scholarly journals Geological Materials in Late Antique Archaeology: The Lithic Lectern Throne of the Christian Syrian Churches

Heritage ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 1883-1898
Author(s):  
Giovanna Bucci
Keyword(s):  
Late Antique ◽  
Geological Materials ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Geological Context

The geological materials used in early Christian Syrian churches involve a lithic furnishing element: the lectern throne of the Syriac bema, a stone device used as a support for the holy books. Some inscriptions found in Syria suggest an interpretation for this artifact, located in the middle of the Syriac bema hemicycle, fronting the altar zone. These elements were made of basalt or limestone, depending on the geographical–geological context of the building. In this work, an unedited classification of the main typologies of thrones is proposed with a collatio between geo-archaeological data, epigraphic texts, mosaic inscriptions, literary sources, and findings. The role of this uncommon piece of furniture, uncertain up to now, is explained with a new interpretation coming from archaeological–architectural data combined with ancient sources. The study thus locates this architectonical sculpture in the building stratigraphy and also describes decorations from the lecterns, thus contributing to chronology analysis of published and unedited Syrian sites.

Amulets and the Ritual Efficacy of Christian Symbols

2019 ◽  
pp. 349-366
Author(s):  
Rangar H. Cline
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
Insight Into

Although “magical” amulets are often overlooked in studies of early Christian material culture, they provide unique insight into the lives of early Christians. The high number of amulets that survive from antiquity, their presence in domestic and mortuary archaeological contexts, and frequent discussions of amulets in Late Antique literary sources indicate that they constituted an integral part of the fabric of religious life for early Christians. The appearance of Christian symbols on amulets, beginning in the second century and occurring with increasing frequency in the fourth century and afterward, reveals the increasing perception of Christian symbols as ritually potent among Christians and others in the Roman Empire. The forms, texts, and images on amulets reveal the fears and hopes that occupied the daily lives of early Christians, when amulets designed for ritual efficacy if not orthodoxy were believed to provide a defense against forces that would harm body and soul.

The role of late antique art in early Christian worship: a reconsideration of the iconography of the ‘starry sky’ in the ‘Mausoleum’ of Galla Placidia

2010 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 193-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Swift ◽  
Anne Alwis
Keyword(s):  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Worship

Attingendo alla nozione di Jaś Elsner della ‘visione mistica’ e le contestuali fonti scritte che descrivono la decorazione degli interni della chiesa e l'importanza simbolica della luce e delle stele nell'esegesi paleocristiana, questo articolo riesamina le volte mosaicate con cieli stellati, principalmente quelle all'interno del cosiddetto ‘Mausoleo’ di Galla Placidia a Ravenna. Esso enfatizza il ruolo attivo dello schema decorativo nella tarda antichità; e il ruolo dell'arte non solo come esemplificazione, ma anche come mediazione del culto paleocristiano. La proposta avanzata è che gli effetti visivi esibiti dai mosaici sono strumenteli nel creare una particolare relazione con lo spettatoie antico, relazione in cui le stelle potevano essere state viste non solo come una rappresentazione del cielo, ma come una concreta manifestazione del potere raggiante dei santi nel loro ruolo di intermediari tra la terra e il paradise.

TEMPLES IN LATE ANTIQUE GAUL

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-193
Author(s):  
Penelope J. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Late Antique ◽  
Sacred Architecture ◽  
Financial Difficulties ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
The Military

Literary sources emphasise the role of Christian iconoclasts and churchbuilders in the demise of Gaul’s pagan temples. But the picture from archaeology is different, since excavated remains suggest that the main story is one of voluntary abandonment from the late 3rd c. A.D. onwards. This may be linked with the military upheavals of the period, but indirectly, due to factors such as financial difficulties and the changing priorities of the elite. Meanwhile, the imperial adoption of Christianity and the beginnings of official hostility towards pagan religion had little impact, because by the time they came into effect, the heyday of pagan sacred architecture in Gaul had passed.

scholarly journals Recent development in preparation of food packaging films using biopolymers

Food Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 12-22
Author(s):  
S. Suresh ◽  
C. Pushparaj ◽  
R. Subramani
Keyword(s):  
Shelf Life ◽  
Food Packaging ◽  
Edible Films ◽  
Packaging Films ◽  
Food Industries ◽  
Plastic Materials ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Food Packaging Films

In the past decades, most materials used in the food packaging industry are nonbiodegradable materials that pose increased environmental concerns and sustainability issues. Hence, polymer-based biodegradable materials and edible films have been developed to increase the shelf life of food products. Especially, biopolymer-based nanomaterials are engineered with multifunctional characteristics because of their size, surface area, shelf life, thermal stability, and mechanical and barrier strength. These materials display enriched properties of biodegradability, antimicrobial activity, and biocompatibility and may have the possibility to replace plastic materials in future. Thus, this review offers a brief overview of the classification of biopolymers, key parameters that are important in food packaging films (including the role of plasticizers, cross-linkers, pH, temperature, and relative humidity), and recent applications of novel biopolymer nanocomposite materials used in the food industries.

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.

Commentaries

2019 ◽  
pp. 169-186
Author(s):  
Josef Lössl
Keyword(s):  
Late Antique ◽  
Augustine Of Hippo ◽  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Biblical Commentary ◽  
Origen Of Alexandria ◽  
History Of ◽  
Commentary Tradition

This chapter offers an introduction to the origins, main characteristics, and some main representatives of the early Christian biblical commentary. It outlines the emergence of the biblical and Late Antique philosophical commentary from the context of the late Hellenistic and early post-Hellenistic study of grammar and rhetoric (e.g. in Homeric scholarship), and discusses the role of Origen of Alexandria as the main theorist and practitioner of the early Christian biblical commentary, including Origen’s treatment of commentary topics (topoi) and his conceptualization of his commentarial activity as a form of Christian philosophy, or science. It then continues with an overview of the history of the early Christian biblical commentary after Origen, touching upon the history of the Antiochene school of exegesis and upon the Latin commentary tradition culminating in Jerome of Stridon and Augustine of Hippo.

„Mein Gott, mein Gott, zu dir erhebe ich mich in der Früh‟ – Zwei Psalmpassagen in Inschriften aus Tyros und in der patristischen Tradition

2015 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-255
Author(s):  
Andreas Victor Walser
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Literature ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

A revision of several painted inscriptions discovered in a late antique chamber tomb in Tyre shows that they recorded verses from two Psalms (3, 6 and 62, 2-3), both not otherwise attested epigraphically. The article subsequently examines how these verses were received and interpreted in early Christian literature and by the Greek Fathers of the Church: The popular verse 6 of Psalm 3, with its reference to sleep and awakening, was understood by most—but not all—commentators as a reference to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The less famous first verses of Psalm 62 were usually just read as an expression of the longing for God. The juxtaposition of these two Psalms, which share the liturgical role of Morning Psalms, suggests that the verses from Psalm 62 as well as the one from Psalm 3 were understood as referring to the resurrection and used to express the deceased’s belief in salvation.

Raiders Activity on the Market for Corporate Control as a Product of Coercive Entrepreneurship Evolution

2007 ◽  
pp. 80-92
Author(s):  
A. Kireev
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Control ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Market For Corporate Control ◽  
Basic Characteristics

The paper studies the problem of raiders activity on the market for corporate control. This activity is considered as a product of coercive entrepreneurship evolution. Their similarities and sharp distinctions are shown. The article presents the classification of raiders activity, discribes its basic characteristics and tendencies, defines the role of government in the process of its transformation.

The issue of radioactive contamination in context of ecosystem services development

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Chobotko ◽  
L. Raychuk ◽  
I. McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Type Region ◽  
State Register ◽  
Agrarian Policy ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Radiation Contamination ◽  
Logical Research

The aim of the article was to defi ne the role of the radioactive environment contamination in the formation of ecosystem services strategy. Methods. Monographic, systemic and structural, factor analysis, abstract and logical research methods have been used. The data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, materials of scientifi c researches, international materials and reports and other literary sources on the issues investigated have been used as an information base. Results. Retrospective analysis of sources and state of radioactive eco- systems contamination was conducted and the priority steps in developing the concept of ecosystem services in conditions of radiation contamination were found. Conclusions. The current socio-ecological paradigm of the transition from environmental use to environmental management should be refl ected in the relevant envi- ronmental management mechanisms. Currently, when assessing the state of ecosystem services in Ukraine and worldwide one must take into account the changes in food demand of residents of radioactively contaminated areas, the exploitation of radioactively safe ecosystems growth, their overload and degradation. All of this re- quires an inventory of ecosystem services by type, region, consumers, etc. and the formation of a state register of ecosystem services with a clear assignment of area of responsibility for appropriate natural ecosystems. This will help to make the economic evaluation of different ecosystem services and mechanisms of charges for ecosystem services.

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