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Representations of Hades, the Underworld, and the afterlife in ancient Greek literature have traditionally been studied from a religious or mythological perspective. Scholars have often tried to extrapolate historical practices and eschatological beliefs about life after death from accounts of rituals and myths surrounding funerary practices, cult beliefs, necromantic encounters, and descents by heroes to the Underworld. As a result of this focus, scholars have generally overlooked the narrative function of Underworld scenes. In this project, I examine ancient Underworld scenes from Homer to Plato as a type of literary device containing unique rhetorical features and functions. I argue that Underworld scenes are embedded authorial commentaries, which allow communication between author and audience in an exercise of narrative self-reflection. Underworld scenes condense the actions and themes of the main story into an abbreviated space while also situating their parent narratives within a dynamic historical and literary tradition. Through these scenes, authors and artists create networks of texts by including allusions and story patterns, which can activate similar tales of ghostly encounter (nekuia), underworld journeys (katabaseis), punishment for sinners, and rewards for the “blessed.” Underworld scenes “open up” dialogues between texts and characters across time and space so they could engage with each other and their tradition. Thus, Homer could imagine Odysseus talking to the ghosts of Achilles and Agamemnon in the Odyssey as a contemplation of heroism, and Plato could imagine Socrates anticipating afterlife conversations about justice with Homer, Ajax and Orpheus in the Apology.Chapter 1 presents the parameters of Underworld scenes and the methodologies that will be used in analyzing these scenes. Chapter 2 examines the structure of Underworld scenes in early Archaic poetry as well as the distinct language and image set which allowed communication between authors and audiences. Chapter 3 shows how Greek epinician and lyric poets used Underworld scenes to assimilate their patrons to heroes who achieved a “blessed” afterlife. Chapter 4 focuses on the use of Underworld scenes on the dramatic stage and in funerary contexts in Classical Athens to portray and offer solutions to contemporary political and social issues. Finally, Chapter 5 explores famous Underworld episodes in Plato’s dialogues and examines how Socrates uses Underworld scenes to overwrite traditional sources and redefine the afterlife as a stage of life, like childhood and old age.

The composition of Deut 27-28 is shaped by its ritual and performative function and by the narrative device of a script within a speech: the oral and ritual performance of the covenant ceremony by the Levites is framed within the speech-command of Moses. Studies of Deut 28 have largely focused on the textual tradition of this chapter and on its parallels with ancient near eastern treaties, and with the Succession Treaty of Esarhaddon in particular. Many studies view Deut 28 as a collection of isolated units of curse lines disconnected from the ceremonial performance of the covenant ratification ceremony detailed in Deut 27. This is due in part to the commonly held view that chapter 27 is an interpolation and a later addition to the literary unit of 12-26 and 28. However, a re-examination of comparative ancient near eastern evidence and a fresh literary analysis of 27 suggests that chapters 27-28 form a unified whole. A text-centric approach to Deut 28 has left largely unexamined the oral and ritual performance described in Deut 27. Ratification of oaths and treaties in the ancient near east was performative and entailed speaking words of power and performing ritual acts such as the slaughter of an animal or the ceremonial breaking of weapons. Deut 27 also furnishes instructions for the erection of an altar, ritual sacrifices, and an oral recitation of “all the words of this torah” including the blessings and curses in chapter 28. This concept of oaths and treaties as scripts is explored using the Aramaic Sefire treaty as a test case. An analysis of the curse segment of the Sefire treaty shows syntactical features typical of spoken language, suggesting that the curse portion of the written treaty was shaped by oral recitation and/or an oral tradition of formulaic curse language. The text-centric approach to studies of Deut 28 has also hindered examination of parallels between treaties and ritual and performative texts, and especially incantations. A study of contiguities between Deut 27-28 and the Neo-Assyrian incantation series Maqlû and Šurpu reveals compelling thematic, linguistic, and formological parallels.

This study examines a well-established idea in normative Egyptological discourse, that there exists in the inventory of Egyptian symbolism a distinct and unique symbol called sed-em-ra (‘tail-in-mouthʼ) in Egyptian, though usually referred to today by the Greek term ouroboros (‘tail-devouringʼ), being the image of a serpent arranged in a circle with the tip of its tail in its mouth, and expressive of specific meanings such as “endless time” and “eternity,” among others. However, a close examination of relevant iconographic and textual sources reveals that this Egyptological ouroboros is largely an illusion, and one that distorts understanding of Egyptian material by importing into it ideas that properly belong to the history of the post-pharaonic reception of the ouroboros icon, such as the idea that the ouroboros was primarily a symbol of the recurrent solar year, which had its origin with Latin authors, or the idea that the ouroboros symbolizes time and eternity, which is a tradition no older than the Italian Renaissance. Yet it is this latter ouroboros of the Renaissance iconographers and emblem books, an unquestioned part of the intellectual environment in which the discipline of Egyptology historically emerged, that induced nineteenth and twentieth century Egyptologists to unhesitatingly single out the ouroboros for special notice as the “serpent of eternity,” an interpretation not supported by Egyptian sources. A fresh hermeneutical approach requires the abandonment of such preconceptions, starting with rejection of the idea that the Egyptian ouroboros is a distinct symbol with specific meanings attached. Once the term ‘ouroborosʼ is used only in a limited and purely descriptive sense, it becomes possible to understand what the icon may be intended to express within the larger conceptual and iconographic context in which occurrences are embedded. This approach makes it clear that the icon was never a discrete symbol in Egypt, but rather a possible variant amongst related iconography that might convey similar meanings. A detailed reassessment of relevant primary sources shows that the icon is primarily associated with the idea of protective enclosure, conceived of as a divine force functioning on multiple levels: cosmic, solar, funereal, and individual.

The present dissertation investigates the root zu "to know" in the Sumerian texts of early Mesopotamia, ca. 2800-1600 B.C., with the aim of identifying its grammatical, syntactic and semantic characteristics. The root is treated across the Sumerian sources, but ultimately considered within the bilingual (Sumerian-Akkadian) situation of southern Mesopotamia. The adjectival and nominal forms of the root are also discussed, as well as their Akkadian counterparts. The analysis of the lexemes over a period stretching from ca. 2600-1600 BC offers interesting results in several categories (grammatical, literary, semantic), and contributes to discussions of the epistemological and practical implications associated with the concept of "knowing" in the Mesopotamian texts. While research into systems and categories of knowledge has been carried out in the field, no systematic lexical discussion of the verbal root meaning "to know" exists. This dissertation seeks to fill that lacuna.The methods employed in the dissertation lie within the well-established principles of philological and lexicographical investigation. Chapter 1 introduces the subject and reviews previous studies. Chapter 2 treats the Sumerian root zu, elucidating its formal and literary (idiomatic) characteristics. Appendices A and B document the corpus of examples consulted. Chapter 3 then discusses the derived adjectives from the root zu, likewise noting formal and literary (idiomatic) characteristics. Appendices C, D, E and F document their respective examples. Chapter 4 turns to the Akkadian root idû "to know" in bilingual and monolingual texts, in order to investigate (idiomatic) Semitic influence. It further takes up the Akkadian adjectives corresponding to those in Sumerian discussed in the third chapter. Chapter 5 enumerates personal names in Sumerian and Akkadian that employ the root "to know." A concluding chapter sums up the evidence for the individual roots and lexemes and discusses their evolution, usage and correspondence within the scribal and linguistic settings of the different textual corpora and their historical period.

This dissertation examines the social functions of translation in Egypt from the Middle Kingdom through the Roman Period (ca. 2000 BCE-200 CE), focusing on the practice of translating texts from earlier into later phases of the Egyptian language. There are two main objectives for this study. First, I determine how translation developed, and second, I investigate how the practice of translation in Egyptian society changed over time. I accomplish this by situating the translations, which form the basis of my textual analysis, within their social contexts. This research establishes that translation was a part of a tradition of Egyptian interpretive processes, offers evidence for the continued social prestige of translation as an intellectual ability from the Pharaonic to Roman Periods, and contributes to the discussion of how broader linguistic developments affected the social use of language in Egypt.In order to prove that there was a progression from interpretation to translation, I begin by analyzing the earliest attestations of Egyptian textual commentary from the Middle Kingdom. Then I compare those techniques to the ones found in translated texts of the Third Intermediate Period and later. I illustrate how the increased specialization of the traditional Middle Egyptian language after the New Kingdom led to the adoption of translation as a means of textual interpretation.From the repeated attestations of interpreting in the biographies of high-ranking officials from Pharaonic Egypt, I conclude that Egyptians were interested in highlighting their intellectual aptitude as part of their elite identity. Educated scribes who were invested in transmitting and explaining complex texts thus valued translation as an scholarly pursuit, as it guaranteed that important ritual texts remained understandable to the general population over time. Following the spread of Greek-Egyptian multilingualism from the Late Period onward, I contend that translation became an important feature of daily life and its function expanded beyond interpretation. By comparing the bilingual Rhind papyri and the Ptolemaic trilingual decrees, I argue that Middle Egyptian and its associated scripts were adopted alongside contemporary Demotic to invoke the religious and political authority of traditional Egyptian culture during the Ptolemaic Period.

One of the main characteristics of the philosophy of Descartes which marked the starting point of modern philosophy and was continued by English empiricism and German Idealism is a special attention to the subject instead of cosmos, being or God. But what caused such a turn to subject? With a historical linguistic approach it can be shown that the replacement of old languages of philosophy namely Greek, Arabic and Latin language by modern European languages namely French, English and German can be one of the causes of that turn in the history of philosophy. It seems interesting that the change in modern European language occurred exactly at the same time the modern philosophy appeared. In this research we will concentrate on the word order and the possibility of the omission of the subject in the sentence. In modern European languages there is a insistence on the subject to appear at the beginning of the sentence. This can lead to a special attention to the subject in philosophical aspect. It may seem interesting that old languages of philosophy are null-subject languages in the sense that in these languages the subject can be omitted. In these languages the subject sometimes comes after the verb or even will not appear in the phrase. That may seem why in those languages a philosophy similar to modern philosophy did not appear. Finally it will be shown that the change in language did not confine to mere language and has important philosophical implications.

International audience; This publication belongs to the research conducted under the HisTochText project.

The aim of this paper is to offer an overview of the use of the Latin alphabet to write the so-called fragmentary languages of Italy and Western Europe during Antiquity. The Latin alphabet was created from an Etruscan model to write Latin, but was also used to record texts in other languages: Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, the minor Italic dialects, Faliscan, and Venetic in Italy; Gaulish in the Gauls and other provinces in the north of Europe; and, finally, Iberian, Celtiberian, and Lusitanian in the Iberian Peninsula. The use of the Latin alphabet to write the so-called fragmentary languages represents a step before complete Latinisation. In some regions the types of inscriptions analysed here are not simply intermittent uses of the alphabet to write the local language, but rather, there was genuine thought about the appropriateness of the system and, consequently, some changes were made such as the creation of new signs, the use of others that come from the epichoric alphabet, and also the development of some distinctive orthographic norms.

This study examines Quintilian’s portrayal of the ideal orator in his Institutio Oratoria— “a good man skilled in speaking” (vir bonus dicendi peritus)—as a response to the Platonic problem of how to make sure that a trained speaker uses the power of speech for good rather than for evil. Departing from Quintilian’s recontextualization, in Institutio 2.15, of Plato’s Gorgias 460b-c (“therefore it is necessary for the rhetorical man to be just, and for the just man to want to do just things”), I suggest that Quintilian answers the Platonic critique by claiming to educate an orator who will want the good and will therefore use his powers of speaking in the service of the community. This approach opens up a reading of the orator’s education as an illustration of how the orator-in-training can gradually be led, over the course of his lifetime, to want the good of his own accord. By accepting the invitation of Quintilian’s authorial persona to enter into a series of relationships outlined and mediated by the Institutio—teacher and student, father and son, and friendship—the reader can begin to experience the education of the virtuous orator for himself and so develop the bona voluntas that Quintilian claims is the Institutio’s most important legacy.

At its height, the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) stretched from Egypt and the Balkans to Central Asia and the Indus. How was this continental empire able to endure at such scale for over two centuries? This dissertation provides an answer to this question through the analysis of a particular institution: the house of the satrap. Satraps were the local representatives of royal power in the Achaemenid Empire who managed the interface between state and subject. Satraps operated not alone but rather through their entire “house,” as the primary source languages say. These houses included other humans such as the satrap’s family, free subordinates, and dependent laborers, as well as property such as agricultural estates. It is at the level of the satrapal house where the quotidian acts of imperialism took place. This dissertation is structured around a series of case studies which examine particular satrapal houses. Two chapters consider the careers of three contemporary satraps (Tissaphernes, Pharnabazus, and Cyrus the Younger) in western Anatolia, with the first focusing on economic history and the second on social history. The next chapter studies Aršāma, whose activities spanned Egypt and Mesopotamia, and analyzes the structures of labor within his house. The following chapter narrates the career of Bēlšunu, a local official who rose to become satrap in Syria through fastidious dealings with his imperial superiors. Another chapter considers Bakabaduš, satrap in eastern Iran, whose house facilitated the movement of people, goods, and information across the Iranian plateau. The final case study examines the career of Axvamazdā, whose house cannot be disentangled from the complex road system that stretched across Achaemenid Central Asia. A chapter that summarizes broader patterns from these case studies concludes the dissertation.

Introduction. Improving the theory and practice of modern school dictates the need to take into account the historical and pedagogical heritage. There is a request for an in-depth and unbiased review of the history of Russian education and training. The search for effective pedagogical solutions actualises the appeal to the historical experience of Russian pedagogy, to the ideas and practices of classical education, which undeservedly remain outside the field of vision of Russian scholars and reformers of the modern Russian school. Aim and main research questions. The aim of the present research is to study the genesis of the Russian classical gymnasium in the first quarter of the 19th century. The study is an attempt at a dialogue with the past of Russian education, prompted by the intention to look into its future. This research work involves the analysis of the issues related to social and pedagogical factors, events in the process of the foundation and development of the Russian gymnasium as a new type of educational institution, and the comparison of its genesis with similar educational institutions in the West, taking into account the current problems of Russian school and education. The hypothesis of the research consists in scientific argumentation of the assessments of the foundation of the Russian classical gymnasium in the first quarter of the 19th century as a qualitatively new and important phenomenon of Russian education, which significantly influenced the further development of the Russian school. Methodology and research methods. The object of the study is the education system in Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century, and its subject is the classical gymnasium education of the indicated period. The foundation of a classical gymnasium is studied on the basis of the methodology of history of pedagogy and comparative pedagogy. The main methodological principles of historical and pedagogical science were taken into account – objectivity, historicism, comprehensiveness and consistency. In accordance with the methodology of objective positivism, the authors have made an attempt to scientifically understand and generalise the research findings and phenomena. The formulation of scientific ideas and judgments also required an appeal to the philosophy of relativism. The implementation of the methodology of comparative pedagogy provided for the search for similarities and differences, common and specific in the experience of the Russian classical gymnasium and secondary educational institutions of classical education in the West in the first quarter of the 19th century. When choosing research methods, the authors conducted the analysis of the presentation range of documents. The authors analysed more than 20 previously unpublished and unknown sources of archival holdings of the Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg). Also, the authors analysed the Russian and foreign research papers published from the 19th century to the early 21st century. Research results. The genesis of the classical Russian gymnasium in the first quarter of the 19th century is presented for the first time in a holistic form: the establishment of a gymnasium under the Charter of 1804, the contribution of S. S. Uvarov to the creation of a classical gymnasium and his experiment in the St. Petersburg provincial gymnasium of 1811, the curriculum of gymnasiums of 1819, the official policy as a factor in the development of classical education. The authors compared the genesis of the Russian classical gymnasium and institutions of classical secondary education in the West in the first quarter of the 19th century. The research results demonstrate that the researched period was the key for the foundation of the classical Russian pre-revolutionary gymnasium. In Russia, a new sector of the education system was created, being in tune with the European pedagogical trends of the era. A shift of the Russian gymnasium by the end of the first quarter of the 19th century away from the encyclopedic curriculum of the beginning of the century to the strengthening of classicism was identified. The similarities and differences of the processes of its foundation compared to the genesis of complete general education in the West, especially in Prussia, are shown. Practical and scientific significance. The possibilities of updating the experience of Russian classical education in modern conditions are outlined. Turning to such experience allows us to more successfully solve not only the specific problems of the revived gymnasiums and gymnasium classes in modern Russia, but also, in general, to comprehend the prospects of classical education in the post-industrial era. Введение. Совершенствование теории и практики современной школы диктует необходимость учета историко-педагогического наследия. Существует запрос на углубленное и непредвзятое рассмотрение отечественной истории воспитания и обучения. Поиск эффективных педагогических решений актуализирует обращение к историческому опыту российской педагогики, идеям и практикам классического образования, которые незаслуженно остаются вне поля зрения российских ученых и реформаторов современной отечественной школы. Цель и основные вопросы исследования. Цель представленного исследования – изучение генезиса российской классической гимназии в первой четверти XIX в. Это попытка диалога с прошлым российского образования, вызванная намерением заглянуть в его будущее. Исследовательская работа включала анализ вопросов, касающихся социальных и педагогических факторов, событий периода зарождения и развития российской гимназии как нового типа учебного заведения, сопоставление особенностей возникновения российской гимназии и аналогичных учебных заведений на Западе с учетом современных проблем отечественной школы и педагогики. Гипотеза исследования состоит в научной аргументации оценок процесса зарождении российской классической гимназии в первой четверти XIX в. как качественно нового и важного феномена российского образования, существенно повлиявшего на дальнейшее развитие отечественной школы. Методология, методы и методики исследования. Объектом исследования служила система образования в России первой четверти XIX в., предметом – классическое гимназическое образование указанного периода. Становление классической гимназии изучено с опорой на методологию истории педагогики и сравнительной педагогики. Были учтены основные методологические принципы историко-педагогической науки – объективности, историзма, всесторонности и системности. В соответствии с методологией объективного позитивизма авторы стремились к научному осмыслению и обобщению обнаруженных фактов и феноменов. Формулировка научных представлений и суждений потребовала также обращения к философии релятивизма. Применение методологии сравнительной педагогики предусматривало прежде всего поиск сходства и различий, общего и особенного в опыте российской классической гимназии и средних учебных заведений классического образования Запада первой четверти XIX в. При выборе методов исследования авторы прибегли к анализу презентативного круга документов. Были проанализированы более 20 ранее неопубликованных и малоизвестных источников из архивных фондов Российского государственного исторического архива (Санкт-Петербург), а также отечественные и зарубежные научные работы XIX – начала XXI в. Результаты исследования. Впервые в целостном виде представлен генезис классической российской гимназии первой четверти XIX в.: учреждение гимназии по уставу 1804 г., вклад С. С. Уварова в создание классической гимназии и осуществленный им эксперимент в Санкт-Петербургской губернской гимназии 1811 г., учебный план гимназий 1819 г., официальная политика того времени как фактор развития классического образования. Осуществлено сопоставление генезиса российской классической гимназии и учреждений классического среднего образования на Западе первой четверти XIX в. Результаты исследования показали, что изучаемый период оказался ключевым для становления классической российской дореволюционной гимназии. Это время ознаменовалось созданием в России нового сектора системы образования, что было созвучно европейским педагогическим тенденциям эпохи. Выявлены отход российской гимназии к концу первой четверти XIX в. от энциклопедического учебного плана начала столетия в сторону усиления классицизма, показаны общность и различия процессов ее становления и формирования полного общего образования в западных странах, особенно Пруссии. Практическая и научная значимость. Намечены возможности актуализации опыта российского классического образования в современных условиях. Обращение к этому опыту позволяет успешнее решать не только конкретные проблемы возрожденных в современной России гимназий и гимназических классов, но и в целом осмысливать перспективы классического образования постиндустриальной эпохи.

Scholarly work on literary features in Hittite texts has been minimal and rarely incorporates results of literary theory from the last approximately hundred and twenty years. In this dissertation, I investigate how a literary effect can be produced within a discourse pattern by developing a method of analysis at the intersection of linguistic discourse analysis and literary theory. My method of analysis first utilizes linguistic discourse analysis for identifying and assessing a pattern in discourse. In this regard, the core concept within linguistic discourse analysis that is employed is the notion of discourse cohesion and the “ties” that establish it. The second facet of the method of analysis is the application of the results of literary theory for the identification of how language produces a literary effect. Once a discourse pattern is identified, the pattern is analyzed for the presence of linguistic features that conform to what literary theorists claim create literary effects that are experienced as aesthetic. In this regard, the work of Roman Jakobson and his concept of the poetic function of language is at the core of this facet. This method of analysis aims to be applicable to texts that have different styles of communication; texts that are typically said to belong to different genres. To this end, the three case studies represent a sample of different styles. One is a formulaic historiographical/political text, one is a mythological text with portions that I argue are written in poetry, and one is a non- formulaic story organized as a series of events. These case studies reveal two implications. They illustrate the applicability of the method of analysis to texts written in different styles. And second, they demonstrate how various discourse patterns integrate varying amounts of words and grammar to participate in forming the pattern, thereby producing a varying frequency of literary effect in a given text.

This dissertation examines the 2nd Millennium BC pottery from Çadır Höyük, a multi-period archaeological site in Yozgat, Turkey. The research shows that a painted ceramic tradition existed contemporaneously with the expected North Central Anatolian ceramic tradition (Hittite Ware). Through my ceramic analysis, I argue that the presence of this painted tradition is indicative of a significant and new understanding of Hittite rural communities. Specifically, it indicates a continuation of a pre-Hittite painted ceramic tradition (generally referred to as Alişar III Ware) with multiple centers of production, likely located in the rural countryside surrounding Çadır Höyük. I argue that the presence of the painted tradition at Çadır Höyük, brought in from these extra-mural locations, is related to festival and feasting activities, providing a glimpse into rural engagement with the Hittite state. To develop this further, I introduce a landscape analysis expanding our understanding of Çadır Höyük’s role in Hittite agricultural administration and in the urban network of Central Anatolia. Ultimately, the analyses above are used to demonstrate that the data from Çadır Höyük represent a local scale staple finance-oriented economy made up of more urban Hittite participants and more rural pre-Hittite participants.

Building upon the traditional methods of philological analysis, this dissertation incorporates emerging technologies in text-mining and social network analysis as a new approach for analyzing large blocks of cuneiform text corpora. Working within the Classical period of the Old Akkadian dynasty, the height of Empire's reach and influence, these digital tools are deployed to ascertain the level of administrative similarity or difference between the major urban centers. The cities of the Diyala are used as a baseline specifically because of their peaceful relationship with the Akkadian Empire. These parameters explore whether the political relationship (peaceful or rebellious) affected the degree or extent of the Empire's administrative presence in its various territories. Overall, the results indicate that the Akkadian kings practiced similar policies throughout Mesopotamia. The imperial administration was only minimally involved with the daily administration of these cities; they sought mainly refined or finished goods and left the local government to manage the means of production.

Poems of sheer nothingness is an original song cycle for soprano and chamber ensemble that sets the poetic introductions of five early troubadours in their original Occitan. Written between the 12th and 15th centuries in southern France, these five introductions originally served as preambles (themselves sung) to a much longer song. In Poems of sheer nothingness the subsequent love songs are done away with, leaving their introductions in isolation to provide commentary on poetry, songwriting, and the relationship between words and music.The textual introduction describes some of the compositional techniques found within the song cycle, tracing their origins in the phenomenological philosophy of Franz Brantano, Edmund Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Martin Heidegger. These include the concepts of sonic phenomena, sonic objects, eidetic variation, and the auditory scene. Text setting and the composer's original translation and transliteration of the five Occitan texts are also discussed. Musical examples accompany the text throughout, which is followed by a complete score of the five songs.

The Ptolemaic temples are some of the best-preserved examples of Egyptian religious architecture; they represent the culmination of a long line of development, reflected in an increase in the number and polyvalency of hieroglyphic signs and iconographic elements in the wall reliefs. This development widened the scribal playing field for creating expressions that function on multiple aural, visual, and thematic levels. There have been few scholarly studies of these plays on words, signs, and iconography; despite the intrinsic relationship of texts, reliefs, and architecture in Egyptian monuments, there have been no comprehensive studies of these techniques within a unified architectural space. I was therefore motivated to study these scribal methods within the most important cult chamber of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera: the Per-wer Sanctuary. Building upon the work of Gutbub, Guglielmi, and Derchain, I extended their approaches to the material in several ways: examining these techniques on both micro- and macro-levels, from their smallest details to their broadest thematic connections; foregrounding individual techniques to determine the words and phrases singled out for emphasis; synthesizing their use in the interconnections formed between scenes and texts within the three-dimensional space of the cult chamber.I found that these scribal techniques support the three main themes of the Per-wer: Hathor as Creator and solar goddess; the Myth of the Distant Goddess; the King as Intermediary between the human and divine worlds. The myth creates the context for the King's interaction with the goddess, allowing his ritual actions to restore cosmic balance and activate the creative process. By communicating across boundaries, the scenes link complementary pairs, creating a network of interrelationships that mirrors the perfection of the divine Creation.The results of my study suggest that this three-pronged approach could profitably extend to those of other cult chambers at Dendera, and to other Graeco-Roman temples, whose reliefs also contain plays on words, signs, and iconography. By studying these complex techniques of the ancient scribes, we can thereby come closer to understanding how they envisioned the universe and the place of humankind within it.

The relationship between tectonic environment and human activity has a long history that intimately involves the Ancient Near East and Levant. Texts from the third millennium onward attest to earthquake imagery while records of actual earthquakes cluster in two periods in the Middle and Neo-Assyrian periods. The research first examines the relationship between the tectonic environment and earthquake imagery that is found amidst Storm-god imagery. Next, close attention is paid to the textual and archaeoseismic evaluation of earthquakes recorded in Middle and Neo-Assyrian texts and the extent to which historical information from these texts can inform a reconstruction of the earthquake's effects. Within the Levant, a detailed archaeoseismic evaluation of Iron IIB sites with purported mid-eighth century seismic damage suggests better methodological controls are needed to identify seismic damage in the archaeological record. A number of interdisciplinary approaches, including post-disaster housing, earthquake eyewitness accounts, and gender and vulnerability studies are applied to Amos in order to provide a fresh perspective on identifying earthquake imagery within the book. These approaches help reconstruct the socioeconomic, political, and religious effects of the earthquake mentioned in Amos and illustrate how his oracles and prophetic validity would have been authenticated through the earthquake. These approaches also shed new light on "social justice" texts within Amos and how the aftermath of an earthquake would have underscored, anew, the gap between the rich and poor.

This article is intended as a case study to introduce students to the life and work of St Jerome, and more specifically to his exegetical method. Letter 21 to Pope Damasus contains Jerome’s interpretation of the parable of the Prodigal Son and offers the ideal text to read with third year or honours Latin students. Since Professor Dircksen has a special interest in the teaching and learning of Latin, this contribution is meant for that section of the Festschrift . My aim is twofold: firstly, to offer an introduction to the text, focusing on several aspects which illustrate Jerome’s exegetical method; and secondly, to illustrate how this material can be presented to students. Students are introduced to a well-known patristic author’s approach to a biblical text, but in this process, they are taught how to approach any text themselves.

Saisi à la Révolution, ce fonds de 20 000 volumes fut mis à la disposition des lecteurs en 1803. Il fut une source d’inspiration pour Louis Bertrand par ses ouvrages historiques rares, richement illustrés évoquant l’histoire médiévale des ducs de Bourgogne et de leur capitale, ses livres sur la numismatique antique, ses guides de voyage ou ses ouvrages d’occultisme offrant à l’écrivain des sources de connaissances architecturales, linguistiques et artistiques propices à soutenir son imagination., Seized during the Revolution, this collection of 20,000 volumes was made available to readers in 1803. It was a source of inspiration for Louis Bertrand because of its rare, richly illustrated historical works evoking the medieval history of the dukes of Burgundy and their capital. Its books on ancient numismatics, its travel guides and works on occultism offered the writer architectural, linguistic and artistic knowledge that nurtured his imagination.

One can read the Odyssey as the product of a poetic tradition interested in innovating the very process of its own narrative performance. In my thesis I focus on examples of metanarrative that feature a particular type of internal narration: the communication of gods with men. In particular, the Odyssey features two apparent aberrations of the standard portrayals of 'Homeric' divination—one, a dream scene, Penelope's 'symbolic' dream in Book 19, another, a moment of prophecy, Theoklumenos’ 'ecstatic vision' in Book 20. I will argue, however, that Penelope’s and Theoklumenos’ scenes are not aberrant so much as purposefully exceptional. In other words, I will propose that both scenes can be understood more productively as depictions that have been conscientiously stylized by the poet(s) to encourage a reception by their audience that is similarly aware of the scenes’ metacommentative, and especially metapoetic, significance. Indeed, by manipulating the standard representations of gods and men as they communicate within epic narrative, the poet has crafted an innovative and self-referential exploration of the vehicle of that communication between gods and men, the medium. Along with the poet, both Penelope and Theoklumenos are mediums within the epic because they act as the intermediary between the gods and mankind in moments when information from the divine sphere is shared with the human sphere. I will argue that the poet takes advantage of the metanarrative nature of these scenes, in order to disclose to his audience the essence of his own poetic contributions which are otherwise obfuscated by traditional elements of the genre. In line with the other metanarrative innovations of the Odyssey, the poet uses the scenes of Penelope and Theoklumenos as internal descriptions of his own role in order to challenge traditional conceptions about divination and divination’s sister craft, poesis.

This special JRMDC number brings together articles based on eight papers presented at the Digital Humanities (DH) consultation of the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). These eight articles focus on Digital Humanities (DH) in Ancient Jewish, Christian and Arabic traditions. The first part of this introduction focuses on general considerations concerning the encounter between digital culture and biblical and religious studies, and introduces the first article by Caroline Schroeder. The second part of this introduction maps a number of key issues across the Digital Humanities which appear in the seven specific case studies presented in the other articles in this issue.

Cognitive and generative approaches to linguistics have taken a different perspective on grammatical polysemy and grammaticalization. While the former see polysemy as a core characteristic of language and a necessary result of grammaticalization within idiolects, the latter see it as a less interesting phenomenon peripheral to linguistics proper. Grammaticalization is seen as a phenomenon of language acquisition which does not disturb the homogeneity of idiolects. These differing perspectives have generated much debate between the two approaches and are even in large part responsible for the different programmatic focuses of each. While the disagreement over grammatical polysemy between these two approaches to language is rooted in entrenched commitments on each side that are perhaps irreconcilable, at least some common ground does seem to be possible. Specifically, when it comes to inter-generational corpora, it seems that both cognitive and generative approaches to linguistics can agree that the universal phenomenon of grammaticalization would result in polysemy at least at the language community level. This can serve as a common ground on which both generative and cognitive linguists can join efforts in describing and explaining usage profiles of grammatically polysemous forms at the corpus level according to prototypicality, even if disagreement persists on the nature of the idiolect.2Keywords: polysemy, polyfunctionality, grammaticalization, cognitive linguistics, generative linguistics, corpus linguistics, ancient languages

International audience

International audience; This special issue originates in the International workshop on computer aided­processing of intertextuality in ancient languages, held in Lyon (2nd-4th June 2014), coorganized by HiSoMA (UMR 5189, Lyon), LIRIS (UMR 5205, Villeurbanne) and the Göttingen Centre for Digital Humanities (e-TRAP), with the support of the National Research Agency (ANR Biblindex) and the Partner University Fund (PUF).This workshop was initiated as the conclusive meeting of the ANR project BIBLINDEX, which aims at establishing an exhaustive statement of the biblical references found in the texts of the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Were gathered computer scientists and digital humanists. The sessions presented the state of art regarding concepts and technics used to process quotations and text-reuses in ancient languages.Thanks to the editorial system of the JDMDH, the proceedings of this workshop have been open to other contributions also dealing with intertextuality, linguistic preprocessing and the preservation of scholarly research results, specifically applied to corpora in Ancient Languages and for which few online resources exist (Ancient Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic, etc.).

This special issue originates in the International workshop on computer aided¬processing of intertextuality in ancient languages, held in Lyon (2nd-4th June 2014), coorganized by HiSoMA (UMR 5189, Lyon), LIRIS (UMR 5205, Villeurbanne) and the University of Göttingen and SUB Göttingen (e-TRAP), with the support of the National Research Agency (ANR Biblindex) and the Partner University Fund (PUF).This workshop was initiated as the conclusive meeting of the ANR project BIBLINDEX, which aims at establishing an exhaustive statement of the biblical references found in the texts of the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Were gathered computer scientists and digital humanists. The sessions presented the state of art regarding concepts and technics used to process quotations and text reuses in ancient languages.Thanks to the editorial system of the JDMDH, the proceedings of this workshop have been open to other contributions also dealing with intertextuality, linguistic preprocessing and the preservation of scholarly research results, specifically applied to corpora in Ancient Languages and for which few online resources exist (Ancient Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic, etc.).

This dissertation reexamines the origins, intent, and perceived historical value of the fourth-century series of Latin imperial biographies known as the Historia Augusta. Over the course of the twentieth century, the text was interpreted as a historical “forgery” created by a “rogue scholar” who took pleasure in deceiving most, if not all, of his audience into accepting at face value the text’s false attribution to six fictitious biographers, its spurious imperial dedications, and its reliance on fabricated sources. In the last decade, studies have instead begun to suggest that many of the “fraudulent” elements of the Historia Augusta were not intended to deceive but rather entertain knowledgeable readers by interpolating elements from the ancient novel into a biographical text.Drawing upon recent reinterpretations of the author, audience, and literary milieu of the Historia Augusta, this study reconsiders the purposes of the invented attributions, dedications, and fabricated sources within the collection. Many recent studies have concluded that the inventions of the Historia Augusta can only obscure or detract from any historical purpose and that the primary intended function of the Historia Augusta was entertainment. In contrast, through reassessment of the work’s composition and the forms and frequency of the inventions across the collection, this study demonstrates that the author uses his inventions to forge thematic and structural links across the thirty biographies and to encourage deeper reflection on his biographical subjects, the limitations of authentic history, and his contemporary political context.Chapter One reviews recent scholarship that suggests the Historia Augusta’s readers would have been primed by their familiarity with the ancient novel and other fictive works to recognize the collection’s inventions as parodic imitations of novelistic conventions. By examining the role of social networks in the revision and circulation of texts, the chapter builds on recent findings to suggest that the need for friends in the circulation process would have impeded the ability of the Historia Augusta’s author to disseminate his work anonymously and thus suggests that the work was intended for a knowledgeable audience. Chapter Two reexamines fundamental questions about the composition and aims of the work. Through analysis of the evidence for accretion and false-ends within the Historia Augusta, this study argues that the collection came to fruition only after several stages of revision, a position rejected by others due to the lives repetitiveness and perceived stylistic infelicities. In particular, it demonstrates that the work’s invented attributions and the imperial dedications were not an original design component of the collection at the outset of the composition, but were retroactively added at an intermediate stage of the composition when the author was making broad-scale revisions and alterations to roughly half of the lives. Through a series of close readings and careful analysis of the text’s political and intellectual context, Chapters Three through Five suggest that the inventions were gradually devised and added to the lives as the author became increasingly engaged with contemporary texts and more self-reflective on the notion of historical evidence and research. Chapter Three demonstrates that the biographer attributions and personae evolved from puns that signaled the virtues of the emperors into central figures in the author’s self-reflective commentary on his own scholarly community. Chapter Four argues the imperial invocations were deliberately added not only to establish a comparison between the legacies of Diocletian and Constantine but also to shore up thematic elements concerning the Antonine dynasty and imperial succession that had subsequently become prominent in the composition. Chapter Five illustrates that the fabricated documents in the lives of the usurpers systematically undermine negative accounts of imperial challengers found in other contemporary sources and encourage more positive interpretations of usurpers’ merits and motivations. By demonstrating the ways that the author uses the attributions, dedications, and fictitious documents to engage with the cultural and political transformations affecting his scholarly community, this study concludes that more credence should be given to the author’s proposition that he intended his work to serve as a historical source for historians to come (Car. 21.2-3). So too, by challenging the rigid delineations between fact and fiction, truth and fraudulence in the Historia Augusta, this project aims to create new avenues for further research not only on the Historia Augusta but also on the ways that creative impersonation and fabrication could be harnessed for historical purposes in other ancient texts.

The present essay distinguishes, unlike a standard interpretation, the first two parts of the Yale Report as two entities which develop somewhat distintive arguments. In order to substantiate this thesis, the author will compare the second part written by James Kingsley with the controversies over classics education between the Edinburgh Review and Oxford around 1810, and the first part written by Jeremiah Day, with Kant's discussion on the conflict of the faculties around the end of the eighteenth century. The comparisons will reveal that Day insists on the superiority of collegiate education over professional as well as advanced vocational training by emphasizing the central place which the principles of science occupy in the collegiate curriculum. Also clarified will be the point that Kingsley's argument for classics education, despite the cherished theory of mental discipline, proves purely defensive like the case of Oxford against the Edinburgh Review.

International audience