Greek Mathematics and Astronomy in Late Antiquity

2018 ◽  
pp. 868-894 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Bernard
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Reference Point ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Philosophical Education ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
Greek Mathematics ◽  
Cultural Competition ◽  
Intellectual Activities ◽  
Cultural Choices

The chapter discusses the mathematics and astronomy of “Late Antiquity” (the early Byzantine period). The period was one of intensive innovation, transformation, and change, involving appropriation and assimilation, and also involved fierce cultural and doctrinal competition between various allegiances. The mathematical or astronomical works of this period are consistently original in their attempt to consolidate mathematical and astronomical practice for literate and/or philosophical education. Cultural competition and emulation existed between various justifications of mathematics and astronomy. These cultural choices were furthermore justified in the terms of wider domains of knowledge and intellectual activities. The period also displays a deep love of traditional knowledge, taken as an almost unavoidable reference point. Fourthly, mathematics and astronomy in Late Antiquity followed a wide range of stylistic patterns. Last, the diversity of works must be seen to include anonymous corpora, such as the pseudo-Heronian metrology, or the scholia on mathematical and astronomical texts, etc.

Tassos Papacostas and Maria Parani (eds.), Discipuli dona ferentes. Glimpses of Byzantium in Honour of Marlia Mundell Mango. Β υζ ά ν τ ι ο ς. Studies in Byzantine History and Civilization 11. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2017. XXX, 486, 111 b/w figures.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 333-337
Author(s):  
Natalia Teteriatnikov
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Present Volume ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
The University ◽  
Vast Territory ◽  
Byzantine History

The present volume is a tribute to Marlia Mango on the occasion of her retirement from the University service of Kings College, Oxford University. All essays, written by her students, offer the result of their research and express a profound gratitude to their teacher. The essays tackle a wide range of subjects covering a vast territory from Constantinople to its periphery as well as Italy. Chronologically diverse, research materials span from late antiquity to the late Byzantine period.

Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy Volume 7

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Medieval Philosophy ◽  
Original Essays ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Extended Review

Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy annually collects the best current work in the field of medieval philosophy. The various volumes print original essays, reviews, critical discussions, and editions of texts. The aim is to contribute to an understanding of the full range of themes and problems in all aspects of the field, from late antiquity into the Renaissance, and extending over the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions. Volume 6 includes work on a wide range of topics, including Davlat Dadikhuda on Avicenna, Christopher Martin on Abelard’s ontology, Jeremy Skrzypek and Gloria Frost on Aquinas’s ontology, Jean‐Luc Solère on instrumental causality, Peter John Hartman on Durand of St.‐Pourçain, and Kamil Majcherek on Chatton’s rejection of final causality. The volume also includes an extended review of Thomas Williams of a new book on Aquinas’s ethics by Colleen McCluskey.

BEYOND BUTRINT: THE ‘MURSI SURVEY’, 2008

2016 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 269-297
Author(s):  
Richard Hodges ◽  
Erika Carr ◽  
Alessandro Sebastiani ◽  
Emanuele Vaccaro
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Short Report ◽  
Mediterranean Landscapes ◽  
Ancient City ◽  
History Of ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Town

This article provides a short report on a survey of the region to the east of the ancient city of Butrint, in south-west Albania. Centred on the modern villages of Mursi and Xarra, the field survey provides information on over 80 sites (including standing monuments). Previous surveys close to Butrint have brought to light the impact of Roman Imperial colonisation on its hinterland. This new survey confirms that the density of Imperial Roman sites extends well to the east of Butrint. As in the previous surveys, pre-Roman and post-Roman sites are remarkably scarce. As a result, taking the results of the Butrint Foundation's archaeological excavations in Butrint to show the urban history of the place from the Bronze Age to the Ottoman period, the authors challenge the central theme of urban continuity and impact upon Mediterranean landscapes posited by Horden and Purcell, inThe Corrupting Sea(2000). Instead, the hinterland of Butrint, on the evidence of this and previous field surveys, appears to have had intense engagement with the town in the Early Roman period following the creation of the Roman colony. Significant engagement with Butrint continued in Late Antiquity, but subsequently in the Byzantine period, as before the creation of the colony, the relationship between the town and its hinterland was limited and has left a modest impact upon the archaeological record.

The Oxford Handbook of Quintilian

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Educational Programme ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Visual And Performing Arts ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of

M. Fabius Quintilianus was a prominent orator, declaimer, and teacher of eloquence in the first century ce. After his retirement he wrote the Institutio oratoria, a unique treatise in Antiquity because it is a handbook of rhetoric and an educational treatise in one. Quintilian’s fame and influence are not only based on the Institutio, but also on the two collections of Declamations which were attributed to him in late Antiquity. The Oxford Handbook of Quintilian aims to present Quintilian’s Institutio as a key treatise in the history of Graeco-Roman rhetoric and its influence on the theory and practice of rhetoric and education, from late Antiquity until the present day. It contains chapters on Quintilian’s educational programme, his concepts and classifications of rhetoric, his discussion of the five canons of rhetoric, his style, his views on literary criticism, declamation, and the relationship between rhetoric and law, and the importance of the visual and performing arts in his work. His huge legacy is presented in successive chapters devoted to Quintilian in late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Italian Renaissance, Northern Europe during the Renaissance, Europe from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century, and the United States of America. There are also chapters devoted to the biographical tradition, the history of printed editions, and modern assessments of Quintilian. The twenty-one authors of the chapters represent a wide range of expertise and scholarly traditions and thus offer a unique mixture of current approaches to Quintilian from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Early Mandaic and Neo-Mandaic: Some Points of Connection

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-96
Author(s):  
Ohad Abudraham
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Total Absence ◽  
Cardinal Numbers ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract The present article presents four new linguistic features that link Early-Mandaic and Neo-Mandaic: 1. Diphthongisation and fortition of long vowels ū/ī (ࡈࡁࡅࡊࡕࡀ ṭbukta instead of ࡈࡀࡁࡅࡕࡀ ṭabuta “grace”, ࡀࡓࡁࡉࡊࡕࡉࡍࡊࡉࡀ arbiktinkia instead of ࡀࡓࡁࡉࡕࡉࡍࡊࡉࡀ arbitinkia “four of you [f.pl.]”); 2. Apheresis of y in the gentilic noun ‮יהודיא‬‎ (ࡄࡅࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀ hudaiia “Jews”); 3. Assimilation of z in the root ʾzl (ࡕࡏࡋࡅࡍ tʿlun “you [m.pl.] will go”); and 4. Internal analogy in the system of cardinal numbers (ࡕࡀࡓࡕࡀ tarta “two”). The presence of these forms in the two extreme phases of the language as opposed to their almost total absence in the canonical collections of Mandaic scriptures prove not only the ancient origin of some Neo-Mandaic peculiarities but also the wide range of varieties of Mandaic that flourished in Mesopotamia in Late Antiquity.

Encyclopedists, medieval

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Barnish
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Arts And Sciences ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Liberal Arts And Sciences ◽  
Martianus Capella ◽  
The Middle Ages

The modern encyclopedic genre was unknown in the classical world. In the grammar-based culture of late antiquity, learned compendia, by both pagan and Christian writers, were organized around a text treated as sacred or around the canon of seven liberal arts and sciences, which were seen as preparatory to divine contemplation. Such compendia, heavily influenced by Neoplatonism, helped to unite the classical and Christian traditions and transmit learning, including Aristotelian logic, to the Middle Ages. Writers in the encyclopedic tradition include figures such as Augustine and Boethius, both of whom were extremely influential throughout the medieval period. Other important writers included Macrobius, whose Saturnalia spans a very wide range of subjects; Martianus Capella, whose De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii (The Marriage of Philology and Mercury) covers the seven liberal arts and sciences; Cassiodorus, who presents the arts as leading towards the comtemplation of the heavenly and immaterial; and Isidore, whose Etymologies became one of the most widely referred-to texts of the Middle Ages. These writers also had a strong influence which can be seen later in the period, particularly in the Carolingian Renaissance and again in the twelfth century.

Late Roman Precious-Metal Deposits: Worth their Weight in Gold?

Britannia ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 427-430
Author(s):  
François Baratte
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Precious Metal ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Title One ◽  
Late Roman

Over recent years the question of ancient hoards, in particular of precious metal, coins, plate or jewellery, has been the subject of numerous considerations (notably S. Gelichi and C. La Rocca (eds), Tesori. Forme di accumulazione della richezza nell'alto medioevo (secoli V–XI) (Rome, 2004)) in order to try to grasp the characteristics of a complex phenomenon that relates to multiple aspects of society in whatever period is under consideration: the economy, social organisation, the possible role of the images … The difficulties encountered by researchers when addressing these problems are illustrated by the ambivalence, indeed the ambiguity in many languages of the term ‘trésor/hoard’. Richard Hobbs has thus chosen, very judiciously, to take as his subject here ‘deposits of precious metal’, which defines the topic perfectly. On the other hand, one could question the descriptor ‘late Roman’ when applied to the period covered here, five centuries, from a.d. 200 to 700. There could be discussion over whether the third century should be included in Late Antiquity; others will challenge whether the sixth century still belongs to that same world. But from the first page H. effectively corrects his title by stating that it also covers the early Byzantine period, something I would feel is a better definition. It may certainly be felt that these are just questions of nomenclature, but they do have their importance for the topic of this study. All the same, the important thing is that H. wanted to study an extended period, as stated by the book's sub-title. One cannot but approve of his choice.

Apuleius

Classics ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Harrison
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Second Sophistic ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Prose Style ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Latin West ◽  
Classical Culture ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Rhetorical Performance

Apuleius (no other names certain, c. 125–after 170 ce) is one of the key Latin writers of the 2nd century ce, a period that marks the transition from the end of traditional classical culture (Tacitus and Juvenal were probably still alive when Apuleius was born) to the new world of the high empire (Tertullian was certainly born before his death). He can be seen as representing in the Latin West some key aspects of the so-called Greek Second Sophistic, such as a focus on rhetorical performance and an interest in archaic language. He practiced as rhetorician and teacher in Carthage, and his writings were clearly well known in Late Antiquity in Roman North Africa (he is often mentioned by Augustine) and in Gaul (he is cited by Sidonius Apollinaris). He is best known for his novel Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass, and for its remarkable style: it is the apex of Asianism in Latin, full of poetic and archaic words and apparent coinages, rhythmical and rhyming cola, and colored with colloquialism and Graecisms. His Apologia (self-defense from 158 to 159 ce) is an immensely learned speech that combines Ciceronian forensic fireworks with sophistic epideixis, while the Florida, twenty-odd excerpts from Apuleius’s showy declamations delivered at Carthage in the 160s, show considerable rhetorical and stylistic talent, and the De deo Socratis (probably from the same period) is a declamation on the personal deity of Socrates as seen in Plato. Three extant works ascribed to Apuleius are of debated authenticity: De dogmate Platonis or De Platone, two books of mediocre exposition of the philosophy of Plato; De Interpretatione, a treatise on formal logic; and De mundo, a translation of the pseudo-Aristotelian treatise. Lost Apuleian works known from later citations include further speeches, poems, another novel, and a wide range of scientific and other didactic works. Little known in the medieval period, Apuleius was enthusiastically rediscovered in the Renaissance, and much read and studied, forming the center of debates about Latin prose style (Apuleius versus Cicero); his novel influenced important writers such as Shakespeare and Sidney, and the story of Cupid and Psyche from the Metamorphoses has provided consistent inspiration for further works of art and literature over the last five centuries. Little favored by classicists until the second half of the 20th century, he is now a much-researched author.

scholarly journals Coins and Flowers: Some Images of the Textual Authority in the Works of Isidore of Seville

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-40
Author(s):  
С.А. Воронцов
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Religious Leader ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Textual Authority ◽  
Isidore Of Seville ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
The Church

В статье обсуждается значение авторитета цитируемого текста в свете дихотомии авторитет текста / авторитет личности в культуре последних веков Поздней Античности на Латинском Западе на материале наследия Исидора Севильского. На основании анализа метафор, связанных с фигурой благоразумного читателя (prudens lector), а именно – собирания цветов и экспертизы монет, делаются следующие выводы: 1) авторитет цитируемых текстов позволяет произведению репрезентировать традицию, а его автору-епископу – «образ отцов церкви». Это определяет символический характер авторитета личности церковного учителя, требующий, в то же время, воспроизведения первообраза; 2) цитируемые тексты образуют поле возможных альтернатив, из которых «разумный компилятор» осмысленно выбирает необходимые для воздействия на читателя; 3) читатель при этом, применяя монашеское искусство памяти, на основании накопленных коннотации использовал авторитетные высказывания для созидания новых смыслов. Таким образом, авторитет текста на рубеже Поздней Античности – Раннего Средневековья скорее оказывается средством обоснования и производства новых смыслов, чем ограничивающей их рамкой. The article considers the function of the authority of the quoted text through the lens of the dichotomy of personal / textual authority. The study is focud on the last ages of Late Antiquity and particularly on the works of Isidore of Seville. By consideration of the images related to the prudent reader (prudens lector) the article comes to the following conclusions. The extensive use of the authoritative quotations allows the text to represent the tradition, while its author as religious leader represented the Apostles and fathers of the Church. Thus, the authority of this leader turns out to be essentially symbolical. Relatively wide range of texts were considered authoritative. Making his own text, a prudent compiler (prudens compilator) as a prudent reader (prudens lector) chose the quotations not randomly, but according to the presupposed effect of the compilation. The reader of this kind of text, according to the monastic craft of the thought, produced new ideas by mediation upon the quotations, i.e. remembering all the connotations and relating them to the situation of the reader. Thus, the main function of authority of the quotations was to give an impetus to the thought in terms of tradition and not to suppress it.

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