From commodity to money: The rise of silver coinage around the Ancient Mediterranean (sixth–first centuries bce)

The reasons why the Western Mediterranean, especially Carthage and Rome, resisted monetization relative to the Eastern Mediterranean are still unclear. We address this question by combining lead (Pb) and silver (Ag) isotope abundances in silver coinage from the Aegean, Magna Graecia, Carthage and Roman Republic. The clear relationships observed between ¹⁰⁹Ag/¹⁰⁷Ag and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb reflect the mixing of silver ores or silver objects with Pb metal used for cupellation. The combined analysis of Ag and Pb isotopes reveals important information about the technology of smelting. The Greek world extracted Ag and Pb from associated ores, whereas, on the Iberian Peninsula, Carthaginians and Republican‐era Romans applied Phoenician cupellation techniques and added exotic Pb to Pb‐poor Ag ores. Massive Ag recupellation is observed in Rome during the Second Punic War. After defeating the Carthaginians and the Macedonians in the late second century bce , the Romans brought together the efficient, millennium‐old techniques of silver extraction of the Phoenicians, who considered this metal a simple commodity, with the monetization of the economy introduced by the Greeks.     

The Concept of Taboo in Raga,Vanuatu: Semantic Mapping and Etymology

This article discusses the two terms that convey the concept of taboo in Raga, the language of north‐central Vanuatu originally spoken in north Pentecost, and provides linguistic evidence expanding on the information published previously by the anthropologists Masanori Yoshioka and John Patrick Taylor. Based on the corpus collected in north Pentecost in the period 2015–2017, and on older ethnographic and religious written material, a semantic map is proposed for the two taboo‐related Raga terms: sabuga and gogona. Reviewing the terms that designate the concept of ‘taboo’ in the neighbouring languages, the study also explores the possibility of borrowing and semantic interference from other languages, and proposes that sabuga is a reflex of Proto Oceanic *tabu, albeit an irregular reflex, and gogona a reflex of Proto North and Central Vanuatu*kona ‘sacred, taboo’.     

《玉壶野史》“生旦杂处”考辨

北宋文莹《玉壶野史》载南唐韩熙载事,有"生旦杂处"一语,学者或据此而论定其时已有"生""旦"脚色。今梳理该书历代版本流变,知是书在明初后五卷阙佚,嘉靖年间抄补时已有阙文,作"生杂处",鲍廷博校刊本则去此空格,作"生杂处"。另有清抄本作"生冝杂处",乃抄录之误,周星诒、陆心源等人校订时皆删去。作"生旦杂处"者后出,最早见《四库全书》本,乃将"冝"误作"旦"。参酌《南唐书》《宋史》《续通志》的相关记载,"生"之本意当为"生徒""门生",故此语不可作为南唐时已有生旦脚色之依据。     

政策转变还是策略调整?——艾森豪威尔政府"解除台湾中立化"论析

1953年2月,艾森豪威尔对国会关于国情咨文的年度致辞中提出第七舰队要改变在台湾海峡的任务,从阻止海峡两岸的军事行动变为不再"遮掩"中国大陆.此语被视为"解除台湾中立化"的开始.不少研究据此认为新上台的共和党政府改变了对台政策,"放蒋出笼",台美关系由此进入"蜜月期".实际上,这一声明是形势发展的必然结果,是美国企图震慑、牵制中共之举,面上有"放蒋出笼"之势,内里却无"放蒋出笼"之实.在美国是否准备掩护台湾军队反攻大陆、是否封锁中国大陆全部海岸、是否对台扩大美援范围和种类等问题上,台美间无法形成共识.美政府以战斗机的交付为筹码,压迫台湾当局正式承诺不改变对大陆军事活动的"模式和节奏",重要军事行动前要征询美国.台湾"中立化"解而不除,美国对台湾的缰绳更加收紧,艾森豪威尔政府"解除台湾中立化"并非一次政策转变.     

Book reviews‐comptes rendus

Peter GARNSEY & Richard SALLER, L'Empire romain. Economie, société, culture, Paris, La Découverte / Textes à l'appui, 1994.

Morris SLAVIN, The Hébertistes to the Guillotine: anatomy of a ‘conspiracy’ in Revolutionary France, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge and London, 1994, xvii + 280 p., ISBN 0–8071–1838–9.

Philippe BURRIN, La France à l'heure allemande, 1940–1944, Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1995.

Emmanuel LE ROY LADURIE, Le siècle des Platter 1499–1628, t.1 “Le mendiant et le professeur”, Paris, Fayard, 1995, 529 p., 170 FF., ISBN 2–213–01444–2.