Modern Pagan Festivals: A Study in the Nature of Tradition

The cluster of recently appeared religions known as Paganism have developed, over the past sixty years, a distinctive cycle of annual festivals, most of which draw on long historic roots but that are grouped together in a modern framework. No study has yet been made of the manner in which this cycle developed, and potentially rich rewards may be gained from doing so. Such a project is a rare opportunity to study a religious festive tradition in the process of evolution, and also to suggest features of the nature of tradition in modern societies, and the manner in which it is perceived by scholars in different disciplines.     

Housing in Late Antique Augusta Emerita: The End of The Peristyle House

This article presents the archaeological evidence for a comprehensive change in the residential pattern of late antique Mérida, Spain (Augusta Emerita) in the second half of the fifth century AD. By the fourth century AD, the peristyle house had become the fundamental unit of aristocratic late Roman housing, offering the ideal setting for high‐status interactions, aristocratic ceremony, and even private and public business. The peristyle house was gradually replaced by subdivision housing in the course of the fifth and sixth centuries, in a trend seen throughout the late Roman world. In Emerita, however, the transition was quite sudden. Here, a destructive event in the middle of the fifth century paved the way for the rapid introduction of subdivision housing, over just a few decades. While this new style of housing was typical of the late antique world, the evidence from Emerita highlights the role that a local catalyst might play in the adoption of new cultural forms.     

The Limits of Sasanian History: Between Iranian,Islamic and Late Antique Studies

This essay discusses the position of Sasanian Studies from its inception in the late nineteenth century, to its reinvigoration at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The work also discusses the development of the field of Sasanian history and civilization vis-à-vis the three fields of Iranian, Islamic and Late Antique Studies. It is posited that Sasanians have benefited from cross-disciplinary and new historical frameworks that go beyond the traditional field of Iranian Studies, which was never as interested in the history of the period.     

Identifying wine and oil production: analysis of residues from Roman and Late Antique plastered vats

The production of oil and wine was an important aspect of the ancient Mediterranean economy. Among the material remains related to the production of these substances, installations used for their production provide evidence that is still unexploited. Although archaeological studies have been carried out on these installations, problems can arise in the identification of their function, as wine and oil production structures can be similar and the archaeological traces insufficient to establish which substance was produced.     

Monastic diet in Late Antique Egypt: zooarchaeological finds from Kom el-Nana and Tell el-Amarna,Middle Egypt

Abstract

Contemporary literature suggests that meat and fish were not common fare of monastic communities in Egypt during the Late Antique Period (AD 330 to 642). A sizeable assemblage of fishbone from the Monastery at Kom el-Nana has allowed, in conjunction with other zooarchaeological material, a reappraisal of this assumption. In addition, comparative data from the adjacent Pharaonic site at Tell el-Amarna have highlighted distinct cultural differences in the utilisation of the mammal, bird and especially the fish remains between the sites. The difference in size of the catfish Synodontis schall demonstrates that in contrast to the ancient Egyptians the monks were targeting very small fish, most likely for salting in ceramic vessels.     

Plant Communities and the Dynamics of Natural Systems

Plant communities are viewed as a factor of both stabilization and transformation of natural systems. Two categories of subdivisions of the plant cover are distinguished: phytocenomers, which are the object of vegetation classification, and phytocenochores, which are units of geobotanic regionalization. The two categories are compared at the planetary, regional, and topologic levels. A plant association is viewed as a dynamic system building up through a series of variable structures to the ultimate indigenous, invariant, climax structure. The evolution of an association is depicted in the form of a graph, in which the vertices designate the various states leading to the climax association, and the edges the probable transitions from one state to another. The graph is plotted on a system of coordinates reflecting both the time period of these transformations and their effect (in terms of increases or decreases of the total plant mass). The technique is illustrated with two specific associations: the forb-tyrsa association of the Transbaykal steppe, and the fir, low-grass, green-moss association of the southern tayga (boreal forest).     

Fish and Fish Products in Late Antique Palestine and Babylonia in Their Social and Geographical Contexts: Archaeology and the Talmudic Literature

This paper looks at the ancient Jewish talmudic literature (4th-7th centuries CE) for information about fish and fish products in the ancient world and compares it with information from classical sources and from archaeology. Analysis of the texts show that information about food, and particularly fish and fish products, can be derived from texts originally written as religious regulations and moral narratives. Talmudic textual evidence, backed up by parallel archaeological finds, documents long-distance transport of preserved fish, including what is identified as Nile perch from Egypt and mackerel from Spain. Parallel papyrological evidence testifies to the import of the parrot wrasse. Graeco-Roman allec, a sauce made of macerated tiny fish, is identified by the Palestinian Talmud with tarit terufah, made of tiny chopped fish, and afitz, cf Greek afye, immature fish, often cooked as such. Remains of allec have been found archaeologically in Israel/Palestine. The Palestinian Talmud identifies tarit[a] with tza?ana, one of a trio of strong-smelling Babylonian fish-dishes eaten by the poor: the others are gildana and harsana. The varied material on these discussed here adds to our knowledge of ancient salted and/or fermented fish-dishes. The identification of tza?ana with 9th-to-10th century ?a?na from Baghdad of the Caliphs and 14th-century Cairo appears very likely. Thus tarit/tza?ana/?a?na appears to have been not very appetising processed fish food for the poor in Roman Palestine, Jewish Babylonia, Baghdad of the Abbasid Caliphs and Mamluk Egypt, and it may be identified with allec. The talmudic literature also discusses reasons for failure of the preservation processes, as well as of potentially lethal effects of insufficient preservation.     

Transjordan During the Nineteenth Century: Reconsidering the Relation Between Arab Tribes and Christian Religious Communities

The article aims to reconsider the history of Ottoman Transjordan during the second half of the nineteenth century. Istanbul's decision to impose its direct control over this province triggered a process of evolution and change within local political spaces. The traditional balance of power was altered and tribes were forced to accept the authority of the Ottoman Empire. States and tribes were not the only political actors. Christian religious institutions also participated in the dynamics of change. The article reconsiders the history of a Christian village of Transjordan, Madaba, to describe the complex relationship between tribes and Christian religious communities during this period of change and evolution. The section Karak highlights the main aspects that characterized the refoundation of Madaba. In the section The Exodus and the Rebirth of Madaba, the exodus of several Christian tribes from Karak to Madaba is analyzed to explain the overlap and intertwinement between the different cultural horizons and sociopolitical logics of the two actors. The section The Village of Madaba analyzes some episodes of daily life in Madaba to detail the consequences of the interaction between tribes and religious communities. Finally, the functioning of the local sociopolitical space on which the Hashemite emirate was later founded is explained. The religious community‐tribe dyad was, in fact, part of the transition from “the tribe to the state.”     

明末奉教天文學家鄔明著事迹鈎沉

鄔明著是徐光啓所組建之曆局中的骨幹成員,對修成《崇禎曆書》發揮了重要作用。領洗入教後,信仰虔誠,並將天主教傳入其家鄉武昌,促成湖廣開教。然因相關文獻甚少,致其事迹不顯。本文通過現存中文及葡萄牙文文獻,勾勒鄔明著修曆與奉教事迹,進而凸顯曆局成員所構成的天主教人脈網絡及其對天主教在華傳播的作用。     

晚清至民国时期陕西基督教宣教区研究

功能文化区作为一种重要的文化区类型,目前在我国历史文化地理学研究中并没有受到重视。究其原因,是因为中国传统文化的地域分布多以形式文化区,或是感觉文化区的形态出现,很少能构成真正意义上的功能文化区。本文则通过对晚清至民国时期陕西基督教宣教区进行个案研究,指出以功能文化区形式出现的宣教区,其空间结构特征,一方面受制于中国传统的文化地域格局,另一方面,则与各差会在陕西发展的历史过程与权力关系有着密切的关系。