scholarly journals Methods of expressing religious beliefs through sacred numbers in the architecture and sport of Zurkhaneh

Author(s):  
Nima Deimary ◽  
Mohammad Mohammadi

Ancient sports, dating to the size of the history of Mithraism, have undergone many changes throughout history and have been mixed with Sufism and Shiism. As a result of these developments, Zurkhaneh's building also has a distinct root in the Islamic era by preserving patterns of the ancient world. The structure and its components are based on beliefs and sentiments that have been exhibited in different shapes in the architecture of Zurkhaneh building throughout history, holding symbolic concepts like sacred numbers. As in other examples of Iranian architecture, it has played a major role in the formation of architecture and sports of Zurkhaneh. Examples like the octagonal Field of Zurkhaneh, which is a symbol of the eight gates of Paradise and commemorating the eighth Shiite Imam, and the dome is a symbol of unity. This research tries to investigate the effect of sacred numbers on formation of archery sports and Zurkhaneh architecture by using a descriptive and analytic approach and using library documents and resources.

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stavros Yannopoulos ◽  
Christos Yapijakis ◽  
Asimina Kaiafa-Saropoulou ◽  
George Antoniou ◽  
Andreas N. Angelakis

Sanitation and hygiene technologies have existed in ancient Hellas since the Bronze Age (ca. 3200–1100 bc), when extensive sewerage and drainage and other elaborate sanitary structures were known in Minoan palaces and towns. Classical and Hellenistic periods should be considered as the most progressive eras in the design of sanitary engineering. At that time anatomically shaped toilet seats are found in several sites since many private houses and public buildings have them. As cities grew in size the pressure of larger populations resulted in the construction of communal toilets with seats that were more densely packed together. Drainage and sewerage systems and sanitary installations reflect high cultural and technological levels and they are associated with contemporary observations and ideas about hygiene and medicine. Before the Hellenic advances, medicine was entirely confined to religious beliefs and metaphysical rituals. In the early Roman period, the knowledge of the ancient world on hygienic matter was incorporated in legislative rules. Despite the weakening of this legislation through the ages, the sanitation practices kept being applied even via a technical tradition of the masons. Later various rulers of the Hellenic world (Europeans or Ottomans), introduced their practices (traditional/scientific) sanitation in the greater Helladic regions.


We often assume that works of visual art are meant to be seen. Yet that assumption may be a modern prejudice. The ancient world - from China to Greece, Rome to Mexico - provides many examples of statues, paintings, and other images that were not intended to be visible. Instead of being displayed, they were hidden, buried, or otherwise obscured. In this third volume in the Visual Conversations in Art & Archaeology series, leading scholars working at the intersection of archaeology and the history of art address the fundamental question of art's visibility. What conditions must be met, what has to be in place, for a work of art to be seen at all? The answer is both historical and methodological; it concerns ancient societies and modern disciplines, and encompasses material circumstances, perceptual capacities, technologies of visualization, protocols of classification, and a great deal more. The emerging field of archaeological art history is uniquely suited to address such questions. Intrinsically comparative, this approach cuts across traditional ethnic, religious, and chronological categories to confront the academic present with the historical past. The goal is to produce a new art history that is at once cosmopolitan in method and global in scope, and in doing so establish new ways of seeing - new conditions of visibility - for shared objects of study.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hou Yuxin

Abstract The Wukan Incident attracted extensive attention both in China and around the world, and has been interpreted from many different perspectives. In both the media and academia, the focus has very much been on the temporal level of the Incident. The political and legal dimensions, as well as the implications of the Incident in terms of human rights have all been pored over. However, what all of these discussions have overlooked is the role played by religious force during the Incident. The village of Wukan has a history of over four hundred years, and is deeply influenced by the religious beliefs of its people. Within both the system of religious beliefs and in everyday life in the village, the divine immortal Zhenxiu Xianweng and the religious rite of casting shengbei have a powerful influence. In times of peace, Xianweng and casting shengbei work to bestow good fortune, wealth and longevity on both the village itself, and the individuals who live there. During the Wukan Incident, they had a harmonizing influence, and helped to unify and protect the people. Looking at the specific roles played by religion throughout the Wukan Incident will not only enable us to develop a more meaningful understanding of the cultural nature and the complexity of the Incident itself, it will also enrich our understanding, on a divine level, of innovations in social management.


1876 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 364-415
Author(s):  
George Harris

Thereis nothing which contributes more fully to throw light on the manners and habits of a people, or more forcibly to exhibit to us the tone of thought which prevailed among them, than the rites and ceremonies that they adopted connected with their religion. And the wilder and more extravagant the superstitions which in such a nation prevailed, the more strikingly do they evince the tone of thought and feeling that animated the people. Potent everywhere, and under whatever phase, as was the influence of these notions, they served in each case to develop the whole mind and character of the nation; as each passion, and emotion, and faculty, were exerted to the very utmost on a subject of such surpassing interest to them all. Imagination here, relieved from all restraint, spread her wings and soared aloft, disporting herself in her wildest mood; and the remoter the period to which the history of any particular country reaches, and the more barbarous the condition in which the people existed, the more striking, and the more extraordinary to us, appear the superstitions by which they were influenced. Human nature is by this means developed to the full, all its energies are exerted to the utmost, and the internal machinery by which its movements are impelled, is stimulated to active operation. We gaze with wonder and with awe upon the spectacle thus exhibited. However involuntarily, we respect a people—misguided and erring as they were—whose eagerness to follow whatever their conscience prompted, urged them to impose such revolting duties on themselves; while we regard, with pity and with horror, those hideous exploits which were the fruit of that misguided zeal.


2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 1151-1159
Author(s):  
François Velde

Herein, I review Peter Temin’s book, The Roman Market Economy, and take the occasion to alert economists to the exciting work that is being done and could be done in the economic history of the ancient world. (JEL C80, N01, N13, N73)


1912 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 417
Author(s):  
W. S. Ferguson ◽  
George Willis Botsford
Keyword(s):  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document