Imperial Age Research Articles

Scenes of Daily Life in the Mosaics of Ostia

During the heyday of mosaic in Ostia, that is to say during the imperial age, the patrons were families of a more or less wealthy bourgeoisie. They were content to embellish the black and white mosaic floors with a figurative repertoire often of low artistic quality and with simple and not particularly original motifs. The more affluent classes, however, were influenced by Hellenistic figurative culture and made frequent use of colour. Mythological and fantasy themes with an abundance of animals, gods, and sea monsters are especially common in large areas. These motifs derive from repertoires that had been widespread since the late Hellenistic period and were repeated with minor variations. Local artists could be more or less skilled in understanding and reworking the subjects. But Ostia, a lively and animated city due to its port and its trade with the major Mediterranean cities, also offers a vast repertoire of scenes dedicated to daily life, on which we intend to focus our attention. A number of main themes can be identified, such as sport (boxers, wrestlers, and especially aspects of circus competitions), rural life (depictions of the seasons, agricultural activity), the world of commerce with the scenes on the Corporation Square, depictions of socially humble people, the measurement of grain and the provisioning of the urban population, and “Nilotic” hunting and fishing scenes.

Il controllo delle acque fluviali nell’Italia settentrionale (IV-VIII secolo). Spunti di riflessione, tra fonti scritte e documentazione archeological

Control of the fluvial waters in Northern Italy (4th-8th c.). Some insights, from written sources to archaeological documentation One of the most recurrent topics in historiography regarding landscape transformations in Late Antiquity is related to flooding and loss of control over rivers, essentially attributed to two factors: 1/ the increase in rainfall and decrease in temperature, as part of the so-called Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA), on which paleoclimatological studies have focused in particular; 2/ the loss of control over water courses, that took place in the Roman period, mainly related to depopulation that would have prevented the extensive maintenance works on the banks and canalisations. In this context, particularly with regard to northern Italy, which is the subject of this contribution, some passages of the Dialogi of Gregory the Great and Paul the Deacon (notably the famous mention of the diluvium in 589) are often evoked, recalling miraculous interventions of saints who stopped floods or diverted the rivers, thus saving cities and countryside. The paper aims to discuss and argue these perspectives, examining the context and the purposes of the cited texts, actually written with a moralistic-eschatological intention, but also widening the glance to other types of sources, literary, juridical as well as the Corpus agrimensorum, from which it clearly appears that the theme of floods was already well present in the imperial age. The archaeological record is also examined, providing useful information to more precisely discuss the chronology and the real extent of the floods, showing a very diverse and complex reality. [Author]

Appunti per la semantica di vicarius (dall’età arcaica alla prima età imperiale)

[Notes on the Semantics of vicarius (from the Archaic Period to the Early Imperial Age)] This article analyzes the semantic development of vicarius between the third cent. bc and the second cent. ad, with the purpose of linking the most ancient technical meanings of the word to its subsequent nontechnical meanings (starting with Cicero). While the most common technical, including juridical, meanings of vicarius (‘substitute’ for a servus and, in an official function, a ‘proxy’) are regularly listed in lexicons, the meaning of vicarius as a ‘sacrificial substitute’, in a magical-religious context, has so far received little attention. This meaning appears in a devotio of the third cent. bc reported by Macr. Sat. 3.9.9-13. Most of the occurrences of vicarius in the period under consideration actually seem linked to this last meaning, which is taken up and multiplied by school declamation. Indeed, vicarius becomes a terminus technicus specific to declamation, referring to acts of self-sacrifice that commonly occur in school controversiae.

Iside a Bologna: Hieroglyphica e Aegyptiaca nelle collezioni librarie bolognesi tra Cinque e Seicento

The rediscovery of the ancient Egyptian civilization is a distinctive feature of humanistic culture. This Egyptomania, which extends also to the seventeenth and the subsequent centuries, is well documented in early printed books and focuses on two symbolic objects: the Late Roman treatise on hieroglyphs Hieroglyphica by Horapollo and the Tablet of Isis (Mensa Isiaca), a late imperial age pseudo-Goddess altar. This work outlines the editorial adventures of those publications illustrating and popularizing a textual and graphical corpus that well represents the baroque intellectual imaginary about Ancient Egypt, particularly focusing on antiques collections and editorial activities of a close scholars network in Bologna in the XVII century.

‘La chiamiamo con entrambi i nomi’: eponimia ed eteronimia tra Nemesis e Adrasteia

Starting from a passage by Ammianus Marcellinus (XIV 11,25), which reveals an overlapping between Adrasteia and Nemesis, the contribution aims at examining the reasons that led the two goddess to be indicated one as the heteronym of the other. Taking into considerations the sources from fifth-century up to paremiography and lexicography of the imperial age, a path is reconstructed that shows the many accidents and the variables to which the naming of the divine may be submitted, in the Greek world.

Die Frührömische Einheimische Siedlung Von Budapest-Lágymányos (Budapest, XI Bezirk) •

In the past two decades, the number of archaeological explorations significantly increased in the densely built-up 11th district of Budapest, the area called Lágymányos. The recent excavations not once of large extent reveal a much more detailed picture of the Roman city structure and topography of the area that belongs to the vicinity of Aquincum, south of the Gellérthegy.Considering the information obtained from previous smaller scale excavations (i.e. Kende Str. 8–10, Gellért Square) and the more recent excavations of a larger extent (Skála Department Store, Bercsényi Rd.) we may come to the conclusion that the area south of Gellérthegy called Lagymányos today was occupied by an indigenous Celtic vicus of the early imperial period. The composition of the findings of the different sites was almost identical. There was a strong indigenous (Celtic) component along with products of “provincial” ceramic production of the 1st and the 2nd century AD. The amount of imported ware found was insignificant in all sites. Excavated building structures (pit-houses, storage pits, ceramic kilns, industrial workshops) show the characteristics of a village-like settlement. According to Samian ware finds the settlement evolved in the Claudian era, flourished under the Flavians, slowly depopulated in the 2nd century, and was abandoned by its last inhabitants in the Severan era at the latest. Part of its population likely moved to this area from the native settlement of Tabán ceased under Tiberius.The slow dissolution of the settlement refers to its inhabitants leaving the area because of economical reasons. The municipium of Aquincum starting to flourish in the mid 2nd century offering a better living for the inhabitants. The antique name of the vicus is not known. In terms of topography, the vicus of Lágymányos evolved in a favourable position. The southern slopes of Gellérthegy were a safe place to settle at, besides there were excellent quality clay sources along the Danube. A wide valley leads in the direction of today’s Budaörs through which trade and transportation could easily be carried out.In the last one and a half decades several significant indigenous vici were excavated in the area of Budapest (BudaörsKamaraerdei-dűlő, Biatorbágy-Kukorica-dűlő, Páty-Malom-dűlő). The distance of these vici from one another is approximately equally about 6 kms. A group of sites (Kelenhegyi Rd. 27, Mányoki Str. 16, and the southern slopes of Gellérthegy) are linked to cemeteries instead of settlements. The majority of names on the epitaphs and the clothing and jewelry depicted on the steles dating back to the period between the last third of the 1st and the beginning of the 2nd century refer to the native Celtic population (one exception being Valerius Crescens who probably passed away as a veteranus). The vessels unearthed at Mányoki u. 16. referring to a cremation burial can also easily be fitted into the series of cemeteries of the early imperial age. Accordingly, a cemetery that belonged to the above vicus lied on the southern, south-western slopes of the Gellérthegy.In conclusion, it is ascertainable, that after cross-checking data from the sporadic, mosaic-like excavation sites of Lágymányos, we localized an unknown (or interpreted otherwise previously) early Roman (1st–2nd century AD) indigenous vicus south of the Gellérthegy. The approximate extent of the vicus’ cemetery and several burials and steles are also known implying this being a complex settlement, not a potter’s workshop or a temporary settlement as it was previously believed.

O tornar-se escritora em Lésbia (1890), de Maria Benedita Câmara Bormann (Délia)

No romance Lésbia (1890), de Maria Benedita Câmara Bormann (Délia), a protagonista Arabela se torna uma afamada escritora no Oitocentos brasileiro. A fim de compreender como esta personagem feminina ascende socialmente em um período de privações, fizemos uma pesquisa bibliográfica sobre a vida da mulher de elite no Brasil oitocentista (VERONA, 2013), delineando a relação entre as mulheres e a literatura (HAHNER, 2018) e o panorama do mercado editorial do século XIX (DUARTE, 2017; HALLEWELL, 2017). O presente artigo tem como objetivo traçar um breve histórico acerca da vida feminina no Brasil Império, com o intuito de entender como se estabeleceu o vínculo entre as mulheres e a escrita literária em nosso nascente mercado livreiro. Para tanto, analisamos o enredo do romance, salientando as dificuldades enfrentadas na carreira de escritora da protagonista, causadas, sobretudo, por sua condição enquanto mulher em um campo majoritariamente patriarcal. Por fim, observamos que a narrativa mescla História e ficção em descrições significativas da vida literária sob a perspectiva da mulher escritora no Oitocentos. Além disso, neste trabalho, intentamos valorizar a literatura feita por mulheres no século XIX e, assim, contribuir para o não apagamento de Bormann (Délia), uma das primeiras escritoras brasileiras.

Il senex lepidus nel Miles gloriosus e oltre: l’eredità di Periplectomeno da Terenzio a Catullo

El artículo pretende investigar el uso del adjetivo lepidus en el Miles gloriosus, comenzando con el análisis del senex lepidus Periplectomenus y su aristia en 3.1. Se señalarán dos significadosde la palabra: por un lado, lepidus es la palabra clave que subraya la forma en que se alcanza el efecto cómico en la obra; por otro, representa una forma de vida e, indirectamente, un método de educación, como podemos observar en Los hermanos (Adelphoi ) de Terencio. Después de Plauto, este modelo será reutilizado activamente en la época republicana por Cicerón y Catulo antes de desaparecer en la época imperial, en la que las funciones y significados de lepidus se reducirán estrictamente y la palabra se empleará como marcadorpara introducir cuentos divertidos. The article aims to investigate the use of the adjective lepidus in the Miles gloriosus, beginning with the analysis of the senex lepidus Periplectomenus and his aristia in 3.1. Two meanings of the word will be pointed out: on the one hand, lepidus ist the key-word that underlines the way by which the comic effect is reached in the play; on the other, it represents a way of life – and, indirectly, a method of education, as we can observe in Terence’s Adelphoi . After Plautus, this model will be actively reused in the republican age by Cicero and Catullus before disappearing in the imperial age, inininwhich, instead, the functions and meanings of lepidus will be strictly reduced and the word will be employed just as marker to introduce funny tales.

제국주의 시대 도시 하얼빈의 한인이주 - 점이지대의 망국민과 신민 -

해방 전 중국 도시 하얼빈은 한국인들에게는 안중근 의거의 도시이자 아시아의 유럽 으로 인식되었던 곳이다. 중국인들에게는 문화가 이식된 공간으로 인식되었으며, 일본 제국주의는 대륙 침략의 정보원 인재 개발 지역으로 활용되고 있었다. 하얼빈은 동구 의 대표주자였던 러시아 동진의 작품이었다. 이 지역에 한인이 이주하게 된 것은 이른 바 동청철도가 부설되면서이다. 안중근 의거 당시였던 1909년에는 주로 러시아 연해주 를 통해서 이주한 한인들이 하얼빈 한인사회의 주류였다. 1920년대 하얼빈에 이주했던 한인들은 주거지는 대부분 부두구였으며, 직업도 부정업이 많았다. 1931년 만주사변은 이주한인들에게 큰 변화를 가져왔다. 일본군에게 피해를 입은 중국군은 한인 마을을 약탈하였으며, 피난민들은 도시로 이주하였다. 하얼빈은 거대한 수용소와도 같았다. 도시 하얼빈에 일시적으로 머문 피난민들은 다시 농촌으로 돌아갔지만 남은 자들은 하얼빈의 최하층 생활을 할 수밖에 없었다. 일제는 하얼빈에 특무(밀정, 스파이) 학료를 설립하였고, 하얼빈에서 배출된 특무는 만주지역 전역에서 밀정활동을 전개하였다. 1920년대까지 독립운동에 헌신했던 독립 운동가들은 일제에 피체된 후 馴致되어 밀정으로 한인사회를 감시하였다. 일제는 이들 에게 한인사회에 대한 감시와 통제 기능을 부여하였으며, 만주국 시기 한인사회는 굴종 과 저항, 감시와 통제를 오족협화라는 미명 하에 받아들일 수밖에 없었다. 일제가 부여 한 위태로운 이등공민의 자격 역시 한인의 정체성 변용을 담보로 강요되고 있었다.

Study on the Weakening of the Word Final –s Compared to –m in the Epigraphic Corpus

The position of the word final –s, after a weakening in archaic Latin, seems to be fixed in the spoken language in the classical period. Then, it partially disappeared in the Romance languages: in modern languages, it is conserved only north and west of the Massa–Senigallia line, while we cannot find it neither in the eastern regions nor in South Italy. Based on this fact, linguists generally claim that the weakening of the final –s started only after the intensive dialectal diversification of Latin, simultaneously with the evolution of the Romance languages. However, the data of the Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age (LLDB) do not verify this generally accepted opinion. We can find almost as many examples of the lack of word final –s as that of –m also from the earlier centuries of the Imperial age. The aim of this paper is to explore the reasons behind the inconsistencies between the scholarly consensus and the epigraphical data.

The edge of the Empire: diet characterization of medieval Rome through stable isotope analysis

This paper aims to define the dietary profile of the population of early medieval Rome (fifth–eleventh centuries CE) by carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis. This period was characterized by deep changes in the city’s economic, demographic, and social patterns, probably affecting its inhabitants’ nutritional habits. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bone collagen was used to detect the nutritional profile of 110 humans from six communities inhabiting the city center of Rome and one from the ancient city of Gabii. Thirteen faunal remains were also analyzed to define the ecological baseline of the medieval communities. The isotopic results are consistent with a diet mainly based on the exploitation of C3 plant resources and terrestrial fauna, while the consumption of aquatic resources was detected only among the San Pancrazio population. Animal protein intake proved to be similar both among and within the communities, supporting a qualitatively homogenous dietary landscape in medieval Rome. The comparison with isotopic data from the Imperial Age allowed us to detect a diachronic nutritional transition in ancient Rome, in which the collapse of the Empire, and in particular the crisis of economic power and the trade system, represented a tipping point for its population’s nutritional habits.

The Neo-Babylonian Empire: The Imperial Periphery as Seen from the Centre

Abstract The paper examines the cuneiform evidence from sixth-century Babylonia (and beyond) for information on the form and aims of Neo-Babylonian imperial rule over its western provinces. While new texts, which hitherto have not been considered in this context, can be brought to bear on the issue, direct evidence from these provinces is still scarce. These documents will thus be supplemented by drawing on the rich information concerning state institutions and resource extraction in the imperial centre. It is argued that in the first half of the Neo-Babylonian period, until ca. 585 BCE, Babylonian imperial rule in the western periphery can be conceptualized primarily as a straightforward exploitative tributary regime. From about the mid-reign of Nebuchadnezzar onwards, however, there is a shift towards a more sustainable resource extraction through the creation of stable pockets of Babylonian presence in the periphery. This diachronic shift was meant to steady and organize the initial ad hoc Babylonian approach. These measures, however, did not prevail, and the chaotic years which followed the 43 years reign of Nebuchadnezzar illustrate the fragility of the relatively short-lived Babylonian imperial age.

Corey Ross, Ecology and Power in the Age of Imperialism: Europe and the Transformation of the Tropical World

Corey Ross, <i>Ecology and Power in the Age of Imperialism: Europe and the Transformation of the Tropical World</i>

Appunti propedeutici a un’edizione del cosiddetto Paradoxographus Palatinus

The Paradoxographus Palatinus, an anonymous collection of 21 paradoxes published by De Stefani (1904) and included in Giannini’s corpus of paradoxographers (1965), of uncertain date but attributed to the Imperial age, contains apparent textual corruptions related to some toponyms. The analysis of the mss. led to the identification of 10 unpublished chapters whose incorporation into the text is here proposed; they also allow us to date the collection with a high degree of confidence (mid-11th to mid-12th century) and to solve the problems associated with 4 of the published chapters (nos. 6, 8, 9, 14).

The Flying King: the novelistic Alexander (Pseudo-Callisthenes 2.41) and the traditions of the Ancient Orient

The story of Alexander’s flight is preserved in early Byzantine versions of the Alexander Romance (codex L, recensions λ and γ) but is already mentioned by Rabbi Jonah of Tiberias (4th century AD) in the Jerusalem Talmud. The narrative must have been created between the late Hellenistic period and the early Imperial age. Although there are differences in details, the main storyline is common in all versions. Alexander fabricates a basket or large bag, which hangs from a yoke and is lifted into the air by birds of prey; Alexander guides the birds upwards by baiting them with a piece of meat fixed on a long spear. The same story-pattern is found in oriental tales about the Iranian king Kai Kāūs and the Babylonian Nimrod. Kai Kāūs’ adventure was included in the Zoroastrian Avesta and must have been current in the Iranian mythical tradition during the first millennium BCE. It is then transmitted by Medieval Islamic authors (Ṭabarī, Bal‘amī, Firdausī, Tha‘ālibī, Dīnawarī), who ultimately depend on Sasanian historical compilations, in which the early mythology of Iran had been collected. The story of Kai Kāūs’ ascension is earlier than Pseudo-Callisthenes’ narrative and contains a clear indication of morphological priority: in some versions the Persian king flies while seated on his throne, which reflects a very ancient and widespread image of royal iconography in Iran and Assyria. Probably Alexander’s aerial journey was derived from an old oriental tradition of tales about flying kings, to which the stories of Kai Kāūs and Nimrod also belonged. The throne had to be eliminated from Alexander’s story, because the episode was set during Alexander’s wanderings at the extremities of the world. The Macedonian king had therefore to fabricate his flying vehicle from readily available materials. Later, after the diffusion of Pseudo-Callisthenes’ romance in the Orient, the tale of Alexander’s ascension might have exercised secondary influence on some versions of the stories of Kai Kāūs and Nimrod, regarding specific details such as the use of the bait.

Archaeobotanical evidence of food plants in Northern Italy during the Roman period

This paper is a review of the seeds/fruits obtained from about one hundred Roman period archaeological sites (ca. 3rd century bc to 6th century ad) located in Northern Italy. The types of deposit involved are various, and come from residential, productive and other structures (A sites), and cemeteries and cult areas (B sites). The aim of this study is to highlight the seeds/fruits of food plants that have been found in the Roman archaeological sites in this area. Only cultivated and wild plants that, according to Latin literary sources, were used for food are considered. The result is a list of about one hundred plant taxa. There are four principal categories: cereals, pulses, fruit s.l. and vegetables/spices. Moreover, finds of “bread” were recorded in several sites. The subdivision of most detailed data into four chronological phases (“Romanization”/Republican Age, Imperial Age, Late Roman, Late Antiquity) shows clearly the evolution of plant food consumption that attained maximum complexity during early Imperial times and progressively changed and fragmented in subsequent periods.

AN OVERVIEW ON HOARDING IN ROMAN SICILY AND THE EVIDENCE OF A NEW IMPERIAL HOARD FROM TYNDARIS

This article aims at offering a general overview of the hoarding phenomenon of Roman Imperial coins in Sicily, of which we still have a lacunary knowledge. I have been collecting any available hoard data from Sicily in numismatic periodicals, scattered articles or notes in archaeological reports, data that I am presenting in general, not at the level of individual coins. Here are listed about fifty hoards, including a few uncertain cases which could be accidental deposits. Moreover, a new hoard from the urban area of the ancient city of Tyndaris, modern Tindari (Patti, Messina) is presented in detail, an important find - even if not conspicuous regarding the number of coins - which can shed a new light about the first Imperial age, so little documented so far in Sicily.

Archaeometric approach to identifying the provenance of white marbles from the shipwreck of Cala Cicala (Crotone, Calabria, Italy)

This paper presents the results of an archaeometric study performed on white marbles from the shipwreck of Cala Cicala (Crotone, Calabria, Italy). The stone materials, especially the white marbles, are an excellent tool for reconstructing the trade routes of the past and studying the relationships between ancient populations. The purposes of this study were to establish the provenance of the white marbles of the shipwreck of Cala Cicala (Crotone, Calabria, Southern Italy) and to use analysis of their composition to acquire more knowledge about trade routes in the Roman imperial age. The 35 samples of white marble were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRPD), optical microscopy (OM), and isotopic analysis (δ13C and δ18O). All of the archaeometric data collected indicate that the marble blocks in the cargos are from the Greek island of Thasos, in the northern Aegean Sea.

The sanctuary of Delphi in Heliodorus’ &lt;i&gt;Aethiopica&lt;/i&gt;: Between material culture and intertextuality

Divine and religious elements are an important part of Greek novels. For this reason, my paper aims to investigate the description of the sanctuary of Delphi in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica by comparing it with other literary and material sources, in order to distinguish literary elements from ones more closely related to the historical reality of the Imperial age. The paper argues that Heliodorus’ reconstruction of the sanctuary is in line with contemporary material evidence, except for some aspects based on literary sources. Authors of the Classical era, such as Euripides and Pindar, are fruitfully placed alongside authors closer to Heliodorus’ age, such as Plutarch and Philostratus. This overlap reflects the discrepancy between the dramatic date of the novel (4th century BC), to which Heliodorus consistently tries to keep throughout the novel with the aid of his Classical sources, and the date of composition of the novel (4th century AD), which places it in the context of the ‘hellenization’ and ‘paganization’ promoted by Emperor Julian. The result is a dynamic and realistic reconstruction of Delphi that brings the idealized portrait of Classical Greece and its authors to life.

Religion and Identity in Appalachia and Carpathia

This paper will examine the creation of an Appalachian blend of religious elements. It will then look at the attempt to replace it by bourgeois, mainstream Protestant Home missionaries, who followed behind the colonial-like capitalists and additionally contributed to the creation of the “hillbilly” stereotype in the late 19th/early 20th century. This pattern was replicated overseas during the coeval “age of imperialism.” Even though traditional churches persist, today the “outside” denominations dominate the religious landscape.