Pedestals as ‘altars’ in Roman Asia Minor

2005 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 127-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.J. Coulton
Keyword(s):  
Roman Period ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Normal Type ◽  
Symbolic Value

AbstractThe Greek word bomos usually means ‘altar’, but in inscriptions of the Roman period it sometimes refers to statue bases and other forms of support, where the meaning ‘altar’ is not appropriate. Many scholars believe that in addition to its normal meaning of cult or votive altar and (by extension) funerary altar, bomos could also mean a pedestal, socle or platform in general. This paper examines the use of the term bomos in Roman Asia Minor for statue bases, for pedestals for sarcophagi, ash chests and columns, and for other structures which are not altars, concentrating particularly on their shapes. It concludes that in all these cases the element called bomos had the shape of a normal type of altar, and that in many cases (but not all) it also carried some of the symbolic value of an altar.

scholarly journals Do Sibilants Fly? Evidence from a Sound Symbolic Pattern in Pokémon Names

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 386-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeto Kawahara ◽  
Mahayana C. Godoy ◽  
Gakuji Kumagai
Keyword(s):  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Research Paradigm ◽  
Current Experiment ◽  
Normal Type ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Japanese Speakers ◽  
Symbolic Value

AbstractAncient writers, including Socrates and the Upanishads, argued that sibilants are associated with the notions of wind, air and sky. From modern perspectives, these statements can be understood as an assertion about sound symbolism, i.e., systematic connections between sounds and meanings. Inspired by these writers, this article reports on an experiment that tests a sound symbolic value of sibilants. The experiment is a case study situated within the Pokémonastics research paradigm, in which the researchers explore the sound symbolic patterns in natural languages using Pokémon names. The current experiment shows that when presented with pairs of a flying-type Pokémon character and a normal-type Pokémon character, Japanese speakers are more likely to associate the flying-type Pokémons with names that contain sibilants than those names that do not contain sibilants. As was pointed out by Socrates, the sound symbolic connection identified in the experiment is likely to be grounded in the articulatory properties of sibilants – the large amount of oral airflow that accompanies the production of sibilants. Various implications of the current experiment for the sound symbolism research are discussed throughout the article.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 126-128
Author(s):  
Ersin Hussein
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Near East ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Roman Provinces ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Cultural Networks ◽  
Written Sources

The Conclusion revisits the questions that lie at the heart of studies of the Roman provinces and that have driven this study. What is the best way to tell the story of a landscape, and its peoples, that have been the subject of successive conquests throughout history and when the few written sources have been composed by outsiders? What approach should be taken to draw out information from a landscape’s material culture to bring the voices and experiences of those who inhabited its space to the fore? Is it ever possible to ensure that certain evidence types and perspectives are not privileged over others to draw balanced conclusions? The main findings of this work are that the Cypriots were not passive participants in the Roman Empire. They were in fact active and dynamic in negotiating their individual and collective identities. The legacies of deep-rooted connections between mainland Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Near East were maintained into the Roman period and acknowledged by both locals and outsiders. More importantly, the identity of the island was fluid and situational, its people able to distinguish themselves but also demonstrate that the island was part of multiple cultural networks. Cyprus was not a mere imitator of the influences that passed through it, but distinct. The existence of plural and flexible identities is reflective of its status as an island poised between multiple landscapes

Sardis

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clyde E. Fant ◽  
Mitchell G. Reddish
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Ancient City ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Gediz River ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Western Half

A city with a strong and vibrant Jewish community during the Roman period, as well as a center for the worship of Artemis and home to a significant Christian community, Sardis is an intriguing place to visit for anyone interested in biblical studies or ancient religious history. The partially restored 3rd-century-C.E. synagogue in the city is the largest known synagogue outside Palestine from ancient times. Ancient shops, a bath-gymnasium complex, and the Temple of Artemis provide glimpses of the life of this ancient city. Once the capital of the ancient Lydian Kingdom, Sardis (Sart) lies approximately 60 miles east of Izmir along the modern highway (E96/300) connecting Izmir to Ankara in the Hermus River valley (today called the Gediz River). Portions of the ruins of Sardis are situated adjacent to the highway and are easily accessible. The ancient city was built along the Pactolus River, a tributary of the Hermus, and at the foothills of the Tmolus Mountains. The city’s acropolis was strategically located atop a spur of the Tmolus Mountains. The Tmolus Mountains (or Mt. Tmolus) were, according to some ancient traditions, the birthplace of the gods Dionysus and Zeus. Sardis first came to prominence during the 1st millennium B.C.E. when it served as the center of the powerful Lydian kingdom, which encompassed most of the western half of Asia Minor. The Lydians supposedly were the first to develop a technique to dye wool and also to invent dice games, knucklebones, and other games. (Interestingly, archaeologists found a terra-cotta die in the ruins at Sardis.) Legend says that Midas, the mythical Phrygian king, was able to rid himself of his golden touch by bathing in the Pactolus River. As a result, the sands of the river turned to gold. Though legendary, this account points nonetheless to the enormous wealth enjoyed by the Lydian kingdom. The earliest Lydian rulers belonged to the Heraclid dynasty, which according to Herodotus (5th-century-B.C.E. Greek historian) lasted 505 years. They were succeeded by the Mermnad dynasty, of which the first king was Gyges (r. ca. 680–ca. 652 B.C.E.).

scholarly journals Σύντροφος: un Terme Technique Macédonien

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Μιλτιάδης Χατζόπουλος
Keyword(s):  
Roman Period ◽  
The Other ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Financial Status ◽  
Relevant Evidence ◽  
The Family ◽  
Almost All ◽  
To Receive

Σύντροφος is a term familiar to epigraphists who study Greek inscriptions of the Roman period, especially from Asia Minor, and also to epigraphists and historians of the Hellenistic period. In the former case the term applies to actual foster brothers, to wit children who have been reared together, but also to persons engaged in other forms of professional or affective relationships. Students of the Hellenistic period, on the other hand, are in disagreement. Some interpret this term as an honorific title denoting a fictitious kinship with the king, while others maintain that it qualifies persons of the same age as the king who have actually been brought up with him. The institution of syntrophoi is attested in almost all Hellenistic courts with the exception of the Ptolemies. In Macedonia the relevant evidence extends from the reign of Philip II to that of Philip V. The parallelism between courtly and civic educa- tional institutions (βασιλικοὶ παῖδες and παῖδες in the civic gymnasia, βασιλικοὶ κυνηγοὶ and civic ἔφηβοι, βασιλικοὶ νεανίσκοι and νέοι in the civic gymnasia) ought to have prepared us to expect a civic equivalent to royal σύντροφοι. Such an equivalent is now attested in Philip V’s diagramma regulating military ser- vice. It appears thus that the Macedonian “civic” syntropohoi, like the Spartan mothakes, were boys of inferior social or financial status who were raised in the family of well-to-do boys of the same age, were thus enabled to receive the same education as they in the gymnasia, and could in case of need replace their foster brothers in their miltary obligations.

Greek in Contact with Romance

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Ralli
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
South Italy ◽  
Lexical Items

In the course of its long history, Greek has experienced a particularly multifarious and profound contact with Romance, in a wide geographical area that spreads from western to eastern Europe and also covers part of the once Hellenophone Asia Minor. The beginning of this contact is difficult to delimit given that the ancestor languages, Ancient Greek and Latin, were already in interaction even before the Roman period of the Greek-speaking world. Both Greek and Romance (Italo-Romance, Gallo-Romance, Aromanian, and Judeo-Spanish) have acted as donor or recipient, depending on the specific historical and sociolinguistic circumstances. A significant number of lexical items (roots, affixes, and words) were transferred from one language to another, while phonological and structural transfers have also occurred in areas where Greek has been in constant and long contact with Romance, as for instance, in south Italy. Greek has been the basis for the formation of scientific internationalisms in Romance, and reversely it has recently adopted Romance terms and term-forming affixes.

Anatolian Anthroponymy after Louis Robert … and Some Others

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brixhe Claude
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Overwhelming Majority ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Anthropological Approach ◽  
The 1960S

Until the 1960s, two works of Johannes Sundwall were the unique repertories of the onomastics of Asia Minor. In 1963 appeared Noms indigènes de l’Asie Mineure gréco-romaine of Louis Robert, an indictment of the methods of Sundwall and invitation to rigorous philology, a turning point. For survivals from the second millennium, P.H.J. Houwink ten Cate, E. Laroche and L. Zgusta brought decisive complements. In the Roman period there occurs a ‘koinéfication’ of the name-stock of Asia Minor, with an overwhelming majority of Greek names and strong percentage of Latin. The only differences from region to region are the degree of resistance and the content of the indigenous element. Stress is laid on the need for a sociological and anthropological approach, which situates the name in society and so explains its origin and functioning: Hellenistic Pamphylia is taken as an example.

The Heroic Age of Phrygia in Ancient Literature and Art

1977 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 117-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Carrington
Keyword(s):  
Roman Period ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Population Movement ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Literary Traditions ◽  
Ancient Literature ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
Literary Constructions

The object of this paper is to re-examine the Greek literary traditions concerning a Phrygian migration from Europe to Asia Minor and the early movements of that people within Asia Minor, also allusions to these traditions in local legends and coin-types of the Roman period. Such archaeological and philological evidence as there may be for a migration is not considered: a superficial examination would seem to indicate that neither of these disciplines can yet suggest a clearcut picture of population movement which we can relate to that presented by the literary evidence, and I am not qualified to take part in the creation of one. Without supporting evidence from either of these disciplines it must be emphasised that the historicity of the events recorded in the traditions must remain open to doubt. The discussion that follows is concerned with the development of the traditions, especially that which we shall call the “Anatolian tradition”, as purely literary constructions, not as historical accounts.

scholarly journals Luxury tableware? Terra sigillata in the coastal region of the northern Netherlands

2020 ◽  
pp. 94-110
Author(s):  
Annet Nieuwhof ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Coastal Region ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
Spindle Whorls ◽  
Symbolic Value

With thousands of finds, Roman terra sigillata (TS) is a common find category in terp settlements of the Northern Netherlands. It is traditionally interpreted as luxury tableware of the local elites, who acquired it through their contacts with Romans, or who were able to buy it from traders who came to this area with their merchandise. This paper questions that interpretation. The reason is that the far majority of TS is found as sherds, which, despite their good recognisability, only rarely fit other sherds. Moreover, many of these sherds are worked or used in some way. They were made into pendants, spindle whorls and playing counters, or show traces of deliberate breakage and of use for unknown purposes. Such traces are found on 70–80% of the sherds. The meaning of TS hence seems to have been symbolic rather than functional. Rather than as luxury tableware, TS may have been valued for the sake of the material itself, and may have been imported as sherds rather than as complete vessels. A symbolic value also shows from its long-term use. Used or worked TS sherds from the 2nd and 3rd century AD are often found in finds assemblages that may be interpreted as ritual deposits, not only from the Roman Period but also from the early Middle Ages. There are striking parallels for such use in early modern colonial contexts. TS sherds may have been part of the diplomatic gifts by which the Romans attempted to keep peace north of the limes, or may even have been payments for local products. These sherds might thus be comparable to the trade beads of early-modern European colonial traders.

AELIUS ARISTIDES AS TEACHER

2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-236
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Sánchez Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Roman Period ◽  
Poor Health ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Serious Illness ◽  
The Core ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Imperial Capital ◽  
Core Activity

Education was the core activity of the Greek sophists, the πεπαιδευμένοι or ‘those who have received an education’, during the Roman period. Publius Aelius Aristides (c.117–180ce) is by far the best known of them. He studied under the grammarian Alexander of Cotiaeum, received additional training from the sophists Polemo and Herodes Atticus, and then made a successful speaking tour through Asia Minor and Egypt. Aristides’ career seemed assured, with his good connections among the Roman intelligentsia, but a serious illness struck him on his way to the imperial capital. A series of health issues led him to a long period of convalescence at the Asklepieion at Pergamum until 147, which he combined afterwards with stays and brief appearances at Smyrna and other cities. It is therefore commonly believed that his career failed because of his poor health and also because he disliked teaching and performing in public. Aristides would rather be a pure lover of speeches, concerned with his literary afterlife and devoted to the production of exemplary speeches for future generations (especially after his retirement in 170), as he maintained at the end of hisSacred Tales(Or.47–52): ‘it is more important for me to revise some things which I have written; for I must converse with posterity’.

Notes on the Collection of Ancient Marbles in the possession of Sir Charles Nicholson, Bart

1886 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 240-250
Author(s):  
Charles Waldstein
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
The South ◽  
Roman Art ◽  
Characteristic Points ◽  
Greek Art ◽  
Ancient Monuments

I have been asked to add a few notes on the collection of ancient monuments of which specimens are published on Plates LXXI. and C. These marbles were formerly in the possession of Mr. George McLeay, who, while residing in India, deposited them in the South Kensington Museum, where Professor Michaelis saw them. Most of them have already been described by Michaelis in his Ancient Marbles in Great Britain pp. 481 seq. Mr. McLeay had a house at Smyrna, and it was in Asia Minor, chiefly at Smyrna and in its neighbourhood, that he collected his antiquities. They have since been presented by him to Sir Charles Nicholson, who has placed them in his house, The Grange, Totteridge, Hertfordshire.Most of these monuments belong to the Roman period of Greek art in Asia Minor. There can be no doubt that the interest attaching to such works will grow with the development and systematisation of the study of archaeology. For we may reasonably hope that, as our power to fix in time and to distinguish with accuracy the broader characteristic points of distinction between Greek and Graeco-Roman art grows, we shall not halt at this stage, but shall advance still further in successful endeavours to establish more detailed distinctions of time and even locality within these broader divisions.

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