Pagan Temples Research Articles

An Atypical Base-community

This study aims to review and refresh previous fieldwork findings of the Icelandic Ásatrúarfélagið neopagan movement. With a membership of over 5500, sensationalist media has created a magnified image of the group, depicting it as a “steadily growing ancient religion” worshipping old Norse deities, such as Odin, Thor, and Njord. Such simplifying articles overemphasized and mistook the movement’s reinterpretations of historical traditions, overexposed the construction of their new communal space, labeling it the “first pagan temple in a millennium, which cultivated a “Heathen Mecca” effect. The author of this study had the opportunity to conduct fieldwork in 2018, documenting Ásatrúarfélagið rituals and activities. 20 years after the first academic articles of the movement, the following study aims to re-evaluate previous research statements and offer novel contexts for some of the documented changes in the Ásatrúarfélagið’s rituals, self-representation, and practices.

Architettura per la liturgia nelle chiese dell’occidente. Appunti di un liturgista

Virtually all religions have their spaces of worship. In fact, the very term “temple” derives from the Greek verb temno, “to cut off,” which points to a space that is cut off from the whole and dedicated to a deity. Likewise, after Christ’s resurrection, Christians would need a venue for ritual worship that would become a place of encounter with God the Trinity. That place would not be an equivalent of the Jewish or pagan temples, which were determined by the presence of a deity and considered sacred and sanctifying on account of that presence. A place of Christian worship would be identified mainly by action, that is, by the celebration of the misterium with Christ at its center. Here, Jesus in present by the power of His word. The faithful gather in His name when they are called to remember Him: “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19) and “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20). In a temple, a meeting of the faithful was due to chance, whereas in a Christian place of worship, the meeting is integral to the sacred place itself. The individual believers are its living building stones, and the Holy Spirit is the unifying force that binds them together. In other words, for a Christian, there is no material place where God lives, and no place can contain Him. Over the years, the noun denoting a congregation of Christians, that is, ecclesia (“church”) was adopted to describe the place in which the congregation is taking place.

Penser la tolérance durant l'Antiquité tardive by Peter Van Nuffelen (review)

Reviewed by: Penser la tolérance durant l'Antiquité tardive by Peter Van Nuffelen Harold A. Drake Penser la tolérance durant l'Antiquité tardive. By Peter Van Nuffelen. [Les conférences de l'École Pratique des Hautes Études, 10.] (Paris: Éditions du Cerf. 2018. Pp. 181. €16,00. ISBN: 9782204126489.) The most important point of the many important points in Peter Van Nuffelen's study of toleration in Late Antiquity is that scholars (including, alas, the author of this review) err when we carelessly transfer modern concepts onto ancient texts, especially those that use the same words (such as "religious liberty") to mean very different things. We usually remember that there was no separation of Church and State in antiquity, but too often we forget that the ancient state could never be a neutral party in the same way that modern states can, because its purpose (at least theoretically) was to create virtuous citizens. Also unlike the modern state, the ancient one did not lay claim to a monopoly on the legitimate use of coercive force. Accordingly, the modern binary of toleration/repression does not accurately reflect ancient conditions. Each of the four ensuing chapters enlarges on these introductory observations. Chapter One expands on the difference between ancient and modern ideas of toleration. Looking at texts from Tertullian in the second century to Themistius in the fourth, Van Nuffelen argues that orators put forth toleration not as a principle but as a rhetorical strategy built on long-standing views of the role of the state and the importance of divine support that both Christians and pagans shared. Especially because of the latter, emperors could not stand by when divinity (Christian or pagan) did not receive its due. Chapter Two takes on the assertion that Christianity stifled debate in Late Antiquity. To the contrary, a variety of texts from the second to the eighth century show the importance not only of debate but of the premium placed on providing rational argument. Christians like John Chrysostom even argued that authority without reason was not sufficient to justify faith (p. 82). A key question is the subject of Chapter Three. If rational argument was the sine qua non, why did authorities turn to coercion when argument did not work? [End Page 394] For an answer, Van Nuffelen distinguishes between two groups. Philosophers and their followers had already made pursuit of virtue their highest goal, and therefore did not need further incentive. But the same was not the case for ordinary citizens. For them, the state was obligated to intervene, if only to remove obstacles to a more virtuous life. Failure to distinguish between these two groups leads to a false equivalence when comparing Christian and pagan ideas about coercion. Christian treatment of the laity may seem intolerant when compared with philosophers and other elites, but they are completely normal when compared with the state's obligation to remove obstacles to the moral improvement of ordinary citizens (in an epilogue, Van Nuffelen cites modern "sin taxes" on tobacco and alcohol as an example). With the air cleared, Chapter Four turns specifically to the topic of religious violence. Here, Van Nuffelen takes on the argument that Christianizing the empire was fundamentally a violent process—an argument supported by focus on spectacular events like the murder of the philosopher Hypatia in 415, the closing of Plato's Academy in 529, and the destruction of pagan temples. Arguing that using the term "violence" for all such actions effectively homogenizes their causes, Van Nuffelen chooses to focus on two incidents as case studies: the destruction of the Serapeum in Alexandria in 391 and the conversion of the Jews on Minorca in 418. The destruction of the great temple quickly became a symbol of triumphant Christianity, but as Van Nuffelen points out the story told by Rufinus on which all other accounts rely, is contradictory and vague, and seems to have been written to reassure his readers that God would not abandon them in times of distress. His account cannot be accepted uncritically. As for Minorca, Van Nuffelen suggests that the letter written by Bishop Severus a year after the event, read carefully, does not celebrate the violent...

Христианизация античной архитектуры: крупные метрополии и далматинские провинции

The article examines the peculiarities of the processes of Christianization of architecture in the major metropolises (Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth) of the Roman Empire, as well as in the Dalmatian provinces (Jader, Salona, Pola, small settlements and islands) on the border between them. The specifics of the religious situation in these regions and the missionary activity of Christian preachers led to the transformation or adaptation of pagan cult structures, household or residential buildings. At the same time, pagan temples were very rarely destroyed intentionally, but as a rule they became abandoned and gradually destroyed naturally, providing building material for Christian churches. The use of such building material of previous structures could be symbolic, and in some cases architectural details changed their function from constructive to liturgical. Both in the capitals and in the provinces, there was a certain tolerance when different religious buildings functioned at the same time. Christian conversions could occur while preserving the special functions of the revered place. With the advent of Christianity in the Dalmatian provinces of the Roman and then the Byzantine Empire, very conservative ancient traditions were preserved there for a long time, which allowed these lands to organically survive the process of Christianization of ancient architecture.

Geocultural Space of the Russian North and Modern Tourism

The historical aspects of the formation of the modern geocultural space of the Russian North are discussed. This space is saturated with objects of the cultural heritage of ancient Russia - traces of ancient settlements, sacred pagan temples and groves. Numerous ancient Christian shrines are represented here: wooden chapels and churches, monastic complexes that make up the cultural landscape of the Russian North. Particular attention is paid to the water and portage routes of the penetration of the Slavs into the northern territories, as objects of cultural heritage, as well as unique ancient religious sites located on these routes. The problems of rational use of the richest natural and cultural heritage of the European North of Russia for tourism purposes are considered. The need for active development of transport and hotel infrastructure in the region is noted. It is shown that on the territory of the Russian North there are favorable prospects for the development of domestic and inbound tourism as factors for the sustainable development of the region.

«Profanum i sacrum» place of the building of the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos in medieval Halych

The article is devoted to the study of the specifics of the development of the profane and sacred space of the Krylos mountain, on which in the middle of the XII century the main shrine of medieval Halych was built – the Dormition Cathedral, which was discovered by Yaroslav Pasternak. Attention is paid to the reasons for the arrangement of the cathedral on not the best place on the mountain with a noticeable northern slope. For this purpose, according to archeological sources, the condition of households and religious development of the area intended for the cathedral and the nearest territory before its construction was analyzed. It is established that the studied objects functioned in this area from VIII to the middle of the XII century. Under the central part of the cathedral, Ya. Pasternak discovered a large pit, which he interpreted as the remains of a pagan shrine. According to Yu. Lukomskyi, this object was used for firing plaster. Results of activity of the expedition led by V. Aulikh discovered two water drainage channels cut by the foundations of the northern wall of the cathedral was important to highlight the question of the construction site of the cathedral and the functions of this object. These channels arranged by stone constructions were probably used to drain water from the spring(s), and the large pit may have been the remains of a pagan shrine built nearby. It was only during the building of the foundations of the cathedral, in particular for the north wall, that the builders cut these drainage structures. Since then, these structures, like the sources, stopped functioning. This is confirmed by later chronicle descriptions of the military events of the ХІІІ century when those of its members who were hiding in the cathedral died of thirst without water. In the example of the Dormition Cathedral of medieval Halych, built on the place of ancient household and religious buildings of pagan times, we see that many Christian churches bear the seal of duality: the sacred in them is not completely separated from the profane. On the contrary, the sacred is often manifested through the profane, that is, the solemn – through the secular, mundane. Key words: Dormition Cathedral of medieval Halych, Krylos mountain, residential and household buildings, a pagan temple, profane and sacred space.

Names of sanctuaries in Russian translations of Ovid’s Metamorphoses from Polish in the early 18th Century

The article deals with the principles of translation of lexemes naming sanctuaries in two Russian translations of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, made in the early 18th century from Polish Otwinowski’s verse adaptation Księgi Metamorphoseon, to jest, Przemian (Kraków, 1638). In the Latin original of Ovid, the lexemes templum, aedes and delubrum are most often used for the nomination of pagan sanctuaries. In the Polish version of the text, in the absolute majority of cases, they correspond to the lexeme kościół. In the first Russian translation, the lexeme kościół in the meaning of ‘pagan sanctuary’ corresponds to капище, and in the second translation a number of unevenly distributed synonyms are presented: капище, церковь, божница, костел. From these, капище and божница can be considered standard nominations for pagan temples in the texts written in Russian milieu. However, the lexemes костел and церковь are rather used in the Western Russian written tradition. Comparison with another Polish translation of Metamorphoses, Jakob Żebrowski’s Metamorphoseon, to jest Przeobrażenia (Kraków, 1636), shows that the Russian translators did not use this text as an additional source.

Conservation and Restoration of Molybdobulls from the Fund of the Archaeological Museum "Veliki Preslav"

Archaeological Museum "Veliki Preslav" has over 110 years of history. It was founded as part of the Archaeological Society "Ticha" on October 26, 1906 and lasted in this form until 1949. Then the museum was provided with a large building next to the church monument "St.St. Cyril and Methodius", not far from the Preslav Palace. In 1981, the museum was moved in a new purpose-built building, where it still welcomes history lovers from around the world. At the permanent exhibition you can see epigraphic monuments that testify to the spread of literature, as well as examples of artistic crafts, showing the rise of the Bulgarian state. The most striking examples of this are the Preslav golden treasure and objects of the Preslav white clay pottery. More than 35,000 objects are stored in the museum funds, 1700 of which are presented in the exposition hall. The most significant Preslav samples have been included in dozens of international exhibitions, in hundreds of scientific publications, film and media productions. Today Veliki Preslav has its own archaeological museum with a magnificent exposition, visited annually by tens of thousands of Bulgarian and foreign tourists. The museum's collections most fully present the phenomenon of the Golden Age and illustrate the place of Simeon's capital as a leading center of Slavic writing, art and art crafts in Southeast Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries. More than 570 sphragistic monuments are stored in the museum's fund. For most of them there is accurate information about their location, which makes them full sources for Bulgarian history from IX - XI century. In 1978, a team of archaeologists led by Ivanka Akrabova-Zhandova, exploring the area in the southeastern part of the inner city of Preslav, discovered a building with massive foundations and preserved squares of construction, which plan resembles a pagan temple or shrine. As a result of the excavations, which continued in the following years, more than 500 molybdobulls, 250 lead cores and three molds for their casting have been discovered. These findings testify to the administrative nature of the building, in which not only the correspondence was stored, but it was also sent. Therefore, we are talking about an chancellery that served the local Byzantine strategists. Thanks to the seals found there, we found the names of 17 strategists of Preslav in the period 971-1059. The molybdobulls also present the names of persons who wrote to the local strategist. Almost all social groups in the empire are represented - from the emperor himself to the common spatary. In 2019, 50 lead seals were included in the exhibition "At the Gates of the Royal Court. Treasures of Veliki Preslav", which was opened at the Archaeological Museum in Sofia. In 2020, the project "Conservation and restoration of molybdobulls from the Strategy in Great Preslav" was completed. This project was implemented by the Archaeological Museum "Veliki Preslav" in partnership with National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. 100 of the most affected molybdobulls have undergone conservation and restoration. Restoration activities are a necessary step that must be carried out before the digitalization of the sphragistic fund.

The Imperial Cult Meets Judaism

ABSTRACTExcavations conducted in the first half of the twentieth century at Samaria-Sebaste uncovered an Augusteum, surrounded by additional Roman-period structures. A compelling hypothesis is that these buildings served as a royal compound belonging to Herod himself, although until now archaeological remains connecting the structures specifically to Herod have been lacking. Here I will examine the function and historical significance of eight stepped pools discovered throughout this compound. I will argue that these pools should be regarded as Jewish ritual immersion pools that date to the time of Herod the Great or his successors. This suggestion will lead us to explore the obvious question: How could Jewish ritual baths have coexisted in such close quarters with a pagan temple? I will suggest that this ostensibly surprising juxtaposition of ritual structures has much to teach us about the pervasiveness and tenacity of Jewish adherence to Torah Law at this time.

“Between Japan and California”: Imaginative Pacific Geography and East Asian Culture in Penelope Aubin’s The Noble Slaves

Penelope Aubin’s mixed-up representation of Japan and the Pacific in The Noble Slaves (1722) has long been considered as an indication of the author’s insufficient geographical knowledge. In this essay, I reassess the East Asian setting of The Noble Slaves in the context of eighteenth-century geographical discourses. By examining Herman Moll’s maps as possible source materials, I argue that Aubin’s imaginative geography reflects not her personal ignorance but the limitations and uncertainties of contemporary cartographical knowledge about the North Pacific. Aubin uses the speculative nature of early Enlightenment geographical discourses for a narrative experiment and reimagining of East Asia. Aubin’s unique representation of East Asian cultures, such as Japanese Christian “Indians” and the ancient pagan temple, hinges on the emotions of wonder and curiosity, which can be read as a criticism of Robinson Crusoe’s hostile attitude toward the Far East in Daniel Defoe’s The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719). This essay ultimately situates Aubin as a significant participant in early eighteenth-century knowledge production about the world.

Celebrating the Construction of the Most Important Pilgrimage Centre in Modern Greece

After several mystical visions of the nun, Pelagia, the holy icon of the Annunciation of the Panagia (“the All-Holy One”, or the Virgin Mary) was found on the island of Tinos in 1823. According to tradition, Pelagia repeatedly witnessed the Panagia in her visions and received orders from her to find the icon and also to build her church. The icon was unearthed in the field where it had remained since the church, built on the ruins of a pagan temple, was destroyed in the tenth century. Two years before the icon was found, the Greek War of Independence broke out. The finding of the icon, the construction of the Church of the Annunciation of the Panagia, the enormous crowds of pilgrims, and the miracles worked by the icon, contributed to the outcome that the island was declared a sacred island, and Pelagia became sanctified. The ritual year of the miraculous icon on Tinos starts on 30 January with the festival dedicated to the Finding of the Holy Icon when the finding is ritually re-enacted, before it is carried in a procession repeating the first procession after the finding. After worshipping the tombs of the builders of the church, the celebration terminates with a popular ritual called the Phanarakia (lanterns), in which children are the main participants, running around in the streets of Tinos town while holding multicoloured lighted lamps, and singing hymns commemorating the finding of the holy icon. This article presents the festival and delves into its meaning and importance for the Greek people.

COVID-19 tingitud folkloristlikud reaktsioonid Valgevenes

The article gives an overview of the folk culture mechanisms that helped to cope with the pandemic situation in Belorussia during the first wave of COVID-19 (until midsummer 2020). The article is based on the qualitative analysis of interview texts related to the pandemic as well as the content of internet users’ visual reactions (memes, poems, proverbs). In folk culture the mechanisms helping to overcome the crisis situation often have a ritual-magical nature. When describing the influence of the pandemic on some practices, the authors conclude that their performing in the crisis situation was especially important for the community. One of the ancient rituals activated for preventing the epidemic was the creation of a magic circle around the village by conducting a procession around the village with a ritual towel (‘rushnik-abydzionnik’), which had to be made within one day. On March 28, this one-day-ritual was performed in Minsk with the greatest possible adherence to tradition. The initiators and participants of the practice were mainly representatives of the Students Ethnographic Society. Not all women present knew how to spin or weave, but some of the simplest operations were mastered. The towel was carried around Minsk and brought to a stone on the site of a pagan temple in the centre of Minsk at the sunset. The towel was tied around the stone, and the latter was also covered with threads spun on the same day. The ritual relieved the tension of the participants and fostered awareness of their solidarity, strengthening collective networks, and the feeling of empathy and unity. COVID-19 also affected the living traditions in Belarus. Some traditional practices were cancelled or postponed. The spread of the pandemic created a negative backdrop for living traditions. However, a number of rites and ceremonies were carried out despite the pandemic in accordance with their spatial and temporal reference. Due to the difficult epidemiological situation, the usual order of ceremonies was changed – their duration was reduced without changing the traditional rite structure. Only local residents participated in the rituals; although, formerly, many journalists and tourists had come to the villages from different parts of the country on the days of the ceremonies. For tradition bearers, such practices during a pandemic are a way to relieve stress and to share problems with people with similar interests. Traditions are one of the constants of their life; maintaining them in times of crises stabilizes the community. The coronavirus pandemic has caused a powerful explosion of folk art. The texts of various genres, both oral and written (graphic), are rapidly spreading on the Internet. A large number of them are based on the traditional worldview of Belarusians and are expressed in traditional forms (alterations, ditties, anecdotes, anti-sayings, paroemias, etc.). The role of humour has grown tremendously. Jokes and laughter in the face of an external threat are a compensatory mechanism that helps to overcome fear and uncertainty, and common laughter unites and helps to learn new rules of behaviour. Humour is not concerned with the threat of getting ill, but rather individual hygiene practices, the situation of quarantine, and circumstances of the new reality. Thus, humorous folklore becomes a way to adapt to new norms and to overcome fear and instability.

Ruins of sacred buildings: ideological message and problems of its preservation

The ruin is a building, whose shape is deformed and decoration have suffered significant loses. So the viewer’s attention is attracted by the ideological message of ruins, which is always different from the set of meanings of the complete edifice, and often contradicts it. This is clearly seen in the case of sacred buildings. In the 16th and 17th centuries Roman Catholic writers claimed, that the ruins of pagan temples in Rome are monuments of the ancient Roman Empire’s power, but their current state clearly shows the defeat of paganism and triumph of Christianity. The prelates thought that it was necessary to take care of the ruins, but they should not be rebuilt. Protestant writers in the British Isles took a similar attitude to the local ruins of monastic temples, seeing in them a clear manifestation of the fall of the “papist religion” and the triumph of Protestantism. During the French Revolution, remains of the ruined churches were consciously preserved as monuments of the decline of Christianity and the triumph of the new cult of reason. So rejection of the religion granted protection to ruins of sacred buildings. However the religious indifference growing in many communities causes problems with determining the place of such ruins in public space. Reducing them to the role of bizarre "street furniture" (eg the church of Saint-Livier in Metz), causes their ideological neglection, often contributes to their material destruction. Preventing such situation seems to be an important challenge for conservators dealing with the problem of "permanent ruin".

About Protobulgarian Cross-Shaped Temples?

The article examines two buildings with a cross-shaped plan, located in Pliska. After the destroying of one of the buildings, the Great Basilica was built on its remains. The report includes all the opinions of researchers about the purpose of the cross-shaped building - a tomb from the early Byzantine period, a protobulgarian pagan temple, a mausoleum of the Bulgarian Khans, a church, a baptistery, a martyrium. Its construction history, superstructure, construction periods, facilities that are functionally related to it, its fate after the adoption of Christianity are examined. A church was built on the foundations of the second crossshaped building. Therefore, her researcher is of the opinion that it was a protobulgarian temple. Most archaeologists believe that only the buildings with a plan of inscribed quadrilaterals were protobulgarian pagan temples and in their works do not mention this building at all and do not comment on the possibility that it was a pagan temple. R. Рашев reminded us of this forgotten monument. Other archaeologists also believe that the two cross-shaped buildings were probably pagan temples and formed a new group of cross-shaped temples in addition to the group of temples with a plan consisting of inscribed quadrilaterals. Keywords: Protobulgarian Cross-Shaped Temples, Cross-Shaped Building, Pliska, Great Basilica, Church № 3

Catechesis and Episcopal Authority in the Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus

Abstract In a seldom discussed episode from Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus, the wonderworking bishop converts a pagan temple custodian using the written word and a miracle. Physical proofs seem essential for teaching this outsider about divine power. Yet in the very next episode the narrator praises Thaumaturgus for disregarding physical appearances and for keeping silent. A close reading of the Life 34-47 demonstrates that Gregory of Nyssa models, within the narrative, a progression from basic catechesis through signs to the more complex work of interpreting signs, making inferences from what is seen to that which remains unseen. Contextualizing this paradoxical sequence of Thaumaturgus vignettes in Cappadocian discussions of divine condescension and principles of fourth-century Christian paideia, I show that Gregory of Nyssa uses the juxtaposition between Thaumaturgus’ teaching and conduct to model the flexible approach required for bishops to communicate the nature of divine power to varied audiences.

Relacja o słowiańskich Rugianach w średniowiecznych kronikach Helmolda i Saxo Gramatyka

Rugianie, zachodniosłowiańskie plemię zamieszkujące wyspę Rugię, utrzymali znaczącą, niezależną od ekspansywnych Niemiec i Danii pozycję aż do XII w. Wówczas Rugia została podbita przez duńskiego króla Waldemara, co nieodłącznie wiązało się z przyjęciem przez pogańskich Rugian chrześcijaństwa. Kroniki Helmolda i Saxo Gramatyka są powszechnie cytowanymi źródłami w rozważaniach dotyczących słowiańskiego pogaństwa i procesu chrystianizacji plemion słowiańskich. To, co stanowi o dużej wartości obu kronik, mimo subiektywnych ocen dokonywanych przez samych autorów, to zakres ich wiedzy na temat połabskich plemion, w tym Rugian – ich znaczenia wśród innych Słowian, roli kapłanów, wyglądu czczonego wśród nich bóstwa. Przede wszystkim jednak kronikarze szczegółowo opisali podbój Rugii przez Duńczyków, co skutkowało przeorganizowaniem władzy na wyspie i umożliwiło rozwój chrześcijaństwa. Jak dotąd tytułowe kroniki pozostają głównymi świadectwami tych wydarzeń.

John Henry Newman: el viaje al Mediterráneo de 1833 by Victor García Ruiz

Reviewed by: John Henry Newman: el viaje al Mediterráneo de 1833 by Victor García Ruiz John T. Ford, CSC John Henry Newman: el viaje al Mediterráneo de 1833 BY VICTOR GARCÍA RUIZ Colección 100xUNO. Madrid: Ediciones Encuentro, 2018. 459 pages. Paperback: €26.92. ISBN: 9788490559444. The canonization of John Henry Newman on 13 October 2019 was surrounded by a wealth of publications that treated his multi-faceted activities during a long and exceptionally productive life: philosopher and theologian, educator and historian, preacher and spiritual director, even journalist commenting on current affairs. Only occasionally, however, do Newman-readers think of him as a tourist.1 Nonetheless, his Mediterranean voyage—which began on 8 December 1832 with his departure from Falmouth and concluded seven months later with his arrival at Brighton on 8 July 1833—was both chronologically and theologically a decisive midpoint in his Anglican life and ministry. Newman's Mediterranean trip came a decade after his election as a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford on 12 April 1822. That first decade witnessed his transition from a reticent but precocious young intellectual to a captivating preacher as Vicar of St. Mary's, the university church: from scarcely known to nationally recognized. The decade following his Mediterranean voyage began with numerous endeavors as the forefront leader of the Oxford Movement, only to terminate with his dramatic and nostalgic sermon on "The Parting of Friends" at Littlemore on 25 September 1843 and his subsequent reception into the Roman Catholic Church on 9 October 1845. Newman succinctly summarized the personal importance of his Mediterranean voyage in his Autobiographical Writings: When he left England in December 1832, he was in a state of perplexity about his future course; when he returned in July 1833, he appeared in Oxford as a man charged with a mission,—a mission to save the Church of England from the perils that encompassed her.2 Readers of Newman are sometimes surprised that he took such an extended vacation. First of all, time was available: he had been relieved of his position as tutor and his other teaching responsibilities at Oriel College.3 Nonetheless, he [End Page 121] was ambivalent about going on a protracted vacation. The expense, as he later acknowledged, made a big dent in his savings at a time when he was supporting his mother and two sisters. On the positive side, his Oriel colleague Hurrell Froude had decided to go with the hope that the voyage would improve Froude's health. The prospect of congenial companionship plus concern for his friend's health factored into Newman's decision. As an added incentive, the voyage would provide first-hand experience of places he had read about in his much-cherished Greek and Latin classics, as well as an opportunity to retrace part of St. Paul's voyages. Complementing these inducements was Newman's congenital curiosity about places and persons. Like most tourists, Newman tried to stay in touch with family, friends, and colleagues. His often-lengthy letters were filled with all sorts of tourist trivia. Most evident is the fact that international travel in the nineteenth century had many more downsides than travel today: waiting for wind in the age of sailing vessels—though he usually managed to find steam-powered ships—miserable lodgings and unpalatable foods, a two-week quarantine plus difficulty in communication. His Latin was excellent, his French serviceable, and his Italian was elementary and vanished when he needed it. In addition to visiting a plethora of tourist sites, especially churches and pagan temples, and meeting a variety of expatriates, he composed scores of poems, which he mailed home for publication.4 Last but not least, his letters included comments and concerns about university affairs, particularly the pending election of new fellows at Oriel. Also, from time to time, he commented on political matters, both British and foreign. As he once remarked, "a man's life lies in his letters."5 Cumulatively, his Mediterranean letters certainly provide many insights into his personality at the mid-point of his Anglican ministry as he transitioned from college tutor to Tractarian leader. ________ After a lengthy introduction (7–77), which offers an impressionistic...

The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity: Development, Decline and Demise (ca. A.D. 270–430) by David Walsh

Reviewed by: The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity: Development, Decline and Demise (ca. A.D. 270–430) by David Walsh Eberhard W. Sauer The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity: Development, Decline and Demise (ca. A.D. 270–430) David Walsh Leiden: Brill, 2019. Pp. 158. ISBN: 978-90-04-38080-6 This attractively illustrated monograph, on the Mithras cult throughout the Roman world from the late third century onward, is based on the author's doctoral thesis at the University of Kent, Canterbury, where he is now a member of Kent's Centre for Late Antique Archaeology. The introduction focuses on the cult of Mithras and changing scholarly views on religious change in Late Antiquity. In the past, it was widely accepted that temple destruction and coercive Christianisation played a significant part in the decline of polytheism in general and Mithraism in particular—a view still shared by many contemporary scholars, if alternative views are gaining ground. Walsh, sceptical of conventional wisdom from the start, seeks to re-evaluate the evidence by comparing and contrasting the fate of Mithraic monuments in different regions. Mithraism was not static and unchanging, and Chapter 1 explores the development of the cult in the late Roman world, postulating considerable changes over space and time. These range from a proven surge in coin offering to alleged ritual fragmentation of cult images. Investment in constructing and repairing mithraea progressively diminished in the course of the third to fourth centuries, as demonstrated in Chapter 2, and possible explanations for this are discussed in Chapter 3. These include a speculative decline in initiation rituals resulting in a [End Page 184] less committed community of worshippers. The fate of temples is the focus of Chapter 4. A vanishingly small percentage of pagan temples in the north can be proven to have been destroyed violently (82–83), the proportion of mithraea demonstrably affected being far greater. It might have been helpful to point out here that we simply cannot tell if a temple was peacefully abandoned or brutally desecrated if, as in the vast majority of non-Mithraic shrines, no stratified imagery or occupation layers survive. Damage is much easier to prove in, partially underground, mithraea than in sanctuaries surviving to foundation levels only. Walsh explores possible reasons for their fate and frequent proven destruction, concluding that "the claim that Christianity was the … dominant factor behind the end of the Mithras cult does not stand up to scrutiny" (94). What were the dominant factors? Most mithraea suffering violent closure were, according to Walsh, on the northern frontiers pointing to barbarians as the most likely culprits (77, 98). Even mithraea as far from the borders as the Adriatic are attributed to frontier regions, and his own maps, not to mention iconoclasm at Vulci (115), disprove the claim that the "only mithraeum located in the interior provinces that looks to have been destroyed was found at Burdi{a}gala" (77). F. L. Schuddeboom's persuasive work (Babesch 91, 2016, 225–45), that thorough image destruction and church building over some mithraea at Rome point to Christian responsibility, is dismissed in a footnote (68 note 5; cf. 84). There is no mention of the mithraeum at Syracuse with fragmented sculpture, used into the fourth century (G. Sfameni Gasparro, I culti orientali in Sicilia, 1973, 281–90; R. J. A. Wilson, Sicily under the Roman Empire, 1990, 301, 413). The recent discovery of a mithraeum on Corsica suffering a violent end (Minerva 28.3, 2017, 5) is a further nail in the coffin of the hypothesis that there are virtually none in the interior provinces. Walsh attributes the decapitation of statues at Dieburg and elsewhere to barbarian invaders, claiming that this closely mirrors their treatment of members of a family (and others) at a villa at Harting who had "their heads removed and their bodies thrown down a well. The point of note is that … the heads were absent" (86–87, 92–93, 98). In fact, body parts and skulls were found together in two wells (e.g. M. Schnetz, Bericht der Bayerischen Bodendenkmalpflege 54, 2013, 83–85), invalidating the argument, one of many cases of Walsh not consulting original...

Tamanyan’s Yerevan Between Constructivism and Stalin Era Architecture

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The Elephant and the Sovereign: India circa 1000ce

AbstractThis article studies the political and symbolic importance of elephants for medieval Muslim kingship in South Asia. Specifically, the incorporation of the elephant by the Ghaznavid dynasty led to a crisis of sovereignty for early Muslim kings of South Asia. This was because while the elephant stood for divinity and sovereignty among Hindus, it represented satanic pride among Muslims. The famous Koranic chapter of “the elephant”, tells the story of a king Abraha who had tried to destroy the House of God in Arabia (the Ka‘ba) with elephants, but it was said that God pelted his army to death by small pebbles thrown by birds. This meant that any Indo-Muslim ruler that posed as an elephant-master could appear as the destroyer of the house of God in the eyes of his Muslim subjects. In order to compensate for this crisis, early Indo-Muslim rulers employed a number of tactics, which included trying to present themselves as the opposite, i.e. destroyer of pagan temples for which they are infamous today. But perhaps more significantly, the continued symbolic (and not just practical) use of the elephant, in spite of its problematic association, shows that what is often today understood as an alien institution imposed upon a majority non-Muslim population, was actually the opposite: that is, it was mainly a project equally pitched to non-Muslim South Asians with a compensatory nudge toward Muslims.