Showing papers in "Classical World in 1996"

Curse tablets and binding spells from the ancient world

Abstract: In the ancient Graeco-Roman world, it was a common practice to curse an enemy or rival by writing an incantation on a tablet and dedicating it to a god or spirit. More than a thousand such texts, written between the fifth century BC and the fifth century AD, have been discovered in places ranging from North Africa to England, and from Syria to Spain. Until now, however, there has been no English translation of these tablets and indeed the texts themselves have remained virtually unknown. This volume makes these fascinating texts available for the first time. A substantial introduction supplies the full cultural, social, and historical context for the texts. The selected translations, arranged thematically, are fully annotated and accompanied by extensive commentary. Reflecting a wide range of social occasions, including lawsuits, love affairs, business competition, and horse-races, the tablets open a window into the hearts and minds of ordinary people, shedding light on a dimension of classical society in which historians today are increasingly interested.

Iron Age Communities in Britain

Abstract: A solution to get the problem off, have you found it? Really? What kind of solution do you resolve the problem? From what sources? Well, there are so many questions that we utter every day. No matter how you will get the solution, it will mean better. You can take the reference from some books. And the iron age communities in britain is one book that we really recommend you to read, to get more solutions in solving this problem.

Gender and Immortality: Heroines in Ancient Greek Myth and Cult

Abstract: In recent years, the topic of ancient Greek hero cult has been the focus of considerable discussion among classicists. Little attention, however, has been paid to female heroized figures. Here Deborah Lyons argues for the heroine as a distinct category in ancient Greek religious ideology and daily practice. The heroine, she believes, must be located within a network of relations between male and female, mortal and immortal. Using evidence ranging from Homeric epic to Attic vase painting to ancient travel writing, she attempts to re-integrate the feminine into our picture of Greek notions of the hero. According to Lyons, heroines differ from male heroes in several crucial ways, among which is the ability to cross the boundaries between mortal and immortal. She further shows that attention to heroines clarifies fundamental Greek ideas of mortal/immortal relationships.The book first discusses heroines both in relation to heroes and as a separate religious and mythic phenomenon. It examines the cultural meanings of heroines in ritual and representation, their use as examples for mortals, and their typical "biographies." The model of "ritual antagonism, " in which two mythic figures represented as hostile share a cult, is ultimately modified through an exploration of the mythic correspondences between the god Dionysos and the heroines surrounding him, and through a rethinking of the relationship between Iphigeneia and Artemis. An appendix, which identifies more than five hundred heroines, rounds out this lively work.

Adoption in IV. century Athens

Abstract: The aim of the investigation is to throw light on the adoption institution. Much attention has been devoted to the contractual nature of the adoption which was carried out inter vivos as opposed to the unilateral nature of a testamentary adoption. In the present work it is argued that the main difference between the different types of adoption was one of procedure: adoption took place in public, in the adopter's phratry and deme, no matter whether prior to the death of the adopter or posthumously. It is also argued that it was the formal recognition of the adoptee by the adopter's phtatry and deme which constituted the adoption itself and its validity, legal as well as social. Further, the tomb cult, aspects of Athenian family-life and the Athenian legislation, which regulated it, are treated to the extent to which they have a direct influence on the Athenian institution of adoption.

Tradition in Late antique sculpture : conservation, modernization, production

Abstract: This study examines traditions in late-Antique sculpture, including conservation, modernisation and production. In the Roman world, marble sculpture could be reworked for several reasons. The most common form of reworking, generally easy to recognise, could be termed functional - a portrait could be re-cut to represent another person, or a complete sculpture modified for a new setting. In consequence, much Roman sculpture, including well-known monuments like the Ara Pacis, in fact represent several working phases.

Greek poetry of the Imperial Period : an anthology

Abstract: Introduction: 1. Some historical developments 2. Education and culture 3. Christianity 4. Pagan poetry in the Imperial period The Anthology: Anacreontea Mesomedes Epigrams, Quintus Smyrnaeus Nonnus Musaeus Oppian [Oppian], [Manetho], [Orpheus], Babrius The Commentary Indexes.

Nero's Masks

Abstract: Two sources, Suetonius and Dio Cassius, report that Nero performed some of his theatrical roles while wearing portrait masks of himself and his female lovers. Shadi Bartsch, in her recent fascinating study of theatricality under Nero and his successors, calls attention to this remarkable fact, focusing in particular on the narrative in Suetonius as emblematic of the endemic confusion between reality and theatricality in the reign of this performer emperor.' A closer examination of these masks against the background of both contemporary Roman stage practice and earlier Roman traditions will suggest that they constitute a significant further dimension to the scandal of Nero's performances. Dio's account at least implies recognition of this scandal. Both texts are relatively brief and worth citing in full:

Archaic Greek poetry : an anthology

Abstract: With this anthology, Barbara Hughes Fowler presents a comprehensive selection of Greek poetry of the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Fowler's translations provide access to six Homeric hymns, eight selections from Bakchylides, 11 odes of Pindar, selections from the iambicists and elegists, virtually all of Archilochos and of the lyricists, including Sappho, and a number of anonymous poems about work, play and politics. Archaic poets delighted in all that was radiant and delicate, and their poems are read for their narrative charm, celebration of nature, and playful sensuality. There are love poems here, as well as poems of friendship and warfare, of colonisation and homesickness; and there are tantalizing fragments of fables. Along with her notes and bibliography, Fowler has provided a biographical list of poets and a glossary of proper names. In addition to its breadth of subject matter, "Archaic Greek Poetry" can claim to be the only volume of its kind translated by a contemporary published poet. Barbara Hughes Fowler offers translations true to the original Greek, while providing modern readers with examples of the beauty of lyric poetry. Students and scholars of classical and comparative literature, ancient history, and art history, as well as lovers of lyric poetry, should find this volume useful.