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This paper deals with the controversial identities of three Domitii Ahenobarbi and argues that two of them belonged to a collateral branch of this senatorial family, contrary to the commonly accepted view. A new stemma of the Domitii Ahenobarbi in the second century BCE is thus proposed.

Six papers (plus introduction and conclusion) on Napoleon and the Ancient World

The genealogy of the Postumii Albini from the second half of the second century BCE onwards is uncertain and debated. This article attempts a new discussion of the evidence. Its main contention is that A. Postumius Albinus, cos. 99, should be distinguished from the homonymous legate, brother of Sp. Postumius Albinus, cos. 110; that the two moneyers A. Postumii Albini were, in all likelihood, not directly related to each other and were probably sons of the last two consuls of the family; and, as a consequence, that at least two lines of descent between the second and the first century BCE can be discerned. On the basis of these results, a new stemma of the ancient patrician family of the Albini is put forward.

Scholars routinely date the beginnings of Christian history-writing to the fourth century AD. In this century, so the story goes, Eusebius reinvented and solidified for subsequent Christian generations the two normative forms of Christian historiography: the church history and the (Christian) world chronicle. But this is not the entire story. For in that same century another type of Christian historiography emerged: namely, historiography written in the classical mode as established by Thucydides (i.e., the ‘war monograph’) and continued by later Roman historians. To wit, in the 370s a Latin text appeared, colloquially referred to as Pseudo-Hegesippus, or De excidio Hierosolymitano (On the Destruction of Jerusalem). This text rewrites the story of the Roman Jewish War (66-70/73 AD), which Flavius Josephus had recorded centuries earlier, using a number of sources and following standard literary conventions of Greco-Roman historiography. Rather than a history about Christians (i.e., church history) or a universal history (i.e., the world chronicle), this work continues in a Christian vein the tradition of ancient historiography by dealing with a particular war and its defining episodes, characters, descriptions, and speeches. The fact and significance of this text has been missed by scholars of early Christianity and late antiquity. In the defining era for Christian historiography, Christians were not only thinking and writing about history in terms of church history or world history; the formative fourth century also witnessed Christians conceptualizing and articulating history in the more classical mode, thus illustrating a hitherto unappreciated facet of late antique Christianity.

Das Manuskript eines unveröffentlichten Aufsatzes von Friedrich Münzer (1868–1942) ist jüngst von T. Corey Brennan im Nachlass von Ernst Badian (1925–2011) entdeckt worden. Der Aufsatz, in welchem Münzer sich mit A. Postumius Albinus, dem Konsul von 151 v. Chr. und Annalisten, und dessen Verhältnis zu Polybios befasste, wurde im Winter 1938–1939 auf Einladung von Ronald Syme (1903–1989) abgefasst und ihm zur Veröffentlichung im Journal of Roman Studies geschickt. Mit vorliegendem Beitrag wird dieser letzte bekannte Aufsatz Münzers endlich herausgegeben; er ist mit einer Einleitung über die Geschichte des Manuskripts und die Editionskriterien sowie mit einem Nachtrag zu den von Münzer berührten oder behandelten Hauptthemen versehen. The manuscript of a hitherto unpublished paper by Friedrich Münzer (1868–1942) has recently been discovered by T. Corey Brennan in the Nachlass of Ernst Badian (1925–2011). Written in Winter 1938–1939 on the invitation of Ronald Syme (1903–1989), and sent to him for publication in the Journal of Roman Studies, the article focuses on A. Postumius Albinus, the consul of 151 bce and annalist, and his relationship with Polybius. The text of Münzer’s paper, which is his last known scholarly work, is here preceded by an intro­ductory note on the history of the manuscript and the editorial criteria, and includes an addendum on some of the key historical issues discussed by Münzer.

Exemplarity, ethnography, and exegesis are three forms of cultural practice well known to the ancient Mediterranean world. The use of role models, the ‘writing’ of peoples, and the interpretation of authoritative writings (i.e. “Scriptures”) were ways in which many authors of Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian antiquity situated themselves and others within history. Here I argue that the biblical patriarch Abraham, as received within the late antique Christian text called Pseudo-Hegesippus (On the Destruction of Jerusalem), provides a quintessential example of these scribal-rhetorical habits in action. The upshot of this study is that key figures like Abraham were integral tools for doing the things that certain interested ancient writers were trying to do, and as such these figures constitute appropriate, even necessary, objects of research for those seeking to understanding ancient Mediterranean texts, authors, and readers.

In late ancient Christian literature, King David is ubiquitous. Not simply cited as the famous author of many psalms, he almost always appears as a model of penitence, a foreshadow of Christ, or a paradigm of Christian virtues and values. But not always. In one fourth-century Christian text, King David appears in a striking and distinctive relief. This Latin text, known as De excidio Hierosolymitano (On the Destruction of Jerusalem), sometimes called PseudoHegesippus, presents King David as a figure familiar from Judaeo-Christian tradition, but in a way that resonates most strongly with classical Greco-Roman literary norms. This text rewrites Josephus’s Jewish War from a Christian perspective, and mentions David at a dozen points. In each case, David appears as an exemplum associated with a particular biblical episode or theme. Often, the treatment of these episodes in Josephus or other early Christian literature helps explain why Pseudo-Hegesippus presents David in particular lights. However, taking all of the appearances of David in De Excidio into view, this article shows that Pseudo-Hegesippus is not only beholden to biblical, Josephan, or early Christian precedents, but creatively constructs his own portrait of David within his historiographical framework. This article then suggests that this David’s rhetorical valence and distinctive character are best explained vis-à-vis the traditional (Greek and) Roman use of exempla inasmuch as Pseudo-Hegesippus’s David conspicuously lacks any of the theological, doctrinal, or ethical features so characteristic of his portrayal in most of ancient Christian literature. Pseudo-Hegesippus portrays King David in terms resonant of both Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian traditions.

Scholarly narratives of the development of Christian anti-Jewish thinking in antiquity routinely cite a number of standard, well-known authors: from Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Justin Martyr in earlier centuries to Eusebius, John Chrysostom, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine in the fourth and early fifth centuries. The anonymous author known as Pseudo-Hegesippus, to whom is attributed a late fourth-century Latin work called On the Destruction of Jerusalem (De Excidio Hierosolymitano), rarely appears in such discussions. This has largely to do with the fact that this text and its author are effectively unknown entities within contemporary scholarship in this area (scholars familiar with Pseudo-Hegesippus tend to be specialists in medieval Latin texts and manuscripts). But “Pseudo-Hegesippus” represents a critical contribution to the mosaic of Christian anti-Jewish discourse in late antiquity. De Excidio's generic identity as a Christian piece of classical historiography makes it a unique form of ancient anti-Jewish propaganda. This genre, tied to De Excidio's probable context of writing—the wake of the emperor Julian's abortive attempt to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple, resurrect a robust Judaism, and remove Christians from public engagement with classical culture—renders De Excidio an important Christian artifact of both anti-Judaism and pro-classicism at the same time. This article situates Pseudo-Hegesippus in a lineage of Christian anti-Jewish historical thinking, argues that De Excidio codifies that discourse in a significant and singular way, frames this contribution in terms of its apparent socio-historical context, and cites De Excidio's later influence and reception as testaments to its rightful place in the history of Christian anti-Judaism, a place that modern scholarship has yet to afford it. As a piece of classical historiography that mirrors not Christian historians—like Eusebius and others—but the historians of the broader “pagan” Greco-Roman world—like Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus—De Excidio leverages a cultural communicative medium particularly well equipped to undergird and fuel the Christian historiographical imagination and its anti-Jewish projections.

Scholars have noted the ubiquity and significance of the Latin Josephus tradition in the medieval era and thereafter. Turned into Latin in Late Antiquity, Josephus’s originally Greek Bellum Judaicum, Antiquitates Judaicae, and Contra Apionem became standard, widespread reading material for myriad medieval readers. Yet, all of Josephus’s readership in the medieval era and Middle Ages was not reading the same thing. Some had access to one or more versions of the Latin translation tradition; some were reading the late fourth-century Christian work De excidio Hierosolymitano; and still others would apprehend Josephus via Rufinus of Aquileia’s Latin translation of Eusebius of Caesarea’s Historia Ecclesiastica, which frequently quotes sections of Josephus’s Greek text verbatim. Many knew and cited more than one of these works. Text critical work on each of these traditions is ongoing and currently imperfect; however, just as important as the foundational manuscript work is interpretive work that critically compares these traditions as a means of providing qualitative analysis regarding how Josephus’s oeuvre could have been apprehended and understood by postancient Latin readers. To that end, the present study compares these traditions in a case study to illustrate their relative propinquity and respective idiosyncrasies. Such a study demonstrates the diversity of the Latin Josephus tradition beginning in the fourth century and provides a fuller basis for understanding and further studying the dynamics of that tradition among readers in the Middle Ages and beyond.

The volume, which has emerged from an international conference of the same title, unites a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions on invasions of Goths and other Germanic tribes into the Roman Empire, focusing primarily on the third-century CE. The newly discovered fragments of the lost work Scythica by the third-century historian Dexippus of Athens, the so-called Scythica Vindobonensia alias Dexippus Vindobonensis, which survived in a Greek palimpsest kept in the Austrian National Library in Vienna, have great impact on the study of this field. The contributions explore the Vienna fragments in their historical and historiographical contexts, from the Roman to the Byzantine Era, and the history of the invasions themselves. Der Band, der aus einer internationalen Tagung gleichen Namens hervorgeht, vereinigt verschiedene disziplinäre und interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf das Thema der gotischen und anderen germanischen Einfälle ins Römische Reich, besonders im 3. Jahrhundert n. Chr., das durch die neuen Fragmente aus dem verlorenen Werk Skythika des antiken Historikers Dexippos von Athen, die sog. Scythica Vindobonensia alias Dexippus Vindobonensis, die rezent in einem griechischen Palimpsest der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek in Wien entdeckt wurden, wichtige Impulse erhalten hat. Die Beiträge behandeln den historischen und historiographischen Kontext der neuen Fragmente, von der römischen bis in die byzantinische Zeit, wie auch die Einfälle als solche.

This volume collects papers on pragmatic perspectives on ancient theatre. Scholars working on literature, linguistics, theatre will find interesting insights on verbal and non-verbal uses of language in ancient Greek and Roman Drama. Comedies and tragedies spanning from the 5th century B.C.E. to the 1st century C.E. are investigated in terms of im/politeness, theory of mind, interpersonal pragmatics, body language, to name some of the approaches which afford new interpretations of difficult textual passages or shed new light into nuances of characterisation, or possibilities of performance. Words, silence, gestures, do things, all the more so in dramatic dialogues on stage.

The fourth century of the Common Era was a period significant for witnessing the effective birth of Christian historiography and the (putatively) definitive separation of ‘Jew’ and ‘Christian’ as distinctive identities. A text emerged, known as Pseudo-Hegesippus or De Excidio Hierosolymitano (On the Destruction of Jerusalem). This text illustrates how Christian historiography and Christian anti-Jewish ideology at that time could engage with the traditions of classical antiquity. In particular, this article argues that Pseudo-Hegesippus deploys figures from the Hebrew Bible in the mode of classical exempla and that it does so within the largely classical conceptual framework of national decline. For Pseudo-Hegesippus, biblical figures presented as classical exempla serve to illustrate the historical decline of the Jews until their effective end in 70 CE (when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple). One passage, De Excidio 5.2.1, and its enlistment of five Hebrew heroes illustrates this point particularly well. The use of exemplarity and the theme of national decline employed there help us appreciate De Excidio as a distinctive contribution to early Christian historiography and anti-Jewish literature in late antiquity; this expands our ability to imagine the ways in which fourth-century Christian authors could conceive of and articulate Jewish history in classical terms.

Until today the extensive Dante research has rarely dealt with the infernal landscape constructed by the author even though the punitive effects of the four elements fire, water, earth and air are central to the text. This article considers to what extent the hostile nature of hell determined the construction of the first Cantica, even serving as the main protagonist. After starting with the creation of hell, its geological and meteorological conditions will be analyzed. A special focus here is on the suicides, who, through their transformation into plants, not only become part of the natural system themselves, but also refer to the Greek term »hyle« by their designation as »selva« and thus become a primordial matter. The hydrography of the inferno is also considered. Based on the different manifestations of the rivers of the underworld, the question of their terrestrial source is finally examined. Dante's geological and hydrographic systems are based on their own myths of origin. This article identifies scientific models of transmission in both myths. The first, elaborated by Albertus Magnus, explained the various effects of earthquakes, and the other accounted for cartography and negotiations of the geographical center of the earth.

Semantische Emphase, Kongruenz von Erzähler- und Figurenhaltung und Ikonizität sind (einige) Verfahren der narrativen Verdichtung (formal und inhaltlich) von literarischen Texten und bewirken, dass diese Texte an Prägnanz gewinnen. Diese Verfahren zeichnen sich dadurch aus, dass sie kulturell verankerte Konnotationen, die sich mit Dingen und Lebewesen der (außer)literarischen Wirklichkeit verbinden, gezielt abrufen. Sie lassen zudem Erzähler und Figuren, discours und histoire, mit einer gemeinsamen ›Stimme‹ sprechen und übertragen erzählzeitlich voranschreitende Handlung punktuell in die Simultaneität des Bildes. Diese Prozesse narrativer Verdichtung lassen sich an ausgewählten Beispieltexten (12. und 13. Jahrhundert) der europäischen Erzähltradition aufzeigen: Alexanders von Roes lateinischer ›Pavo‹, das altfranzösische Fabliau ›Le chevalier qui recovra l’amor de sa dame‹ und der mittelhochdeutsche ›Mauritius von Craûn‹., Beiträge zur mediävistischen Erzählforschung, 2019: Brevitas 1 – Sonderheft BmE: Prägnantes Erzählen

In den philosophischen, ästhetischen und musikwissenschaftlichen Diskursen scheinen Musik und Emotionen selbstverständlich miteinander einherzugehen. Ob die Musik als ein sich auf Zahlen- oder Proportionsverhältnisse stützendes, abstraktes Schema begriffen wird (wie z. B. in der griechischen Theorie und in ihren nachfolgenden Derivaten), als Nachahmung der Natur oder affektiver Zustände (wie in der klassischen Ästhetik) oder als unmittelbarer Ausdruck der Leidenschaften (wie in der romantischen Metaphysik) – sie wird systematisch als diejenige künstlerische Tätigkeit betrachtet, die am besten in der Lage ist, E-motionen (e-movere) zu erzeugen, Körper und Seele „in Motion“ zu setzen. Die Literatur scheint sich des Vorteils, den die Musik im Bereich der Emotionen ihr gegenüber hat, bewusst zu sein. In den vorliegenden Beiträgen wird gezeigt, dass Literatur sich nicht selten auf die Musik bezieht und sie in ihre verbale Welt integriert, um ihre eigene emotionale und kommunikative Wirkmacht zu verstärken., In philosophical, aesthetic and musicological discourses, the association of music with emotions seems to be taken for granted, although the modalities of this connection have varied considerably over the centuries. Whether it is theorised as an abstract scheme based on relations of numbers or proportions (cf. the Greek theory and all its later derivatives), as an imitation of nature or of affective states (cf. the classical aesthetics) or as a direct expression of the passions (cf. the romantic metaphysics), music is systematically considered the artistic activity best able to provoke e-motions (e-movere), i.e. to move and to ‘set in motion’ the body as well as the soul, and by extension, best able to put in relation and to favour communication with the divine and with other human beings (cf. current association between music and religion, re-ligare, ‘re-late’). Literature appears conscious of this advantage music has over it in the sphere of emotions: it is indeed not unusual that when it evokes emotions (i.e. holds discourse about them) and/or aims to arouse them (i.e. to produce a direct emotional action on the reader), it makes use of music and integrates it into its verbal universe. Within the scope of this book, we focus on the manner in which literature, while retaining its own weapons (words) and without resorting to a direct collaboration with music as it does in opera or song, utilises music for conveying states of sensitivity and for increasing its emotional and communicative potential. The options for the mobilisation of music in literary texts are multiple: at content level, musical traces can manifest themselves in the form of themes or motifs (descriptions of musicians, musical performances, musical instruments, etc.), musical quotations (fragments of a score that interrupts the text), or discourses on music (ranging from technical and musicological analysis to subjective interpretations of a work with generous use of images and metaphors); from the formal point of view, musical thought can be seen either in the musicality of the text (phonic or rhythmic aspect) or in its structure (sonata form, fugue form, etc.). The articles in English, French and German gathered in this book try to respond to these questions: By which specific use of these models does the literary work attempt to increase and value its emotional content and impact? Does it always succeed in doing so? Do these models lead to an extension of the literary field and the means of literary expression?

Erasmus does not aim to present a transcript of the spoken words of Jesus. At least, this is what he professes in the prolegomena of his Novum Testamentum. If such a transcript in Hebrew or Syriac did exist, Erasmus goes on to assure us, he would worship it as a relic. Thus, Erasmus presents himself as a humble bearer of merely the second best conceivable text, namely the Greek New Testament. However, in the context of Erasmus’ other writings there can be little doubt that he thought of the Greek text as the ne plus ultra. His confidence is evident in the way he treats the few Aramaic New Testament phrases in his annotations and downplays the respective critique of the Spanish scholar Nebrija. This was because Greek in the early 16th century was not just a language; its very use was an avowal of commitment to emergent humanist scholarship. Erasmus was deeply committed to this new kind of learning, whereas he never really warmed to Semitic languages. In fact, the Greek quality of the New Testament resonates with Erasmus’ presentation of the life of Jerome who in the Syrian dessert was nourished by the wells of the Greek Church Fathers. It also resonates with Syrian-born Lucian of Samosata, Erasmus’ most cherished Greek stylist. After Erasmus and especially in the Reformed tradition, the Semitic origins of the New Testament became much more alluring. In order to get closer to the words Jesus actually had spoken, scholars tried to reconstruct a Syriac New Testament text. Even though they were driven by the Protestant battle cry of sola scriptura, their very work questioned the extant text. In the midst of confessional contest, faithfulness to the sources threatened to shake the foundations of Reformed policy. Thus a scholar-cum-churchman like Beza found himself in an uneasy quandary: for the sake of argument he had to attack pre-Reformation textual tradition and Erasmus as an editor while at the same time, for the sake of confessional cohesion, Erasmus’ text had to be presented as the binding Word of God.

This paper re-examines the inscription of an honorary monument of the Domitii Ahenobarbi found reused in a compitum from the Area Sacra di Sant’Omobono (AEp 1991, 279). Its main contention is that Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus (cos. 96 BCE) could not be both the commissioner and one of the three Domitii honoured by the monument. It is likely that these Domitii were the first three consuls of the family (192, 162, 122). Some hypotheses about the chronology of the monument and its exploitation in the contemporary political arena are put forward.