Late Roman Philosopher Portraits from Aphrodisias

1990 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 127-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. R. R. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Philosophical School ◽  
The World ◽  
The Rich ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Late Roman

The rich finds of statues and inscriptions from Aphrodisias in Caria have done much in recent years to illuminate the world of the late Roman politician, the world of governors and local magnates. Aphrodisias has also recently provided important new evidence for the philosophical image of late antiquity. In 1981–2, the excavations under Professor K. T. Erim recovered a remarkable group of marble shield portraits and busts that represent both contemporary late antique philosophers and ‘classic’ figures of the hellenic past. These portraits add a new dimension to our knowledge of Aphrodisias as an intellectual centre and provide a vivid insight into the pagan culture and education of late antiquity. We are in the world of Eunapius’ Lives of the Sophists. We are probably in the context of a philosophical school, perhaps the philosophical school of late Roman Aphrodisias.

Late antiquity and Byzantium: an identity problem

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-37
Author(s):  
Averil Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Identity Problem ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
The World ◽  
First Time ◽  
Late Roman

1975 seems light years away. In parts of the field of Byzantine studies, at any rate, the world has shifted, and perhaps most of all in that contested territory of early Byzantium, otherwise known as late antiquity. The first issue ofByzantine and Modern Greek Studieswas published only four years after Peter Brown’sThe World of Late Antiquity,1and before the ‘explosion’ of late antiquity.2This was also the start of another explosion: the emergence of late antique archaeology as a discipline, leading to its vast expansion and the enormous and ever-growing amount of material available today. For the first time, John Hayes'sLate Roman Pottery(1972) enabled reliable dating criteria for the ceramic evidence that became the foundation of a new understanding of trade and economic life.3The UNESCO Save Carthage campaign, a landmark in the reliable recording of excavations of the late antique period, began in the following year, and since then the growth in data has been exponential.

RECREATING THE LATE ROMAN ARMY

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 523-567
Author(s):  
John Conyard
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Roman Army ◽  
Standard Work ◽  
Military Equipment ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Late Roman

This paper attempts to give some insight into the role that Roman military reconstruction archaeology can play in the understanding of Roman military equipment from Late Antiquity. It can only provide a brief introduction to some of the equipment of the Late Roman army though, and Bishop and Coulston’s Roman Military Equipment, first published in 1993 (2nd ed., 2006), must remain the standard work.1 This contribution will chiefly aim to examine how items of equipment were made, and more importantly, to consider how they were used.

Steps toward a Study of Symeon the Stylite the Younger and His Saint’s Cult*

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-407
Author(s):  
Dina Boero ◽  
Charles Kuper
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
The State ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Chronological Order ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
Art Historians ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Insight Into

A large dossier of primary sources survives for Symeon the Stylite the Younger from Late Antiquity. These sources include not only hagiographical evidence, but also archaeological remains from his cult site, homilies, and at least one letter. They offer insight into the varied voices which shaped Symeon’s identity, sanctity, and ministry in the sixth and early seventh centuries CE. The state of scholarship on these sources is uneven, however, with the result that scholars have primarily studied the saint and his cult through the lens of the hagiographic material, the Life of Symeon Stylites the Younger in particular. In order to lay the foundation for a full inquiry into the saint and his cult, this article disentangles the dossier of evidence on Symeon in Late Antiquity. It introduces each source in chronological order; provides an overview of authorship, date, and the state of scholarship for each source; and makes preliminary recommendations for paths forward. It is meant to be a guide for art historians and archaeologists unfamiliar with the sizeable literary corpus, textual scholars who do not often work with material sources, and, for both groups, an introduction to problems in the dossier. It encourages scholars to treat each source on its own terms and re-evaluate the rich interconnections between the textual and archaeological evidence.

Christianisation and Local Names in Asia Minor: Fall and Rise in Late Antiquity

2019 ◽  
pp. 258-276
Author(s):  
Sylvain Destephen
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Personal Names ◽  
The Rich

This article analyses processes in detail based on the evidence now provided by the relevant volumes of Prosopographie chr�tienne du Bas-Empire, Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Lexicon of Greek Personal Names and the rich cemetery at Korykos. It is argued that the onomastic patrimony of late antique Asia Minor underwent a twofold process of transformation and simplification but did not vanish. The complete hegemony that the Romans achieved in Asia Minor in the 1st century BC induced a Latinisation of the region that was only superficial. This development had two contrasting effects. Firstly, Hellenistic and Roman influences reduced ethnic and cultural diversity in Asia Minor to the point where indigenous languages were more or less extinct when Christianity arose. Secondly, Hellenisation and Romanisation allowed a general enrichment of the onomastic patrimony in Asia Minor. The study of names therefore provides a balanced response since Asia Minor possesses a rich, varied onomastic patrimony. It also relates to how the conversion of the Roman Empire in general, and of Asia Minor in particular, brought about an overall transformation of the names people bore, even though modifications occurred more rapidly within ecclesiastical and monastic milieus than among ordinary laymen.

Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity, 350-450

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maijastina Kahlos
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Religious Dissent ◽  
Roman Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Roman

Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity reconsiders the religious history of the late Roman Empire, focusing on the shifting position of dissenting religious groups. The groups under consideration are non-Christians (‘pagans’) and deviant Christians (‘heretics’). The period from the mid-fourth century until the mid-fifth century CE witnessed a significant transformation of late Roman society and a gradual shift from the world of polytheistic religions into the Christian Empire. This book demonstrates that the narrative is much more nuanced than the simple Christian triumph over the classical world. It looks at everyday life, economic aspects, day-to-day practices, and conflicts of interest in the relations of religious groups. The book addresses two aspects: rhetoric and realities, and consequently delves into the interplay between the manifest ideologies and daily life found in late antique sources. We perceive constant flux between moderation and coercion that marked the relations of religious groups, both majorities and minorities, as well as the imperial government and religious communities. Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity is a detailed analysis of selected themes and a close reading of selected texts, tracing key elements and developments in the treatment of dissident religious groups. The book focuses on specific themes, such as the limits of imperial legislation and ecclesiastical control, the end of sacrifices, and the label of magic. It also examines the ways in which dissident religious groups were construed as religious outsiders in late Roman society.

The Politics of Poetics: Nonnus' Dionysiaca and the World of Late Antiquity

Ramus ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 37 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 99-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Shorrock
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Epic Poem ◽  
The World ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
History Of ◽  
Primary Focus

Over the last thirty years or so our understanding of the world of late antiquity has undergone a radical transformation. In addition to the important contributions by historians such as Peter Brown (on the body and society) and Averil Cameron (on the evolution of Christian discourse), new perspectives have also been opened up on the material culture of the later empire. In the arena of literary criticism, however, signs of any analogous transformation have been much less obvious. Though, of course, it is easy to overstate the case, it is nevertheless clear from the bibliographic record that the literature of the late antique period has not yet been subject to the intense critical attention of other epochs, such as the Second Sophistic. This article will attempt on a necessarily modest scale to address this lack of critical attention.My primary focus is the fifth-century CE epic poem, the Dionysiaca of Nonnus, a product of Roman Egypt, written in Greek in forty-eight chapter-length books. It runs to over 21,000 hexameter lines—some five thousand lines longer than Homer's Iliad—and tells the story of the wine-loving Dionysus, the hero whose destiny it is to become a god. Though its influence on the wider literary culture of late antiquity was profound, it has remained a marginalised and neglected text within the history of modern classical scholarship. The Dionysiaca exists as an often quoted yet rarely read compendium of obscure mythological information, and is periodically mined for allusions to earlier and implicitly ‘better’ poets whose works have only survived in fragmentary form, but it is rarely considered on its own terms.

Time, Perpetuity and Eternity in Late Antique Platonism

KronoScope ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niketas Siniossoglou
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The World

AbstractThis paper focuses on the late antique conception of time, eternity and perpetual duration and examines the relation between these concepts and Plato's cosmology. By exploring the controversy between pagan philosophers (Proclus, Ammonius, Simplicius, Olympiodorus) and Christian writers (Aeneas of Gaza, Zacharias of Mytilene, Philoponus) in respect to the interpretation of Plato's Timaeus, I argue that the Neoplatonic doctrine of the perpetuity (αιδóτηζ) of the world derives from a) the intellectual paradigm presupposed by the conceptual framework of late antiquity and b) the commentators' principal concern for a coherent conception of Platonic cosmology essentially free from internal contradictions.

scholarly journals A Contested Jurisdiction: Armenia in Late Antiquity

2017 ◽  
pp. 199-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Greenwood
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Legal Culture ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Roman Provinces ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Village

Although Roman and Persian engagement with late antique Armenia has been analysed from several perspectives, its juridical dimension has been largely ignored. This chapter provides a reassessment of the legislation pertaining to Roman Armenia from the reign of Justinian, arguing that it offers a reflection of legal practices operating beyond the newly reorganised Roman provinces, in districts of Armenia under Persian hegemony. It may also attest the seeping of Roman legal culture beyond the formal limits of the jurisdiction. Crucially, the local inheritance practices which the legislation prescribes find analogues in Sasanian jurisprudence. Although not every aspect of Persian legal culture will have been replicated in the districts of Armenia or received in the same way, the rich Armenian literary tradition from late antiquity reveals a proximate legal culture, expressed in terms of concepts employed and processes followed. Three illustrations from Łazar P‘arpets‘i History are examined. Furthermore two later compilations preserve valuable evidence of law in practice. The tenth-century compilation titled History of Ałuank‘ contains a collection of documents deriving from the Council of Partav convened in 705 CE. One of these confirms that land across Caucasian Albania was still being bought and sold at this time, that there was current uncertainty over whether the transfer of a village included the village church and its endowment, and that laymen had been represented as holding clerical status to circumvent this. A specific case is then outlined. The late thirteenth-century History of Siwnik‘ on the other hand contains transcripts of fifty-two documents, and summaries of twelve more, recording property transactions in favour of the bishops of Siwnik‘ and the see of Tat‘ev. It is argued that the earliest of these, dating from the middle of the ninth century, preserve clear vestiges of Sasanian legal culture. Armenian sources have much to tell us about law and legal tradition in Sasanian Persia.

The Absence of Evidence as the Evidence of Absence

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-42
Author(s):  
Ross Shepard Kraemer
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
History Of ◽  
Absence Of Evidence ◽  
Evidence Of Absence ◽  
Late Roman

Evidence for Jews in the late antique Mediterranean diaspora declines precipitously from the fourth to the seventh centuries CE. No identifiable writings in Greek or Latin survive from late antique Jews, forcing reliance on late Roman laws, accounts in non-Jewish authors, and limited archaeological remains. This increasing absence of evidence ultimately seems to be actual evidence of increasing absence. The category “diaspora”—in opposition to the homeland of Israel—has practical and theoretical limitations and is implicated in debates about contemporary Jewish identifications. Still, a study devoted almost exclusively to Jews of the late ancient Mediterranean is warranted by virtue of prior neglect, a history of privileging rabbinic sources, and a related tendency to assimilate the history of all Jews in late antiquity into that of the rabbis. The study tries to avoid the derogatory terms “pagan” and “heretics,” preferring the admittedly more cumbersome “dissident Christians” and “practitioners of (other) traditional Mediterranean religions.”

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF PILGRIMAGE: ABU MINA AND BEYOND

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 291-327
Author(s):  
Susanne Bangert
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Simple Pattern ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Popular Piety ◽  
Insight Into

Christian pilgrimage offers a unique insight into popular piety in Late Antiquity. However, our sources for pilgrimage, both literary and archaeological, vary widely in quality and volume, and modern scholarship has often depended heavily on the evidence from particular wellknown sites, most notably the sanctuary of St Menas at Abu Mina in Egypt. This site has revealed a remarkable density of archaeological remains, not only buildings but also the production and circulation of a wide variety of pilgrim souvenirs. Yet it is essential that we move beyond the sanctuary of St Menas and compare the evidence from Abu Mina with that from other major pilgrimage sites in the eastern Mediterranean. As we shall see in this paper, there is no simple pattern in organisation or souvenir production that can be identified in the archaeology of late antique pilgrimage.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document