Theophrastus Paracelsus von Hohenheim: His Corpuscular Theory and the Spread of Paracelsianism

The purpose of this article is to analyze Paracelsus’s corpuscular theory in order to be explained how his theory redefined the terms of minima naturalia and semina rerum adding new terms, such as archeus. Initially the study refers to important information about his life and to historical theories of analysis of Paracelsus’s corpuscularianism. Next, the paper undertakes a detailed analysis of his matter theory focusing on the terms of minima naturalia, semina rerum and tria prima. Finally, the research explains how Paracelsus’s matter theory was adopted by his followers and constituted a controversial subject between the scholars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, providing a different view of how his matter theory constituted a force key in the development of the Scientific Revolution.

A New Suggested Site for Troy (Yenibademli Höyük)

Nearly all archaeologists identify the remains of Troy with Hisarlik. This article in contrast looks at some alternative suggested locations and finding them to be implausible suggests a Bronze Age site – Yenibademli Höyük – on the North Aegean Island Imbros (Gökçeada). The popular identification of Hisarlik with Troy is questioned and doubted. It is argued on the basis of an ancient tradition Hisarlik cannot be the site of Troy and reveals descriptions from the Iliad are not compatible with Hisarlik.

Intercultural Dialogue in the Middle Ages: A Christian Cemetery in Pagan Vilnius

In Medieval Europe, Lithuania remained a pagan state the longest, officially accepting Catholic baptism only in 1387. But the country had already been influenced by Christian culture, Orthodox from the East and Catholic from the West, since the 11th century. It should be noted that this influence was not the same: Catholicism was mostly brought ‘by fire and sword’ in the role of the Teutonic Order while the spread of Orthodox Christianity could be more peaceful. It is frequently stressed that the Ruthenian Orthodox Christians were close neighbours of the pagan Lithuanians, settling in Lithuania as subjects of the grand dukes. While the Catholics needed to be invited, the Orthodox Christians from the Ruthenian lands were already subjects of the grand dukes. Thus, communities of both branches of Christianity: Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic, had settled here and were interacting in a still pagan environment in pagan cities ruled by pagan dukes. This article, in seeking to present the circumstances of the settlement of one of the early Christian communities in Vilnius, the Orthodox one, and its development, examines this community through data from the burial site it left and the interpretation of those data.

Wars and Foreign Interventions in Greece in the 1820s

In Greece, the 1820s is a well-remembered decade. Many things happened which future Greek generations can study and learn. In the beginning of the decade (1821), some Greeks rebelled against the Ottomans, but, parallel with this War of Independence, they, as did so many times in their heroic past, started fighting between themselves (1823-1825). The Olympians intervened, as in Homer’s masterpieces, and “independence” came as a result of a direct foreign (divine) intervention by Britain (Poseidon), France (Athena) and Russia (Hera). This began first in the battlefields in 1827, and then at the negotiation table in 1832. This paper looks at the reasons of all of these three types of events (the Greek War of Independence, its civil wars and the foreign interventions), as well as their results. The reasons are traced by applying the rule: “follow the money.” Of course, the obvious result was the official creation of an “independent” Greek state. However, other concurrent events have had long-lasting effects on the Greek political and military developments, which lasted until the end of the third quarter of the 20th century. These developments are only briefly discussed in this paper.

On Francesco Guicciardini’s Thought and Some of his Considerations on Machiavelli

Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540), Italian historian, politician and writer, - descendant of one of the most important and faithful families to the Medici family in Florence - received a solid humanistic education and was also the protagonist of the Italian politics in the XVIth century; during the wars between France and Spain for the domination of the peninsula, he became the fair and impartial interpreter of these events in terms of historiography. Upright and of austere character, ¬he is the author of one of the best histories of Italy, written in the spirit of the time, whose prime quality is the historical veracity. Guicciardini fed the feeling of nationality and the aspiration to independence of Italy. In his works he shows the painful efforts of the princes and heads of republics, dragged into continuous wars, trying to defend, to confederate, to seek help in various foreign powers in order to save themselves from the oppression of the rulers. His genius, intuitive and painfully prophetic, discerns the events from the things; he pronounces what he develops as ‘safe judgments’ and recommends possible remedies to save the nation.

Epidemics and Wars: Comparative Archaeology and Anthropology of Ancient Greek Mass Burials

The high number of dead bodies to deal with in time of mortality crises (events marked by an unusually high number of dead in a limited amount of time) often leads to modifications in the traditional funerary practices of a society. This contribution questions the way Ancient Greeks, from the 8th till the 3rd century BC, handled such mortality crises, focusing on mass burials. In a first methodological part, we discuss the means to identify funerary sites related to mortality crises, using the methods of archaeothanatology. By confronting archaeological features (taphonomic processes, position of the remains, grave type, offerings, etc.) and bioanthropological data (number of dead, sex, age, pathologies, etc.), we will first define the main characteristics of mass burials. We will then question how to discriminate between mass burials linked to war, epidemics, massacres and famine, underlining the major importance of historical sources in this process. The second part is dedicated to the study of various cases from Athens, Paros, Chaeronea, Tanagra and Greek Sicily and their interpretation. We will argue that epidemic mass burials are the most difficult to identify, since they may present innumerable variations in terms of osteoprofiles and archaeological features. Finally, we will question our abilities, as archaeoanthropologists, to evaluate the impact of epidemics on the funerary treatment of the dead in the Ancient world.

Stratification and Role of the Elite Muslim Women in the State of Awadh, 1742-1857

This paper focuses on stratification and role of the elite Muslim women in the State of Awadh during the second-half of the eighteenth, and first-half of nineteenth century India. It evaluates the categorization of women associated with the court and the division of political and domestic power among them. It also seeks their economic resources and their contribution in fields of art and architecture. The study finds that the first category of royal women of Awadh, including queen mothers and chief wives, enjoyed a powerful position in the state-matters unlike many other states of the time in India. Besides a high cadre of royal ladies, three more cadres of royal women existed in Awadh’s court with multiple ratios of power and economic resources. Elite women’s input and backing to various genres of art, language and culture resulted in growth of Urdu poetry, prose, drama and music in addition to religious architecture. The paper has been produced on the basis of primary and secondary sources. It includes the historical accounts, written by contemporary historians as well as cultural writings, produced by poets and literary figures of the time, besides letters and other writings of the rulers of Awadh. The writings produced by the British travelers, used in this paper, have further provided an insightful picture and a distinctive perspective.

Hellanicus as Peripheral and a Critic of Athens? Notes on a Study of a Fragmentary Historian

This paper explores the possibility of imagine Hellanicus of Lesbos as a politically critical author. Many works suggest that Hellanicus was a partisan of Athens or at least a sympathizer of that polis. However new approaches have proposed that authors like Herodotus criticized the external politics of Athens, even in subtle ways. Therefore this paper argues the possibilities of thinking on Hellanicus as a peripheral critic of Athenian politics and on the limitations the fragmentary condition of the texts imposes.

Alexander of Macedon: An Early Biography

Claims that Herodotus reveals himself as a proto-biographer are not yet widely accepted. To advance this claim, I have selected one man, Alexander I, who finds himself and his kingdom caught in the middle of the Greco-Persian Wars and whose activities are recounted in the Histories. It is to a near contemporary, Heraclitus, to whom we attribute the maxim—character is human destiny. It is the truth of this maxim—which implies effective human agency—that makes Herodotus’ creation of historical narrative possible. He is often read for his off-topic vignettes, which colour-in the character of the individuals depicted without necessarily advancing his narrative. But by hop scotching through five of the nine books of the Histories, we can assemble a largely continuous narrative for this remarkable individual. This narrative permits us to attribute both credit and moral responsibility for his actions. Arguably, this implied causation demonstrates that Herodotus’ writings include much that amounts to proto-biography.

Serbian Royal Right to the Throne of Hungary at the Basis of the Formation of Medieval Romanian Orthodox States

This paper shows that the overall situation in the Pannonian-Balkan area led to the facts in the 14th-16th centuries on the background of which the Romanian medieval states were formed and consolidated. The origins of these facts derive from the interactions between the first Hungarian tribes who came to the Pannonian area and the situation that was encountered here, which can be staged as follows: the first stage is related to the arrival of the Hungarian tribes from the northern part of Europe and the conquest of the territory between the eastern Alps and the Dniester; the second stage is the period between the Christianization of the Hungarian King Stephen and the arrival of the Angevins. The second and the third period, post-Angevin, or rather Sigismundian-Lazarević, are epochs of colonization of different populations from the Germanic, North Pontic or Balkan space that are integrated into the noble structure of the Kingdom, consolidating its authority. The expansion of Serbian civilization came after the claim to the throne of Hungary of the Serbian King Stefan Dragutin when the Árpád dynasty came to end. Thus, the medieval Romanian Orthodox states, the Romanian Country-Wallachia and Moldavia are the rest of Andrew III’s, the last of Árpádian’s posterity of his Serbian posterity, and catholic Hungary, the rest of his Angevin Posterity.