Authority In Late Antiquity Research Articles

Военные походы варваров в Закавказье и на Боспор в 395 г. в свете современных исследований по истории европейских гуннов

In 395, according to the evidence of late antique authors, the Huns raided the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire in Transcaucasia. In the domestic historiography there is an opinion that during this raid a part of the nomads separated from the main "horde" and invaded the territories of the Bosporan kingdom, as a result of which the Bosporus (Late Antique Panticapaeum) suffered. In this article, based on the analysis of written sources and archaeological material discovered during field research in the Northern Black Sea region and the Upper Don region, the author determines the tribal affiliation of the nomads of Hunnish time, who made this rapid raid. According to his interpretation, the campaign to Transcaucasia should be associated with the Akatsirs, who were not inferior in military power to the "royal" Huns. Regarding the devastation of Panticapaeum, the author notes that the city could have suffered in the course of the established trade and economic contacts of the Bosporan kingdom with the nomads, as periodic raids and the policy of distant exploitation by the steppes were more profitable for ordinary nomads than trade. However, as the author notes, this reconstruction of the course of events can be finally confirmed only by further archaeological research in the Azov steppe, careful analysis of material sources found in the territories under the control of the Akatsirs and research in the western ethnocontact zone of the Bosporan kingdom, where organized border fairs could be located in the late 4th - early 5th centuries.

Иудейская тема в позднеантичной галльской литературной традиции

The article examines the question of how and why the topic of Jews was raised in the Gallic Christian literature of the VI–VII centuries, what image of Jews in the minds of readers was formed by stories whose heroes were Jews, what forms of relations between Christians and Jewish people were consolidated on the basis of literary examples. The main sources are the works of Gregory of Tours, Venantius Fortunatus, as well as anonymous hagiographic works of the VII century. The article is written within the framework of intellectual and new cultural history, in order to obtain adequate conclusions, the authors analyze the language and textual features of narratives. The article shows that the Jewish theme was not independent in either the historical or hagiographic literature of late Antique Gaul, while addressing it allowed late Antique authors to give the reader an understanding of what place Jews occupy in Christian society, and what are the boundaries of relations with them. In particular, it is shown that the Jews were perceived within the framework of the history of Salvation as "sheep of another fold", a source of tension. The sense of danger emanating from them was reinforced in the minds of readers thanks to the anti-Jewish rhetoric. Jews in the eyes of the reader of late Antiquity should have been associated with unbelief, deception, disobedience; they should have caused physical rejection and disgust, they are associated with darkness, blood, and a stench emanates from them. At the same time, since these "others" within the framework of the history of Salvation should become part of the Lord's fold, late Antique literature actively uses the image of a worthy shepherd who devotes himself to preaching the Gospel to Jews and who, by the power of words or miracles, brings them into the bosom of the Church.

О структуре философского учения Эпикура

The a rticle discusses three versions of the question of the structure of Epicurus’ philosophy. According to the fi rst version, Epicurus’ philosophical teaching consists of three parts: physics, ethics and canonics. An established tradition in the history of philosophy speaks in favor of this version. An important role in the formation of this tradition was played by such authors as Cicero, Seneca, Sextus Empiricus, Diogenes Laertius. According to the second version, Epicurus’ philosophical teaching is limited to two parts: physics and ethics. The Canonics is not considered as a separate section. It is part of physics. The basis for this version is the emphasis in the texts of Epicurus on two teachings: about nature and lifestyle. The two-part structure of epicureanism is also reported by some late Antique authors. According to the third version, the philosophical teaching of Epicurus does not have a strict division into separate parts. First of all, this is evidenced by the lack of clear statements of Epicurus about the structure of his teaching. It also follows from the texts of Epicurus that he adheres to a holistic view of philosophy, in which there is no special need to divide it into separate parts. In addition, works are attributed to Epicurus, the classifi cation of which is not reported. This may indicate a weak elaboration by Epicurus of the question of the structure of philosophical teaching. It was found that Epicurus does not share Plato’s and Aristotle’s representations about the classifi cation of sciences. Epicurus contrasts the representation of the division of sciences into theoretical, practical and productive with the opinion of the division of sciences into useful – contributing to the acquisition of serenity and useless – not contributing to the achievement of this goal. Epicurus’ disagreement with academics and peripatetics on this issue contributes to the assumption that Epicurus does not share other representations of his opponents, including the three-part structure of philosophy.

Allegory and Ambiguity in Late Antique Canon Lists

AbstractIn the mid-sixth century, Cassiodorus wrote hisInstitutiones Divinarum et Saecularium Litterarumto instruct the monks at Vivarium in their scribal work of collecting, codifying, and copying the Christian Scriptures, along with a vast array of Latin Christian literature. His text remained an essential handbook for monks and nuns working as scribes for centuries. Within it, he includes three authoritative canon lists which he takes from Jerome, Augustine, and the Septuagint. To modern scholars these lists often read as nonsense: he seems entirely ambivalent towards which books are “in” or “out” of the canon, he appears unfaithful to his source material, and none of these lists reflects his own system for listing or grouping the Scriptures. What then is the point of them? The answer lies in the importance that Cassiodorus, and other late antique authors, place on numbers as sources of allegorical interpretation in the search for higher meaning. Through a process of “holy arithmetic”, Cassiodorus presents what he claims is an inner logic of these authoritative canon lists, bringing to light three different hermeneutical lenses for understanding what the Scriptures are. As allegories, those lenses can coexist in a complementary fashion, aiding Cassiodorus in his larger mission to codify a Latin Christian tradition. Examining Cassiodorus’s approach to listing the canon and comparing it to modern scholarship on the subject bring into focus some of the key ways in which our own assumptions and methods differ from those of our late antique sources. It also opens up new possibilities for interrogating these sources.

Constructing clandestine communities: oaths of collective secrecy and conceptual boundaries in the late antique Mediterranean

This article explores fourth‐ to seventh‐century narratives about oaths of collective secrecy, which our sources typically frame negatively. By examining the terminology used in reference to these promises, the dynamics inherent in the practice and its relationship to oath‐taking customs in other contexts, and the influence of Christianity on the discourses around such pledges, we can see that late antique authors routinely frame the swearing of these pacts as a transition to a liminal state of existence. Through this rhetoric, church and state authorities constructed conceptual boundaries between those who agreed and disagreed with their definitions of acceptable behaviours.

La nascita del termine ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΣΜΟΣ. Un nuovo punto di partenza e alcune considerazioni sull’uso della parola in Ignazio di Antiochia

The earliest occurrences of the term χριστιανισμός are in three letters from Ignatius of Antioch: Magn. 10,1-3, Rom. 3,3, and Philad. 6,1. Was the word χριστιανισμός coined by Ignatius? Some scholars believe so, while others prefer to remain cautious on the matter or formulate other hypotheses. In this article I review the question from different perspectives and come to the following conclusions: 1. χριστιανισμός was not created by Ignatius when composing his letters; 2. the word had already been in use for some time, but it is not possible to establish with certainty when and where it was coined; 3. the authorship of the neologism consequently remains uncertain; 4. initially, χριστιανισμός may also have had a reductive (or negative) connotation. If so, Ignatius would be the first author to our knowledge to use the word in an absolutely positive sense. 5. From a more general perspective, it should be noted that many Christian authors of Late Antiquity do not seem to particularly like the term χριστιανισμός. This may be due to the -ισμός ending of the word.

Christian-Buddhist Intercommunication of Late Antiquity

Abstract The paper is devoted to a historical reconstruction of cultural and commercial contacts which took place between Egypt and India at the peak of the maritime Silk Road to the West in antiquity, i.e. from the first to the fifth century AD, and to how these contacts were reflected by the Roman authors of that time. It is shown that in this context the story of Siddhārtha Gautama can have been transmitted to the West from the first to the fifth century AD. This study is based on the world-systems approach to late antiquity and it has the following two complementary dimensions: (i) reconstructing archeological evidences for the contacts of that time; (ii) cross-cultural textual analysis. As a result, it was detected that almost all the main claims of late antique authors about Buddhism and the ways of its expansion are well confirmed by archeology.

Studying Augustine of Hippo in the 21st century. A Plea for a Renewed Augustinology

Bestselling author Tom Holland described in his 2019 monograph Dominion what he considers to be the paradoxical situation that, despite the pervasive secularization of the West, Christianity comprises the most influential development in the history of the West. That Christian transformation of antiquity apparently still influences what we think about people and society today. One of the Christian authors of Late Antiquity that Holland regularly quotes is Augustine of Hippo. For philosophers and theologians it is beyond dispute that this ‘church father’ stood at the cradle of Latin Christianity, although they are not always entirely happy about this. The latter discomfort often has to do with Augustine’s radical thinking about a comprehensive divine grace, and what this implies, according to him, for ongoing human failure.

CAPTATIO BENEVOLENTIAE IN LATE ANTIQUE EPISTOLOGAPHY AS A MEANS OF PRESERVING COMMUNICATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL ELITE

The article analyzes the epistolary collections of Late Antique authors of the IV−VI centuries: Ausonius, Sidonius Apollinaris, Ruricius of Limoges and others. These representatives of the Late Antique intellectual elite got a brilliant education, and were engaged in literary activities. The epistolary genre was popular among the highest aristocracy not only as a means of communication at a distance, but also as a field for manifesting its education and literary talent. Epistolary contacts connected various regions of the Mediterranean world into a unified network, the members of which supported their Roman identity (“Romanitas”) using a set of rhetorical rules and techniques. The purpose of this study is to reveal the literary trope “captatio benevolentiae” expressing the writers’ desire to belittle their merits. This rhetorical technique was used to win favor with the audience due to the authors’ modesty and to motivate the addressee to continue the epistolary dialogue. Lowering the level of their talent and education, as well as the quality of the texts, the authors of the letters forced the interlocutors to refute unfair self-assessment, thereby, maintaining epistolary communication and social ties, as well as forming a closed, elite community of like-minded people distinguished by a refined culture and high level of education and, thus, differentiating themselves from the masses of common people and barbarians.

Hrabanus Maurus’ Post-Patristic Renovation of 1 Maccabees 1:1–8

Abstract In this article, I examine Hrabanus Maurus’ exegesis of the opening verses of 1 Maccabees, which preserves a concise account of Alexander the Great’s career. My main goal is to demonstrate how Hrabanus reinterpreted the representation of the Macedonian king from 1 Maccabees. To this end, I employ transformation theory, which enables me to analyze the ways in which Hrabanus updated the meaning of the biblical text. I argue that Hrabanus turned the negative Maccabean narrative of Alexander into a positive representation that was attractive to contemporary readers. I support this argument by focusing on Hrabanus’ recourse to Latin sources, primarily the late antique authors Jerome, Orosius, and Justin, an epitomist of Roman history. I find that Hrabanus challenged Jerome’s interpretations, neutralized much of Orosius’ negative appraisal of Alexander, and amplified the laudatory passages of Justin, which generated a new image of the ancient king. The present article thus contributes to three fields: medieval exegesis of biblical texts, Carolingian reinterpretation of the patristic heritage, and the reception of Alexander the Great.

I “mali futuri” e non solo: possibili riprese tucididee in Dexippo e Eliodoro

Abstract The reception of the work of Thucydides in late antique authors constitutes a huge chapter of allusions and reworkings, on methodological, structural, lexical levels and more. A fortiori, certain particularly famous passages by the historian are well suited for a study of their reception, above all where key terms or rare expressions are concentrated. The case of the adjective ἀλγεινός, a poeticism declined twice in the epitaphios of Pericles (2.39 and 2.43) offers interesting material of this kind in the work of Dexippus, the Athenian historian of the third century A.D., and in the romance author Heliodorus. Alongside a secure reference to 2.39 in Dexippus (F28 Martin = F34 Mecella), already identified by Stein, it is possible to identify a further reuse in another fragment, probably extracted from a demegoria (F26b Martin = F32b Mecella). In the light of these examples, it becomes more likely that we can see a reminiscence of Thucydides also in a passage of Heliodorus of Emesa (5.29), already proposed by van Krevelen but omitted from the repertory of citations present in the Aethiopica prepared by Feuillâtre.

Translation and Transformation of John Chrysostom’s Urban Imagery into Old Church Slavonic

John Chrysostom was not only one of the most prolific and influential authors of late antiquity but also a renown preacher, exegete, and public figure. His homilies and sermons combined the classical rhetorical craft with some vivid imagery from everyday life. He used descriptions, comparisons, and metaphors that were both a rhetorical device and a reference to the real world familiar to his audience. From 9th century onwards, many of Chrysostom’s works were translated into Old Church Slavonic and were widely used for either private or communal reading. Even if they had lost the spontaneity of the oral performance, they still preserved the references to the 4th-century City, to the streets and the homes in a distant world, transferred into the 10th-century Bulgaria and beyond. The article examines how some of these urban images were translated and sometimes adapted to the medieval Slavonic audience, how the realia and the figures of speech were rendered into the Slavonic language and culture. It is a survey on the reception of the oral sermon put into writing, and at the same time, it is a glimpse into the late antique everyday life in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Graphic Signs of Authority in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, 300–900, by Ildar Garipzanov

Graphic Signs of Authority in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, 300–900, by Ildar Garipzanov

Ildar Garipzanov. Graphic Signs of Authority in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 300–900.

Ildar Garipzanov. Graphic Signs of Authority in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 300–900.

The Modern Editions of Peri Archon

Origen, when he was around forty-five years of age, interrupted his burgeoning program of scriptural exegesis to write Peri Archon (CPG 1482).1 In this work he provided a unified discussion of Christian teachings so that his readers could probe more deeply into the church’s rule of faith and discriminate among conflicting scriptural interpretations that were swirling through Alexandria in the late 220s (Princ. praef.10; 4.4.5). [...]what remains is a cache of witnesses to the text of Peri Archon from the indirect manuscript tradition: a hodgepodge of translations, excerpts, paraphrases, and reports about its contents that were mediated through other late antique authors who often had axes to grind. [...]Rufinus noted that Origen “occasionally expressed himself obscurely in the effort to be brief,” and so, to make these passages clearer, he “added such remarks on the same subject as I have read in a fuller form in his other books.” Nor did he present readers with the Greek wording that he regarded as spurious or unclear and that had prompted his re-writes. [...]short of competing evidence from other witnesses, we usually find ourselves in a fog about the original shape and wording of Peri Archon.

Ildar Garipzanov, Graphic Signs of Authority in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, 300–900. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. xxvi, 377; many black-and-white figures and 1 genealogical chart. $100. ISBN: 978-0-19-881501-3.

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsIldar Garipzanov, Graphic Signs of Authority in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, 300–900. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. xxvi, 377; many black-and-white figures and 1 genealogical chart. $100. ISBN: 978-0-19-881501-3.Celia ChazelleCelia ChazelleThe College of New Jersey Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Speculum Volume 95, Number 1January 2020 The journal of the Medieval Academy of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/706351 Views: 84Total views on this site Copyright 2020 by the Medieval Academy of America. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Imperial Women and Clerical Exile in Late Antiquity

Late antique clerical exile is traditionally investigated from the perspective of banished cleric or banishing emperor and council. This article investigates the relationships between banished clerics and imperial women. Drawing on data collected by the Migration of Faith: Clerical Exile in Late Antiquity project, as well as quantitative methods such as social network analysis, I discuss how late antique authors exploited these (at times fabricated) relationships for their narrative agendas. Focussing on the case study of imperial women as patrons of banished clerics, I draw three conclusions: First, there was a constantly negative attitude towards involvement of imperial women in clerical exile throughout Late Antiquity. Second, there was, nonetheless, variation in this attitude across time and genres. Negative portrayal of imperial women engaged in cases of clerical exile peaked in the fifth century and in Nicene and Chalcedonian sources. Third, positive portrayal appears only towards the end of the period, and in sixth-century Miaphysite hagiography. I suggest that the identified differences were due to genre, but also responded to real changes in the institutional roles of imperial women over the course of late antiquity.

BARDAISAN OF EDESSA AND MEMORIES OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IN THE NEAR EAST

AbstractAccording to Eusebius, the famous Edessene thinker Bardaisan wrote his work On Fate in a time of persecution and addressed it to a figure named Antoninus (HE 4.30). It is commonly surmised that this ‘Antoninus’ was a Roman emperor who sanctioned Christian persecution in some way. But scholars have varied in their interpretations. Some have identified this figure as Caracalla, who visited Edessa in 216–217. But since Eusebius situated Bardaisan's activity in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, he is often deemed to be the Antoninus in question. As this article surmises, the testimony of Eusebius and other late antique authors, like Epiphanius, reflect certain memories both of the integration of Edessa into the Roman provincial system under Caracalla and the social tensions that it raised. But largely due to Eusebius' narrative, late antique authors conceived of Marcus Aurelius as the ‘Antoninus’ to whom Bardaisan reportedly addressed On Fate and other apologetic work, and they created social memories of Bardaisan as a would-be confessor in a context of persecution.

Incorruptible bodies. Christology, society, and authority in late antiquity. By Yonatan Moss. (Christianity in Late Antiquity. The Official Book Series of the North America Patristics Society.) Pp. xiv + 244. Oakland, Ca: University of California Press, 2016. £79.95. 978 0 5208 999 4

Incorruptible bodies. Christology, society, and authority in late antiquity. By Yonatan Moss. (Christianity in Late Antiquity. The Official Book Series of the North America Patristics Society.) Pp. xiv + 244. Oakland, Ca: University of California Press, 2016. £79.95. 978 0 5208 999 4

Incorruptible Bodies: Christology, Society, and Authority in Late Antiquity, written by Yonatan Moss

Incorruptible Bodies: Christology, Society, and Authority in Late Antiquity, written by Yonatan Moss