Perceptions of the Past in the Early Middle Ages

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosamond McKitterick
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
The Past

scholarly journals Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos on Croats in Early Medieval Southern Pannonia (DAI, c. 30, 75–78): A Note on Concept and Method of Byzantine History Writing

2021 ◽  
pp. 24-43
Author(s):  
Hrvoje Gračanin
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
History Writing ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
The Past ◽  
Literary Device ◽  
C 30 ◽  
The One

The paper endeavours to discuss anew a scholarly puzzle related to the Croatian early Middle Ages and centred on a few lines from Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos’s De administrando imperio, which in English translation are as follows: And of the Croats who arrived to Dalmatia one part separated and ruled Illyricum and Pannonia. And they also had an independent ruler who was sending envoys, though only to the ruler of Croatia from friendship. Taking a different approach from the complete dismissal of the two sentences as a pure fiction or a mere literary device, the paper instead attempts to trace the concept behind this account as well as its underlying meaning. On the one hand, it seeks to detect the methods or strategies used by the royal compiler in trying to elucidate the past. On the other hand, it aims to provide a thorough historical analysis and offer a possible interpretation in opposition to the view, still largely extant in the Croatian scholarship, that this account is an evidence for an early presence of the group called Croats in southern Pannonia.

Sutri (Sutrium) (Notes on Southern Etruria, 3)

1958 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 63-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Original Work ◽  
Small Town ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Town

The modern town of Sutri lies 50 km. north of Rome, beside the Via Cassia, on the site of the ancient Sutrium (pl. X, a, b). It was already in existence in Etruscan times, passed to the Romans at the beginning of the fourth century b.c., was twice colonised by them and reached a peak of prosperity under the early Empire. It continued to flourish in the early Middle Ages, but a rapid decline set in after the fourteenth century and the town to-day is comparatively modest and unimportant.The following report is concerned mainly with the ancient town and with a typical area of the surrounding countryside (7 km. × 12 km. in extent), as it was in Etruscan and Roman times (fig. 1, p. 64). It is chiefly a record of the archaeological remains found in the area during five months' fieldwork in the winter and spring, 1957–1958, undertaken as part of the British School's current programme of survey in southern Etruria, which is designed to record permanently such remains before they disappear for ever, as they are fast doing.The antiquities of the ancient town itself are already well known and have been described several times in the past. But, apart from occasional references to isolated finds and an attempt towards the end of the last century to map the ancient roads, the countryside outside the town has never been properly explored. The bulk of the original work, therefore, lies in sections III and IV. The Etruscan and the Roman roads have been located, as far as is possible, and all the sites which are still to be found have been recorded. In certain areas present-day woodland concealed a few, notably round the small town of Bassano di Sutri and towards the summit of M. Calvi, south of Sutri, and cultivation in the immediate vicinity of the modern towns may have destroyed a few more, especially near Ronciglione; but at the most it is probable that only about 20 sites were lost or missed in this way, as opposed to a total recorded of some 220. Except for woodland, all the ground within the limits of the area chosen was walked over and examined.

Perceptions of the Past in the Early Middle Ages

2008 ◽  
Vol CXXIII (504) ◽  
pp. 1284-1284
Author(s):  
C. Leyser
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
The Past

scholarly journals Millennia of continuity in the votive behaviour of Europeans The testimony of tools for determining the value of metal Tisíciletá kontinuita votivního chování Evropanů Svědectví nástrojů k určení jakosti kovu

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-348
Author(s):  
Martin Ježek
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Precious Metals ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
False Image ◽  
Hallstatt Period

Archaeology has a great deal of experience with how the misinterpretation of finds creates a false image of the past. The main reason for this is down to ideologically-conditioned stereotypes. The paper describes one such case involving hundreds of thousands of finds of one type of artefact, commonly classified as whetstones, pendants, amulets, etc., from the Chalcolithic up to the Early Middle Ages. The article emphasises that although touchstones from ancient burials had already been identified using an electron microscopy half a century ago, the interpretation of these finds corresponding to the paradigm from the early 19th century remains popular to this day. For the chemical microanalysis of metal traces preserved on the surface of these stone artefacts, samples were selected from Russian, Slovakian, Swedish and Ukrainian sites, from the Hallstatt period up to the Early Middle Ages, with special regard for their previous interpretation history. However, the main aim is to point out the symbolic role of tools used to test the value of precious metals outside the grave context. Finds from wet environments in particular reveal the continuity of the behaviour of European over the millennia, regardless of the current ideology or cult, and the diversity of artefacts that were, and still are, chosen as a medium for votive behaviour.

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