Ancient Roman Society Research Articles

Braiding Fruits and Flowers as a Wish of Prosperity and Victory over Death in the Carved Festoons of Ancient Rome

Plant motifs had a significant role in ancient cultures, with decorative, artistic, and communicative values. However, little knowledge exists of the botanical composition of festoons, widely used in Greek-Roman art. We analysed 81 festoons, exclusively from sculpture artworks, collected from 13 museums and archaeological sites in Rome (1st century BC–3rd century AD). Using iconographic sources and previous data, we identified the represented species and analysed their abundance and composition using statistical methods (Cluster Analysis, Principal Components Analysis) and diversity indexes (Shannon and Evenness). We documented 3081 botanical elements, identifying 30 taxa, in which fruits with leaves (45%) or alone (10%) represented the most common ones. Laurus nobilis and Quercus cfr. robur were the most frequently depicted species, followed by “pomes” (Pyrus, Malus, Cydonia), Vitis vinifera, Punica granatum, and Ficus carica. Festoons with one or two species can be easily distinguished from those with multiple species, often arranged with figs or vine branches at the ends, with symbolic aims related to fertility, rebirth, and abundance values. A balanced botanical composition also exists, with flowers typically in the middle and a species distribution that is not casual. The results enriched our comprehension of ancient Roman society, considering funerary and celebrative events.

The Heterarchy of the Roman Galli

Abstract Aim of this paper is to describe the strategies that a specific type of Roman priests, namely the galli who worshipped the goddess Mater Magna, used to enhance their own religious authority. By doing so, they were transcending a state-given political hierarchy and a long established social normativity, namely the masculine hegemony of the ancient Roman society. More generally, temporary priestly offices were highly political: every Roman statesman had to fulfil at least one such office for some time during his life. However, there were also priests and priestesses that held their offices for life. Lacking the possibility of generating prestige through warfare or political success, like Roman statesmen, the galli had to garner prestige in their lifelong priesthood, and consequently social power, through different aspects. Specific religious services, such as sacrifices, spells, etc., were one possibility. However, the galli’s power could also have been generated through social aspects, such as habitus, which is rooted in the living conditions, the cultural milieu, and the biography of an individual (Schreg, Zerres, et al. 2013, 101). This article discusses the case of the priesthood of the Mater Magna cult, a religion that emerged in Rome at the end of the 3rd century BCE and in which the priests applied a specific form of stigma management to foster their religious authority. I argue that the priesthood of the Mater Magna—although they were even defamed by the Roman intellectuals for their inconclusive sex—made use of their ‘otherness’ to generate a certain religious authority, as a form of stigma management, that elevated them in the social hierarchy and created heterarchical relations.

Правовой нарратив в легенде о Ромуле

Introduction: the article analyzes the legal significance of the legend about the founding of Rome as illustrated by the episode concerning the murder of Remus, brother of Romulus. This myth, as a legal narrative, preserved the description of facts that corresponded to the logic of Roman criminal law and were constantly updated in the public consciousness. Purpose: the article attempts, from the stance of postclassical jurisprudence, to reconstruct the legal reality of ancient Roman society and the Romans’ understanding of the death of Remus, to analyze the reasons for the stability and the development stages of the narrative tradition. Results: the episode of fratricide, reflected in most ancient sources, is contextually connected with public legal consciousness, which, throughout most of the Roman history, did not condemn Romulus. The symbolic interpretation of the legend is insufficient since it does not take into account the normative enshrinement and positivation of the mythological plot in the Digests. The narrative does not contain a detailed description of the ritual, and therefore Rem’s death cannot be considered a sacrifice. The analyzed legend reflects the process of establishing ancient Roman legal norms, and its content is more of legal than of religious or allegorical nature. Conclusions: the narrative about the death of Remus can be recognized as a source of archaic law. Its regulatory content was expressed in the prohibition to get over the walls or ditch surrounding the city, which served to preserve Roman society and supported the idea of law and order and the inevitability of punishment. The ban itself as well as the sanction for violating it were publicly proclaimed. The preservation of the narrative tradition is explained by the focus on repeated application of the described rule, the violation of which was punished regardless of blood relationship. The myth of Romulus and Remus initially legitimized the archaic criminal law norm, giving it the properties of publicity, universality, and obligation. Evolving in dialogue with the audience, this legend acquired the properties of a metanarrative that personified the inviolability of Roman laws and created the principles of the entire system of Roman public law.

Who’s Your Daddy? In Search of the “Father” of Pentecostalism

The concept of assigning a person the title of father of an ideology or view has its roots in ancient Greek and Roman society where some of the earliest of such references occur. Fatherhood in the context of this paper refers to the originator of the ideas and concepts central to and underpinning Pentecostalism. To determine who the rightful “father” of Pentecostalism is, a closer consideration of the history of the Movement and the contemporary views on the possible contenders, are justified. The four predominant theories in contemporary scholarship seem to be 1) Charles Parham is the father of Pentecostalism thanks to the events in Topeka, Kansas in 1901 and his subsequent doctrine of spirit baptism with accompanied speaking in tongues, 2) William Seymore and the events in Azusa Street Mission from which the global Pentecostal Movement grew, 3) Both Parham and Seymore contributed in a significant way and should thus be equally recognised for their respective roles, 4) The Holy Spirit is the father of Pentecostalism as Spirit Baptism is a Holy Spirit initiated event. There is significant evidence that both Parham and Seymour distanced themselves from what has become common practice among Pentecostals and tenets central to Pentecostalism respectively. This would eliminate both men, and thus three of the four views, with the last option also raising concerns.

SC Claudianum and Levitas Animi – a Gender Issue?

During the reign of Emperor Claudius, a senatusconsultum from 52 AD contained provision concerning free women sustaining a relationship with the slave of another. In accordance with these provisions should she fail to abandon the relationship after the denouncement of the slave’s master, will become the slave of the master denouncing her deed. The senatusconsultum also contains rules regarding the status of the children born from such a relationship. Some scholars tend to label this decree of the Roman Senate a “gender issue” despite the obvious anachronism of the statement. This paper aims at unfolding the sustainability of such a label. In the scope of this endeavour the common and generally known phrases, levitas animi and infi rmitas sexus are also examined. Connected to tutela feminarum, the locutions levitas animi and infi rmitas sexus turn out to contribute to a common, but mistaken opinion how women were regarded in ancient Roman society. Placed properly amongst primary sources, it turns out that they refl ect an attitude stemming from Greek philosophy, and therefore not common throughout the entire history of Rome. As for the approach of male and female roles in Roman society, mores maiorum plays an undoubtedly important part in determining the actual content of social customs. There’s also a strong endeavour to protect women in certain situations, and this is where tutela mulierum is supposedly originates from. Secondary literature does not rank SC Claudianum among “gender issues”. In addition, the term “gender issue” as such covers a modern concept, and therefore anachronistic in Roman law research, as a consequence its use is at least doubtful.

Місце лікарів у системі ринку послуг Візантії IV–IX ст.

The article analyzes the position and status of medical and pharmaceutical staff in the Byzantine labor market and services. Their place in society and in the professional sphere is considered equal in essence and quality to that of the craftsmen — vanavsos. It is emphasized that in most cases they did not belong to slaves, as it was in the ancient Roman society, but to free, wealthy strata of the population, to those who were classified as euporus, endesters with an annual income of at least 25–50 solidi, and their salary allowed them to provide themselves with everything they needed. Paid visit to the doctor, iatraros was considered as a daily routine. Sometimes it took place at public cost, mainly in the capital of the Roman Empire in the early Byzantine period, but also among monks. Getting into the ranks of medical professionals was limited only by the financial solvency of those who studied this craft, unless, of course, it was inherited from father to son. In the Byzantine Empire in the IV–IX centuries, medical services were provided both in private, paid, and at the state, public levels.

Law as a universal form of embodiment of the idea of justice.

The article examines the issue of the primary formulation of the idea of justice in philosophy. It is substantiated that justice is not just the central idea of law but a universal form of embodiment of the idea of justice. In other words, the law is a product of the idea of justice, since injustice could not be embodied in law. Modern geopolitical events, in particular, such as climate change, a pandemic, a war in Ukraine will lead in the future to a change in the regulation of public relations. According to this law, as the most effective regulator, will be subjected to serious pressure. The deformation of the existing legal matter occurs both in its formal expression at the level of legislation (in the broadest sense of this definition), and in a more subtle one - ideological and theoretical. These changes should be considered in view of the increasing practical issues raised by identity politics, as well as in issue of revising the meaning and role of the state for society and the individual in the whole. The events authors observe are comparable in scale to the time when the era of classical Greece ended, when the great philosopher Plato lived and worked, whose philosophical views continue to have a great influence on the intellectual search for European civilization after many centuries. It is not surprising that Plato's most important political dialogue "The State" was devoted specifically to the problem of searching and justice substantiation. In this first article the authors strive for drawing the attention of the scientific community to the issue of justice as a benefit. In legal science, the postulate that justice is the goal, the idea of law is consolidated. In the article the first embodiment of justice idea in the mythical representations of ancient civilizations and the relationship between justice and legislation as a mechanism of determining the desired level of justice in the former society are demonstrated. Аn attention on the content of the legal system with philosophical views of a justice idea in Roman times is focused. This formed a unique legal system known today as Roman law. A special class of lawyers, that was a specific phenomenon of the development of ancient Roman society, had an important influence on this process. Firstly, the presence of a class of lawyers is the cornerstone that distinguishes ancient Roman society from ancient Greek one. Secondly, the ideological and philosophical content of the law of Roman society and its going beyond the clear positive limits of the laws of Twelve tables enable. However, the authors offer the other point of view, owing to the fact that law in its form and purpose is a function of justice, a universal form of its implementation; according to which justice acquires the possibility of its practical implementation in society. null

ANTONYMY AS A MEANS OF PORTRAITING SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN THE DRAMATIC POEM "IN THE CATACOMBS" BY LESYA UKRAINKA

The purpose of the scientific research, the results of which are described in this article, is to identify and analyze the facts of antonymy, by using which Lesya Ukrainka creates a contractive image of social inequality between persons who are characters in the dramatic poem "In the Catacombs", and to determine the specificity of this language and artistic medium in the author's picture of the world. The object of study are lexemes and replicas that illuminate the social background of relations between representatives of the ancient Roman society during the era of persecution of Christians. The subject of this study is the functioning mechanisms of the revealed antonymic language mediums in the dramatic poem "In the Catacombs" and their role in creating the social space of this work. The methods of sociolinguistic, semantic and contrastive analysis, as well as the descriptive method, are applied. The result of the analysis is the identification of facts of artistic antonymy in the replicas of the characters, primarily the Christian bishop and the neophyte slave, in the dispute about social justice. Some conclusions were made, in particular: antonymy is the leading artistic device of the dramatic poem "In the Catacombs", by using which Lesya Ukrainka highlights the God-loving positions of people who disagree with social inequality in society and are ready to fight for social fairness; antonym pairs in the work are distinguished at the lexical, phraseological and textual levels; the main conflicting antonym pair in this poem is SLAVE ≠ FREE. Socially conditioned antonymous pairs MAN ≠ WOMAN; CHRISTIAN ≠ PAGAN; GOD / KING ≠ HUMAN also intensify the conflict.

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF IDEAS OF MORALITY EDUCATION WITH THE EUROPEAN AND JAPANESE SOCIETY

Analysis of the history of morality education in Japan and in European society, the views of famous philosopher-thinkers of Ancient Greece, Rome and our time. Factors of formation, development and extinction of morality education in the system of European education. Morality education is absolutely necessary in modern society; it accidentally or naturally leaves the European school. Starting with the history of education in ancient Greek and Roman society, which has become the historical prerequisite for modern European morality education, which since the 14th century has taken Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome as the ideal of their development. For centuries, philosopher-thinkers of Europe have argued that there was a real morality education. Morality education in the space of the Roman Empire began to be created when Christianity appeared. What did Christianity do or what made Christianity such that morality education not only became possible, but it became necessary. The characteristic features of modernity are the crisis of humanity and the lack of morality. The practical significance of the work lies in the fact that the main results of the study can be applied in modeling educational systems in modern conditions.

The Class-Based Approach to Roman Criminal Law

<p>The theory of class struggle lay at the root of Marxist methodology. According to historical materialism, the slave formation existed in the ancient Roman state, and Marxist historians further developed the concept of class divisions in Roman society. Their views on this subject permeated also the research on Roman law, which was to be studied in terms of the influence that class divisions and class struggles had on the evolution of the state and legal norms in ancient Rome. This approach mainly concerned Roman private law, which was of the primary interest to scholars. The author attempts to determine whether the issue of class also constituted a reference point for studying the criminal law of ancient Rome, which had the character of public norms. The article examines the most representative views of Roman law scholars who applied the Marxist method in their research. Despite their attempts, they found it hard to uphold the concept that ancient Roman society had been divided into antagonistic and structurally homogeneous classes, and what is more, that these classes had been united by class consciousness. Differences between social strata in their legal position, including different criminal law norms, did not result from class divisions and class struggle, but rather reflected the specific character of ancient Roman society.</p>

Self-Determination of People with intellectual Disabilities in Independent Living and Quality of Life

The paper examines the historical reasons, genetic roots and the state of privileges of the elite in Ancient Rome. A significant part of the various economic privileges during the three main periods at that time are distinguished and explained – The Period of Kings, Republic Rome and Imperial Rome. A comprehensive classification of the types of royal, republican, imperial and class privileges of the elite during the said historical period has been made. The respective significant conclusions on the importance of privileges in the ancient Roman society and their impact on its development have been drawn.

THE PRIVILEGES OF THE NOBLES IN THE ANCIENT ROMAN REPUBLIC

The paper examines the historical reasons, genetic roots and the state of privileges of the elite in Ancient Rome. A significant part of the various economic privileges during the three main periods at that time are distinguished and explained – The Period of Kings, Republic Rome and Imperial Rome. A comprehensive classification of the types of royal, republican, imperial and class privileges of the elite during the said historical period has been made. The respective significant conclusions on the importance of privileges in the ancient Roman society and their impact on its development have been drawn.

Hearing Revelation 1–3: Listening with Greek Rhetoric and Culture by Jerome H. Neyrey, S.J

Reviewed by: Hearing Revelation 1–3: Listening with Greek Rhetoric and Culture by Jerome H. Neyrey, S.J Andrew R. Guffey jerome h. neyrey, s.j., Hearing Revelation 1–3: Listening with Greek Rhetoric and Culture (CBQMS 56; Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2019). Pp. 210. Paper $39.95. In this latest essay Jerome Neyrey trains his well-honed sociorhetorical eye on the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation. The agenda of the book is to reorient scholarly approaches to Revelation, dislodging the obsession with literary excavations typically found in the technical commentaries and commending instead an approach that reflects the rhetorical experience of an ancient audience, most specifically the way it establishes Jesus’s ethos for the communities it addresses, with careful attention to matters of honor and shame. Part 1 opens with an introductory chapter outlining the twenty-one theses N. is keen to advance, followed by a chapter that urges a change in perspective, from reading Revelation as a text, to hearing Revelation as an oration or rhetorical communication. Part 2 expands on these observations, arguing in chaps. 3 and 4 that, although Revelation 1 displays epistolary elements, it is better treated as an exordium, the beginning of a rhetorical work intended to outline the ethos of the sender of the communication. Neyrey argues vigorously that, while conventional scholarship focuses on John as the sender, a rhetorical analysis rather highlights the importance of Jesus as the Proximate Sender (the Ultimate Sender being God). Part 3 (chaps. 5 and 6) makes the case that Revelation 1 presents Jesus as a trustworthy rhetorical agent (by Aristotle’s canons; Rhet. 2.1.5), who knows what he is talking about (phronēsis), is virtuous (aretē), and exhibits goodwill toward the audience (eunoia). Jesus’s trustworthiness is accomplished both directly in 1:1–11 with the presentation of Jesus as the recipient of the revelation and the notice of his honorable deeds, and indirectly in 1:12–20 with an ekphrasis, a vivid description, of the Sender himself. The ekphrasis, N. contends, utilizes aspects of Daniel 7 and 10 but also resonates with Greco-Roman anatomical descriptions meant to establish honorability. Elements of this description are picked up in the letters to the seven churches, binding the honorable ethos of Jesus to the content of the letters. If to this point N. has sought to expand the capacity of biblical scholars actually to hear Revelation, in part 4 he attunes the hearing of Revelation more narrowly to matters of honor and shame. In chap. 7, he briefly sketches the honorific agonistics of ancient Greek and Roman society: even in rhetoric there was a constant struggle for reputation, for honor. N. uses Libanius and a couple of ancient examples in chap. 8 to flesh out the oft-invoked epistolary categories, letters of praise and blame. Part 5, then, comprises a set of analyses (chaps. 9–15) of the dynamics of honor, of praise and blame, in each of the letters of Revelation 2–3. In the conclusion, N. reviews the elements of the argument and offers a few modest remarks on what this sort of analysis of Revelation 1–3 might say about studying the rest of the book—principally, that it ought to engage with similar insights from Hellenistic rhetoric. The claims of the book ought to be taken seriously by any scholar working with Revelation. N. is undoubtedly correct that hearing Revelation with an ear for ancient rhetoric is a fruitful procedure. Still, my description of this book as an essay was deliberate: the elements of the argument are often schematic and lightly grounded. Moreover, N. is not conversant with current scholarship that would have aided his argument. This is especially [End Page 344] true, as an example, in the case of ekphrasis. N. shows the right instinct in labeling Rev 1:12–20 as an ekphrasis, but his discussion is vague (pp. 67–69). He appears to be unaware of the considerable body of work on ancient ekphrasis that would have given this recognition some real heft (see Robyn J. Whitaker, Ekphrasis, Vision, and Persuasion in the Book of Revelation [WUNT 2/410; Tübingen...

Antik Hellen ve Roma Toplumlarında Büyü ve Kehanet

İnsanın kendisinden üstün ve kutsal kabul ettiği varlıklarla, atacakları adımlardan önce ya da aşamalarında güvence almak, onları memnun etmek gibi çeşitli amaçlarla iletişime geçme istekleri büyülerin ortaya çıkışını sağlamıştır. Kutsal ve kendisinden üstün olan varlığa yaklaşarak sosyal yaşamı ya da devletine dair adımlarda kendisini güvende hissettirecek yorumlar almak üzere kehanet büyülerine başvurmuşlardır. Çalışmada Antik Hellen ve Roma toplumlarında sözü geçen bölgede büyü ve kehanet kavramlarının açıklanmasıyla birlikte papirolojik ve klasik kaynaklar aracılığıyla Hellenizm ile bölgedeki yerel kültürlerin senkretik yapıları incelenmiştir.

Wealth Perception in the Preindustrial Era: Social and Value Aspects

The article deals with the value system of wealth perception in the pre-industrial period of society development. It is proved that the basis of each formation model is presented by the idea of prestige, the meaning of which lies in labour and wealth. The change in the perception of wealth directly determines the specifics of public recognition and requital. The study proved that in the pre-industrial period of society development the equivalent of wealth was the number of cattle and, to a lesser extent, the amount of gold and property privately owned. At the same time, in the ancient Roman society wealth was understood as monetary, and land wealth or the person possessing capital, first of all, land was considered to be rich man. The wealth of the Roman society was largely determined by the exploitation and depletion of the provinces’ economic life. Based on the analysis of the medieval social relations, it is shown that in the society, wealth became a kind of indicator of generosity, greatheartedness, hospitality and valour of a lord. The prestige and influence of a lord was commensurate with his ability to bestow lands on vassals, arrange feasts, give alms and donate to the church, which resulted in an increased honour of chivalry as the main value in the moral code of medieval society. To our mind, in the urbanized space of the Middle Ages, the indicator of wealth was not landed property, but property obtained as a result of the development of commodity-monetary relations and embodied in coins. In this sense, money acted as a measure of different values and at the same time as an instrument of values transformation into other forms of social reality. Actually, money became a softer form of power, which was not associated with feudal dependence, virtually eliminated all explicit forms of slavery and created conditions for the development of qualitatively new historical types of society.

Historic Progression of Forensic Sciences

The history of forensic dates back thousands of years. The importance is primarily associated with crime and crime scene investigation. The word forensic has its origin from Latin word “forensic” which stands for a forum. the earliest application dates back to the ancient Greek and roman societies. By providing technical based material through analysis of physical evidence, this played a major role in criminal justice.

РЕПРЕЗЕНТАЦІЯ КОНЦЕПТУ POPULUS У ЛАТИНСЬКІЙ МОВІ (на матеріалі лексикографічних джерел)

The article focuses on the study of the lexical representation of the Latin concept POPULUS in lexicographic sources. Based on a comparison of relevant lexicographic articles in the bilingual translation dictionaries as well as observing the synonymous series, the key sememes were highlighted, which shape the determined semantic areas of the concept POPULUS. Semantic area “people as a human community, connected by a common origin” is being interpreted through the notions of ethnicity, nation, nationality; the population of the state or its specific part, region, area; tribe, clan, family, degree of kinship. At the lexical level, this meaning is realized through synonymous series: gens, familia, genus, stirps, prosapia; genus, gens, natio, populus. Semantic area “people as a political community” correlates with the notions of state (Roman state), citizenship, democracy, civil rights; and represented by such words, that reflect the facts of the social and political organization of Ancient Rome, as Senatus populusque Romanus; patricii et plebs. Semantic area “people as a large number of people, crowd”, realized by the lexemes of the synonymous series plebs, vulgus, multitudo, turba, tumultus, demonstrates the opposition of personality and the popular mass and is marked by an expressive axiology. The semantic peculiarities of the lexemes that represent the concept POPULUS in the context of historical and cultural realities of Ancient Roman society are analyzed; their specific features and axiological characteristics are determined.

Gendered Deep History of the Bona Dea Cult

The article offers an overview of the cult of Bona Dea in light of the gendered social framework of ancient Roman society. Intrasexual competition and patriarchal, institutionalized sociodicy are taken into account, respectively, as ultimate and proximate explanations of the Bona Dea mythography. The diffusion of the cult and its spread in the literary environment are also tentatively explained by the presence of specific narrative elements (e.g. metamorphosis), some of which are apt to elicit strong reactions (i.e. rape, incest). Finally, the December cult devoted to the goddess is interpreted as a teletropic ritual device both symbiotic/euphoric (i.e. stress-relieving) and exploitative (i.e. a top-down concession enhancing psychological dependence on masculine hierarchy).

UMA TEORIA DAS FONTES DO DIREITO ROMANO: GENEALOGIA HISTÓRICA DA METÁFORA

O artigo pretende realizar uma revisão do tratamento teórico dado pela romanística tradicional ao estudo das fontes do direito romano: sem abrir mão do seu caráter especificamente dogmático, e evitando recair em concepções transcendentais, retoma as classificações tradicionais como instrumento heurístico para uma abordagem historicamente consciente, que busca enfatizar o caráter polêmico inerente a toda sistematização de fontes do direito. Desse modo, a partir de uma genealogia histórica dos diferentes significados atribuídos à metáfora da “fonte do direito” na antiguidade, e de uma compreensão histórica das disputas políticas concretas em torno do processo de formalização de normas jurídicas em qualquer sociedade humana, pretende-se demonstrar que o trabalho de identificação das fontes do direito romano não pode ser tomado como ponto de partida, mas sempre como resultado final da pesquisa histórico-jurídica – obrigada a investigar, para compreendê-las, as condições materiais de formalização do direito disponíveis para a sociedade romana antiga. A abordagem permite compreender o duplo aspecto constituinte-constituído das fontes do direito romano, e poderá contribuir para um melhor entendimento do emaranhado processo histórico de construção de um ordenamento jurídico autônomo pela sociedade romana antiga.

Sources of Major Technological Breakthroughs: Purposeful Systems with Purposeful Elements Having a Common Purpose of Global Leadership

The fundamental problem in the field of the economics of innovation is how countries achieve and sustain technological and economic advantage. This study confronts the problem here by developing a theoretical framework based on the concept of purposeful system having a purpose of global leadership, which endeavours to analyze the sources of technical change by countries in a Schumpeterian world of innovation-based competition and also in the presence of potential military competition. This approach is supported by historical and empirical evidence concerning leading societies in terms of technological and economic change: Ancient Roman society, Victorian Britain and current USA. The main conceptual finding, which may represent the most important driving force of technological change, is that a socio-economic system (e.g., country) in a particular time span, context dependent, acts as a purposeful system with the purpose to achieve a geographical, cultural, political and economic leadership on a wide geo-economic area, supporting also higher technological performances. The strategy to achieve this purpose is based on high R&D military expenditures and a modus operandi of warfare. This strategy, by victories of wars, can generate a vital geo-economic leadership and support changes in the techno-economic paradigms and General Purpose Technologies conducive to high technological and economic performance. The linkages between critical concepts can be the foundation for a general theory of sources of the major technological breakthroughs.