Fourth Century BC Research Articles

Some Notes on the Athenian Gymnasiarch

SummaryThis paper investigates the Athenian gymnasiarchy, an office that remains badly understood. Originally a festival liturgy, the gymnasiarchy was transformed into a magistracy at the end of the fourth century BC. This paper first examines the reasons for the shift and argues that it was connected to broader political currents in late Classical Athens. Secondly, it sheds new light on the nature of the office in the Hellenistic period. Whereas earlier scholars assumed that the Athenian gymnasiarch was a minor official under thekosmetes, epigraphic and literary sources reveal that he was a fully-fledged gymnasium director, just as in otherpoleis.

Crossing the Alps: Early Urbanism Between Northern Italy and Central Europe (900–400 BC). Edited by Lorenzo Zamboni, Manuel Fernández-Götz, and Carola Metzner-Nebelsick. Leiden: Sidestone Press 2020. Pp. 434. £166.50. ISBN 978-90-8890-961-0 (paper).

<i>Crossing the Alps: Early Urbanism Between Northern Italy and Central Europe (900–400 BC)</i>. Edited by Lorenzo Zamboni, Manuel Fernández-Götz, and Carola Metzner-Nebelsick. Leiden: Sidestone Press 2020. Pp. 434. £166.50. ISBN 978-90-8890-961-0 (paper).

Химический состав металла медных и бронзовых наконечников стрел могильника Кичигино I

This study concerns 580 bronze arrowheads from five burials of the Kichigino I cemetery (southern Trans-Urals), dated from the second half of the sixth to the second half of the fourth centuries BC. The main component in all arrowheads was copper with admixtures of arsenic, antimony, lead, tin and nickel. The research revealed that the Early nomads’ non-ferrous metal sources changed approximately in the middle of the fourth century BC. Initially, almost all metal came from Itkul metallurgy and metalworking center located in the southern Trans-Urals forest-steppe area. Pure copper without addition as well as alloys with additive of arsenic, occasionally with arsenic and antimony were overwhelmingly applied. In the next period, there are plenty of arrowheads made of copper alloys containing lead as a component; its sources are located to the southwest and west of the Trans-Urals. The transition to new metal sources was caused on the one hand by massive migrations of the Trans-Ural steppe nomadic population to the southern Cis-Urals, on the other, by gradual decline of the Itkul center of metallurgy during the fourth century BC and by the complete reserve depletion in the third century BC. Reuse of tin-alloyed bronze items from earlier times was caused by lack of the non-ferrous metal supplied by the Itkul metallurgists. Furthermore, results of metals analysis indicate that there is no relationship between the shape of the arrowheads and the composition of the metal in them. Arrowheads of the same shape could be made of different metal composition, and, by contrast, arrowheads of different shapes were made from the same metal.

The Canadian Excavations at Anemurium in Cilicia. By James Russell, with contributions from C.W.J. Eliot, Hector Williams, Sheila Campbell, Nigel Kennell, and Thomas Boyd (Archéologie et Histoire Romaine 45). Toulouse, Éditions Mergoil 2021. Pp. 155. €36.97. ISBN 978-2-35518-117-7 (paper).

<i>The Canadian Excavations at Anemurium in Cilicia</i>. By James Russell, with contributions from C.W.J. Eliot, Hector Williams, Sheila Campbell, Nigel Kennell, and Thomas Boyd (Archéologie et Histoire Romaine 45). Toulouse, Éditions Mergoil 2021. Pp. 155. €36.97. ISBN 978-2-35518-117-7 (paper).

Under the Mediterranean I: Studies in Maritime Archaeology

Under the Mediterranean I: Studies in Maritime Archaeology

BRITISH IRON AGE ‘HORN CAPS’: PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE?

SummaryThe function of British Iron Age ‘horn caps’ has puzzled scholars for centuries. These hollow bronze objects were made from at least the fourth century BC and were mounted on thin wooden shafts. Drawing on the contextual evidence for the objects and the small number of comparable continental finds, it is suggested here that the caps were the terminals of the goads used by the drivers of horse‐drawn vehicles. Although the Celtic chariot and the graves in which they were sometimes placed have attracted great attention, the driver and the horses have been largely overlooked. The drivers may well have also been the horses’ grooms and could have been servants.

Tradition and Innovation in Ancient Greek Oratory of the Roman Empire: History of the Problem

Abstract This article presents a review of research literature on the so-called Second Sophistic (late first–early third centuries CE), that marked the flowering of ancient Greek oratory and had a powerful influence on the beginning of the Christian eloquence. The scholars’ interest in this topic increased in the second half of the 19th century due to insufficient study of the material against the background of the well-researched classical literature of Ancient Greece (fifth to fourth centuries BCE). A comparative study of the two periods in the history of the development of ancient Greek eloquence led researchers to disappointing conclusions. The sophists’ increased attention to the form to the detriment of content, addiction to stylistic delights, imitation of the language and style of classical orators and the monotonous themes of speeches gave many researchers a reason to characterize this literature as secondary and unoriginal, devoid of strength and depth of thought. However, in recent decades, a different point of view has prevailed in science, according to which the literature of the Second Sophistic is fundamentally not reducible to the sum of clichéd speeches with a standard set of rhetorical techniques, as it might seem. A detailed analysis of the works of Dio Chrysostom and Aelius Aristides from whom voluminous corpora have been preserved showed that the sophists generally enjoyed fairly unconstrained creative freedom despite the rigid stylistic and linguistic framework. This freedom concerns content of speeches, choice and arrangement of material, overcoming genre boundaries, varying language, and combining rhetorical techniques. All these factors allow us to conclude that a certain innovation coexisted with classical tradition in sophists’ texts. Furthermore, the abundant literature of the sophists influenced the development of both the rhetorical theory and the oratory of Late Antiquity. The outstanding Christian writers such as Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom studied eloquence from the famous teachers of their time – Himerius and Libanius, who followed the traditions of the oratory of the Second Sophistic.

White Whale, Black Swan

White Whale, Black Swan

Isocrates, Hieronymus Wolf and Juan Luis Vives

This contribution starts with a detailed presentation of the German humanist Hieronymus Wolf (1516-1580) and his life-long involvement with the Athenian rhetorician Isocrates (436-338 BCE). It focuses further on the relation between Wolf and Juan Luis Vives, and especially on the tactful way in which Wolf dealt with a puzzling error by Vives in his Latin letter to Cardinal Wolsey introducing his Latin translations of Isocrates’s Areopagiticus and Nicocles Vives had indeed affirmed that Nicocles was king of Salamis, an island of the Aegean Sea, whereas in reality he was king of Salamis, a city of Cyprus and lived in the fourth century BCE.

The Periplus of Pseudo-Skylax and its Relationship with Earlier Nautical Knowledge

This study focuses on the Periplus of Pseudo-Skylax, a controversial document from the late fourth century bc. Despite diverging views on its date and authorship, scholars agree this text could have derived most of its information from earlier and non-extant, nautical sources. This article contributes to addressing gaps and limitations concerning the Periplus’s relevance and the forms in which such currently lost information circulated at the time of, and preceding, its publication. Its aim is to identify the contents in the Periplus of Pseudo-Skylax which the author could have obtained from earlier nautical sources; compare them with other, maritime-derived extant documents; and further analyse this information from a practical and sailing perspective.

Survival and rebirth : archaistic elements in the Greek art of the Classical period

This paper aims to present an overview of archaistic elements in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. The first part provides a background for their emergence in the second half of the fifth century and summarises the possible reasons why it might have happened. Its primary focus lies in presenting examples from sculpture, vase painting and toreutics and in connecting the archaistic traits which appear on them. The particular elements are described and placed in time. In the final chapter, we draw a conclusion.

Decimatio:Myth, Discipline, and Death in the Roman Republic

AbstractThe military punishment ofdecimatio, the cudgelling by lot of one in ten men in a disgraced unit, often described as a cornerstone of Roman military discipline, was never practised during the third and second centuries BC. The punishment was possibly used as an extraordinary measure a couple of times in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. It soon fell into total desuetude but was cultivated as a rhetorical construct that proclaimed theoretical powers commanders no longer dared effect. It was only revived, or rather reinvented, during the Late Republic, a violent moment that saw the confluence of antiquarian enthusiasm with military dynasts whose unrestrained powers allowed them to manifest what had previously been an aristocratic talking point.

Social Status of Roman Senators According to the Theodosian Code: Legislation and Reality

In 438, at the initiative of Emperor Theodosius II, one of the most significant legislative collections of the late Roman Empire, the Codex Theodosianus (Eng. Theodosian Code), was published, which is a valuable source on the social history of the Roman state in Late Antiquity. Based on the data of the Codex Theodosianus and Novellae of Emperors, the author of the article reconstructs the most important components of the social status of Roman senators of the fourth century BC. It is revealed that in the view of the emperor and the compilers of the Theodosian Code, the senatorial aristocracy was thought of as the highest class of the Roman Empire. Several factors influenced the status of Roman senators. Following a “suitable” way of life and proper performance of political functions determined the position of the senator in society and formed his reputation not only in the eyes of the emperor, but also in the eyes of his community, as well as other classes. The way a person got into the ranks of the senatorial aristocracy also affected the status. So, it was not so much the origin that was important, but the observance of legality in obtaining titles, and, in the case of decurions, the legitimacy of the transition from one estate to another. Finally, the possession of the patrimony and ensuring its proper functioning guaranteed the full and timely payment of taxes by the senators, and in the eyes of the ruler was important for maintaining the high status of the senatorial aristocracy. Unlike legislation, reality was more complex. Thus, the social status was influenced by a much larger number of components (for example, the acceptance or rejection of a Roman aristocrat by the city plebs), moreover, the proper fulfillment by the senator of all the requirements put forward by the imperial power did not always lead him to success in political activity.

Early Greek Catapults and ‘First-Generation Artillery Towers’

This article is intended to offer a discussion on the origins of the catapult in the Greek world. The discussion focusses on one problematic point, non-torsion artillery and its distribution. There are good reasons to think that such early catapults remained a kind of experimental weapon; it is only after the invention of torsion artillery, i. e. after the middle of the fourth century BC, that the catapult became a common weapon, widespread throughout the Greek world. As a result, the study calls into question the typology of artillery towers defined by Ober and its chronological implications.

Judgment in the Fourth-Century BCE Athenian Courts as Anti-Tragedy: Demosthenes's On the Crown

AbstractIn 330 BCE, before a jury of 501 Athenian citizens, the statesman Demosthenes delivered what would become his most famous court speech, On the Crown. Commentators have called the speech “tragic” owing to the litigant's unusual appropriation of tropes from Attic tragedy to make his case. I offer an alternative reading of Demosthenes's speech that rests upon an alternative approach to theorizing democratic judgment. I argue that the rhetorical force and political significance of Demosthenes's metaphors, linguistic expressions and ideas depend upon the institutional setting in which they were delivered. This is because within each institutional site, a specific political practice of judgment is taking place that structures the reception of and response to ideas and images. Demosthenes's speech is in fact “anti-tragic” and reflects the democratic practice for which it was created.

THE FIND OF ANCIENT COINS IN THE TIASMYN RIVER BASIN FROM THE SIXTH TO THE FIRST CENTURY BC

THE FIND OF ANCIENT COINS IN THE TIASMYN RIVER BASIN FROM THE SIXTH TO THE FIRST CENTURY BC

Persian Collections: Center and Periphery at Achaemenid Imperial Capitals

The absence of a true Achaemenid Persian “historiography” necessitates that we look elsewhere to construct Persian ideological interactions with the periphery. Like many Mesopotamian kings before them, the Achaemenids became famous for their collecting practices, and sources often depict them looting and stealing artifacts—many of an antiquarian nature—from conquered peoples. Recently, scholars have argued that we should read this picture as a later Greco-Roman historiographical construct, meant to retroactively vilify the Persian kings for their involvement in Hellenic affairs. However, the archaeological record, read together with cuneiform sources, appears to corroborate these statements. The careful recontextualization in Persian capitals of important cultural heritage items, looted mainly from religious environments in rebellious areas, served not only to demonstrate the superiority and dominance of the Persian center over the periphery but also to situate the Persian kings in an historical continuum of Mesopotamian kingship. A reevaluation of Achaemenid collecting practices from the sixth to the fourth centuries BCE may allow for a more complete understanding of the discursive nature of Persian imperial display.

Archaeometric characterization of black gloss ware from Populonia (Tuscany): Imported pottery and local production of the Petites Estampilles Group

This paper presents a chemical characterization by means of WDXRF and mineralogical characterization by means of XRD of 21 individuals of black gloss pottery from the excavations on the acropolis of Populonia. The results shed new light on the circulation of pottery to this major urban centre in North Etruria during the Roman Republican period, while they also suggest the likelihood of local manufacture. In particular, we identify at Populonia four different black gloss productions that can be archaeometrically defined as Campanian A, Volterra, Etrusco-Latial 1 and a possible local production of ceramics belonging to the Petites Estampilles Group, active in the late fourth and third centuries BCE. Once thought to be a workshop located at Rome itself, this class is now understood as a diffuse network of workshops located in South Etruria and Latium producing pottery of similar technology and style. The present study potentially extends the map of its production to North Etruria in a region at that time newly incorporated into the expanding Roman Republican empire.

Chapter Four: Archaic and Classical Ceramics of Eleon

After a long gap in the ceramic record following the twelfth century bc, ceramic materials dating from the eighth through the fourth century bc are documented in our excavations. This contribution presents for the first time the key deposits of Archaic and Classical material identified on the acropolis of Eleon from 2011 to 2014, including the evidence for the dating of the polygonal wall, the only monumental construction of this period identified so far at the site. Attention is also drawn to the large quantities of votive materials recovered from the ramped entryway and other areas of the site, which appear to attest to one or more cults operating on the acropolis during the sixth through the fourth century bc, if not earlier.

The Decoration and Firing of Ancient Greek Pottery: A Review of Recent Investigations

The wealth and diversity of decoration on Greek pottery continues to attract science-based attention. The availability of increasingly powerful analytical techniques has allowed the nature of the decoration to be investigated in ever-finer detail, down to the nano-particle level. Such work has gone hand in hand with replication experiments ranging from sourcing raw materials to experimental firing. As a result, there is a fuller understanding of the many material and other factors controlling the quality of a range of painted or coloured decorations, most notably black gloss, seen to best effect in the Black and Red Figure–style vases of Attic potters-painters in the sixth to fourth centuries BC. Light has also been shed on the manner in which a few of these craftspeople adapted established techniques to give special effects.Reviewing the progress made on the decoration and firing of several pottery classes as well as other ceramics, such as terracotta figurines, this paper places this information into context in two ways. On the one hand, it covers the corresponding evidence for the decoration and firing of pottery of the Greek Neolithic and Bronze Age to chart diachronically the craft's technological development. On the other hand, it considers recent archaeological evidence for ceramic production.