Greek Writers Research Articles

Scythian Neo-Paganism in the Caucasus

The Scythians, a warlike, pastoral-nomadic, Iranian-speaking people who dominated the Eurasian steppes throughout the first millennium BCE, are known to us through the accounts of Herodotus and other Greek writers of antiquity. The Scythians’ language and many of their cultural customs survive today among the Ossetes of the Central Caucasus, among whom an attempt to revive the ancient religion has been underway since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Uatsdin or ‘True Religion’, as this revived system has been named, consists of rituals associated with the ancient deities of war and hunting, along with such natural phenomena as thunder, wild and domestic food animals, and wolves. This movement can be analyzed within the framework of nation-building ideologies, similar to other movements taking place across the former USSR and beyond.

Цветовая палитра латинских и английских прилагательных

The article considers color Latin and English adjectives in terms of their semantics and etiology. Indications of adjectives of different colors are illustrated with quotations from works of ancient Roman and Greek writers. Semantic comparisons of the color meanings of Latin adjectives are made against English adjectives in order to reveal usual coincidences or differences. Adjectives of the main color triad denoting black, red and white are analyzed. An attempt is made to explain the causes of these connotations and consider their implementation in the lexical structure of the languages under study.

The Experience of Abandonment by God in Syriac Christian Ascetical Theology

The Experience of Abandonment by God in Syriac Christian Ascetical Theology Elizabeth Anderson (bio) In his classic work The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, the Orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky criticizes Western ascetical theology for its teachings on the Christian experience of feeling abandoned by God. Targeting Western writers on the spiritual life such as John of the Cross, Lossky insists that feelings of abandonment by God are “never thought of by the mystical and ascetical writers of the Eastern tradition as a necessary or normal stage” of the spiritual life, and he alleges that this teaching is the result of “generally distorted dogmatic vision” in the Christian West, particularly an erroneous Christian theological anthropology.1 Yet despite Lossky’s polemic, there is also a significant strain of spirituality in the Christian East that speaks of the experience of abandonment by God. Indeed, some Eastern Christian writers take this theme much further than John of the Cross, insisting that this is not merely a subjective experience, but rather that the indwelling Holy Spirit truly departs from the Christian at certain times during one’s spiritual life, and that this abandonment is a normal part of spiritual growth. The recovery of such writings could therefore play an important role in the spiritual direction of Christians, especially those from Eastern Christian churches. It can be important for Christians who feel that they have been abandoned by God to know that this experience is normal, and that it is far from being an aberrant development of the early modern West, having been attested to by writers in a diversity of Christian traditions from very early in Christian history. The different interpretations of this experience that are articulated by various Eastern Christian authors can also be a resource for Western Christians who are searching for a greater diversity of understandings about what this experience is, why it happens, and what the appropriate response to it should be. This essay will explore the theme of abandonment by God as it was discussed by several Eastern Christian writers of late antiquity. While the primary focus will be on writers from the traditions of East and West Syriac Christianity, given the interrelationship of Greek and Syriac Christianity in late antiquity, those Greek writers who seem to have influenced the development of Syriac thought will also be considered. These authors give different accounts [End Page 79] of this experience, and many of them also emphasize that there are several different kinds of abandonment by God that Christians may experience. It is therefore important for those who find themselves in such a situation to discern which kind of divine abandonment is being experienced, and thus what the appropriate response to it should be. Very often in contemporary Western Christianity, the phrase “dark night of the soul” is tossed around uncritically to cover any and all experiences of spiritual dryness, depression, emptiness, or despair, stretching the term far beyond what John of the Cross ever intended it to encompass. In addition, therefore, to showing that the experience of abandonment by God is also to be found within the Christian East, this essay hopes to demonstrate to both Eastern and Western Christians that there may be a variety of different experiences of abandonment by God, which have different causes and which therefore demand different responses from the person who experiences them. DIVINE INDWELLING AND DIVINE ABANDONMENT It is important to clarify at the outset that none of these authors claimed that God ever ceases to care providentially for the Christian, even during those times of perceived “abandonment by God.” Indeed, for most of these writers, the experience of abandonment is precisely intended by God as a way to bring Christians to spiritual maturity, and is therefore a form of God’s pedagogical care. When these authors speak of divine abandonment, therefore, what they actually mean is something far more specific, which is the departure, or in some cases the concealment, of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within each baptized person. The belief that each Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit is drawn from 1 Corinthians, where Paul informs the Christians of Corinth that their bodies are temples of...

Remembering Julio-Claudian Emperors as Patrons of Literature

Abstract The Julio-Claudian period, beginning with the reign of Tiberius, is one of the more neglected, and even actively disparaged periods in ancient literary history. It tends to be defined exclusively in terms of Latin literature, and not of Greek, and to be considered less as a period than simply as an unstructured stretch of time between the Augustan and Neronian periods. The metaphors most often applied to it run from the relatively generous “fallow period” to the more pejorative “wasteland.” This common perception is badly in need of reconsideration. In this article, I will discuss some of the misconceptions that on which low opinions of the period have been based. I will also show that the efforts of Tiberius in particular, when properly understood, take on a much more favorable appearance. In particular, I will consider his sponsorship of major institutional and administrative projects to support literary activities, his promotion of literary scholarship, his role in continuing the management and development of the Greek literary canon, and his even-handed treatment of Latin and Greek writers and orators. When these factors are properly evaluated, a different picture of Imperial literature will emerge; and the Julio-Claudian period begins to look foundational, rather than as a kind of literary dead zone.

Відображення формування елліністичного міжнародного порядку у творі Плутарха „Порівняльні життєписи”

The article comprehensively deals with the evidence of the peculiarities of the formation of the Hellenistic international order in the IV century BC. The author notes that the development of the Ukrainian historiography, among other things, is characterized by a deep interest of historians in studying the problems of international interaction between Eastern and Western civilizations. The study of this question allows to find answers to key questions – whether it is possible to create a universal global order based on common political and humanitarian values, or is it just an utopia, because no unifying model can take into account all the specifics of unique cultures, initially doomed to failure. In this context, it is important for the author to consider the history of such interaction between civilizations, in particular during the creation of the Hellenistic regional order in the IV century BC. This aspect is covered in detail in the treatise „Comparative Biographies”, compiled by the ancient Greek writer Plutarch (approximately 46 - 120/127 AD), the analysis of which is the main purpose of the article. As a result of the study, the author concluded that the biography of Alexander the Great presented by Plutarch allows us to consider the process of creating a Hellenistic empire, which united the key territories of West and East, to identify the logic of certain actions of the commander. Plutarch's description also allowed the author to conclude that in creating a new international order in the East, Alexander faced the traditional challenges of the time – increasing conflict with the tribal aristocracy, which for a long time stood behind him and used for personal gain closeness to the king. As a way out of this crisis, Alexander was forced to resort to strengthening his power, in fact reproducing the foundations of Eastern despotism.

Self-Portrait in Three Colors: Gregory of Nazianzus’s Epistolary Autobiography by Bradley L. Storin, and: Gregory of Nazianzus’s Letter Collection: The Complete Translation by Bradley L. Storin

Reviewed by: Self-Portrait in Three Colors: Gregory of Nazianzus’s Epistolary Autobiography by Bradley L. Storin, and: Gregory of Nazianzus’s Letter Collection: The Complete Translation by Bradley L. Storin Gabrielle Thomas Bradley L. Storin Self-Portrait in Three Colors: Gregory of Nazianzus’s Epistolary Autobiography Christianity in Late Antiquity 6 Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2019 Pp. ix + 276. $95.00. Bradley L. Storin Gregory of Nazianzus’s Letter Collection: The Complete Translation Christianity in Late Antiquity 7 Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2019 Pp. xiii + 234. $95.00 (hardcover) / $34.95 (softcover). For such a central figure in Christian orthodoxy and late antique Christianity it is somewhat surprising that a complete English translation of the letter collection of Gregory of Nazianzus emerged as recently as 2019, especially since Gregory is the earliest known Greek writer to compile his own letter collection, consisting of at least 240 letters (c. 383–84). And yet this collection of translations is the first of its kind. The companion volume provides a sharp account of how to make sense of Gregory’s letters, guided by the central question: “What authorial identity or identities did Gregory craft in his letter collection?” (EA, 99; throughout the review EA designates Self-Portrait in Three Colors: Gregory of Nazianzus’s Epistolary Autobiography and TCT designates Gregory of Nazianzus’s Letter Collection: The Complete Translation). Read together, these books provide a carefully argued response to the question of Gregory’s identity(ies). They provide fresh insight into the man also known to theologians, classicists, and scholars of late antique Christianity as “the Theologian,” as well as into the craft of autobiographical letter-writing in late antiquity. Storin’s volumes are the culmination of over a decade of work, presented as an extensive development of earlier doctoral work. The thesis is persuasive: Gregory’s letter collection serves as a carefully crafted autobiography. This argument is grounded alongside hundreds of lines of autobiographical poetry similar in subject matter. Add to this Gregory’s own admission that his great nephew Nicobulus asked for these letters because the young man’s education involved “rhetoric, literature and epistolary composition” (EA, 29). The companion volume is a sophisticated engagement with the literary construction of identity(ies) around three themes or “colors” which blur into one another, presenting a self-portrait of a “man of eloquence” (Chapter Three), a “father of philosophers” (Chapter Four), and a “Basilist” (Chapter Five). These interwoven identities are, as Storin argues, an attempt by Gregory to restore his reputation and authority, somewhat damaged by the events surrounding his departure from his episcopal see in Constantinople in 381. By attending to Gregory’s rhetoric and the role it plays in “defining him with and against broader political, intellectual and ecclesiastical developments” (EA, 25), Storin’s methodology follows the scholarship of Susanna Elm and Neil McLynn, [End Page 662] which has become foundational over the past two decades. Through positioning Gregory alongside figures such as the classical autobiographer Libanius of Antioch who, like Gregory, speaks of stonings by opponents, sea storms, and bouts of illness, this methodology confirms further Elm’s earlier appraisal of Gregory as a man who “fashioned himself a life that embodied and presented authority, even power” (Susanna Elm, Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church: Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Vision of Rome [Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012], 9). This is an important corrective to prior presentations of Gregory as one who is “a sensitive man who entered the arena of world affairs” (Georg Misch, A History of Autobiography in Antiquity [London: Routledge, 1950], 609). The companion volume is crafted as carefully as the letter collection, since before exploring Gregory’s three-color portrait of himself, Storin devotes almost a quarter of the book to analyzing “the Architecture of the Letter Collection” (Chapter Two). He demonstrates the deficiency in what has become the standard numbering by exploring the manuscripts which form six families, dating between the tenth and fourteenth centuries. Unlike the standard ordering, which is based upon ambiguous chronology and does not display the original structure of the collection, the manuscripts show little concern for chronology and instead form a coherence...

Концепція свободи в античному світі

The aim of the study is to research the correspondence and difference of ancient Greek authors FREEDOM conception. The subject of the article is the investigation of freedom category interpretation by ancient Greek writers. The object of the study is the works of ancient Greek writers, poets, philosophers, concerned with major issues of freedom conception. The academic novelty of the investigation is as follows: the most significant definitions of FREEDOM by ancient Greek authors were researched and recapped. It was examined that humans’ freedom and their cognitive activity are the significant issues of the conception determination of freedom. The term FREEDOM is different for every person that is why we cannot insist categorically that one idea is right and the other is wrong. In this case the idea of freedom disappears. Some philosophers consider that initially no Greek word ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ, no Latin LIBERTAS didn’t have philosophical meanings. Ancient Greeks believed that destiny, fate, necessity run humans. The idea of Freedom emerged in Ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks were first, who began to consider the issue of freedom both in the political and philosophic senses of the word. They tried to create the first state institutions defended human freedom. This concept had a lot of meanings in ancient times: the domination of intellect over emotions, conscience control, responsibility for actions, independency, and privilege for life, right to manipulate slaves. The idea of “being free” appeared much earlier than the conception of “freedom”. According to Homer to be free for person means to have an opportunity to live on your dear land. Particularly in Homer’s poems we are able to find the generation of the human right choice idea. Herodotus was the first scientist who formed the social meaning of the word FREEDOM. The definition of FREEDOM as philosophical term was used by sophists for the first time ever. According to Socrates FREEDOM is a self-control, physical instincts control. Plato in his turn considers that humans have a right of choice, but their freedom is not absolute. The analysis of the philosophical views and approaches concerning freedom conception in antiquity is conducted to prove that that freedom was the most significant value of ancient world. Ancient philosophers emphasized the polis freedom, internal and external freedom (stoics), freedom as self-control (Socrates), freedom as material independency (Plato), freedom as permissiveness (cynics), freedom as capacity for good. Ancient Greek and Modern Greek lexicographical sources show both analogies and differences of language objectification of FREEDOM conception. We consider appropriate to analyze these analogies and differences of various discourse’s types as the further prospective of this theme investigation.

Polis Histories, Collective Memories and the Greek World by Rosalind Thomas

Reviewed by: Polis Histories, Collective Memories and the Greek World by Rosalind Thomas John Dillery Rosalind Thomas. Polis Histories, Collective Memories and the Greek World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. xii, 490. $135.00. ISBN 978-1-107-19358-1. With this volume, Rosalind Thomas introduces us to a massive set of ancient Greek writers who are almost entirely unknown to modern students and scholars: local Greek historians, "poorly understood or recognized" now, but forming a brand of writing that was "once popular and widely read" (386)—a type of historiography we should want to know more about. Thanks to Thomas's efforts, we are given a rare and precious glimpse into what was, for want of a better term, popular history in the late Classical and Hellenistic periods. The book is a triumph and will be required reading for those interested in ancient historical writing, and Hellenistic history and culture. Thomas begins with a crucial distinction: her focus will not be local history, but polis history (16–17). She very rightly wonders what "local" means, since most of these histories are of city-states and their regions, or they are island-or ethnos-histories; "local" history and historians (typically ἐπι-/ἐγχώριος: e.g., D.H. Th. 5, Paus. 1.1.4; cf. Hdt. 7.197.1, Thuc. 1.20.1) were really only called that by others, since "local history" is not really local for the people concerned; it is an understanding of the history of their world, one that happens to be defined by their locality. Another reorientation that she makes is temporal. Thomas observes that while these historians can be found in the early days of Greek historiography, they really flourished in the fourth and third centuries BC. Superficially, this finding puts Thomas in line with Jacoby, but only superficially: unlike Jacoby, who argued that local history was a late development and one in reaction to Herodotus, Thomas sees local history as written in ways that were animated by the same concerns Herodotus had; she often sees the more generous ("baggier," 19), Herodotean scope of the work of the epichorioi than the supposed predominance of a Thucydidean view of the past, one that "included customs, geography, early traditions and more recent political history" (21). The bulk of Thomas' volume consists of surveys of the different aspects or topics of polis- and island histories. Thomas does well to note how different city-states and regions developed distinct proclivities in how they understood their pasts: some histories were overtly political, others were focused on the cultural and religious; one set might tell the same story of the expulsion of a tyrant over and over again ("accumulative historiography") through a succession [End Page 232] of writers, while another might acknowledge past stasis but ultimately emphasize the solidarity of a notional and almost timeless demos. Above all, Thomas wishes to stress that "the writing of local history . . . and particularly polis history . . . is almost always an activity that . . . is a reflection of something else in addition to a simple interest in place" (390). Forcefully rejecting the "antiquarian/ism" (e.g., 20, 143–149, 324, 340, 388 and n.3) promoted by Momigliano as the essential orientation of these histories, Thomas holds that polis-history always has a hidden (or not so hidden) agendum: "we have a right to this land," or "we originated this cult," or simply "we are still important" in an age when the people concerned were not, or some combination of these orientations and others. Of course, one could take issue regarding some of the matters raised in the book. I am not sure if Thomas has succeeded completely in explaining a figure like Hellanicus and the problems of periodization that he poses (a contemporary of Herodotus and Thucydides, he sets the table for the later writers of Attic local history); and I wish she had more to say about Rome. But these are quibbles. Thomas ends her book with an enormously important discussion of the "big picture" relating to local history. As regions and localities, real places but also places of the "imagination," they asserted both their uniqueness and importance through what they thought their past was. At the...

The History of Cyrus in Vizzani Palace, an iconographic interpretation

This article focuses on the frescoed frieze in Palazzo Vizzani, the one with The History of Cyrus the Great. It presents a relatively rare theme in the visual arts of the sixteenth century which appeared only in some series of tapestries commissioned by powerful aristocratic patrons for their residences. This is due to the fact that this character (Cyrus the Great) was associated with the genre literary of the 'Mirror of Princes'. The link can be traced back to the Ciropedia of ancient Greece, in which Xenophon described Cyrus the Great as a perfect monarch, a figure that is considered an idol by many sovereigns of the classical era and even of the Renaissance. However, another Greek writer, Herodotus, created a completely different Cyrus in The Histories, which is also the main literary source inspired the pictorial frieze in Palazzo Vizzani. The figure of Cyrus turns out to be more complicated and controversial in The Histories, it's not so much a perfect sovereign, but more like a tragic hero of ancient Greece. It is worth noting that the story of his life is in accordance with the tradition of 'the fate of the illustrious condottieri' in medieval literature, in which the fate of the protagonist is thought to be dominated by unpredictable Fortune. For this reason, I proposed that 'the concept of Fortune' is the key to interpreting the profound meaning of this frieze.

Itinerant sages: The evidence of Sirach in its ancient Mediterranean context

This article examines passages in Sirach which posit that travel fosters understanding (Sir. 34.9–13) and that the sage knows how to travel in foreign lands (Sir. 39.4). The references are discussed in the context of two ancient Mediterranean corpora, that is, biblical and Greek literature. Although the evidence in Sirach is insufficient for demonstrating the existence of a specific social practice, the text at least attests to an attitude of mental openness, imagining travel as a professional enterprise with positive outcomes. This article argues that the closest parallels to Sir. 34.9–13 and Sir. 39.4 are not to be found in the Hebrew Bible or Hellenistic Jewish literature but in (non-Jewish) Greek writings which refer to travels undertaken by the sages who roam around for the sake of learning. The shared travel motif helps to demonstrate that Sirach belongs to a wider Hellenistic Mediterranean context than just that of biblical literature.

Reconceptualizing hegemony in a global American century

The concept of hegemony has been a mainstay in academic discourse since Greek writers coined the term during the conflicts between city states in ancient times. However, it was not until Antonio Gramsci produced his unfinished, seminal work, the Prison Notebooks, that the concept became a topic of intense discussion in the political sphere. Hegemony has been applied to the international global system relatively unchanged from Gramsci's social application of the concept. Whilst the underlying principles of Gramsci's conception can be applied in international relations without issue, some aspects are not so forthcoming. It is the intention of this paper to attempt to fill the void in international relations theory and provide a succinct and robust re-conception of Hegemony, how to attain it and maintain it. There will be no reinvention of the wheel; Hegemony will still mean dominance over all. Only now there will be a specific conception that can be applied to the current globalized liberal system. The Four Waves of Hegemony are presented here as an alternative to the current conception. Whilst there are inherent limitations mainly being the scope and size of the work presented, these are addressed and signposted for further research.

Influences and interpretations of Byzantine history and culture in the literary work of the Modern Greek writer Nikos Gabriel Pentzikis

Επιρροές και Ερμηνείε ς της Βυζαντινής Ιστ ορίας και του Βυζαντινού Πολιτισμού στο Εργο του Σύγχρονου Έλληνα Λογοτέχνη Νίκου Γαβριήλ ΠεντζίκηΟ Νίκος Γαβριήλ Πεντζίκης γεννήθηκε στη Θεσσαλονίκη και ανήκει στη λεγόμενη «σχολή της Θεσσαλονίκης» και στη γενιά της δεκαετίας του 1930. Ο Πεντζίκης, στο έργο του, επιθυμεί να αναδείξει το διαχρονικό μεγαλείο της χριστιανικής – βυζαντινής Θεσσαλονίκης, επιλέγοντας την προσωποποίηση της πόλης ως βασικό στοιχείο μυθοποίησης, προκειμένου να δημιουργήσει τον μυθικό χαρακτήρα της πόλης και ταυτόχρονα να της αποδώσει μεταφυσικές ιδιότητες. Γι’ αυτό, ο συγγραφέας προσδίδει ανθρώπινη μορφή στη γενέθλια πόλη του. Ακόμη, συνδυάζει τον Ελληνισμό με τις λαϊκές παραδόσεις, τον μοντερνισμό και τα αυθεντικά, πρωταρχικά και μυθικά στοιχεία της ψυχής του έθνους, που θα μπορούσαν να καταστούν καθολικά πρότυπα και αρχέτυπα της σκέψης. Ο Πεντζίκης συνδυάζει τα στοιχεία του Ορθόδοξου βυζαντινού πολιτισμού και των αρχαίων ελληνικών μύθων με τις επιρροές που έχει δεχθεί από τον μοντερνισμό για να συνενώσει την ανατολική με τη δυτική πνευματική κουλτούρα και τη σύγχρονη ευρωπαϊκή διανόηση.

The Thessalian and Cretan Name for ‘Bottle Gourd’

The Polish version of the article was published in “Roczniki Humanistyczne,” vol. 63 (2015), issue 3.
 In his work Deipnosophistae (IX 369b), Athenaeus discusses four Greek names for turnip, (Brassica campestris L., syn. Brassica rapa L.): βουνιάς, γογγυλίς, Laconian γάστρα and Boeotian ζεκελτίς. The three first names are clearly motivated by the Greek vocabulary. The fourth term remains obscure in terms of its etymology and word-formation. According to Athenaeus (IX 369b), two Greek writers, Amerias and Timachidas, refer to a dialectal (evidently Thessalian) term ζακελτίς f. ‘bottle gourd, calabash, Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.’. In his lexicon, Hesychius of Alexandria registers two related glosses: ζακελτίδες · κολοκύνται. ἢ γογγυλίδες (HAL ζ-24); ζακαυθίδες · κολοκύνται (HAL ζ-30). The former refers to the Thessalian lexis. The latter one (wrongly printed as ζακυνθίδες · κολοκύνται in M. Schmidt’s and K. Latte’s editions) demonstrates a shift of the liquid consonant λ [l] to [ṷ], which is a typical Cretan phenomenon, attested also in the Hesychian lexicon, see e.g. [1] αὐκάν · ἀλκήν. Κρῆτες (HAL α-8277); [2] αὐκυόνα · ἀλκυόνα. Κρῆτες (HAL α-8280); [3] αὕμα · ἅλμη, ὑπὸ Κρητῶν (HAL α-8324); [4] αὖσος · ἄλσος. Κρῆτες (HAL α-8347); [5] θεύγεσθαι · θέλγεσθαι. Κρῆτες (HAL θ-427). The same phonological process of the velarization of *λ [l] is also registered in epigraphic texts found in three towns of Central Crete (Gortyna, Leben, Phaistos). Thus, it seems that the Hesychian term ζακαυθίδες ‘bottle gourds’ (derived from the earlier *ζακαλθίδες) must be seen as a dialectal form typical of Central Cretan.

The Impact of Local Literature on Foreign Libraries: A Bibliographic Evaluation of the Modern Greek Literary Generation of Last Decade

ABSTRACTThis article presents a bibliographic survey relating to the number of titles in Modern Greek fiction owned by libraries worldwide. Using extracted metadata, mainly via the OCLC WorldCat database and supplemented with records via other popular catalog aggregators (Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog), the most popular 100 titles of the last decade (2008–2018) are ranked by number relative to total holding libraries. Demographic factors, including age and gender, are considered in order to define particular characteristics of the current generation of Greek writers. A special part of the article is devoted to libraries in the US and Australia that have developed the largest library collections of non-translated, Modern Greek fiction titles.

SAKAS IN THE CONTEXT OF PERSIA (ACHAEMENID)

Bu çalışmanın amacı Pers (Akhaimenid) döneminde Saka-Pers münasebetlerini incelemektir. Bu hususta öncelikle Sakaların başta Akhaimenid yazılı ve arkeolojik kaynaklarında, Yunan yazarların eserlerinde nasıl tasvir edildiğini açıklamaya çalıştık. Bunu yaparken Akhaimenid dönemine ait olan ve Sakaları tasvir eden en eski Saka görsellerini sunmaya çalıştık. Şimdiye kadar genellikle Saka-Pers savaşları üzerine birçok kıymetli çalışma yapılmıştı. Biz bu makalede Saka-Pers savaşlarının yanında Sakaların Perslerle olan “müttefiklik” ilişkilerini de göstermeyi amaçladık. Yöntem olarak Akhaimenid kitabeleri, bazı Assur vesikaları ve antik Yunan metinleri ile Sakaları betimleyen Akhaimenid rölyeflerini, mezarlar üzerindeki figürleri ve kurganlardan çıkarılan bazı arkeolojik malzemeleri kullandık. Çalışmamızda Sakaları temsil eden birçok grubun olduğunu, Sakaların Akhaimenidlerden önceki dönemlerde İran coğrafyası ile temasa geçtiğini, erken Akhaimenid döneminde Perslerle düşmanca münasebetleri olduğunu, Kserkses ile birlikte Sakalarla Perslerin omuz omuza çarpıştığını belirledik. Son olarak Perslerin gerek Yunan savaşlarında gerek Büyük İskender ile yaptığı savaşlarda mağlup olmasına rağmen Pers ordusundaki Sakaların rakiplerine karşı daima üstünlük sağladığını tespit ettik.

Hysteria to Functional Neurologic Disorders: A Historical Perspective

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Special Theme: Neuropsychiatry History of PsychiatryFull AccessHysteria to Functional Neurologic Disorders: A Historical PerspectiveMaureen Cassady, M.D.Maureen CassadySearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:6 Sep 2019https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2019.150111AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Unexplained symptoms in functional neurologic and somatoform disorders have mystified physicians for centuries. The understanding of such phenomena evolved in parallel with advances in medicine, neuroanatomy, and societal views of gender and also had a role in the development of psychoanalysis (1). As theories progressed so did the descriptive terminology—from "hysteria" to Babinski’s "pithiatism" and from Freud’s "conversion neurosis" to DSM-5’s "functional neurological symptom disorder" (1).The word "hysteria" originated in Greek writings as hysterikos, describing symptoms from a "wandering uterus." This association framed the idea that hysteria was a disease afflicting women. The term "hysteria" persisted in the Middle Ages, often explained by witchcraft or the supernatural (2). Theories moved away from a uterine cause, notably with the influences of English physician Thomas Willis (1621–1675) and French physician Pierre Briquet (1796–1881) (2). A variety of psychological and medical symptoms were encompassed in the syndrome of hysteria, and it was increasingly recognized in men, although more often diagnosed as "hypochondriasis" and generally attributed to medical causes (1).In the 19th century, general interest in hysteria was renewed through the influence of French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893), from the Salpêtrière School of Neurology in Paris. His theatrical public demonstrations using hypnotism to reproduce symptoms in patients were criticized for the influence of suggestion. Charcot initially defined hysteria as symptoms such as an organic brain lesion without discoverable anatomic pathology and postulated that these inconsistent symptoms could be due to "dynamic lesions" (3). Later in his career, he noticed psychological aspects of hysteria and wrote about the correlation between past trauma and symptomatology (3).After Charcot’s death in 1893, his students expanded on his work, notably French neurologist Joseph Babinski (1857–1932), who proposed the term "pithiatism." Although short-lived, the term described symptoms brought on by suggestion and cured with persuasion (4). Babinski’s legacy was in differentiating symptoms of hysteria from those of organic disease, as described in the 1917 book Hysteria-Pithiatism and Reflex Nervous Disorders in the Neurology of War, written in response to increasing symptom presentations during World War I (4). He famously distinguished between hysterical and organic hemiplegia by using neurologic signs, including toe extension, contractures, and tongue deviation.Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) studied under Charcot from 1885 to 1886, marking his career transition from neuroanatomy to the study of hysteria and to psychoanalysis (5). He initially focused on differentiating organicity from hysteria on the basis of neuroanatomy. In a series of patient interviews, he found a correlation between hysteria and childhood sexual abuse (5). Later, noting that he may have "overestimated the frequency of such events," Freud hypothesized that the reports of abuse were instead the patient’s own sexual fantasies (5). This was the start of his foundation of psychoanalysis.The "hysteria" of prior generations encompassed symptoms that today would be categorized among a variety of diagnoses, including dissociation, anxiety, trauma-related disorders, and personality disorders. Freud used the term "conversion neurosis" to describe the unconscious driving a physical manifestation, and this term progressed into "conversion disorder." DSM-5 introduced the additional term "functional neurological symptom disorder" and removed the need for known psychological conflict from the diagnostic criteria, bridging a diagnostic gap between the fields of neurology and psychiatry. With current research in neuroimaging, neural networks, and treatments, including repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, the understanding of functional neurologic disorder continues to evolve.Dr. Cassady is a second-year resident in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt Residency Program, Baltimore.

Alberto Bardi. “The Paradosis of the Persian Tables. A Source on Astronomy between the Ilkhanate and Eastern Roman Empire”

The paper situates itself in the framework of cross-cultural encounters in the field of astronomy in the Byzantine Empire. It briefly summarizes the progress achieved in the last decades in showing how culturally complex Byzantine Greek writings about astronomical topics have been. It focuses on the textual composition and transmission of a Persian astronomical handbook compiled around 1350 in its form in Byzantine Greek, there called Paradosis eis tous persikous kanonas tes astronomias (Inst...

Maps of Literary Trails in Thessaloniki

Abstract. The work presented here is an approach on the subject of Literary Cartography, which deals with the topic of space in Literature as well as with the relationships that are formed between the literary and the real world. The aim of the work was to make the subject of Literary Cartography more widely known in the Greek academic circles. It was developed in the framework of a Diploma Thesis at the Laboratory of Cartography & Geographical Analysis (CartoGeoLab), Department of Rural and Surveying Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the Aristotle University (Thessaloniki, Greece) in collaboration with the School of Philology of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Aristotle University.Literary Cartography has a long tradition dating back to centuries ago, and yet it is only rather recently that researchers started using maps as tools to analyse and interpret pieces of literary work, as well as to reach conclusions which would have been impossible without the help of cartographic material. While maps were initially used solely as complimentary additions to books, like helping the reader with the visualization of the geography of a novel, this is starting to no longer be the case. With the advent of the digital age and the GIS technologies, cartographers are not just presented with new challenges but also with new opportunities to further research previously unexplored aspects of Cartography. With the rise of digital technologies, which can deal with the complexities of literary space, maps are no longer just descriptive tools, but they can be used as guides to reach new conclusions.The work resulted in a series of twelve (12) thematic maps, illustrating the literary geography of the works of ten Greek writers, whose stories take place in the city of Thessaloniki in Greece.

The problem of the transition from oral communications to written ones: based on the Ancient Greek literature

The article is devoted to the problem of transition in Ancient Greece from oral culture to written one. Most foreign and domestic researchers associate the duration and instability of this transition with 1) peculiarities of organizing the political power, 2) the anthropomorphic specifics of Greek culture. The author proposes to analyze applying oral and written communications in the key works of such ancient Greek writers as Homer (Iliad, Odyssey), Hesiod (Theogony), Aeschylus (Petitioner), Aristophanes (Birds), as well as philosophical works of Plato (Fedr). It is established that the Ancient Greek authors, despite the possession of writing, guided in their works on oral communication and such forms of confidence in oral communication as personal testimony, religious oath, reinforcing all this belief in a possible religious punishment. As a result, the Ancient Greek authors either ignore or portray as secondary written communication in the absence of specially created institutional forms of trust. The author proposes an original hypothesis, in the context of which he explains this phenomenon by the inability of institutional forms of confidence created for oral communications to perform its function in the transition to written communications and «slows down» the transition process. The author’s hypothesis is based on the theory of documentary information, in which context the final transition to written communi­cations was completed only after the creation of institutional forms of confidencein written communications in the form of archives and libraries.

The Ideal of Female Beauty in Greek Tombstone Inscriptions and Writings of Early Christian Authors

The extant remains from both Classical and Hellenistic periods portray a body of a Greek woman in all its beauty. They do not cover what was once revealed. On the contrary, they bring the female beauty to the centre of attention. This freedom of expression gradually disappears and a body is exposed only when portraying a woman with colourful past to show her failures. This paper introduces Greek tombstone inscriptions that captured female beauty for the future generations. Upon this, a question arises: what do these inscriptions mean to a casual reader? What is their purpose? What value did a beautiful woman have in the ancient society? Was she somewhat different from those around her? How did emerging Christianity react to the Greek ideal of beauty? What ideas were adopted and what ideas were firmly rejected? These and many other questions have arisen during the study of the inscriptions that engage people even today.