scholarly journals Starokršćanske staklene svjetiljke

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Nikolić

Glass lamps are important element of Early Christian material culture. They are almost inevitable part of liturgical furnishings of church interiors from the second half of the fourth century onwards. Their significance is attested by numerous historical sources and visual depictions. They are common find in the churches and necropolae where they can have simbolic meaning also. Their typology can be divided into five basic forms: cup/bowls (Uboldi I), conical lamps (Uboldi II), lamps with base knob (Uboldi III), funnel-shaped lamps (Uboldi IV), chalice-shaped lamps (Uboldi V), mostly dated from the end of the 4th century to the 8th century. Glass lamps consisted of glass vessels filled with water and oil layer with a floating wick which could be made of flax or cotton fibres or obtained from some other plant fibres. They represented a technological advancement in comparison to clay and metal oil lamps since oil and water, together with transparent vessel, enabled much stronger light with the same amount of used oil. In addition to glass parts, elements of lighting device also comprised wick holders and metal elements (monocandela and polycandela) that enabled suspension of lamps.

Author(s):  
Rangar H. Cline

Although “magical” amulets are often overlooked in studies of early Christian material culture, they provide unique insight into the lives of early Christians. The high number of amulets that survive from antiquity, their presence in domestic and mortuary archaeological contexts, and frequent discussions of amulets in Late Antique literary sources indicate that they constituted an integral part of the fabric of religious life for early Christians. The appearance of Christian symbols on amulets, beginning in the second century and occurring with increasing frequency in the fourth century and afterward, reveals the increasing perception of Christian symbols as ritually potent among Christians and others in the Roman Empire. The forms, texts, and images on amulets reveal the fears and hopes that occupied the daily lives of early Christians, when amulets designed for ritual efficacy if not orthodoxy were believed to provide a defense against forces that would harm body and soul.


Author(s):  
Peter Talloen

The early Christian archaeology of Asia Minor has recently developed into a discipline devoted to the contextualized study of the material remains of early Christianity. It has characterized Asia Minor as a region where—save some notable exceptions from mortuary contexts in Central Anatolia—the impact of the new faith on local material culture only became tangible in the course of the fourth century. During the fifth and sixth centuries Christianity would eventually conquer urban and rural landscapes through church construction in traditional as well as new foci of public space. At this time it also moved into the private sphere as household objects became decorated with Christian images and symbols.


Author(s):  
William Bowden

Textual sources attest to the early spread of Christianity across the Balkan region, and archaeological evidence demonstrates how the new religion transformed the built environment and material culture of the area in Late Antiquity, although dating and analysis of these buildings have tended to focus on stylistic and typological approaches. Prior to the late fourth century archaeological evidence of Christianity is mainly found in funerary contexts, but in the fifth and sixth centuries the urban and rural landscapes were transformed by the construction of Christian architecture, including the monumentalization of martyrs’ graves at towns such as Salona and the creation of major episcopal centers at provincial capitals such as Stobi and Nicopolis. These churches were funded by multiple individuals, evidenced by inscriptions that reference ecclesiastical and lay donors of both sexes. The location and design of many of the churches also reflect the increasingly militarized nature of the Late Antique Balkans.


Author(s):  
Paul F. Bradshaw

This chapter traces the various ways in which the cultic language and imagery of the Hebrew Scriptures influenced and shaped the liturgical thought and ritual practices of early Christianity, from the first to the fourth century ce. At first, this was primarily through the metaphorical or spiritual application of such concepts as priesthood and sacrifice, but eventually there are indications of the beginnings of the adoption of a more literal correspondence between some elements of the Temple cult and aspects of Christian worship. Both corporate and individual practices of prayer are covered, including the use of the canonical psalms, as well as the appropriation of traditional ritual gestures and the emergence of Christian holy days out of biblical festivals.


Author(s):  
Vadim Jigoulov

This chapter covers several aspects of Achaemenid Phoenicia, including literary sources, epigraphy, numismatics, and material culture. Achaemenid Phoenicia was characterized by a continuity of material culture from the Neo-Babylonian period. The extant sources—literary, epigraphic, and numismatic—evince a conglomerate of independent city-states characterized by expressions of compliance with the central Achaemenid authorities while pursuing their own economic and political goals, with Sidon as the most preeminent metropolis. The end of the period in the fourth century bce saw the gradual disintegration of the Phoenician loyalties to the Achaemenids and a pivot toward the Aegean in political and economic aspects.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Kostadinova-Avramova ◽  
Petar Dimitrov ◽  
Andrei Kosterov ◽  
Mary Kovacheva

<p>Numerous historical sources and archaeological monuments attest the age of Antiquity in Bulgaria – from both the early Roman period (I – III c.) and Late Antiquity (IV – VI c.). Owing to systematic archaeological excavations, lasting more than 100 years, plenty of information has been accumulated concerning not only all aspects and manifestations of its material culture, but also their evolution and chronology.  This in turn allows for interdisciplinary fields such as archaeomagnetism to progress.</p><p>There are many archaeomagnetically studied archaeological structures from the Antiquity. The results included in the Bulgarian database form 74 reference points. However, only 20 of them are full-vector determinations because 70 % of the investigated materials are bricks. Hence, the secular variation of declination is poorly constrained within the considered period. Moreover, the reuse of bricks in the constructions occurred quite often (especially in the Late Antiquity) providing for possible errors in archaeological dating. In addition, stronger effects of magnetic anisotropy and cooling rate are usually expected for bricks than for hearths, domestic ovens, production kilns or burnt dwelling remains (there are no results from pottery in the Bulgarian dataset) and both factors are not evaluated for most of the older results. All this can explain the contradictions observed between some of the experimental results juxtaposed over the absolute time scale. In an attempt to clarify these contradictions 13 baked clay structures from eight archaeological sites were archaeomagnetically studied producing seven new directional and eight new intensity data. The samples collected possess variable magnetic properties suggesting differences in clay sources and/or firing conditions. Magnetically soft minerals prevail in seven structures but in the remaining six, abundant HCSLT phase is detected. The success rate of archaeointensity determination experiments vary from 49 to 100 %. It appears that samples containing HCSLT phase always produces good araeointensity results unlike those with the dominant presence of soft carriers.</p><p>The new reference points are compared with the present compilation of Bulgarian archaeomagnetic dataset and with the data from the neighboring countries.</p><p> </p><p>This study is supported by the grant KP-06-Russia-10 from the Bulgarian National Science Fund and Russian Foundation of the Basic Research grant 19-55-18006.</p>


Xihmai ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Fournier Garcí­a ◽  
Bridget M. Zavala Moynahan

Resumen A lo largo del Camino Real los habitantes usaron la cultura material - incluyendo objetos de uso cotidiano destinados a la preparación, almacenamiento y servicio de alimentos- para construir y reafirmar aspectos identitarios. En este ensayo, derivado de nuestras investigaciones concluidas en 2013, consideramos patrones de consumo de estos objetos desde el siglo XVIII hasta inicios del XX reflejados en inventarios de bienes de la época y contextos arqueológicos de la Nueva Vizcaya colonial (hoy Durango y Chihuahua). Contrastamos entre las vajillas que emplearon las personas con alto poder adquisitivo y los de uso entre el común de la gente, según los registros documentales y los contextos arqueológicos con diversas funciones y temporalidades registrados en el valle del Rí­o Sextí­n, Durango.   Palabras clave: Nueva Vizcaya, Camino Real, consumo cotidiano, haciendas, identidad Abstract   The residents along the Royal Road used material culture, including everyday life objects related to the preparation, storage and serving of foods, to construct and reaffirm aspects of their social identity and status. In this article, based on our research finished in 2013, we consider their consumption as reflected in 18th to 20th century documents and archaeological contexts from southern New Biscay (modern-day Durango and Chihuahua). We compare ceramic goods used by individuals with high economic standing with those employed by commoners, as registered in historical sources and data from archaeological sites with diverse functions and temporalities, recorded in the Sextí­n valley, Durango. Keywords: New Biscay, Royal Road, everyday life consumption, haciendas, identity


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 1301-1321
Author(s):  
Andrey S. Desnitsky

This article, the second in a series, briefly describes the main problems connected with the reconstruction of emerging Christianity. First of all, it is the scarcity of historical sources. They speak almost exclusively about religious beliefs and leave aside all other aspects of life. Then, it is the clearly expressed interest of both ancient authors and modern researchers to present a “rightful” and ideal picture. As a result, emerges an idealized image of such a Christian community that a modern scholar would like to belong to. A possible methodological solution to this problem can be found in the model of religious studies suggested by the modern German scholar Gerd Theissen. Concerning the practical method, one can suggest an analysis of the polemics as reflected in the early Christian texts, mainly epistles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlène Van de Casteele

While the figure of the fashion photographer has been widely discussed, little has been written on image-making as a collective endeavour. Fashion photography indeed results from technical innovations, publishing strategies, editorial policies, behind-the-scenes negotiations and, ultimately, decision-making. This article analyses ‘The Condé Nast Papers’ – a series of internal documents held at the Condé Nast archives in New York – together with US Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar’s editorials and covers to explore how fashion photographs resulted from the collective labour of photographers, editors, artistic directors and many others in the early 1940s. Through these unique historical sources, this article gives a voice to the workers involved in the making of fashion images and shows how decision-making and creativity were distributed across occupations. It also unpacks the negotiations, arbitrations and power relations that underpinned work relations at US Vogue, showing the collaboration, competition and conflict between the different actors. Drawing on art sociologist Howard Becker’s concept of ‘art worlds’ while combining methods from fashion history and visual and material culture, I question the respective status of the multiple authors involved in this activity and the conventions of fashion image-making. In doing so, I argue that fashion photographs are the product of the interactions of a multitude of workers who are embedded in the power structures of the fashion media industry, and whose collective labour is made invisible. My goal is to rethink the ways in which collective labour has been evidenced and produced in the fashion industry.


Author(s):  
Elizabeth Heath

This article examines colonially-themed toys as historical sources that provide insight into the way that metropolitan boys and girls learned embrace the French empire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It argues that colonially-themed toys such as drums, dolls, and games encouraged forms of play that instilled a colonial mindset and attitude among metropolitan French children. These actions provided the foundation for a cognitive framework and worldview that naturalized colonialism and racial and civilization hierarchies. The residues of these earlier practices and imaginations remain, marking toys as a particularly rich genre of material culture with which to understand the inculcation of colonialism and lingering colonial nostalgia.


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