Two heroes,two lives in the Grottaferrata Digenes Akrites

Abstract

The status of Digenes Akrites as hero needs to be reconsidered. For this purpose, a comparison with his father can serve as a starting-point. Father and son are compared in two contexts: the family and the married couple. The differences between them reveal a hero who is not uncontroversial when it comes to family ties: Digenes isolates himself from his family and fails his wife with regard to faithfulness, trust and inseparability. Consequently, he is punished with childlessness. It is only when the oppositions between father and son are considered to be instances of dramatic irony that their true meaning is revealed.     

The Description of Agamemnon in Digenis Akrites

Abstract

At 7.85 in the Grottaferrata version, having described the biblical mosaics in the palace, the poet proceeds to juxtapose pictorial episodes from pagan poetry and history. The first line about Achilles' campaigns causes no trouble, but the second and third, <inline-graphic href="splitsection8_in1.tif"/><inline-graphic href="splitsection8_in2.tif"/>, have provoked much scholarly consternation and conflict.     

贵州古代墓葬出土的买地券

贵州古代墓葬发现的买地券主要有汉魏之际(早期)和宋明时期(晚期)的,早晚期地券各有特点但又有内在联系,早期地券内容简单,类似生人买地契约,晚期地券受道家化的影响和渗透,完全变成道教的迷信工具,内容既复杂多样又神秘莫测。晚期地券受四川地区唐宋时期买地券的影响较大,但有独自地域特色。     

The rest on the flight into Egypt: A motif in Scandanavian folk art

The Legend-Motif Although there is no biblical account of the “Rest on the Flight into Egypt,” the story is well known in the Christian world. In pseudo-Matthew the story has developed into legend form. He tells about the Christ-Child commanding the date palm Mary is resting beneath to bend down so that she can eat the fruit. It is found in literary sources from the twelfth century onwards. “The Rest on the Flight into Egypt” had become an independent pictorial theme by the fourteenth century and it was mainly by means of pictures that it became part of our cultural heritage. This paper traces the introduction of the motif into Scandinavia and its pictorial dissemination through various media, including printing, chest-prints and wall-hangings.     

People,plants and performance: On actor network theory and the material pleasures of the private garden

Actor network theory has received considerable attention within geography. In this paper I suggest that geographers have looked at these ideas in a particular way and that this can be productively complemented by an excursion into the contemporary private garden. Through exploring the ways in which people and plants live together there, some geographical criticisms of a defined actor network theory no longer seem to necessarily apply to a more diffuse set of actor network ideas. Furthermore, these ideas can also provide a productive means of engaging practically with the material presence of things, insofar as this materiality is important in the constitution of human cultural experience.     

The spiral that vanished: the application of non-contact recording techniques to an elusive rock art motif at Castlerigg stone circle in Cumbria

This article describes the recording of stone 11 of the Castlerigg stone circle in Cumbria through two different non-contact techniques: laser scanning and ground-based remote sensing. Despite the unproblematic recording of modern graffiti, neither technique was able to document the spiral photographed and rubbed in 1995. It is concluded that the spiral was most probably painted and has since faded away due to natural events. The discovery and loss of the spiral motif in Castlerigg is seen as a cautionary tale. In particular, it seems to suggest that it is time to take advantage of the novel technologies based on the digitisation of 3D surfaces with millimetre and submillimetre accuracy such as laser scanning and ground-based remote sensing. They offer many advantages to the recording of prehistoric carvings. In addition to avoiding direct contact with the rock surface eliminating the preservation concerns raised by other techniques, both produce high quality images (laser scanning offering a greater potential for this, but at higher cost) having a much higher level of objectivity, and precision and accuracy far beyond those of traditional recording methods such as wax rubbings and scale drawings.     

郑州商城青铜大方鼎造型与纹饰研究

郑州商城的三处青铜器窖藏共出土了八件青铜大方鼎,目前学界一般认为铜方鼎的原型与陶方鼎有关。但通过造型与纹饰的细节分析,可发现大方鼎的原型应为方形木质容器,乳钉纹带模仿了容器边套、箍圈上的成排铆钉。南顺城街窖藏的四件大方鼎,其纹饰的演变体现出从模仿铆钉原型到向装饰化发展的过程。     

Preserving a Monument: The Example of the Parthenon

Abstract

The preservation of architectural relics of the past developed as a science mainly in the last century. The more a ruin is preserved, the more information it may provide about the past. Structural interventions on relics aim to improve their state of preservation for the future, as well as to render their shape more complete, for the overall purpose of safeguarding their historical information. Over the course of past decades interventions have undergone many changes with respect to methodology, materials, and scope. Intervention in the name of preservation can be interpreted in various ways and questions concerning the goals and nature of modern interventions have become particularly relevant. The current Parthenon Restoration Project, which differs in basic aspects from its predecessors, follows international guidelines for interventions, but remains distinctive for its extent as well as its methods of execution. This paper discusses the theoretical approach underlying the intervention and practical aspects of its methodology.     

Luni in the middle ages: The agony and the disappearance of a city

Rich town, center of marble trading, and important port of transit during the Imperial Age, Luni outlived the end of the Roman Empire, although weakend, and experienced without major destruction domination by Byzantines and Longoboards, and annexation to the Carolingian kingdom. Luni held an advantage over other cities of Roman origin in lying along one of the most important land-based routes of the Middle Ages and in lying close to the sea on the mouth of a major river. Yet while neighboring cities were flourishing, Luni reached the lowest point in a decline that culminated in its final abandonment in 1204. The primary cause lay in the vast effects of the area's environmental deterioration. The natural modifications made it nearly impossible to restore its commercial and Mediterranean trading systems and for its population to grow, after the tenth century. Even the presence in town throughout the medieval period of a powerful episcopal authority could not ensure Luni's survival. For the period between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries, the documentation shows considerable activity on the part of the bishops. This was oriented towards the new and more profitable settlements in the countryside around Luni, however, rather than towards the organization and development of lasting economic structures in the city itself. Financial and social elites never arose in the city as in coeval Italian civitates and Luni was unable to become part of the new system of commercial and political relationships in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and was shortly thereafter abandoned.     

The Five-Star Movement: a hybrid actor in the net of state institutions

The MoVimento 5 Stelle (M5S, Five-Star Movement), led by the former comedian Beppe Grillo, is one of the political novelties of major interest in the Italian political scene, and also on an international scale. This article examines the Movement's evolution following its extraordinary success at the 2013 Italian general election. Four peculiar features of the M5S's experience are analyzed here: the Movement's anti-system stance; its specific conception of democracy; its post-ideological profile; and the innovative elements in its party organization. The overall picture suggests a mixture of resistance and adjustment to the system. Consequently, the process of gradual normalization and institutionalization of Grillo's party is becoming increasingly evident, while inherent contradictions and internal problems remain.