Christenen in Bithynia-Pontus

The famous letters by Pliny the Younger and emperor Trajan about the Christian community of Bithynia-Pontus have traditionally been highly significant in the study of early Christianity. However, the letters have often been read in isolation. The rest of the correspondence between emperor and governor contained in the tenth book of Pliny’s Epistulae, meanwhile, has rarely been taken into account in a systematic way. This contribution will demonstrate that our understanding of the Christian letters is significantly enhanced by taking into account the underlying principles that shaped Roman provincial administration, and by placing Pliny’s interactions with the Christian community within the wider context of his duties as a Roman governor.

Findings of antiquities on the territory of the Penza Governorate in the 19th - early 20th centuries based on the materials of the State Archive of the Penza Region

The paper deals with archaeological findings on the territory of the Penza Governorate in the 19th - beginning of 20th centuries based on the materials of the State Archive of the Penza Region. To compare the information obtained with the published data, the study used published sources such as: the Reports of the Imperial Archaeological Commission, the description of antiquities of the Governorate (A.A. Spitsyn, 1925) and other sources. The process of archaeological study of the Penza Governorate in the pre-revolutionary period depended on the activities of the provincial statistical committee, the provincial scientific archival commission, independent researchers and the provincial administration. As a result a set of archaeological discoveries made on the territory of the Penza Governorate in the 19th - beginning 20th centuries was drawn up. The list of findings includes facts of the discovery revealed in the research of archaeological sites and individual artifacts with indication of detection time, place and composition of the find or treasure. According to the research, in the 19th - early 20th centuries, 148 evidence of found antiquities were revealed. Coins, Stone Age tools, jewelry and other items had different destinies: they remained in the hands of the finders, were sold, melted down, settled in scientific organizations and museums of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Penza. In most cases, the treasures were returned to the finders, and less often they were transferred to the metropolitan museums and given a reward for them. The issues raised in the paper are inextricably linked with the problem of accounting and protection of archaeological monuments and preservation of cultural heritage.

The effects of government policy on organizational performance of provincial administration organization: mediating role of public entrepreneurship

Background: The new paradigm of government management has stimulated public organizations to establish innovative and competitive management policies through public entrepreneurship in order to provide excellent public service and to enhance public organizational performance. This research study aims to investigate the effects of government policy on organizational performance through the mediating role of public entrepreneurship of provincial administration organization in the upper northeastern region 2 in Thailand. Methods: This research employs a cross-sectional questionnaire study. Data were collected from 216 government officials through five-point Likert scale questionnaires with validity and reliability analyses. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and inferential statistics toward path analysis. Results: The research results reveal that government policy has a significant direct influence on organizational performance with a standardized coefficient of 0.655. Government policy has a significant indirect effect on organizational performance through the mediating role of public entrepreneurship with a standardized coefficient of 0.566. The total effects can be described with a standardized coefficient of 0.733 at a 0.05 significance level. Conclusions: The government should establish innovative and competitive public policies to support a rapid change of entrepreneurial orientation, and transform policies into action. As public entrepreneurship has a significant mediating role in enhancing organizational performance, conventional public structures of performance management are being replaced by more innovative, adaptive, and competitive public entrepreneurship in order to get the desired and effective public outcomes for a provincial administration organization.

“Old”/“New” Settlements and Administrative Centers in the Ottoman Provincial Administration: Ala Kinise/ Osman Pazar and Hotalich/ Servi (Selvi) (According to Ottoman Documents From the 15th–17th Centuries)

The study raises questions about the fate of the medieval Bulgarian fortresses and urban centers in the system of Ottoman provincial administration, which has repeatedly been discussed in Balkan and Ottoman studies. These debates are constantly related to the issues of continuity in the administration and ruling of the Bulgarian lands, evidenced in the territorial overlap of the medieval administrative structures with the new Ottoman ones, as well as in the names of the sanjaks, nahiyes and vilayets. One of the problems that is yet to be completely solved has to do with the medieval fortresses and settlements, registered with their pre-Ottoman names as important administrative centers in the system of Ottoman provincial administration (nahiyes, vilayets, kazas), but most likely destroyed during the conquest or earlier. New settlements are developing near them which have different names but the same administrative functions. Many of them are problematic to be localized, but for centuries, these “old” settlements and centers of power have been referred to in parallel with the “new” settlements as another name (nam-i diğer) for the respective administrative centers. The present study focuses on two of the examples of continuity and parallel designation of the “old”/“new” settlements – nahiye Ala Kinise (Kilisa)/ Osman Pazar and nahiye Hotaliç/ Servi (Selvi). These administrative-territorial units are typical of the Ottoman model of administration at local level, as well as regarding the presence of a particular continuity from the medieval Bulgarian state. The complex approach applied in the research and interpretation of the Ottoman register material allows us not only to trace the indications of continuity in the development of individual settlements, but also to understand the pre-Ottoman period of their existence within the medieval Bulgarian state. In a broader sense, it provides a real opportunity for a well-grounded reconstruction of the Ottoman model of power, demographic and economic control of the Bulgarian lands at local level.

Imperial Women Abroad, and with the Military

Beginning with the extraordinary military associations of Julia Domna, Julia Maesa, Julia Soaemias, and Julia Mamaea, this chapter explores the interrelated themes of imperial women’s reported links with Rome’s military, and the issue of their movements abroad. Despite the constant pronounced bias against any woman mixing with Rome’s armed forces or provincial administration, women are sporadically but ever more attested in military settings such as camps and barracks, and even in armed conflict. This applies to non-imperial as well as imperial women, as is clear from archaeology and documentation. By the time of Domna and other Severans, women accompanied the imperial entourage unchallenged, even if decried by authors. The growing ritual of the imperial court, the increasing importance of the imperial family as a whole, and the mounting necessity for the emperor to inspect provinces and armies personally encouraged imperial women to travel more as the principate evolved.

A correlation analysis of english learning strategies and english reading competencies of Aatthayomsueksa 1 students under Nakhon Ratchasima Provincial Administration organization in Thailand

English reading competencies and English learning strategies are fundamental both in studying academic subjects and in the field of technology. If both of them are necessities, they should be related and developed to improve our students’ learning. It was found that students’ mean score was low in an English reading competencies test; however, students’ scores were average in English learning strategies. Canonical variable analysis indicated that affective, compensatory and metacognitive strategies were efficiently related to literal comprehension. Moreover, memory strategies were efficiently related to critical comprehension.

“Statute on Siberian provincial administration” of 1822: the first experience of codification by Michael Speransky

The subject. The article examines the reform of local government in Siberia carried out by the outstanding Russian statesman and reformer M.M. Speransky in the first quarter of the 19th century. The purpose of the article is to confirm or disprove the hypothesis that the “Statute on Siberian provincial administration” of 1822 formed the organizational structure of state administration in Siberia for almost a century as well as basis for future codifications of Russian legislation that would carry out by M. Speransky. The methodological basis of the research is combination of objectivity, historicism and alternativeness, which presuppose an unbiased approach in the analysis of the historical problems and a critical attitude towards the sources. The main results, scope of application. The “Statute on Siberian provincial administration” of 1822 was the first systematization of local legislation in the history of Russia. The Statute became the first practical experience in the preparation of a code of laws for M.M. Speransky and his collaborators. The Statute was ahead of the subsequent imperial codification and incorporation of legislation carried out under his leadership. The Speransky’s reform in Siberia in 1822 determined the foundations of the administrative-territorial structure of the Trans-Ural region of the country, which corresponded to the needs of the time. The Statute of 1822 also legitimized the volost public administration of the Siberian state peasants, which was organized in the last quarter of the 18th century. This system of administration put the peasant self-government under more strict control by the district police authorities. Particular attention in the article is paid to the structure, nature and organizational and legal issues of the activities of local government in Siberia. Conclusions. The increased interest in the establishment and development of Siberian regional governance is associated not only with the desire of researchers to look deeper into the past, but also with practical needs. Today it is necessary to research the events and facts of the Siberian past in a new way so as not to repeat old myths and delusions and to prevent the emergence of new ones.