Taxation in the Greco-Roman World

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah Kaye
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman

This article surveys taxation in the Hellenistic kingdoms of Asia Minor in the Near East, focusing on the Seleukid Empire and the Attalids of Pergamon. It argues that the study of Hellenistic systems and habits of taxation can tell us much about the distribution of sovereignty in these composite, multiscalar kingdoms. The negotiation of fiscal rights and privileges in these kingdoms drew cities, kings, courtiers, priests, and soldiers into frequent, even ritualized interactions. The article discusses taxation’s role in the competition over territory and resources, both interstate and internal, while also highlighting the role of taxation in the articulation of each state’s sovereignty claims on communities and individuals. Key sources are reviewed, both epigraphic and archaeological, including cuneiform documents from Hellenistic Babylonia and Greek inscriptions from Asia Minor (Anatolia) and Coele-Syria (Levant).

Laying Out the Fleece

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-89
Author(s):  
Kelly J. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Near East ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Different Cultures

Chapter 3 approaches Gideon’s story in three different ways: the role of divine signs in the ancient Near East; the portrait of Gideon as a hesitant solider in need of divine assurance in the biblical stories of Judg 6:36–40, 7:1–8, and 7:9–15; and the ways that early Christian exegetes interpreted Gideon’s requests for divine assurance. The chapter continues to trace how masculinity is constructed in different cultures, including the Greco-Roman world of early Christianity, where men were encouraged to fight spiritual battles rather than physical battles. These interpretations serve as a powerful reminder that masculinity is always “in crisis,” tending toward transformation and change, depending on cultural context.

Shedding Light on Early Christian Domestic Cult: Characteristics and New Perspectives in the Context of Archaeological Findings

2017 ◽  
Vol 18-19 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-236
Author(s):  
Verena Fugger
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Different Characteristics ◽  
Archaeological Perspective ◽  
Domestic Cult

Abstract Focusing primarily on findings from late antique housing structures in Asia Minor this paper approaches the complex phenomenon of early Christian domestic cult from an archaeological perspective. In correlation to pagan house sanctuaries from the east and west of the Greco-Roman world, Christian domestic cult sites are analyzed according to architectural and decorative features as well as to their spatial distribution in the house. Thereby the synopsis of already well known monuments and recent archaeological findings reveals a great diversity of different characteristics of Christian domestic cult sites which has not been taken into account yet.

scholarly journals Assuming the Role of an Orientalist: Alexander Mishulin’s Articles about the History of the Ancient East

2021 ◽  
Vol 163 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-54
Author(s):  
S.B. Krikh ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
School Textbook ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Common Basis ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient States

The popular articles written by A.V. Mishulin (1901–1948), a Soviet historian of antiquity, were analyzed. These articles are focused on the history and culture of the Ancient East states (Egypt, India, and China) with account of their impact on the establishment of Soviet historical science. Their role in A.V. Mishulin’s research activity is very important, because they were used in his school textbook of ancient history. A.V. Mishulin consistently adhered to the idea that slavery was a common basis of all ancient states, but he also believed that the slave-owning systems in the Ancient East and Greco-Roman world were different. Through a brief description of the Ancient East states, he emphasized the following two main aspects: all ancient societies exploited slaves, which inevitably resulted in the mass uprisings as a consequence of exhaustion of the slave-owning mode of production. To prove the validity of his ideas, A.V. Mishulin used historical material (such as the Papyrus Leiden). Therefore, the history of the Ancient East and Greco-Roman world more or less correlated with each other in A.V. Mishulin’s school textbook, which influenced the subsequent organization of school textbooks of history in the Soviet Union.

scholarly journals Parallelisms and revelatory concepts of the Johannine Prologue in Greco-Roman context

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benno Zuiddam
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Fourth Gospel ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
Central Concept ◽  
John 1 ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Parallel Structures ◽  
John's Gospel

This article builds on the increasing recognition of divine communication and God’s plan as a central concept in the prologue to the Fourth gospel. A philological analysis reveals parallel structures with an emphasis on divine communication in which the Logos takes a central part. These should be understood within the context of this gospel, but have their roots in the Old Testament. The Septuagint offers parallel concepts, particularly in its wisdom literature. Apart from these derivative parallels, the revelatory concepts and terminology involved in John 1:1–18, also find functional parallels in the historical environment of the fourth gospel. They share similarities with the role of Apollo Phoebus in the traditionally assigned geographical context of the region of Ephesus in Asia Minor. This functional parallelism served the reception of John’s biblical message in a Greco-Roman cultural setting.Keywords: John's Gospel; Apollo Phoebus; Logos; Revelation; Ephesus

Differing Approaches to Religious Benefaction: The Late Third-Century Acquisition of the Sardis Synagogue

1993 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Palmer Bonz
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Unpublished Manuscript ◽  
Secondary Literature ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Relevant Evidence ◽  
Western Asia ◽  
Historical Importance

Although it was discovered in 1962 and its excavation was completed by the mid-1970s, the synagogue of ancient Sardis in western Asia Minor, with its nearly eighty Greek inscriptions, remains the single most important archaeological source for our knowledge of western diasporan Judaism and its relationship to the wider Greco-Roman world. Despite its historical importance, however, scholars have rarely questioned the assumptions and conclusions of its original interpreters, Andrew Seager and Thomas Kraabel. Yet, for example, on the crucial question of dating (that is,whenthe building actually became a synagogue) these authors clearly disagreed among themselves, as is evident from a careful reading of their jointly written analysis, published in 1983. Their long-awaited report on the Sardis synagogue may clarify this question as well as other important issues. At present, however, confusion abounds in the secondary literature, because in general this literature continues to accept uncritically Kraabel's selection and interpretation of the relevant evidence. Although I have reexamined the major aspects of the question of dating in a previous article, as has Helga Botermann independently and in more detail, the analysis of the building history reflected in this present article is also indebted to John H. Kroll's excellent but still unpublished manuscript of the Greek inscriptions.

Greek and Roman Slaving in Comparative Ancient Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Jursa ◽  
Sven Tost
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
The State ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Diachronic Change ◽  
Institutional Sector ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Traditional Image

This chapter surveys the evidence for dependent labour in the Ancient Near East, particularly in the state or institutional sector of the economy, comparing the findings to pertinent institutions and structures known from the Graeco-Roman world. There is a focus on diachronic change within the Ancient Near East, where the role of dependent labour evolved significantly over time. The chapter highlights similarities as well as differences and points to some pathways for causation. The ‘traditional’ image (often associated with views expressed by Moses Finley) of the Ancient Near East as being characterized by a labour regime relying nearly exclusively on compelled dependent (but not slave) labour and thus being fundamentally different from ‘the’ Graeco-Roman world is nuanced considerably.

“Who is his mother so I can curse him?”: The role of the mother as a passive (dangerous) medium on curse tablets

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 353-362
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Interesting Phenomenon ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Care Giving ◽  
Private Action ◽  
The Family ◽  
The One

Abstract Curse tablets are artefacts of a very specific nature. They are generally interpreted as material expression of a particular magic action, usually performed by an individual. Such finds are especially interesting for the study because they represent an epigraphic monument, on the one hand, as well as a standard archaeological find with its specific context on the other hand. A particularly interesting phenomenon is visible on curse tablets throughout the Mediterranean – the presence of mother's name to identify the victim of the curse. The “boom” of this phenomenon occurs in the 2nd century AD, but there also are much older examples, particularly from the 4th and 3rd century BC. In the 2nd century AD, the identification of the mother spread to Italy and the African provinces, where this kind of targeting became dominant. In my paper, I will focus on the later, Latin and Greek curse tablets in the Roman Empire. Mothers' names were assigned to identify a particular person: This is interesting because patronyms were usually used in the Greco-Roman world as the identifier. The purposes of the curse tablets bearing the mother's name were thus different: the tablets were used in cases of private action in competition, love or trials linked to family affairs – all within a ritual framework. For this reason, this paper aims to observe the curse tablets as an important medium of the ritual practice which should enable us to answer the questions: Why should the name of the father, which is usually used, be replaced by the name of the mother? Could the reason for such replacement be the recognition of the mother as a mediator for targeting her child? Is this the most precise identification, as the mother is more accurately identifiable than the father? What does it tell us about the care-giving function of the mother within the family and about the authors of the curse tablets?

Slavery

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Byron
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Vital Part ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Religious Text ◽  
The World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Accepted Part ◽  
Insight Into

Slavery was an accepted part of the world in which the biblical authors lived and wrote. It was a vital part of the empires in the ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman West. The Hebrew Bible condones slavery, contains laws regulating it, and even uses it as a metaphor to describe God’s relationship with Israel. The New Testament, entrenched in the Greco-Roman world, accepts the fact of slavery, commands slaves to obey their masters, and even recounts the return of a slave to his master. But as attitudes began to change and abolitionism became a motivating force, biblicists were challenged to reexamine the Bible in light of the new worldview. The Bible was used both to support and to condemn slavery. More recently, the descendants of former slaves have asked how the Bible, used to subjugate their ancestors, can still be a valuable religious text. These shifts in attitude have led to a reevaluation of how slavery is studied. Scholars have moved away from legal definitions of slavery, which view the institution from the owner’s perspective, to sociological definitions that provide insight into how the institution was experienced by the enslaved.

scholarly journals Żołnierze a dzikie i obce zwierzęta na linii frontu wojennego w ujęciu autorów antycznych

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
Lucyna Kostuch
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Military Action ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman

The aim of this paper is to analyze antique testimonies documenting the relationships between soldiers and the wild and strange animals that armies encountered on the march, in military camps, on the battlefield and during clashes at sea. Also, the author attempts to discuss the numerous problems of reconstructing such relationships. The wild and strange beasts on the frontline drew the attention of writers for several reasons: they were attributed the role of divine omens, and therefore their spontaneous appearance may have had an impact on the course of military action; when soldiers saw an animal of a particular species, things were discussed; one would also describe the animals the soldiers observed, hunted, or played with. Thus the paper highlights one of the aspects in the daily life of soldiers of the Greco-Roman world. In a broader sense, the study combines historical research with ethological inquiry.

Making One’s Mark in a Pagan and Christian World

2018 ◽  
pp. 141-168
Author(s):  
Karen B. Stern
Keyword(s):  
Public Life ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Jewish Women ◽  
Public Markets ◽  
The Public ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Ancient City ◽  
Public Lives ◽  
Anti Jewish

This chapter examines graffiti associated with the public lives of Jews from Tyre and Asia Minor, showing that they serve as evidence of Jewish participation in public entertainments in the Greco-Roman world. When Jews and their neighbors inscribed graffiti in structures such as theaters and hippodromes, they activated their participation in public spectacles and public life. Numerous examples of public graffiti can be found in theaters and in the ancient city of Aphrodisias, while commercial graffiti exist in the reused Sebasteion and the so-called South Agora, also in Aphrodisias. These markings, the chapter argues, reveal that during periods of burgeoning anti-Jewish legislation and religious polemic, Jews reserved seats for themselves as spectators of public entertainments and drew menorahs where they sold their wares in public markets. They even attest to the presence of Jewish women in commercial settings.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document