of its description by Busk (in Hughes & Thomas, 1874, 390) as being ‘of very large size’ and looking ‘quite as ancient as the rest [of the fauna]’. One of the many research aims of the current investigation was, therefore, to examine the possibility that the cave was a site where human remains might be found in association with an archaeological industry.

Quelques observations concernant la mention d'un patronat municipal dans les inscriptions

Abstract: Le fait qu'un senateur ou un procurateur avaient des chances de survie epigraphique superieures a celles d'un simple eques ou d'un membre de la bourgeoisie municipale n'implique nullement qu'ils aient ete aussi en meilleure position pour que parvienne jusqu'a nous le souvenir d'un patronat municipal exerce par eux. A l'examen, il apparait, en effet, que les patronats municipaux etaient mentionnes seulement dans les inscriptions des villes clientes. La, tous les patrons municipaux se trouvaient a egalite, quelle que fut leur condition sociale. Dans l'echantillon epigraphique constitue par les patronats municipaux que nous connaissons, les patrons de rang senatorial ou procuratorien ne sont, des lors, pas surrepresentes par rapport a la realite.

W. F. Libby and the development of radiocarbon dating

Abstract: Radiocarbon dating is probably the greatest contribution that has been made to archaeology by the physical sciences, and we owe its existence to the genius of Willard Frank Libby, who died in Los Angeles at the age of 71 years on 8 September 1980. His death is a loss both to archaeology and, because of the breadth of his scientific interests and achievements, to science at large.

Schliemann's discovery of ‘Priam's Treasure’: two enigmas

Abstract: There has always been an enigma over the precise date during the Troy excavations of 1873 when Schliemann found the collection of metalwork which he dignified as ‘Priam's Treasure’ . His only published indication of the date appears to be his statement in 1884 that the discovery was made ‘at the end of May 1873’ (Schliemann 1884, 57). Biographers, even those who have studied Schliemann' s unpublished diaries and letters, have proposed a variety of dates, Ludwig places it ‘on a morning in the middle of June, one day before the termination of the work’ , in other words on the 14th June (Ludwig, 1931, 179). Payne prefers 30th May, ‘or a few days earlier’ (Payne, 1958, 116). Stone seems to settle for Saturday 31st May (Stone, 1976, 318f). Poole and Deuel place the discovery simply in late May or early June (Poole, 1967, 133; Deuel, 1978, 194). Brackman suggests 17th June or several days earlier, but suspends judgement on the matter (Brackman, 1974, 157). Ernst Meyer, who, because of his extensive work on the Schliemann papers in the late 1930s, has some claim to be regarded as the definitive biographer, at first gave the date as lying between 7th and 10th June (Meyer, 1953, I, 342, n. 335). Later, however, he narrowed this to 7th June on the authority of an otherwise unpublished entry in Schliemann's diary (Meyer, 1969, 273). Thus there is not only disagreement in the secondary sources, but in Schliemann's own writings; for this date, which is indeed explicitly named in the diary, conflicts with Schliemann's published statement referring to ‘the end of May 1873’.

The Mallia ‘wasp’ pendant reconsidered

Abstract: The small, golden pendant from the Minoan settlement of Mallia on the island of Crete (PL 1) is one of the best known pieces of jewellery from Minoan, if not all, prehistoric times First published in 1930 (Demargne, 1930), it was unearthed in the Chrysolakkos cemetery area of the palace at Mallia Although dating is difficult, the piece is usually assigned a date in Middle Minoan times, generally to MM I, between roughly 2000 and 1700 BC (Demargne, 1930, 419; Evans, 1935, 75–6; Higgins, 1967, 47, 199)

La langue homérique et le rayonnement littéraire de l'Eubée

Abstract: Dans l'ensemble, la langue epique atteste le troisieme allongement compensatoire, les formes avec allongement etant susceptibles d'en recouvrir de plus anciennes, qui maintiendraient les groupes dont la disparition entraine l'allongement. Il y a toutefois quelques exceptions, qui ne sont pas d'emploi formulaire et pourraient resulter de l'influence de l'ionien occidental sur la tradition epique. Il en va de meme pour les quelques rares cas de correptio attica. On rapprochera ces faits de l'importance que semblent avoir eue l'Eubee et surtout Chalcis au VIIIe s.

La réfutation des analogies dans l'Hermotime de Lucien

Abstract: Dans toute la partie centrale de l'Hermotime, Lucien use d'une methode consciente et systematique : la refutation des analogies. On a voulu souligner ici l'interet philosophique tres actuel du procede et l'originalite assez meconnue de Lucien.

Was the Roman "Youth" an "Adult" socially ?

Abstract: La jeunesse, d'apres certains sociologues et psychologues, ne serait qu'une « decouverte » plus ou moins recente. S'inscrivant dans cette tendance, H. W. Pleket estime que l'antiquite classique n'a pas connu de jeunesse, tout au plus de jeunes adultes. Par l'etude du statut juridique, politique et militaire des jeunes gens, l'auteur conteste la pertinence de cette these, tant pour une metropole comme Rome que pour des villes d'importance secondaire.

La folie avant Foucault : furor et ferocia

Abstract: Furor est la folie furieuse qui rend celui qui en est atteint dangereux pour sa vie et pour celle des autres ; ferocia est l'exaltation mystique du guerrier indo-europeen qui survit dans la tradition mythique de l'histoire romaine. A la lumiere de Tite-Live et de la Loi des XII Tables, l'auteur suggere l'hypothese que l'alienation extreme du furiosus resulte de la degradation sociale et culturelle qu'entraine, pour la ferocia individuelle, la discipline collective de l'armee romaine des les premiers siecles de la Republique.

The Cerne Abbas Giant: the documentary evidence

Abstract: In his account of the changes made to the figure of the Cerne Giant by successive cleanings and restorations during the period 1764–1980, Leslie Grinsell refers to the curious lack of documentary references to the Giant before the middle of the eighteenth century, and also makes it clear that, because of the alterations to the figure, dating on stylistic evidence must necessarily be very tentative (Grinsell, 1980). It is the purpose of this article to review some of the major sources of information relating to Cerne Abbas and to consider this remarkable absence of any mention of the Giant. The complete silence of all the documentary sources is of course totally negative evidence and cannot of itself disprove the existence of the Giant; there is no reason why he should have been mentioned in many of the documents since he lay on no boundary and provided no incom e for landowners or their tenants. But the total absence of any reference in all the numerous documents of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries must raise a doubt as to whether the figure was there at all; at least it seems likely that the grass had been allowed to grow over him during the later Middle Ages and that he was not re-cut until after the mid-seventeenth century, and a re-cut figure might bear only a vague resemblance to the original, particularly if this had been covered by grass for many years.

La législation aristocratique de Locres Épizéphyrienne dite législation de Zaleukos

Abstract: La legislation archaique de Locres Epizephyrienne communement appelee legislation de Zaleukos a ete attribuee a ce legislateur legendaire imagine par les propagandistes du parti democra tique a l'occasion de la reforme qui, en 347, donna a la cite une constitution d'inspiration nettement democratique. De type aristocratique, la legislation archaique de Locres avait un caractere eminemment conservateur et visait a proteger l'integrite des proprietes foncieres a un moment ou la naissance et le developpement d'une economie monetaire venaient mettre en danger la puissance de l'aristocratie fonciere (Ire moitie du VIe siecle av. II. ere).

The lunar observatory hypothesis at Carnac: a reconsideration

Abstract: One of the most spectacular of all the theories recently advanced in archaeoastronomy concerns the standing stones of Carnac in southern Brittany. The possibility that the famous prehistoric megaliths or ‘menhirs’ in this region represent the remains of an extensive, highly accurate lunar observatory has excited much interest in both academic and popular literature. In the company of two experienced archaeologists I recently set out to re-examine and record the field evidence on which the lunar observatory theory is based. The result of this work is to cast serious doubt on the theory, and to illustrate the difficulties of assessing the astronomy of the megalith builders.

Cornelia Cet(h)egilla

Abstract: L'examen de l'inscription de Tellene (AE, 1967, 57), a la lumiere d'une etude globale des alliances matrimoniales et de leurs implications sociologiques et onomastiques dans l'ordre senatorial romain des deux premiers siecles, permet de proposer une revision de l'arbre genealogique des Calpurnii Pisones, Cornelii Scipiones Salvidieni Orfiti et Gavii Squillae de cette epoque.

Die Inschriften von Alba Fucens und die gens Herennia

Abstract: Les auteurs preparent une edition complete des inscriptions d'Alba Fucens. Depuis la publication du tome IX du C.I.L. (a. 1883), le nombre des inscriptions de ce territoire est passe de 150 a c. 300. L'examen des inscriptions de la gens Herennia prouve la necessite de rassembler les membra disiecta dans un corpus regional.

The Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England)

Abstract: My original title deliberately contained several layers of ambiguity. First, my paper is official and ‘on the record’. Secondly, it refers incidentally to RCHM'S ‘track record’ and makes a few observations about the Commission's achievements and failures. Thirdly, and most importantly, it discusses the nature and future of that part of the national record of England's cultural heritage for which the Commission has the prime responsibility. That responsibility, implicit in the original 1908 Royal Warrant, and made explicit in its revised Warrant of 1963, involves the acquisition, storage and dissemination of information about the country's historic monuments and constructions in the widest sense of the phrase. The development of such a national record was envisaged by those who, in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, agitated for the setting up of a Commission-type body. The record was to be the basis on which such a body could carry out its most pressing function, that is to assess the nation's monumental heritage in order to advise on what is worthy of preservation. A whole history could be written on how and why things turned out differently, but what I want to do here is to adumbrate the new framework for the changing emphases in the role of the Commission in the later twentieth century.

Le vocabulaire de la métis dans les Nuées d'Aristophane

Abstract: Marcel Detienne et Jean-Pierre Vernant, dans leur livre Les ruses de l'Intelligence. La metis des Grecs, ont montre que la metis s'exercait notamment dans l'activite du Sophiste. A la suite de leurs travaux, l'auteur revele qu'une grande partie du vocabulaire de la metis mis en evidence par les deux savants francais apparait dans les Nuees, l'oeuvre par excellence dirigee contre les Sophistes.

Les Étéocrétois et l'origine de l'alphabet grec

Abstract: La reedition des textes eteocretois (ecrits en alphabet grec, mais en langue non hellenique) a revele une lettre nouvelle valant peut-etre yod, qui atteste l'existence de contacts graphiques exclusifs entre le monde phenicien et la Crete aux environs du IXe-VIIIe siecle. Cet element, ajoute a plusieurs autres indices, suggere la possibilite que l'alphabet grec ait pu etre invente en Crete par les Eteocretois.