Blessings for the sailors. The cult of the Great Gods of Samothrace in the Mediterranean context between the Hellenistic and Roman Ages

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 469-479
Keyword(s):  
Religious Thought ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Trojan War ◽  
Classical World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Roman Age

Abstract The aim of this paper is to underline some cultic features of the cult of the Great Gods of Samothrace, in its development between Hellenistic and Roman Age. In this regard, we analyze the mythological background of this cult, with particular reference to Trojan war and Aeneas saga and the influences on the cultic performances and ideology in Roman age. Our main goal is to show, through an analysis of the different syncretic cults (Dioskuroi, Penates, Lares) and the archaeological data, how the metaphors of sea and sailing influenced the transmission of this soteriological cult in Rome and how these cultural changes represent a weighty argument to demonstrate the very important revolution introduced by the Samothracian cult in the religious thought of classical world.

Auge and Telephus

2021 ◽  
pp. 223-234
Author(s):  
Emma Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Trojan War ◽  
Foundation Myth ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
A Chain

Heracles’ role as the father of Telephus involves significant elements for our understanding of the wider myth. The conception of Telephus is variously depicted as a “rape” or a “seduction” of Auge and starts a chain of events that portray Heracles as a caring father who rescues his abandoned child, providing a model for the Roman foundation myth. It also projects Heracles’ role in the First Trojan War into the Second. The story unfolds across several different locations in the Mediterranean, from Arcadia to king Teuthras’ kingdom in Mysia, and indicates Heracles’ role as a connecting figure for historical and cultural societies.

Byzantine garlic and Turkish delight

2000 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanita Vroom
Keyword(s):  
Social Meaning ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Central Greece ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Interdisciplinary Perspective

AbstractOn the basis of the Post-Roman surface finds from the Boeotia Survey in central Greece, the use and social meaning of glazed vessels as table utensils from Byzantine to Ottoman times (ca. 10th–19th centuries A.D.) will be discussed, as well as the cultural changes in dining manners in that period. It is the intention of this paper to approach this evolution of “wining and dining” habits in an interdisciplinary perspective, in which archaeological data, textual sources and iconographical information will be combined.

scholarly journals Bridging Legends and Science: Field Evidence of a Large Tsunami that Affected the Kingdom of Tonga in the 15th Century

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franck Lavigne ◽  
Julie Morin ◽  
Patrick Wassmer ◽  
Olivier Weller ◽  
Taaniela Kula ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colonial History ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Science Field ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Field Evidence ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Neighbouring Island ◽  
Large Tsunami

The pre-colonial history (i.e. before the 16th century) of Tonga and West Polynesia still suffers from major gaps despite significant scientific advances in recent years, particularly in the field of archaeology. By the 14th century, the powerful Tu’i Tonga kingdom united the islands of the Tongan archipelago under a centralised authority and, according to tradition, extended its influence to neighbouring island groups in the Central Pacific. However, some periods of deep crisis were identified, e.g. in the mid- 15th century, marked by an abrupt cessation of inter-archipelago migration on the deep seas in the Pacific, significant cultural changes, and a decrease in accessible natural resources. The origins of these disturbances are still debated, and they are usually assigned to internal political problems or loss of external influence vis-à-vis neighboring chiefdoms. However, the hypothesis of a major natural disaster was rarely suggested up to now, while field evidence points to the occurrence of a very large tsunami in the past, including the presence of numerous megablocks that were deposited by a “red wave” (or peau kula, which also mean tsunami in the Tongan language) according to a local myth. Drawing on a body of new evidence from sedimentary signatures and radiocarbon dating of charcoal and marine bioclasts, geomorphology, and sedimentology, in support of previously published archaeological data, we argue that a large tsunami inundated large areas of Tongatapu island in the mid-15th century with runup heights up to 30 m, and that the Tu’i Tonga kingdom was severely impacted by this event. We also discuss the likely sources of this tsunami.

scholarly journals EROS AT JUNNAR: RECONSIDERING A PIECE OF MEDITERRANEAN ART

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-226
Author(s):  
Matthew Adam Cobb ◽  
Fiona Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Young Male ◽  
Male Child ◽  
Roman Art ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Classical World ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Indian State ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Right

In 1969 on a riverside near the Lenyardi caves (about 5 kilometres from present-day Junnar, in the Indian state of Maharashtra), Dr Satish Deshmukh discovered an alabaster object in the form of half an egg (longitudinally cut) with a young male child lying inside it (with small traces of red paint on the right side of the object). This high-quality oval object (figures 1 and 2) measures about 5 cm × 3.4 cm and is usually interpreted as an item that was originally manufactured in the Mediterranean world before being brought to India, rather than a piece of artwork produced in India itself. One possible, and largely accepted, interpretation is that this figure represents the birth of the god Eros. However, identification of the figure within the egg-like structure is not easily made. While the figure does bear similarities to the putto-style representation of Eros in instances of Greek and Roman art, it does not possess any clear identifying features (such as the wings with which Eros is often depicted). The figure's resemblance to Eros in some of his other iconographic depictions and the egg-like structure around him suggest a possible identification of this infant with Eros and the myth of his birth from an egg. However, without evidence from other iconography of a more clearly identifiable Eros in similar contexts, the figure cannot be said to be him with any certainty. As Dhavalikar notes, this object ‘is the only one of its kind among the classical antiquities so far found in the Indian subcontinent and perhaps has no parallel in the classical world’. Thus the identification of this sculpture as a depiction of Eros in the egg is possible, but not certain.

Pigs at the Gate: Hittite Pig Sacrifice in its Eastern Mediterranean Context

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Billie Jean Collins
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Simple Matter ◽  
Religious Significance ◽  
Classical World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

AbstractThe consumption of pork in Hittite Anatolia is unlikely to have been a simple matter of geography or ethnicity, but was governed by a complex set of principles involving determiners like status, gender, and the level of cultic influence from religious sanctuaries. On the few occasions that the Hittite texts refer directly to eating pork, the context is highly ritualized, suggesting that special religious significance was sometimes attached to the eating of pig's flesh. Further, drawing on evidence from the societies surrounding the Mediterranean basin, a case can be made for the private nature of pig sacrifice in Hittite Anatolia. They were killed to ensure the wellbeing of the community and the fertility of humans and crops. A festival performed in Istanuwa to reaffirm the human-divine relationship may parallel the practice of sacrificing a pig at the ratification of treaties in the classical world. Finally, this animal's unique place among the domesticates extends to its role as a substitute for humans, a ritual motif that can be found throughout the Mediterranean in antiquity.

scholarly journals Coinage of the Cilician Cities as a Mirror of Historical and Cultural Changes (V c. BCE – III c. CE)

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 113-135
Author(s):  
Edward Dąbrowa
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Taurus Mountains ◽  
Religious Influences ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Local Traditions ◽  
Archaeological Excavations ◽  
Over Time

In antiquity Cilicia was a small but important area. The geographical setting, between the Taurus Mountains, the Mediterranean Sea and Anatolia, and the fact that territory of Cilicia was crossed by several routes connecting Anatolia with the Mediterranean sea shore and Syria determined its strategic significance. The geography of the area held importance for its cultural development as well. The northern part of Cilicia, Cilicia Aspera, was mountainous, sparsely populated and poorly urbanized; cities were few and located mainly on the seashore. The southern part, Cilicia Pedias, was much more prosperous and intensively urbanized. Its location made it a bridge for various cultural and religious influences coming from neighboring countries, but also an object of their expansion. Both parts of Cilicia experienced governance of many powers: Achaemenid Persia, local rulers, Hellenistic kings, and the Romans. Each of them left own political and cultural imprint on the area. Effects of this cultural mixture are clearly visible in archaeological excavations and in many types of artefacts. Another type of evidence which reflects the complicated past of Cilicia is also available: numismatic evidence. There are a few Cilician cities in which coins were minted from the Achaemenid times to the Roman Empire. This paper attempts to look into the iconography of their coinage and analyze political and religious symbols and their subjects of depiction. The aim is to find out how specific powers ruling over cities influenced local traditions, what were the remnants of those, and how they eventually evolved over time.

scholarly journals Paleoseismology related to deformed archaeological remains in the Fucino Plain. Implications for subrecent seismicity in Central Italy

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Galadini ◽  
P. Galli
Keyword(s):  
Central Italy ◽  
Close Similarity ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Seismogenic Structure ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The One ◽  
Roman Age ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Holocene Activity

During paleoseismological investigations on the seismogenic structure responsible for the 1915 earthquake in the Fucino Plain (Central Italy), some trenches were excavated at the intersection between Roman-age channels and a fault characterized by Holocene activity. Channel displacement observed within the trenches has been related to an event which occurred approximately between the 6th and 9th century A.D. Written records describing damage caused in Rome indicate that two strong events occurred during this period in Central Italy, although their epicentral areas are Undefined. The first event occurred immediately before 508 A.D. while the second happened in 801 A.D. Two other earthquakes during this period (618 A.D. and 847 A.D.) are reported in catalogues, but without( corresponding information regarding damage in Rome. Available information is not conclusive about the age of the earthquake responsible for the displacement of the channels although geological, historical and archaeological data indicate it is most likely related to the 508 A.D. event. Should the hypothesis regarding the age of the earthquake be correct, a subrecent , incompletely-documented earthquake may be related to a specific seismogenetic area. Taking into account that the paleoseismological analysis has highlighted a close similarity between the surface faulting pattern of this event and the one that occurred in 1915, the former may be a "twin" of the latter.

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