
We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
Németh György–Kovács Péter: Bevezetés a görög és a római felirattanba. Gondolat Kiadó, Budapest 2011.
More...
A small mortuary chapel built of mud bricks was exposed in 2008 by the Hungarian Archaeological Mission in Thebes, on the south slope of the el-Khokha hillock. Paintings in a rather good state of preservation as well as several further fragments came to light during the excavation. They represent some characteristic thematic groups typical of 18th Dynasty rock cut mortuary monuments. Especially two groups offer a good chance for the reconstruction and the examination of basic principles of the decoration program, namely, a series of offering bearers and the scenes of beer brewers. On the basis of the reconstruction of painted elements, further conclusions can also be drawn regarding the architectural features of the chapel.
More...Bevezető sorok László Ferenc Az erősdi edények típusai című tanulmányához
This year, we celebrate a century since Ferenc László (1873-1925) began, in 1907, his methodical archaeological excavations on the prehistoric settlement of Ariuşd, considered to be the first systematic research at a large scale, carried out on a site of the late Neolithic-chalcolithic Ariuşd- Cucuteni-Tripolye civilization of Eastern Europe (see NESTOR 1973, 25). This paper is dedicated to this anniversary, as well as the publication, in this volume, of the original Hungarian text of Ferenc László's study on the pottery types from Ariuşd. The study was initially was translated and published in French by Vasile Pârvan after the death of the author (LÁSZLÓ F. 1924/1927. See also PÂRVAN 1924/1927). Until now, only some fragments have been published in Hungarian (LÁSZLÓ F. 1978, 189-202). The first part of this paper is focused on the discovery of the first sites with painted pottery in the last decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, not so much inside the Carpathian arch (Ariuşd, Bod, in Transylvania), as outside it, in Galicia (Bilcze Zlote, Horodnica), Bukovina (Schipenitz), Moldavia (Cucuteni), Bassarabia (Petreni) and in Ukraine (Tripolye), provinces which were then parts of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the Russian Empire and the Old Romanian Kingdom. The cultural-historical and chronological evaluation of these discoveries is also discussed in the context of the prehistoric archaeology of those times. As far as the debut of the systematic researches are concerned, we made a short presentation of the preliminaries, the development and the main results of Hubert Schmidt's excavations at Cucuteni (1909-1910) and of those carried out by Ferenc László in Ariuşd (1907-1913, 1925), together with some remarks concerning the research methodology and scholarly approach of the two archaeologists. In order to continue some former researches/research topics/scholarly trends/ (see LÁSZLÓ A. 1973; 1978; 1987 etc), we focused this paper on certain issues such as Ferenc László's formation as an archaeologist, the main stages of his life and scientific activity, his methods of excavation and investigation of finds, his view concerning the purpose of the archaeological research. We insisted on the methodological correctness of the excavations: the careful written documentation, accurate drawings and the photos of the discoveries and of the observed archaeological phenomena (stratigraphic conditions, fortifications, houses, fireplaces, ovens, etc.), the interdisciplinary spirit of the investigations (for example, the chemical analysis of the metal and clay objects, the archaeobotanical determination of the plant remains, or even the ethnographic analogies/comparison), the attempt to reconstitute, using the material remains, the way of life and thinking of prehistoric people. Ferenc. László's (palaeo) ethnological approach is close to the nowadays „New Archaeology" approach according to which prehistoric archaeology is „the anthropology of the past" or „the past tense of the cultural anthropology" and is different from Hubert Schmidt's rather historicizing conception, which sought to define stages of evolution and to establish the traces of some contacts and migrations, sometimes at great distances. In the final part of the paper, with references regarding to the unpublished correspondence of Ferenc László with István Kovács and Vasile Pârvan, we have discussed the contexts in which the study on the pottery types from Ariuşd, still a matter of interest even today, was written and published in Dacia. Finally, some details are given to the publication in Hungarian of the paper in this volume.
More...
Bronze Age seals are a fairly common find in Mesopotamia, the IndusValley and the northern part of the Arabian Gulf. Conversely, theseal assemblage from the southeastern Arabian Peninsula, where sealsemerged in the 3rd millennium BC, is sparse and heavily diversifiedin terms of shape, size and decoration. Moreover, no characteristicseal type was developed in the area and the bulk of the examples areimports or imitations of seals from other regions. A stone stamp sealfrom the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, found at the siteof Qumayrah Ayn 3 in northwestern Oman by the Polish–OmaniArchaeological Mission (PCMA UW) has no known parallels andseems to be of local provenience. It fosters a return to the discussionof the actual function of these seals and the reasons for their rarity inthis part of the Arabian Peninsula.
More...
The Middle Copper Age hoard discovered at Magyaregres came to light from a closed assemblage during an archaeological investigation. The exceptionally fortuitous find circumstances enabled important observations in the field and during the conservation of the finds. The assemblage was also submitted to various scientific analyses. The settlement of the Balaton-Lasinja community that had buried this hoard offers an excellent illustration of the diversity of the period’s architectural traditions.
More...
According to a commonplace in scholarly literature it is unachievable to write the history of the Bar Kochba revolt. This paper does not attempt the impossible, it merely attempts to take into account the way in which our evidences, that came to light in the last half-century, repaint the traditional picture of the insurrection. The first five chapters discuss the antecedents of the revolt, i.e., the short and long-term consequences of the churban; the uprising under Trajan (the so-called “war of Quietus”); the administrative, economic and military situation of Judaea from 70 to 132 C.E., mainly on the basis of the Babatha-archive. The immediate cause of the Bar Kochba revolt is still debated, as both the foundation of Colonia Aelia Capitolina (ch. 5), and the ban on circumcision, introduced by Hadrian’s legislation (ch. 6), can be taken into account. It is not clear, however, whether these oppressive measures were taken before or after 132; in other words, whether they were causes or consequences of the war. The following chapter is dedicated to Bar Kochba’s messianic pretensions, which, among other things, can be verified with the strong halachic orientation of the papyri produced by the administration of the revolt (ch. 8). Ch. 9 examines the character and magnitude of the Roman military participation in the Bar Kochba revolt, as these are illuminated by the extant epigraphic material. The last chapter deals with the Jewish guerilla tactics and bases: the rebels’ hiding complexes that from the 1990’s have been explored in the territory of Judaea.
More...
The Baradla was the first cave to be examined archaeologically in Hungary, yet it is not fully documented still. We will attempt to construct the archaeological topography of the cave, collecting the data from previous studies and from our own survey. The data from the literature contains several misinterpretations according to our in situ examinations, because the authors has limited or incorrect information on the speleological circumstances. The cave is an important archaeological site compared to the sites on the surface, and other neighboring caves. The only archaeological site known on the surface is at the Aggtelek entrance, and the Domica and Ördög-lyuk (Čertova diera) are the known caves with archaeological finds. The Baradla Cave System is a hydrologically continuous unit from the Domica Cave in Slovakia to Jósvafő, but the archaeological site can only be associated with Aggtelek, because the Jósvafő entrance was opened only recently, and the connection with Domica is hardly passable, at same places only underwater connections exists. There is a clear logical connection to the neolithic site at the Domica, but these are separate sites – the distance is 2 km. The strong erosion of the karstic surface makes the archaeological sites in the caves more important – nothing is preserved on the surface. The finds are usually washed down to a cave, but that can not be considered an archaeological site in a cave. In the smaller caves the strata and other phenomena could be easily damaged because of an improper excavation. In the Baradla Cave the strata and other phenomena are intact on large areas. The cave is located at the Aggtelek karstic region. There are only temporary lakes and streams close to the Aggtelek entrance. Secular changes in the climate or the geomorphology (as filling up of the gullies) could result in different surface hydrological situations after a few centuries. This obviously affects the habitability of the region. We consider the water systems in the caves more stable.
More...
The study examines the relations between different aspects (Ancient Greek main text, miniatures, Old French translation on the margins, Old French headlines) of the manuscript Iviron № 463, which is a bilingual (Ancient Greek-Old French) Byzantine manuscript kept on Mount Athos, from a new perspective by including formerly not investigated viewpoints: by exploring the relationship between the miniatures and the headlines that are highlighted by red ink in the Old French text. The study also mentions the explanatory inscriptions in codices that preserved the Greek versions of the Barlaam-romance and are relevant in connection with the Iviron manuscript, furthermore, it investigates the common features of the manuscripts. The analysis reveals new important relations regarding the circumstances of the creation of codex Iviron.
More...
The paper discusses the interpretation of an important scene from the Column of Trajan, namely scene CXXI (Pl. V/2). This scene, part of a larger whole (Scenes CXIX-CXXII; Pl. V/1-3), was interpreted by most researchers as representing the group suicide of the Dacians during the siege of their most important fortress, identified by historians with Sarmizegetusa Regia and placed by archaeologists at Grădiştea de Munte in the Orăştie Mountains. Although not the first one to consider its meaning as different, Constantin and Hadrian Daicoviciu popularized, through their 1965 booklet regarding Trajan’s Column, the interpretation that the scene is rather representing the distribution of the last water reserves by the under-siege Dacians. In order to reanalyze the meaning of this scene, the article starts by presenting the most important representations on the Column in relation to Dacian fortifications, during the last campaign of Emperor Trajan. After the embarkment of the Romans at Brundisium (Scene LXXIX; Pl. I/1) and the passing of the Danube at Drobeta (Scenes XCVIII-XCIX; Pl. I/2), the Romans first encounter a Dacian fortification in scene CXI (Pl. II/1), where they defeat a group of Dacians. In the next scene, CXII (Pl. II/1), the Romans leave a camp to start a siege visible in the next three scenes (CXIII-CXVI; Pl. III/1-4). After they win this decisive battle, we can see, in the next scenes, how they continue to prepare siegeworks (scene CXVII; Pl. IV/1), while in the next scene a Dacian embassy asks for mercy, being declined (CXVIII; Pl. IV/2). Next four scenes (CXIX-CXXII; Pl. V/1-3) are actually the ones which contain the problematic scene (CXXI; Pl. V/2). Here we can see only Dacians, inside a fortification, firstly burning their own buildings on the outskirts of the fortification (CXIX; Pl. V/1), while afterwards we can see them inside the main precinct of the fortification, drinking some kind of liquid from a vessel. After this some of them die, while others, looking back at the scene, are running out of the fortification (CXXII; Pl. V/3). While describing these scenes I have put much emphasis on the architecture associated with these Dacian fortifications. Some ideas, proposed mainly by E. Thill through her work in this direction, seem to indicate that these fortifications contain the biggest concentration of Dacian structures on all the column, while, at the same time, they show a character closer to the representations we find, usually, in Roman urban associated contexts. The discussion can be expanded in the sense that these fortifications represented in the mentioned scenes (CXI, CXIII-CXVI and CXIX-CXXII, plus the one in scene CXXIV-CXXV; Pl. VI/1) could actually represent the same fortification, although this is not a certainty. At the same time, the scenes from the end of the first war (LXXIV-LXXV; Pl. VI/2-3) could be related, in a wider view, both through the complexity of the Dacian fortification represented and through the fact that, actually, a unique architectural feature is represented on scene LXXIV, a rock-cut channel filled with water. In the next part of the paper the interpretation for the scene, proposed by C. and H. Daicoviciu, has been followed more carefully, while some archaeological, geographical and hydrographical aspects (Pl. VII/1-3) tried to confer it a more localized context. In this context I try to put forward my own conclusions. Afterwards, an ancillary aspect is discussed, posed by the association of a vessel with inscription found at Buridava by D. Berciu with the vessel in the CXXI scene, discussion which has led me to the approach of the vessel with the Decebalus Per Scorilo stamp found at Grădiştea de Munte in a context relatable to the Daco-Roman wars (Pl. VIII/1-2).
More...
Die neuerlich in Tel-Zayit / Israel gefundene alphabetische Buchstabenreihe wirft neue paläographische und historische Fragen auf. Der Artikel versucht aufgrund der Buchstabenformen die Reihe paläographisch einzuordnen und möglichst genau zu datieren (Eisenzeit I, bzw. IIA). Nach der Datierung folgt die historische Auswerung des Befundes. Die Bedeutung der Buchstabenreihe aus Tell-Zayit besteht darin, dass man mit ihrer Hilfe die Ausdehnung und das Niveau der Bürokratie des davidischen Königtums besser beurteilen und verstehen kann.
More...
Metastasio, the librettist of Mozart’s “Il re pastore” wrote his libretto on the basis of Curtius Rufus and according to the claims of his epoch and royal court of Maria Theresa with due knots. Aminta, mounted the throne by the favour of Alexander the Great, is nobody else as Abdalonymus, mentioned repeatedly by ancient authors. He was bearer of mythic oriental traditions whose figure was transformed to (the invented) Cincinnatus, incarnating the ancient Roman ideals. Recently, the orientalist W. Fauth revealed the far-ramified treasure of this oriental tradition in his wide-ranging study. By its help the classical philologist can establish unexpected coherences between the cosmological relations of the ancient oriental royal symbolics and the phenomena, unexplained so far, of the Greco-Roman culture (descriptions of paradise, Roma quadrata, political motives of the rise of Roman historiography, etc.). As addition to the subject presented itself the contemporary description of the game reserve at Vienna of the Austrian archduke Maximilian (the later Emperor and King) as an attempt to put into practice the antique idea of paradise in modern Europe.
More...
A szerző áttekinti a kultúra temetőinek kerámia leletanyagát, azt vizsgálva, hogy abban milyen mértékben vannak jelen olyan típusok, elemek, amelyeket Bognár-Kutzián Ida a kultúra késői (B) fázisa jellegzetességeiként ismert fel. Ezt követően áttekinti mindazon edényféleséget, amelynek a kultúra belső időrendje szempontjából jelentősége lehet. Végül foglalkozik a polgár-basatanyai temető sírjainak időrendjével is.
More...
A bone disc with an inscription has been found at the archaeological site of the Greco-Roman period at Marina el-Alameinin Egypt. It has a hole drilled in the center and a name IOULIOS (Ιούλιος) written in Greek letters on one side. One may wonder about the diskfunction. Names appear on theatre tickets and on game counters, but they also usually bear a number or an image, e.g. a figure or a building. In the town, which has been subject of a recent research, a large number of diverse types of game pieces were discovered; glass pawns and bone counters predominate among them, however, they differ from the discussed disc: they are smooth or decorated with cut concentric circles. The number and variety of pawns indicates diverse types and a big popularity of games among the inhabitants of Marina. The described disc may have been a strategic board game counter.
More...
The Boudican Revolt of AD 60–61 is a very controversial story still today, despite the many researches in the 20th and 21th century. The purpose of this study is to show new results in chronology and battlesite topography of the rebellion, which have been disregarded by many today’s well-known scholars. The greatest debate among the contemporary scholars is on the exact date of the Boudican Revolt. Most studies agree with D. R. Dudley and Graham Webster, who claim that the rebellion occured in AD 60, despite of Tacitus’ AD 61. They assert that the uprising happened in AD 60 by the CIL VI 597 inscription. But I have found one more inscription (AE 1998, 419) and two wax tablets from Pompeii (CIL IV 3340, CLIV and CLV) certifying clearly that Webster and Dudley misdated the rebellion which occured definitely in AD 61. Finally I have found many reasons and geographical evidences referring to John Pegg’s terrain analysis attesting that the final battle of Boudica happened in the Church Stowe Ridge, Northamptonshire.
More...
Could Hippocrates be an ancestor of the nursing profession? The nursing profession brings into practice, in addition to spiritual care, a palpable method of self-healing. The history of medicine, which cannot be separated from the act of nursing and the history of nursing are part of the human history. Practiced from prehistoric times, the art of nursing is universal and can be considered a law of nature. Its recognition as a "useful and unique" profession began in the second half of the 20th century, when "the art of nursing" started to be influenced by the cultural, ethnic and religion specificities of the different ethnic groups.
More...
Guided by the Christian faith, Byzantine art has attached special meaning to the representation of the human figure. Grounded on aesthetic principles, the artistic representation of the human face relinquished on the physical materiality of the represented model, searching for its essences and resemblances to the divine world. Subject to specific representation rules, Byzantine portraiture bears a series of peculiar characteristics that mark it out among other images of this kind belonging to other spirituality areas, periods and artistic styles. Both in icons, where it highlights a series of particular significances describing the divine nature of saints, and in other fields of Byzantine arts – such as mural painting or mosaic –the portrait stands out due to its importance. This paper intends to present a few of the defining characteristics of portraiture in Byzantine art, exemplifying the evolution of this artistic genre by analysing some of the most representative creations of this field.
More...