Century Roman Research Articles

Considerations of Age and Demography for Early Christ Groups

Age is an integral part of social interaction and identity but has been largely neglected in studies of early Christ groups. An understanding of the demography (the study of population patterns) of first century Roman cultures in the ancient Mediterranean is critical if one is to avoid, as much as possible, anachronistic and ethnocentric understandings of age in early Christ groups. Although average life expectancy at birth was low (mid-20s to early 30s), people did not expect to die young. This paper reviews ancient demographic evidence used to estimate life expectancy in the ancient Mediterranean (census data in papyri, funerary inscriptions, material culture and model life tables) and assesses Richard P. Saller’s simulation of the kin universe (1994). Clarifying the implications of demography is critical for studying the rhetoric and realities of age in early Christ groups in their ancient Mediterranean settings.

The Agency of Christian Women and the Female Threat to Episcopal Power in Fourth Century Rome

Abstract This contribution sets the Christian widows in Rome in the late fourth century CE and their agency within their social milieu: the Roman elite. In doing so, it argues (a) that the agency of these widows built on class-specific dispositions rather than genuinely ‘female’ or religious dispositions, and (b) that such agency allowed these women to establish a network of influence and power that even threatened the episcopal power.

Writing on Gallus by the 4th Century's Roman Historian Ammianus - Problems with the Writings Concerning the Rule of Gallus and his Relationship with Constantius in 353-354 AD -

Writing on Gallus by the 4th Century's Roman Historian Ammianus - Problems with the Writings Concerning the Rule of Gallus and his Relationship with Constantius in 353-354 AD -

News and Perspectives of Public Law

Since the earliest classic division of law into public law and private law, envisioned by the 3rd century Roman legal expert Ulpian, interdisciplinarity as a fundamental feature of the law has currently become noteworthy. The recent exceptional pandemic situation that we have faced, which can easily be regarded as “crisis,” has revealed once more that reference to society can only be made by resorting not only to law but also to ethics and morals. Public authorities have often found themselves in the position of making administrative decisions for the population, objected by the great majority, as fundamental rights have been restricted for short periods of time. This paper addresses a current topic of interest, namely Considering interdisciplinarity, can we speak nowadays of a new public law? If so, what should we do with the old law? Should we discard it or rebuild it? These questions are answered herein by using research methods specific to law, in order to emphasise the conclusions according to which the measures for good administration carried out by public authorities must express both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, taking the general interests of society into account. Keywords: Public law; Public Interest; European Ombudsman; Maladministration; The Venice Commission.

How a series of sudden deaths in 18th Century Rome inspired early cardiovascular science.

How a series of sudden deaths in 18th Century Rome inspired early cardiovascular science.

The outbreak of new diseases in an era of religious and spiritual crisis:

The paper examines how the humanist physician and later professor of medicine at the great Universities of Italy, Girolamo Mercuriale of Forlì (1530-1606), addressed the issue of new diseases in medical as well as religious-social terms in his medical book De arte gymnastica (Venice, 1569), while he served as the personal physician of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (1520-1589). Mercuriale's medical gymnastics, as a medical method for the treatment of new diseases, stands out as paradigmatic, on the one hand, of the scientific-medical culture of mid-sixteenth century Rome and, on the other hand, the political-religious strategies of the Catholic Church regarding the control of body culture in the context of the Counter-Reformation.

The reoccupation of spaces for productive activities in 5th century Rome

The reoccupation of spaces for productive activities in 5^th century Rome

Meaning-Making in an Imperial and Papal Context

Abstract From a diachronic perspective, and considering both textual and visual evidence, this article traces the relic cult of SS Gregory Nazianzen and John Chrysostom. It focuses on two historical contexts, hitherto not compared with each other, in which both the relics and the architectural frame in which they were placed acquired significant additional meaning and value: tenth-century Constantinople and sixteenth- century Rome. I will show how Emperor Constantine VII, in the Holy Apostles, and Pope Gregory XIII, in St. Peter’s, used the same relics as an instrument in a process of meaning-making, thereby asserting their own authority and prestige.

INTEGRATED MULTI-ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE BRONZE VESSEL FROM MĂLĂIEȘTI ROMAN FORT

This paper presents an integrated multi-analytical documentation of a bronze vessel discovered in a 2nd century Roman military fort from ancient Dacia. The process involved 3D digitization, X-ray and hyperspectral imaging, and molecular, elemental, and structural analysis using Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results of the study revealed the composition of the vessel metal and of the interior coating and the state of conservation through metal quality, internal cracks and corrosion compounds mapping. A 3D virtual reconstruction of the original aspect is also proposed based on the digitization and metal characterization results.

Diplomatic practice of ancient Rome in the IV century

IV century Roman diplomacy facilitated the long reorganization of government, which put the practice of diplomacy in front of a difficult task. Ancient Rome ruled the multinational people through practical diplomatic skills, centered on concluding treaties with military alliances and fulfilling obligations under treaties. Such a circumstance, in turn, laid the foundation for "people-to-people" diplomacy, which sought to strengthen and change relations with dependent states and peoples through diplomatic relations.Among other developments in the field of diplomatic practice in ancient Rome, a treaty of treaty and alliance that established a kind of ambassadors' institution, and the senate, played a crucial role in the practice of coercive diplomatic practice, most notably in the time of the Samnites. It is symbolic that almost every city that was conquered by Rome was declared its property or an ally while the people living there were forced to negotiate through diplomatic contacts and conclude a peace treaty.

Shaping early twentieth century Rome: the AACAR and the contributions of Filippo Galassi and Gustavo Giovannoni

ABSTRACT The building of Rome, the new capital of Italy from the 1870s onwards, brought to the foreground the European debate between transformation and conservation. The development of the modern city and its relationship with the ancient historic core marked the Italian cultural scene at the turn of 19th century. Respect for the historical environment was the reference point for the work of numerous technical and artistic associations, which were engaged in the urban transformations of the capital and impacted both on the city's development and wider national debates. Among these, this paper focuses on the Associazione Artistica fra i Cultori di Architettura (AACAR), founded in 1890. The AACAR assumed a central role in the study, protection and design of the city, introducing the practice of building thinning and research into new urban and architectural models for the city's expansion. As influential members of the AACAR, the figures of Filippo Galassi and Gustavo Giovannoni stand out. Through their manifold cultural and institutional activities, their approach to artistic city building influenced the principles of urban and architectural design in the 1910s and 1920s, leaving a long-lasting legacy on Italian urban design.

Empedocles on the Inheritance of Parental Traits by Offspring

The paper deals with the embryological teaching of Empedocles, the ancient Greek philosopher from Acragas, who lived in the 5th century BC. The article is focused on the mechanisms by which children inherit their parents’ features in the doctrine of Empedocles. The available fragments and evidence on the teachings of early Greek philosophers often provide distorted and sometimes contradictory information. This paper attempts to carefully analyze all the evidence regarding inheritance mechanisms and bring it into an agreement with each other without resorting to abandoning some of the fragments. The most extensive information is provided to us by Censorinus, the 3rd century Roman writer, who in 238 AD wrote the treatise De die natali to congratulate his patron Caerelius on his 49th birthday. The article comments in detail on the testimony of Censorinus (De die natali, 6. 6 = 31 A 81 DK) concerning Empedocles’ views on the inheritance of parental traits by children, as well as the contradictory messages by Aetius (Aët. 5. 11. 1 = A 81) and Aristotle (De gen. an. I, 18, 723a23; IV, 1, 764a1f.; 765a 8 = 31 A 81 DK). The analysis conducted by Erna Lesky in her famous monograph of 1950 was expanded and supplemented in this article. In addition, the study takes into accountthe evidence of cases where children do not resemble their parents. Empedocles justifies these cases by popular superstitions, which were widespread in Europe up to the 20th century.

Conservation of a 2nd century Roman barge from Lyon (France)

The conservation of a 2nd-century AD shipwreck represents a challenge in many ways: the amount of material, different ones such as waterlogged wood, iron, lead, textiles, pitch, among others. A global project has to be planned, meaning that scale adaptations had to be thought of taking into account the exceptional size and diversity matters. On top of it, a common thread with pyrite has to be taken into account to avoid acidification by little footsteps at each conservation care stage. To do this, a complete dismantling has occurred, allowing the removal of 26 meters of waterproofing material which happened to be pitched textiles. To explore the data embedded inside, a new unfolding protocol had to be elaborated; that respected their fragility. New issues arose from this work, allowing to link the textiles to the barge, and also opened new exploration fields of an exceptional set of roman textiles.

The Dawn of the Future-Like-Ours Argument Against Abortion

Although several scholars have held that the Greeks and the Romans viewed abortion as morally unproblematic, an examination of three ancient texts reveals that, starting around the first century CE, some Greek and Roman writers were willing to explore reasons for opposing abortion on ethical grounds (i.e., reasons based on the conviction that abortion is an injustice committed against the fetus). The three texts introduce a form of opposition to abortion that has come to be known in our time as the future-like-ours argument against abortion. The present paper explores the argument that emerges from the three ancient texts and compares it to the work of Don Marquis, the best-known contemporary defender of a future-like-ours argument against abortion. The comparison reveals significant similarities, which are ultimately attributable to a common set of intuitions about what makes killing wrong and premature death tragic.

Digital Genealogy

Abstract This paper demonstrates how methods of digital genealogy can be used to trace personal histories in innovative ways to uncover potentially significant details of settlement history where information in historical sources is scarce. It uses the example of a mid-18th century Roman Catholic settler and his family in Szentes, a small town on the Great Hungarian Plain, at a time when mass migration into this region was happening from overpopulated regions of the Kingdom of Hungary. Records of the settlement history of the town are meagre at best, but this important aspect of social history can be supplemented through meticulous research into the Family Search genealogy database.

Healing Waters and Buffalo Bones: Using Women’s Histories to challenge the Patriarchal Narrative of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta

Most historical narratives have overlooked women’s roles in and Indigenous peoples’ relationships with the Roman Catholic church, such as that of Lac Ste. Anne, a 19th century Roman Catholic community in Alberta. Lac Ste. Anne was the first permanent Catholic mission west of the Red River settlement and frequently appears in historical documents and missionary histories. Women and Indigenous peoples, however, are scantily mentioned. In contrast to the dominant patriarchal narratives built from decades of male-based stories, I propose that women’s accounts from the settlement illuminate life and relationships between its inhabitants. Drawing on historical sources left by three Sisters of Charity (Grey Nuns), who maintained the chapel and founded the school and hospital in 1859, and oral histories from Victoria Callihoo, a Métis woman who lived in the settlement as a young girl, I will argue that the Catholic Fathers conflated women’s lives at Lac Ste. Anne into one over-simplistic patriarchal narrative. Additionally, when re-examined with a 21st century lens, these stories can inform the anthropological study of women at Lac Ste. Anne including their roles and responsibilities, living conditions, physical and social mobility, and rela­tionships with colonialism.

Teaching Roman Law in the 21st Century: A note on legal-historical education in the Netherlands

Abstract Can Roman law still be a useful part of the compulsory curricular programme for legal education in the Netherlands? At the beginning of the nineteenth century Roman law taught the student a further systematization of private law. Later it was seen as an introduction to present-day private law, irrespective of whether it was taught in a pandectistic or a more historical way. For the second half of the twentieth century three divergent approaches could be discerned i.e. a ‘pandectistic’, a ‘neo-humanistic’ and a ‘legal historical’ one. Given this until recently existing state of legal education, various premises can be formulated, which preferably should underlie the teaching of Roman law in the near future, viz. an applicative approach, a connection with legal historical research, the awareness that the civilian tradition is not the only one and that it only started with the glossators, and avoiding anachronisms.

L’empreinte de l’auteur dans les manuscrits BnF, Fr. 9343-9344: Une proposition d’attribution du Roman de Buscalus à Jean Wauquelin

The fifteenth century Roman de Buscalus is dedicated to the duke of Burgundy Philip the Good. Its only nearly complete copy is contained in the manuscripts BnF, Fr. 9343-9344, which have been transcribed and illuminated in the workshop of the Wavrin Master. The text has until now been considered anonymous ; the author’s name cannot be found in the textual tradition. However, a body of evidence can be gathered from the BnF, Fr. 9343-9344, which allows to propose an authorial attribution to the clerk Jean Wauquelin, the duke’s writer. To mention the two most significant evidences : though the first folio of the copy is mutilated, the remaining fragments of the prologue bear striking resemblance with the beginning of works attributed with certainty to Jean Wauquelin, especially the Chroniques de Hainaut. Secondly, what’s left of the dedication miniature painted by the Wavrin Master can be linked with other miniatures ordered by Wauquelin, in particular the famous frontispiece painted by Rogier van der Weyden to illustrate the Chroniques de Hainaut.

Les lieux de culte mithriaques face aux chrétiens dans la Rome tardo-antique

The issue of the Late Antique Roman Mithraism’s topographical network and the impact of the spreading of Christianity on these realities has long been an object of interest. In particular, this took place in the context of the– sometimes highly ideologically laden – investigation of the link between this growing religion and the “ Mysteries of Mithra” – to borrow the title of F. Cumont’s work. Despite the paradigmatic shifts in historiography and the fact that new, mainly archeological, data emerged during the last decades, the debate isn’t closed. An in-depth and dispassionate study is required. After a preliminary step involving the compilation of the Mithraic places of worship attested in the fourth-and fifth century Rome and the sharing of some findings drawn from it, this paper firstly proposes a series of considerations on the argument of a competition with the Church network. This is followed by a meticulous examination of the case of three mithraea (S. Clemente, S. Prisca and Castra Peregrinorum/ S. Stefano in Rotondo) whose end is regularly related to an intervention of Christians. The inquiry demonstrates that a competitive strategy in the churches settlement cannot be inferred – likenesses in the dynamics of both worships being possible explanatory factors – and that the data related to the three mithraea do not allow to favour the option of a Christian action, and drafts an innovative hypothesis (the “ritual closure”) in order to explain the material ending of these mithraea.

El estatuto de la forma en la arquitectura de Borromini. Barroco, tragedia y desmesura

<p>La obra de Borromini es sin duda singular en relación con el resto de la arquitectura barroca romana de mediados del siglo XVII, pues se aleja en sus planteamientos de otras grandes figuras contemporáneas a él. Sin embargo resulta ser especialmente relevante en relación con el sentido que adquieren algunas categorías formales en su arquitectura, que sorprendentemente, se dejan pensar de la misma manera que en muchas obras de arquitectura contemporánea. A través del uso de del pliegue, la inflexión, lo topológico o lo in-forme, descubrimos en la arquitectura de Borromini una cierta negación a individuarse en una apariencia formal concreta. Resulta además singularmente significativo su procedimiento y proceso de proyectar, que podemos conocer a través de muchos de sus croquis. El método que utiliza Borromini de búsqueda de forma tiene una estrecha relación con los resultados construidos de su arquitectura; él hace de la <em>metamorfosis formal</em> un argumento de proyecto. Su resultado formal parece llevar en sí potenciales no actualizados: forma en metamorfosis.<em> </em>Todo ello manifiesta ese sollozo de la naturaleza por su desgarramiento en individuos al que se refiere Nietzsche en su <em>Nacimiento de la Tragedia.</em></p>