scholarly journals Ptolemaic Cavalrymen on Painted Alexandrian Funerary Monuments

Arts ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Sara E. Cole
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Northern Greece ◽  
Funerary Practices ◽  
Funerary Monuments ◽  
Geographic Origins ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Military Status

The multiethnic environment of Ptolemaic Alexandria resulted in cross-cultural transmission of funerary practices and associated material culture that introduced many traditions to Egypt from the Mediterranean world. Along with an influx of mercenaries serving in the Ptolemaic army came cultural and artistic knowledge from their places of origin, which they (or their families) incorporated into their burials. One motif, which appears on late 4th–3rd-century painted funerary monuments from Alexandria, is that of a soldier on horseback, alluding to images of the heroic hunter or warrior on horseback found in tombs in the regions of northern Greece. These Alexandrian monuments commemorated members of the Ptolemaic cavalry, some of whom are identified as Macedonian or Thessalian by accompanying Greek inscriptions. The image of a soldier astride his rearing horse not only emphasized the deceased’s military status, but also established a link with Macedonian and Ptolemaic royal iconography. This type of self-representation served a number of purposes: to signal the deceased’s cultural and geographic origins, demonstrate his elite role in Ptolemaic society and imply connections to the Ptolemaic court, all of which were important to the immigrant inhabitants of early Alexandria as they sought to express their identity in a new geographical, cultural, and political setting.

Diachronic trends in the evolution of civilizations in the Nile valley

2018 ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Элеонора Кормышева ◽  
Eleonora Kormysheva
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Social History ◽  
Contact Zone ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The Mediterranean

The diachronic trends in socio-economic and cultural development of the societies in the Nile valley are revealed based on the materials from Giza necropolis (the 3rd millennium BC) and the settlement of Abu Erteila (1st century AD). The research made it possible to trace the typological similarities in the evolution of the studied societies in cultural and historical contexts. The main fields of the research were epigraphy, iconography, social history, and material culture. Many previously unknown monuments discovered by Russian archaeologists in Egypt and Sudan were introduced into scientific discourse. The basis was created for studying the Nile valley as a contact zone between the Mediterranean world and Africa.

Mycenaean civilization

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Rutter
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Stages Of Development ◽  
Historical Reality ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The Mediterranean

Mycenaean civilization takes its name from the hilltop citadel of Mycenae in the Argolid, celebrated in Homer’s epics as “rich in gold” and the capital of Agamemnon. In 1876, Heinrich Schliemann, fresh from his excavations at Troy, which in his view had established the historical reality of the Greeks’ legendary siege and sack of that city, unearthed five astonishingly rich tombs at Mycenae and claimed them to contain the burials of Agamemnon and his followers, thus inaugurating the study of Greece’s Late Bronze Age (LBA) past. One and a half centuries of subsequent fieldwork have exposed the remains of hundreds of settlements and thousands of tombs characterized by the distinctive material culture termed Mycenaean that flourished for over six centuries (c. 1700–1050 bce). This lengthy duration of the mainland Greek LBA (better known as the Late Helladic [LH] or Mycenaean era) is conventionally subdivided into three major stages of development: pre-palatial or early Mycenaean (LH I–IIB; c. 1700–1425/1400 bce); palatial (LH IIIA1–LH IIIB2; c. 1425/1400–1200/1190 bce); and post-palatial (LH IIIC; c. 1200/1190–1050 bce). The regions within which Mycenaean material culture was dominant changed significantly as a function of time, as did the culture’s external contacts within the Mediterranean world and continental Europe.

scholarly journals Exploring the Efficacy of Comparative Bioarchaeological Approaches in Providing Answers on Marginality and Networking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitra Ermioni Michael ◽  
Linda Fibiger ◽  
Christina Ziota ◽  
Liana Gkelou ◽  
Barry Molloy
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Northern Greece ◽  
Funerary Practices ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Isotopic Analyses ◽  
Economic Marginality ◽  
Specific Community ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Intense Physical Activity

This paper investigates the efficacy of comparative bioarchaeological approaches in exploring the impact of economic marginality on human lifeways. Skeletal remains from the Late Bronze Age cemetery of Achlada in Northern Greece were chosen to address this, as this specific community was probably less well networked, evident in its location away from major communication routes and the paucity of grave goods at the site. A biocultural methodology combining comparative data on funerary practices and lifestyle was implemented. Sex differences were found within the community and seem to agree with the differential burial placement of the sexes possibly representing the different roles that society symbolically attributed to men and women in deathways. Comparative intercemetery data did not reveal poorer health and diet, or more intense physical activity, compared to well-networked sites. Nonetheless, Achlada, as well as numerous, mostly north communities of the wider context, probably faced more physiological challenges during growth, at least of a mild to moderate level, compared to a number of populations connected by major communication routes. The current study highlights the importance of implementing comparative bioarchaeological approaches as a means of identifying the impact of marginality on human lifeways, particularly in settings with limited material culture information.Limitations linked to preservation issues and the multifactorial nature of lifestyle indicators could be dealt with by future biomolecular and isotopic analyses. Η παρούσα εργασία έχει στόχο να διερευνήσει το κατά πόσο οι συγκριτικές βιοαρχαιολογικές προσεγγίσεις είναι εφικτό να δώσουν απαντήσεις ως προς την επίδραση της οικονομικής περιθωριοποίησης στον ανθρώπινο τρόπο διαβίωσης. Επιλέχθηκαν σκελετικά κατάλοιπα της Ύστερης Εποχής Χαλκού από το νεκροταφείο της Αχλάδας στη Βόρεια Ελλάδα ώστε να απαντηθεί το εν λόγω ερώτημα, καθώς η συγκεκριμένη κοινωνία -βάσει της θέσης της μακριά από τα μεγάλα δίκτυα επικοινωνίας και της παρουσίας πολύ λίγων ταφικών ευρημάτων-ήταν πιθανώς λιγότερο καλά δικτυωμένη. Ακολουθήθηκε μια συνδυαστική βιοπολιτισμική προσέγγιση συγκριτικών ταφικών δεδομένων και συγκριτικών αποτελεσμάτων δεικτών τρόπου διαβίωσης. Βρέθηκαν διαφορές μεταξύ των δύο φύλων στον εν λόγω πληθυσμό οι οποίες φαίνεται να συμφωνούν με την διαφορετική πλευρά κατάκλισής τους, η οποία πιθανώς να συμβόλιζε τη διαφορετικότητα των ρόλων που η κοινωνία απέδιδε σε άντρες και γυναίκες στο ταφικό περιβάλλον. Συγκριτικά αποτελέσματα μεταξύ νεκροταφείων δεν φανέρωσαν χαμηλότερο επίπεδο υγείας και διατροφής, ούτε πιο έντονη εργασιακή καταπόνηση, σε σχέση με καλά δικτυωμένες θέσεις. Παρόλα αυτά, η Αχλάδα, όπως και μια σειρά –κυρίως βόρειων- κοινωνιών τουευρύτερου πλαισίου, πιθανότητα αντιμετώπισαν περισσότερα φαινόμενα καταπόνησης (στρες) κατά τη διάρκεια της ανάπτυξης, τουλάχιστον ήπιου και μετρίου επιπέδου, συγκριτικά με καλύτερα δικτυωμένους πληθυσμούς. Η παρούσα εργασία τονίζει τη σημασία της εφαρμογής συγκριτικών βιοαρχαιολογικών προσεγγίσεων ως μέσο μελέτης της επίδρασης της περιθωριοποίησης στους ανθρώπινους πληθυσμούς, ιδιαιτέρως σε θέσεις με περιορισμένες πληροφορίες υλικού πολιτισμού. Μεθοδολογικοί περιορισμοί οι οποίοι συνδέονται με ζητήματα διατήρησης αλλά και με τον πολυπαραγοντικό χαρακτήρα των δεικτών τρόπου διαβίωσης, ενδεχομένως να αντιμετωπιστούν μέσω των επερχόμενων βιομοριακών και ισοτοπικών αναλύσεων. 

The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
A Current

The Phoenicians created the Mediterranean world as we know it-yet they remain a shadowy and poorly understood group. The academic study of the Phoenicians has come to an important crossroads; the field has grown in sheer content, sophistication of analysis, and diversity of interpretation, and we now need a current overview of where the study of these ancient seafarers and craftsman stands and where it is going. Moreover, the field of Phoenician studies is particularly fragmented and scattered. While there is growing interest in all things Phoenician and Punic, the latest advances are mostly published in specialized journals and conference volumes in a plethora of languages. This Handbook is the first of its type to appear in over two decades, and the first ever to appear in English. The chapters (organized in four parts) are written by a wide range of prominent and promising scholars from across Europe, North America, Australia, and the Mediterranean world, who offer readers summary studies and new perspectives on key historical moments (such as the history of Carthage), areas of culture (organized around language, religion, and material culture), regional studies and areas of contact (spanning from the Levant and the Aegean to Iberia and North Africa), and the reception of the Phoenicians as an idea, entangled with the formation of other cultural identities, both ancient and modern.

Tradition and Innovation in Textile Technology in Bronze Age Europe and the Mediterranean

Światowit ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-12
Author(s):  
Agata Ulanowska ◽  
Małgorzata Siennicka
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Textile Production ◽  
Textile Technology ◽  
Textile Manufacture ◽  
The Mediterranean

The papers collected in the present volume of the ‘Światowit’ journal examine developments in textile production in Bronze and Iron Age Europe and the Mediterranean by tracing both traditional and innovative elements in textile technology. The issue comprises 11 original contributions that resulted from the session ‘Tradition and Innovation in Textile Technology in Bronze Age Europe and the Mediterranean’ organised in 2016 by Agata Ulanowska and Małgorzata Siennicka during the 22nd Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists in Vilnius. The papers discuss available archaeological evidence of textiles, textile imprints, textile tools and textile iconography, as well as botanical and faunal remains related to textile manufacture and dyeing. The papers examine the types of social relations and cultural and economic processes which may have enhanced developments in textile technology and impacted on cross-cultural transmission of textile knowledge and skills in the Bronze and Iron Ages.

A Trait-Based Analysis of Structural Evolution in Prehistoric Monumental Burials of Southeastern Arabia

2019 ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Eugenio Bortolini
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Structural Evolution ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Funerary Practices ◽  
Diversity Measures ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

This work analyses change in prehistoric funerary structures and related material culture of Early Bronze Age eastern Arabia (Northern Oman and UAE, 3100-2000 BC) from the perspective of cultural evolutionary theory. By observing decorative and structural elements in monumental tombs and pottery, new hypotheses about the underlying mechanisms of cultural transmission can be explored. The main objective is to transcend the traditional dichotomy between early and late tomb types by creating an explanatory framework that looks at diachronic variation for inferring cultural processes. The research develops a new systematic description of burials and ceramics. Diversity measures are used to investigate the role played by human interaction/isolation and demography in determining adoption, replication, and systematic preference and persistence of the examined cultural variants. Results confirm that, for both tombs and ceramics, specific mechanisms are at work in different moments of time. Starting to research the processes underlying structural change allows for a reassessment of the current interpretation of prehistoric funerary practices and generates new hypotheses on the movement of people and ideas in a still largely unexplored context.

Spicing Wine at the Symposion: Fact or Fiction? Some Critical Thoughts on Material Aspects of Commensality in the Early Iron Age and Archaic Mediterranean World

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Alexandra Villing
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Interaction ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Wine Consumption ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Prime Function

Abstract Interpretations of metal graters and pottery tripod bowls as Leitfossils of a trans-Mediterranean ‘orientalizing’ culture of spiced-wine consumption have of late become a staple of scholarship on sympotic banqueting, shaping our perception of ancient wine-drinking and its role in cross-cultural interaction in the first half of the first millennium BC. Yet a closer look at the evidence for spiced wine and the use of graters casts serious doubt on assumptions of a widespread practice of adding ‘spices’ to wine during the Greek symposion and of the use of graters or tripod grinding bowls for such a purpose in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world. A more plausible scenario, it is argued, arises from the well-attested association of graters with cheese and other primarily culinary commodities. It sees the grater’s prime function and symbolic significance shift from a use in Early Iron Age ‘Homeric’ hospitality to becoming a tool in the increasingly complex cuisines associated with the Archaic and Classical banquet – an indicator of evolving Mediterranean commensality with no less of an international horizon, but a commensality that involved interaction and shared consumption beyond the narrowly sympotic.

Crossing the Pomerium

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Koortbojian
Keyword(s):  
Social Practices ◽  
Civic Life ◽  
Public Monuments ◽  
Religion And Law ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Military ◽  
The City

The ancient Romans famously distinguished between civic life in Rome and military matters outside the city—a division marked by the pomerium, an abstract religious and legal boundary that was central to the myth of the city's foundation. This book explores, by means of images and texts, how the Romans used social practices and public monuments to assert their capital's distinction from its growing empire, to delimit the proper realms of religion and law from those of war and conquest, and to establish and disseminate so many fundamental Roman institutions across three centuries of imperial rule. The book probes such topics as the appearance in the city of Romans in armor, whether in representation or in life, the role of religious rites on the battlefield, and the military image of Constantine on the arch built in his name. Throughout, the book reveals how, in these instances and others, the ancient ideology of crossing the pomerium reflects the efforts of Romans not only to live up to the ideals they had inherited, but also to reconceive their past and to validate contemporary practices during a time when Rome enjoyed growing dominance in the Mediterranean world. The book explores a problem faced by generations of Romans—how to leave and return to hallowed city ground in the course of building an empire.

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