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In the paper a comparative analysis of Chan Buddhist meditation and the early Buddhist meditation has been conducted. In the first part the meditational instructions present in Zuochan yi and the corresponding texts of Chinese Buddhism have been demonstrated. Subsequently, based on those texts, the ideal type of Chan Buddhist meditation is created. The second part consists of the analysis of Aṭṭhaka¬ vagga with the corresponding motifs from the other Pali Canon Suttas. The last part consists of a comparative analysis of the ideal type of Chan Buddhist meditation and meditation as shown in Aṭṭhaka¬ vagga. The whole of the analysis aims at demonstrating the topos common for the early Buddhist tradition and Chan Buddhism.
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Gregory of Sinai is considered the foremost teacher of Hesychasm during the 14th century. His life and activities are directly connected with Bulgaria and especially with the hesychastic community of Paroria. His Vita written by the Patriarch Kallistos I. in Greek was translated and preserved in Slavic manuscripts. The oldest one is the Codex Athon. Zographou 214 (dated between 1371–1385). The translator’s identity of the Vita still remains an open question. In my opinion, the possibility of identifying the translator with Evtimij Tărnovskij should be seriously examined.
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The commentated psalter, ordered by the Bulgarian king John Alexander and copied in 1337, is known as the Pesnivets of John Alexander and also as the Sofia or Kuklen Pesnivets. It is kept in the Scientific Archive of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NA-BAN 2). Its codicological and textological peculiarities, together with its history have been subjects of discussion since the time of its founding in the Kuklen monastery but they still cannot be explained in a satisfactory way. With regard to the envisaged edition of the manuscript this paper summarizes the main hypotheses rised dirung its study. The first hypothesis addresses the king’s commission and it assumes, after reconsidering the various statements and opinions tying to relate the year 1337 to a significant event in the king’s governing, that it was rather a momentary wish, expressed at a time when he had established his political position. The second hypothesis proposes an explanation of the very obvious rework of the manuscript by cutting two leaves at its middle, at ps. 77, and inserting there a gathering with the interpretations of the Creed and the Lord’s prayer. Again, the question is what could have provoked the change of the manuscript’s composition and when it happened, taking into account the fact that the additional gathering was copied by the first main scribe of the psalter. After rejecting the hypotheses of its later addition, which considered two events equally suitable for proclaiming king’s orthodoxy – the possible re-adressing of the manuscript in relation with his ktetorship in the Bachkovo monastery, or his role in convoking of the anti-heretical councils – a more pragmatic solution was tested. As the overal design of the manuscript is somewhat simple and the only miniature, in a sharp contrast with it, is painted on a single folio and put in the middle of the codex, it seems more plausible – and is supported by codicological evidence – that a decision to make the manuscript more appropriate for a ruler by changing its design was taken exactly at the moment when the copyist reached the middle of the psalms. As the two cut-off leaves were integral with the illuminated folio and the next one, they could have been still blank or with some text on them, therefore easier to sacrifice. Why a miniature representing Christ Ancient of Days was placed before ps. 77, is explicated in earlier publications of the author. To adorn the manuscript with the miniature, surrounded by inscriptions with the king’s titulatures, may have been planned together with including the additional texts. Therefore the latter were copied separately, in a single gathering. Regarding the non-aesthetic appearance of this bulky gathering now preceding the miniature, one recalls the remark of Benyo Tsonev in his catalogue that the original place of these folios might have been at the end of the manuscript. However, to whom belonged the idea of the incertions and when the last gathering was moved to its present place remains unknown. It must be emphasized though that the new composition of the image and the interpretative texts resulted in a unique and sophisticated ideological message. Next are offered hypotheses of the manuscript’s origin and its late history. It was agreed that the capital Tarnovo, as other scholars already claimed, was the most likely locality of the scribes’ team; and more, perhaps it was the royal chancellery around which the literary activity initiated by John Alexander began, provided that the script of the psalter is very similar to that of the Zograf monastery charter (1342) and that the codex itself testifies for an early stage of fulfilling royal orders. Whether the first trained scribes were monks from the hesychast circles suported by the king is another open question. The most extravagant hypothesis concerns the travel of Pesnivets to the Kuklen monastery, in vicinity to the Bachkovo monastery. A note in the psalter mentions the death of the Serbian despote George Branković and the only place where it could resonate was the Rila monastery, to which the relics of St John of Rila were translated from Tarnovo through the agency of Mara Branković, George’s daughter. In the monastery was copied the only other known commentated psalter with exactly the same interpretations of the Creed and Lord’s prayer placed at the mid-psalms. There is a vague evidence that Mara Branković made a donation to the Bachkovo monastery which could have included the Bulgarian king’s manuscript. Such a suggestion presuposes that the psalter was already in Rila together with other manuscripts which, as is known, came from Tarnovo, or that it accompanied the relics. However, the discrepancy between the dates of the transfer of the relics and the commemorative note, which was not current at the time, raises another problem. Unfortunately, there are no sources to support either these, or even the assumption that at some time books from the Bachkovo monastery library has been transferred to the neighbouring Kuklen monastery.
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The author of the article sets out the principles of abbreviation applied by the South Slavic translator who compiled the summary translation Протль(к) лу(т)ргїи, и црк҃ви, и чинꙋ сщ҃енничьскомꙋ of the treatise “ Ἑρμηνεία περὶ τοῦ θείου ναοῦ” by St. Symeon of Thessalonica, known today by two transcripts – RGADA 88 and Bogišić 52. The comparison with the Greek text shows that the entire text of St. Symeon’s “Interpretation of the Temple” undergoes a systematic condensation at both macro and micro textual levels. The condensation is tied to the goals set by the translator. For purely practical reasons, he reduced the text of the treatise to a minimum, preserving only the most important and unambiguous explanations of the liturgical sequence, of the parts of the church building, of the liturgical utensils and vestments. However, additional reflections, alternative interpretations and a large part of the quotations from the Holy Scriptures and the liturgical books were removed. This gives reason to define the liturgical interpretation from RGADA 88 and Bogišić 52 as an epitome of its Byzantine source – the treatise “ Ἑρμηνεία περὶ τοῦ θείου ναοῦ” by St. Symeon of Thessalonica, its concise summary.
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The article is devoted to the description of the conquest of Constantinople and the Genoese colony of Pera in La Cronica dall’anno 1400 all’anno 1500 of the Florentine Benedetto Dei. The author situates the two chapters dedicated to these victories in the context of the entire chronicle; she dwells on issues such as the sources of information, the time of compilation, mistakes made, the general assessment of events dictated by Benedetto Dei’s biases and widespread public opinions. A Bulgarian translation of the chapters Otomanno Ughulì gran turco 1453; Pera 1454 is applied.
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In the Russian Chronograph the history of the Slavs is presented as part of the world history. The history of the Bulgarians also occupies an important place in the chronicle. The separate editions and transcripts of the Russian chronograph contain valuable information about the fall of the Bulgarian state under Ottoman rule, included in chapters and paragraphs devoted to the Serbian history. It tells about the conquest of the Vidin kingdom, the death of Constantine, the son of Tsar Ivan Sratsimir, the destruction of Bulgaria and other Balkan countries, presented as God‘s punishment for the many sins of Christians. Some of the information contained in the Chronograph is missing in other Russian chronicles. A number of peculiarities of the text show that in addition to the Life of Stefan Lazarević by Constantine of Kostenets, Serbian chronicles were used as a source for Bulgarian history. Among the Bulgarian works used in compiling the Russian Chronograph, there is no one that describes the fall of Bulgarian lands under Ottoman rule, and Serbian sources are the ones that fill the gap. At a time when Serbs and Bulgarians had a similar fate and Bulgarian writers worked in the Serbian royal court, historical texts tell the story of the Balkan peoples as a common struggle against the conquerors.
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The church of the Holy Archangels near Prizren was built as the mausoleum of the first Serbian Emperor (Tsar) Stefan Uroš IV Dušan. The first part of the paper discusses the importance of the five domes in pronouncing imperial dignity by referencing the imperial mausolea of Constantinople. Furthermore, the realization of this notion is considered together with the non-funerary five-domed endowments of King Milutin and the general Nemanjid tradition of erecting royal mausolea that evoke the church of the Mother of God Evergetis in Studenica, the burial place of the dynasty’s founder.While preparing his resting place, Emperor Dušan decided to mark his tomb with his sculpted likeness – a gisant. Therefore, the second part of the paper is concerned with this unusual choice of a funerary monument characteristic of the late medieval western elite. However, the tomb effigy is contextualized in specific cultural and political circumstances instead of being interpreted as a western influence. It is argued that the recumbent figure of the Emperor referenced the tradition of depicting saintly relics in the Christian East, thus emphasizing Stefan Dušan’s spiritual cleanliness. This was a powerful image able to oppose the anxiety that arose with the condemnation that came from Constantinople when Patriarch Kallistos I excommunicated the Serbian ruler together with Patriarch Joanikije II and his clergy.
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Regardless of which time period we are talking about or in whatever geographical point we focus on, the economy is a vital part of the development of a country. Main structure-determining factors being, on one hand, natural conditions, resources and demographical processes, and on the other hand; the role of the country, the organization of workable lands and trading relations in domestic and foreign trade. With the present research, it aims to explain the occurrence of the domestic and foreign policy changes in the country during the 14th century, directly or indirectly, linked to the economic development. This publication presents the problem with the separatist tendencies, so called immunity rights, the liveliness in the market and the consequences of the plague and ottoman invaders. The provision of specific rights, may it be property, or free trading, on one hand, it shows the participation of the Bulgarian lands in the growing trading activity, but on the other, a question lies upon the real benefit of the country’s treasury from this kind of activity. Giving privileges in favor of individuals or legal entities has its contradictory effect. They were able to create major agricultural units with wider economical capabilities. An adequate example would be the monastery agricultural units. The downfall of it though is that the treasury would lose some of its income. Even though we are talking about waste of resources, the treasury had multiple decent income coming into it. A source for income would be the taxes, which were linked with the developing foreign trade. The interest in the trade is not the only factor determining the economics in the country during that time period. The consequences from the separatism and the weakened central government lead to fewer territorial range of the country, and its end result ended up being decentralization of the economic. Additional to those factors we should include the plague during 1347 year, which lead to demographical doubts, and presumably depopulation of certain areas. Along with the plague, the rapid ottoman conquests, were negative factors as well that influenced the agricultural and political history of the Bulgarian lands.
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In this paper, twelve marble “medallion” capitals of the Holy Land are collected together, stylistically analyzed, and dated for the first time. For a better understanding of their geographical distribution, the places of recovery were marked on the map. In the recent article of C. Barsanti (2017), only 40 capitals of this type were collected throughout the whole Mediterranean region, so the number of local artifacts is rather considerable. None of the local capitals was revealed in situ but only in secondary use in the Early Islamic context or scattered at the sites. In all cases, Early-Byzantine churches dated to the 5th — 6th centuries CE were located in close vicinity. The paper consistently provides them as apparent sources from which the capitals might be hypothetically generated. Stylistic analysis showed the process of order alteration: the recognizable morphological basis of the type was followed (though not strictly) in all specimens. At the same time, ancillary details might vary considerably from one capital to the other. This process implies gradual order decline moves from more complete and detailed to more laconic variations of the “medallion” type.
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The main goal of the study was to clarify the circumstances of the organization by the Constantinople’s ruling elite of an assassination attempt against the Huns’ leader Charaton. Judging by both written sources and archaeological record, it is strengthening of the ‘royal’ Huns’ forces in Barbaricum and their frequent raids on imperial territories, which could only have been the main and only reason for such an enterprise. However, according to the Greco-Latin tradition, there were no significant military clashes between the Huns and the Constantinopolitan army between 408 and 412. Consequently, there must have been another reason why the situation became so strained. Based on the analysis of archaeological materials from Eastern Crimea, the conclusion is that the Bosporan Kingdom could most likely have been the apple of discord at that time, which from the end of the 4th century was under the protection of the Huns—Akatzirs, the eastern branch of the nomads who strengthened in the Northern Black Sea area after the fall of the kingdom of Ermanaric. It seems likely that it was in the early 5th century that the Akatzirs were able to defend their independence in alliance with Constantinople under the leadership of Douptounos and hold back the onslaught of the ‘royal’ Huns in the Northern Black Sea region, thus delaying the devastation of the Bosporus.
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During rescue excavations in Derbent in 2014, a Muslim ritual complex connected with a water supply system and apparently serving for ritual washing and cleansing was revealed outside the medieval shahristan and near the north defensive wall of the city. In addition to numerous and diverse finds, 57 coins were found, which is obviously due to the nature of the place where coins were left as ‘offerings’ in fulfillment of the vow. The absolute majority of identified coins (48 items) represent two chronological groups. The early chronological group (12 items) consists of Umayyad and Abbasid fulus of the 8th century, including the mint of Bab al-abwab (Derbent) and the fulus of the type of the Arran governor Hassan b. Kakhtaba (770—775). Most coins of this group (10 items) were found in a small area (ca. 2 sq. m) in the same stratigraphic position fixing the level of the ancient day surface.The late chronological group (36 items) includes copper dirhams of Bab al-abwab Sulamids mainly of the mid-12th c. — late 12th c. (13 items), Akhar malik Mahmud b. Pishkin (1211—1226) (7 items), Ildegizids during the reign of Caliph al-Nasir (1180—1225) (8 coins), and Aq Sunqurids (1189—1207) (8 items), including a coin with the name of Ildegizid atabek Kizil Arslan (1186—1191). Eighteen coins of this group were also found in a small area (ca. 4 sq. m) in the same stratigraphic position as those 10 coins of the early group mentioned above.The whole archaeological assemblage, including coins, indicate that the religious object ceased its functioning in direct association with the invasion of the Mongols led by Jebe and Subutai, the subsequent invasion of Khwarazmshah Jalal ad-Din in the Caucasus, and the conquest of Derbent by Bukdai, a commander of Möngke Khan, in 1239.
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A hoard of 37 dirhams of the Golden Horde is presented. In the early 2000s, it was found in a loose soil left after barrow robbery on Svistun Mountain (northern environs of the village of Alexandrovskoe, Stavropol Region). Most likely, the hoard was part of the deposit that was found on Svistun Mountain in 1895. It includes coins of Öz Beg, Jani Beg, Khiḍr, Berdi Beg, Nowruz Beg, and Murād. According to the younger coin, the treasure dates back to the 763 AH (31 October 1361 — 20 October 1362). The later issuer, Murād (Amurat of the Russian Chronicles), is mentioned in written sources as the ruler of Sarai, but he minted coins only in Guliston. Thus, the hoarding may refer to the final stage of the hot phase of the civil war, to which the definition of ‘Velikaia Zamiatnia’ (‘The Great Turmoil’) can be applied, and the hoard is another illustration of this phenomenon.
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There are two hanging seals in our field of vision, the generally accepted attribution of which has not yet been developed. Both on the obverse and the reverse of the unepigraphic seal of Roman origin, highly artistic, embossed and realistically executed busts are imprinted depicting bearded emperors crowned with laurel wreaths; the short-bearded one is most likely Caracalla, while the long-bearded one is presumably Septimius Severus. The portraits on both sides of the second seal seem to depict another pair of Roman sovereigns, since they are represented wearing cuirasses and military cloaks and diadems. To render the images, the official style of iconic representation was used, which was popular in the Roman Empire since the time of Constantine I. The attribution of the second seal is also facilitated by the fact that on its obverse and reverse, remains of the legends have been observed, wherein it is possible to restore the names “Julian” and “Procopius”. The conclusion is that the first seal was stamped under Caracalla and the second one under Procopius; here is the clear evidence of reigning emperors appealing to the authority of their ancestors.
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This paper focuses on evaluating the changing role of seafood imports in comparison with freshwater resources in medieval and early modern Estonia, based on zooarchaeological material and provenance analyses. A secondary aim was to find evidence of the early stages of practicing aquaculture in Estonia. The work presents the results of taxonomic and morphological analyses of the zooarchaeological material of aquatic animals, including marine and freshwater vertebrates (fish, marine mammals) and invertebrates (shellfish). These results were combined with additional evidence gained from previously published stable isotope data from the bone collagen of fish and marine mammals, allowing us to identify and investigate local and foreign resources among the medieval and early modern fish populations in Estonia. Our results show that herring and cod were the most exploited marine species during this period; however, freshwater species dominated at both coastal and inland sites. Compared to earlier periods, the remains of seals disappear almost completely from the zooarchaeological record, whereas those of oyster shells increase. Stable isotope analyses revealed the diverse habitats of consumed fish: from the Atlantic to the eastern Baltic, and from inland rivers to shallow coastal waters. Not much evidence was found of commonly farmed fish in the Estonian archaeological material.
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New stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses from medieval and early modern sites across Estonia demonstrate systematic differences in the dietary habits of people from various locations and social groups. These results are compared with previously published isotopic data from similar contexts to identify the type and origin of dietary items, specifically in terms of aquatic resource consumption. Distinction between protein sources is, however, complicated by the high degree of isotopic variation among aquatic ecosystems and the fact that resources from multiple habitats were routinely exploited, resulting in a mixing of the isotopic signal. Nitrogen isotopic ratios display variations in the consumption of higher trophic level protein (such as fish), differentiating between rural, urban and elite individuals, as well as between males and females. Carbon isotopic ratios show a clear distinction between humans from coastal and inland sites, likely reflecting the importance of Baltic Sea fish to coastal communities. However, the exact quantification of aquatic resources into the diets of historic period people in the region needs further work.
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Hunting as an economic element of the emerging Polish state significantly influenced the development of culture. The analysis of this rather extensive area of daily life is crucial to understanding of the functioning of mediaeval society. The value of wildlife and the goods it provided permanentny marked the history and the emerging hunting tradition, which is cultivated up to this day.
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This paper shows the forms of the defence of the cult of holy images in the Roman Church as a response to Hussite accusations of idolatry towards Catholics, who honoured the effigies of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints. In the 15th century in Polish lands, only a few cases of criticism of this form of devotion, or of being suspected of iconoclasm, were known; however, they were treated as a characteristic identification of the followers of radical Hussitism. In those polemics in which the practice of the adoration of holy images was defended (the sermon of Stanisław of Skarbimierz titled Contra et adversus vulpeculas, the anonymous sermon Cum Deus mortem from the manuscript BJ 2332 the question about adoration of images from the manuscript GBK 23), the authors tried to point out the wrong interpretation of the Bible by the Hussites and explained the essence of this practice, paying attention to its educational character for the illiterate and to the significant role it played in portraying God’s majesty on Earth.
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A manuscript from the second half of the 15th century, originating from the Cathedral of Kraków and now forming part of the collections of the Library of the Paulite Fathers at Skałka Monastery in Kraków, file number B23 (=BSkałka/Kraków B23), contains two collections of Sermones de sanctis by anonymous authors. In one of the three extant sermons, De divisione Apostolorum, an anonymous preacher, wishing to commemorate the victory of 15 July 1410 of the Polish allied armies of Władysław II Jagiełło over the forces of the Teutonic Order and celebrate the Victory of Grunwald/Tannenberg, which was remembered on that day in the 15th-century Kingdom of Poland, included a brief recapitulation of the battle. The lengthy story of the battle itself, incorporated into the sermon, serves as a moralizing, historical example. The preacher compared the Polish king, Władysław II Jagiełło, to the devout and righteous Hezekiah, King of Judah, and juxtaposed him with the unjust and godless Assyrian king Sennacherib, thus referencing the Old Testament’s legend of the war between these two rulers and the latter’s seizure of Jerusalem. In this way, the Polish preacher’s account of the Battle of Grunwald coincided with the commemoration of the mediaeval capture of the city (Jerusalem) by the crusaders on the same day, 15 July 1099. In a moralizing tone, he explained that the modesty of the Polish king had to be victorious over the pride of the Grand Master, Ulrich von Jungingen. The Grunwald sermons constitute an element of the phenomenon of memorization of history, or general historical memory. They – and other sources of the epoch – are still insufficiently researched in this context, and only now are disclosing their secrets and heuristic perspectives.
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