Period-specific differences of style in Haribhaṭṭa’s “Garland of Jātakas” and in the “Avadāna-Śataka” (based on the deer jātaka)

The article examines the evolution of style traced in Sanskrit literature during the development of the genre of jātaka – the story of a previous life of Buddha – at an early stage of the genre's existence, represented by the anonymous collection “Avadāna-Śataka” (around 2nd century AD), and at the stage of the developed author literature, an example of which is the “Garland of Jātakas” by Haribhaṭṭa (4th to 5th centuries AD). The pre-literary jātaka in the Pali language is fairly well studied, while the literary works we consider here, being significant for the tradition, have hardly been studied in Russian science at all. Consideration of “Avadāna-Śataka” was carried out using the approaches of epic studies applied by Pavel Grintser to the “Mahābhārata” and “Rāmāyana”, which allowed us to reveal here the traces of the formulaic style characteristic of the oral existence of texts. These traces, however, are residual and indicate the stylisation of the text to the oral style of the pre-literary jātakas included in the Buddhist canon. In general, the text style is simple and monotonous; repetitions, catalogues and formulae are often found in it. We find a clear contrast to this picture in Haribhaṭṭa’s “Garland of Jātakas”, where features of the high court Sanskrit literature of the classical period (4th to 5th centuries AD) are obvious, to which this work has been proved to belong by indirect evidence. The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the two literary works from the standpoint of historical poetics.

The Rock-Carved Tumulus of Nikon in Tisna

Tisna, one of the lesser-known ancient cities of the Aeolis region, has been studied in detail since 2018. The first studies carried out in the region since the end of the 19th century localized the region in the Kocakale Tepe - Sarıkale Tepe - Mantar Tepe triangle as Tisna. It is understood that the center of the city is Sarıkale Tepe. The name Tisna first appears on the coins of the 4th century BC in the region. From the Roman era, the city is called Titanus. One of the most important features of the city is that it is surrounded by necropoleis. There are different types of tombs in the necropoleis, especially located on the southern and western slopes. One of these tomb types is the Tumuli. However, as a result of our investigation, it was understood that these tumuli had a different structure from the classic tumuli. We named this type of tomb, in which a rock tomb is covered with a masonry hill, the Rock-Carved Tumulus. The subject of this article is Nikon's rock-carved tumulus, which is understood to be one of such tombs in the region. Our evaluations on the tomb, which has a unique feature in terms of construction technique, indicate that it must belong to the Late Classical period, perhaps to the early 4th century.

Tending Immanence, Transcending Sectarianism: Plane of Mixed Castes and Religions

The attempt in this article is to extrapolate the notion of hybridity latent in B. R. Ambedkar’s reflections on mixed castes, and outcastes, which subsequently leads to the causal link that he then derives gesticulating to social evils, namely, the origin of untouchability. Whether this embryonic notion of hybridity present in Ambedkar’s work is amenable to the extrapolation of Dalit identity thought along the lines of Gilles Deleuze’s notion of “immanent mixtures” is a thread that this study pursues. This certainly has broad implications for the prevalent notions of Dalit identity. This study ventures to read Ambedkar’s work, Riddles in Hinduism (1987) alongside Deleuze, probing into the intuitive link between notions of hybridity and the plane of immanence. Ideological distancing from predetermined categories of identity considered to be reductive in nature by the intellectuals of Indian philosophical thinking view such predetermined notions as facile conceptions that run short of representative qualities of complex and varied particularities of reasoned engagement with one’s resources. Amartya Sen heralded this ideological position in his work titled, The Argumentative Indian (2006), in favor of heterodoxy and reasoned choice determining priorities between different identities. Lacunae regarding identification of resources prominent in Sen’s work is pointed out by Jonardon Ganeri, who hails from the cluster of contemporary Sanskritists competent in philological and theoretical exegesis of “sastric” philosophical literature from the classical period of India. This study is a close reading of Jonardon Ganeri’s concept of ‘resources within’ which he develops in his work, Identity as Reasoned Choice (2012) to examine the potentiality of this concept to advance a theoretical framework that could counter a sectarian view of Indian tradition, as it is professed at the outset of his work. Sectarianism, which Ganeri opposes, identifies mysticism to be its chief trait which he shows to be selectively usurping only those resources grounded in Vedantic wisdom from India’s past.

Theognis’ Unoriginal Didactic Failure

Section 1 argues that Theognis embodies a robust conception of literary authorship and that his authorial unoriginality is inextricable from his moral authority. Section 2 interprets Theognis’ failure to instruct Cyrnus as integral to his didactic message and as part of a strategy whereby the poet’s relationship to his addressee prefigures his relationship to larger audiences. An appendix provides a statistical analysis of the citation history of the Theognidea and argues that at some point after the classical period an original collection was supplanted by something like the strange text that we read today.

Contextualizing four-stage legal transitions in convergent evolution

Summary This article posits that both Roman and early Chinese states underwent four stages in their multiple-step transformations from local states to major empires during the classical period. For both states, at stage 2, one dominant state formed alliance with a group of smaller autonomous polities, and at stage 3 that dominant state deepened its regulation of the smaller polities whose autonomy was curtailed. There existed striking similarities between Rome and China (early Han Empire) at stages 2 and 3 regarding the constitutional rules enforced by the two central governments to control the newly-acquired subordinate territories, which were the Macedonian/Greek states for Rome and the vassal kingdoms in eastern territories for Han Empire. In particular, this article discusses: (i) why Macedonian/Greek states have been chosen for comparative studies; (ii) similar constitutional rules at stage 2 governing the two empires’ relationships with their subordinate polities; (iii) similar legal rules at stage 3 aiming at dividing up the territories of the subordinate polities and restraining their self-rule; (iv) similar stage-3 constitutional rules that preserved some autonomy for the subordinate polities; and (v) similar stage-3 legal rules that regulated certain economic activities of the subordinate polities. After analyzing Roman governance of Macedonia/Greece within the broader context of Roman institutions for territorial integration, the article explores the underlying trends and deeper mechanism that led to such convergent evolution of legal rules.

Overview of the charts representing eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea through centuries and a comparison of Piri Reis symbology usage with an INT 1 content

An overview of the charts of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea is given. It was explained the way Adriatic Sea is spreading in accordance to Mediterranean Sea. Its importance throughout history of Europe was emphasised. Through centuries there were different maps of Europe and Mediterranean Sea. Important graphical representation were also charts/portolans which were a strong help in vessels navigation. In classical period peripluses were drawn and used mostly by Greeks for navigation. Two very famous works representing coast of the Adriatic Sea – Geography of Claudius Ptolemy and Tabula Peutingeriana were explained. Most of the paper is dedicated to portolans and their usage for navigation on eastern Adriatic coast. An overview of most important cartographers of portolans was given. In detail was described Ottoman cartographer of portolans Piri Reis. His symbology usage was analysed and compared to Symbols and abbreviations used on charts (INT 1) content.

FORTRESS WALLS WITH USABLE INTRA-WALL SPACE IN BACTRIAN FORTIFICATIONS

На примере крепости Узундара рассматривается такой элемент фортификации, как крепостные стены с внутристенным эксплуатируемым пространством. Анализ конструктивных особенностей образца позволяет внести предложение в неустоявшуюся терминологию, существующую в литературе и относимую к данному виду фортификации. Предлагается выделять: монолитные стены и стены с внутристенным эксплуатируемым пространством. Многочисленные аналогии в архитектуре Бактрии и соседних историко-культурных регионов еще раз подчеркнули особенную близость фортификации Бактрии и Хорезма. Рассмотрение десятков памятников с использованием двойных стен в хронологическом срезе всего античного периода требует внести поправку в устоявшееся в науке мнение о магистральном переходе в эпоху эллинизма к монолитным стенам. Использование крепостных стен с внутристенным эксплуатируемым пространством в фортификации и эллинистических и кушанских крепостей и городов позволяет утверждать, что возводились они по необходимости и возможности и в зависимости от десятков разнообразных факторов. Taking the Uzundara fortress as a case study, the paper reviews a specific element of fortification, which is fortress walls with usable intra-wall space. The analysis of technical design of the construction helps clarify some terms used in literature to describe this type of fortifications. It is proposed to single out monolithic walls and walls with intra-wall usable space. Multiple analogies in Bactrian architecture and neighboring historical and cultural regions reiterate special similarity of fortifications in Bactria and Khwarazm. The review of dozens of sites with the use of double walls chronologically throughout the Classical period requires changes to be made in the established opinion that in the Hellenic period the shift to monolithic walls occurred across the board. The use of fortress walls with intra-wall usable space in fortifications and Hellenistic and Kushan fortresses suggests that they were constructed, when necessary and when possible, depending on multiple factors.

Chapter Five: The Archaic and Classical Figurines

The terracotta figurines and protomai from Eleon form a compelling corpus of evidence for activity on the acropolis during the Archaic and Classical periods. This chapter provides an overview of the figurines recovered in the first five years of excavation at Eleon. A chronological survey relies on stylistic analysis, as nearly all come from the ramped entryway to the site, either built into the fill of the ramp itself in secondary deposition, or in later pits disrupting these levels. The assemblage is composed of a range of handmade and moldmade female figurines in seated and standing postures; the lingering Archaic type of the early Classical period is prevalent among these. Given their quantity and the nature of the associated material, it can reasonably be assumed that the figurines are linked to votive activity on the hilltop, although specifics elude us beyond association with a female deity. Dedication of the figurines peaked in the mid-fifth century, at least 25 years after the construction of the polygonal wall. This may be indicative of shifts in votive practice over time, as well as developments in local terracotta production before the emergence of a “Boeotian” coroplastic style.