THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF LATE ANTIQUE DINING HABITS IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN: A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE EVIDENCE

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 311-361
Author(s):  
Joanita Vroom
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Dining Room ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Pictorial Representations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Silver Metal

This paper sets out to explore the relationship between excavated evidence of dining rooms and table utensils, and changing dining habits in Late Antiquity. In the first part the emphasis is on pictorial representations of dining scenes from the 5th and 6th c. A.D. The second part of the paper examines the archaeological evidence and its relationship to these scenes. On the basis of this evidence, it is not only possible to discuss in detail the architectural layout of the dining room together with its furniture and textiles, but also to give a description of the actual objects (in silver, metal, pottery, glass and in other materials) used on the dining table.

Civilizations of the Supernatural: Witchcraft, Ritual, and Religious Experience in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Traditions

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Erotic Love ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
The Relationship

Civilizations of the Supernatural: Witchcraft, Ritual, and Religious Experience in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Traditions brings together thirteen scholars of late-antique, medieval, and renaissance traditions who discuss magic, religious experience, ritual, and witch-beliefs with the aim of reflecting on the relationship between man and the supernatural. The content of the volume is intriguingly diverse and includes late antique traditions covering erotic love magic, Hellenistic-Egyptian astrology, apotropaic rituals, early Christian amulets, and astrological amulets; medieval traditions focusing on the relationships between magic and disbelief, pagan magic and Christian culture, as well as witchcraft and magic in Britain, Scandinavian sympathetic graphophagy, superstition in sermon literature; and finally Renaissance traditions revolving around Agrippan magic, witchcraft in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and a Biblical toponym related to the Friulan Benandanti’s visionary experiences. These varied topics reflect the multifaceted ways through which men aimed to establish relationships with the supernatural in diverse cultural traditions, and for different purposes, between Late Antiquity and the Renaissance. These ways eventually contributed to shaping the civilizations of the supernatural or those peculiar patterns which helped men look at themselves through the mirror of their own amazement of being in this world.

Writing and Literacy/Illiteracy

2015 ◽  
pp. 286-316
Author(s):  
Krešimir Matijević
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
Ancient Rome ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Roman Provinces ◽  
Pictorial Representations

This chapter examines archaeological evidence that demonstrates literacy/illiteracy in the Roman Empire based on the ancient written documents available, including stone inscriptions. It first considers the level of education amongst the Italian population in ancient Rome, particularly in the Roman provinces, along with the level of literacy prior to Roman provincialization in Western Europe. It then turns to other documents such as books, wooden tablets, small inscriptions, and pictorial representations, and the Roman military’s ability to read and write. Finally, it discusses the level of literacy in late antiquity.

scholarly journals From the Tombs into the City: Grave Robbing and the Reuse of Funerary Spolia in Late Antique Italy

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 115-137
Author(s):  
Cristina Murer
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Third ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City

Archaeological evidence demonstrates that funerary spoil (e.g. sarcophagus lids, funerary altars, epitaphs, reliefs, and statues) were frequently reused to decorate the interiors of public and private buildings from the third to the sixth century. Therefore, the marble revetments of high imperial tombs must have been spoliated. Imperial edicts, which tried to stamp part the overly common practice of tomb plundering, confirm that the social practice of tomb plundering must have been far more frequent in late antiquity than in previous periods. This paper discusses the reuse of funerary spoil in privet and public buildings from Latium and Campania and contextualizes them by examining legal sources addressing tomb violation. Furthermore, this study considers the extent to which the social practice of tomb plundering and the reuse of funerary material in late antiquity can be connected with larger urbanist, sociohistorical, and political transformations of Italian cityscapes from the third to the sixth century.

Approaches to Teaching the History of Medicine in Late Antiquity

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-507
Author(s):  
Jared Secord ◽  
Jessica Wright
Keyword(s):  
Medical Anthropology ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Approaches To Teaching ◽  
Teaching Resources ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

In this article, the authors propose that late antique medicine is a rich and versatile subject to teach in undergraduate courses, despite a seeming lack of sources and teaching resources. Following an introduction, authors Crislip, Langford, Llewellyn Ihssen, and Marx offer contributions describing their experiences teaching courses that offer some coverage of medicine in Late Antiquity. The contributions show that late antique medicine fits in easily as part of courses on magic and science, and that it lends itself to comparative or world-historical approaches. Late antique medicine likewise provides opportunities to explore the relationship of religion to science and of medicine to the humanities. The authors show that a range of approaches to late antique medicine, including disability studies and medical anthropology, can inspire productive and thoughtful responses from students, and serve as a helpful introduction to the medical humanities for aspiring healthcare professionals.

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF PILGRIMAGE: ABU MINA AND BEYOND

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 291-327
Author(s):  
Susanne Bangert
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Simple Pattern ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Popular Piety ◽  
Insight Into

Christian pilgrimage offers a unique insight into popular piety in Late Antiquity. However, our sources for pilgrimage, both literary and archaeological, vary widely in quality and volume, and modern scholarship has often depended heavily on the evidence from particular wellknown sites, most notably the sanctuary of St Menas at Abu Mina in Egypt. This site has revealed a remarkable density of archaeological remains, not only buildings but also the production and circulation of a wide variety of pilgrim souvenirs. Yet it is essential that we move beyond the sanctuary of St Menas and compare the evidence from Abu Mina with that from other major pilgrimage sites in the eastern Mediterranean. As we shall see in this paper, there is no simple pattern in organisation or souvenir production that can be identified in the archaeology of late antique pilgrimage.

scholarly journals The Cultural Biography of a Pilgrimage Token: From Hagiographical to Archaeological Evidence

2020 ◽  
Vol 21-22 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-174
Author(s):  
Dina Boero
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Cultural Biography ◽  
Art Object

AbstractAcross the eastern Mediterranean, the personnel of late antique pilgrimage sites distributed terracotta tokens stamped with depictions of saints, scenes from the life of Christ, and related imagery. Using primarily hagiographical sources, scholars associate tokens with healing practices, the veneration of icons, and the worship of relics. Certainly, hagiographies offer valuable representations of ritual processes, but they also make claims on the proper distribution, meaning, and use of tokens amidst a diversity of intercessory activities. How, in practice, was a token produced and distributed? How did pilgrims use tokens at and away from pilgrimage complexes beyond the assertions made by hagiographers? This article answers these questions by tracing the “cultural biography” of a token. It analyzes the archaeological contexts of tokens in order to clarify select statuses that a token might occupy during its lifetime, including commodity, gift, domestic object, funerary object, relic, rubbish, and art object. This approach lays the foundation for examining hagiographical claims regarding the use of tokens as one among many assertions in the contested process of harnessing the power of saints. It illustrates the capacity of devotees to exhibit diverse practices as well as the efforts of personnel at pilgrimage sites to shape those practices.

ABSENT-MINDED LANDLORDS AND INNOVATING PEASANTS? THE PRESS IN AFRICA AND THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Lewit
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Diffusion Of Technology ◽  
The Press ◽  
Screw Mechanism ◽  
The Many ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

The screw mechanism for wine and oil presses was widely applied in the eastern Mediterranean only in Late Antiquity, about half a millennium after its invention. This occurred in relation to a great intensification of commercial production in this region, including the bringing into cultivation of marginal land and the occupation of new areas. However, why was a screw mechanism not used in other important export regions, such as North Africa? Case studies of settlement patterns in a number of regions suggest that the absentee landlords of large estates seem to have been less inclined to adopt changed technology, whereas resident owners—whether of large or small estates—living close to their land, and directly involved in the processes of production, may have been more likely to do so. Among the many factors at play—technical, geographic, cultural, chronological, environmental, and commercial—the relationship of the landowner to his land may have played an important role in the diffusion of technology.

Ireland in Late Antiquity

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elva Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Scholarly Discourse ◽  
The Relationship

It is often assumed that Ireland entered recorded history with the emergence of organized Christianity on the island at some point in the fourth or fifth century C.E. This assumption has meant that the histories of late antique and early medieval Ireland are primarily viewed through the lens of conversion. Religious identities, frequently imagined as a binary opposition of “Christian” and “pagan,” have been a dominant historiographical focus. This essay argues that it is more fruitful to examine the relationship between Ireland and its neighbors from c. 150–c. 550 C.E. through a frontier dynamic, a dynamic in which religious identity was but one factor among many. By recasting the Irish experience in this way, it is possible to take a more comparative approach which cuts against the grain of Irish exceptionalism. Moreover, situating Ireland within the scholarly discourse of late antiquity allows for a new and nuanced understanding of the social and religious changes that characterized this period on the island.

A Viewpoint on Eastern Mediterranean Villages in Late Antiquity

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-75
Author(s):  
Tamara Lewit
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Resilience Theory ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The People ◽  
Village Communities

The 4th to 6th centuries CE were a time of natural disasters including plague, earthquakes, and climatic instability, as well as warfare and invasions. Yet archaeological evidence demonstrates that in this period rural village communities in the eastern Mediterranean flourished, with new building, settlement of marginal land, high levels of agricultural production, and wide export of their products. In seeking to explain the vitality of the Eastern Mediterranean countryside in spite of manifold shocks, this article applies Community Resilience Theory, a body of research on the internal socio-economic capacities that have enabled communities in the contemporary world to successfully bounce back from crisis. By examining the archaeological remains of late antique eastern Mediterranean rural communities, we can see beyond the constraints of elite textual accounts to the lives of ordinary people in these flourishing villages. Material remains which attest a high volume and diversity of economic activities, a degree of equitable distribution of income, effective routes of communication, the existence of social capital, and capacity for cooperation and technological innovation reveal how the people of these communities might have acted as historical agents in determining their own fate.

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