Byzantine Historical Writing, 500–920

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Kaldellis
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
The State ◽  
National Consciousness ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Eastern Empire ◽  
Usable Past

This chapter describes how the timeline of Byzantine historical writing can be divided into three 140-year periods: first, from AD 500–640, the end of late antiquity, when historiography flourished in many genres; second, from 640–780, when Byzantium struggled to resist Arab conquest and few surviving texts were produced; and finally, from 780–920, an age of recovery for the state and literature, when older traditions were resynthesized and the foundations for new developments were laid. Primarily, the society of the Eastern Empire was mostly Greek speaking, Christian, and specifically Roman in its political or national consciousness. The ‘usable past’ available to historians was therefore complex, consisting of incommensurate components that defined different sites of the culture.

Историософия русского сознания в творческом консерватизме Л.А. Тихомирова. Об упущенных возможностях национально-государственного развития России в начале ХХ века

2020 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 613-620
Author(s):  
Igor N. Tyapin
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian History ◽  
National Consciousness ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Working Out

The author of the article uses the works of L.A. Tikhomirov as the basis when examining the problem of criticism of the conditions of the state and society in monarchic Russia during the last decade of its existence from the part of the conservative figures who not only advocated the necessity to preserve the autocracy but also substantially contributed to the working out of the main principles of Russian social development. In particular, the “creative conservators” managed to accomplish the deep philosophic conceptualization of Russian history while trying to find the previously lost ideal of social organization. Tikhomirov’s relevant concepts of the mutual conditionality of Russian national consciousness underdevelopment and state degradation, as well as of the necessity to realize the model of the moral state of justice on the basis of the national idea, were not accepted by the bureaucratic system that resulted before long in the collapse of Russian monarchic state.

Virgil and Arcadia

1989 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 26-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Jenkyns
Keyword(s):  
Literary History ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
New Developments ◽  
True Shape ◽  
Pastoral Tradition ◽  
Pastoral Literature

There is an obstacle to our natural appreciation of Virgil'sEclogueswhich looms as large in their case as in that of any poetry whatever. TheEcloguesform probably the most influential group of short poems ever written: though they themselves take Theocritus as a model, they were to become the fountainhead from which the vast and diverse tradition of pastoral in many European literatures was to spring. To use them as a model was in itself to distort their character: it is one of the greatest ironies of literary history that these elusive, various, eccentric poems should have become the pattern for hundreds of later writers. Moreover, the growth of the later pastoral tradition meant that many things were attributed to Virgil which are not in Virgil. Sometimes they were derived from interpretations which were put upon Virgil in late antiquity but which we now believe to be mistaken; sometimes they are misinterpretations of a much later date; sometimes they originated from new developments in pastoral literature which their inventors had not meant to seem Virgilian, but which in the course of time got foisted back on to Virgil nevertheless. It is hard, therefore, to approach theEcloguesopenly and without preconceptions about what they contain, and even scholars who have devoted much time and learning to them have sometimes continued to hold views about them for which there are upon a dispassionate observation no good grounds at all. No poems perhaps have become so encrusted by the barnacles of later tradition and interpretation as these, and we need to scrape these away if we are to see them in their true shape. My aim here is to do some of this scraping by examining the use of Arcadians and the name of Arcadia in Virgil's work.

Steps toward a Study of Symeon the Stylite the Younger and His Saint’s Cult*

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-407
Author(s):  
Dina Boero ◽  
Charles Kuper
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
The State ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Chronological Order ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
Art Historians ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Insight Into

A large dossier of primary sources survives for Symeon the Stylite the Younger from Late Antiquity. These sources include not only hagiographical evidence, but also archaeological remains from his cult site, homilies, and at least one letter. They offer insight into the varied voices which shaped Symeon’s identity, sanctity, and ministry in the sixth and early seventh centuries CE. The state of scholarship on these sources is uneven, however, with the result that scholars have primarily studied the saint and his cult through the lens of the hagiographic material, the Life of Symeon Stylites the Younger in particular. In order to lay the foundation for a full inquiry into the saint and his cult, this article disentangles the dossier of evidence on Symeon in Late Antiquity. It introduces each source in chronological order; provides an overview of authorship, date, and the state of scholarship for each source; and makes preliminary recommendations for paths forward. It is meant to be a guide for art historians and archaeologists unfamiliar with the sizeable literary corpus, textual scholars who do not often work with material sources, and, for both groups, an introduction to problems in the dossier. It encourages scholars to treat each source on its own terms and re-evaluate the rich interconnections between the textual and archaeological evidence.

Scoop

2019 ◽  
pp. 133-150
Author(s):  
John Maxwell Hamilton ◽  
Heidi Tworek
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
New Technology ◽  
The State ◽  
Media Economics ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Foreign Correspondents ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Foreign Reporting ◽  
Foreign Correspondence ◽  
The 19Th Century

The state of foreign reporting today is paradoxical. New technology makes some aspects of foreign reporting faster and easier; it has also raised old problems of trust and the high cost of foreign news that were first seen in the 19th century. This chapter situates today’s new developments in media economics and technology in the context of the 19th-century’s foreign correspondence, which was full of hoaxes and bogus reporting, as well as outstanding correspondents on the ground. Our current moment is a recalibration of three trade-offs in foreign correspondence: managed news vs. independence, speed vs. superficiality, and abundant sources vs. reliability. We examine these trade-offs by looking at modern American and European foreign correspondents, who have long grappled with truth and trust in news.

Arena Spectacles

Classics ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Urban Culture ◽  
The West ◽  
Short Life ◽  
Ancient Society ◽  
Public Execution ◽  
Hierarchical Nature ◽  
Chariot Racing ◽  
Eastern Empire ◽  
Short Life Expectancy

The staging of various types of violent spectacle characterizes Roman urban culture from the mid-Republic until Late Antiquity. Gradually, temporary structures erected in the Forum were replaced by permanent venues, custom-built (predominantly in the West) or adapted from preexisting theaters or stadia (in the Eastern Empire). The term “arena spectacles” covers all types of spectacle put on in these locations, including gladiatorial combat, beast displays, aquatic spectacles, and spectacular forms of public execution. Some of these spectacles were also staged elsewhere—for instance, staged hunts (venationes) in the circus, and naval battles (naumachiae) on custom-built lakes—but this bibliography is limited to the four categories of display mentioned above; other types of spectacle associated with some of the venues (e.g., chariot-racing in the circus) are not treated here. Participation in arena spectacles was a very low-status activity, although staging them earned their sponsors considerable prestige. Spectacles were a major investment, either financial or ideological, for many different constituents in Roman society. The sources are numerous but fragmentary. Dispassionate assessment is hampered by modern revulsion at the provision of public entertainment that was potentially fatal for the protagonists, whether human or animal. Many factors helped to shape arena spectacles, including the hierarchical nature and military ethose of ancient society, a short life expectancy, the provision of amenities by private benefaction, the spread of Roman power to encompass distant lands and exotic products, the gradual aggrandizement of a single man as world leader, and the development of an instinct for martyrdom in the emerging religion of Christianity. The precise function of arena spectacles is hotly debated in modern scholarship. New interpretations and new discoveries, primarily archaeological, are constantly undermining long-held assumptions. Scholars are struggling to understand an alien, challenging, and intriguing phenomenon.

Introduction to Special Issue on Engineering and Groundwater

Geophysics ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. Romig
Keyword(s):  
State Of The Art ◽  
The State ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Case Histories ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
Seismic Methods ◽  
Anniversary Issue

This section of the issue of Geophysics is draw from a collection of papers originally submitted for a monograph on engineering and groundwater geophysics. It is a mixture of tutorial, new developments, and case histories focused on seismic methods. This introduction will review the evolution of this section and introduce each of the papers. These papers complement the overview presented by Dobecki and Romig (1985) in the Golden Anniversary Issue of Geophysics. That paper reviews the history, summarizes the state of the art, and attempts to predict possible future developments.

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