scholarly journals The Sistrum and the Stick Rattles Sabayi and Sachi

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 73-91
Author(s):  
Long Fei [陇菲]
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Complex Sounds ◽  
Rapid Succession ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Healing Rituals ◽  
Evil Spirits ◽  
Heaven And Earth ◽  
Poisonous Animals

This paper gives a brief outline of inherited links between various instruments. In doing so, attention is given to their spread and transformation process from an ancient Egyptian sistrum to a different type of a stick rattle1, also known as xi-stick or xízhàng in Chinese. This instrument once existed during the middle ages. In the process of time however, its use was witnessed in the Uyghur’s’ sabayi, the sachi and further to the Vietnamese sinh tien and the Japanese suzu. These instruments can create a rapid succession of rattling and complex sounds, some of which simulating frogs croaking during tropical rainy seasons. Other sounds imitate the repeated thrum of rattlesnakes searching for a spouse. Depending on time and place, the former are linked with praying for rain and the latter with reproduction. Thus, the rattles this study discusses are, among others, used in prayers for fertility and rain, peace and safety, healing rituals (curing diseases), for longevity. Furthermore, these rattles are sounded to ward off evil spirits, exorcise plagues and to keep poisonous animals away. All these resemble the mythological connotation to the copulating of Fuxi and Nuwa. Hence, they belong to the specific worldviews closely connected with the importance of reproduction in early times of humankind. They all involve fertility, death, reincarnation, eternal life, and the function of triggering trance, in which people seem to feel connected with heaven and earth, deities or ancestors.

ISLAMIC COINS FROM EASTERN GIZA (EGYPT)

2020 ◽  
pp. 57-62
Author(s):  
E. Yu. Goncharov ◽  
◽  
S. E. Malykh ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Ancient Rock ◽  
Oriental Studies ◽  
The Middle Ages

The article focuses on the attribution of one gold and two copper coins discovered by the Russian Archaeological Mission of the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS in the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Giza. Coins come from mixed fillings of the burial shafts of the Ancient Egyptian rock-cut tombs of the second half of the 3rd millennium B.C. According to the archaeological context, the coins belong to the stages of the destruction of ancient burials that took place during the Middle Ages and Modern times. One of the coins is a Mamluk fals dating back to the first half of the 14th century A.D., the other two belong to the 1830s — the Ottoman period in Egypt, and are attributed as gold a buchuk hayriye and its copper imitation. Coins are rare for the ancient necropolis and are mainly limited to specimens of the 19th–20th centuries. In general, taking into account the numerous finds of other objects — fragments of ceramic, porcelain and glass utensils, metal ware, glass and copper decorations, we can talk about the dynamic nature of human activity in the ancient Egyptian cemetery in the 2nd millennium A.D. Egyptians and European travelers used the ancient rock-cut tombs as permanent habitats or temporary sites, leaving material traces of their stay.

Espiritus de Invierno

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-56
Author(s):  
Yannick Cormier
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Wild Man ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
Evil Spirits ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Middle Ages

In many parts of Europe and especially in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, and the Basque Country), archaic and mysterious figures regularly haunt carnival rites since the Middle Ages (but referring, according to some specialists like A. Darpeix, member of the historical and archaeological society of Perigord, to a distant shamanic and Neolithic antiquity). They are masks adorned with skins of animals, vegetables, and straw, surrounded by bells and bones, often crowned with horns and pieces of wood. Thus arises the wild man within modern paganism to symbolize the rebirth of nature emerging from winter. The figures are essentially ambiguous, at the crossroads of nature and culture. The masks always speak of the mysteries of existence: in traditional societies, they were or still are the figures of ancestors and spirits of the dead, that of protective or evil spirits.

“Take dragon’s blood and crush it to a fine powder”: recipes in the alchemical composite manuscript MS Gotha orient A. 1162

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Braun
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Fine Powder ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
The West ◽  
Dragon’S Blood ◽  
Transmission Of Knowledge ◽  
Healing Rituals ◽  
The Middle Ages

Abstract In the Middle Ages, the recipe was of central importance for the safeguarding and transmission of knowledge. This holds true for the scientific traditions of both the East and the West. Recipes have been transmitted in a multitude of manuscripts, either alone or in combination with other recipes and works. This article presents a collection of recipes for the production of inks that have been handed down in an alchemical collective manuscript. The collection also contains a recipe to ward off the pestilence. This combination of alchemy, healing rituals and ink production is more common than one might think. The question arises whether this is due to pure coincidence or whether such collections reflect a literary tradition?

7. Death

2021 ◽  
pp. 97-109
Author(s):  
Ian Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Eternal Life ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Religious Cult ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Attitudes To Death

‘Death’ describes ancient Egyptian attitudes to death and the cult of Osiris, looking at the tomb of King Djer at Abydos. The tomb has been regarded as the ultimate, quintessential royal funerary memorial: the mythical burial place of the god Osiris, whose entire religious cult was intimately connected with the concept of the dead king. The combination of Osiris's associations with fertility and death almost inevitably ensured that he became the ultimate god of resurrection. Thus, it became essential for the mummified body to be associated with Osiris in order to gain eternal life. Of course Egyptian mummification and Egyptian funerary beliefs are important areas of study within the broader subject of ‘death’.

scholarly journals Royal Divine Coronation Iconography. Preliminary Considerations

Arts ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Vagnoni
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Practical Reasons ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Visual Impact ◽  
Methodological Considerations ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Middle Ages

In recent decades, art historians have stressed the benefits of analysing medieval images and their contents within their specific context and, in particular, have underlined the importance of their visual impact on contemporary beholders to determine their functions and specific meanings. In other words, in the analysis of a medieval image, it has become fundamental to verify where it was collocated and whom it was aimed at, and which practical reasons it was made for (its visibility, fruition, and usability). As a result, new perspectives have been opened, creating an active historiographical debate about one of the most fascinating and studied iconographic themes of the Middle Ages: the royal divine coronation. Hence, there has been a complete rethinking of the function and meaning of this iconographic theme. For instance, the divine coronation of the king might not symbolically allude to his earthly power but to the devotional hope of receiving the crown of eternal life in the afterworld. Moreover, in the specific case of some Ottonian and Salian illuminations, historiographers have proposed that their function was not only celebrative (a manifesto of the political ideologies that legitimized power), but also liturgical and religious. This paper places this topic in a historiographical framework and provides some preliminary methodological considerations in order to stimulate new research.

scholarly journals Can Estragole in Fennel Seed Decoctions Really Be Considered a Danger for Human Health? A Fennel Safety Update

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Gori ◽  
E. Gallo ◽  
V. Mascherini ◽  
A. Mugelli ◽  
A. Vannacci ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Essential Oil ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
Mature Fruit ◽  
Foeniculum Vulgare ◽  
Mediterranean Areas ◽  
Snake Bites ◽  
Evil Spirits

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgareMill.) mature fruit (commonly known as seeds) and essential oil of fennel are widely used as flavoring agents in food products such as liqueurs, bread, cheese, and an ingredient of cosmetics and pharmaceutical products. Moreover fennel infusions are the classical decoction for nursing babies to prevent flatulence and colic spasm. Traditionally in Europe and Mediterranean areas fennel is used as antispasmodic, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, secretomotor, secretolytic, galactagogue, eye lotion, and antioxidant remedy and integrator. Topically, fennel powder is used as a poultice for snake bites. In Asian cultures fennel was ingested to speed the elimination of poisons. As one of the ancient Saxon people's nine sacred herbs, fennel was credited with the power to cure. Fennel was also valued as a magic herb: in the Middle Ages it was draped over doorways on Midsummer's Eve to protect the household from evil spirits. Recently because of estragole carcinogenicity, fennel has been charged to be dangerous for humans especially if used as decoction for babies. But this allegation do not consider the remedy is prepared as a matrix of substances, and recent researches confirm that pure estragole is inactivated by many substance contained in the decoction.

scholarly journals EGYPTOLOGIST Ye. V. CHEREZOV (1912-1988) AND HIS SCIENTIFIC LEGACY

2019 ◽  
pp. 27-30
Author(s):  
A. Kotsur
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Scientific Heritage ◽  
Scientific Legacy ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Land Relations ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of

The article deals with Yevgeniy Vikentiyovych Cherezov, the most important milestones of his life, with his scientific and pedagogical activity as well-known Ukrainian Egyptian, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, long time head of the Department of History of the Ancient World and Middle Ages of Chernivtsi University. The focus is on poorly researched pages of biography of a scientist and teacher. Separately are analyzed his scientific works, in particular, concerning Ancient Egypt. The scientist’s publication has been characterized the problems of decoding of Egyptian hieroglyphs on sphinxes; land relations; the situation of ancient Egyptian slaves and various categories of peasants; tax system; the classification and description of agricultural tools of Ancient Egypt; development of fisheries; economy and state system of the period of the Ancient kingdom and others like that. The article focuses on the monograph by Ye. Cherezov "Agriculture Engineering in Ancient Egypt". An assessment is given on the scientific heritage of the prominent Ukrainian Egyptologist.

Towards a Comparative Approach to Demonology in Antiquity: The Case of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Lucarelli
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
New York University ◽  
General Introduction ◽  
International Conference ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Evil Spirits ◽  
And Function

Abstract This essay provides a general introduction to demonology in antiquity as well as a focus on ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. It is also meant as an introduction to those papers which were originally presented at the international conference titled “Evil Spirits, Monsters and Benevolent Protectors: Demonology in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia,” held on April 23, 2012 at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World of New York University, contained in the first section of this volume. Questions of the definition and function of demons in ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations are raised and discussed in light of a comparative approach to the study of ancient religions.

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