Keywords: Schizoaffective disorder; psychotic symptoms; mood disorders; insight;
Schizoaffective disorder represents a psychiatric condition characterized by symptoms of both schizophrenia and mood disorders, such as bipolar disorder or depression. Together, these two conditions have a major impact on individuals and affect many aspects of their lives. Moreover, practicians often have difficulties in diagnosing and treating the patients suffering from this disorder. In patients with psychiatric conditions, including schizoaffective disorder, the lack of insight is frequently a significant problem. Objectives: This paper aims to provide a general perspective upon the evolution of schizoaffective disorder and to emphasize the patients' limited capacity to recognise their condition and the need for treatment. Methods: This article will present the clinical case of a 37-year old woman, who is brought by the police to the ER of "Socola” Institute of Psychiatry for psychomotor agitation, emotional lability, mood swings, delusions of prejudice and persecution, impulsive behavior and aggressiveness towards her parents, especially her father. Conclusions: Impairment of insight is considered an important characteristic of psychiatric disorders, including schizoaffective disorder. It is crucial for physicians to develop trusting relationships with both the patient and the patient’s family in order to improve the quality of life of both patients and their families.
More...Keywords: Schizophrenia; early diagnostic; prognosis;
Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that requires lifelong treatment. Early intervention can help control symptoms before other complications occur and can help improve the long-term outlook. There is evidence that pharmacological interventions, when used early and in a sustained manner, can improve the long-term prognosis. Because schizophrenia is difficult to diagnose before the onset of acute symptoms, treatment may be delayed for a significant period of time. In some situations, the symptoms may be evident since childhood, in early-onset, disorganized or hebephrenic type, with a very severe prognosis. Unfortunately, the symptoms of this period often go unnoticed, especially due to the fact that the parents and the child's entourage do not have the necessary information to notice them. In this context, the question arises whether a form of screening and monitoring of children with early behavioral changes, through teachers, school doctors and psychologists, could lead to early therapeutic intervention, with better long-term results. The present case shows a frequent situation, in which the patient presents at adult age due to an aggravation of the symptoms, which were present since childhood. Due to the delayed intervention, the patient's evolution was marked by frequent relapses and resistance to most of the treatments. The prognosis is a reserved one, emphasizing the importance of implementing methods for early detection of the pathology, since childhood, when an early intervention could have better results.
More...Keywords: dating; analytical; pottery; archaeomagnetic; conservation; geophysical; palaeoenvironment; chemical; aDNA; spectroscopy;
The present paper constitutes a review of the archaeometric (or archaeological sciences) studies focusing on the area of Aegean between 30000 and 3000 BC., alongside a focus on the area of Dodecanese islands (SE Aegean) for the period from 800 to 200 BC. This systematic work is part of a project (2012-2013) that aimed to create a database including metadata related to the diachronic habitation in Aegean. The current review is classified into nine broad categories, namely Chemical Analysis, Dating Techniques, Palaeoenvironment, aDNA Analysis, Archaeomagnetism, Isotopic Analysis, Restoration and Conservation and Geophysical studies. This interdisciplinary review serves as a useful guide to a significant academic discipline, that of archaeological sciences, which is progressively advanced in methods, techniques and major applications. Delving into the material culture offers valuable information to the deciphering of the human prehistoric and historic past.
More...Keywords: Kingdom of Israel; Kingdom of Judea; Assyria; Chariots; Ancient warfare; Battle of Qarqar;
The Israelite-Judaean Military Service in the Armies of Assyria has not been fully discussed, and this article is an attempt to offer a fuller picture of this phenomenon. This article is composed of two parts. The first will concentrate and discuss all the evidence we have for Israelite and Judaean units that were absorbed into the Assyrian army, which will be used as a foundation for the second half of the article. All this will attempt to show that the inscription detailing the Assyrian capture of 200 Israeli chariots, rather than 50 as is written in two other inscriptions, is the more accurate one, and then discuss the implications of such a conclusion. The second part is the first attempt to concentrate all the names of possible Assyrian soldiers who are of Israelite and/or Judaean origin. The first and second parts together encompass the first attempt to concentrate all the evidence for Israelite and Judaean service in the Assyrian army in one place. This will prove that Israelites and Judaeans served in the Assyrian army in a continuous manner from at least the fall of Samaria until the fall of the Assyrian Empire.
More...Keywords: Agesilaus; Cleombrotus; Sphodrias; Phoebidas; Xenophon; Diodorus; Plutarch; Sparta; Thebes;
The article explores the tradition about the unsuccessful attempt of the Spartan harmost Sphodrias to capture Piraeus in 378 BC. Since Sphodrias acted without an order, in Sparta he was brought to trial as a state offender. He owed his acquittal solely to king Agesilaus. The analysis of the tradition of Sphodrias’ trial leads the author to the conclusion that Agesilaus controlled the entire administration of Sparta, including the judicial panel. In Sphodrias’ trial the opinion of one person – Agesilaus – decided the outcome of the vote. The acquittal of Sphodrias initiated by Agesilaus is a weighty testimony to the great authority which this king possessed in the first decades of the 4 th century BC (beforethe battle of Leuctra).
More...Keywords: inmigration; mobility; alieni; Corduba; Colonia Patricia; Hispania; epigraphy;
This paper aims to provide an overview of the immigration of extra-Peninsular origin recorded in Colonia Patricia (Córdoba, Spain) based on the analysis of the available literary and epigraphic documentation. Starting from the foundation of the Roman city and its subsequent conversion into a colonia civium Romanorum, we will carry out an analysis of those individuals who, from the 2nd century BC, arrived in the city from non-Hispanic territories. We will deal with important aspects such as the regions and cities of origin of these immigrants, their professional occupations, the causes that determined their mobility and the activity they developed in Corduba after their arrival. Chronologically, our contribution covers the long period of time between the foundation of Corduba in the 2nd century BC by the consul M. Claudius Marcellus and the 5th century AD, which is the date of the latest case of mobility we have documented.
More...Keywords: Saguntum; Toponymy; Iberian language; Roman Hispania; Romanization; Latinization; Ancient Coinage of the Iberian Peninsula;
One of the most notable features of ancient Sagunto (Valencia) is its toponymic duality, especially remarkable in coin legends from the 130s BCE onwards, which is an exceptional fact for Hispania Citerior, in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Both toponyms, Arse and Saguntum, are not simultaneously attested in other sources: they are virtually absent in Republican epigraphy and literature only mentions the second one, in diverse variants. This paper analyses the data relative to this double toponymy in order to historically contextualize this phenomenon, linking it with the Latinization of the city and its explicit movements towards Rome during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, a process that we propose to articulate in four main milestones, according to the preserved documents. Besides, this paper offers an explanation to the prevalence of the toponym Saguntum (of local origin and possibly referred to the port) regarding Arse (also local and referred to the city), independent from the elaboration of the foundational myth that links the Iberian settlement with the Ionian island of Zacynthos, since it is very likely that this legend was not created until the 1st century BCE.
More...Keywords: antiquarianism; rhetoric; Cicero; De haruspicum responso; manipulation; Clodius Pulcher;
This article identifies antiquarian excerpts in De Haruspicum responso and discusses their function with respect to Cicero’s argumentation. The arrangement of the material by subject aptly illustrates how thematically connected passages can serve multiple purposes within individual arguments. The analysis of each passage reveals Cicero’s manipulation of antiquarian information with the intention of tarnishing Clodius’ image or extoling himself and the senate. Through the implicit comparison with the actions and customs of the ancestors, the orator further achieves a broader goal, i.e. to sketch his opponent as a public enemy and himself as a statesman in defense of the respublica. All these excerpts gradually serve the main purpose of successfully elevating his personal case into a matter of state significance.
More...Keywords: ancient viticulture; GIS analysis; Hasta Regia colony; quantitative method;
This article analyses the Roman viticulture in Hasta Regia colony, southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, as an ideal place to model historical and economic conditioning factors of this activity. We propose a model that includes an analysis of the territory, the “Riparian” resources necessary for the vineyard, the conditioning factors of the ancient vineyard and finally the economic implications that derive from it. The method allows us to get closer to the management of this economic reality, as well as being able to check whether the various estimates are correct.
More...Keywords: hoard; denars; Antonine dynasty; Tropaeum Traiani; Dobruja;
The authors analyze a monetary hoard fragment found in 2012 that was only partially recovered. The hoard was located at a distance of approximately four km, in a straight line of the western gate of the Roman Byzantine fortress Tropaeum Traiani. The 36 recovered coins are Roman Imperial denarii struck between the years 100 and 169/170 AD and belong to the following issuers: Traianus, Hadrianus, Antoninus Pius, Diva Faustina and Marcus Aurelius. If this structure given by the issuers respects the general composition of the hoard, it can be assumed that the hoard was hidden in the context of theevents that developed in 170 AD, known as the military and robbery incursion lead by the Costoboci people in the Balkan Peninsula. Epigraphical and archaeological evidence regarding the impact of the incursion were found in Tropaeum Traiani. These evidences can now be associated with the monetary proof.
More...Keywords: epitaph; Roman army; Mauretania Caesariensis; auxilia; anthroponym;
An epitaph discovered at Sour Djouab, Algeria, was erected by Decineus, who names himself the brother of the deceased, for a certain veteran named Fulvius Felix. The death of the latter occurred, most probably, towards the end of the 2nd century AD. Despite the doubts about the biological tie between Decineus and his frater, the presence of a Dacian anthroponym at that time in an extremely militarized area of the Roman Empire is enough to raise curiosity regarding the career of this soldier. The author makes use of historical context and archaeological data in order to understand, at least in general lines, how the career of Decineus evolved. This paper aims to reconstruct, as much as possible, the life and military activity of Decineus, as well as to answer questions concerning his recruitment, belonging to an auxiliary unit and eventual life after his release from military service.
More...Keywords: education; moral education; family; law; sciences; ancient Israelites;
The present study aims to show sequences of the life of the inhabitants of ancient Palestine (the ancient Israelites, having Abraham as their ancestor), with particular emphasis on education and training: educators, strategies, forms, contents, etc. In particular, we will use the scriptural texts of the Old Testament, from which we will extract the information we need and which will serve as a basis for that presented. Our objective is to present the way in which education was transmitted and assimilated at that time, in accordance with the cultural traditions, with the mentality and with the customs of the time and of the people of Israel, but also to offer an analysis from the perspective of modern pedagogy, with arguments on the validity or limits of certain elements. The study will also make reference to aspects related to the social life of the ancient Israelites, to their occupations, but also to interests which derive from the sciences and the arts, as they emerge either from the books of the Old Testament or research and studies that have been published on the proposed topic.
More...Keywords: Ashley Dumas; University of West Alabama; Archaeology; Vasile Diaconu;
Interview with Professor Ashley Dumas by Vasile Diaconu.
More...Keywords: Trial by water; water ordeal; ancient arbitration; divine judgement; Mari letters; Mari kingdom; witch trials; Euphrates;
The concept of trial by water or water ordeal is best known to the wider public through European witch trials from the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, but the practice is first attested in near eastern texts from the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1550 BCE). The depiction of the medieval trials is largely folkloric, such trials were nonetheless known throughout the ancient world. The best evidence for ordeal by river is found in the letters from the clay tablet archives of Mari on the Upper Euphrates. A central site for divine arbitration among the Amorite kingdoms, the practice seems to have dwindled after the destruction of Mari and its cultic sites in 1759 BCE. Reviewing the ancient evidence for trial by water, this article demonstrates how the trials were used for a particular purpose: to verify the truth statements of compromised witnesses in legal cases that for lack of credible witnesses could only be solved by divine arbitration. The ancient background of the concept will help us better understand why the practice was later connected with witches in the European context.
More...Keywords: gods in war; justification of war; divine support; Anatolia; North Syria; Hittites; Ugarit; Alalakh;
In this article, the authors examine the divine support and religious justification of wars by Anatolian and North Syrian rulers in the Late Bronze Age, an epoch of international diplomacy. Notable is that many wars and conflicts in the region of Anatolia and North Syria took place in this period, which may have occasioned an increasing need to justify them by appeal to divinities.
More...Keywords: Ancient history; Archaic Greece; ancient Anatolia; early state formation;
The article explores the cultural and political interaction between the Anatolian kingdoms and the elites of the Greek poleis on the Anatolian coast, with special attention to Archaic Ephesos for which relatively good evidence for the relations with Lydia is available. It demonstrates how the neighbouring hegemonic monarchies provided imitable examples for the Greek elite leaders and offered real opportunities for claiming, legitimating and entrenching their power. This shows, on the one hand, how the elites on the fringes of an empire could profit from imperial power, how the mild influence of an empire shaped the internal order of the communities in its sphere of influence by promoting the position of the local leaders. On the other hand, this sheds light on the strategies used by empires for attaining control of strategically important points on their outskirts.
More...Keywords: Cucuteni culture; phase A-B; Dîmbul Morii; antropomorphic figurines; painted decoration;
Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic plastics are often associated with complex manifestations of the spiritual life of Cucuteni communities. Therefore, knowledge and interpretation of anthropomorphic representations are necessary to have a better picture of the role played in the daily and spiritual life of prehistoric communities. The Cucuteni A-B settlement from Dâmbul Morii provides an important number of such pieces that will complete the data known so far. In this study, attention will be paid to plastic representations with painted, incised, and plastic decorations. Therefore, a batch of 27 anthropomorphic figurines was analyzed, some in a fragmentary state. Based on the decor analysis, a clear separation of figurines by gender was possible
More...Keywords: Experimental archaeology; Cucuteni-Trypillia culture; Chalcolithic pottery kiln; technological innovation;
Besides its contribution to understanding the formation process of large settlements and complex social organization in the late period of Cucuteni-Trypillia, the site of Stolniceni (Republic of Moldova) provided new data on the construction and spatial distribution within the site of pottery kilns. The extensive magnetic surveys revealed a large settlement, with more than 350 burnt dwellings, hundreds of pits, ditches, paths, and 19 kilns. Of the latter, four were excavated during the 2016-2018 campaigns. Three kilns were more or less similar in terms of sizes and construction, belonging to the “simple”, dual chambered, up draught type. The best-preserved of them already served as model for a published experiment conducted in 2017 near the Stolniceni archaeological base. The fourth provided several surprising building features, like six additional holes arranged around the fire channels and communicating with them, and two small clay arches above the channels’ ends. A plausible hypothesis of the researchers is that these elements were meant to improve the draught, by increasing and uniformizing the circulation of hot air throughout the upper chamber. Thus, in order to test how this technological innovation acts on the firing efficiency, we conducted a new experiment (August-September 2020, Băiceni-Romania). The firing process and temperatures reached in this type of kiln proved the concern of prehistoric potters for continuous improvement of their craft, raising questions about the emergence and socio-economic implications of such innovations.
More...Keywords: two-headed serpent; hydra; Kültepe; Malatia; Illuyanka; Hedammu;
An impression of an Old Assyrian seal from Kültepe from collection of Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow carries an image that was not recognized but by present authors and is of great interest as it depicts a scene of a hero's battle with a serpent-like demonic character (most likely, this is a double or two-headed monster). Rarity of serpent-fighting scenes in the Ancient Near Eastern art makes it important to study the composition and plot of the impression in its traceable iconographical and mythological contexts, in order to establish its cultural connotations(Anatolian, Syrian, Mesopotamian),considering that Kültepe was the center of interaction and synthesis of several cultural traditions. It turns out that the closest iconographical and mythological parallels to the image in study can be found in Eastern Anatolia and its main routs can be assigned to local (Hattian-Hittite-Hurrian)cultural symbiosis.
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