Martyrs and Life-Writing in Late Antiquity

Author(s):  
Koen De Temmerman ◽  
Danny Praet

This chapter explores martyr accounts. Scholars traditionally divide these texts into two types: narrative representations of the suffering and death of martyrs (the so-called passiones) on the one hand, and dramatic representations of the trial preceding this (the so-called acta or praxeis), on the other. The exact semantic range of both labels is debated, but in any case the distinction does not capture the textual reality in its full complexity: even the predominantly narrative texts often contain an interrogation scene, whereas most so-called acta always have a narrative frame, however minimal it may be. In addition, there is no formal unity across the board. This chapter first addresses some of the intellectual premisses that in traditional scholarship on martyr acts were for a long time conducive of historical questions, much to the detriment of the study of these texts as narratives in their own right. The chapter then observes that many martyr acts recount not only the deaths of their protagonists but also cover (parts of) their preceding lives, and it explores how these texts adopt and adapt narrative and rhetorical protocols from traditional life-writing to shape the lives of their protagonists. Finally, attention is paid briefly to the thematic cluster of erotic love, desire, marriage, and the preservation of chastity that drives many such narrative elaborations. It is concluded that whereas research on these texts has long been driven by historical interests, they are also treasure-troves for scholars interested in narrative in general and life-writing in particular.

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 336-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ophir Münz-Manor

The article presents a contemporary view of the study of piyyut, demonstrating that Jewish poetry of late antiquity (in Hebrew and Aramaic) was closely related to Christian liturgical poetry (both Syriac and Greek) and Samaritan liturgy. These relations were expressed primarily by common poetic and prosodic characteristics, derived on the one hand from ancient Semitic poetry (mainly biblical poetry), and on the other from innovations of the period. The significant connections of content between the different genres of poetry reveal the importance of comparative study. Thus the poetry composed in late antiquity provides additional evidence for the lively cultural dialogue that took place at that time.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 411-430
Author(s):  
Maja Tabea Jerrentrup

Abstract The art of bodypainting that is fairly unknown to a wider public turns the body into a canvas - it is a frequently used phrase in the field of bodypainting that illustrates the challenge it faces: it uses a three-dimensional surface and has to cope with its irregularities, but also with the model’s abilities and characteristics. This paper looks at individuals who are turned into art by bodypainting. Although body painting can be very challenging for them - they have to expose their bodies and to stand still for a long time while getting transformed - models report that they enjoy both the process and the result, even if they are not confident about their own bodies. Among the reasons there are physical aspects like the sensual enjoyment, but also the feeling of being part of something artistic. This is enhanced and preserved through double staging - becoming a threedimentional work of art and then being staged for photography or film clips. This process gives the model the chance to experience their own body in a detached way. On the one hand, bodypainting closely relates to the body and on the other hand, it can help to over-come the body.


Table II : Quantitative determination of carbonyl compounds at different odour sources (concentrations in ppb) Rendering plant Gelatine plant neighbourhood neighbourhood Formaldehyde 40 16 Acetaldehyde 39 24 Acetone 36 73 Prcpanal 10 -Isobutyraldehyde 10 30 Pentanal 15 19 Hexanal 3.52 Heptanal 12.5 Octanal 10.5 Nonanal 1 2 acids (figure 7). However extractions always involve a serious decrease in sensitivity, while evaporation of the extract produces a solution in 0.1-0.5 ml of solvent, and only 1 pi of it can be brought in the gas chromatograph. Therefore work is in progress to enhance sensitivity by converting acids in­ to halogenated derivatives, which can be GC-analysed with the more sensitive electron-capture detector. For thiols a similar procedure is investigated as with aldehydes. One possibility is absorption of thiols in an alkaline solution and reaction with 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene, yielding 2,4-dinitrofenylsulfides, which are analysed by HPLC (9). Sane improvements on removal of reagents at the one hand and on separation of sane by-products on the other hand have to be achieved in order to in­ crease the sensitivity with another factor of ten. 5. CONCLUSION The actual scope and limitations of chemical analysis of odour show that all problems can be tackled as far as emission is concerned. For iititiission measurements seme progress is necessary, but there is no essential reason why chemical analysis would be unable to attain the desired sensitivity for all types of odorants. There is no doubt that in a few years the last dif­ ficulties will be solved. In order to achieve real control of odour nui­ sance, automatic measurement is necessary on a long time basis. There again seme technical development is to be expected. Does this mean that machines are going to decide if an odour is pre­ sent or not? By no means, while the population will always be the reference, and psychophysical measurements will be necessary to make chemical analysis possible.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. T1-T9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioana Luca ◽  
Leena Kurvet-Käosaar

In May 2011, the second IABA Europe conference, entitled "Trajectories of(Be)longing: Europe in Life Writing", took place at Tallinn University, Estonia. The conference discussed questions regarding the possibility and productivity of specifically European modes and practices of life writing. Conference sessions focused on spatial mappings and sites of story-telling about Europe in life writing and their temporal dynamics with respectto major historical ruptures and transformations. The lines of inquiry focused, on the one hand, on how the modes and practices of auto/biographical representation were structured around a sense of belonging toor longing for Europe and, and on the other, on contestation, rejection and transgression of such modes of identification. Addressing the conceptual frame of Europe as a geographical, political, social and cultural entity, the conference papers explored the ways in which “life-mapping” constructs, confirms, contradicts, and erases borders within and in relation to Europe, also raising the question of Europe (and its possible Europeanness) within a larger and more fluid global framework.


Arabica ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munira Al-Azraqi

AbstractAl-dād is a unique sound in Arabic. It is believed that this sound is what makes Arabic a distinguished language. However, its description has confused the linguists for long time. Some modern linguists believe that al-dād described by the ancient linguists is not used in the present time. On the other hand, Arabic speakers may not know that the sound they use for the classical pronunciation of al-dād is not the one described by the ancient Arab linguists. This study records the existence of a sound that has the features of al-dād as described by the ancient Arab linguists. It is used among some speakers in Southwest Saudi Arabia.


2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (06) ◽  
pp. 1250073
Author(s):  
JIAN-FENG AI ◽  
JIAN-SONG ZHANG ◽  
AI-XI CHEN

We investigate the transfer of bipartite (measured by cocurrence) and multipartite (measured by global discord) quantum correlations though spin chains under phase decoherence. The influence of phase decoherence and anisotropy parameter upon quantum correlations transfer is investigated. On the one hand, in the case of no phase decoherence, there is no steady state quantum correlations between spins. On the other hand, if the phase decoherence is larger than zero, the bipartite quantum correlations can be transferred through a Heisenberg XXX chain for a long time and there is steady state bipartite entanglement. For a Heisenberg XX chain, bipartite entanglement between two spins is destroyed completely after a long time. Multipartite quantum correlations of all spins are more robust than bipartite quantum correlations. Thus, one can store multipartite quantum correlations in spin chains for a long time under phase decoherence.


1994 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blake Leyerle

Few themes so dominate the homilies of John Chrysostom (ca. 347–407 CE) as the plight of the poor and the necessity of almsgiving. His picture of the poor, however, is always set against the prosperous marketplace of late antiquity. It seems therefore scarcely surprising that his sermons on almsgiving resound with the language of investment. With such imagery, Chrysostom tried not only to prod wealthy Christians into acts of charity but also, and perhaps more importantly, to dislodge his rich parishioners from their conviction that an uncrossable social gulf separated them from the poor. The rhetorical strategy he used is typical of all his polemical attacks. On the one hand, he denigrated the pursuit of money and social status as fundamentally unattractive; it is both unchristian and unmasculine. On the other hand, he insisted that real wealth and lasting prestige should indeed be pursued, but more effectively through almsgiving. I shall first examine how Chrysostom effected this recalculation of wealth, and then I shall turn to the question of whether there may have been some advantage for him in pleading so eloquently on behalf the poor.


2020 ◽  
Vol 249 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-52
Author(s):  
Julio Cesar Magalhães de Oliveira

Abstract The objective of this article is to place the study of urban protest and violence in the period from about 300 to about 600 CE in a broader perspective and to subject the investigation of plebeian activism to the basic precepts of analysis of collective action developed by social scientists and historians studying other periods. Its main argument is that, contrary to wide held assumptions in the historiography, what characterized Late Antiquity was not simply the exacerbation of violence or its tighter control, but the crisis of aristocratic hegemony and the expansion of opportunities for popular intervention in city life. What has been perceived as the product fanaticism, irrationality and deprivation of the masses, of the manipulation of bishops and aristocrats or of the failure of the mechanisms of coercion was actually the result of a dramatic social change that, on the one hand, involved a new dynamic of power and, on the other, a shift in the way the people understood their role and power in local communities.


Author(s):  
Anna Marmodoro ◽  
Irini-Fotini Viltanioti

This volume explores how some of the most prominent philosophers and theologians of late antiquity conceptualize the idea that the divine is powerful. The period under consideration spans roughly four centuries (from the first to the fifth CE), which are of particular interest because they ‘witness’ the successive development and mutual influence of two major strands in the history of Western thought: Neoplatonism on the one hand, and early Christian thought on the other. Representatives of Neoplatonism considered in this volume are Plotinus (...


2018 ◽  
Vol 222 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-24
Author(s):  
Asst. Instructor: Ayad Enad Khalaf

This article highlights different ways of metaphorical use in language and shows its potential in attracting the readers' attention. Language as a biological being lives its own life witnessing never-ending changes: falling outs and newly built elements. We enrich our language not only by new elements but also by new styles and reusing of existing sources. One of these ways which makes language more alive and active is metaphor. Metaphor nowadays is found in all the fields of life, education, medicine, policy and everyday life. Metaphor, in fact, reflects the relationship of language to culture and the world of ideas. Language, on the one hand, is a repository of culture; the traditions, proverbs, and knowledge of our ancestors. On the other hand, language is the mirror of the world of ideas. People reflect their new ideas in using language in new ways, even such devices as paintings and riddles. Metaphor has many shapes and is found in spoken and written language, graphics, cartoon or caricature, riddles, jokes and paintings to express novel shades of meanings, e.g., metaphor in newspaper photos, magazines or even in advertisements attracts the attention of readers and are memorized for a long time. Metaphoric use is also a way of enjoying the readers. It is used for both real and logical aims such as; warnings, advises, or invitations ...etc


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