Jan Nepomucen Józef Braun (1926–2015), filolog klasyczny, orientalista, kartwelista, sumerolog

Jan Braun, born on 15th May 1926 in Łódź, studied classical philology and classical archaeology at the University of Lodz (years 1947–1951). His MA thesis (1951) was devoted to the ethnogenesis of the Etruscans. He also worked as junior assistant at the Department of Classical Archaeology, University of Lodz (from May 1949 do September 1950) and later as junior lecturer at the Department of Classical Philology of the same university (from October 1950 to September 1951). In October 1951, Braun left for Georgia in order to complete his doctoral studies. From there he returned to Poland as PhD, specializing in Georgian and other oriental languages, especially the ancient languages of the Near East. In the years 1955–2002, he worked at the University of Warsaw, initially as assistant professor. In 1970, he became associate professor. In 1991, he received the higher doctoral degree (habilitation), and in 1995 he obtained the position of full professor. He studied the genetic relations of ancient and modern languages, including a suggested Basque-Kartvelian connection. During his habilitation colloquium, he gave an interesting lecture entitled Basic problems of historical-comparative research over the ancient languages of the Mediterranean area (Warsaw, May 28th, 1991), which is presented in Appendix No. 1 (with some comments and bibliographical references). The paper presents Braun’s main fields of research and his achievements made in Łódź (Poland), Tbilisi (Georgia) and Warsaw. According to Braun’s view, suggested as early as 1951, Etruscan represents an external member of the Anatolian languages (deriving from Luwian), so that it belongs to the Indo-European language family. In his opinion, Basque is a western member of the South Caucasian (or Kartvelian) family.

Word & Image

This chapter examines the relationships between visual and verbal media in Roman antiquity. More specifically, it demonstrates how the study of Roman art intersects with the study of ancient Greek and Latin texts, and vice versa. Despite the tendency to segregate areas of scholarly expertise—above all, to separate “classical archaeology” from “classical philology”—any critical engagement with Roman imagery and iconography must go hand in hand with critical readings of written materials. The chapter proceeds in three parts. First, it explores some of the ways in which Roman literary texts (both Greek and Latin) engaged with visual subjects. Second, it discusses the textuality of Roman visual culture, surveying the roles that inscriptions played on Roman buildings, statues, mosaics, paintings, and other media. Third, it demonstrates the “intermedial”—or, perhaps better, the “iconotextual”—workings of Roman texts and images, with particular reference to the fourth-century ce picture-poems of Optatian.

Perbandingan Busana Arca Harihara Era Klasik Akhir (Koleksi State Hermitage Museum, Museum Nasional Jakarta, dan Balai Lelang Christie’s)

Harihara is the amalgamation of two great gods in Hinduism, Siva and Vishnu. During the Late Classical Era (Majapahit period, 13th-15th centuries AD) three deification statues which portrayed the kings as Harihara have been found. Out of these three, two of them are not located in Indonesia anymore, one is part of the collection of Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, and one is in Christie’s Auction Gallery. Since these two statues are not widely known, they are barely mentioned or studied in the field of classical archaeology and art. This research focuses on the physical attributes of those two statues, particularly the clothing elements and divine attributes, in comparation to the deification statue of Raden Wijaya as Harihara, which is originated from Candi Simping and now is located in National Museum, Jakarta. The research was conducted using a qualitative-comparative method with iconographic and historical approach. It is found that while these statues show the amalgamation of Siva and Vishnu’s attributes, the depiction of Harihara in those statues are not exactly following Harihara iconography as regulated in the canons of Silpasastra and Manasara. While the canon physical attributes of Shiva and Vishnu side by side equally, in the depiction of Harihara in Java, those attributes are mixed and not always follows a rigid pattern. It is suggested that the depiction of kings as Harihara show an attempt to project them as the unifier of different factions and religious sects. The inequal depiction of Vishnu and Siva’s attributes in king’s deification statues indicates not only the dynamics of the religion in the era, but also as mean to build king’s image in the image of the God.

Gender, Identities, and Material Culture in the Italic Peninsula: Burial Practices and Loom Weights in Perspective

This paper discusses the complex relationship between material culture and gender studies from a methodological point of view, with the aim of contributing to discussions in the field of Classical archaeology. First, we provide a few historiographical benchmarks for key epistemological developments, while evidencing the methodological difficulties inherent in the variability of our interpretations of burial practices and data. Then, in a second section, a case study focuses on simple objects of daily life. Discussing approaches inspired by gender studies, and considering the place of loom weights, we wish to tackle the presumption of textile work as an eminently female activity. The aim of this paper is to suggest a more nuanced and fluid approach to gender in relation to material culture.

Počátky univerzitní výuky neklasické archeologie v programových proslovech Jana Kollára a Jana Erazima Vocela (1849–1851)

The first Central European university departments focused specifically on non-classical archaeology were established 170 years ago: Jan Kollár became a professor in Vienna in 1849, Jan Erazim Vocel in Prague in 1850. The content and focus of their teaching in this period is best evidenced by introductory and concluding speeches, preserved in manuscript and printed form; above all, they clearly demonstrate the difference between Kollár’s Romantic approach, which for the most part uncritically sought traces of the supposed original Slavic settlement in Europe (mainly in Italy), and Vocel’s, which already distinguished between “pagan” and “Christian” (prehistoric and medieval) archaeology and with his concept of the field was already heading for Positivism. The article includes the texts of these speeches.

Practicing Science Communication in Digital Media

Katharina Meinecke describes a form of ‘Practicing Science Communication in Digital Media: A Course to Write the “Antike in Wien” Blog and Distribute it in Social Media at the University of Vienna in 2017’. In order to make students familiar with research communication to a general public and to enable them to practice both analogue and digital outreach activities, Meinecke had students write a blog and share their work in social media. An additional aim of the course was to enhance the visibility of Classical Archaeology in Vienna by highlighting the relevance of Classical antiquity in the city until today through content created by the participants.

Introduction

The papers and videos presented here are the result of the international conference 'Teaching Classics in the Digital Age' held online on the 15 and 16 June 2020. As digital media provide new possibilities for teaching and outreach in Classics, the conference 'Teaching Classics in the Digital Age' aimed at presenting current approaches to digital teaching and sharing best practices by bringing together different projects and practitioners from all fields of Classics (including Classical Archaeology, Greek and Latin Studies and Ancient History). Furthermore, it aimed at starting a discussion about principles, problems and the future of teaching Classics in the 21st century within and beyond its single fields.

Simulating Digital Classics in Classical Teaching

In the 21st century, Classical Archaeology is making more and more use of digital tools and methods. This tendency towards a future field of “Digital Classics” requires participation not only as users, but also as developers. For this reason, the required qualification profile for a student of Classical Archaeology is changing and academic teaching at universities is confronted with new challenges. Our presentation tackles this issue by suggesting a new teaching concept that focuses especially on the pivotal skills that are needed to use and develop digital methods within an interdisciplinary team. It is based on the didactic model of a simulation game. This simulation is attached to a (real) interdisciplinary research project. In this way it offers the possibility of a structured process model and challenges the participants’ skills of interaction and complex decision-making. The result is a realistic environment whose demands, means and conditions of action support the assessment and evaluation of academic expectations in multidisciplinary professional situations