scholarly journals Shifting Paradigms of Sadness, Brain Disease or Emotional Distress: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Late Antiquity and the 21st Century. What psychologists can learn from ascetics in Late Antiquity and why historians should or should not buy DSM 5

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaas Huijbregts ◽  
Veronika Wieser
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Current Method ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Dsm 5 ◽  
Clear Sign ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Modern Classification ◽  
The One ◽  
Historical Discourses

In this article, we address expressions of sadness, grief and social alienation from two different perspectives and on an interdisciplinary level. The various forms of perceiving these experiences and the method for classifying emotions (particularly emotional distress) in modern psychiatry represent the starting point for comparison. Special attention will be paid to the current method of classification in psychiatry―the DSM 5. This framework will be juxtaposed with a historical methodology, which will be applied to examine late antique narrative descriptions of sickness and alienating behaviour in a religious context. Combining modern psychological and historical approaches will shed light on how different cultural and historical discourses have shaped the perception and interpretation of sadness and grief down through the ages, and lead to these emotions being characterized in various ways ranging from depression to a clear sign of sanctity. Additionally, working on the intersection of religion and medicine, this article will, on the one hand, further psychologists’ understanding of how religious ideas shaped individual behaviour and vice versa in past societies, and, on the other hand, inform historians more about modern classification methods in psychiatry and how these might have influenced the way of looking at certain behaviour.

Liturgical Poetry in the Late Antique Near East

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 336-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ophir Münz-Manor
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Near East ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Biblical Poetry ◽  
Contemporary View ◽  
Cultural Dialogue ◽  
The One

The article presents a contemporary view of the study of piyyut, demonstrating that Jewish poetry of late antiquity (in Hebrew and Aramaic) was closely related to Christian liturgical poetry (both Syriac and Greek) and Samaritan liturgy. These relations were expressed primarily by common poetic and prosodic characteristics, derived on the one hand from ancient Semitic poetry (mainly biblical poetry), and on the other from innovations of the period. The significant connections of content between the different genres of poetry reveal the importance of comparative study. Thus the poetry composed in late antiquity provides additional evidence for the lively cultural dialogue that took place at that time.

scholarly journals LATE ANTIQUE OR EARLY BYZANTINE? THE SHIFTING BEGINNINGS OF BYZANTINE LITERATURE

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis A. Agapitos
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Structural Break ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Greek Literature ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
The One ◽  
Early Byzantine

The aim of the paper is twofold. On the one hand, it examines the epistemological reasons behind the shifting beginnings of Byzantine literature, a shift that covers a period of four centuries (AD 300-700), as well as the methodological problems for the study of Byzantine literature resulting from the rise of Late Antiquity as a new historical period and a new field of studies. On the other hand, the paper proposes a series of four textually immanent criteria and seven internal operative principles by means of which a different methodological approach to the «beginning» of Byzantine literature can be reached. For this purpose Eusebios of Caesarea and Lactantius will be used as the textual basis for establishing a structural break in literary production in the first two decades of the fourth century. For the purpose of controlling this proposal a comparison with an important but highly debated monument (the Arch of Constantine in Rome) will be made and some final conclusions as to the course of Greek literature in early Byzantine times will be made.

“O, Foolish Galatians”: Imagining Pauline Community in Late Antiquity

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd S. Berzon
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Object A ◽  
Precise Meaning ◽  
Ethnic Affiliation ◽  
Conscious Choice ◽  
The One

This essay analyzes how late antique commentators on Paul's epistle to the Galatians used the issue of theological disobedience to elaborate the precise meaning of Christian kinship and community in their own times. Paul's anger and frustration at the Galatians, in particular, provided a convenient rhetorical platform for theorizing the nature of and impediments to Christian community in late antiquity. While most Pauline exegetes of the fourth and fifth centuries read the Galatians’ disobedience as a conscious choice born of ignorance, misunderstanding, and weak-mindedness, Jerome located the source of this indiscipline in the Galatians’ ethnic or national disposition. For him, the Galatians were an ethno-theological object—a template upon which he could propose a correlation between Christian error or heresy, on the one hand, and ethnic disposition, on the other. The differences and factions that Paul described in his letters were reimagined in late antiquity as both exemplars of Christian heresy and as heresies of ethnological origin. Ultimately, however, the process of transforming Paul into a heresiologist served only to emphasize the complexity of interpretive maneuvers deployed to define the terms of Christian community vis-à-vis other types of social, political, and ethnic affiliation.

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph W. Mathisen
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The One ◽  
Comprehensive Study

Several lessons have been leant from the three volumes of PLRE. The scholarly response suggests that the most sought-after attributes of any prosopographical catalogue are clearly formulated and stated criteria for inclusion, consistency in the application of the criteria, and completeness of coverage. In sum, PLRE has caused people to rethink many of the ways in which they look at late antiquity. The development of the material demonstrates the growing diversity of the Mediterranean world: PLRE by PLRE III, one has a massive array of eastern and western non-Romans both within and outside the imperial frontiers. As a result of its increasing inclusivity, PLRE became more of a secular PLA than a PLRE. Overall, this chapter concludes that PLRE has become the one work that must be on the shelves of anyone who proposes to make a comprehensive study of the late antique world.

scholarly journals Art and Identity in Late Antique Synagogues of the Roman-Byzantine Diaspora

Arts ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
Noa Yuval-Hacham
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Religious Buildings ◽  
Jewish Art ◽  
Jewish Diaspora ◽  
Diasporic Identity ◽  
Unique Nature ◽  
The One

Late antiquity witnessed the increased construction of synagogues in the Jewish diaspora of the Roman-Byzantine world. Although not large in number, these synagogues were impressive and magnificent structures that were certainly conspicuous in the urban landscape, especially when constructed within a central location. This paper focuses on mosaic carpets discovered at these synagogues, to discern their distinguishing features through a comparative perspective. Two focal points are examined: on the one hand, local Roman-Byzantine mosaics in civic and religious buildings, and on the other hand, Jewish mosaics carpets in Palestinian synagogues. This comparison reveals several clear distinctions between the Jewish diasporic mosaic carpets and the other two groups of mosaics, that broaden our understanding of the unique nature of Jewish art in the Roman-Byzantine diaspora in particular, and of Jewish diasporic identity in late antiquity in general.

Persecution and response in late paganism: the evidence of Damascius

1993 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Polymnia Athanassiadi
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The One ◽  
Psychological Dimensions ◽  
Immediate Reactions ◽  
Complex Subject

The theme of this paper is intolerance: its manifestation in late antiquity towards the pagans of the Eastern Mediterranean, and the immediate reactions and long-term attitudes that it provoked in them. The reasons why, in spite of copious evidence, the persecution of the traditional cults and of their adepts in the Roman empire has never been viewed as such are obvious: on the one hand no pagan church emerged out of the turmoil to canonise its dead and expound a theology of martyrdom, and on the other, whatever their conscious religious beliefs, late antique scholars in their overwhelming majority were formed in societies whose ethical foundations and logic are irreversibly Christian. Admittedly a few facets of this complex subject, such as the closing of the Athenian Academy and the demolition of temples or their conversion into churches, have occasionally been touched upon; but pagan persecution in itself, in all its physical, artistic, social, political, intellectual and psychological dimensions, has not as yet formed the object of scholarly research.

scholarly journals On the classification of the reptilia

1916 ◽  
Vol 89 (615) ◽  
pp. 261-276 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Vertebral Column ◽  
The Other ◽  
Temporal Region ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Mode Of Life ◽  
Modern Classification ◽  
The One ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Exact Relationship

It is gradually becoming recognised that the class Reptilia is not a monophyletic group of diverging forms sprung from a common stem, like the class Aves or the class Mammalia; but is an assemblage containing, on the one hand, the ancestors of the Mammalia, and, on the other hand, the ancestors of the Birds, together with the early Amphibian-like Amniotes, which became adapted to a terrestrial mode of life. In fact, the Reptilia represent not a class but a grade of structure. This group includes a main stem leading from the Stegocephalian type to a central point of divergence of two main branches, one giving rise to the Birds, the other to the Mammals (as shown in the diagram, fig. 1). In addition, there are, of course, many abortive side twigs. Some day, no doubt, when the exact relationship of the various living and extinct reptiles has been more accurately determined, it will be necessary to split up the artificial group Reptilia, assigning some to the Mammalia and some to the Aves; but for the present we may be content with keeping the class Eeptilia, always remembering that it is a grade of ill-defined limits. The modern views of the phylogenetic relationships of the various orders of Eeptilia may be said to have arisen chiefly from the work of Cope and Baur, following on the conclusions of Huxley and other earlier authors. To the ingenuity of Cope we owe the valuable suggestion that the starting-point of the divergence between the Amphibia and the Eeptilia was determined by the structure of the vertebral column—the vertebral body being mainly derived from the hypocentrum in the former and from the pleurocentrum in the Amniota. Being thus provided with a means of distinguishing the early reptiles from their Amphibian relatives, the next step is to seek for characters enabling us to trace out the diverging lines among the Eeptilia themselves. Here again we are indebted to Cope (13), but more especially to Baur (1, 2) for pointing out the importance of the roofing of the skull in classification. Whereas the earliest and most primitive reptiles have, like their Amphibian ancestors, a roofing complete over the temporal region, this becomes pierced in others by one or two foramina. Thus are left one or two longitudinal temporal arches. The formation of the foramina or fossæ is generally accompanied by a reduction in the number of bones covering the hinder region of the skull. It is not my intention to enter into a detailed account of these points in this paper; they have been discussed by many authors, and are well understood. It will be sufficient for our present purpose to point out how profoundly the modern classification of the Amniota has been affected by their recognition.

Hagiography and Autobiography in the Late Antique West

2011 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
Peter Turner
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Person Perspective ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Classic Essay ◽  
Third Person Perspective ◽  
And Function ◽  
Holy Man

Peter Brown’s classic essay of 1971, ‘The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity’, is celebrated for applying the tools of sociology and anthropology to the study of late antique sanctity. It strove to remove holy men from the distorting literary texts through which we know them, and to place them instead in a rich context of everyday concerns. My starting point here, however, is not the essay itself but a no less interesting critique of it subsequently made by the author himself. In 1998, Brown offered a number of pieces of advice he would now give to a younger self embarking on the same topic. In 1971, he claimed, he had unwittingly colluded with the hagiographical texts by presenting holy men in dramatic, epic terms. Focusing on what holy men did for society, he had observed the phenomenon from a purely third-person perspective, and had neglected their own personal quest for sanctity. Although he had located the holy man’s activity in the everyday, he had effectively conceded that the ultimate locus of the holy man’s holiness — his superior understanding — was unknowable.

The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Biography

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
The One ◽  
Reference Tools ◽  
Reference Tool

Biography is one of the most widespread literary genres worldwide. This book offers the first wide-ranging, multi-authored survey on biography in Antiquity from its earliest representatives to Late Antiquity. It aims to be a broad introduction and a reference tool on the one hand, and to move significantly beyond the state-of-the-art on the other. To this dual end, it addresses conceptual questions about this sprawling genre, provides both in-depth readings of key-texts and diachronic studies, and deals with the reception of ancient biography in subsequent eras up to today. In addition, it approaches the concept of ancient biography more widely than other reference tools on the topic have done: it examines biographical depictions in different textual and visual media and provides outlines of biographical developments in ancient and late antique cultures other than the Graeco-Roman one.

scholarly journals In Search of the Patron: Late Antique Styles in Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Bente Kiilerich
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Public Monuments ◽  
The People ◽  
Visual Characteristics ◽  
The One

The people who commissioned artworks and monumental decorations in late antiquity are for the most part unknown. Even when names are recorded, it is often difficult to tell to what extent the demands of the patron determined the visual characteristics of a given work. Since styles were tied to workshop traditions and contentions, it can be argued that in most instances, the patron had but limited influence on stylistic properties. Evidence actually suggests that the style of a work often came about independently of the one who commissioned or purchased it. The style was conditioned by function and context. The article, therefore, proposes a functional paradigm for evaluating visual expressions, defining three main domains of representation: public monuments, religious programmes, and artworks. In search of the late antique patron, the conclusion reached is that the patron had most impact in the religious domain.

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