Decline and False Renewal

Author(s):  
Edward J. Watts

The rhetoric of decline, which had largely disappeared from political life by the late Antonine period, came back in the middle third century as political instability prompted new emperors to discredit the final emperor of the dynasty that preceded them. The lack of long-lived dynasties between 235 and 285 meant that many new emperors and imperial pretenders emphasized how the failings of their predecessors had brought Rome to a crisis point. Each deployed the rhetoric of restoration; the separatist regime of Postumus did so to a great degree. The restorations these new emperors promised often claimed significant numbers of victims, ranging from the Christians persecuted by Decius and Valerian to the soldiers and civilians killed in Aurelian’s wars to reunify the empire in the 270s. Christians like Cyprian also used rhetoric of decline to speak about persecutions, though Cyprian focused on moral deterioration within the Christian community.

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-162
Author(s):  
Hamsa Kahtan Khalaf

Abstract The Iraqi political parties had been affected since 2003 by the political pivotal transformations which happened according to the aftermaths of democratic elections , especially under the disruptions of American’s invasion that led in cooperation with its allies in April 2003 .So the social and political situations became ruling according to the new aspects of practicing the new stage of authority as compromise settlements and quota and ethno - sectarian distribution to be as following as compatible with theory of practicing the authority responsibilities(Power sharing ) as what happened now , besides to that all political democracy scene has greatly been distorted because of the instability penetrated within rebuilding the state and its institutions from the beginning as planned by an active powerful political forces . Many functions that are characterized by competitions among the political parties had changed the concepts of exercising democracy in a real way to be done an effective shape ,because of the political and social actors had different role ,which were being a reflection of another reality within the democracy’s process .So that all the situations had been complicated too much owing to the factors of political instability that influenced negatively on the framework of the state , especially the impacts of economic and social factors as of poverty, stagnation , ignorance and disease and another underdevelopment features which predominated over political and social retrogression levels . In addition to that the absence of an efficient administrative elites , which appeared recently under different conditions and circumstances .So it was became very obviously as we know precisely that democracy’s process in Iraq since 2003 was comprehensively undemocratic in practicing because the political forces have not democratic culture that encourage the dialogue to solve all pending problems , and have not abundant tolerance to accept the differences of others parties yet . The phenomenon of the political instability has divided into different varieties by which scattering among the addresses of suspicion and it definitely has a sectarian discourse dimension in case of dealing among each other . So these addresses and dialogues were being away from the political national conformity correctly , because of there was something like definitely as the exclusion and marginalization discourses in order to narrowing any active political party within the political process try to do pro - active role to settle all pending crises . Furthermore , the reality of political life has been under the continuous crises and conflicts over an authority along time not to gain gradually the outcomes of procurement during application the constitution clauses and valid laws , in order to preserving the political stability and to be done more far from the national unity fragmentation and the weakness of political institutions . Finally , we need too much time to reach into condition of stability , especially after opening anew spaces toward active real participation , and because there was a growing need for educated people who could administer the society and the state institutionally by existing strong government, and ultimately peoples will have ability to form new political governing elites later.


Author(s):  
Joan E. Taylor

This chapter considers the meeting place of the Therapeutae, described in Philo of Alexandria’s De Vita Contemplativa, as represented by Eusebius of Caesarea. Since Eusebius read Philo’s treatise as indicating an early Christian community, he sees a church here, with gendered space, affirming this is Christian practice. The ministries of Christian women overall then need then to be considered within a gendered construct of space and movement. While the appropriate ‘place’ for women in the earliest congregations depends on how meeting spaces are configured (for meals, charity, teaching, healing, and prayer), the recent work of Edward Adams has contested the ubiquitous house-church model and allowed for more cognitive templates for how gendered space was constructed. The third-century ‘Megiddo church’ seems to suggest a divided dining hall for women and men, in line with gendered dining as a Hellenistic norm, with centralized ritual space.


1962 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 186-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. C. Frend ◽  
David E. Johnston

The Hellenistic and Roman city of Knossos occupied a broad plateau extending northward of the Minoan Palace towards the sea. For nearly a mile from the Palace the fields are studded with the debris of occupation. One of the great Roman town houses was partly excavated before the War by Mr. R. W. Hutchinson and the work has been continued by Mr. and Mrs. Michael Gough, now of the British Institute in Ankara. A splendid series of second- to third-century mosaics has been discovered depicting the Dionysiac cult. The city, however, had a Christian community at least as early as about A.D. 170, for in that period Eusebius records the name of a Bishop Pinytus, who earned a reputation for being a zealous moral reformer, and was regarded as an influential figure among correspondents of Bishop Dionysius of Corinth. In the Patristic period Knossos continued to be an important Christian centre, its bishop being present at the Councils of Ephesus, 431, Chalcedon, 451, and Nicaea, 787. The see of Knossos is also mentioned in lists of sees drawn up in the reign of Justinian, and in the eighth century. Between 731 and 787 it seems to have ranked as Protothronos, or second senior bishop. On the Bulgarian episcopal list of 980 Knossos is still recorded among the Cretan bishoprics.To judge from examples known from North Africa, such as Timgad, Djemila, and Tipasa, the main early Christian centre was likely to be outside the city walls where the cemeteries were located. There would be found the Christian area, and there, too, the earliest centre of worship. At Knossos it seems that a small stream which used to run in an east-westerly direction from the area of Fortetsa, until its course was altered to one slightly farther south when the new hospital was built, marked the boundary between the city and cemetery area.


Author(s):  
Shadia Abdel Rahman Al - Balawi

Mecca has received the sanctity and place in the hearts of Muslims a lot of different writings that covered various political and cultural aspects of its history through different ages, yet we note through our study that Mecca, despite its great importance, but the sources of Islamic history were keen on The history of Mecca since the time of the Prophet peace be upon him until the middle of the second century AH, on the day of Mecca was the center of political activity and scientific alike, and then began to diminish this concern, especially since the beginning of the third century AH, these sources are no longer provide us only a little Nazer focused primarily On The history of religious Mecca, such as the pilgrimage to people and so on, rarely refer to the aspects of political life, economic and civilization of this country, but this little information with the written historian Makkah Azraqi and Fakhi in the third century, provides the researcher important information about the history of Mecca during the first three centuries, Historians Azraqi in the year 250 AH and Fakhi in the year 280 AH entered the history of Mecca in the almost forgotten, and surrounded by the mystery, which lasted for five centuries, that the rule of God has a historian of its children in the eighth century AH is Taqi al-Din Fassi Fassi felt the vacuum experienced by historians Mecca m A drive on the classification of books bosses (precious decade) and (healing gram), two of the most important books that relied upon in my study of the neighboring Mecca, and given the importance of this layer (Majaoron) in Mecca society and its substantial role in which it has signed an optional on this subject to search.


1972 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mutumba M. Bull

This article attempts to assess within a broad traditional context the efforts of Lubosi Lewanika, ruler of Bulozi from 1878 to 1884, and again from 1885 to 1916, to find solutions to the problems facing the Lozi state during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.So far scholars of Lozi history have been primarily preoccupied with assessing Lewanika's career within the context of European penetration. Whereas it is true that the extension of British Protection to Bulozi and North-Western Rhodesia came finally to be based on the treaties with Lewanika, for the Lozi state and Lewanika himself this was a solution to only one of a number of problems. And indeed to some sections of Lozi society, Lewanika's accommodation of the forces of the ‘scramble’ was not his greatest achievement.So far scholars of Lozi history have been primarily preoccupied with assessing Lewanika's career within the context of European penetration. Whereas it is true that the extension of British Protection to Bulozi and North-Western Rhodesia came finally to be based on the treaties with Lewanika, for the Lozi state and Lewanika himself this was a solution to only one of a number of problems. And indeed to some sections of Lozi society, Lewanika's accommodation of the forces of the ‘scramble’ was not his greatest achievement.The Lozi central kingship had collapsed in the middle of the nineteenth century as a result of internal political instability, a serious succession crisis, and a military defeat by the Makololo. Before the establishment of any effective colonial control, however, Lewanika had succeeded in establishing a great degree of personal control, exalted Lozi kingship above the level of ordinary people, and extended Lozi influence to its widest limits.


2021 ◽  
pp. 145-176
Author(s):  
Robin Waterfield

Antigonus lacked any institutional means of controlling the Greeks, such as the League of Corinth, so he resorted to more repressive measures. Even under the kings, the Greek states had considerable local freedom, and the pace of local political life scarcely slackened in the third century. But many of the states were impoverished, so that they became dependent on handouts from the kings, and came also to rely on their wealthy citizens to supply money and hold political offices. Antigonus’s measures were focused largely on the Peloponnese, where he imposed or supported sole rulers (“tyrants”), and installed military garrisons as well. Much of the Peloponnese became effectively occupied territory. At the same time, he was attacking Ptolemaic possessions in Asia Minor. But resentment built up in Greece, and an alliance between Ptolemy, Athens, and the Peloponnesians led to the Chremonidean War (268-262). I go into as much detail as can be recovered about this war, which Antigonus resoundingly won, and the naval battle of Cos against Ptolemy that followed and limited Egyptian encroachment on the Aegean. In celebration, Antigonus enhanced the sacred island of Delos with festivals and a magnificent stoa.


2012 ◽  
pp. 101-117
Author(s):  
Marco Bistacchia

The dismemberment of the territory on one hand and the eclipse of laic nationalism on the other have caused (are at the origin) of the flare up of the Palestinian national fabric and revives the concerns for an imminent deterioration of the interreligious cohabitation. The peace agreements swindle as planned in Oslo and tragically born out by the establishment of a dual government in Gaza has been perceived by the population as a crisis, currently irreversible, of the self determination national project. In such a scenario of political instability and economic stagnation the already tiny Palestinian christian community, on the strength of the international economic endorsement, seems to be determined se non hanno ancora deciso chiaramente), as far as they pledge, to abandon the sinking Palestinian ship and by shutting up ethnic bonds among the members of the community they would opt for an alternative way to the anticolonial resistance.


Author(s):  
Tetyana Dagovych

The paper explains the attitudes towards law and religion in Lesia Ukrainka’s dramatic poem “Martian the Lawyer” (1911). The poem depicts the life of early Christians under the Roman law in the third century and obtains new relevance in the context of the movement ‘Law and Literature’, as the focus on law in this oeuvre allows a deeper exploration of its meaning. Law is connected with religion in two ways in the poem: as a part of the civil religion and as a system of prohibitions and punishments within the Christian community. Analysis of the text shows that Martian is a carrier of a sophisticated religious form, which implies the juridical elements codified in early Christianity, as well as a belief in law as the incarnation of the idea of truth and justice. The two antagonistic social and spiritual systems – early Christianity and the Roman law – fuse into one ideology that consumes the life of the protagonist. The difference between the juridical laws, the law of nature, and the commandments of Christian leaders disappears within this religious form. In the house of the hero, only those things that represent time or law remain, such as different types of timepieces and juridical texts; Martian’s home becomes a place for abstract ideas, but not for human beings with their needs and feelings. For the protagonist, there are no conflicts between law and religion, but there is a conflict between early Christianity and the Roman law on the one side and, on the other side, human compassion, which is supposed to be a crucial idea within Christianity but is not practiced in the local Christian community. Because of this conflict, Martian completely loses contact with human feelings and becomes an ideal lawyer, which is beneficial for his Christian community but tragic for himself and his relatives. This development signifies not only a sacrifice but also the full realization of Martian’s talent (Ukrainian: ‘khyst’). In some episodes within other poems by Lesia Ukrainka, law and religion are presented as intertwined or undifferentiated, but in “Martian the Lawyer” the author for the first time elaborates this issue thoroughly and creates an ambivalent and sophisticated dramatic situation.


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