Search

The article discusses mythologies about the ancient council of Nicaea, near Roman emperor Constantine's city of Constantinople. Topics discussed include Constantine's toleration of Christianity and alliance with Christians, misrepresentations about Nicaea in Dan Brown's book "Da Vinci Code," and the understanding about the transition of Jesus Christ from human to divine with the Council of Nicaea convening to announce the doctrine of Christ's divinity.

Copyright of Humanities & Educational Sciences Journal is the property of Humanities & Educational Sciences Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One of the aspects that caracterizes the period of the so-called Dominate (Dominatus) or Absolute Monarchy is the fact that the imperial power makes use of religion to legitimize itself. From another perspective, changes in the organization of the Imperial Chancery took place that reflect the reality of an absolute monarchy of divine right supported by a complex bureaucracy and a strong army, with important impact on the tax system. An exponential price increase characterizes the crisis of the 3rd century AD from Aurelian onwards and justifies Diocletian's despotism on economic issues. Characteristic of this epoch is an Imperial Government formed by several Emperors at the same time. A system of Imperial Tetrarchy was thus established. The radical change in the imperial policy concerning Christianity took place under Emperor Constantine. After the Milan Agreement (313 AD), Constantine assumed himself more and more as the protector of the Church, collaborating with the Bishops in their fight against heresy and legislating favourably towards Christianity. The definitive division of the Empire into two took place after the death of Emperor Theodosius I, Augustus in the East between 379 and 394 AD, only Emperor in 394/395 AD, with two Emperors, one in the Eastern Roman Empire, the other in the Western Roman Empire. The so-called Barbarian Invasions, that is, the assault of several Germanic tribes and tribal groups on Roman territory in the 5th century has caused the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Yet the Eastern Half of the Empire continued to exist. In the 5th century the Western Roman State underwent a gradual disintegration. The conclusion of foedera, that is, treaties with Non-Roman Barbarian Groups which contained a right to settle on the territory of the Roman Empire, were instruments of power, to which the weakened Roman Emperors resorted in order to be able to continue to assert their claim to sovereignty over the territory of the Roman Empire. For other reasons, too, the authority of the Roman emperors came under scrutiny. The spread of the so-called patronage in both the Eastern and Western Roman Empires means, for example, that prominent personalities such as imperial officials and large landowners maintain private armies (e.g.: buccellarii) that act in their own interest and are not in the service of the common good. Especially after the reign of Majorian (457-461 AD), the disintegration of the Western Roman State could no longer be stopped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The monastic author of the Saxon Imperial abbey of Gandersheim, Hrotsvit of Gandersheim was a notable woman playwright during the reign of Otto I, who had been crowned Roman emperor by the Pope in 962. Hrotsvit subverts notoriously misogynistic medieval literature and the negative literary depiction of women in her plays composed in the middle of the 10th century. She substitutes the masculine tradition and pagan writers’ themes of shameless indecency of lascivious women with saintly women who verbally and intellectually defeat the male oppressors. Transfiguring the earlier depictions, she is devoted to evangelizing of the world and committed to reorienting the dramatic representation of women. Furthermore, she identifies herself with an educator and moralist and discloses an assertion of intention to constructs a didactic persona. This study analyzes Hrotsvit’s plays Dulcitius and Sapientia by discussing the ways in which Hrotsvit defies the literary conventions in male-authored narratives through her female characters, who simultaneously defy and subvert the male authority through rhetorical skills, moral and intellectual ability, and Christian wisdom. The aim of this study is to show that Hrotsvit elevates the depiction of women and to serve God and spiritual ends by writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La riche épigraphie de Cos permet de constituer un corpus de 1192 individus disposant de la citoyenneté romaine entre le ier s. av. n.è. et 212 de n.è. Cet article propose une première analyse de ce corpus prosopographique en se concentrant sur la chronologie de la présence romaine à Cos et sur l'étude des noms romains pour évaluer la diffusion de la citoyenneté romaine en Orient. Le nombre de citoyens romains est important dès le ier s. av. n.è., avant d'exploser au ier s. de. n.è., puis de diminuer au iie s. av. n.è. Le corpus de Cos présente une majorité de gentilice non-impériaux, ce qui laisse suggérer que c'est moins l'octroi de la citoyenneté romaine par les empereurs que l'installation de familles de negotiatores qui a diffusé la ciuitas Romana à Cos. Parmi les empereurs, si Claude a eu un rôle majeur dans l'octroi de la ciuitas Romana, il faut réévaluer à la hausse le rôle de César, Auguste et peut-être Tibère. Enfin, la citoyenneté romaine n'est pas restée au sein de l'élite, le corpus des inscriptions funéraires permettant de connaître un grand nombre de citoyens romains moins fortunés et éloignés des charges politiques. Summary: The rich epigraphy of Kos makes it possible to compile a corpus of 1192 roman citizens between the 1st century BC and AD 212. This article offers an initial analysis of this prosopographical corpus, focusing on the chronology of the Roman presence at Kos and on the spread of Roman citizenship in the Greek East. The number of Roman citizens was significant from the first century BC, before exploding in the first century AD and then declining in the second century BC. The Koan corpus contains a majority of non-imperial gentilices, which suggests that it was less the granting of Roman citizenship by the emperors than the settlement of families of negotiatores that spread the ciuitas Romana to CKs. Among the emperors, Claudius played a major role in the granting of ciuitas Romana, but the role of Caesar, Augustus and perhaps Tiberius needs to be reassessed. Finally, Roman citizenship was not confined to the elite: the corpus of funerary inscriptions reveals a large number of Roman citizens who were less fortunate and not holders of political offices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roman ruling ideology stressed imperial control of knowledge, as well as of material and people. A range of evidence from across the empire suggests that these knowledge claims were commonly accepted, and often mobilised, by ruled communities. In his First Apology, written in Rome in the 150s and addressed to the Roman emperor, Justin Martyr leverages these ideals for his own knowledge claims concerning the life of Jesus and his fulfilment of Hebrew Bible prophecies. It has already been recognised that Justin engages with the machinery of empire through packaging his Apology as a petition presented to the emperor. On the other hand, his citation of Roman documents at several points in the text has been neglected. A close examination reveals the importance of these citations to Justin's project, in which he utilises the supposed fidelity of Roman documents, and the idea of the emperor as a guarantor of collected knowledge, to authenticate his Christian claims. Finally, proceeding from suggestions about an internal audience for Christian apologetics, it is argued that these references should be seen as alleviating the concerns of an internal Christian readership, and not as overtures to non-Christian Graeco-Romans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The centrality of the territorial principalities and imperial diet is a defining feature of the historiography of the late medieval Holy Roman Empire. This tendency risks restricting discussions of the Reich's political life to the arena of high politics and obscuring important links and relationships between the imperial monarchy and its non-princely subjects. This article sets out to examine interactions between the late medieval imperial government and its subjects in the localities. The analysis focuses on the court and government of Emperor Friedrich III of Habsburg (r. 1440–1493), whose 'peripheral kingship' has been interpreted by historians as the moment of the crown's definitive alienation from the Empire's core lands. The article presents two case studies of protracted legal disputes in which communities of different size, importance and location came into the orbit of the emperor's court seeking to protect their rights and interests. These case studies provide illustrative examples of how routine matters and local conflicts could be inextricably bound up in the structures of the emperor's government. This evidence suggests that a complete account of the political and governmental history of the late medieval Holy Roman Empire needs to incorporate both new insights about the effectiveness of the imperial monarchy and the complex, multi-layered and interdependent nature of local politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work, Dialogue between the Emperor Hadrian and Epictetus the Philosopher, is a fictional dialogue consisting of seventy-three questions and answers, probably written in the 2nd or 3rd century AD. It features the Roman emperor Hadrian as the questioning pupil and the Stoic philosopher Epictetus as the responding teacher. Most of the questions can be divided into two main categories. The smaller part is written in the form of riddles. The others are definitions. The questions deal with a variety of topics: things to do with death (e.g. gravedigger, funeral pyre), definitions of various metals (gold, silver, iron), useful things (e.g. letter, picture, sword), relationships and emotional terms (e.g. friendship, hope, love), celestial objects (sun, moon, sky, stars, earth), and realities related to seafaring (sea, ship, sailor), nightlife (sleep, night, pillow) or religion (god, sacrifice). This work was particularly influential in the development of medieval dialogue. The most famous adaptation is the Enfant Sage, which originated in the 13th century somewhere in the region of Provence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies a copper coin type issued during the reign of the Kuṣāṇ king Kujūla Kadphises (ca. 40/50–90 AD) called "Roman Emperor Type". These coins, dated towards the end of the first century AD, present on the obverse the image of a ruler recalling the imperial iconography of the Julio-Claudian period, and on the reverse Kujūla himself seated. The coin is a real innovation in the history of ancient Indian numismatics and can be the starting point to understand the political choices of Kujūla in a context still embryonic for the Kuṣāṇs. This paper, through the literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources at our disposal, aims to demonstrate that the issuing was influenced not only by the halo of authority that the Romans had in India, but mainly by the economic and religious context of the city, which the sovereign used as a place of experimentation for this particular hybrid type of coin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta u Nisu is the property of Law Faculty in Nis and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

School–museum partnerships have gained considerable attention in the academic literature in recent decades. However, their role in enhancing science education is still an under-researched topic. This work reports on the outcomes of the recovery, study, cataloging, and valorization of the 18th century geo-mineralogical collection belonging to the Collegio Nazareno, now housed at the Istituto San Giuseppe Calasanzio in Rome. The project, which was participated in by the students enrolled in the fourth- and fifth-grade high school classes, revealed rare specimens such as the mineralogical collection donated by the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (1741–1740) in 1785. Furthermore, the laboratory activities organized from the stored samples highlighted educational approaches that helped students to cope with the complexities of authentic scientific work and cultural related issues. This work thus offers significant insights into the importance of natural history school museums as useful (and oft-forgotten) learning tools in science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is dedicated to the cult of St. Denis, the first Bishop of Paris and the French “national” patron saint in medieval Bohemia and Moravia. The cult of St. Denis had played a rather important role already in the Duchy of Bohemia, having probably propagated there via Bavaria during the initial Christianization efforts. This is documented by the pilgrimage of St. Adalbert of Prague to SaintDenis monastery and the general presence of St. Denis in Bohemian liturgy from, at the latest, the 12th century. Although isolated monuments and altar dedications of Saint Denis had existed since the 13th century, it was not until the 14th century that the cult of Saint Denis grew stronger, driven by French influences. Its ebb and flow seem to have faithfully reflected the intensity of friendly contacts between the Kingdoms of Bohemia and France. Charles IV, the famous King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, privately venerated St. Denis, probably due to having spent his childhood in Paris. This is evidenced not only by his acquisition of two St. Denis relics and commissioning of the image of St. Denis for the Chapel of the Holy Cross at Karlštejn but also by his personal visit to the SaintDenis monastery in January 1378, when he expressed his devotion at the saint’s tomb and kissed the saint’s head. Although the cult of St. Denis declined in the period leading up to and, especially, following the Hussite Wars, it remained present in late medieval Czech society thanks to the saint’s inclusion in the group of Fourteen Holy Helpers and the celebration of his feast day in the liturgy of all Catholic churches. Although St. Denis never became a popular saint in the Czech lands during the Middle Ages, he was widely known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The Emperor and the Elephant: Christians and Muslims in the Age of Charlemagne" by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby challenges the common perception of Emperor Charlemagne as a defender of Christendom against Muslims. Ottewill-Soulsby argues that the historical reality was much more complex, with instances of Christian-Muslim alliances and diplomatic contact. The book highlights the multipolar nature of the Islamic world and the dynastic problems faced by both Christian and Muslim societies. Ottewill-Soulsby's use of Islamic sources alongside Carolingian sources provides a comprehensive understanding of the relations between Christians and Muslims during this era. [Extracted from the article]

The article titled "Christian emperors and Roman elites in Late Antiquity" analyzes the relationship between the Christian religion and imperial and senatorial power in Late Antiquity. The author, Rita Lizzi Testa, examines the strategies used by Roman senators to maintain their power and religious practices in the new Christian era. The book highlights the importance of the Roman Senate and its influence on the res publica during the reign of Constantine the Great. Contrary to the traditional hypothesis, the author argues that the Senate retained its power and exercised its functions in proportion to the political ability of its members. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses two books: "On the Human Image of God" by Gregory of Nyssa and "Christian Emperors and Roman Elites in Late Antiquity" by Rita Lizzi Testa. The first book, edited by John Behr, provides a new edition of Gregory of Nyssa's work, accompanied by a comprehensive introduction and analysis of the author's ideas. The second book explores the relationship between Christianity and power in Late Antiquity, specifically focusing on the interaction between Christian emperors, the Senate, and Roman elites. Both books offer valuable insights into their respective topics and are relevant for both theological and secular research. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses the validity of the novel as a rigorous form of expressing historiographical interpretations. Two works about the Roman emperor Caligula are presented as examples. A recent controversy about whether a novelist can be considered a historian is mentioned. The debate about the origin of the Spanish nation is also addressed, and the ability of literature to convey complex ideas is defended. Two literary works that offer a more balanced and realistic view of Caligula and other controversial figures from Roman history are presented. The article criticizes the disdain of some academics towards literature as a form of expression. [Extracted from the article]