This article examines the concept of the brain (mastiṣka) within the Indian intellectual tradition, tracing its development from the magico-religious medicine of the Atharvaveda (c. 1200–900 BCE) through the classical Āyurvedic texts—the Suśrutasaṃhitā, the Caraksaṃhitā, the Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā, and the relatively neglected Bhelasaṃhitā—to the subtle-body physiology of Haṭha Yoga literature. Against the background of a comparative analysis with the brain–heart debate in ancient Greek medicine, the article argues that Indian medicine developed a distinctive ‘relational organ model’ in which brain and heart constitute complementary poles of a single vital-cognitive network mediated by the nāḍī (neural-energetic channel) system. This model is neither simply cardiocentric nor encephalocentrist but integrates both within a hierarchical framework. The Bhelasaṃhitā’s unique near-encephalocentrist statement (śiras tālvantare cetanādhiṣṭhānam) reveals a genuine internal debate within classical Indian medicine, while the Haṭhayogic synthesis—locating the ultimate seat of consciousness in the cranial Sahasrāra while preserving the heart as the integrative hub of all channels—represents a coherent integration of both tendencies. The Sāṃkhya philosophical framework provides the metaphysical key to this integration, distinguishing non-material consciousness (puruṣa) from the material cognitive apparatus (antaḥkaraṇa). The article brings into dialogue these historical findings with recent research in neurocardiology, neuroimaging, and prāṇāyāma science to illuminate areas of empirical convergence, contributing to the interdisciplinary dialogue among science, religion, and health on the nature of human flourishing.

This athlete of Greek tragedy begun by Aeschylus continued if ever so tentatively by Sophocles and Euripides and this figure sort of draws us back and this is an athlete there was always the possibility of a porous zigzag border between sport and theatre out there between us and Greece where the concept of you know arete aspiring toward moral and physical excellence that is that for where we really kind of get our ideals of virtue or at least identity pre we did in the ancient Greeks an identity politics. For each tragedian, the concept of the agon employed as a metaphorical experience for ethical or psychological struggles both in literary and theoretical narrative is investigated. The old Greek code, which underlies bodily force, becomes for Aeschylus a moral alternative before his characters, and, as he writes them, his demigods are the moral embodiments of the divine purpose. Sucked in by the human ideal Sophocles this world where men at war with their own hearts cry to be told where they themselves transcend themselves. But Euripides assails and dismantles this ideal, pointing to its childishness and to humanity’s own fragility. Drawing on performance theory and the methods of literary history, this study argues that Greek tragedy is a renegotiation of the problems posed by the athletic contest as a metaphor for existence in experience itself, human well-being depends not on material success but ethical self-knowledge. And in this regard, the rise of the athlete-hero was a part of a wider philosophical trajectory within Greek thought from hero-figures who were defined by myth to humanity that was determined through philosophy.

"Selene" is a piece that follows the ancient Greek tale of Selene and Endymion. Selene is regarded as the Greek goddess of the moon and requests that her mortal lover, Endymion, be placed in a forever sleep—so that she can visit him nightly as she carries the moon through the sky. "Selene" touches on mortality and fears of abandonment, ultimately describing how relationships can push us to sacrifice our independence.

The dynamic response of ancient multi-drum columns, commonly found in historical monuments, is characterized by complex nonlinear mechanisms including rocking, sliding, and wobbling. Unlike modern monolithic columns, these structures consist of large, unbonded stone drums that rotate and interact dynamically during ground motion, resulting in highly nonlinear behavior due to intermittent impacts and evolving contact surfaces. The objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of the friction coefficient at the interfaces on the dynamic response of multi-drum columns. Two structural configurations are considered: (i) simple free-standing multi-drum columns, and (ii) multi-drum columns connected with iron dowels, replicating ancient Greek construction techniques. The columns analyzed are representative of the colonnade system of the Gymnasium of Ancient Messene, Greece. Sinusoidal base excitations with varying characteristics are applied, and parametric study is conducted by varying the interfacial friction coefficient. The results indicate that in the first configuration, low friction promotes interfacial sliding, leading to enhanced energy dissipation, a softened rocking response, and a reduced overturning frequency range. In the second configuration, variations in friction have a limited effect on the collapse frequency range, because at lower friction levels strong excitations lead to dowel reinsertion failure over a wide frequency range.

The contemporary crisis of education is interpreted as a systemic shift that extends far beyond institutional difficulties and affects the very foundations of human existence – its semantic, temporal, and anthropological coordinates. At the same time, crisis appears as a necessary environment and condition for the heroic formation of the individual. As an analytical tool, the article proposes an original triadic model: “Crisis (Κρίσις) – Kairos (Καιρός) – Gnosis (Γνῶσις).” Within this framework, crisis is understood as the moment of greatest danger that generates an existential demand for the emergence of a hero; kairos is interpreted as a unique, meaning-laden moment within linear time (chronos), a point of rupture at which a decisive choice and action take place; and gnosis denotes a profound and transformative knowledge–revelation that becomes the source of the hero’s strength and a new foundation for consciousness and action. This model is applied to a comparative analysis of the educational potential of the ancient Greek and Jewish (biblical) traditions. Drawing on the figures of Socrates, Achilles, and Odysseus, the article shows how the ancient hero affirms human dignity through autonomous excellence (ἀρετή), defiance of fate, and the pursuit of eternal glory (κλέος). In the biblical tradition, examined through the narratives of Abraham, David, and Job, heroism is rooted in fidelity and dialogue with God, while gnosis is attained as direct divine revelation at the moment of the greatest trial. Particular attention is devoted to the figure of Job as an archetypal image of the hero, whose rebellion and questioning become a form of dialogue with a higher power. The study culminates in the concept of a “heroic school” for the twenty-first century. Its aim is not the nostalgic reproduction of past forms but the conscious synthesis of powerful educational practices: the ancient paideia, Jewish methods of paired study and intense debate (cḥevruta, pilpul), and contemporary technologies. Such a school should become a space of initiation and spiritual transformation, preparing individuals for life in conditions of permanent crisis and fostering personalities capable of creating both personal and collective integrity in a fragmented and uncertain world.

Thyestes’ myth is difficult to read: cruel, abominable, but also multidimensional. And this is why it is adaptable to multiple interpretations, highlighting the different aspects of tyranny within different political, socio-cultural and philosophical contexts during the centuries. Thyestes, the protagonist of the tragedy, serves, with his unique characteristics, as an example to the spectator in order to understand and improve his own situation, even his very existence. First, we will take a look upon the theatrical production by Petros Katsaitis, author of a tragedy based upon this myth in 1721. At that time, Greece does not yet exist as a national state, being under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, Katsaitis highlights the complex historical reality in which he lives in person. The German author Christian Felix Weiße writes his Atreus und Thyest in 1766 in the philosophical context of Enlightenment, with a focus on the anthropological education of his audience. Ugo Foscolo, being between Italy and Greece, between Neoclassicism and Romanticism, in his Tieste (1797) recalls the memories of modernity’s Ancient Greek roots and re-elaborates the myth by reinvesting it with civil and political sense. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to present three versions of an ancient Greek myth composed during the eighteenth-century in three different regions of Europe in order to highlight the potential impact of this tragedy on the viewer's reception and in relation to the historical-cultural and philosophical trends of the time.

This article examines how ancient Greek tragedy mobilizes landscape to reflect on the limits of civic order and the conditions of human dwelling. Rather than treating mountains, groves, meadows, and borderlands as neutral settings or as simple “nature/culture” oppositions, it argues that tragic landscapes are ethically charged spaces where human norms meet forces that exceed political regulation—divine presence, necessity, vulnerability, and finitude. Written for the polis yet unsettled by what lies beyond it, tragedy repeatedly turns to extra-civic spaces to test civic stability. Three case studies develop the argument. In Hippolytus, woodland and meadow sustain an ideal of purity grounded in withdrawal, an orientation incompatible with social life and culminating in catastrophic isolation. In Bacchae, Pentheus’ project of spatial control collapses as Dionysian forces traverse walls and institutions with ease, exposing the limits of civic rationality. In Oedipus Tyrannus and Oedipus at Colonus, the tragic trajectory moves from Mount Cithaeron, a site of abandonment and opaque necessity, to the sacred grove at Colonus, where prolonged suffering enables a transformed relation to place, law, and divine power. Taken together, these plays suggest that the polis is never fully self-sufficient: civic order endures only through engagement with what it cannot master or expel, and spatial orientation is inseparable from ethical choice.

In the nineteenth century, as modern nations began to take shape, the Sokol gymnastic movement was founded in Prague. The association, strongly linked to the nation-building efforts of that time, used ceremonial costumes to promote its ideals and identity and soon expanded to other Slavic countries, including Poland. Although Czech and Polish Sokol shared common roots, the visual symbols in their costumes diverge significantly, shaped by distinct historical experiences and cultural contexts. The design of the Czech Sokol costume – influenced by Miroslav Tyrš, a co-founder of the association, and the prominent national painter Josef Mánes – combined various Slavic motifs with the ancient Greek ideal of beauty. By comparison, the Polish Sokol costume focused exclusively on historical references, military accomplishments, and themes of national martyrdom, drawing inspiration from figures such as the Polish patriot Tadeusz Kościuszko and the works of artist Artur Grottger. The clothing elements, symbolism, and development of these costumes demonstrate how visual culture was used to articulate competing visions of national identity and historical memory within a shared, yet increasingly divergent, gymnastic movement in Central Europe.

Anxiety has been an integral component of human experience, which has been explained through a variety of medical, philosophical, and cultural models throughout history. This study is a narrative review aiming to trace the historical evolution of the treatment and pharmacology of anxiety from Classical Antiquity to the present day. In ancient Greek times, it was considered a psychosomatic illness, which was treated medically and philosophically. Through the Medieval and Early Modern periods, theological models were also considered, as were humoral models. The development of modern psychiatry and psychopharmacology has also shown a shift towards a more integrated model of treating anxiety.This historical trajectory highlights the continuity between early holistic approaches and contemporary biopsychosocial models of anxiety. Understanding this evolution provides valuable insight into the complexity of anxiety as both a clinical condition and a deeply human experience.This review demonstrates that modern approaches to anxiety are not a rupture from the past but the result of a long-standing convergence of medical, philosophical, and cultural paradigms.

This excerpt from Ninon Grangé's The Forgetting of Stasis and the End of Civil War reclaims the concept of stasis as understood by the ancient Greeks for contemporary thought. Grangé argues that stasis has been forgotten in favour of bellum civile or ‘civil war’. However, ‘civil war’ has none of the nuance of stasis, and limits our understanding of conflict to a ‘dual model’, where two independent entities are at war with one another. The internal conflict that takes place within a city-state cannot be understood according to the model of war with foreign entities. Instead, it involves the intestinal destruction of the city from within. Stasis captures the paradoxical nature of this kind of war, in which there can be no real victor. In the sections included here, Grangé gives an account of the ontological and political dimensions of stasis in Thucydides, Heraclitus, and Democritus. Ultimately, reclaiming stasis comes at the price of admitting a fundamental link between politics and violence. However, stasis allows us to understand not only ‘civil war’ better, but also the very essence of war itself, and is an invaluable resource for present-day political considerations.

Taxonomic Graecism: the historical hegemony of Ancient Greek and cultural bias in molluscan family nomenclature

ABSTRACT Lucian’s Anacharsis, a satiric and Socratic dialogue about the value of sport, was written in the second century CE when dangerous gladiator fights and chariot races were common, yet its concern is with Greek athletics, especially the use of gymnastic training as civic education. How can a city like sixth-century BCE Athens claim to be improving itself by having its youth beat one another to a pulp? This paper surveys the relationship among death, pain and virtue in ancient Greek and Roman sport by comparing ostensibly historical cases of athlete deaths with philosophical observations from Plato, Aristotle and Lucian’s Anacharsis. What emerges is an ancient philosophy of dangerous sport that considers pain and the risk of death necessary for sport to serve as moral education and thereby to benefit the community. Death is never the object of sport, however, and the nature of necessary risk is understood to vary with the cultural and historical context. The social benefit of dangerous sports depends on the risk being appropriate to challenge the athletes’ skills, and on the audience identifying with the athlete in a way that inspires the pursuit of excellence in activities beyond sport.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to methodically present the cosmological views found in the corpus of Gregory Palamas’ extant works, and second, to situate them in the context of ancient Greek philosophy. Palamas’ cosmology is shown to be ordered and hierarchical, aligning with the fundamental principles of the ancient Greek worldview and Christian doctrine. The Palamite universe comprises two distinct worlds: the intelligible and the material. The former encompasses the realm of angels, while the latter extends from the heavens to the earth, passing through the intermediate elemental spheres of fire, air, and water. The human being, as the preeminent inhabitant of the universe, is regarded as a microcosm reflecting the diverse aspects of the world through its natural constitution. In most of his views, Palamas is portrayed as a faithful follower of the ancient Greek cosmological tradition originating with Aristotle.

Abstract In this paper, I argue that the Cyrenaics, the Stoic Posidonius, and perhaps also Chrysippus noticed that imagining future evils often prevents distress. For this reason, they recommended the practice of imaginative pre-rehearsal of future evils ( praemeditatio futurorum malorum ). Considering their different moral psychology, I show that there are at least two ways in which this practice might work according to these thinkers: either by structuring our beliefs or by offering us a peculiar sort of surrogate satisfaction. The former explanation is endorsed by the Cyrenaics and, perhaps, by Chrysippus. The latter explanation is endorsed by Posidonius and it has wider implications than the mere prevention of future distress.

Pastoral poetry traditionally centered on shepherds, rural life, and the harmony between humans and nature, has played a significant role in world literature since antiquity. From the Greek idyll to the English Renaissance eclogue and from Arabic-Persian nature traditions to Urdu’s distinctive poetic evolution, pastoral literature has continually reshaped its themes to reflect the social, cultural, and ecological contexts of each era. This research paper examines the historical roots of pastoral poetry, its thematic and stylistic features, and its development across the literary traditions of English and Urdu. The study places special emphasis on Urdu literature, analyzing poets who incorporate landscape, seasons, rural scenery, and nature symbolism in their works. Through close textual readings, thematic comparison, and scholarly references, the paper demonstrates that pastoral poetry, though transformed by modernity, remains an enduring mode of expressing nostalgia, ecological sensitivity, and human longing for simplicity and natural harmony.Pastoral poetry is one of the oldest forms of literary expression, originating from humanity’s earliest engagement with the natural world. It is traditionally defined as poetry that idealizes rural life, shepherds, landscapes, and nature, offering a contrast to the complexities of urban civilization. Historically, pastoral poetry emerged as a literary mode that not only celebrated the serenity of the countryside but also used it as a symbolic space to critique social structures, express philosophical thought, and explore human emotions. The pastoral tradition developed prominently in ancient Greek and Roman literature, flourished during the European Renaissance, and expanded into global literary cultures, including Persian and Urdu. Although each tradition has its own stylistic nuances and cultural metaphors, the underlying pastoral impulse remains intriguingly similar to an aesthetic return to nature. In the context of Urdu literature, pastoral poetry forms a subtle yet meaningful component of poetic expression. While Urdu is known primarily for ghazal, romanticism, and classical urban themes, many poets have drawn deeply from nature imagery, rural landscapes, and agrarian aesthetics. This paper examines the evolution of pastoral poetry across major literary traditions, followed by an in-depth analysis of pastoral themes in English and Urdu poetry.

The culture, economy and politics of the Mediterranean world during the period of the colonization of the region by ancient Greeks were the major forces of the cultural, economic and political activity of this time. The archaeological record supports the study of Greek colonization, which provides valuable hints with regard to the migration process, settlement formation, and the process of cross-cultural interaction in the ancient Mediterranean. The archaeology of ancient Greek colonization explored in this paper is based on the study of material remnants, including settlement patterns, architectural structures, pottery, inscriptions, and trade objects upon excavation in various places of their colonial presence. The study with the help of archaeology and comparative historical methods will look into how we can use these material remains of physical nature to make inferences about the urban planning, economic activities and cultural interactions between Greek settlers and the local people. Archaeological facts reveal that colonization resulted into development of sophisticated trade roads, mixed types of cultural existence, and alternative modes of urban existence. Evaluating these remnants of the materials allows the paper to reveal the significant role of the Greek colonization in the creation of the interdependent societies of the ancient Mediterranean world.

We have undertaken an innovative multidisciplinary approach towards the identification of pharmaceutical ingredients used in Byzantine Greece, with a particular focus on popular medicine in late 13th century Cyprus. Our case study is based on one source, John the Physician's Therapeutics (JC), along with a comparative study of other scholarly and non-scholarly texts. Our main goal was to develop a new, documented and transferable methodology to address a key, unresolved challenge when working with such texts, namely our ability to identify with confidence the individual ingredients, primarily plants, minerals and burnt materials, cited. This is an essential step in analysis of ancient pharmacy. Practical research focused on the understudied burnt substances and minerals that were added to medication. Ingredients identified have been mapped onto their current pharmaceutical uses thus exploring potential interest to pharmacological research.The main approaches in relation to minerals and burnt substances include a comparison between JC and the ancient Greek handbook, De Materia Medica, written by Pedanius Dioscorides to see if there are likely candidates for materials; a consideration of the potential minerals available from Cyprus; the significance of mineral elements in modern medicine and a reconstruction of some of the recipes suggested by JC.In this paper we describe a series of experiments reconstructing the use of burnt material in the recipes and consider their potential pharmaceutical use and potential efficacy. We conclude that at least some of the recipes had some potential practical medicinal value.

Saltworks have historically constituted landscapes of production and economic activity, which in the contemporary era are being redefined as multifunctional spaces for health, wellness, culture, and sustainable entrepreneurship. The medical use of salt, rooted in ancient Greek and Roman traditions, evolved into organized forms of halotherapy, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, where salt mines and salt pans were transformed into therapeutic environments. Inhalation of salt microparticles, saline baths, and the exploitation of the unique microclimate of saltworks have been associated with supporting respiratory function and overall well-being. In the contemporary framework of sustainable development, saltworks are transformed from mono-functional extraction sites into complex experience hubs where health, culture, ecology, and tourism coexist. Examples such as Croatia’s Solana Nin and Solana Pag illustrate a model that integrates traditional knowledge, the natural environment, and modern wellness practices, generating added value for local communities. This study examines the transition of saltworks from production sites to multidimensional landscapes of therapeutic experience and cultural entrepreneurship, highlighting the role of salt as a natural resource, a carrier of historical memory, and a tool for sustainable regional development.

Abstract The music notation of Vienna Papyrus G 29825 a/b recto ( DAGM № 9) is used to recontextualize Claudius Ptolemy’s thetic (‘positional’) view of music as an integral component of a two-sided music system where octave species and instrument tunings are used in conjunction with notation keys and modulations as part of a consistent musical tradition that lasted at least six centuries. This thetic approach is applied to a comprehensive modal analysis of surviving ancient Greek melodies to demonstrate that mesē by position is the most commonly used note in a substantial proportion of ancient Greek music, resulting in more detailed practical definition of Greek ‘mode’ than has been previously understood.

He was born in 1958 in the capital of Montenegro, Podgorica. He studied Ancient Greek at Charles University in Prague (founded in 1348) and graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. His teachers were the best Czech pedagogues, and he was influenced by his “teacher and friend”, the world-renowned storyteller Bohumil Hrabal, as well as the anti-communist dissidents among whom he was formed. He has published 80 books, plays and screenplays and has tried his hand at all genres. He is a novelist (13 novels) and a storyteller (15 collections of short stories) by vocation, but he has also published dozens of books of essays, scientific prose, poetry and theoretical, or literary-historical works. In his stage work, he is dedicated to theater and film (he is the author of seven feature films). He was the Minister of Culture of Montenegro (1993-97) and later an ambassador, or high-ranking diplomat, in ten countries, where he represented first the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, then the common state of Serbia and Montenegro, and finally his native Montenegro. He translates literary and theatrical works from six foreign languages. He lives in Montenegro and Prague. In recent years, he has been working on the anthology Poetry of Brazil 1525-2025, with 87 Brazilian poets from all eras that he has selected, translated into Serbian and wrote a critical apparatus for this anthology, which will soon be published in 700 pages in large format. Two of his books have been translated into Portuguese: Writers of Jewish Prague (a comprehensive 432-page study on Jewish writers in Prague such as Franz Kafka, Max Brod, Franz Werfel and others), and the prose Novel about Paris, thanks to the efforts of a professor at the University of São Paulo and translator Ana Maria Haddad. His last seven books, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, have been published under the pseudonym Ben Golosovker. Full interview, access