Knucklebone Faces and Throws: Play, Rules, and Rhetorical Discourse in Julius Pollux

Mnemosyne ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Marco Vespa

Abstract The reconstruction of the culture of play and games in antiquity involves many problems of an exegetical nature, which are especially difficult to analyse because of the limited amount of encyclopaedic evidence that might provide adequate overviews and descriptions. Julius Pollux’s lexicon is an essential text in this regard. In the second half of the second century AD he wrote a synthesis of ancient knowledge, in which each notice was presented within very specific rhetorical and discursive constraints. This article focuses specifically on a passage (Poll. 9.100) in which two different names are given to the same face of the knucklebone. This passage presents an interpretative problem that has led some scholars to hypothesize a specific game rule. This paper shows how the answer to such an exegetical aporia can be solved by looking at the rhetorical specificities of the lexicographic genre and in particular at the discursive organization of the onomastic knowledge by Pollux.

ALQALAM ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Nana Jumhana

Qiyas (analogy) is one of several methods which had been used by Arabic linguist since the first generation until those who lived in the second century of Hijriyah in formulating Arabic grammars next to Sama' (orally transmitted material). The formulation of the grammars was aimed at conservating Arabic from any kinds of inference, considering that it was not only a mere treasure of the Arab, but also language of Islam after the revelation of Alqur'an. As an ephistemological basis of Arabic synthax, Qiyas serves as an analogy to some eloquent saying of the ancient Arabs. In so doing, Qiyas consists of four components: 1) maqis 'alaih (the source to which one thing is comparred), 2) maqis (the respected object to be comparred), 3) 'illah (the similar aspectls the both share), and 4) hukm (the verdict in search). In terms of it's kind, linguists devide it into three kinds: 1) qiyas al' illah, 2) qiyas at-tard, and qiyas as-syibhi. Even though some linguists argue against the using of Qiyas in formulating grammars, particularly for it is not in line with sima', also for it is considered to be built on subjective rationalisation, Qiyas is of great significance in language theorizing. The significance of Qiyas is not limited to the products demonstrated by traditional linguists. It also applies to our time too, particularly in developing Arabic language in all of it's aspects. Keyword: Qiyas, Method, Taq id al-Nahwi, Mazhab Basrah, Mazhab Kufah


1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-269
Author(s):  
David Millar
Keyword(s):  

2001 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasin Dutton

The recent publication of the facsimile edition of MS Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Arabe 328a has allowed general access to what is probably one of the oldest, and most important, Qur'an fragments in Europe. The text is unvocalised, but the large number of folios (fifty-six) means that there are enough consonantal variants present to enable a positive identification of the reading represented, which turns out to be that of the Syrian Ibn cĀmir (d. 118/736). This, in combination with the early “Ḥijāzī” script, suggests (a) that this muṣḥaf was copied in Syria, and (b) that this was done some time during the first or early second century AH. In other words, what we have here is almost definitely a muṣḥaf according to the Syrian reading, copied in Syria, at the time when the caliphate had its seat in Syria, i.e. during the Umayyad period. Thus the identification of this particular reading helps in ascertaining the date and provenance of this particular manuscript, as it also fleshes out with documentary evidence the information given in the qirāↄāt literature about this reading.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Shipman ◽  
Srikant Sarangi ◽  
Angus J. Clarke

The motivations of those who give consent to bio-banking research have received a great deal of attention in recent years. Previous work draws upon the notion of altruism, though the self and/or family have been proposed as significant factors. Drawing on 11 interviews with staff responsible for seeking consent to cancer bio-banking and 13 observations of staff asking people to consent in routine clinical encounters, we investigate how potential participants are oriented to, and constructed as oriented to, self and other related concerns (Author 2007). We adopt a rhetorical discourse analytic approach to the data and our perspective can be labelled as ‘ethics-in-interaction’. Using analytic concepts such as repetition, extreme case formulation, typical case formulation and contrast structure, our observations are three-fold. Firstly, we demonstrate that orientation to ‘general others’ in altruistic accounts and to ‘self’ in minimising burden are foregrounded in constructions of motivation to participate in cancer bio-banking across the data corpus. Secondly, we identify complex relational accounts which involve the self as being more prominent in the consent encounter data where the staff have a nursing background whereas ‘general others’ feature more when the staff have a scientific background. Finally, we suggest implications based on the disparities between how participants are oriented in interviews and consent encounters which may have relevance for developing staff’s reflective practice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-259
Author(s):  
Ethan White

In the second century, the Roman Emperor Hadrian deified his male lover, Antinous, after the latter drowned in the Nile. Antinous’ worship was revived in the late twentieth century, primarily by gay men and other queer-identified individuals, with Antinous himself being recast as “the Gay God.”


2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 309-329
Author(s):  
Claudia V. Camp

I propose that the notion of possession adds an important ideological nuance to the analyses of iconic books set forth by Martin Marty (1980) and, more recently, by James Watts (2006). Using the early second century BCE book of Sirach as a case study, I tease out some of the symbolic dynamics through which the Bible achieved iconic status in the first place, that is, the conditions in which significance was attached to its material, finite shape. For Ben Sira, this symbolism was deeply tied to his honor-shame ethos in which women posed a threat to the honor of his eternal name, a threat resolved through his possession of Torah figured as the Woman Wisdom. What my analysis suggests is that the conflicted perceptions of gender in Ben Sira’s text is fundamental to his appropriation of, and attempt to produce, authoritative religious literature, and thus essential for understanding his relationship to this emerging canon. Torah, conceived as female, was the core of this canon, but Ben Sira adds his own literary production to this female “body” (or feminized corpus, if you will), becoming the voice of both through the experience of perfect possession.


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