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.

scholarly journals Erindring og glemsel. Seminar i København 12. marts 2008

1970 ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Line Suhr Marschner
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Cultural Transition ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
Late Renaissance ◽  
With Memory

The concepts of memory and oblivion and their historical changeability were in focus at a seminar that took place in Copenhagen in March 2008. Through seven different presentations of this theme, it was shown how the acts of remembering and forgetting are active in the formation of new norms and of new cultural identities in periods of cultural transition such as late Antiquity and in the Reformation period. The four keynote speakers were Paul Connerton, who spoke on three types of forgetting; James M. Bradburne, who dealt with memory in action in Italian late- Renaissance gardens; Charles Hedrick Jr., whose presentation was on transformations of the damnatio memoriae practice between late Antique and early Christian culture; and finally Andrew Spicer, who considered the process of erasing the Catholic past in post-Reformation Scotland. 

Suffering and Sacrifice

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-76
Author(s):  
Sarah Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Late Antique ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Physical Suffering ◽  
The Status ◽  
Spiritual Self ◽  
And Function ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Relationship

This article offers the argument that suffering (yisurin) in the Babylonian Talmud functions as a locus for the relationship between God and rabbinic Jews. Scholars of rabbinic martyrdom and asceticism have tended to claim that the Talmud's positive portrayal of suffering is a theodical apology for unexplained evil in the world. However, the article argues that the Talmud—in contrast to earlier rabbinic texts—presents suffering as spiritually relevant not primarily to justify preexisting suffering, but rather to develop a site at which to interpret information about an individual's spiritual status. The article draws on theories of sacrifice's structure and function, in conjunction with close analysis of rabbinic texts that relate suffering to sacrifice. The pericope at the core of the article's argument demonstrates a strikingly technical approach to the human experience of suffering, describing four examples of yisurin in which no real physical suffering occurs; in each instance the “victim” experiences extremely mild discomfort at most, and at the least barely registers an experience of inconvenience. Nonetheless, these experiences all qualify as “suffering,” and are thus still understood to bear indisputable soteriological import. Physical suffering in the Talmud is thus open for interpretation, yielding information about the status of the sufferer's spiritual self. Human suffering is viewed as religiously desirable in both late rabbinic and early Christian literatures. By developing an understanding of its hermeneutical function for the rabbis, this article helps to elucidate the value of suffering for rabbinic literature as a subset of late antique religious discourse.

scholarly journals Did the Rabbis Believe in Agreus Pan? Rabbinic Relationships with Roman Power, Culture, and Religion inGenesis Rabbah63

2018 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-450
Author(s):  
Moshe Simon-Shoshan
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article presents a reading of the story of the Patriarch's meeting with the Emperor Diocletian as it appears in the late antique midrashic compilation,Genesis Rabbah. The story encapsulates the complexity of the relationship between the rabbis and Roman political, cultural and religious hegemony, showing the rabbis as both in eternal conflict with the Roman Empire and its culture and, yet, in many ways, very Roman themselves. In the second half of the article, I argue that this story presents a unique perspective on rabbinic views of both “demons” and the Olympian gods themselves. I conclude by comparing and contrasting these views with the approaches of early Christian thinkers.

The Comparative Study of “Scholasticism” in Late Antique Mesopotamia: Rabbis and East Syrians

AJS Review ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam H. Becker
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Great Distance ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Rabbinic Judaism ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Transmission Of Knowledge ◽  
History Of

Now is an appropriate time to reconsider the historiographical benefit that a comparative study of the East Syrian (“Nestorian”) schools and the Babylonian rabbinic academies may offer. This is attributable both to the recent, rapid increase in scholarship on Jewish–Christian relations in the Roman Empire and late antiquity more broadly, and to the return by some scholars of rabbinic Judaism to the issues of a scholarly exchange of the late 1970s and early 1980s about the nature of rabbinic academic institutionalization. Furthermore, over the past twenty years, scholars of classics, Greek and Roman history, and late antiquity have significantly added to the bibliography on the transmission of knowledge—in lay person's terms, education—in the Greco-Roman and early Christian worlds. Schools continue to be an intense topic of conversation, and my own recent work on the School of Nisibis and the East Syrian schools in general suggests that the transformations and innovations of late antiquity also occurred in the Sasanian Empire, at a great distance from the centers of classical learning, such as Athens, Alexandria, and Antioch. The recently reexamined East Syrian sources may help push the conversation about rabbinic academic institutionalization forward. However, the significance of this issue is not simply attributable to its bearing on the social and institutional history of rabbinic institutions. Such inquiry may also reflect on how we understand the Babylonian Talmud and on the difficult redaction history of its constituent parts. Furthermore, I hope that the discussion offered herein will contribute to the ongoing analysis of the late antique creation and formalization of cultures of learning, which were transmitted, in turn, into the Eastern (i.e., Islamic and “Oriental” Christian and Jewish) and Western Middle Ages within their corresponding communities.

Early Christian Art

Art History ◽  
2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Marsengill
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Art History ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Near East ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Byzantine Art ◽  
Christian Art ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
Art And Architecture

Early Christian art history encompasses a range of material loosely dated from the first known appearances of Christian art in the late 2nd or early 3rd century and continuing through the 6th, 7th, and sometimes even into the early 8th centuries. Early Christian art history, however, has proven to be an inchoate term, often overlapping with, or including, Early Byzantine art history. In previous divisions of the field, Early Byzantine art tended to be too politically confining when one considers cities such as Ravenna before and after its inclusion in the Eastern Byzantine Empire. On the other hand, Early Christian art implied only the earliest centuries, usually through the 4th or mid-5th centuries, and usually centered on Roman art. Thus, many scholars today favor the term Late Antique in order to integrate the study of art and architecture of the Eastern Roman Empire and Western Roman Empire as well as to understand Christian art in dialogue with Jewish and pagan art. In terms of dating, scholars generally acknowledge the genesis of Christian art and architecture around 200 ce, although some pursue theories that Christians participated in visual culture in the early 2nd century, if they had not yet developed a distinctly Christian visual language. In terms of geography, the eastern and western Mediterranean, Palestine and the Near East, and sometimes even northern Europe and Britain are all included. One result of this large geographical span has been the separation of Early Christian art in Rome, the Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt, the Near East, and so on. In the last decade or so, however, scholars have generally recognized a more cohesive Mediterranean world and a more fluid transition from Late Antiquity to medieval art and culture. Questions of continuity between these periods have ultimately made dating the end of “Early Christian” or “Late Antique” difficult, if not impossible. Most scholars see the end of Late Antiquity as coinciding with the death of Justinian I or, for the convenience of a rounded date, the year 600. Others argue the end of the period occurred at the beginning of the 7th century with the spread of Islam in the Near East and across North Africa. Byzantinists sometimes recognize the beginning of the iconoclastic controversy in 730 as the end of Late Antiquity. Accordingly, “true” Byzantine-era art begins after iconoclasm in the 9th century, what some refer to as the Middle Byzantine period, which marks the beginning of a distinguishable Byzantine state and extends until the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204, then followed by the Late Byzantine period (until 1453). Those who assert the continuity of Late Antique traditions in early Islamic art have recently broached the year 800 as the cut-off point.

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.

scholarly journals Resilience and livestock adaptations to demographic growth and technological change: A diachronic perspective from the Late Bronze Age to Late Antiquity in NE Iberia

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0246201
Author(s):  
Ariadna Nieto Espinet ◽  
Thomas Huet ◽  
Angela Trentacoste ◽  
Silvia Guimarães ◽  
Hector Orengo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Animal Production ◽  
Strong Interactions ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Archaeobotanical Remains ◽  
The Relationship

There are strong interactions between an economic system and its ecological context. In this sense, livestock have been an integral part of human economies since the Neolithic, contributing significantly to the creation and maintenance of agricultural anthropized landscapes. For this reason, in the frame of the ERC-StG project ’ZooMWest’ we collected and analyzed thousands of zooarchaeological data from NE Iberia. By considering these data in comparison with ecological indicators (archaeobotanical remains) and archaeological evidence (settlement characteristics and their distribution) this paper seeks to characterize changes in animal production and the relationship between people, livestock, and their environment. These methods allow for an investigation of the topic at different scales (site, zone, territory) with a broad diachronic perspective, and for consideration of orography and cultural traditions alongside climatic factors. Through this integration of various streams of evidence, we aim to better understand the structure of ancient economic systems and the way they conditioned human decision-making on animal production. Results show a shifting relationship with the territory between the Bronze Age and Late Antiquity, in which market requirements and an economic model with a higher degree of integration increasingly influenced husbandry strategies. These processes are reflected in changes in land use and forms of territorial occupation, although along different rhythms and trajectories.

History, Eschatology, and the Development of the Six Ages of the World

Augustinianum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-206
Author(s):  
John Joseph Gallagher ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Augustine Of Hippo ◽  
Salvation History ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The World ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Church

The sex aetates mundi constituted the defining framework for understanding biblical and salvation history in the Early Christian and Late Antique worlds. The origins of the idea that history can be divided into six epochs, each lasting roughly a thousand years, are commonly attributed to Augustine of Hippo. Although Augustine’s engagement with this notion significantly influenced its later popularity due to the prolific circulation of his works, he was by no means the sole progenitor of this concept. This bipartite study undertakes the first conspectus in English-speaking scholarship to date of the origins and evolution of the sex aetates mundi. Part I of this study traces the early origins of historiographical periodisation in writings from classical and biblical antiquity, taking account in particular of the role of numerology and notions of historical eras that are present in biblical texts. Expressions of the world ages in the writings of the Church Fathers are then traced in detail. Due consideration is afforded to attendant issues that influenced the six ages, including calendrical debates concerning the age of the world and the evolution of eschatological, apocalyptic, and millenarian thought. Overall, this article surveys the myriad intellectual and exegetical currents that converged in Early Christianity and Late Antiquity to create this sixfold historiographical and theological framework. The first instalment of this study lays the groundwork for understanding Augustine’s engagement with this motif in his writings, which is treated in Part II.

The Early Christian Heracles

2021 ◽  
pp. 521-539
Author(s):  
Alexandra Eppinger
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Wall Paintings ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Roman Villa

This chapter is a summary of the role of Hercules in late antique art and literature, with a special focus on how Christian clergy and laypersons perceived the hero. Using literary texts and archaeological finds as source material, it shows that Hercules was still ubiquitous in late antiquity, even though there was a quantitative decline of depictions of the hero in comparison with earlier periods. Both daily life and the sepulchral sphere are considered; examples of relevant archaeological finds include the mosaics from the Roman villa at Piazza Armerina, the cycle of reliefs of Hercules’ deeds from the villa of Chiragan (France), and the wall paintings in the catacomb on the Via Latina in Rome. Additionally, the late antique stage as a space where people were confronted with the Hercules myth in the form of highly popular pantomimes is addressed. The chapter concludes with a section on the treatment of Hercules in apologetic literature, with a focus on Lactantius and Tertullian; in this context, the topos of the hero’s effeminate behavior at Omphale’s court in particular is considered.

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