Camels in the northern provinces of the Roman Empire

This paper describes the camel bones discovered in two Late Roman contexts from Arlon (Belgium). The morphological and metrical analyses identify the animal as a dromedary.     

试论波斯对伯罗奔尼撒战争的介入

公元前431年爆发的伯罗奔尼撒战争既是一场希腊世界的内战,同时也是雅典与波斯之间侵略与反侵略的战争。远在东方的波斯在公元前412年与斯巴达结盟,介入战争。波斯介入战争的根本原因是其想重新占领在希波战争中失去的小亚细亚西海岸的希腊城邦,向雅典复仇。希波战争后波斯与雅典之间长期的"冷战",斯巴达主动向波斯抛出"橄榄枝"寻求结盟,以及雅典远征西西里的惨败,最终促使波斯与斯巴达结盟。战争期间,波斯主要通过小亚细亚的总督对斯巴达进行军事和财政援助。波斯的介入不仅帮助斯巴达战胜雅典,赢得战争的胜利,而且还直接引发了公元前411年的雅典贵族寡头政变,开波斯干涉希腊城邦内部事务的先河。     

The diffusion of the Cid cult: a survey and a little-known document

Whereas in eleventh- and twelfth-century western Europe Christianity had taken firm root, monarchy had developed and legislation by royal and ecclesiastical authorities was a normal practice, in Iceland culture remained, for a long period, practically uninfluenced by Roman and canon law. In the present article early Icelandic laws, representatives of this culture, will be described, their formulation and application investigated, and the developments among the establishment of a central authority at the end of the thirteenth century discussed.     

The diffusion of the Cid cult: a survey and a little-known document

Tomb-cults (with which are to be associated family traditions, genealogical matters, and a variety of other aspects) of epic heroes are important for a number of reasons, among these being the fact they may tell us something about the origin and nature of the poems themselves. These questions have been well investigated for France but are still little studied in and for Spain. Both historical and pseudo-historical or legendary traditions are involved, the latter predominating both in quantity and interest. After an introductory discussion, a survey is undertaken of the cult of the Cid, protagonist of the Poema de mio Cid (1207?) and national hero of Spain. The aim is not to give a full account of all aspects, but to cover the less well-known of these in detail and to provide bibliographical indications about aspects that are already adequately explored. Genealogical matters are examined first, then the monasteries, churches and towns in which the cult was present. The ‘little-known document’ is the forged will of a Navarrese prince, which was a key text in the cult at the monastery of Santa Maria la Real de Nájera and at San Pedro de Cardeña.     

Early Holocene land snail exploitation in northern spain: the case of La Fragua cave

Abstract

The question of the anthropic or natural origin of land snail deposits within the archaeological record is the subject of debate all over the world. In the Cantabrian region of northern Spain land snail middens are routinely identified in the early Holocene archaeological record. La Fragua Cave (Cantabria, Spain), which contains an early Holocene layer dated to 9600±140 BP (10,932±196 cal BP), offers the opportunity to address this debate through the examination of Cepaea nemoralis (Linnaeus) land snails recovered in direct association with mammal bones, charcoal, lithic artefacts and other materials. It is therefore believed that their presence at the site is clearly anthropic in origin. In addition, the exploitation patterns indicate an occasional collection and consumption of land snails, which confirms the complementary character of these resources in the diet of hunter-gatherers in Cantabrian Spain during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.     

Persia through the Lens: Poetics and Politics of Architectural Photographs in Pahlavi Iran

Having been introduced to the scholarly community and the general public through a variety of photographic presentations during the inter-war period, monuments in Iran, particularly those of pre-modern Islamic periods, became key buildings to be seized upon as the ultimate embodiment of Persian beauty. The lasting image of Persian Islamic architecture that was articulated through photographs continues not only to set an important benchmark for the understanding of the aesthetic and political matrix of the early twentieth century but also to provoke a methodological question as to the future of Persian architectural studies.     

The Unstable People of a Tumultuous Land: Persia Through the Eyes and Feet of Hajji Baba of Isfahan

For the English interested in Persia in the nineteenth century, James Morier's Adventures of Hajji Baba of Isfahan was a crucial text, as it also was for Iranians who read its groundbreaking Persian translation almost half a century later. The text provided a persuasive understanding of Persia that has endured in the western imagination. This paper begins with the framing narrative and shows how the frame story sets the stage for a convincing literary portrait of Persia and Persians. Then it analyzes the image of Persia constructed in this book through the characterization of Hajji Baba as representative of Persians, and the geopolitical portrayal of the country that emerges from the account of his travels.     

Rule of Law: A Comparison between Ancient Persia and Ancient Greece

The ancient Persian empires are denoted as despotic, practicing arbitrary rule while Greece, Persia's archrival during the sixth to fourth century BC, exercised rule of law. This paper uses a contract theory framework to analyze some of the geographical and environmental underpinnings of the existence of rule of law in the city-states of ancient Greece and its absence in Persia. I discuss the role of geographical conditions of land (open plains versus mountains), population pressure, proximity to the sea and form of trade (overland versus overseas) as factors conducive to rule of law in the city-states of ancient Greece and to despotism in ancient Persia. Specifically, the role of trade via land in Persia prior to the fifth century BC is compared to the role of sea trade (alongside with piracy) in ancient Greece. I argue that in ancient Persia monarchs could tax or expropriate much of the gains from overland trade, preventing the accumulation of an independent form of wealth by merchants. In Greece, sea trade alongside the practice of piracy led to gains from trade that could not be easily expropriated by the monarchs and acted as a balancing force vis-à-vis the power of the monarchs, creating a basis for rule of law in the Greek city-states.     

Cultures in co-operation and conflict: Indians in the fur trade on the northern Great Plains, 1807–1840

The fur trade on the northern Great Plains from 1807 to 1840 may be viewed as an alliance between two sets of cultures each with a demand for the other's products. The Indian's rôle in this fur trade was crucial: he produced the robes and furs, provisioned the traders and greatly influenced the pattern of trading post locations. The fur trade functioned successfully only by adjusting its system of operations to the existing patterns of Indian occupance and by working within those limits to encourage the production of robes and furs. Properly conducted, the fur trade fitted well with the Indian's way of life. Nevertheless, in the process of this culture contact the relationship between the trader and the Indian soured, and the trader became an agent in the destruction of Indian populations and the modification of Indian cultures.     

Early Cretaceous (Neocomian) microplankton from the Carpentaria Basin,northern Queensland

The Neocomian upper Helby Beds, basal Rolling Downs Group and Gilbert River Formation of the Carpentaria Basin contain a dinoflagellate sequence divisible into three zonal intervals; the zones represent the oldest continuous marine Cretaceous record for eastern Australia. Zone DK1 (dated latest Jurassic to Berriasian) commences with the first appearance of four species, zone DK2 (dated Valanginian) with that of four or five species, and zone DK3 (dated Hauterivian to Barremian) with that of three species.

Biostratigraphic aspects are discussed of species selected as possible zone marker fossils in so far as they (a) are relatively poorly known, or represent new species, and (b) have no previously published Neocomian record. New combinations are proposed of one acritarch species and six dinoflagellate species. One new acritarch genus and species, Pseudofromea collaris, and four new dinoflagellate species — Canningia crassicingulata, Cleistosphaeridium australe, Cyclonephelium asymmetricum, and Muderongia testudinaria — are proposed and described.