Fortuna in Translation, Fortuna as Translation

Author(s):  
Daniele Miano

This chapter considers the relationship between Fortuna and Tyche as one of translatability. The first half of the chapter focuses on Tyche, with the aim of determining semantic and structural elements common with Fortuna. The second part of the chapter looks at instances in which Fortuna is translated in Greek. The appearance of bronze strigils bearing the epithet soteira from Praeneste in the fourth century BC seems to presuppose this translation, and also points to the salvific meanings of Fortuna as a base for the process of translation. This process of translation had probably occurred through early contacts between Latium, Sicily, and Magna Graecia, where Tyche seems to be associated with salvation already from the fifth century BC. Other instances of translations of Fortuna and Tyche are studied across the Aegean.

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-245
Author(s):  
Christian M. Billing

In this article, Christian M. Billing considers the relationship between representations of mythic narratives found on ancient pottery (primarily found at sites relating to the Greek colonies of south Italy in the fourth century BC, but also to certain vases found in Attica) and the tragic theatre of the fifth century BC. The author argues against the current resurgence in critical accounts that seek to connect such ceramics directly to performance of tragedies by the major tragedians: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Using five significant examples of what he considers to be errors of method in recent philologically inspired accounts of ancient pottery, Billing argues for a more nuanced approach to the interpretation of such artefacts – one that moves beyond an understanding of literary texts and art history towards a more performance-conscious approach, while also acknowledging that a multiplicity of spheres of artistic influence, drawn from a variety of artistic media, operated in the production and reception of such artefacts. Christian M. Billing is an academic and theatre practitioner working in the fields of ancient Athenian and early modern English and European drama. He has extensive experience as a director, designer, and actor, and has taught at a number of universities in the UK and the USA. He is currently Lecturer in Drama at the University of Hull.


Author(s):  
Olympia Bobou

Children’s representations appear early in the Greek visual material culture: first they appear in the large funerary vases of the geometric period, while in the archaic period they appear in funerary reliefs and vases. To the representations in vase painting, those in terracotta statuettes can be added in the fifth century, but it is in the fourth century bc that children become a noteworthy subject of representation, appearing both in small- and large-scale objects in different media. This chapter considers the relationship between changing imagery of children in ancient Greece and social and religious developments from the geometric period, through the Hellenistic period and into the Roman period in Greece.


2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Wallach

This article interprets demokratia and arete as dynamically related terms of political thought in ancient Greek culture, from Homeric times to the end of the classical era. It does so selectively, identifying three stages in which this relationship is developed: (1) from the Homeric to archaic eras; (2) fifth-century Athenian democracy, in which demokratia and arete are posed as complementary terms; and (3) the fourth century era in which philosophers used virtue to critique democracy. Relying mostly on evidence from writers who have become benchmarks in the history of Western political thought, the argument emphasizes the inherently political dimension of arete during this period of ancient Greek culture. Noting different ways in which arete is related to political power in general and democracy in particular, it also illustrates the manner in which arete is neither philosophically pristine nor merely an instrument of practical power. The effect of the research contradicts traditional and recent readings of democracy and virtue as inherently antagonistic. The aim of the article is to identify ancient Greek contributions to understanding the potential, contingencies and dangers of the relationship between democracy (as a form of power) and virtue (as a form of ethics) — one which may benefit both democracy and virtue.


Author(s):  
David Petts

This chapter reviews the evidence for the archaeology of early Christianity in Britain and Ireland. Here, the church had its origins in the areas that lay within the Roman Empire in the fourth century but rapidly expanded north and west in the early fifth century following the end of Roman rule. The evidence for church structures is limited and often ambiguous, with securely identifiable sites not appearing to any extent until the seventh century. There is a range of material culture that can be linked to the early church from the fourth to the seventh centuries; in particular, there are strong traditions of epigraphy and increasingly decorative stone carving from most areas. The conversion to Christianity also impacted burial rites, although the relationship between belief and mortuary traditions is not a simple one.


2013 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 603-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Wright

The comic dramatists of the fifth centuryb.c.were notable for their preoccupation with poetics – that is, their frequent references to their own poetry and that of others, their overt interest in the Athenian dramatic festivals and their adjudication, their penchant for parody and pastiche, and their habit of self-conscious reflection on the nature of good and bad poetry. I have already explored these matters at some length, in my study of the relationship between comedy and literary criticism in the period before Plato and Aristotle. This article continues the story into the fourth century and beyond, examining the presence and function of poetical and literary-critical discourse in what is normally called ‘middle’ and ‘new’ comedy.


Author(s):  
James Gerrard

This chapter reviews the relationship between power and economics in fourth-century Britain. It argues that the Roman past has often been intuitively understood as rational and that its economics can be easily characterized as ‘proto-capitalist’. The Roman period was, however, both complex and irrational. Agricultural production was the powerhouse of the economy and provided the foundations of both power and status during the late Roman period. The focus on the agricultural economy allows the structures of power – tax, tribute and surplus extraction – and their transformation to be studied. During the fifth century the imperial superstructure collapsed, but the continued local control of agricultural resources provides a mechanism for how the late Roman world was transformed into early medieval societies.


Antichthon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 23-42
Author(s):  
Dominika Grzesik

AbstractThis article discusses the evolution and main characteristics of Delphi’s statuary landscape, focussing on the process of prestige spatialisation via erection of honorific portraits within the Delphic territory. My goal is to present trends and tendencies in placing honorific portraits at Delphi from the mid-fifth centuryb.c.to the late fourth centurya.d.The article focusses on issues surrounding the locations for honorific statues and how these featured in attempts to monopolise the sanctuary’s overall lay-out throughout by vying for the most conspicuous places at Delphi. I argue that the placement of honorific statues within the Delphictemenoswas not random but was in fact a precisely planned process which was influenced by several (variable) factors. These factors included the availability of space, the visibility of the monuments, and the number of visitors that could be expected. The relationship between Delphi and the League of the Aetolians is particularly stressed in association with the question regarding the nature of the Aetolian self-representation at Delphi. I contrast Delphi with Thermos to assess the degree to which the Aetolians dominated the sanctuary and how they presented themselves to both internal and external audiences.


Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5 (103)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Anna Vankova

The article deals with the relationship between the development of new appeared monastic terminology and the definition of the status of monasticism by the Church and the early Byzantine state. Or otherwise, it tries to tell when the process of institutionalization began, what vocabulary was used in this process, when the use of the “classical” monastic terminology in laws and canons began, how the emergence of new terminology and the development of status were distributed over time. The study is divided into two parts: monks and nuns. The time frame of the study is the fourth century and the first half of the fifth century. The geographical framework is the Late Roman Empire, mainly its Eastern half. The following conclusions have been drawn: the making of the status of male monasticism occurred a hundred years after its appearance, the laws almost immediately began to use the most common in the papyri and monastic literature term monachus, which gives evidence of the distinct definition of a new social group, but the establishment of the status of female monasticism was extremely slow, the laws and canons practically not using the new terms, which reflects the diversity of female asceticism even in the 5th century.


Author(s):  
Muriel Debié ◽  
David Taylor

This chapter analyzes how Syriac historiography is a rare example of non-etatist, non-imperial, history writing. It was produced, copied, and preserved entirely within Christian church structures. The Syriac-using Christians, however, were divided into numerous rival denominations and communities as a consequence both of the fifth-century theological controversies and of geopolitical boundaries. And since both of these factors strongly influenced both the motivations which underpinned the production of history writing and the forms it took, historians need to have some knowledge of these rival Syriac denominations. Because of internal Christian debates about the relationship of the divinity and humanity within Christ during the fifth century, the Syriac-using churches fragmented. All accepted that Christ was perfect God and perfect man, but differed fiercely about how to articulate this.


2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian M. Billing

In this article Christian M. Billing considers the relationship between female lament and acts of vengeance in fifth-century Athenian society and its theatre, with particular emphasis on the Hekabe of Euripides. He uses historical evidence to argue that female mourning was held to be a powerfully transgressive force in the classical period; that considerable social tensions existed as a result of the suppression of female roles in traditional funerary practices (social control arising from the move towards democracy and the development of forensic processes as a means of social redress); and that as a piece of transvestite theatre, authored and performed by men to an audience made up largely, if not entirely, of that sex, Euripides' Hekabe demonstrates significant gender-related anxiety regarding the supposedly horrific consequences of allowing women to speak at burials, or to engage in lament as part of uncontrolled funerary ritual. Christian M. Billing is an academic and theatre practitioner working in the fields of ancient Athenian and early modern English and European drama. He has worked extensively as a director and actor and has also taught at a number of universities in the United Kingdom and the USA. He is currently Lecturer in Drama at the University of Hull.


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