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Plant motifs had a significant role in ancient cultures, with decorative, artistic, and communicative values. However, little knowledge exists of the botanical composition of festoons, widely used in Greek-Roman art. We analysed 81 festoons, exclusively from sculpture artworks, collected from 13 museums and archaeological sites in Rome (1st century BC–3rd century AD). Using iconographic sources and previous data, we identified the represented species and analysed their abundance and composition using statistical methods (Cluster Analysis, Principal Components Analysis) and diversity indexes (Shannon and Evenness). We documented 3081 botanical elements, identifying 30 taxa, in which fruits with leaves (45%) or alone (10%) represented the most common ones. Laurus nobilis and Quercus cfr. robur were the most frequently depicted species, followed by "pomes" (Pyrus, Malus, Cydonia), Vitis vinifera, Punica granatum, and Ficus carica. Festoons with one or two species can be easily distinguished from those with multiple species, often arranged with figs or vine branches at the ends, with symbolic aims related to fertility, rebirth, and abundance values. A balanced botanical composition also exists, with flowers typically in the middle and a species distribution that is not casual. The results enriched our comprehension of ancient Roman society, considering funerary and celebrative events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant motifs had a significant role in ancient cultures, with decorative, artistic, and communicative values. However, little knowledge exists of the botanical composition of festoons, widely used in Greek-Roman art. We analysed 81 festoons, exclusively from sculpture artworks, collected from 13 museums and archaeological sites in Rome (1st century BC–3rd century AD). Using iconographic sources and previous data, we identified the represented species and analysed their abundance and composition using statistical methods (Cluster Analysis, Principal Components Analysis) and diversity indexes (Shannon and Evenness). We documented 3081 botanical elements, identifying 30 taxa, in which fruits with leaves (45%) or alone (10%) represented the most common ones. Laurus nobilis and Quercus cfr. robur were the most frequently depicted species, followed by “pomes” (Pyrus, Malus, Cydonia), Vitis vinifera, Punica granatum, and Ficus carica. Festoons with one or two species can be easily distinguished from those with multiple species, often arranged with figs or vine branches at the ends, with symbolic aims related to fertility, rebirth, and abundance values. A balanced botanical composition also exists, with flowers typically in the middle and a species distribution that is not casual. The results enriched our comprehension of ancient Roman society, considering funerary and celebrative events.

This paper has two main goals: frist, to describe the role of natural space in the creation of anthropological prototypes and in establishing universal biases by using semiotics’ theoretical framework; second, to argue that the cognitive behavior of humanity depends on a universal way of interacting with nature, instead of being limited to social stereotypes. Landscapes are frames for cultural constructions and anthropological behavior, collective and individual. In this sense, landscapes favor the construction of cultural archetypes and, by analogy, can be translated into a symbolic language. That language facilitates complex expression, explains nature and, at the same time, reveals everyday phenomena in a crystalized and invariable manner. Each visible component of a landscape is potentially a driver for the construction of meaning, i.e., the empirical experience with weather, terrain, fauna, and flora generates signs of meaning that is later reflected in the cultural matrix of a culture. In that sense, agricultural context is the main source for abstract language in sedentary cultures from Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions. The methodology applied in this paper is directed to listen to the silent voices of the past through the analysis of unrelated textual sources, Sumerian and Roman, as the Sumerian text Inana B or Vergil’s Georgics. It is used to ‘break down’ the symbolic language of those texts into ‘signs of meaning’, and from this process, describe the original landscape that inspired it. We argue through anthropological/linguistic evidences that two unrelated cultural contexts in space and time can share cultural features. Such parallel characteristics result from similar anthropological experiences in the natural rural world and from the impact of economic activities in the daily life of ancient people.

This paper aims to investigate whether, by activities designed as a journey from present to past, students will gain an in-depth knowledge of Roman culture and civilisation, proving interest in them, and a better understanding of the contemporaneity and the community they are living in. Latin language and Roman culture are the basis of the European culture, and this subject is often perceived by students as useless, currently, because Latin is a dead language and Roman culture seems to be too far from their reality. I believe that it is necessary for students to have knowledge of the Latin language and Roman culture not only to know what was before them, but also to gain a better understanding of the world in which they live through the studying of this subject.

Copyright of Rónai - Revista de Estudos Classicos e Tradutorios is the property of Ronai - Revista de Estudos Classicos e Tradutorios 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.)

Roman lamps were one of the few daily-use objects that could have been usually decorated, thanks to the free space they had on their central discuses, offering a wide variety of figurative motifs. Such richness of elements and details permits to study their iconography as a reflection of Roman imaginary and daily life. About Iberian Peninsula, it is possible to observe how the Roman culture and traditions arrived and started to be introduced in this area through the analysis of their decorations. This paper will regard the specific situation of ancient Barcino (Barcelona), a paradigmatic case in respect of the application of that kind of analysis in order to better understand the Roman society that lived there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have recently noted a reluctance in New Testament scholarship to accept and apply the most recent historical scholarship on ancient enslavement to our readings of the biblical texts. The last century has seen developments in historical and classical scholarship that have moved those disciplines away from an understanding of ancient slavery as benevolent and toward a recognition of the institution's violent and coercive nature. A similar movement can be seen in the study of enslavement among first-century Jewish communities, with recent scholars arguing that Jewish enslavement practices were not as uniquely benign as was once thought. In spite of these developments, scholars of the Synoptic Gospels continue to utilize outdated models for understanding slavery in the biblical texts as a benevolent institution. A handful of New Testament scholars are charting a new course, challenging the rest of us to adopt the new historical consensus and to see biblical enslavement for what it was. Allowing these new critical works to lay the foundation for our understanding of slavery as it appears in the Synoptic Gospels will move us away from tired clichés and toward a more accurate picture of the worlds in and behind these texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Methodical Perspectives / Metodički Vidici is the property of Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad 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.)

The life of a society is inextricably linked with a certain socio-cultural reality, determined by a number of multi-vector factors. In ancient societies religious component has always played a great role. First of all, religion is one of the main cultural components. Secondly, it is an important social and political factor. Thirdly, due to its regulatory, ideological and compensatory functions religion becomes a key to understanding the depth of human feelings that are still timeless and unshakable. In spite of common belief that religion forms the culture and traditions of the society, it is important to emphasize the reverse influence - social and cultural impact on formation and evolution of religious life. In matters of worship Romans were extremely careful, the rituals were strictly regulated, each case had own deity which demanded a special treatment. Cult appears not as a covenant, but as a legal contract between gods and men that requires mutual obligations. Romans transfer internal social relations to relationship between gods and human. Religion cannot be comprehended as a separate component; it is intertwined into the holistic social and cultural picture of Ancient Rome. Roman religion was not identical; as any other religion, it differed out of political situation and trends of the times. However the core of religion and the nature of relations between gods and people were unaltered. The article is dedicated to identification of social and cultural components in Roman paganism tradition in Classical period that helps either deep understanding of the religion of Ancient Rome, or reconstructing worldview principals of Antiquity. Although Roman religion could be described as an empty one and its adepts as impious, such conclusion would be erroneous. The piety for Romans meant worship according to the laws of Rome - quite strange, but totally authentic Roman peculiarity, generated by socio-cultural features. Personal well-being becomes inseparable from the nationwide prosperity. The uniqueness of Roman religion is a great example of a mixture of religious endeavors, state interests and spiritual human aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of History Studies (13094688) is the property of History Studies 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.)

This paper explores the significance and use of the ruins as loca magica in the Roman World, focusing on literary, epigraphical and archaeological sources. As liminal topographies invested of material, aesthetic and metaphorical meanings linked to destruction and death, and dwellings of supernatural powers, it will be demonstrated that ruins appeared as an ideal location for magical activities, mainly oriented to ruin victims' lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first century AD. Roman culture managed to give the universal heritage exceptional personalities, who thru their writings influenced both contemporaries and those of the next generations. Thus, thru his vast work, Seneca will remain one of the great personalities of his time. In his writings he pursued, with priority, the improvement of moral life and therefore he managed to be over time a source of inspiration for many cultural and philosophical personalities, but also for some of the Church Fathers and Christian moralists. Quintilian is a pedagog-practitioner, who shows the means of training a good speaker, but, at the same time, builds a pedagogy with rich nuances and pragmatic openings. Quintilian's personality was appreciated not only by his contemporaries, but also by future generations. Saint Jerome (347-420 AD), Rufinus of Aquileia (345-410 AD), as well as Cassiodorus (490-580 AD), quoted from Quintilian's work. In the correspondence between Pliny the Younger and Emperor Trajan are two letters, dated 112 AD, which are important for the history of Christianity, because here we have some information about the moral life of Christians, but also about Christian worship and the Eucharistic assembly practised on Sunday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bosniaca is the property of National & University Library of Bosnia & Herzegovina 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.)

Analysing the etymology and original usage of the word virtus and the complex connections with its Greek parallels andreia and areté will take us to argue in this article that the deep Roman meaning of the concept was used for Roman self-definition and it played a special role in politics. I shall then deal with the idea of the ‘expansion of the concept’ in a twofold way: its broader range of meaning and its wider appeal to different sectors of society. The meeting of the Greek and Roman cultures will also be addressed here and I will discuss the development of a philosophical definition of the concept of virtus and the Stoic application of it to Roman society in the first century BC mainly through Cicero’s writings.

Copyright of Romanitas: Revista de Estudos Greco-Latinas is the property of Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo 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.)