Early Eighth Research Articles

By order of the king? Castles in Gallecia in the Early Middle Ages (ninth-tenth centuries)

ABSTRACT With the end of the Visigothic Kingdom in the early eighth century, the territory of Gallecia, located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, entered a period initially characterized by the absence of major supra-local powers. Although nineteenth-century ideas of demographic abandonment have been surpassed, the different powers controlling this territory struggled to impose their agency. Only during the ninth century was this territory gradually integrated into the kingdom articulated from its political hub in Asturias. In this process, a fortified landscape in which castles were a fundamental part of the sociopolitical organization of the territory emerged. These types of sites have been significantly underestimated by archaeologists, with an increased interest in their study developing only in recent years. In this text, we examine several fortified elements located in Gallecia and analyze the relationship of these archaeological sites to the power dynamics and territorial control of the kingdom (ninth-tenth centuries).

SACRED ARCHITECTURE OF JAPAN DURING THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM: LOCAL TRADITIONS AND CHINESE INFLUENCES

The article examines the sacred complexes of Buddhism and Shinto from the time of the beginning of the spread of Buddhism in Japan in the Nara period (645-783) in order to identify the nature of the mutual influence of two architectural traditions – the continental one, represented by the Buddhist architecture of China, and the local Japanese one, represented by Shinto architecture. As architectural examples, two authentic objects of both religious movements built in the same time period in the area of Nara were chosen, namely: the Toshodai-ji monastery complex, founded in 759 by the Buddhist monk Jianzhen, and the Kasuga shrine complex, built in the early eighth century by representatives of the powerful Fujiwara clan, the protector of imperial power. The analysis of the selected objects is carried out in four aspects: the nature of the organization of space, the nature of the interaction of structural elements, the nature of their accessibility and semantic content. The architecture of the Toshodai-ji monastery complex is dominated by continental influences, which are reflected in the organization of the complex, the structure and interior of its main pavilion kondo, and its semantics. The architecture of the complex shows the beginning of the process of transformation of local architectural traditions into Buddhist architecture, which is mainly reflected in the the structure and organization of the interior space of the kondo. The Kasuga shrine complex, on the contrary, although influenced by continental techniques, remains largely within the framework of local influences, which prevail mainly at the level of organization of the complex and at the level of its semantics. Continental influences are manifested in attempts to organize the structure of the shrine complex following the examples of Buddhist architectural complexes, as well as in the architectural form of the hondo pavilions. The identification of the characteristic features of the two architectural traditions was carried out in parallel for each of the selected objects, and based on the results obtained, the nature of the mutual influence of the two architectural concepts was compared in quantitative terms.

Early medieval vernacular Celtic glosses: originals or translations? A case study on the Vienna Bede

This study investigates the Old Irish glossing tradition on the Venerable Bede’s De Temporum Ratione, a computistical work from the early eighth century. Its main source is the Vienna Bede, a fragmentary manuscript with Old Irish and Latin glosses dating from the late eighth/early ninth centuries. It focuses on parallel glosses found in the Gloss-ViBe corpus where the Vienna Bede has an Old Irish gloss and the other manuscripts feature glosses in another language (Latin or Old Breton/Welsh). Minute analysis of individual glosses is used to determine whether early medieval vernacular Celtic glosses originals or translations from Latin glosses? The heterogenic nature of early medieval gloss corpora makes this a complex question for which there is no straightforward answer: for some glosses, a translation from Latin into Irish is almost inevitable, but others suggest Irish influence on the Latin parallel glosses. Accordingly, each case is discussed individually and the results are synthesised in the final part of the article.

A New Funerary Stele from Karkemish and New Values for Some Anatolian Hieroglyphic Signs

Karkemish is located on the West bank of Euphrates River, about 60 kilometres southeast of Gaziantep, Turkey, and 100 kilometres northeast of Aleppo, Syria. Ruins of the city, over 90 hectares, of which over 55 lie in Turkey and around 35 in Syria. Since 2011 Karkemish has been newly explored by a joint Turco-Italian Archaeological Expedition. During the 2016 excavation campaign by the Turco-Italian Archaeological Expedition at Karkemish, a fragment of a funerary stele bearing a Hieroglyphic Luwian text was unearthed in the Lower Palace area. The stele probably dates to the early eighth century BCE (reign of Yariri/Yarri) and belonged to the wife of a cultic official. In this article, after presenting an edition of the inscription in question, new values for the Anatolian hieroglyphic sign L375 (which is attested on the stele in the writing PURUS-L375-sá of the word *kummayalli(ya)s, “sacred priest”) and related signs such as L375, L144 (= *521), L74, L129, and L398 are suggested while reinterpreting several passages of hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions from both the Empire and Late Hittite periods.

Early medieval vernacular Celtic glosses:originals or translations? A case study on the Vienna Bede.

This study investigates the Old Irish glossing tradition on the Venerable Bede's De Temporum Ratione, a computistical work from the early eighth century. Its main source is the Vienna Bede, a fragmentary manuscript with Old Irish and Latin glosses dating from the late eighth/early ninth centuries. It focuses on parallel glosses found in the Gloss-ViBe corpus where the Vienna Bede has an Old Irish gloss and the other manuscripts feature glosses in another language (Latin or Old Breton/Welsh). Minute analysis of individual glosses is used to determine whether early medieval vernacular Celtic glosses originals or translations from Latin glosses? The heterogenic nature of early medieval gloss corpora makes this a complex question for which there is no straightforward answer: for some glosses, a translation from Latin into Irish is almost inevitable, but others suggest Irish influence on the Latin parallel glosses. Accordingly, each case is discussed individually and the results are synthesised in the final part of the article.

The Business of Bishops: The Ecclesiastical Economy of Visigothic Iberia

ABSTRACT Visigothic Iberia experienced significant economic transformations from the sixth through the early eighth centuries, during which churches played an increasing ideological and material role. This article investigates the role of churches as key landholders in Visigothic Iberia, with a focus on how their growing wealth was managed. It explores three aspects of the intertwined relationship between churches, the state and the economy. First, it reveals the ideological views of authors who accepted and promoted ideas concerning the correct use of a church’s wealth. Second, the article shows that churches, like secular landowners, slowly shifted from an economic system based on taxes to one based on landowning and rents. And third, it demonstrates that this shift to rent collection gave greater power to bishops, who were able to decide how to divide up revenues, which led to tensions over what was institutional church property and what was personal clerical property.

The views of Ibn Abidah Al-Sabti (d.706 AH) and choices in grammar and morphology

The research focuses on one of the prominent figures of grammar in Andalusia during the seventh and early eighth centuries, who hails from the lesser-known Al-Andalus. Despite not receiving much attention or gaining widespread fame during his time, he was nevertheless one of the remarkable linguists and grammarians of that era. His name was Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Abeedah, who was a student of Ibn Abi al-Rabi' and counted among his most intelligent disciples. He made significant contributions to the field of grammar and had numerous students, especially among the grammarians of Ceuta. He played a role in enriching the Andalusian grammatical tradition and was considered one of the brilliant minds in grammar and language after Ibn Abi al-Rabee. He provided explanations for Sibawayh's book, Jumal Al-Zajjaji, and other works, but unfortunately, many of these compilations have been lost to the passage of time. We can only rely on what has been transmitted through grammar books written by his students and subsequent scholars. In the introduction of the research, I discussed the personality of Abu Bakr bin Abeedah Al-Sabti, providing details about his name, lineage, predecessors, students, personal qualities, scholarly status, and his passing. The research then delves into two sections, examining his grammatical and morphological perspectives, his choices and directions. Finally, the research concludes by summarizing the most significant findings.

Lichfield and the Lands of St Chad: Creating Community in Early Medieval Mercia, by Andrew Sargent

Andrew Sargent’s doctoral research on the ecclesiastical landscape of the early medieval Lichfield episcopate presents a stimulating set of arguments, frequently takes trenchant issue with established approaches, offers new interpretations, and is enthusiastic in thinking about further, unexplored implications. The general definition of ‘community’ he adopts is ‘groups of people who formed relationships mediated by specific forms of encounter’; his goal is to understand their workings through ‘the collective material practices through which they were created’ (p. 7). Over eight chapters, he pursues that objective by examining how bishops of Lichfield, between the ninth and eleventh centuries, used ceremony and custom to mediate their place, role and influence in communities of religious practice and among secular communities under their lordship. Much is stimulating and convincing. The argument is well made that Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690, extended and unified the English episcopate and integrated religious leaders, especially the bishops, into the lay elite. His aim was the development of a commanding political influence for the church by instilling a common ‘English’ identity among the ‘chosen’ peoples (gentes) of the established kingdoms. The author’s reconstruction of a more detailed life of St Chad than was previously thought possible is a major achievement. It is based on careful, innovative use of evidence from Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica and from the life of St Wilfrid—and by drawing on Bede to reassemble what Dr Sargent believes was one of Bede’s principal sources: a history of Lastingham Abbey’s first two abbots, drawn up there in the late seventh or early eighth century.

Processional liturgy in the urban space of seventh-century Tarragona

ABSTRACT The Verona Orational, copied in Tarragona in the early eighth century, contains processional rubrics hinting at liturgical movement between churches on Carnes Tollendas Sunday at the beginning of Lent. The rubrics mention three places: Holy Jerusalem, Saint Fructuosus’s and Saint Peter’s. This essay examines the processional rubrics in tandem with the urban architecture of Visigothic Tarragona to place these processions as nearly as possible in their topographical context. We also consider the likely character of the chants sung during the processions, drawing both on the Verona Orational texts and the processional chants for Carnes Tollendas Sunday preserved in later manuscripts. This unique sonic and spatial experience signalled the beginning of Lent to the entire city, Christianizing the urban space.

The Solomonic Districts and the Nimshide Dynasty Administrative System in the Southern Levant

Scholars once eagerly claimed that 1 Kgs 4:7–19 contains historical information and represents a reliable source of information on David and Solomon’s administrative system. However, with the idea of a great United Monarchy becoming controversial since the 1990s, some pivotal studies have proposed new dates for this list’s composition, ranging from the 10th, mid-ninth, early eighth, and mid-seventh centuries BCE to even the post-exilic period. This article begins with the premise that 1 Kgs 4:7–19 represents the political reality of a specific time period, which could leave traceable factual evidence. Synthesizing topographical-textual, archaeological, and historical observations of 1 Kgs 4:7–19 to elucidate its likely historical background results in an inference suggesting early eighth century BCE composition during the reigns of Joash and Jeroboam II.

Editors' Note

Editorial| May 01 2023 Editors' Note Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East (2023) 43 (1): 1. https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-10375291 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Editors' Note. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 1 May 2023; 43 (1): 1. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-10375291 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsComparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East Search Advanced Search Among the many narratives gifted by the colonial excavations of subcontinental pasts, one is the flight of Buddhism from “India” eastward. For the colonial imagination, Islam's violent incursion into the subcontinent in the early eighth century marked the end of Buddhist dominion (and brought about the “Dark Ages” of Hinduism). While scholars have done much to combat such ahistoricist renderings, it remains an ongoing exercise to reimagine (and re-enliven) the relationship between people, faith, and space. This issue opens with a special section, “Buddhist Homelands: Transregional Pathways,” that productively restages the encounter between Hinduism and Buddhism, on the one hand, and modernity and the nation-state on the other. In interrogating the concepts of homeland and diaspora, the section allows us to pay particular attention to embodied movements and the spaces of ritual (temples, say) around which much of contemporary politics is organized.The agitated categories of movement and belonging are... You do not currently have access to this content.

Antlers far and wide: Biomolecular identification of Scandinavian hair combs from Ribe, Denmark, 720–900 CE

We used biomolecular methods to identify the faunal species present in hair combs and associated workshop debris discovered at the site Posthustorvet in the trading town of Ribe, Denmark, in contexts dated 720–900 CE. The finds included four unusual combs that have an uncommon but geographically characteristic ‘Scandinavian-type’ style, crafted from deer antler, and found in contexts 720–740 CE. They were identified as moose (Alces alces) and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) using a combination of peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS) and ancient DNA analysis. Our study provides the first confirmed use of moose antler combs in Denmark in the Late Iron Age/Viking Age. Neither moose or reindeer occurred naturally at that time in Denmark, and their closest habitats in the eighth century were on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Based on mitochondrial DNA, the comb identified as moose belonged to the western European mitogenome group, which has been identified in contemporary samples from Scandinavia and Poland, and in one early Holocene sample from Germany. Comparison with other comb finds and extensive workshop debris from the Posthustorvet site reflect a range of different comb-types and raw materials. Our ZooMS and DNA findings, in the context of the absence of associated workshop debris of moose or reindeer during the early phases of the site, support that the four early ‘Scandinavian-type’ combs were brought to the site as finished items by travellers. Our results confirm that visitors from the Scandinavian Peninsula were present in Ribe, a place of trade at the southern edge of the North Sea, in the early eighth century, half a century before the maritime expansion of the Viking Age.

A Rāṣṭrakūṭa King in the Kathmandu Valley


 
 
 This article presents newly discovered data that provides new insights into eighth- century Nepalese history. The data is based on a stone inscription dated to Licchavi Saṃvat 173 (748 ce), here edited and translated for the first time. The inscription not only attests to the continuity of Licchavi dynastic rule through to the middle of the eighth century CE, but additionally reveals a matrimonial and military alliance between the Licchavis and a dynasty called Rāṣṭrakūṭa, possibly the Rāṣṭrakūṭa family attested in the Indragaḍh inscription dated Vikrama Saṃvat 767 (710–11 CE). In contextualizing the historical data that can be extracted from the surviving portions of the inscription, we examine and reassess some of the strategies used by the Licchavi Kingdom to negotiate its position in the tumultuous political landscape of greater North India during the seventh and early eighth centuries. In the introduction and annotations, the article also provides observations on the inscription text’s literary style and script, as well as on certain aspects of Licchavi- period religious culture as reflected in it.
 
 

Regional Buddhist Communities in Tang China and Their Social Networks: The Network of Master Fayun (?–766)

This paper investigates the formation of monastic networks in Tang Dynasty (618–907) China, focusing primarily on the Buddhist traditions of Tiantai, Chan and Vinaya, which have yet to be explored as a series of related regional movements. Central to this effort is a dataset that documents over 2000 interactions between some 700 actors that were extracted from stelae inscriptions, monastic biographical collections, historical accounts, letters, and poems. The network data show two clear patterns in the organization of regional Buddhist communities: (1) individual actors bridged cliques of monastics and officials; (2) both monastics and officials contributed to network activities. To illustrate these two patterns, this paper focuses on the ego-network of Fayun 法雲 (?–766), a prominent Vinaya leader based in Jiangsu region, as an example of the formation and evolution of regional Buddhist communities in southern China. Degree centrality indicates that Fayun was one of the central figures in the southern Buddhist landscape of the early eighth century. By tracing his heterogeneous ties with prominent state officials, local authorities, and monastics affiliated with the Tiantai, Chan, and Vinaya traditions, this study outlines general patterns in the formation and legitimization of regional Buddhist communities in Tang China. All three traditions are revealed as intersecting social formations that were sustained through shared ties with local and nationally prominent bureaucrats.

A Tale of Two Texts–––A New Philological Investigation of Dunhuang Manuscript P.2526

Abstract: In 1911 a Dunhuang manuscript fragment, later known as P.2526, was made available to Chinese scholars via microfilm. Since then, generations of scholars have made forays into the study of the hypothetical original text of P.2526 and the context of its composition. This endeavor, however, seems to be a lost cause. As Albert Dien points out, when one identification is rejected, without any direct evidence, it would be equally problematic to assign another title to the fragment. In this paper, I study P.2526 as a Tang artifact in the form in which it has come down to us, without trying to recover an earlier form of the text. This New Philology-inspired perspective shifts the focus from the unknown and often hypothesized ancestral text of the manuscript to something concrete and approachable—the manuscript itself. Paleographical, codicological, and text-critical examinations of the manuscript uncover the life cycle of this one manuscript as a tale of two texts, each representing a distinct intellectual and socio-textual tradition, preserved in this single physical form for over a thousand years. P.2526 recto documents a portion of a leishu compilation, of value to the cultural elite of the center of the Tang empire in the late seventh and early eighth centuries. It is preserved only owing to the common practice in the Dunhuang area of reusing paper fragments due to the scarcity of paper since the second half of the eight century. P.2526 verso, entirely ignored in the previous studies of the manuscript, is a Buddhist liturgical text, produced and used locally in Dunhuang at the periphery of the Tang empire. It is the materiality of the manuscript P.2526, as a physical object, that ties together these two distinct and unrelated texts and presents itself as one tale.

In situ XRF investigations to unravel the provenance area of Corinthian ware from excavations in Milazzo (Mylai) and Lipari (Lip\xe1ra)

In this contribution a non-destructive approach has been used aiming at investigating the chemical composition of 35 ceramic items belonging to the collections of the Regional Aeolian Museum “Luigi Bernabò Brea” in the Lipari Island (Sicily, Italy). Different vessel types have been selected for analysis, including aryballoi, kotylai, olpai, anforiskoi, oinochoai, and alabastra, belonging to the “Proto-Corinthian and Corinthian” ware classes. The items, dating back to the period comprised between the early eighth and the first half of the sixth century BC, come from two different archaeological sites in the province of Messina (Sicily), specifically the Istmo necropolis of Milazzo, in the northern Sicilian coast, and the acropolis and necropolis of Lipari, in the Aeolian islands. The chemical characterization of ceramics, carried out through portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF), aimed at gaining information on the production area of examined items whose autoptic analysis pointed to Corinthian imports. The possibility of carrying out experimental investigations on the most ancient materials from the archaic necropolis of Milazzo and on fragments from Lipari, albeit limited to pXRF investigations, allowed to enrich the knowledge on the Corinthian production exported to western areas as well as to discriminate, no longer based solely on autoptic observations and stylistic evaluations, between Corinthian productions and "local" imitations.

Glaubenskrieger - Kriegsdienstverweigerer - Wort- und Blutzeuge des Evangeliums. Charakterliche Vielschichtigkeit, Intertextualität und Versionenpluralität in der lateinischen Passio Theodor Tiros

The Latin dossier on Theodore the Recruit derives in its entirety from the early fifth-century Greek Passio (BHG 1761-62). During the seventh and eighth centuries, the West became acquainted with two versions of it: the older one (BHL 8078) is based on a lost recension of the Greek text which had combined Theodore with Eutropius and Basiliscus in order to present a triad of iconoclast soldier-saints. This older version also exists in a slightly better attested redaction of Northern French origin (BHL 8079). The Latin standard-text (BHL 8077), however, results from an original (re-)translation of BHG 1761, which also relies on the earlier version 8078 and other Latin Martyria of similar content, such as the Martyrdom of Polycarp or the Passio Nestoris. Both the relatively high quality of the translations and the development of Theodore’s cult in the West speak to their Italian origin, at some point between the late sixth and early eighth centuries.

The sensory experience of English local shrines: a ‘synaesthetic follow-up’

In a sense, all saints are local, and many are both native and international. But from the early eighth century, high-status saints of regional importance began permeating locally-superior churches, and England’s ‘golden age’ of sainthood was secured. Then, ‘universal’ or ‘popular’ cults, came into existence around the turn of the thirteenth century, when shrines of international significance began to outdo those of traditional local importance. Nonetheless, no cult could be successful if it did not appeal to the heart of pilgrimage: a sense of contact with the saint. This article explores the sensory experience of the pilgrim at local shrine sites in England from the post-Conquest era to the late fifteenth century, to discover how and why pilgrims participated in such sensory actions. The discussion necessitates examination of the architectural design and development of the structural arrangements created for the veneration of local saintly relics, from which it is argued that an increase in the sensory aspects of shrine design was a direct result of the demand by supplicants for more interaction in devotion.

Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe by Judith Herrin

Reviewed by: Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe by Judith Herrin Edward M. Schoolman Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe Judith Herrin Princeton. Princeton University Press, 2020. Pp. xxxvii + 537. ISBN: 978-0-691-15343-8 There are many ways to locate the city of Ravenna. Geographically, it rested at the southern edge of where the wide Po valley met the Adriatic in northern Italy. Politically, it was central to the late Roman empire and its immediate successors in Italy, serving as the capital for both the Ostrogothic kingdom and, for more than two hundred years, the Byzantine exarchate of Italy, before finally being seized by the Lombards (if only temporarily). Into the Middle Ages, this past made the city a desired location on royal itineraries in the age of the Carolingians. Culturally, it was the recipient of imperial and significant local patronage in its late Roman and early Byzantine guises, leading to the constructions of some of the best-preserved churches of the period, resplendent in their glittering mosaics, but was also the site of the production of other more mobile items, exemplified by illuminated Gothic bibles on the one hand, and texts like the anonymous early eighth century Cosmography on the other. In Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe, Judith Herrin acknowledges the multiple positions of the city, while locating Ravenna as an integral node in a much wider context by connecting its history to the broader transitions from the late Roman world into a differentiated medieval Europe. Despite the broad stokes that this entails, Herrin masterfully ties together the details that make this book compelling. In thirty-seven chapters, neatly subdivided into smaller sections sprinkled with full color plates, she touches on Ravenna's frequently central role in historical events, including the cultural production of the city. Her analysis ultimately showcases the utility of understanding the fortunes of one place as a lens for viewing larger patterns of early medieval history. While Ravenna's periodization and general scope match Herrin's 1989 The Formation of Christendom, this volume nevertheless represents an entirely different approach in its execution. There is, in fact, nothing quite like this volume. Its focus could make it a fitting companion to Deborah Mauskopf Deliyannis's Ravenna in Late Antiquity, which centered on the material and built environment. It nevertheless stands on its own as a way to trace the development of the Mediterranean from the reign of Constantine to that of Charlemagne. Herrin pulls in major figures like Theodoric and Justinian, but is equally adept and weaving in the activities of the Popes, Ravenna's bishops, and its Byzantine Exarchs; religious disputes including Arianism, the Three Chapters Controversy, and Iconoclasm; and even the lives of soldiers, monks, priests, Goths, and the workers of land who appear (often only once) in the church of Ravenna's rich collection of preserved papyri and parchment documents. She also taps into relatively obscure sources to uncover unlikely connections, like the anonymous Cosmographia composed in Ravenna around 700 ce by a scholar who "travelled" through the literature that was on hand, revealing the now-lost books and maps available during these so-called "dark ages." Designed for a more general readership, Ravenna would serve as an ideal a [End Page 317] book for the classroom, perhaps in some version of a course on a long Late Antiquity or the parallel early medieval version, "From Constantine to Charlemagne." With its clear organization, short chapters, and chronological breadth, Ravenna stands as a central point of balance between more traditional narratives of the early Middle Ages in the "West," and narratives that encompass a wider, multi-cultural perspective on Late Antiquity and highlight the contributions of the Byzantine Empire to this history. More broadly speaking, as a history of the Mediterranean and ultimately centered on the transition between "modes" of antiquity and those of the Middle Ages, Herrin's work here is satisfying in its elasticity, moving its focus from one tightly bound to the confines of Ravenna to a much wider field of vision to relate how major political and cultural changes rippled through the sea. As of the writing of this review, Ravenna has...

Preliminary Notes on the Extended Heart Sutra in Chinese

This article offers an introductory overview of the attribution and dating of the versions of the extended Heart Sutra preserved in the Chinese Tripiṭaka and some preliminary assessment of the reliability of these sources. It includes some observations about the interesting features of each version and a stemma showing how they relate to the wider world of Heart Sutra versions. Finally, a conjecture is made about the language in which the extension was made. The Heart Sutra appears to have been extended twice in the early eighth century, leaving us with two different versions of the extended text. It appears that the first extended text, like the standard Heart Sutra, may have been composed in Chinese, while the second extended text appears to have been composed in Sanskrit.