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This study examines the myth of the death of the Norse god Baldr in a comparative framework. Scholars working in the fields of comparative mythology and religion have long argued that a myth concerning the sacrificial killing of the first man is represented in the ancient and medieval literatures of several languages in the Indo-European family. In the reconstruction of this myth, the first priest sacrifices his brother, whose corpse is integrated into the structure of the cosmos, and who rules the realm of the dead. It has long been argued that Ymir's death and dismemberment and the use of his body to construct the world in Old Norse sources is a reflex of this myth; this study argues that the myth of the death of Baldr is also a cognate version of this myth. This article is the first part of a two-part study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we concentrate on the garden as a place capable of offering physical protection from danger, as well as fostering psychological or physical well-being through relaxation and soothing activities in a variety of ancient Greco-Roman sources, including not just poetry but also philosophical, medical, and specialist literature generally. In the first part, we consider the environment in Greco-Roman medical discourses with specific reference to gardens. Various themes in what are sometimes called 'enviromental' medical approaches are illustrated to narrow the analysis to the case of gardens and cultivated land as a space for therapeutic activity, relaxation, diversion, and intellectual and philosophical exchange. The inclusion of the garden, we propose, within the range of the medically useful is indebted to the stereotyping of gardens in philosophical genres, but also to a wider understanding and exploitation, literal and metaphorical, of the garden as 'controlled nature'. The latter point emerges more clearly in the second part of the chapter in which we focus on two poetic texts (Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.623–771; Columella, De Re Rustica 10.255–310). In our conclusions, we bring together these two strands of observations and offer remarks about the conceptual parallel between the human body (including its health and safety) and landscaped vegetation in ancient cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that sensory-based methods of gardening have the potential to offer a form of self-awareness, to create memories, and to shape a meaningful relationship with nature. In this way, sensory gardening contributes to human well-being by enriching people's lives with meaningful moments. Contemporary gardening manuals tend to use explanations of gardening based on purely scientific worldviews, while multi-sensory approaches to gardening are rare. This quantification of the encounter with the environment is criticised by some scholars in environmental ethics debates. They emphasise the importance of experiencing nature with all the senses and based on bodily experience for human well-being. In order to include gardening in this discussion, I present sequences from pre-modern writings on gardening. My guiding question is what feelings, associations, or changes of perspective inspired by ancient literature might enrich the contemporary gardening. Drawing on the phenomenologists Hermann Schmitz and his successor Gernot Böhme, I will analyse Roman texts by Vergil, Dioscorides and Pliny (all first century AD), among others. All of these texts contain descriptions of intense sensory experiences that correspond to the phenomenological philosophies of Schmitz and Böhme. They can therefore serve as a source of inspiration for contemporary garden experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fearless ancient Amazons have been seen as forebears and prototypes by lesbians, feminists, and transgender men. In this introduction, I will explore why the Greek legends of the Amazons lend themselves to such interpretation. Ancient Greek literature details how the Amazons challenged patriarchy, lived without men, and defeated their male enemies, thus setting a precedent that would later be emulated by feminists and lesbians. Though the Amazons are clearly designated as women they are also identified with men in ancient Greek lore; in ancient Greek vase painting, they wear masculine outfits and engage in masculine habits, including fighting and hunting. Thus I will examine the Amazons' gender transgression in ancient Greek contexts in order to understand how and why these myths set the stage for the adoption of the Amazons as role models by later generations of gender nonconformists. I will also briefly examine the history behind those myths, a history which is just as important to lesbian and other queer communities as the myths which it spawned. Finally, I will weave my analysis of the ancient Greek ideology of Amazons with innovative, new research on the reception of the Amazons found in the six other articles that make up this special edition. These essays explore the powerful place of Amazons and Amazon-like women in the imaginaries of peoples ranging from the ancient Romans to modern lesbian feminists, and the importance of historical and legendary warrior women who defied patriarchy and colonialism in locales ranging from the West to Africa to India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims at assembling the available facts concerning the exploitation of water-power in ancient and Early Mediaeval Palestine (and partly Jewish Babylonia)—those to be found in written (that is, Rabbinic) sources as well as those deriving from archaeological finds. Both groups of materials are scant, and the conclusions remain tentative. But it can be stated almost with certainty that water-milling in the area goes back at least to the 2nd century CE and that both vertical and horizontal water-wheels were utilized. The most astonishing fact is the use of a more or less unique mill-type, with two pairs of "pseudo-Pompeian" millstones powered by a single, vertical wheel. In addition to this general survey and analysis of the material from a technical standpoint, we will discuss certain literary and exegetical roles of the milling motif—and water-milling specifically—in the relevant ancient literature, and explore how the motifs of water and milling tie together in the written sources, i.e., how they are used as a persistent literary motif in Northwest Semitic literature. In this context, the recurring literary motif of "the milling woman" is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to construct a scale for Jupsang leadership orientation (JSLO). We first provide a theoretical background for the concept of Jupsang, which originates from the ancient literature of Sun Tsu and Lao Tsu and the modern literature of Maoism and Deng Xiaoping in China. We used a grounded theory approach to obtain five dimensions of the Jupsang concept: agility orientation, innovation orientation, vigilant orientation, market awareness orientation, and visionary orientation. Items were generated through 12 in-depth interviews in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China and were included in a questionnaire, which we used to collect data from two large forums in Hong Kong, where 440 middle and senior executives from China attended. Using SPSS Version 25 and following the scale development procedures provided by Churchill and De Villis, we found the Jupsang scale reliable and valid. This paper contributes to providing a brand new scale for strategic leadership. Practically, it can enhance the relationship between a leader and his/her followers. Finally, we provided limitations and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adequate historico-cultural recontextualization promotes the reception and transmission of translations of ancient classics, highlighting the importance of translators' recontextualization of ancient classics in target texts. Combining thick translation and paratextual theory, we first propose a theoretical model for recontextualizing ancient classics. Then, we summarize cultural recontextualization approaches and the use of paratexts as recontextualizing strategies via a case study of Gopal Sukhu's translation of the Chuci (楚辞), a classic of ancient Chinese literature. Finally, we compare translations by Sukhu and others to explore the strengths of Sukhu's version, delineating implications for ancient classics translation more generally. We then offer two significant conclusions. Firstly, translators recontextualize source texts through various paratexts, including introduction, note, appendix, and index, in order to remove historico-culturally related reading barriers, helping readers develop a thorough understanding of the source text. Secondly, a multimodal approach combining research and translation benefits the reader by rendering ancient classics accessible through thick translations rich with paratexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speleothems are useful in detecting past geoenvironmental events. Variations in trace element concentrations may constitute a diagnostic of volcanic eruptions, enabling both dating and environmental impact assessment. This work attempts to detect possible 'signatures' of past volcanic eruptions in speleothems from Zoodochos Pigi cave on Santorini. Higher-than-usual concentrations of elements and minerals (e.g. barium and monazite respectively) exotic to typical speleothem chemistry in a band within a flowstone retrieved from the cave were revealed through SEM-EDS and XRD analyses and thought to be of volcanic origin. By chance, charcoal trapped in the said speleothem band allowed dating to establish the timing of the volcanic event. The radiocarbon date pointed towards the historically documented Hiera eruption, the earliest of a series of volcanic eruptions that postdate the Minoan eruption. The Hiera eruption, although less violent than the Minoan eruption, signallised the recrudescence of intracaldera activity which culminated in the formation of Palea Kameni (197 BC) with palpable effects on the regional environment. The interpretation of the results presented here, i.e. geochemical analysis on speleothems and radiocarbon dating, are cross-correlated with the well-documented timeline of eruptions of Santorini and ancient literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elite British education in the second half of the nineteenth century was often dominated by the Classics inside the classroom and a culture of manly athleticism outside. Given this combination, it was natural that, some scholars turned their attention to sport in the ancient world. By marrying accounts from ancient literature with the evidence emerging from new archaeological discoveries, figures such as Percy Gardner and E. Norman Gardiner were able to create detailed and compelling pictures of ancient sport which were accepted as definitive for much of the following century. The world they described was surprisingly familiar, as were the concerns they flagged up about contemporary sport based on the alleged pitfalls of antiquity. In recent decades their work has been extensively reassessed in terms of the accuracy of their analysis of original Greek and Roman sources and the claims they concerning the Hellenic roots of athletic amateurism. This paper analyses the environment and connections of British historians of ancient sport from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century to understand how their perceptions of the past were shaped by the concerns of their present, leading them to effectively 'write themselves' into their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Material World: The Intersection of Art, Science, and Nature in Ancient Literature and its Renaissance Reception: edited by Guy Hedreen, Leiden, Brill, 2021, 328 pp., €125.00/$151.00 (cloth) The essays chosen for this anthology were taken from a conference held April 20-21, 2018, in Florence, Italy, at the Dutch University Institute of Art. Again, I lean toward to the Renaissance articles, such as "Into the Wild: Living Landscape and Wonderment in Renaissance Art", by Dennis Geronimus, so I will give just a short precis of this contribution. [Extracted from the article]

Recent challenges to the pivotal position that Walter Scott has been awarded in terms of the genesis of the historical novel have led to renewed interest in the origins and development of the form, as well as increasing awareness of the diversities of Romantic historical fiction. The variety available within the genre is manifest in the appearance of Frances Burney's The Wanderer and Scott's Waverley within the space of a few months in 1814. Both narratives responded to the momentous events of the French revolutionary period; however, Burney's model of history and fiction fell quickly out of view, arguably as a result of its cosmopolitan principles and Burney's revival of the question of “the wrongs of woman”. This article examines Burney's contribution to the field of Romantic historical fiction, emphasizing the significance of Burney's late historical novel. Tracing The Wanderer'scomposite historical portrayal of the initial moment of the French Revolution crisis, the article contends that the novel represented an attempt to reopen the broader social, economic and gender issues raised by the French Revolution debate in a period of renewed radical agitation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Nineteen thirteen was an extraordinary year for Stella Miles Franklin. Alongside her hectic schedule with the National Women's Trade Union League in Chicago, Franklin worked on a variety of manuscripts, including the suffrage play “Aunt Sophie Smashes a Triangle”. I focus on this play about male adultery, contextualising it in her personal relationships and intellectual life, especially in the ways Franklin's interest in social purity, feminism, and the influence of Charlotte Perkins Gilman coincided with moral movements abounding in Chicago during 1913. Energised by the progressive literary endeavours of the period, Franklin makes three important points in this protest play about male adultery that include: the degeneracy of masculinity that leads to male susceptibility for adultery, the dangers of domesticity that help explain male infidelity, and the necessity of women's economic independence and solidarity to survive the realities of male adultery in society. In this latter claim, Franklin subverts the polarisation of wife and mistress and presents women as allies united in resisting male sexual transgressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Were teachers, of the early modern era not longing for the present? Most colleges of that time did not offer a history course. Still, they did teach a lot about the past since the teaching consisted in the reading of the works of ancient writers. This is because ancient science and literature were considered much more advanced than the science and literature of the Middle Ages. Hence, teaching ancient languages and history was thought the best way of preparing students for life in the society of the time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examine the potential role of traditional observation on the reasons for infanticide by male mammals. The authors cite some interesting ancient non-scientific documents that recognised a sexual purpose of infanticide by male mammals. The authors mention ancient people such as Greek historian Herodotus who suggests that kittens were killed by male to obtain sexual access to the deprived females and author Martínez del Espina who cites infanticide as a cannibalistic events.

The article discusses Italian Renaissance paintings related to ancient ekphrases. The author describes rivalry and competition among Renaissance artists as related to comparison and rivalry in ekphrastic descriptions. Other topics addressed include the role of loss in Renaissance paintings depicting artworks described in ancient ekphrases, paintings made in response to ekphrases as reinstatements of lost paintings, and competition between text and image. Artists discussed include Titian, Peter Paul Rubens, Botticelli, and Raphael.

The article presents abstracts on various topics including the meaning and nature of literary reflexivity, study on Irish postcolonial criticism concerning Utopian impulse and proverbs and wisdom of ancient and medieval literature.

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This article focuses on recreating a physical description of the sacred groves of ancient Greek civilization using literary references culled from Greek literature written from the eighth century BCE to the second century CE. The author focuses on the location and size of the groves, the trees of which they were comprised, elements of architecture or sculpture placed within groves, and any adaptations of natural elements featured in sacred groves. Some of the texts referred to include Homer's "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey;" the poetry of Sappho; Sophocles' plays "Trachiniae," "Electra," and "Oedipus at Colonus;" Plato's dialogues "Critias" and "Laws;" and the writings of geographer Strabo.

At a time when Athenians were still trying to explain the loss of their empire, Plato's Gorgias - through its dramatic structure and themes, through its allusions to critical moments in the Peloponnesian War, and through its literary engagements with Thucydides, Isocrates, and Polycrates - challenged both the actuality and legitimacy of that power as well as the rhetoric with which democratic Athenians rationalized their former tyranny. By portraying imperial Athens as an unjust student of sophistic rhetoric, as an immoderate practitioner of opportunistic reasoning, Plato offers an instructive explanation for its defeat. Interpreted in its historical contexts, his Gorgias has new relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars who have been writing recently about the unity and composition of Aristotle's Rhetoric make either brief or no mention of the transmission and editorial history of Aristotle's texts. This essay addresses this void by first presenting and discussing Strabo's, Plutarch's, and Porphyry's accounts of the transmission and editorial history of Aristotle's and Theophrastus' texts in conjunction with discussing the list of works that Diogenes Laertius ascribes to both authors. Once the transmission and editorial history is considered, evidence is presented from the Rhetoric that may indicate two important points—the extent to which the text is a compilation of previously independent texts that were ascribed to both Aristotle and Theophrastus and that Andronicus, rather than Aristotle, may be responsible for the text as we have it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay addresses the intimate yet distant relationship of the ancients to the moderns through a reading of The Iliad. In light of the recent transatlantic and intra-European tensions and rifts regarding the idea of the ‘West,’ the essay reads this foundational Western text for its treatment of desertion and disobedience. In doing so, I engage critically Michael Naas's analysis of the epic, which focuses on the ethical figure of persuasion as obedience, thus relegating Achilles almost exclusively to the realm of hubris. To the contrary, I insist on the importance of Achilles's dissent for current discussions of justice, redress, and communal ‘values’ within the continental philosophical tradition. My arguments are largely based on the close attention I pay to the poeticity of Achilles's language, which is disclosive of a distant intimacy, hence, disclosive in a rather opaque manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interprets Jacques Rivette's literary works. Implication of Rivette's engagement with classical forms; Construct of his defense of Howard Hawks' ill-fated epic "Land of the Pharaohs;" Conspiracies represented in "Paris Belongs to Us."

The article presents information on the ancient and current quarrels between philosophy and rhetoric. Since its birth in sixth-century Greece, the original native domains of rhetoric have been politics and the courtroom, but its powerful presence has always permeated the entire reach of society. What is not generally recognized, however, is that Plato's critical remarks concerning rhetoric apply equally well to a certain kind of poetry, and that the ontological and psychological bases of the criticism of poetry serve also as the bases of the criticism of rhetoric. The past three decades have witnessed a resurgence of interest in the history of rhetoric, and this has been accompanied by a widespread, self-avowedly postmodern conviction that it is rhetoric and emotion, not logic and reason, that has actually guided Western discourse since the days of Plato.

The article focuses on the trail of ancient rhetoric. Although futuristic developments will continue to challenge current mentality to the book-tradition of rhetoric. textually inscribed. Paper literacy has maintained its monopoly on the resources used for the historical study of rhetoric, both in terms of orality and literacy.

Focuses on the subject of fainting which dominated the literature scene during the 18th century. Discussion on the semantics of love in the 18th century; Definition of latency; Views on the sensibility of women.

This study proposes to identify the major rhetorical works printed up to After Death 1500, and to offer some reflections on what yet remains to be done in investigating rhetoric in that period. Rhetorical texts printed to 1500 fall into three categories: ancient treaties; medieval works; and finally the most numerous, sixty-one contemporaneous works composed at or near the time of printing. Altogether they encompass fewer than 400 editions. The first non-classical rhetorical text to be printed may well have been the fourth book of De doctrina christiana of Saint Aurelius Augustine. Four major rhetorical works appeared in Germany, two in German and two in Latin. One was Heinrich Gessler's vernacular Formulae und Teutsch rethorica, which had numerous editions under somewhat various titles well into the sixteenth century. What still needs to be done is to compile a comprehensive list of all fifteenth century rhetoricians, whether they published in manuscript or in print. Once that is done, it will be possible to study these texts carefully to identify intellectual trends and to assess their influence. The shift into vernacular languages, the possible effect of printing itself, the influence of ancient and medieval ideas--these are but some of the questions which cannot be answered until there is a systematic coverage of all the elements involved.

Presents a bibliography of works on Greek rhetoric and discourse.