Un posibil quaestor Justinianus exercitus: Germanus, fiul lui Dorotheus

Author(s): Vasile Mărculeţ / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2017

On May 18, 536, Emperor Justinian I created a military-administrative formation called Quaestura Iustiniana exercitus. The new structure included five provinces of the Prefecture of the East: Moesia Secunda and Scythia Minor (from the Diocese of Thrace), Cyprus (from the Diocese of the East), Caria and the Cyclades Islands (from the Diocese of Asia). Justinian's Quaestura exercitus was ruled by a quaestor exercitus, who had both civil and military powers. A possible quaestor exercitus was General Germanus, son of Dorotheus. In the spring of 559, he ensured the defense of Chersonesus of Thrace against the attacks of the Kutrigur Huns.

Метрическая система и соразмерность в христианской архитектуре раннего периода

Author(s): Stela Doncheva / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1/2017

This article discusses the metric parameters of over twenty religious structures built during the Early Middle Ages on the territory of the Byzantine Empire. An emphasis is made in this paper on basilicas that were the most numerous temples after Christianity became the official religion of the empire. Well-proportioned and irrational system was accepted for the construction of the early Christian religious buildings, reflecting the meaning of the Christian philosophy and symbolic nature of liturgical practice.

Basarabi-Murfatlar şi Corbii de Piatră – unele contribuţii crimeene în bisericile româneşti din evul mediu timpuriu

Author(s): Vlad D. Ghimpu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2017

Structural studies of the cave chalk churches in Basarab-Murfatlar (Constanţa County) allow a new way to date this monastery complex the 8th-9th centuries and show that these temples were created under the influence of monks-iconoclasts from the Crimea, which had a great impact on the religious life of Romanians and Orthodox peoples in the Balkans. The churches with the two apses (and altars) did not have a long distribution, perhaps they existed only during the life of the monks who came from the Crimea to new territories. In all likelihood, these temples could not compete with the existing churches, with three apses and three naves, of the Byzantine tradition, where the Trinity was especially revered, which was reflected in architecture. Southern Slavs, having received both samples of churches and the population that joined them before the official Christianization, adopted churches with two apses, but mostly churches with one altar, nave and narthex. The same happened with the Romanians, both under the influence of the Bulgarian and Serbian Churches, and, as we see, directly from the Crimean monks who came to our lands that were under pressure from nomads and did not have much opportunities for independent development.

Constantius II und die Bürgerkriege in Pannonien (350–351 n.Chr.)

Author(s): Péter Kovács / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2017

In his paper the author deals with the Pannonian events of the civilian wars under Constantius II’s reign against Vetranio and Magnentius in the years 350 and 351. Based on all written and epigraphic sources (especially Julian’s and Libanius’ orations and Zosimus’ accounts), he intends to reconstruct the events and Magnentius’ route in the province before and after the battle at Cibalae. All sources can be found in the Addendum in chronological order.

SCORCHED EARTH: VIOLENCE AND LANDSCAPE IN NEW KINGDOM EGYPTIAN REPRESENTATIONS OF WAR

Author(s): Uroš Matić / Language(s): English Issue: 28/2017

Death and destruction of peoples and lands are the reality of war. Since the Old Kingdom the destruction of enemy landscape is attested in Egyptian written sources and the number of attestations increases in the following periods, culminating in the New Kingdom. This is also the period when the first visual attestations of enemy landscape destruction appear. In this paper I will explore the actors, targets and acts concerning violence against enemy landscapes together with the use of landscape elements as metaphors for the violent treatments of enemies during the New Kingdom. The study shows that there are differences in representations of treatments of Syro-Palestinian and Nubian landscapes, which could be related to the reality of war itself, as monumental enemy fortresses did not exist in Upper Nubia, at least not on the same scale as in Syria-Palestine. This real difference went hand in hand with the ancient Egyptian construction of the Other as unsettled. Thus, urban landscapes of Syria-Palestine are objects of violence in the visual record where they are reduced to unsettled landscapes through destruction and desolation. It is also shown that this reality of war is additionally framed through Egyptian rules of decorum ascribing most of the destructions of landscape to the king and only some to the soldiers.

DIE SICHERUNG EINES ANTIKEN STADTTORS BEI AENEAS TACTICUS. QUELLE UND MODELLE

Author(s): Kai Brodersen / Language(s): German Issue: 28/2017

Aineias (Aeneas Tacticus) legt in seinen Poliorketika dar, wie im Altertum eine kleine Stadt einer Belagerung standhalten kann. Die Schrift ist das älteste militärische Fachbuch, das uns aus der Antike erhalten ist, und bietet die ausführlichste Beschreibung darüber, wie ein Stadttor gesichert wird. Zur Deutung dieser historischen Quelle sind verschiedene, oft hochkomplizierte Modelle vorgeschlagen worden. Der Aufsatz entwickelt eine dem Text eher entsprechende einfache Deutung. Diese vermeidet es, aus anderen Zeugnissen übertragene oder aber nur mit argumenta e silentio begründete Deutungen zum Verständnis des Textes einzusetzen, und macht damit nachvollziehbar, weshalb Aineias weniger auf Technik als vielmehr auf das Vertrauen der Bewohnerschaft zueinander setzt, wenn es um die Sicherung einer von Feinden bedrohten Stadt geht, denn, wie Aineias betont, “zuerst muss man zusehen, ob die Bürger einträchtig sind, da dies bei einer Belagerung das höchste Gut ist.”

ÜBER SEX. VIBIUS GALLUS AUS AMASTRIS

Author(s): Ligia Ruscu / Language(s): German Issue: 28/2017

Sex. Vibius Gallus, trecenarius, primus pilus and praefectus castrorum legionis XIII Geminae, a highly decorated soldier who had served under Domitian and Trajan, chose to settle down in the small Greek polis of Amastris in the province of Pontus et Bithynia. His descendants and wider family are to be found among the elites of this city and at least one other, Abonuteichos, holding high office, sponsoring buildings, granting benefactions. It is generally assumed that Vibius Gallus was an Amastrian by birth and that, after completing his military service, he chose to return and settle in his home city. This paper attempts to disprove this assumption. It discusses his military career, his family, the language of his inscriptions and details of the several monuments set up by himself and his family, in order to show that he was originally from one of the Western provinces and that his choice of Amasra as his home turned him into the ancestor of a new family among the elites of a Greek city.

Czy według Sokratesa z Konstantynopola i Hermiasza Sozomena kobieta heretyk mogła być piękna?

Author(s): Sławomir Bralewski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2017

W Historiach kościelnych autorstwa Sokratesa z Konstantynopola i Hermiasza Sozomena wspominane są kobiety różnorodnego stanu i statusu społecznego. Jedne wymienione są z imienia, o pozostałych wiadomo jedynie tyle, że były kobietami, matkami, żonami, córkami, wdowami czy dziewicami. Tak czy owak pojawiają się one w tle narracji historyków na temat dziejów Kościoła ukazanych wespół z wydarzeniami politycznymi. Zarówno Sokrates, jak i Sozomen najwięcej miejsca spośród wszystkich kobiet wspomnianych w swych dziełach poświęcili cesarzowym. Wśród nich znalazła się wyjątkowo piękna kobieta: cesarzowa Justyna, żona Walentyniana I. Dla Sokratesa i Sozomena jako zwolenniczka arianizmu była heretykiem, ale czy heretyk mógł być piękny nawet wtedy, kiedy był kobietą? W jaki sposób Justyna została przedstawiona przez wspomnianych historyków Kościoła? Czy Sokrates i Sozomen, który w dużym stopniu oparł swoją Historię kościelną na dziele Sokratesa1, tak samo postrzegali tę cesarzową? Czy Sozomen wprowadził jakieś istotne zmiany w wizerunku owej władczyni stworzonym przez jego poprzednika?

Beszámoló a Magyar Bizantinológiai Társaság 2017. évi tevékenységéről

Author(s): Erika Juhász / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2018

Reinterpreting Mithras: A very different account

Author(s): Csaba Szabó / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

Attilio Mastrocinque: The Mysteries of Mithras. A different account. (Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 24.) Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2017. – 363 p. – ISBN 978 3 16 155112 3

Editiones externae

Author(s): A. Márton,Dénes Gabler / Language(s): French,German Issue: 1/2018

J.-L. Brunaux et P. Méniel : La résidence aristocratique de Montmartin (Oise) du IIIe au IIe s. av. J.-C. (Documents d’archéologie française 64.) Maison des sciences de l’Homme, Paris 1993. – 1 vol., 270 p., 188 fig. – ISBN 2-7351-0620-9. L. Guyard (sous la dir.): Le Collège de France (Paris). Du quartier gallo-romain au Quartier latin (Ier s. av. J.-C.-XIXe s.). (Documents d’archéologie française 95.) Maison des sciences de l’Homme, Paris 2003. – 1 vol., 283 p., 196 fig. – ISBN 2-7351-0813-9 H. Kerébel: Corseul (Côtes-d’Armor), un quartier de la ville antique. (Documents d’archéologie française 88.) Maison des sciences de l’Homme, Paris 2001. – 1 vol., 248 p., 2 dépl., 161 fig. – ISBN 2-7351-0803-1. Szilvia Bíró: Die zivilen Vici in Pannonien. Monographien des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums 131. Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums. Mainz 2017. – 402 Seiten, 230 Abb., 25 Tab. – ISBN 978-3-7954-3159-4

Pergamon’un Gölgesinde Bir Komşu Kent: Atarneus

Author(s): Güler Ateş / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 1/2018

In historical surveys of the surrounding land it has to be taken intoconsideration that the chora developed very dynamically and, like the city itsef, can be seen as a mirror of Pergamon's political and economic circumstances. In addition to the interaction between polis and chora, another question of exceptional interest is the way in which the political development of the city of Pergamon and its enormous growth from Hellenistic times onwards affected the surrounding area, above all the neighbouring towns. While in the countryside an intensification of agriculture can be observed starting in the Hellenistic period, the neighbouring poleis profited in very different ways from the rise of royal city, or indeed suffered as a result of its political and economic ascendancy. Before the stablishment of Attalid rule, Atarneus was without doubt the most important town in the region. The earliest known settlement dates to the 2nd millennium bc on the evidence of pottery finds, an a fairly impressive settlement must have grown up here in the 6th and 5th centry BC. In the 4th centry BCE the city was protected by a mighty fortification wall, several metres high, making it virtually impregnable, as reports from the early 4th century BCE attest (Diod. 13, 65, 4). The urban area anclosed by the wall, measuring approx. 24 hectares, was even slightly larger than Pergamon at the time of Philetairos. In the 4th century BCE Atarneus was the seat of the local dynast Hermias, who ruled over a large portion of the coast, his dominions extending far up the Kaikos valley. Analysis of the pottery finds from Atarneus provides clear evidence that the city flourished until into the 3rd century BCE. It was eclipsed by the royal capital, absorbed into the Pergamene chora and served as a military base at the northern point of entry to the Kaikos valley. Finally in the 1st century BCE was the city completely abandoned.

Macedonia – a history term

Author(s): Tudor Urea / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2018

The text deals with some aspects of the history of Macedonia. It starts with the modern dispute between the Bulgarians, Greeks and the leading political circles of post-War Yugoslavia concerning the name and the ethnic character of Macedonia – a country combining the ancient (Greek) and medieval/modern (Slavic) heritage. The chapter is based on a competent book by John Shea. The following chapter refers to late-medieval period, referring to the Late-Byzantine texts. These texts prove that the name of Macedonia was still in use from the late Antiquity till the 15th century. Some sources give no precise information, but a comparison between from different tomes might document some interesting tendencies. A contrary tendency in the evolution of the term was its shift to the northern or north-western direction, where since the 6th century the Slavonic population has increased and changed the ethnic character of the country. It is remarkable an important role to the development to the Cyrillo-Methodian mission represented in that region by Clement of Ohrid, Theophylact of Ohrid etc, as well as to the historical importance of the West-Bulgarian/Macedonian Tsardom of Samuel on 11th century and its later tradition. The text gives a generally reliable presentation of the problem.

Beszámoló az ókortudományi társaság 2017-2018. évi tevékenységéről

Author(s): Attila Ferenczi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2018

The Curious Case of Heresankh, a Perfect Player of the Sistrum of Min and a Priestess of the King’s Sister Philotera

Author(s): Nenad Marković / Language(s): English Issue: 29/2018

The present paper aims to resolve problems around the identification of Heresankh, a perfect player of the sistrum of Min and a priestess of the king’s sister Philotera, and to propose her position within the powerful family of high priests of Memphis during the Ptolemaic rule. The study reveals that she most likely belonged to the secondary branch of the same family, both lines having the joint ancestor in the priest Anemhor, who was in fact the father of Nesisti-Pedubast, the earliest known high priest of Ptah under the Hellenistic Dynasty. She most likely lived between 249 BC and 183 BC. The marriage union of her related parents, Neferibre and Herankh, must have influenced her social standing at Memphis since Heresankh is the only known priestess of the most important sanctuaries within the Memphite necropolis, namely the Sarapieion, the Osirion of Rutiset and the Anoubieion, all located at Saqqara and Abusir.

Normă canonică şi orientarea practică a altarelor în bisericile paleocreştine. Lăcaşuri antice şi medievale timpurii din spaţiul românesc

Author(s): Vlad Ghimpu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2018

The altars of Christian churches at the beginning of the early Middle Ages could be oriented in all cardinal directions: first, the oldest ones, to the west, according to the biblical covenant, then to the north and to the south, and at last, after the apostolic constitutions of 380, to the east. On the eastern Carpathian territory in the early Middle Ages stone and cave churches of the Syrian type were built, with altars oriented to the south and east, without a semicircular apse. Also there were Byzantine churches with an altar to the north and a simulated wooden templon; there was a rock monastery with a square altar and a common dormitory with 12 cells-niches for monks, characteristic of the Byzantine monastic life of the 6th-12th centuries. In the East Carpathian and South Carpathian territories in the 8th-9th centuries there were churches with a narthex – an area intended for women that was introduced into the local church architecture by Crimean monks influenced by the traditions of Islam.In Transylvania, the matrix of the Romanian people, that was located in more favorable geographical conditions, being protected by the crown of the Carpathian Mountains, several ancient churches and other similar evidences were found, including liturgical objects and the characteristic orientation of burials. In the 5th and 6th centuries, during the Gepid period, under the influence of Syrian and Egyptian monks and Arian missionaries, cave and stone rotund churches were built here. These centric churches reflected their creed about the one God-Father who created the other entities of the Trinity; from here comes the Romanian name of the Christmas holiday as creatio or creationem, a term transformed into the Romanian word Crăciun (Christmas), which has survived to this day.Dobruja, located at the junction of the South Byzantine, eastern and north-Danube worlds, preserved evidences of evolution that passed through its territory and influenced the Christian life of the Carpathian region.

К проблеме технического изучения памятников Восточного серебра в собрании Государственного Эрмитажа

Author(s): Mihail Verevkin,Yuri Pyatnitsky / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1/2018

The publications of objects from the collection of Oriental silver in the State Hermitage Museum rarely include a professional expertise on their making. The few exceptions are the works of R.F. Minosyan and, especially, B.I. Marshak, in which techniques used by craftsmen were taken into account in the attribution and dating the objects. In several articles Marshak discussed a plate found in 1880 near the city of Irbit, the Perm Province; he dated it to the 12th century and considered it as a product of one of the workshops which existed in the territories of the Crusaders in northern Syria. The use of modern instruments and research methods makes it possible to return once again to the technical expertise of the place. Such expertise was done at the State Hermitage, in the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Precious Metals. This article offers the results of the study, and stresses the necessity of similar expertise for the objects that display stylistic parallels with the Irbit plate, namely Wawel’s casket in Krakow, and a bowl from Rzhyshchevo (now in Kiev), as well as two less artistic bowls of the 12th century – one with an image of an allegoric personage from the Yamal-Nenets District Museum, and the one from Arilje, Serbia.

«Великое переселение народов» – новая экспозиция государственного Эрмитажа

Author(s): Alexey G. Furasiev / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1/2018

At December 1, 2017, a permanent exposition of the State Hermitage (St. Petersburg) was opened after the reconstruction, under the title “Europe in the Great Migration Period and Early Middle Ages”.This exhibition presents materials illustrating the culture of the nomadic peoples of Eastern Europe (Huns, Khazars, Alans, Cumans), of the late Antiquity population of the Northern Black Sea region (Bosporus), of the Germanic tribes of the Dnieper region (Chernyakhov culture), the southern Crimea (Crimean Goths), and partly Western Europe (Franks, Alemanni, Bavarians). The finds cover a significant period – almost the entire first millennium AD, and are united by a common theme: the interaction of various barbarian peoples (nomads and sedentary population) and the Roman (Byzantine) empire in the Great Migration Period and immediately after its termination. Among the presented materials there are such famous archeological complexes of this time as the burials of the Bosporus (Kerch), Suuk-Su and Saltovo, the grave of Conceşti, the treasure of Zamość, “the gold of Huns”, the Sarkel and Tsimlyanskoye sites.

Athenais-Eudocia – the Augusta of Palestine (remarks on the book: Т.Л. АЛЕКСАНДРОВА, Византийская императрица Афинаида-Евдокия. Жизнь и творчество в контексте эпохи правления императора Феодосия II (401–450))

Author(s): Małgorzata B. Leszka,Mirosław J. Leszka / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2018

Libanios, Discours, t. III, Discours XI. Antiochicos, texte établi et traduit par M. Casevitz, O. Lagacherie, notes complémentaires par C. Saliou

Author(s): Paweł Filipczak / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2018