Ancient Legacy Research Articles

“Nella cerchia degli incontri italo-polacchi”. Eseje Nicola Chiaromontego w perspektywie teorii skopos

The article discusses the essays by Nicola Chiaromonte analyzed from the perspective of the skopos theory. According to this theory, translator of any text should take into consideration the cultural context of work he renders in another language, its axiological aspect as well as requirements of its recipients. The dialogue Chiaromonte had with his Italian readers has been transferred into Polish literary discourse by Wojciech Karpinski. The translations he produced provide their Polish recipients with such a vision of the Italian author, his way of understanding the world, oneself and other people, that the essays in Polish clearly reveal a new usage and intellectual potential of ancient philosophical and artistic legacy.

Del griego actual al clásico: la expresión oral

This is a work that combines historical and linguistic research with a clear pedagogical intention. Firstly, it focuses on the transformation that the most classical form of the Greek language underwent from European humanism and that has compromised its survival in educational institutions, as the agonizing state that is felt today in both secondary schools and universities. Secondly, it tries to offer a new methodological, competent and legitimate foundation, based on both the linguistic differentiation proposed by F. de Saussure at the beginning of the 19th century about what is langue and what is parole in didactic practice, as well as acceptance of a new pronunciation applied to its oldest phases: taking as a premise that the Greek language is unique and indivisible, we propose that the pronunciation of the current form of the Greek language operates as a vital organ and guide the exercise of our teaching ancient legacy through its purest linguistic manifestation.

Protestant Political Theology and Pluralism: From a Politics of Refusal to Tending and Organizing for Common Goods

Protestant perspectives on pluralism in political theology are predictably plural. While prevalent narratives of modern decline bemoan Protestant pluralism and its ostensive side-effects, others celebrate pluralism as a good in its own right. One aim of this essay is to display the diverse perspectives in Protestant political theology regarding political theology itself, pluralism, secularism, and democracy, while clarifying and refining these terms. I do so by considering each theme in turn. Finally, I consider the ways that religious dissenters of the 1790s defy prominent depictions of Protestantism, even as they exemplify the plurality at its core. The dissenters wed an ancient legacy of reflection on theological virtues such as charity to appeals for human and women’s rights, and suggest that love of country, neighbor, alien and God is central to protestant political theology. Given the plurality inherent in Protestantism, Christianity, and modern democratic societies alike, we have good reasons, I argue, to turn from a politics of refusal to one of tending and organizing for goods shared in common.

Administrative reform in India: retaining the British steel frame

ABSTRACTThis study analyses administrative reforms in India to identify the philosophical, cultural and ideological underpinnings of these reforms and their impacts. The study hypothesizes that despite differences in state ideologies, Indian leaders have followed the ‘democratic incremental approach of reform’, which has contributed significantly in achieving the continuity of the bureaucracy and ongoing development in India. There has been continuity in diverse administrative legacies in India. Muslim and British rulers modernized the ancient Indian district administration to serve their purposes while independent India takes pride in the revival of its ancient legacy. Before British rule, Indian rulers—Muslims and Hindus—maintained a semi-retainer bureaucracy; whereas the British adopted the philosophy of a mandarin bureaucracy. After independence, India replaced the British administrative philosophy of a mandarin bureaucracy with ‘the democratic philosophy of a semi-retainer bureaucracy’. Influenced by this philosophy, Indian leaders retained the inherited steel frame and made only incremental changes. As a result, Indian bureaucracy remains almost as strong as it was during the British era in terms of structural and procedural perspectives. Overall, the bureaucracy is still performing reasonably well in maintaining continuity of administration and, in the process, cultural integration of society, ongoing economic development and political stability in India.

Gertrude Bell's Mesopotamian Archaeological Photographs

Photographs taken by Gertrude Bell during her 1909 and 1911 archaeological trips to Mesopotamia provide not only a valuable record of sites, monuments, and landscapes that have suffered near or complete destruction over the past one hundred years, they also provide insight into the mindset, aims, and agendas Bell held when she produced these images. Her photographs taken at two sites in particular, Assur and Ukhaidir, highlight some of her attitudes and motivations at the time. On the one hand, in the case of Assur, the photos reflect her admiration for her European archaeological colleagues' skill at excavation and concede their claim to the ancient city's glorious past. On the other hand, the photographs highlight her efforts to showcase her own archaeological knowledge. Many also reflect a sympathetic stance towards the people of modern Mesopotamia, acknowledging their vital presence and often regarding them as the inheritors of the country's rich ancient legacy.

The Challenge of American Folklore to the Humanities

American Folklore consists of traditional knowledge and cultural practices engaged by inhabitants of the United States below Canada and above Mexico. American folklorists were influenced by nineteenth-century European humanistic scholarship that identified in traditional stories, songs, and speech among lower class peasants an artistic quality and claim to cultural nationalism. The United States, however, appeared to lack a peasant class and shared racial and ethnic stock associated in European perceptions with the production of folklore. The United States was a relatively young nation, compared to the ancient legacies of European kingdoms, and geographically the country’s boundaries had moved since its inception to include an assortment of landscapes and peoples. Popularly, folklore in the United States is rhetorically used to refer to the veracity, and significance, of cultural knowledge in an uncertain, rapidly changing, individualistic society. It frequently refers to the expressions of this knowledge in story, song, speech, custom, and craft as meaningful for what it conveys and enacts about tradition in a future-oriented country. The essay provides the argument that folklore studies in the United States challenge Euro-centered humanistic legacies by emphasizing patterns associated with the American experience that are (1) democratic, (2) vernacular, and (3) incipient.

Darwinian evolution and cardiovascular remodeling.

Mechanotransduction, MT, is an ancient evolutionary legacy existing in every living species and involving complex rearrangements of multiple proteins in response to a mechanical stress. MT includes three different interrelated processes: mechanosensation, mechanotransmission, and mechanoresponse. Each process is specifically adapted to a given tissue and stress. Both cardiac and arterial remodeling involve MT. Physiological or pathological cardiac remodeling, CR, is firstly a beneficial mechanoresponse, MR, which allows the heart to recover to a normal economy, better adapted to the new working conditions. Nevertheless, exercise-induced cardiac remodeling is more a coming-back to normal conditions than a superimposed event. On the longer term, the MR creates fibrosis which accounts, in part, for the reduced cardiac output in the CR. In the hypertension-induced arterial remodeling, arterial MR allows the vessels to maintain a normal circumferential constraint before an augmented arterial pressure. In atherogenesis: (i) The presence of atheroma in several animal species and atherosclerosis in ancient civilizations suggests more basic predispositions. (ii) The atherosclerotic plaques preferably develop at predictable arterial sites of disturbed blood flow showing that MT is involved in the initial steps of atherogenesis.

Political Process and Governance in Tamil Nadu

India has had ancient legacy in political ideas and practice. Politics is understood as practice of goodness. Monarchs did not ignore the guidance of scriptures, elders and wise. It was believed that the sovereignty was given by the God and the monarchs were the legitimate rulers. It is true in Tamil Nadu, a southern State of India, as well. Tamils have their own ethical and spiritual foundations in harmony with other parts of the world. Despite all these virtuous governance, conflict and battles were frequent among the neighbouring kingdoms. As India witnessed several invaders, their impact on Tamil region was also happened. Territorial expansion and tax were rule of the day. Kings and kingdoms were survived on these exercises. Medieval time was influenced by several invasions and frequent mobility of people. Politics and governance were gradually sensitized by language and culture. Modern era mostly occupied by British colonialism taught the people the rule of law and representation. Nationalism was also grown with it. Besides, social and religious reforms were envisaged by enlightened people as well. The whole India was moved with the idea of nationalism and struggle for independence from British imperialism, the Tamil region of Madras Presidency was inculcate with twin notions that independence should be both from British imperialism and the nationalist. The British managed to give up the imperialism and extended freedom to India. Even before that the British facilitated the politics of Madras Presidency to establish its own which in turn brought far reaching impact on the regional forces to sustain their power. Political process signifies from thought to practice.

The Politics of Appropriation: German Romantic Music and the Ancient Greek Legacy. By Jason Geary

<i>The Politics of Appropriation: German Romantic Music and the Ancient Greek Legacy</i>. By Jason Geary

Civil Courage: Its Role in the Contemporary World and Its Place in Social Science

The aim of this paper is to argue a need to re-evaluate the notion and function of civil courage in creating conditions for cohesive, just and pluralistic dimensions of contemporary societies. It will assert that courage can perform a vital social function by providing the basis for civic initiatives that affirm human rights and dignities, enrich the functioning of institutions and quality of civil society and enhance social or cultural change. Since the concept of courage is still commonly discussed using terms derived from the Classical Greece, I will delineate this ancient legacy and its contribution to the persistence of various obstacles and impediments in theorizing about courage. This will be followed by a discussion of the relevance of classical sociology’s input into today’s understanding of this notion, after which I will demonstrate that currently, as a result of border socio-political and technological transformations, this notion is in urgent need of re-evaluation. Finally, I will discuss the functions of civil courage in the contemporary world and its place in social science.

Traditional Caddo Potter

Although I originally set out to find an art form that I was comfortable with and would be inspired by, for myself, I ended up discovering an ancient art form that would benefit not just myself, but the generations of Caddo people that would come after me. I feel that eventually they will see the benefit from its rediscovery. But also, I quickly realized the need to make public the distinction of our ancient pottery legacy for the sake of those Caddo that would pick up the craft. The Native American art world in the American Southeast is much different from that of the Southwest that I grew up loving. So many Native American artists are confused about what is their tribe’s specific legacy and traditional art form that many claim a broad spectrum of tribes in the region by creating artwork under the umbrella of “Mississippian” or “Southeastern Ceremonial.” It became apparent that the Caddo’s specific and unique pottery heritage is in danger of being misrepresented in the art world and to collectors. Making it all the more obvious was that I found out there was only one active Caddo member practicing pottery making, Jereldine Redcorn. I felt like although she was successful in reviving the lost art of our Caddo pottery, there is only so much one person can do and it was then that I decided that I could help expand and help spread our knowledge and our experiences so that our beautiful pottery tradition could be reborn and survive for all time, rather than become lost again in the earth.

Urbanism in Ancient Peninsular Italy: developing a methodology for a database analysis of higher order settlements (350 BCE to 300 CE)

This article describes the methodology of a two-year research project to create an analytical database and GIS of 583 (proto-)urban centres on the Italian peninsula that existed between 350 BCE and 300 CE. The article is linked to the project's data files, deposited with the ADS, and is essential reading for users of the database. The research design, format and functionality of the database are described in conjunction with the challenges encountered during the methodological development of the project. The relevance of the project to the historical development of urbanism on the Italian peninsula during the period under study is outlined. An overview of the project's results provides an insight into the potential of the research methodology. It is relevant to anyone interested in ancient urbanism, Italian and Roman archaeology, or in the methods and results of combining ancient textual and archaeological legacy data with geospatial data.

The Role of Entrepreneurship as Cultural Leadership In Estoniaas Singing Revolutionn

The Baltic people gained notability with their successful use of culture to protest collectively against the common Soviet oppressor in the late 20th century. Rational choice theorists have argued that large rebellious movements are paradoxical because potential revolutionaries face participation and leadership problems. This paper explores Estonia’s “Singing Revolution,” and shows that ethnic Estonians used their cultural beliefs and singing traditions as an informal institutional solution to overcome the collective action problems with organizing and participating in mass singing protests against the Soviet regime. The paper extends the standard rational choice framework to include a dynamic institutional perspective on social change. The success of Estonia’s “Singing Revolution” might be ultimately attributed to the manifestation of entrepreneurship in the form of cultural leadership in pre-Soviet Estonia. Only by adopting and using their ancient cultural legacy facilitated by creative entrepreneurs-leaders were Estonians able to succeed in voicing their true governance preferences in the summer of 1988.

Quantifying Ancient Maya Land Use Legacy Effects on Contemporary Rainforest Canopy Structure

Human land use legacies have significant and long-lasting ecological impacts across landscapes. Investigating ancient (&gt;400 years) legacy effects can be problematic due to the difficulty in detecting specific, historic land uses, especially those hidden beneath dense canopies. Caracol, the largest (~200 km2) Maya archaeological site in Belize, was abandoned ca. A.D. 900, leaving behind myriad structures, causeways, and an extensive network of agricultural terraces that persist beneath the architecturally complex tropical forest canopy. Airborne LiDAR enables the detection of these below-canopy archaeological features while simultaneously providing a detailed record of the aboveground 3-dimensional canopy organization, which is indicative of a forest’s ecological function. Here, this remote sensing technology is used to determine the effects of ancient land use legacies on contemporary forest structure. Canopy morphology was assessed by extracting LiDAR point clouds (0.25 ha plots) from LiDAR-identified terraced (n = 150) and non-terraced (n = 150) areas on low (0°–10°), medium (10°–20°), and high (&gt;20°) slopes. We calculated the average canopy height, canopy openness, and vertical diversity from the LiDAR returns, with topographic features (i.e., slope, elevation, and aspect) as covariates. Using a PerMANOVA procedure, we determined that forests growing on agricultural terraces exhibited significantly different canopy structure from those growing on non-terraced land. Terraces appear to mediate the effect of slope, resulting in less structural variation between slope and non-sloped land and yielding taller, more closed, more vertically diverse forests. These human land uses abandoned &gt;1000 years ago continue to impact contemporary tropical rainforests having implications related to arboreal habitat and carbon storage.

But will it grow back? Second Growth The Promise of Tropical Forest Regeneration in an Age of Deforestation Robin L. Chazdon University of Chicago Press, 2014. 469 pp.

But will it grow back? <b>Second Growth</b> The Promise of Tropical Forest Regeneration in an Age of Deforestation <i>Robin L. Chazdon</i> University of Chicago Press, 2014. 469 pp.

Antiquity after antiquity: a (post) modern reading of antiquity in Bulgarian poetry

Only after the democratic transition in Bulgaria in the late 1980s was the concept of the classical tradition, conceived as an ancient legacy, mobilized in a more or less conscious search for a cultural identity that could be traced back to common European roots. The present study traces the peculiar and inventive reception of antiquity in the poetry of post-communist Bulgaria. I focus on two poetry collections by the Bulgarian poet Kiril Merjanski (born in 1959), which, by reinventing ancient epitaphs, articulate political concerns and cultural aspirations that were current in Bulgaria at the end of the twentieth century. Merjanski’s poetry reflects a specific attitude towards the near and more remote Bulgarian historical past while at the same time aiming at rediscovering mislaid traditions. What is more, problems related to historical memory are interwoven with a sense of the worthlessness of life in the new cultural and political milieu, as well as with a sense of freedom and shattered hopes for a new and better beginning. Both poetry collections represent the shift and the contrast between an apparently fixed and stable society and the instability of society in the present, and deal with global phenomena such as exile, migration, and wandering, which are characteristic of the modern geopolitical spectrum on the millennial borderline.

What we Leave Behind: Exploring Multiple Environmental Legacies in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Gardens in the Dunes

Leslie Marmon Silko's novel Gardens in the Dunes (1996) is unlike her earlier novels both in its reliance to a considerable degree on straegies of the traditional European realist novel and in its inclusion of a variety of global locations. Once again, it is a deeply political novel concerning abuses of indigenous peoples at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. But it is also a novel about gardens and in this essay I approach its issues from an ecocritical perspective, exploring its depiction of a range of gardening and horticultural practices and its valuing of ancient legacies. I attempt to evaluate the ability of the Gardens in the Dunes to offer a visionary view of sustainable agriculture.

A carnival pilgrimage: Cultural semiotics in China

This paper reviews the development of Chinese cultural semiotics from the early age of reception to the present day. The return of Cultural Awareness in the late 1970s in China paved the way for the entry of diverse Western thought and led to the so-called “fever of cultural studies” since the 1980s. The dynamic nature of Chinese culture calls for equally dynamic theories and this has provided a perfect opportunity for combining the various newly introduced Western semiotic models and the contemporary studies of Chinese culture. A genuinely fascinating situation, which I name “a carnival pilgrimage,” of cultural semiotics in China, is that each of the diversified semiotic theories has enjoyed a uniquely prestigious status and a fair share of practitioners. Nevertheless, there are four major Western models that are most influential in Chinese cultural semiotics: Saussurean structuralism, the Peircean model, the Russian School, and the Cassirer-Langer model. The seeming confusion of this carnival pilgrimage is actually a reflection of the dynamism and pluralism of global semiotics and is especially advocated and practiced by Chinese semioticians, who have already managed to explore the rich ancient legacies left by early Chinese thinkers of the sign and to establish semiotic centers and publications nationwide.

Reading Plutarch in nineteenth-century Greece: classical paideia, political emancipation, and national awareness -- the case of Adamantios Koraes

Adamantios Koraes (1748–1833) was a humanist scholar of the modern Greek Enlightenment, regarded by many as the reformer of the Hellenic nation of his time. In his attempt to cultivate the proper sort of education (paideia) and at the same time uplift the national pride of contemporary Greeks, Koraes turned to the revival of the ancient legacy by editing and often translating a wide range of classical texts. Among the various ancient Greek authors that he read, it is clear that Plutarch (c. ad 46–120) influenced him deeply. In this article, I examine two aspects of that influence. In the first section, I argue that while instructing his compatriots on ethical issues, Koraes aligns himself with Plutarch, whom he considers as his ancient role model. This is seen from the fact that in his biographical portrait of Plutarch Koraes is careful in drawing comparisons and links, sometimes explicit and in other instances more opaque, between himself and his precursor. In the second section, I suggest that Koraes is informed by Plutarch’s political outlook as well, and more particularly by his central notion of ϕιλοτιμία, which warns against excessive ambition and self-interest in statesmanship. This notion Koraes adjusts to his own political agenda in the form of ϕιλαρχία, which functions in modern times similarly to Plutarch’s ϕιλοτιμία in ancient times.

Ancient Legacy of Cranial Surgery

Cranial injury, as it is known today, is not a new concern of modern medicine. On stepping on the earth, the man was in reality encountered with various types of injuries, particularly those of a cranial nature. Leading a life, whether wild or civilized, has always been associated with injuries for human race from the very beginning of birth. Therefore, managing cases of this type has gradually forced him to establish and fix strategies and approaches to handle the dilemma. This study is thus focused on tracing the first documented traumatized cranial cases ever reported, ranging from those trials attributed to our ancient predecessors to the identical examples in the present time.