Around the Bloc: The Trials and Retrials of Macedonia’s Conservatives
Protests are held in the streets in Skopje and Pristina as opposition leader says he will step down.
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Protests are held in the streets in Skopje and Pristina as opposition leader says he will step down.
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A medallion „Librarians in time and space” was organized for the Day of Librarian in Moldova, and was dedicated to great scholars and librarians: Calimah, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Brukenthal Johan W. Goethe, Ivan A. Krylov, Richard Barry, Odobescu Mihai Eminescu, Alexandru Samurcaş, Ion Nistor, Radu Rosetti, Elena Farago, Nikolai Rubakin, Dimitrie Gusti, Perpessicius Shiyi Ramamrita Ranganathan, Tudor Vianu. Librarians talk about the value of books, their ghathering, introduction of accession and inventory of books, creating catalogues and bibliographies, the first public activities and achievements that supported the development of Library Science during centuries. The medallion were coordinated by Elena Harconiţa and Valentina Topalo
More...krótki przyczynek do dyskusji
Apart from the legend scribbled down by Bruno of Querfurt and a mention in the Life of St. Romuald by Peter Damian, the history of the martyrdom of Five Martyr Brothers, was also noted by a Czech chronicler Cosmas, even though is at variance with the other two stories. All manuscripts of the Cosmas’ chronicle contain wider information on Polish eremites, except for the Stockholm copy, that is to say a version in Codex Gigas, generally believed to be an unfinished copy of the edition of the chronicle prepared when Cosmas still alive. What was the basis of Cosmas version – whether it was a scholarly figment of his imagination, or, alternatively, a completion of copyists or information he based on oral sources or a written legend, which had arrived from Poland – has been a subject of much debate among the historians.The comparison of another fragment of the chronicle, which mentions the translocation of the relics of Five Martyr Brothers, seems to indicate that Cosmas completed the original version of his chronicle with a wider version of the legend himself. The analysis of chronological elements of the original version of Cosmas’ chronicle from the Stockholm Codex and later copies containing extensive descriptions devoted to the life of the Five Brothers suggests that apart from a more extensive legend, Cosmas also revised the chronology of events, thereby furnishing a more accurate dating in the second version (the day of death – 11th November, instead of the original 12th November), in accordance with the version of Bruno of Querfurt. Such dating is incompatible with the version that appears in the Czech and Polish calendars starting from the second half of the eleventh century, which means that Cosmas must have found it, along with an extensive legend, in a written version. The analysis of Czech calendars has shown that day of Five Martyr Brothers was not fi xed in Bohemia at the beginning of the twelfth century, which could have disposed Cosmas towards including a broader story of the Polish hermits (whose relics were stored in some Czech centres) in his chronicle, with a view to disseminating their worship.The legend itself, the one Cosmas grounded his story on, is likely to have originated in Bohemia, as evidenced by the unmistakable ignorance of either the Polish realities or the hermits’ life and was probably written down only after Bretislaus I brought the relics of the martyrs to Prague in1039, thereby creating a burning need for the legend which would disseminate the cult of new saints. This legend is based on oral tradition, formed by the Czech clergy (hitherto cooperating with Bolesław the Brave) coetaneous to the events, and, on the other hand, on an obituary record comprising the names and dates of the brothers and a day date, which could have arisen in Prague shortly after the events. This tradition also recorded the name of the sixth hermit, who escaped death owing to the deputation to Rome – it is reasonable to assume that the hermit frequented Prague to report the ruler with his deputations. Due to the collision of the day of the brothers’ martyrdom and St. Gregory of Tours, in the Czech calendars, the holiday was postponed for 12 November already in the second half of the eleventh century. Writing the first editorial of his chronicles, Cosmas had probably only vintages, vague oral tradition (which retains the name of Barnabas) and an updated calendar at his disposal, hence the manuscript of Stockholm lacks a broader description of the martyrs and 12th November as the date of their death. Before making the final editorial, Cosmas must have discovered a written version of the legend, produced after 1039, and under its influence included a more extensive description of events and the modified day date of hermits’ death.
More...Wybrane aspekty
From the position of Christian rulers, faith expansion concerned not only individuals, but also entire communities. A decision appertaining to the choice of Rome or Constantinople as a place of importation of Christianity was both significant and political. Following a number of failed attempts of Christian missions among the Slavic tribes, the ninth and eleventh century saw the emergence of the foundations of statehood along with a number of conversions acts of rulers and their milieux.The eighth century saw the development of stronghold centres on the Morava river (Mikulčice, Staré Město, Uherske Hradiste). The strongholds were rapidly remodelled in the late eighth/early ninth century, hence even prior to the Moravians putting in an appearance in Frankfurt in 822. At the time in the area of western Slovakia occurred the most aggressive expansion into the territory of the Avars located on the left bank of the Danube and new Moravian strongholds (Pobedim, Devin, Smolenice–Molpír) were erected east of the White Carpathians, at least as far as The Váh. These phenomena can be regarded as social upheavals within the political elite of the Moravians, centred on the Morava River, which resulted in the expansion into the territories in south-western Slovakia occupied by the Avars and the ensuing construction of new stronghold centres. That expansion presumably presaged the creation of a base against the Khaganate in Pannonia.The erection of the first churches in the area on the initiative of the princes and nobles attests to the scale of the changes which occurred among the Moravians, having probably stemmed from very intensive, yet unmentioned in written sources, contacts between the tribal Moravian aristocracy and the Frank Counts from the borderland. It is reasonable to conjecture that there was not any organised mission, as evidenced by the ethnical diversity of the Moravian clergy emerging at the time. It consisted, apart from the Bavarians, also of the clergy from Italy and the Greeks of the Dalmatian cities.
More...Nowa perspektywa dla interpretowania miniatury koronacji Henryka II z Sakramentarza Ratyzbońskiego (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 4456, fol. 11r)
The aim of the paper is to examine the sources of influence of the iconographic program of the miniature showing the coronation from the Regensburg Sacramentary (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 4456, fol. 11r)? The hitherto formulated interpretations appertaining TO the image of Henry II may be enriched by a new hypothesis, which postulates the impact of the post communion prayer (post communionem) from a form of a votive Mass for the King (Missa pro rege) on the formation of the Regensburg performance. A liturgical oration, which asks God to grant the ruler with the heavenly weapons, is written on further pages of the Sacramentary (fol. 327r-v). Thus, not only verbal inscriptions written in the illumination, but also pictorial means of expression can be read as a prayer for the king.
More...Czy lata 30. XI wieku wyznaczają przełom dla funkcjonowania organizacji grodowej w Polsce?
The paper explores the issue of the 1030s, significant for, inter alia, the Polish medieval studies. It centres, in essence, on the verification of the view that the examined period can actually be deemed to have been a breakthrough in the functioning of the stronghold structure within the Piast state. Furthermore, the article addresses the question whether, in the second half of the eleventh century, the network of strongholds stood at variance with the one prevailing during the reign of Mieszko I and Boleslaw I the Brave. A political history of the 1030s, discussed on the basis of extant written sources, e.g., Gallus Anonymus, Cosmas of Prague, Tale of Bygone Years and Annales Hildesheimenses provides the starting point for analyses, most valuable for the discussion being pieces of information appertaining to the invasion of Bretislaus I and subsequent expeditions of Yaroslav the Wise into the Piast lands. Records relating to these events reveal that some strongholds were destroyed (Poznań, Gniezno), other abandoned (Giecz) or lost (Belz, Red Cities).Next, the author refers to the studies of some historians and archaeologists regarding the problem of the 1030s and the purported breakthrough in the functioning of the stronghold structure. The first research questions relating to this issue is whether the medievalists have source material (other than written) at their disposal that would enables them to determine what other strongholds, besides the ones cited above, were destroyed in the 1030s. Another question relates to the erection of new strongholds in the second half of the eleventh and in the twelfth century. It is interesting to find out whether the construction of these strongholds somehow ensued from the disaster of the 1030s. The answer to these questions necessitates the consideration of various methods of dating the relics of strongholds along with their reliability, which is particularly important in the context of hypotheses advanced by archaeologists. A large group of strongholds is believed to have ceased to function in the 1030s, as purportedly attested by results of archaeological research and dating. The author nonetheless demonstrates that establishing the chronology of strongholds by dint of pottery within one decade and with respect to the 1030s is unmanageable and draws the reader’s attention to the weaknesses of chronology based on dendrochronological, radiocarbon and AMS methods. The image of the 1030s catastrophe ought to be referred to the strongholds of Wielkopolska, inasmuch as they are mentioned in written sources. Finally, the author attempts to verify if there were other principal Piast strongholds within the then Piast domain, which were partially or completely destroyed throughout this period. Here, he refers to the results of the excavations carried out on the relics of strongholds in Kruszwica (Kujawy), Płock (Mazovia), Przemyśl (the Sandomierz Region), Kraków (Małopolska) and Wrocław (Silesia). The results of the analyses have revealed that the vast majority of these structures did not fall into destruction circa mid-eleventh century. To conclude, in view of the fact that several most important strongholds in the Piast state continued their existence, whilst key strongholds of Wielkopolska, their damage notwithstanding, were rebuilt, the 1030s should not be referred to as a breakthrough period in the functioning of the stronghold structure.
More...Otázka kontinuity a diskontinuity
A Transylvanian Prince Gyula I made a visit to Constantinople in 953, where he was baptised. The Patriarch of Constantinople ordained a monk Hierotheus the Hungarian as a bishop, who later baptised the family of Gyula. He also initiated the process of christianising his principality. Gyula’s daughter Sarolt married the Hungarian Prince Géza. Sarolt was very vigorous and she had a strong influence upon her husband. It was her who convinced Géza to invite Christian missionaries to Hungary in 972. She also established the first Hungarian bishopric in her residence of Veszprém. This bishopric was consecrated to the Archangel Michael, to whom also the church in the residence of her father in Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár) was dedicated, later rebuilt and honoured with the title of the episcopal cathedral. Michael was not the only patron saint to protect Veszprém. There was also a rotunda of Saint George, considered a very old one at the time. Sarolt wanted to consecrate some church to Saint Michael in Veszprém, because she used to pray to him in Alba Iulia. That was the reason the bishopric of Veszprém did not accept the older dedication to Saint George. The cult of Saint George was very common in Bavaria during the nineth century, yet we have no evidence of Saint George veneration on the territory of Bavarian border marks – and for the same reason there is no evidence of it among the dedications of Pribina’s and Kocel’s churches in Pannonia. The rotunda in Veszprém was definitely not erected in Carolingian times and its dedication was not of Bavarian origin. Therefore, we can assume that is of Great Moravian origin. Another member of the Arpád dynasty was given a name Severin (Hungarian: Szörény) at his baptism in 972, but an old-Hungarian chronicler wrote down his name in the distorted form ‘Zyrind‘. Severin was the Duke of Szomogy, just as his son and successor, i.e., Koppány. Karolda, Sarolt’s older sister is believed to have been his wife. The Hungarian Prince Géza had younger brother Michael. The name Michael, which he took at his baptism in 972, was very popular in Bulgaria already in 866, when Bulgarian Prince Boris took this name at his baptism. If Michael took a Christian name popular in Bulgaria, he could have fulfi lled a wish of his Christian wife of probably Bulgarian origin, further indicated by her sons’ names, i.e., Ladislav and Vazul, which are derivations from the names Vladislav and Vasilij. Michael’s Bulgarian wife, as well as Géza’s Sarolt and Zyrind’s Karold, were Christians from their childhood and they persuaded their pagan husbands to accept Christian baptism. Members of the Arpadian state, who received their baptisms in 972, could be influenced by the impact of Great Moravian and Carolingian Christianity, which partially outlasted in the old pre-Hungarian centres, for example in Nitra, Bratislava, Blatnohrad, Veszprém and Pécs.
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The cult of Silvanus on the limes of Upper Moesia. The subject of the research is the cult of Silvanus in the Danube limes area in the Roman province of Upper Moesia. It has been analyzed eight votive inscriptions of which are preserved only four, and one votive relief related to the cult of this deity. The aim of the research is to elucidate the relationship between Silvanus and agricultural-pastoral world, its indigenous or Italic character and identity of the cult followers. In this work is also stressed the significance of the impact from the neighboring provinces in shaping of the cult, especially from the Lower Pannonia.
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Since the 1960’s two approaches mainly based on ethnical and social differences have been applied in the course of the analysis of the 10th–11th century cemeteries of the Carpathian Basin. However, the social classification of certain cemeteries is problematic. The division considered applicable to the entire 10th–11th century settlement area (tribal and clan aristocracy – middle class – commoners) does not stand its ground anymore; the cemeteries known today cannot be interpreted as their direct archaeological projections. Families or larger communities of equal status or the same social group could have been greatly different regarding their appearance, inheritance, wealth, agricultural practices, and thus their archaeological appearance. The division of sites on ethnical grounds is a similar issue. The new approach focuses on the duration of the cemeteries’ usage, and in connection with this, the number of their graves. I illustrate this with a settlement historical image outlined by the review of the find material of the Tisza–Maros–Körös interfluve. I observed 133 sites in this region which were mostly fractional, ranging from a few graves to dozens of burials. Taking all these aspects into consideration, hereunder I only have an opportunity to briefly outline a picture, according to which the cemeteries of this region are arranged in six larger blocks. Their characteristics are partly different from each-other.
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The first known representation of Artemis from Ephesus in Dacia was recovered in the spring of 2006, the small bronze statuette being part of one of the biggest private, archaeological collections looted from various Roman sites. In this article, the authors present the iconographic features of the statuette, the religious significance of the object and through the modern story of the artefact will reflect on the biography of ancient objects once used in religious contexts.
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In this paper I prove that the 20-30 cm long, tapered iron sticks frequently occurring in Pannonia in the 4th century were not pin-beaters but manual distaffs used in spinning. Due to climate change the water level of Lake Balaton increased in the late imperial period. For the protection of lakeside settlements and plough-lands Emperor Galerius opened the Sió Canal, by which, however, he could only prevent the further rise of the water level. The monumental theory assuming a significant expansion of agricultural lands and a continuous exportation of grain surpluses does not stand up.
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The time slot for Middle and Late Upper Palaeolithic (MUP, LUP) in Hungary is filled in by two large cultural phyla of the Gravettian entity, notably the blade-dominated and the pebble-dominated industries, extending through three chronological horizons. The Epigravettian cultures following the Last Glacial Maximum are not only temporal successors of the “Golden Age” in an etymological sense but can also be conceived as late, slightly impoverished descendants of the Pavlovian Culture. The Ságvárian Culture is partly contemporary with this blade-based Epigravettian, and successfully adapted to the same ecological conditions of the Late Würm. This industry is characterised by the pebble-working tradition, which latently survived since the Lower Palaeolithic. Localities belonging to this entity are classified, on the basis of the priority principle, into the Ságvárian culture. The viable, strong culture existed in the interior parts of the Carpathian Basin around the last cold maximum of the Würm. The type spectrum of the tool kit fits well into the Gravettian mosaic although it is characterised by different parameters. Its direct antecedents, time and place of its formation, the limits of extension and after-life are so far unknown. The eponymous site of the culture is Ságvár-Lyukasdomb, serving also for the stratotype of the Ságvár geochronological period.
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The author searches answers for chronological questions of the Complex of Polgár (Bodrogkeresztúr and Hunyadihalom cultures) that existed in the second half of the 5th millennium BC in the eastern parts of the Carpathian basin. The work is based on 47 cemeteries that supplied sufficient material for the analysis. Methodology was provided by metrical analysis and seriation of 818 dish types and 577 graves. Artificial periods (“künstliche Perioden”) and the phases of cemetery usage (“Belegungsphasen”) were identified both in the particular cemeteries and in the five analyzed regions. As a result of the analyses, we may identify three phases of development of the Polgár complex cemeteries (Formenkreis 1=Tiszapolgár, Formenkreis 2=TiszapolgárBodrogkeresztúr, Formenkreis 3=Bodrogkeresztúr, with the features of the ceramics from Hunyadihalom). Thus, the two groups that had been differentiated so by their ceramics (Tiszapolgár and Bodrogkeresztúr), in fact existed in the same time period and in geographical proximity.
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Relations between the Roman and the early Chinese Empires have been considerably popular fields of research, however, principally from a trade-oriented point of view. Contextualising Roman-related glass finds unearthed in the People’s Republic of China provides a more complex nexus. Transparent glass vessels carry multiple testimonia of cultural impacts and interactions, leading towards a stereotyped and utopian perception of the Imperium Romanum. This paper focuses on the complexity of such inter-imperial connections through contextualising the most significant Roman-interpreted glass finds in China. Furthermore, by a detailed and critical examination of Roman-related transparent glass vessels, it also aims to highlight problems of earlier identifications and interpretations. In addition, a precise recollection of the existing data not only allows to catalogue these various glass objects, but also helps to insert these glass artefacts into the Roman glass typology system.
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The sigillata of Rheinzabern are overrepresented among ceramic types in Pannonia at almost every archaeological site. Until today, from the excavated 266 sites, we know more than 15 thousand published Rheinzabern sigillata. At certain cases, this strikingly high ratio is a result caused by the creation of the given forts or settlements after 180 AD. At settlements that were supposedly abandoned already at the beginning of the 3rd century, the number of such ceramics is lower. The legionary fortress that provided most of the known Rheine goods is Vindobona, while the highest number of material concerning canabae was published from Aquincum. Among the urban communities, the quantity provided by the municipium of Brigetio holds the first place, while the utmost number of Rheinish ceramics among the villas was published from Baláca. At native settlements the quantity of imported samian is relatively low, as their inhabitants lacked the financial opportunities and also the needs for imported goods. At the sanctuary areas, almost three quarters of the material of Pfaffenberg in Carnuntum consists of sigillata of Rheinzabern, while in the Isis sanctuary in Savaria, this ratio is only 7,2 %. This type of sigillata is relatively rarely found in graves – we have 50 occurrences so far. Dishes intended for everyday usage of dwellers of towns and villas were also sigillata in many cases, while at settlements with native traditions they preferred bowls with reliefs. Sigillata of Rheinzabern emerged in Pannonia already in the Antonine age, but at this time yet they were underrepresented in the presence of the sigillata of Lezoux. The greatest amount of Rheinzabern was transported into the province in the middle production section of the manufactory, i.e., between 180 and 230, in the age of the Severan conjuncture. Material dated to the middle third of the 3rd century in Pannonia is insignificant (2 %), which can be attributed to the stagnation of trade relations, and to the inner and outer political situation of the Empire.
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This paper deals with the finding history and composition of the Avarian graves from Szentendre (County Pest, Hungary) based on literary data and new archival records. These records are in the legacy of the famous Hungarian archaeologist Flóris Rómer. They allow the reconstruction of the composition and the situation of the graves, which were found in 1871 on the ground of a brick factory. In the study drawings and notes of Flóris Rómer about finds and graves from Szentendre are published. They are important sources of the Avarian graves from the early Avarian age and the autor gives an evaluation on they in the study.
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Review of: Láng Orsolya–Nagy Alexandra–Vámos Péter "The Aquincum Macellum. Researches in the area of the macellum in the Aquincum Civil Town (1882–1965)."; Applying new methods for old excavation materials. Aquincum Nostrum I. ISSN: 1217–3592, 3. Budapest History Museum. Budapest, 2014. ISBN: 978–615–5341–17–5. 198 pages with 42 figures and 44 tables by: Ágota Ferencz-Mátéfi
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