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One institution that once dominated the world constitutional landscape has received little attention in the recent renaissance of comparative constitutional law1: the “reserve powers” held by the head of state in a constitutional monarchy.2 Professor Twomey’s book, The Veiled Sceptre, presents itself as a welcome exception. Focusing on “the [head of state’s] discretionary powers . . . that may be used to uphold and maintain the fundamental principles of the [Westminster-style] system of [responsible] government that the [head of state] represents” (p. 1), Professor Twomey’s magnum corpus helps resurrect the seemingly antiquated institution of reserve power as a legitimate...

The paper examines the role of multilingualism in Croatian lands under the Habsburg rule during the 18th century. The focus of the research is set on Croatian-Slavonian nobility and other local elites (clergy, officers, physicians, engineers, etc.) as part of the society susceptible to the influence of the educational norms and linguistic policies set by the Habsburg authorities. It provides an insight into the language skills of the 18th-century Croatian society, the impact of educational policy on the language learning and the importance of language choices for social or political representation. It is argued that the culture of the educated, mostly politically active part of the Croatian society remained intensely multilingual until deep into the 19th century due to the specificity of language practices, and that the educational policy of the Court in Vienna contributed more to the affirmation of the national language than did the activity of the Croatian elites. The research is based on archival sources kept in Croatian, Hungarian and Austrian state archives and selected contemporary records (correspondence, memoirs, and publications).

Things in Homer cannot complain about a lack of attention. Nearly forty years ago, Jasper Griffin, in response to the oralist emphasis on composition and formulaic language, drew our attention to the many significant objects populating the Iliad and the Odyssey. Nestor's cup, for example, is so heavy that other men have difficulties to lift it; the cup illustrates the eminence of its owner who rubbed shoulders with the far greater heroes of the past. As Griffin demonstrated, Homer deftly uses the significance of objects to enrich many scenes of his narrative. While the sceptre, symbol of the king's power, underscores the sorry figure cut by Agamemnon in Iliad Book 2, the washing places that Hector passes when he tries to escape Achilles generate a powerful tragic contrast to the battlefield chase in which he is now involved. Following Griffin's lead, scholars have closely examined things and their role in Homeric epic, notably their commemorative function: weapons and other objects have biographies and are therefore an important means of evoking the past besides song.

This article examines an important document in the history of Athens’ relations with the rulers of the Bosporus, namely the stele on which we have the decree (IGII31 298) and its relief. The article argues that, in their different ways, both the decree and the relief stress the same theme – continuity. The relief portrays the two sons of Leukon, who have succeeded to the throne, on which they sit, holding a sceptre, while their father (deceased, of course) stands and gazes over them. This figure is not their brother (as scholars usually assert, as if fact). Therefore, in addition to the particular case of this stele, with all its importance for the relationship between Athens and the Bosporans, there is also a more general conclusion on the theme of the interaction of the two main features of the stele, namely the written decree and the relief which stands above it. That kind of interaction has been a matter of considerable discussion in recent years. In this instance, at any rate, we have – on the present argument – what is in essence the same emphasis in both written decree and relief. Their consistent stress on continuity in the relationship between Athens and the rulers of the Bosporus does leave some uncertainty (particularly in our understanding of the treatment of Apollonios, who is omitted from the relief and from the decree itself), but there seems to be nothing here to undermine or disrupt the shared emphasis on continuity in the decree and the relief. Finally, brief attention is paid to a small fragment of an inscription from Mytilene (IGXII 2 3) and its historical value for the study of Athenian relations with the Bosporus.

Cloud Atlas, published in 2004 (London: Sceptre), is British author David Mitchell’s third and arguably best-known novel, one that has attracted significant critical attention. At the heart of such...

In March 1967, the Governor-General of Sierra Leone, Sir Henry Lightfoot Boston, dismissed the country’s Prime Minister, Sir Albert Margai, and appointed in his place his political opponent, Siaka ...

Genome architecture and activity are tightly regulated during an organism’s development and function. Histone modifications are thought to contribute to this regulation by acting in combination to specify the activity states of individual genes. However, most methods used to profile these modifications either require a large number of cells or only target an individual histone modification at a time. This protocol uses the method Single Cell Evaluation of Post-TRanslational Epigenetic Encoding (SCEPTRE) to quantify immunolabeled H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 histone modifications at specific non-repetitive genomic loci in single cells using Expansion Microscopy. The protocol can be adapted to target alternative histone modifications or protein assemblies in other cell lines and for other genomic regions of interest. Reference: Woodworth,M.A., Ng,K.K.H., Halpern,A.R., Pease,N.A., Nguyen,P.H.B., Kueh,H.Y. and Vaughan,J.C. (2021) Multiplexed single-cell profiling of chromatin states at genomic loci by expansion microscopy. Nucleic Acids Research, 10.1093/nar/gkab423.

Dans le Prologue de Jeanne, l’héroïne est comparée à une statue antique et traitée comme un objet d’art par trois hommes. Que penser d’une telle représentation ? La signification symbolique première de la statue, signe de réification du corps féminin, objet du désir masculin, se retourne quand Jeanne se la réapproprie pour résister au monde de la civilisation.

In 1996, the research team in the archaeological site from Vințu de Jos-Deasupra Satului was presented with an ornate sandstone axe that had been found by accident. The item was whole, naviforme, approximately centrally perforated and its sides had rich spiralling incised decorations. Another, more rudimentary decoration that was probably made subsequently is still visible on its upper part. It is most likely an imported item, possibly from the south-Danube or Aegean region, used by its owner as a prestige good. The axe is a unique item for the current Romanian space and it must have belonged to the Wietenberg II Bronze Age settlement that was documented both as a rich settlement and as a necropolis which was located in its vicinity.

Hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan sold only one, expensive copy of their album,Once Upon A Time in Shaolin. This exemplifies recent strategies by popular music artists to establish their work as art, with what Walter Benjamin calls ‘aura’, in response to the accessibility and dematerialisation enabled by digital technology as well as longstanding cultural condescension. Critics argue that popular music should not be restricted but shared, with digital technology increasing opportunities for shared consumption. This article considers the fate of music's aura in the age of mechanical reproduction, arguing that it does not disappear but is dispersed and diversified. The digital acceleration of mass reproduction has drawn mixed responses from artists, fans and commentators, andShaolinand similar projects show how the separation of music from its physical commodity form has brought renewed attention to perennial tensions between the popular, artistic and commercial aspects of popular music.

International audience; This paper deals with a unique artefact currently on exhibit at the archaeological Museum of Jiroft (Kerman, Iran), a large-sized copper or bronze staff inlaid with shell mosaics of contrasting colours. Unfortunately, as it was confiscated with many other objects by the Iranian security forces from illegal excavators, nothing is known of the whereabouts or context of its discovery. It might be one of the largest copper artefacts ever found in Bronze Age sites of the eastern Iranian Plateau. Because of its form, such a unusually elaborated, costly and visually imposing staff must have performed a highly formal symbolic function, hence the hypothetical label of "royal sceptre" (in quotes) proposed in the title. The authors attempt a reconstruction of the original form and manufacturing sequence of this large artefact, discussing its role in the poorly known landscape of the protohistoric metallurgy of southeastern Iran.

Roger of Howden provides a detailed description of a procession which arrived at the doors of Westminster Abbey on 3 September 1189. In the vanguard were clerics carrying holy water, crosses, candles and thuribles, closely followed by priors, then abbots, then four barons carrying four golden candlesticks processing amongst the bishops. Godfrey de Lucy and John Marshal followed side by side, Godfrey carrying a felt cap and John a large pair of heavy spurs made of gold. Then came William Marshal, here described as earl of Striguil, with a golden sceptre topped by a cross, accompanied by William FitzPatrick, earl of Salisbury, carrying a golden rod decorated with a golden dove. Then came the triumvirate of David, earl of Huntingdon, John, count of Mortain, and Robert, earl of Leicester, each bearing a sword from the royal treasury. Behind them came six earls and nobles carrying the royal insignia and clothing, then William de Mandeville, count of Aumale, bearing a large and weighty golden crown, decorated with precious stones. Finally came Richard, duke of Normandy, flanked by Hugh, bishop of Durham to his right and Reginald, bishop of Bath to his left. The duke, under a silken canopy, held aloft by four barons, entered the abbey in which he was to be transformed from a duke into a king. His transformation is echoed in the language used by Roger of Howden. Richard arrived at the cathedral as dux Normanniae . Following his anointing, crowning and investiture with the objects carried in procession by his barons, he departed Westminster as dominus rex . Roger continues his account to tell us that the king swapped his coronation crown for a lighter version and that, ‘thus crowned he came to eat, and the archbishops and bishops sat with him on one table, each seated according to his order and dignity. The earls and barons served in the royal household just as their dignities demanded. The citizens of London served in the buttery and the citizens of Winchester in the kitchen.’ Roger's account is suffused with the language of rank. Richard's rank had been enhanced. The churchmen took their places at the king's table according to their order and dignity.

There are many representational types of Venus in the coinage of the soldier emperors’ era (235–284/285). The goddess is depicted with various attributes, often with apple, sceptre, or with Cupid, however, in some cases she is with weapons (for example with helmet, shields, or even with spear) or with triumphal attributes (palm-branch, Victory), which coins surprisingly describe the goddess of love in connection with very unusual phenomena: military and victory. The present paper deals with the variety of these coin types in the above mentioned period and focuses on their tradition in the coinage of the principate, especially in the Severan era.

Contents: Introduction. Part 1 The Lives and Times of Thomas Tomkins and his Family, Anthony Boden: Lostwithiel St David's Menevia sacra Gloucester Her Majesty's chapel Worcester Awfull majestie The greatest maecenas Sceptre and crown Sacred and profane A faithful city Distracted times. Part 2 The Music of Thomas Tomkins, Denis Stevens: Musica Deo Sacra Songs of 3, 4, 5 and 6 parts Music for keyboard instruments Consort music. Part 3 Further Commentaries: Thomas Tomkins: an appreciation, Bernard Rose Sacred music omitted from Musica Deo Sacra, Peter James Thomas Tomkins: borrowings, self-borrowings and homage, David R.A. Evans. List of works and their sources Bibliography Index.

Comentario de los versos 22 a 35 de la Teogonía centrado en la interpretación y función de los insultos que pronuncian las Musas y en la entrega del cetro como símbolo de la transformación del pastor en poeta. Commentary of verses 22-35 of the Theogony focused on interpretation and function of the insults which pronounced the Muses and the delivery of the sceptre as a symbol of the transformation of the pastor in poet.

In the second half of the 16th century, after the definitive Turkish conquest of Constantinople, the titulus of Constantine came to be perceived in a fundamentally new way within the design to reaffirm papal authority, culminating in the pontificate of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini. Diplomatic wrangling and the strategic plan to save Byzantium in the West in the two decades after the fall of Constantinople had and would have had the precise aim of reinstating the hereditary title of the Byzantine Caesars, transferred to the East by Constantine and never extinguished, within the orbit of papal influence. The seat of Peter and the sceptre of Eastern Christianity should have been symbolically reunited in the ?New Byzantium,? which would have had its base at Rome and its bridgehead at Mystras. The project failed also because its main supporters died one after the other within a short period of time. But during the decades when it was pursued, we witness a true revival of the figure of Constantine and an accentuation of the symbolic primacy and legal significance of his title in the deliberations and political actions of humanist intellectuals, and their reflection in the artistic commissions of the period.

A commonly marketed handheld Raman spectrometer showed excellent possibilities in being used as a key instrument for unambiguous identification of gemstones mounted in the sceptre of the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague from the mid-20s of the 20th century. Numerous SiO2 forms including chalcedonies intermixed with moganites (e.g. moss agates and carnelians), amethysts, citrines as well as garnets (pyrope–almandines) were identified. The estimation of the garnet type was based on obtained Raman parameters. The individual minerals constituting the lapis lazulis could not be discerned because of very high fluorescence they exhibited in the fingerprint region of the Raman spectrum, nevertheless the positions of the observed peaks in the 1000–2000 cm–1 area were in very good agreement with the values of commercially available lapis lazuli pigment. The noble metals of the sceptre were studied by means of X-ray fluorescence analysis, which confirmed the presence of silver alloys and gilding. The comparison of silver alloys' semiquantitative analysis with the expected fineness, denoted by the hallmarks, indicated silvering. This has been later confirmed by the newly discovered restoration documentation. Portable handheld Raman and X-ray fluorescence instruments represent an ideal tool for studying historical artefacts, where an in situ investigation in museums or similar sites is obligatory. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Uffizi in Florence and the Castel Sforzesco in Milan each possess one panel of a consular diptych that identifies its honorand as follows: Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius v(ir) c(larissimus) et inl(ustris) ex com(ite) dom(esticorum) pat(ricius) cons(ul) ord(inarius). The offices and titles listed are: ex-count of the domestics, patrician and ordinary consul. The top register of the front (Florence) panel shows Basilius in full consular regalia holding mappa and cross-surmounted sceptre, with Roma to his left placing one hand on his right shoulder; the lower register shows racing chariots, a scene from his consular games (fig. 1). In contrast to this thoroughly conventional iconography, that of the rear (Milan) panel is unique (fig. 2): a winged victory seated above a spread eagle, holding up a shield that bears the consul’s portrait together with an acclamation no less unique: bono rei public(a)e et iterum (‘for the good of the state again’).

Summary The article discusses the relations between services, i. e. bodily performance of menial tasks for others, and honour, understood as a resource of medieval nobles akin to social capital. It examines services rendered to the emperor by members of German high nobility, focusing on the 14th century. Carrying the emperor's sword or sceptre, leading his horse or cutting / slicing his meat at table were much coveted sources of high honour, over which was fought and litigated time and again. The article argues that this was due to a legitimatory gap between the nobility's powers and its sanctioning obligations. The ritualised performance of bodily service actuated and realised the imagined relationship between nobles and emperor. This imagination was founded on the notion of powers which were granted for the specific menial services. The highly fictitious construction can be demonstrated by the fact that outside ritualised contexts, nobles no longer performed any services. Even in courtly literature, as ...

Maskers play a vital role in the ritual and social ceremonies of Dagestan. With sceptre in hand, the maskers' part in folk traditions has preserved this previously sacral iconography in a profane form. This paper seeks to illuminate the role of the maskers and the mythological symbolism of the sceptre through descriptive analysis of festive ceremonies in Dagestan, while comparing its function to other Caucasian communities.

The iconography of the biblical story of Balaam and the she-ass, told in Numbers 22-24, dates right back to the early Christian era. It depicts the confrontation of Balaam with the angel, whom he did not see blocking his way until his donkey opened his eyes by speaking to him. The simple scene, composed of a donkey rider beating his mount with raised club opposite an angel with raised sword, never before included a pouch containing papers and a kind of stick. From the fact that Rembrandt added this motif to the traditional image and gave it a prominent place in his composition (fig. 1) one may conclude that he meant to convey by this something very significant.Balak, king of Moab, induced the famous magician Balaam to come and curse the Israelites who had entered the plains of Moab. God, using Balaam as his temporary prophet, allowed him to go, provided that he would speak His words and bless Israel instead of cursing it. It was to this stringent condition that the angel reminded him halfway his journey. Upon his arrival Balaam blessed Israel three times. Beside himself with anger Balak sent him home without paying him. Before he went the prophet cursed the king, speaking the famous words: "I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Seth" (Numbers 24:17). This enunciation has always been taken as a Messianic prophecy.During the middle ages the sheer image of Balaam and the she-ass sufficed to evoke the Messianic prophecy. However, in some versions of the fifteenth-century Speculum Humanae Salvationis and Biblia Pauperum a star is added to the scene (fig. 2), obviously in order to remind one of the true meaning of the image.Depictions of Balaam and the she-ass had always been statical and emotionless but in the sixteenth century the dramatic potential of the story was recognized and fully exploited (fig. 3). At the same time the meaning of the scene was confined to the miracle of the speaking donkey, like any other miracle a sign of God's omnipotence. Moralistic interpretations were also possible. Maerten van Heemskerck, for instance, focussed on Balaam's reputation as being a miser (fig. 5). By the time Pieter Lastman painted Balaam and the she-ass (fig. 4) in 1622, the subject had become polyinterpretable.By adding a pouch with papers and a kind of stick Rembrandt indicated how his Balaam picture had to be understood. The leather pouch is an interesting object in itself, which Rembrandt and some of his contemporaries used several times in their work between 1615 and 1635 (figs. 7 and 8a-g). The papers with illegible writing in quasi-Hebrew letters represent Balaam's prophecies, one may assume, and the stick, in point of fact a commander's baton (figs. 9-11), metaphorically indicates which prophecy exactly is at issue. Unquestionably the Messianic one about the star coming out of Jacob and the sceptre rising out of Israel. In the late middle ages the star had been used occasionally as reference mark but this was no option for Rembrandt, because Balaam travelled by day. The alternative was the sceptre. The fact that Rembrandt depicted a commander's baton instead of a sceptre proves that he did not use a reformatory bible translation but either a catholic one or the Vulgata itself. Reformatory translations (all based on Luther's translation in German, which has 'Zepter') have 'scepter' (sceptre), whereas catholic translations (based on the Vulgata) have 'roede' (baton). The Vulgata has not 'sceptrum' but 'virga', i.e. verge, baton.Why did Rembrandt revive the Messianic meaning of the Balaam story? Most probably because his commissioner wanted him to do so. For Alfonso López, up to now known only as the first owner of the painting and who is supposed to have purchased it directly from Rembrandt, may very well have ordered it from him. Recent research has shown that he, a financial agent of Richelieu in Holland, was a 'morisco', a Spanish Muslim converted to Christianity. A convert may be interested in speaking donkeys but certainly more so in the coming of Christ.

Hyacinthe Rigaud's famous swagger portrait of Louis XIV in full regalia presents 'Louis the Great' at the height of his powers, framed in an ostentatiously theatrical setting. Painted in 1701, displayed at the Paris Salon in 1704, the work dazzles the viewer with sumptuous ceremonial display.1 Crown, sceptre, great sword of state, and heavy, fleur-de-lisee ermine robes evoke the putatively timeless nature of the French monarchy. The king's posture is unfazed, relaxed, mildly disdainful. He inverts the royal sceptre playfully as though it were a walking stick, or a child's toy or the swagger-stick of a military commander; the gesture magnifies rather than diminishes his grandeur. Strongly featured are his sculpted legs, which the chronicler, the due de Saint-Simon, a far from sycophantic aficionado of court life, adjudged the finest he ever saw. They painstakingly replicate the pose which Louis, as a young man, had adopted when dancing as Apollo in court ballets as his own Premier Dancer, at a time when the Sun King was in the ascendant.2 The king's lofty and impassive gaze, almost dictating reverential obeisance from the humble spectator, emerges from a body polished, primped and more than a little prettified for the occasion. The calf muscles are scarcely those of a sextuagenarian: especially one often crippled by gout and habituated to being pushed round in a wheelchair. The red heeled courtier shoes lift the ruler well above his scarcely impressive five foot three inches. The copious curls of a towering black wig obscure the fact that Louis was precociously bald. And the unruffled forehead displays a ruler with scarcely a care in the world even though when it was painted Louis was embarking with heavy heart on what would be his last, ruinous war, the War of Spanish Succession (1701-14). Yet in this mythologizing and mendacious portrait which seeks to erase the passage, even the existence, of time, one feature stands out and shocks for its stark naturalism: hollow cheeks and wrinkled mouth reveal a ruler with not a tooth in his head.

Se presentan resultados en el desarrollo de software de simulación para uso conjunto con SIMUSOL, como alternativa al SCEPTRE. Se incorporan ecuaciones implícitas, mediante intérpretes dinámicos que no requieren de compilación. El simulador es capaz de detectar y modelar sistemas que representados como circuitos tienen: “conjuntos de corte”, formados por “inductancias” y “fuentes de corriente” (en adelante cut-sets inductivos), y “lazos”, formados por “capacitores” y “fuentes de tensión” (en adelante loops capacitivos). El software desarrollado puede reemplazar a SCEPTRE con ventajas, sin otro límite que la memoria de la computadora. Este software también reemplaza al software PSICRO., This paper presents advances in a simulation software alternative to SCEPTRE. Both are used in conjunction with SIMUSOL. The new functionality includes fully implicit equations, that use dynamic performers and do not require compilation, and modeling capabilities to detect and calculate circuit systems with inductive "cut-sets" and capacitive “loops”. The first ones made up of "chokes" and "current sources", and the second one of "capacitors" and "voltage sources". This software could replace SCEPTRE with advantages, having no other limit than the computer memory. PSICRO could be replaced by this approach as well., Asociación Argentina de Energías Renovables y Medio Ambiente (ASADES)

There are very few objects equally well-known in the early medieval archaeology and art history of Western Europe, Byzantium, Sassanian Iran, early Islam and the Avars, and one of them is the ewer from the monastery of St. Maurice d’Agaune. It has not been doubted for long now that the ewer itself is a ninth-century Carolingian goldwork. What are debated and uncertain, however, are the dating (6 to 12 century) and origin of the decorative enamel plaques. Views differ significantly especially regarding the latter (Iran, Byzantium, the Abbasid Caliphate, Avars, the Carolingian Empire, medieval Venice), in 1946 M. Aga-Oglu counted 13 (!) versions,1 not including the theory of Avar origin, which was put forward only after the publication of the Turkish scholar’s article.2 Although I will not be able to provide here an answer either, I hope to contribute to research by eliminating two candidates from the list of the most probable places of origin. The article by A. Alfoldi was well received both by scholars involved in the research on the origin of cloisonne and by Hungarian archaeologists. The latter is easy to explain: for them the notion of Avar connections was simply attractive.3 With regard to international research, the reason of the positive reaction could have been that they hoped to receive guidance regarding the cultural affiliation of an object and representational type unknown to them, but apparently of oriental origin. Since none of the possibilities taken into account till then had been convincing based on the available data, it was understandable that the idea of origin from a new region, a new culture, was engaging. We have to note, however, that none of the scholars who accepted A. Alfoldi’s views were well-trained in – or even superficially informed about – the archaeology of the Avars and the early medieval Carpathian Basin. As a consequence, they could not realize the insurmountable distance between the enamel plaques of St. Maurice d’Agaune and the Avar material, and the unrealism of the reconstruction as a sceptre. In the interpretation of international research, A. Alfoldi proposed that the enamel plaques of the jar had come from the treasury of the Avar Khaganate, more precisely from a hypothetical Avar royal sceptre. In fact, he did not suggest that the plaques themselves were Avar products, only that the sceptre they decorated had been in Avar possession. According to Alfoldi, the plaques were manufactured ‘zweifellos in einem der grosen Kunstzentren des fruhislamischen Nahen Ostens’.