За култа към нимфите в провиния Тракия и светилището им в Diocletianopolis

Author(s): Bogdana Krivoshieva,Bozhidar Draganov,Mariana Draganova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

The cult of the nymphs in the province of Thracia is a subject that has barely been studied and is unpopular as a whole. It is probably due to this circumstance that there are omissions in the discovery and identification of nymphaeums from Roman times. It was precisely in this period that the tradition of building this type of sanctuary by mineral springs was introduced, along with the so-called thermae spas. To date, four such sanctuaries have been identified on the basis of votive materials: Aquae Calidae, Stara Zagora mineral baths, Diocletianopolis and Pancharevo. Another two nymphaeums of the so-called rural type were uncovered on the territory of Thracia - one near Ognyanovo and the private sanctuary by Kasnakovo. A logically founded and clearly supported with arguments hypothesis about the location of the nymphaeum in the thermal complex of Diocletianopolis has been developed by means of comparative analysis of the finds from the former, the architecture of the latter and the clarification of the essence of the cult.

За мултикултурните аспекти във възприятията на Хермес-Меркурий - между "Ψυχοπόμπος" и "добрия пастир"

Author(s): Bozhidar Draganov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

This article is an attempt to discuss the "conventional" image of Hermes-Mercury in a rather unconventional way. The author has sought the substratum of perceptions that condition the "long" life of a deity in the complex of Indo-European religious beliefs. The aspects relating Hermes-Mercury to the essence of the notion of Ψυχοπόμπος have been pointed out, to which end the author has analysed mythological information, as well as the semantics of part of Hermes' sacred animals. With the help of glyptic and miniature bronze figurine monuments, he has sought the connection with Egyptian, eastern and Asia Minor deities predisposing the "synthesis" to uniform religious perceptions in the period of transition from polytheism to monotheism. In spite of the danger of extreme interpretation, there is also an analysis of some parallels with Mithra, the 'Good Shepherd' and St. Nicholas, which mark the complex semantics and multiple layers of the seemingly 'gradual' and 'natural' process of consolidation that accompanied the age of consolidation of the Christian idea.

Епископски центрове по Северното българско Черноморие

Author(s): Danail Petrov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

Northern Bulgarian Black Sea coast was colonized by the ancient Greeks who created the colonies Odessos (Varna), Dionisopolis (Balchik), Bison (Kavarna) was Tirizis-Acre (Kaliakra). Following the imposition of Roman power in these lands here were disseminated the official Roman cults, and later - Christianity. In Late Antiquity (IV-VI c.) Christianity became the official religion and with agreements of the central government were created Episcopal centers. Despite the lack of written sources it could be assumed that these cities were becoming Episcopal centers in the province Secon Mizia.

Употребата на етникони в тракийските земи

Author(s): Georgi Mitrev / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

As names and part of the system of names, ethnicons are characteristics for both ancient and contemporary societies. In the world of Ancient Greece where two names were used traditionally at the presentation of citizens, their given and their paternal names, these names complement the information about the origin of the persons which are also indicative of their native land. With the gradual establishment of Greek settlers in various parts of Thrace, after the age of antiquity these traditions also infiltrated Thracian territories. In the time of the Roman emperors, rising monuments with inscriptions spread among broader strata of the Thracian provincial population in Macedonia, Thrace, Moesia, Dacia, Bithynia and elsewhere. In these conditions, epigraphic heritage also began to include elements and influences coming from the living Thracian language. Against the backdrop of those processes and in relation to the different factors necessitating the use of ethnicons or other similar means to present origins, we see a tradition that is characteristic of Thracians and the Thracian language. The ethnicons that have reached to us are such that can be linguistically defined as Thracian in origin. The sources show that the Thracians also had their tradition in the use of ethnicons based on a model typical of their language. Those were twofold names with first or second root Dentu- or -dentes.

Посланията на кирилицата

Author(s): Axinia Dzurova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

The article follows the issue of the spiritual outlook of Europe in the context on the continental literary traditions, the role of the saintly brothers Cyril and Methodius and their disciples, of Prince Boris and Tsar Simeon, coming to the conclusion that, if we try to ask ourselves what is Europe today, what defines it most precisely is Graeco-Roman Antiquity, Christian culture and the three main alphabets - Latin, Greek and Cyrillic - by means of which our Old World has carried its heritage and memory through the centuries.

ARISTOTELOV USTAV ATENSKI

Author(s): Dževad Drino / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

Athens in the classical period of Hellenic history was by far the most developed city of Helena, and its democratic system of making important decisions in the Assembly as well as their implementation, was a role model not only in the Hellenic world. Aristotle does not follow his teacher Plato nor Xenophon who do not discern difference between the system of government in the household and the polis. Polis is the community of equal people where relationships create free citizens who are also representatives of their own households, families or the territorial units (topics). Aristotle in the Rhetoric shares laws into general (natural) and specific, those which individual nations defined to themselves and for themselves which could be written and unwritten. Constitution of Athens is the only surviving piece of the rich Hellenic and legal history. In the following lines we will try to explain what this work contains and why it is important even nowadays after two and a half millennia.

Make Macedonia Great Again! The New Face of Skopje and the Macedonians’ Identity Dilemma

Author(s): Arianna Piacentini / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Implemented by the Macedonian national party VMRO-DPMNE the project “Skopje 2014” renewed the urban image of Skopje, capital city of the (Former Yugoslav) Republic of Macedonia and promoted a narrative of direct descent from the Ancient Macedonians, epitomized by the figure of Alexander the Great. Impressive statues, fountains, a triumphal arch, and new massive buildings now stand in all their grandeur in the city centre of the small republic’s capital city. Although apparently meant to give a new face to Skopje, these urban changes are also strictly tied to a “great” national narrative concerning the Macedonian nation – its roots and origins, and are apparently shaping and changing, not only the urban image of Skopje but also the national identity of the Macedonians.

Fridrih Engels o porodici, privatnoj svojini i državi

Author(s): Duško Radosavljević / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

Questioning the views in the work of Friedrich Engels, “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State”, is the basic task of our effort to try to point out elements that are already known in the studies of this author, but also to get to know what are the moments from this well-known work, which seem different today as opposed to the period when Engels wrote it. Because, Engels greatly contributed to illuminating the genesis of the state, and the perspective of its development. Of course, considering the phenomena of culture and civilization, letters, analysis of the gentile order, its disintegration, and the formation of a new social organization - the state. This famous and influential book meaningfully describes, analyzes and gives a kind of synthesis of some of the most important phenomena in the development of human society, and the inevitable categories from the domain of social sciences and humanities as well.

The Irish “Deer” Series of Cheek-Pieces

Author(s): Brian G. Scott / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Ireland has nearly one hundred and seventy examples of cheek-pieces, two examples dating from the Later Bronze Age, the rest from c. sixth to seventeenth centuries AD, the great majority of which are of insular design and manufacture. There is a highly distinctive class that has been categorised as “horse pattern,” by far the greatest number being in the collections of the National Museum of Ireland, It is clear, however, from the basic anatomical details depicted that the animal incorporated into the design is a male deer, a red deer stag or a fallow deer buck. It is a distinct group, but one without immediate parallels, datable provenances or associations, and it is very difficult to find any convincing precursor inside or outside Ireland, or to use stylistic features to provide a reasonably close date-range. Metal analysis would tend to indicate later rather earlier mediaeval, a view that might be supported by ceramic motif parallels and, by the dating of the introduction of fallow deer to Ireland at the start of the thirteenth century AD.

Tu es diaboli ianua – kobieta jako przyczyna wszelkiego zła w pismach Tertuliana

Author(s): Julia Borczyńska / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The aim of the article is to analyse Tertullian’s attitude to the position of women in the Christian community on the basis of his work “De cultu feminarum”. A thorough analysis of this work aims to answer the key question to what extent the image of a woman presented in it is dominated by the author’s rhetorical passion and temperament. At the end of the article the author asks whether Tertullian really treated the woman as the cause of all evil, or it was one of his violent expressions which he used in his numerous polemics in the dispute over the ideal of Christian life.

COMUNICARE INTERPERSONALĂ ȘI COMUNICARE INTRAPERSONALĂ. REFLECȚII DESPRE SCRIEREA ÎMPĂRATULUI ROMAN MARCUS AURELIUS, GÎNDURI CĂTRE SINE ÎNSUȘI

Author(s): Ionuţ Isac / Language(s): Romanian Publication Year: 0

The famous writing Communing with himself of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius reveals itself to us today as a work of present interest, not only seen as a philosophical guide for the state rulerʼs life, but also under the feature of a psychological handbook sui generis that regulates the communication between rational beings and their self, and the world, in every historical time. This aspect has been grasped by Gabriel Liiceanu, who writes that Communing with himself is a treatise on techniques of improvement and restraint of oneʼs ego. But the remarkable thing is that the desideratum to acquire and improve the control on the egoʼs adverse phenomena (such as, for instance, carelessness, hatred, envy, the desire for revengeor glory etc.) applies both to sovereigns and their subjects (common people). In our view, the major consequence of this controlʼs success – in exceeding the Stoic presuppositions of Marcus Aurelius – is a better communication with others and with the self, the last one being made better just through the improvements of the first one.

Bosna i Hercegovina u antičko doba u kontekstu zapadnobalkanske historiografije u prve dvije decenije 21. stoljeća

Author(s): Amra Šačić Beća / Language(s): Bosnian,Croatian,Serbian Publication Year: 0

The research of ancient history in institutional terms is less represented than other historic periods, which certainly has an impact on the quality and quantity of published papers. We should also bear in mind one specific characteristic of ancient historiography – the difficulty of making a clear distinction between historical and archaeological research of the ancient history of Bosnia and Herzegovina – thus the results of both of these scholarly fields can be observed through the prism of comparability of their themes. A noticeable stagnation in the process of archaeological and historical research is the result of the war of 1992–1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, the recent period witnessed the birth of a significant number of papers addressing topics such as Roman conquests, peregrine communities (civitates peregrinae), municipal units, and Romanization and urbanization of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. We should emphasize that the majority of these papers address the topics from the period of Augustus’s and Tiberius’s reign. The focus is on the study of the position of indigenous communities during the military conflicts with Rome, while the issue of their development following Bellum Batonianum (AD 6–9) is quite neglected. Apart from Slovenian scholar Marjeta Šašel Kos, the first phases of the Roman conquests of the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina were mostly studied by Croatian scholars – Siniša Bilić-Dujmušić, Danijel Džino, and Marin Zaninović – as part of their wider scope of research during the last two decades. Their research assumes two opposite directions. Firstly, they believe that the conquest of the Adriatic hinterland, i.e. the interior of Illyricum, should be traced through military and political interaction of Rome with individual indigenous communities and polities. Secondly, they believe that the sources are interpreted by tracing the essential political interaction between Rome and the entire regional geopolitical system of Illyricum in order to avoid defining Roman interactions with certain smaller political bodies. In the context of regional historiography regarding Roman conquests, we should single out the papers of already mentioned Danijel Džino. Although his stances frequently part ways with the scholars from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Džino should be acknowledged for making a methodological contribution to the study of the ancient history of Bosnia and Herzegovina through his research.

CONCEPȚII SOCIAL-POLITICE ALE ANTICHITĂȚII GRECEȘTI

Author(s): Ioan Scheau / Language(s): Romanian Publication Year: 0

The present paper presents the main social and political concepts of Greek Antiquity: Democritus, Plato, Aristotle and Epicurus. Democritus analyzes three fundamental problems: - the role of politics: to achieve happiness for as many people as possible; - justice: the main virtue that citizens must cultivate; - form of government: democracy. Plato builds the model of an ideal society consisting of three social classes: - the philosopher (politician) – who must lead society; - the soldiers - who must defend the fortress; - citizens (producers of goods and services) - what must ensure the necessary for the functioning of the fortress. Aristotle thinks of the state as a higher court that must ensure the welfare of the citizens, and therefore politics becomes the most important practical science. Epicurus supports a view close to that of the social contract. Society is structured on the basis of a non-aggression agreement between people. This agreement (the law) legitimizes a higher structure (the State) to oversee the functioning of society.

От Херодот до християнските автори: за вдовиците на траките и ритуалната им смърт

Author(s): Dobriela Kotova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

The paper summarises the evidence provided by ancient authors about the public ritual death of the widows of some Thracians, with which they followed their deceased husbands voluntarily to the World Beyond. Herodotus was the first to narrate about that, followed by the Roman authors Pomponius Mela and Solinus, and after them – the Christian lexicographer Stephanus Byzantinus. Traces of such information about the Thracians are seen in one of the letters of St. Hieronymus. That written tradition is definitely based on the text of Herodotus. The late evidence repeats his words to a great extent. The ritual death of the Thracian widows was clearly transformed into locus communis, but the analysis of the communications reveals both dependences and differences between them. Viewed together, they are mutually complementary and supportive Herodotus testifying to the existence of variants of the universal ritual phenomenon of following into death among the Thracians. The paper summarises the evidence provided by ancient authors about the public ritual death of the widows of some Thracians, with which they followed their deceased husbands voluntarily to the World Beyond. Herodotus was the first to narrate about that, followed by the Roman authors Pomponius Mela and Solinus, and after them – the Christian lexicographer Stephanus Byzantinus. Traces of such information about the Thracians are seen in one of the letters of St. Hieronymus. That written tradition is definitely based on the text of Herodotus. The late evidence repeats his words to a great extent. The ritual death of the Thracian widows was clearly transformed into locus communis, but the analysis of the communications reveals both dependences and differences between them. Viewed together, they are mutually complementary and supportive Herodotus testifying to the existence of variants of the universal ritual phenomenon of following into death among the Thracians.

Творческа рецепция на античната традиция в „DE CULTURA HORTORUM“ на Валафрид Страбон

Author(s): Kalina Boseva / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

Walahfrid Strabo was a celebrated poet and theologian of the 9th century. He lived and studied mainly in Reichenau, a monastery in modern Germany, where he was monk and at some point abbot. His education covered the Scripture, the writings of the Holy Fathers, as well as Latin, Greek, geography, poetry and the liberal arts. Walahfrid’s many works, written in Latin, consist of theological treatises in prose and many poems on different subjects. Among them is a poem on gardening and the medicinal uses of the plants titled „De cultura hortorum” – „On the cultivation of gardens”. The poem has many scientific and poetical sources: Pliny the Elder, Collumela, Dioscorides, Celsus, Serenus Sammonicus, Pliny Valerianus, Apuleus Platonicus, Isidore of Seville, Virgil, Horace, Lucretius Carus. Strabo used his sources creatively, with a view to do more than just another compilation. He used the words and phrases he found as building blocks in order to come up with a new, contemporary concept for both aesthetics and utility. He is believed to have served as a monastery gardener himself, so likely fused his ideas and practical experience with the received literary tradition of his time. He thus created a unique snapshot of a real life cloister garden – his own garden – both authentic and ideal.

Самоутешение ли е „Утешение към Плибий“ от Сенека? Коментар върху жанровата принадлежност на текста

Author(s): Aleksandra Dimitrova / Language(s): Bulgarian,German Publication Year: 0

Света гора Сливенска и Света гора Атонска. За два сакрални района преди християнството

Author(s): Georgi Kovachev / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

This article compares the ancient heritage of two medieval monastery societies, the Holy mountain of Sliven and the Holy mountain of Athos. Apollo, Dionysus, Zeus, and the Great Mother Goddess were celebrated in both regions as described by ancient sources, art works, archeological and numismatical evidences, and contemporary customs and folklore. According to the research, Dionisos and Orphical rituals were practiced in Antiquity in both areas, perhaps by domestic organized male societies.

CONCEPȚII SOCIAL-POLITICE ALE EVULUI MEDIU

Author(s): Ioan Scheau / Language(s): Romanian Publication Year: 0

This paper presents the main socio-political conceptions of the Middle Ages: Augustine, Al-Farabi, Averroes, Thomas Aquinas, William Ockham.Augustine presents his view of history through the theory of two cities: one of the accursed multitude (Babylon) and one of the righteous (Jerusalem).Al-Farabi insists on the central role of the leader who must be to society what the heart is to the body. Averroes advocates reform of the state whose policy must be to pursue the public good.Thomas Aquinas considered the state the most important construction of human reason, and he advocated the constitutional state.William Ockham advocates for preserving the role of the papacy as religious leadership only, not political leadership, where monarchy is preferred.

Pisani izvori o šumama u savsko-dravskom međuriječju u kasnoj antici i srednjem vijeku

Author(s): Hrvoje Gračanin,Silvija Pisk / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

The paper focuses on analysis and comparison of two types of sources (selected late antique and medieval narrative sources as well as late medieval charters on purchase, sale, exchange, pawning, donation and perambulation of estates) referring to forests in the region between the Sava and Drava rivers. The aim is to detect and present which types of data on forests can be found in late antique and medieval narrative sources (of western/Latin and eastern/Greek provenance) and in late medieval documents, particularly in perambulation records. Through the analysis of narrative sources, the paper also endeavours to detect how much and what the writers knew about the forests, whether their knowledge was based on their personal experience, on acquired information or on the knowledge of literature; consequently what they have to say could simply be construed as a direct transfer of identical data and formulations from earlier literature references. Late medieval documents should for instance show the importance of the forests and trees in the determination of boundaries, which sorts of trees could be found in forests of the region between the Sava and Drava rivers, as well as what forests meant to the population of that time. The analyzed narrative sources offer too few information that is directly related to forests in the region between the Sava and Drava rivers. The exception is Claudian who makes the only explicit mention of forests in the region, and apparently in its eastern part, the former Roman province of Second Pannonia (Pannonia Secunda). However, given the panegyric character of his poem, his description has primarily symbolic power and is also quite general. On the contrary, Sextus Aurelius Victor was for a while governor of the Second Pannonia, and his remark about immense forests of Pannonias carries a greater weight as an eyewitness account.

Shqipëria dhe shqiptarët e Azerbajxhanit

Author(s): Kopi KYÇYKU / Language(s): Albanian Publication Year: 0

Mbretëria Shqiptare, si një ngrehinë shtetërore e hershme dhe e rëndësishme, e shfaqur në pjesën veriore të Azerbajxhanit të sotëm, shtrihej nga Kaukazi i Vogël, në rrjedhën e poshtme të lumenjve Kura dhe Araks, deri në degëzimet verilindore të vargmaleve të Kaukazit të Sipërm. Shqiptarët kaukazianë, sikurse shprehej Straboni, jetonin midis “Iberikëve dhe Detit Kaspik”.