A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture

Alexander III of Macedon (356-323 BC) has for over 2000 years been one of the best recognized names from antiquity. He set about creating his own legend in his lifetime, and subsequent writers and political actors developed it. He acquired the surname 'Great' by the Roman period, and the Alexander Romance transmitted his legendary biography to every language of medieval Europe and the Middle East. As well as an adventurer who sought the secret of immortality and discussed the purpose of life with the naked sages of India, he became a model for military achievement as well as a religious prophet bringing Christianity (in the Crusades) and Islam (in the Qur'an and beyond) to the regions he conquered. This innovative and fascinating volume explores these and many other facets of his reception in various cultures around the world, right up to the present and his role in gay activism.

Redness as Perceived through the Eyes of the Romans

The article is an attempt to revise the long-established belief in the alabaster-white exterior shape of Roman antiquity, which in fact turns out to be full of colours that bring life to its image. The authors implement this intention by indicating how intensely the colour red was present in the reality described by classical Latin authors – contrary to the accusation that one of the participants of the discussion on this subject in Aulus Gellius’ Attic Nights (Gell. Noc. Att. 2.26) makes of the alleged poverty regarding various shades of red in Latin terminology. The material presented contradicts the opinion expressed in Gellius’ text, and at the same time makes us realise how colourful and lively the world that emerges from the literary works of the classical Roman period was. In comparison with it, the reality witnessed by the literature of the Christian era – this parallel is what the authors of the article focus on, concluding their deliberations – in which red becomes almost exclusively a sign of shame, turns out to be ascetically sterile and depressingly colourless.

Introduction

The Introduction offers a survey of the primary non-Christian and Christian sources available for a reconstruction of the short reign of Jovian. The most important source obviously is Book 25 of Res Gestae of the pagan Ammianus Marcellinus. He presents a gloomy picture of the person and reign of Jovian in order to save the image of his hero and Jovian’s predecessor, Julian (the Apostate). From Edward Gibbon onward, modern scholarship has adopted this unfavorable image that presents Jovian’s reign as a meaningless period between the emperorship of Julian (361–363) and the rule of the Valentinians (364–378). However, Jovian’s rule was vital for the sustenance of imperial leadership after Julian’s disastrous Persian military campaign and religious policies, both of which caused considerable upheaval. Jovian’s reign was a return to the norms of the pre-Julianic period and brought back stability to the Roman empire. For an emperor who ruled such a short time, the Christian Jovian had an unexpected and surprising afterlife. The second part of the book discusses Jovian’s “Nachleben” in the so-called Syriac Julian Romance, a text of historical fiction that has rarely been studied and is largely unknown to historians of the late Roman period.

Gerda von Bülow, Sofija Petković (eds), Gamzigrad-Studien I. Ergebnisse der deutschserbischen Forschungen im Umfeld des Palastes Romuliana. Römisch-Germanischen Forschungen, Band 75, Wiesbaden 2020, Reihert Verlag

As the title suggests, this work is only first volume of the final publication of German-Serbian excavations at Gamzigrad in the Zaječar District in eastern Serbia. It is very important archaeological site, one of Serbia’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites.1 The ruins itself were well known and have been excavated since 1953 by Serbian archaeologists as well as being mentioned in several publications previously (Herder 1846 [first mention]: 20–21; Kanitz 1861: 8–9; Breithaupt 1861 and few mentions in Serbian literature, Serbian excavations: Vasič 2007 and Żivić 2011). However, it was not until the 1980s that an inscription was found during excavations that allowed for final identification (Srejović 1985).The archaeological site is located south of the Danube River, near the present city of Zaječar. Its unique position on the map of archaeological sites in Europe is a consequence of being the location of the complex including palace and temples called Felix Romuliana built by the emperor Galerius (Caesar during first tetrarchy, 293–305 AD, and Augustus in the second – 305–311 AD) in the ancient province of Dacia Ripensis. The whole area of this complex covers about 40,000 m2 and was thus clearly a site of some importance especially in the late Roman period.

Preliminary Report on Archaeological Excavations in Sophtades, Cyprus: Pre-Byzantine Pottery

The article is devoted to the materials found during the excavations of St. George Church located in the southern part of Cyprus, near the village of Softades. In the cultural layers inside of this church, pottery belonging to the Roman period, Iron Age and Late Bronze Age has been discovered. It is discussed in this article.

The millstone trade from the most exploited Italian volcanic areas: an overview from the phoenicians to the roman period

Lavas were widely used in antiquity to produce millstones. This is mainly due to their superior properties for grinding cereals and availability when compared with other rock-types. In the past four decades, several studies have been published about lava millstones discovered in subaerial and submarine archaeological sites of the Central-Western Mediterranean. Although the morphological evidence of old quarries is rarely present, all these studies were aimed at recognizing provenance and manufacturing areas of the volcanic raw material. Typologies of grinding tools coexisted in different periods, even if some technological developments marked transitions between cultures. The main chronology is: Archaic saddle quern, Greek hopper-rubber (Olynthian), small to medium size rotary device (Morgantina type) and large hourglass rotary millstone (Pompeian style). Potential volcanic sources are widespread throughout the entire Mediterranean region, but two main Italian quarrying areas of volcanic rocks for the manufacture of millstones from the Phoenician to the Roman period were pointed out. These are the Latium-Umbria border in Central Italy, and Sicily (Eastern Sicily and Sicilian Channel) in Southern Italy. In detail, analysis of the lava lithotypes shows that grinding tools were mainly constructed of: (i) a leucite phonolite of the so called “Orvieto quarries” between the localities of Sugano and Buonviaggio in the Roman Volcanic Province (High-K alkaline series); (ii) hawaiites and mugearites (Na-alkaline series) from Etna volcano; (iii) basalts (Tholeiitic/Transitional series) of the Hyblaean Mountains and (iv) basalts (Na-alkaline series) from Pantelleria Island (Sicilian Channel). Although some lava millstones from other volcanic regions are recorded, the above four Italian volcanic rock types represent the most exploited in antiquity. A comparison between volcanic millstones and outcropping lavas already exists, from literature data, through thin section modal mineralogy and conventional igneous petrology (i.e., TAS classification, magmatic affinities, and major-trace elements signature). Therefore, on this basis we propose a set of discriminating geochemical parameters (major-trace elements and element ratios diagrams) useful for a quick assessment tool to possibly evaluate one of these four exploited volcanic areas of Italy matching millstones. A sketch of volcanic millstone trade networks and commercial routes in antiquity throughout the Central-Western Mediterranean has been also reported and overviewed on the basis of the literature data.