To Avenge the Burnt Statues and Temples of the Gods: The Religious Background of the Greek Wars with the “Barbarians”

Abstract

In The Clash of Civilizations (1996) Samuel Huntington placed the Persian Wars at the beginning of the long line of clashes between civilizations. To the modern reader the emphasis Huntington puts on the role played by religion in defining Athenian civilization and its conflict with the “barbarians” appears to be consistent with Herodotus’ position on these wars. However, this position overlooks the fact that the ancient polytheistic beliefs and cults implied a particular attitude to religion, unlike that of monotheistic religions. In the ancient Mediterranean world the temples and sacred places were to be universally respected and any violation of this rule was regarded as sacrilege that justified persecution of the wrongdoers, whose ethnicity was of no, or only of secondary, importance. The purpose of this article is to survey the main passages in Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon that treat the wars between the Greeks and Persians and between Greek city-states, and to demonstrate that the line dividing defenders (or avengers) of divine cults from offenders of the gods was not drawn between Greeks and barbarians, but between defenders and offenders.     

Differentiation between Seizure and Hysteria in a Tenth-Century Persian Text: Hidāyat of al-Akhawayni (d. 983 AD)

Although hysteria is associated largely with the nineteenth century, we find the subject treated in a tenth-century Persian medical text, the Hidayat al-Muta`allemin Fi al-Tibb [A Guide to Medical Learners] by al-Akhawayni Bukhari (d. 983 AD), a prominent physician in the Persian history of medicine. In this article, we discuss al-Akhawayni’s views on seizure and hysteria and his differentiation between the two conditions, and we place it in a historical context.     

HELLENISTIC ARCHITECTURE IN JAFFA: THE 2009 EXCAVATIONS OF THE JAFFA CULTURAL HERITAGE PROJECT IN THE VISITOR'S CENTRE

Abstract

In 2009 the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project undertook a pilot-project excavation within the soon-to-be-renovated visitor's centre in Qedumim Square. These excavations were intended to clarify stratigraphic questions within area C of Jacob Kaplan's excavations (1961, 1965) and to lay the groundwork for future excavations by the project which was founded in 2007 as a partnership between UCLA and the Israel Antiquities Authority. Along with achieving these goals, the excavations exposed one of the best preserved examples of Hellenistic architecture in the southern Levant and confirmed the employment of a Hippodamian-style town plan from as early as the late Persian period.     

Persian Monshi,Persian Jones: English Translations of Saʿdi’s Golestān from the Late Eighteenth to the Mid-Nineteenth Centuries

From the seventeenth century, Mosleh al-Din Sa?di Shirazi (d. 1291), a key figure in Persian classical literature, became the center of Europeans’ attention: his name appeared in travelogues and periodicals, and selections of his tales were published in miscellaneous Latin, German, French, and English works. To follow Sa?di’s impact on English literature, one needs to search for the beginning of the “Sa?di trend” and the reasons that led to the acceleration of the translation process of his works into the English language in the nineteenth century. This article examines the role of the British educational institutions in colonial India in the introduction of Sa?di and his Golestān to the English readership, and, in parallel, it uncovers the role of the Indo-Persian native scholars (monshis) who were involved in the preparation of translations. The article discusses how the perception of the British towards Sa?di’s literature developed in the first half of the nineteenth century and how their approach towards the translation of the “text” and its “style” evolved in the complete renderings of the Golestān.     

Etched (carnelian) beads from northeast and southeast Arabia

Etched beads from northeast and southeast Arabia are usually not cited in connection with east-west trade, because they remain unknown to most scholars. There is ample evidence, however, from sites on the Arabian shores of the Persian Gulf that the region participated in active trade during several periods. Etched beads are one of the commodities testifying to the existence of maritime links. A high percentage of the etched beads found belong to the Early Bronze Age and the Pré-islamique récent (PIR)-period, although other periods are also represented.     

Residential mobility and social identity in the periphery: strontium isotope analysis of archaeological tooth enamel from southeastern Arabia

Strontium isotope analysis represents an effective means of assessing mobility and reconstructing geographic residence patterns in archaeological populations. This biogeochemical technique was utilized to test the hypothesis that burgeoning interregional exchange networks and the occurrence of exotic grave goods in local tombs would correspond with a highly mobile population and a considerable immigrant presence during the Umm an-Nar (2700–2000 BC) period in the UAE. This region has been considered peripheral relative to larger civilizations in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, but played an important role as a major supplier of copper for the Persian Gulf. Individuals (n = 100) from six monumental Umm an-Nar tombs (Mowaihat; Tell Abraq; Umm an-Nar Island I, II, V; Unar 1) were selected to evaluate the geographic origins of tomb members. Mean ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios from local individuals interred at Mowaihat (0.708863 ± 0.000014; 1σ, n = 12), Tell Abraq (0.708873 ± 0.000020; 1σ, n = 27), Umm an-Nar Island (0.708902 ± 0.000079; 1σ, n = 33), and Unar 1 (0.708805 ± 0.000065; 1σ, n = 25) all display little isotopic variability, indicative of a population that was not highly mobile. However, coupled with archaeological evidence, three immigrants from Tell Abraq (n = 2) and Mowaihat (n = 1) identified by deviant strontium values suggest that this region was actively engaged in interregional interaction. Despite claims that these tombs acted as visible markers of territoriality legitimized by local ancestors buried within them, the presence of non-locals suggests that as commerce became increasingly important, definitions of kinship and social identity may have become more flexible to better meet the needs of the local community and those with whom they interacted.     

The Proverbial Wisdom of a Georgian Language Island in Iran

The Georgian language island in Iran is not yet on the radar of international scholars. Studies by Georgian scholars have mostly focused on linguistic, ethnologic and historic issues concerning the Georgian community living in Isfahan province; no paremiological approach has been undertaken. This article is based on the analysis of Fereydani proverbs recorded from 1968 to 2014. Study reveals that the proverbs used by the Georgians of the Fereydan region in their mother tongue are: proverbs translated from Persian; proverbs of Georgian origin and proverbs existing in both Persian and Georgian paremiological funds. Archaic Georgian vocabulary preserved in proverbs is also considered. This paper highlights the need for a deeper paremiological approach to the proverbs of the Fereydani Georgians.