The Russian navy as Chartmaker in the eighteenth century

Abstract

The modern period of chart making in Russia began in the reign of Peter the Great. Peter created the country's navy, which became the main focus for cartography in the eighteenth century. In this paper the multi‐faceted duties of naval officers in the charting and mapping of seas, rivers, forest resources and other features important for ship building and the development of navigation, and essential to Russia's geo‐political interests, are considered. The history of the early stages of specialized naval education and the training of surveyors at the Moscow Mathematical‐Navigational School (from 1701) and the St Petersburg Naval Academy (from 1715) are outlined, and the first surveys in the Baltic and Caspian seas are described. Finally, special attention is paid to the hydrographical surveys and charting of the Aegean Sea during the Russian‐Turkish war of 1768–1774, the sources and methods involved, and the little‐known Atlas of the Archipelago (1788) which was created from the surveys.     

Nuts in the Netherlands: Attalea and other nuts from archaeological contexts,dating from the 16th to 19th century AD

Abstract

This paper describes the use of palm nuts for the manufacture of artefacts in the Netherlands. From the 17th to 19th century buttons were made of nuts of the Brazilian palm tree Attalea cf. funifera. Finds from 17th century shipwrecks suggest that the palm nuts of this species were directly imported from Middle or South America. Coconuts were used for carving, for example for the manufacture of coconut beakers. In the 19th century buttons were also made of 'vegetable ivory' or tagua nut.     

Intersections between philosophy and art: expressions of immanence in the seventeenth century — Spinoza and Vermeer*

ABSTRACT

Spinoza's philosophy of immanence represents a turning point that radically changed our conception of human agency and its relation to infinity. Hans Blumenberg rightly called the principle of immanence “a general hypothesis of the epoch”, a principle that applies to philosophy no less than to the sciences and arts in the seventeenth century. This article looks at Dutch paintings by drawing parallels between Spinoza's philosophy and Vermeer's work. Spinoza and Vermeer both deny a dualistic conception of the world and a hierarchical structure between inner and outer spheres. With the example of Vermeer's painting the Milkmaid, this article shows how an analysis of light and colour, time and space, reveal a vision of immanent infinity, with the human agent at its centre.     

John Green. Notes on a neglected eighteenth century geographer and cartographer

Résumé

Le globe est composé de 12 fuseaux, actuellement collés cote à cote. La diamètre est de 73,5 cm.

Les planches originales, gravées sur cuivre, au nombre de 12, devaient mesurer 40 × 60 cm environ.

Les contours et la nomenclature sont postérieurs à 1581 et antérieurs à 1587. Six cartouches sont restés vides. 80 légendes sont inscrites sur diverses parties du monde.

L'auteur, anonyme, s'est servi d'une carte d'Ortelius ‐ dont on ne connait qu'un tirage unique ‐ publiée par Gérard de Jode en 1564, et d'une carte de Postel faite en 1581, dont il n'existe aussi qu'un tirage unique de 1621, ainsi que des cartes du Theatrum d'Ortelius de 1570. Certaines parties du monde, prises à Postel, furent utilisées par Cornelius de Jode dans son Speculum en 1593.

Le globe est antérieur à la grande mappemonde de Plancius de 1592, il est probablement anversois et aurait été établi dans l'entourage de Gérard de Jode. C'est aussi un unicum.

Le cartouche décoratif du 12e fuseau représente un personnage, peut‐être l'auteur, le graveur ou l'éditeur.     

From charting to mapping: Russian military mapping of Corfu in the early nineteenth century

Abstract

This paper concludes the overview of the Russian Navy's chart making published in Imago Mundi, Volume 52 (2000). In the present paper attention is drawn to the way the emphasis shifted in the early years of the nineteenth century from charting by naval surveyors to land mapping by the Army. The need for specialized military topographical education had led to the founding of the Map Depot in 1797 in St Petersburg. The first major survey undertaken by the Depot was of the island of Corfu (1804–1806), in anticipation of further Russo‐Turkish hostilities (the Third Russo‐Turkish war, 1806–1812).     

A Gothia in the Hellespont in the early eighth century

Abstract

Alexander Kazhdan has recently brought to light a fascinating passage in the Commentary on Gregory of Nazianzos' Poems by Cosmas of Jerusalam, an obscure and little read text. While my interpretation of the passage differs from the one proposed by Prof. Kazhdan, the credit for its discovery belongs entirely to him.     

Foreign Languages in the Elementary Schools of Richmond,Virginia

The medieval hunt and hunting manuals have been studied by historians as sources for the history of medieval science and geography, and for their insights into the daily lives of the elite societies that practiced hunting as a ritualized sport. This article examines two medieval hunting manuals, Juan Manuel’s Libro de la caza, and the Libro de la montería, commissioned by King Alfonso XI of Castile, and King Alfonso X’s law code, the Siete partidas, for their rhetorical and ideological portrayals of hunting and falconry as expressions of aristocratic power and sovereignty over the natural world. The article concludes with a study of an imagined debate between the merits of falconry and hunting with hounds in the Libro de la caza and Libro de la montería that sheds light on Juan Manuel and Alfonso’s competing views on nobility, informed by the political history of war and rebellion that shaped the lives of both men.     

Byzantium in Dark-Age Greece (the numismatic evidence in its Balkan context)

Abstract

Much has been made of the presence or absence of seventh- and eighth-century coins on several sites in Greece, primarily in Athens and Corinth. Kenneth Sefton and Peter Charanis have paved the way for a cultural-historical interpretation of coin finds, but a thorough comparison of both single and hoard finds from Greece with others from the Balkans suggests a very different interpretation. Instead of signalising decline, low-denomination coins, especially from Athens, may point to local markets of low-value commodities, such as food, as well as to the permanent presence of the fleet.     

Machiavelli's scientific method: a common understanding of his novelty in the sixteenth century

This paper argues that Machiavelli's method, his inductive and comparative use of history and experience for political analysis, and his fashioning of historical-political analysis as ‘science’, played an important and still unrecognised role in his reception in the sixteenth century. It makes the case that Machiavelli's inductive reasoning and stress on historia and experientia offered a model for scientific method that open-minded sixteenth-century scholars, eager to understand, organise and augment human knowledge (scientia), could fit to their own epistemology. By focusing on the question of method—a crucial issue for sixteenth-century contemporaries—the paper offers more than a key to the understanding of Machiavelli's positive reception. It also helps in apprehending the crucial importance of Lucretius to Machiavelli's scholarship; the role of the late Renaissance fascination with historia in his reception; and the breadth of appropriation of his method exactly in the decades when anti-Machiavellianism became official politics all over Europe. These claims are sustained through the cases of Machiavelli's early translators and promulgators; the French legal humanists and historiographers; the Swiss, Italian and French scholars engaging with medicine, Paracelsism and astronomy; the authors of political maxims from all over Europe; and finally Francis Bacon.     

Skeletal biology in the twentieth century: From Piltdown to the present

Spencer, Frank. The Piltdown Papers 1908–1955. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. xii + 282 pp. including references and name and subject indices. $65.00 cloth

Spencer, Frank. Piltdown: A Scientific Forgery. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. xxvi + 272 pp. including references and name and subject indices. $24.95 cloth

I?can, Mehmet ?a?ar, and Kenneth A.R. Kennedy, eds. Reconstruction of Life from the Skeleton. New York: Alan R. Liss, 1989. xv + 315 pp. including chapter references and index. $49.50 cloth.     

A Methodological Approach Towards Conservation

Abstract

Since conservation became a recognized discipline, professionals involved in conservation projects have tried to find the best criteria for their interventions. Often these criteria remain quite vague, based on the idea that every historic building has its own special conditions, which make its problems different from other buildings. This conviction, which is appropriate at one level, has serious consequences due to the lack of a consistent methodology. More than a lack of criteria, we might talk about a lack of 'habit' in identifying values in the Mediterranean region: the concept of values is much more widespread in Anglo-Saxon countries.

If we take a look at the history of conservation, there are a number of cases which are often used as models: for example, the Colosseum or the Arch of Titus in Rome, both interventions which are greatly admired and included in many conservation manuals. More recently there are projects which are widely accepted by the heritage conservation community as well: the paper explores the Palace of the Partal (Granada), the Villa Romana del Casale (Piazza Armerina), the theatre at Orange, and the Insula Orientalis I in Herculaneum. In this article, I suggest that there are constant elements within these conservation projects, reflecting typological, structural, constructional, functional, aesthetic, formal, historical, and symbolic values. These features represent a way of planning a conservation project and a critical methodology to judge the outcomes of the project in an objective manner. The methodology is qualitative rather than quantitative. All historic buildings have a set of values developed from their origins and throughout their history. These values can be analysed to extract the most important elements to be preserved. Analysing the values of our built heritage will allow us to create better decision-making processes.     

Central administration versus provincial arbitrary governance: Patmos and Mount Athos monasteries in the 16th century

Abstract

The confiscation of monastic properties ordered by Selim II in 1568 served as a catalyst precipitating a process of negotiation and mutual accommodation between the centre – represented by the sultan and his jurisconsult- and the periphery articulated by the monks. Even in formulaic imperial orders, it is apparent that the monastic communities successfully negotiated the terms for the normalisation of the affair, whereas the jurisconsult accommodated the Porte's interests to the local society's needs. On the local level, the judge functioned as a mediator, addressing the monks' requirements, even if he had to transgress a number of Islamic rules and imperial orders. Thus, this case study illustrates the gradual transformation of a polity in dialogue with local communities.     

The titles of Petra in the sixth century: the evidence from the Petra papyri

Since their discovery in 1993, the Petra papyri have drawn the attention of both historians and archaeologists because of the amount of information they contain. The content of the papyri essentially deals with the property inheritance and transaction of a certain Theodoros son of Obodianos and his family in Petra and its vicinity, in the period between AD 537 and 593. The present paper focuses on the titles of Petra mentioned in these papyri and on their importance for the understanding of Petra in the Roman and Byzantine periods. Petra's full titles are: ‘Imperial Colony Antoniana, Distinguished, Holy (?), Mother of the Colonies, Hadriana Petra, and Metropolis of [the Province] Tertia Palaestina Salutaris’. The main components of these titles are attested elsewhere, but they appear in their entirety in the Petra papyri for the first time. The various titles of Petra as they appear in the papyri concerned clearly indicate that Petra continued to style itself as an important place in the Byzantine Empire. The picture that emerges from Petra's titles and other evidence from the papyri is that, in the sixth century Petra was still a place inhabited by relatively wealthy people, which had a major role in the economy of the Byzantine Empire.     

The Aleppo question: a Byzantine-Fatimid conflict of interests in Northern Syria in the later tenth century A.D.

Abstract

The ambition to control Syria had always been among the serious temptations of Emperor Nikephoros Phokas (963–969). In the last year of his reign and specifically on October 28th, 969 A.D. two of his generals, Michael Bourtzes and Peter Phokas (the Stratopedarch), at last succeeded in capturing the great city of Antioch. I For the first time in three centuries Byzantium reestablished its authority in Northern Syria, and soon Antioch became a seat of a doux whose responsibility was to guard the southeastern flank of the Empire. Like both the doux of Mesopotamia and that of Chaldia, the doux of Antioch had to supervise the small themes in the new Byzantine territories which came under his jurisdiction. Moreover, as a stronghold Antioch was to serve as the main Byzantine headquarters in all military operations in Syria for years to come.     

The doubling of the self in the private diaries of Ion Dragoumis,George Seferis and George Theotokas

Abstract

The 'doubling of the self' is a phenomenon that appears in entries of private diaries and consists in the division of the diarist's self into two: the self that acts and the self that observes and writes. This phenomenon can be found in Dragoumis' ?υλλα ημ?ρολογιου, Seferis' M?ρ?ζ and Theotokas' T?τραδια ημ?ρολογιου. There are entries where the doubling of the self occurs in practice and entries where it is described, discussed or analysed. All these reveal the three Greek diarists' contradictory feelings about the doubling of the self, but also the latter's significance for the private diary.     

The Delicate Art of Aggression: Uzun Hasan's Fathnama to Qaytbay of 1469

Medieval Persian imperial correspondence (tarassul) remains relatively untapped as a source of historiographical information, due in no small part to its stylized and ornate character. This ornateness, far from being merely an obstructive husk to the useful pith of data within, constitutes a rich source of information in its own right; indeed, the formal aspects of a given letter may significantly alter the ostensible sense of the text. This study examines as a representative case a fathnama sent by Uzun Hasan to Qaytbay on the occasion of the former's victory over Sultan-Abu Sa‘id in 1469, here contextualized, translated and subjected to formal analysis with reference to contemporary insha’ manuals. For all its submissive rhetoric, the letter's aggressive intent is shown to be activated by its formal structure, which strategically deploys Uzun Hasanid messianic symbolism to challenge the ascendancy of the Mamluk state.     

Canadian feminist geography in the 21st century

Abstract

In this country report, I offer a resident-outsider’s perspective on the recent history and current landscape of Canadian feminist geography. I highlight the institutional framework that showcases Canadian feminist geography: the Suzanne Mackenzie Memorial Lectures, the biennial events put on at the Canadian Association of Geographers meeting with the support of the Canadian Women and Geography Study Group/Groupe d'étude sur les femmes et la géographie (CWAG). I discuss recent community-building efforts, including the Great Lakes Feminist Geography Collective, and scholarly workshops, and point to the creative outputs that have emerged from these collective workspaces. I point to a variety of Canadian feminist geographers who have laid the groundwork for the diverse field that exists today, as well as some who are re-making the field through the use of other ontological and methodological frameworks. I conclude with a commentary on the importance of community- and alliance-building, especially in the face of challenges like structural injustice, generational transition, and even physical distance.     

Mossland Reclamation and Refuse Disposal in the Manchester area in the nineteenth century

Abstract

Mossland reclamation is a distinctive feature in the formation of the English cultural landscape. Most mosslands were reclaimed purely for agricultural purposes. Manchester's growth in the later nineteenth century brought acute problems of refuse disposal. Carrington and Chat Mosses were acquired by Manchester Corporation for the dumping of that refuse. Between 1886 and 1910, the two mosses absorbed 20 per cent of all refuse. At the same time, but originally less important these two mosslands were converted into agricultural land. The reclamation of Carrington and Chat Mosses is a fine example of the influence of towns in the nineteenth century on the agricultural development of their hinterlands.