Information signalée par Jacques Elfassi

Karolingische Klöster. Wissenstransfer und kulturelle Innovation

31.10.-02.11.2012

Das Kloster Lorsch verfügte in der Karolingerzeit über eine Art „patristische Zentralbibliothek“ und repräsentierte damit einen Idealbestand vor allem des spätantiken Wissens. Die Rekonstruktion des Lorscher Skriptoriums und der Klosterbibliothek verdeutlichen, in welchem Maße die zeitgenössischen Rezipienten auf das karolingische Wissenssystem einwirkten und die Vermittlung von Wissen steuerten. Für den Verlauf der Tagung haben wir vier Sektionen vorgesehen. Die erste Sektion wird sich mit den literarischen Rezeptionspraktiken, das heißt mit der Entstehung der karolingischen Literatur aus dem antiken und spätantiken Reservoir befassen. Die karolingischen Bibliotheken als Wissensspeicher und Wissensordnungen werden in der zweiten Sektion thematisiert. Die dritte Sektion mit dem Titel „Zeichen, Schriften, Artefakte“ stellt die karolingischen Handschriften und die Schriftentwicklung am Oberrhein in den Mittelpunkt. Die vierte und letzte Sektion fragt hingegen nach den Trägern und Akteuren der karolingischen Klosterlandschaft. Ein Konzert des Ensembles „Ordo virtutum“ (Direktor Prof. Dr. Stefan Johannes Morent) wird einen Einblick in die mittelalterliche Aufführungspraxis geben und das Programm der Tagung abrunden.


Programme

31. Oktober 2012

14.00-14.30 Uhr : Begrüßung
Karl Weber, Direktor der Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten Hessen
Hermann Schefers, Leiter der UNESCO-Welterbestätte Kloster Lorsch
Markus Hilgert, Sprecher des Heidelberger SFB 933 "Materiale Textkulturen"

Stefan Weinfurter, Heidelberg - Einführung

1. Sektion: Literarische Rezeptionspraktiken
Leitung: Walter Berschin, Heidelberg

14.30-15.15 Uhr : Ulrich Eigler (Zürich) - Überlieferung durch die Hintertür? Die Tradition klassischer lateinischer Autoren als Rekonstruktion des Wissenshintergrunds der Kirchenväter
15.15-16.00 Uhr : Matthias M. Tischler (Dresden) - Wissensspeicher oder frühes karolingisches Literaturzentrum? Kloster Lorsch im gelehrten Netzwerk von Kirche und Königshof im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert
16.00-16.30 : Uhr Kaffeepause

16.30-17.15 Uhr : Kirsten Tobler (Heidelberg) - Subscriptiones in karolingischen Codices
17.15-18.00 Uhr : Carmen Cardelle de Hartmann (Zürich) - Von Büchern zu Göttern. Theodulfs carmen 45
19.00 Uhr : Konzert - Stefan Morent und Ensemble Ordo Virtutum in St. Nazarius in Lorsch
20.30 Uhr : gemeinsames Abendessen (Palais von Hausen, Lorsch)


01. November 2012

2. Sektion: Wissensspeicher und Wissenssysteme
Leitung: Petr Sommer, Prag

09.00-09.45 Uhr : Michael Embach (Trier) - Die Bibliothek des Mittelalters als Wissensraum - Kanonizität und Mobilisierung der Strukturen
09.45-10.30 Uhr : Julia Becker (Heidelberg) - Präsenz, Normierung und Transfer von Wissen. Lorsch als 'patristische Zentralbibliothek'
10.30-11.15 Uhr : Michael Kautz (Heidelberg) - Bibliotheca Laureshamensis – digital. Präsentation der virtuellen Lorscher Klosterbibliothek
11.15-11.45 Uhr : Kaffeepause

11.45-12.30 Uhr : Sita Steckel (Münster) - Von Buchstaben und Geist. Materialität und symbolische Überformung des gelehrten Schreibens bei Hrabanus Maurus
12.30-13.15 Uhr : Christoph Winterer (Mainz) - Überlegungen zum Profil der Mainzer Kirchenbibliothek in der Karolingerzeit
13.15-14.30 Uhr : Mittagspause

3. Sektion: Zeichen, Schriften, Artefakte
Leitung: Hermann Schefers, Lorsch

14.30-15.15 Uhr : Stefan Johannes Morent (Tübingen) - Neumenzeugnisse aus dem Kloster Lorsch
15.15-16.00 Uhr : Tino Licht (Heidelberg) - Beobachtungen zur Lorscher Schriftgeschichte in karolingischer Zeit
16.00-16.30 Uhr : Kaffeepause

16.30-17.15 Uhr : Natalie Maag (Heidelberg) - Alemannische Spuren in Lorsch
17.15-18.00 Uhr : Martin Hellmann (Wertheim) - Stenographische Technik in der karolingischen Patrologie
19.00 Uhr : gemeinsames Abendessen (Alleehotel Bensheim)


02. November 2012

4. Sektion: Träger und Akteure der karolingischen Klosterlandschaft
Leitung: Stefan Weinfurter, Heidelberg

09.00-09.45 Uhr : Matthias Becher (Bonn) - Könige und Klöster in der Karolingerzeit
09.45-10.30 Uhr : Wilfried Hartmann (Tübingen) - Äbte und Mönche als Vermittler von Texten auf karolingischen Synoden
10.30-11.00 Uhr : Kaffeepause

11.00-11.45 Uhr : Steffen Patzold (Tübingen) - Bischöfe, Priesterbildung und das Kloster Lorsch: Zu den Grundlagen der karolingischen Correctio
11.45-12.30 Uhr : Florian Hartmann (Bonn) - Karolingische Gelehrte als Dichter und der Wissenstransfer am Beispiel der Epigraphik
12.30-13.00 Uhr : Zusammenfassung von Sebastian Scholz (Zürich)

Informations pratiques :
Karolingische Klöster. Wissenstransfer und kulturelle Innovation
31.10.2012-02.11.2012
Lorsch, Museumszentrum Lorsch, Paul-Schnitzer-Saal, Nibelungenstr. 35, 64653 Lorsch

Contact:
Dr. Julia Becker
julia.becker[at]zegk.uni-heidelberg.de
Dr. Tino Licht
tino.licht[at]urz.uni-heidelberg.de


Source : Materiale Textkulturen.

Information signalée par Marie-Karine Lhommé

Les commentaires de la poésie grecque par les Anciens : transmission culturelle et transferts linguistiques

Synonymie et parasynonymie dans les scholies aux poètes grecs

Colloque international organisé par l'ISTA (EA 4011)
UFR SLHS Salon Préclin 20 rue Chifflet - 25000 BESANÇON

Les scholies de Pindare se présentent pour une grande part comme une traduction intralangue, ce qui leur confère un intérêt linguistique et littéraire majeur.
Les commentateurs de Pindare usent en effet de plusieurs méthodes pour accéder au sens des formules poétiques qu'ils étudient, et pour transmettre le plus possible de sens à leurs auditeurs et lecteurs. Nous avons pensé aussi qu'il était intéressant d'étudier ces méthodes dans les scholies à d'autres textes poétiques grecs.
L'un des procédés favoris des commentateurs de Pindare sur le plan du lexique, outre la glose épilinguistique, est de proposer des synonymes pour les mots ou expressions qu'ils trouvent obscurs.Avertis en général de la polysémie du texte pindarique, ils se contentent rarement d'un seul synonyme, se servent aussi des antonymes, et tissent ainsi autour du texte des réseaux de significations nouvelles. D'autre part, le commentaire a très souvent recours à la réécriture, et se présente comme une suite de variations ; dans ces énoncés paraphrastiques, l'étude de la synonymie peut être étendue à 
toutes sortes de parasynonymies : il devient nécessaire alors de prendre en considération l'ensemble de l'énoncé, celui de Pindare et celui de la scholie. 
Les alexandrins et leurs continuateurs d'époque romaine étaient grands amateurs et producteurs de lexiques et dictionnaires. On voit cependant que les processus ici relevés ne concernent pas seulement l'étude du grec en tant que koinê, à l'intérieur de laquelle on peut observer quels éléments 
sont ou non proposés en diachronie comme plus ou moins équivalents à la langue de Pindare. Liens logiques, ordre des mots, figures, catégories grammaticales, fournissent aussi leur lot de substitutions ou de similitudes, observables dans un contexte spécifique, et susceptibles d'éclairer ainsi tant la poésie mélique que la perception qu'en ont les commentateurs et leur façon de la réactualiser. Les efforts d'explication étymologique en synchronie, les variantes métaphoriques apportées aux métaphores mêmes de Pindare, les incertitudes sur le référent, les glissements sémantiques, le discours figuré, font aussi partie de la transposition opérée par le commentaire. Les faisceaux de paradigmes et de connotations nouvelles font apparaître le différentiel spécifique entre le langage commun et ses règles, et ce qui advient dans le lieu poétique propre à Pindare.
Le terme de synonymie ne se trouve pas dans les scholies anciennes de Pindare. On peut cependant étudier aussi comment les grammairiens enchaînent et organisent les différentes traductions proposées d'une même expression pindarique, et dans quelle mesure ils thématisent leur pratique. On peut enfin se demander comment cette pratique se rattache à la réflexion proprement métalinguistique initiée par les philosophes depuis Platon, Aristote et les Stoïciens, ainsi qu'aux prolongements de celle-ci dans les traités rhétoriques d'époque alexandrine et romaine. 
L'étude de la pratique synonymique, en tant qu'effort de transmission d'une culture, non seulement dans les scholies à Pindare, mais aussi dans les scholies à d'autres poètes grecs, offre donc un vaste champ d'investigations, que nous souhaitons ouvert à des approches très diverses.

Vendredi 9 novembre 2012
9h30 : Accueil des participants.
10h : Allocution d'ouverture par Antonio Gonzales, Directeur de l'ISTA.
Introduction du colloque par Michel Fartzoff, Directeur de l'axe « Textes, imaginaires et représentations dans l'Antiquité » de l'ISTA.

Première partie : données linguistiques
(Président de séance : Michel Briand)
10h15-10h45 : Daniel Lebaud et Katja Ploog (Université de FrancheComté) : « Synonymie, gloses et paraphrases ».
10h45-11h15 : Jean Schneider (Université Lumière – Lyon II) : « Les équivalences syntaxiques dans les scholies pindariques : une confrontation entre la réflexion d'Apollonius Dyscole et la pratique des scholiastes ».
11h15-11h-30 : Discussion.
(Président de séance : Guy Lachenaud)
11h30-12h : Paola Bernardini (Université d'Urbino) : « La langue poétique et la syggraphè dans les scholies à Bacchylide et à Pindare ».
12h-12h30 : Michel Casevitz (Université Paris Ouest-Nanterre-La Défense) : « Que savaient les scholiastes de la langue d'Hésiode ? ».
12h30-12h45 : Discussion.
12h45-14h15 : Déjeuner pris au Restaurant Universitaire de la Faculté des Lettres, 36 rue Mégevand.

Fin de la première partie : données linguistiques et deuxième partie : contenus culturels
(Président de séance : Jean Schneider)
14h15-14h45 : Isabelle Boehm (Université Lumière – Lyon II) : « De la synonymie à la glose : présence, utilisation, manipulations du vocabulaire spécialisé dans les scholies aux Olympiques I-VI de Pindare ». .
14h45-15h15 : Claire Muckensturm-Poulle (Université de FrancheComté) : « Métonymie et paraphrase explicative dans les scholies aux Olympiques I-VI ». 
15h15-15h45 : Guy Lachenaud (Université Paris Ouest-Nanterre-La Défense) : « Les mots synonymes dans les scholies à Apollonios de Rhodes : pour quoi faire ? ».
15h45-16h15 : discussion, puis pause-café.

(Présidente de séance : Paola Bernardini)
16h15-16h45 : Glenn Most (Université de Chicago et École Normale Supérieure de Pise) : « À propos des scholies anciennes et des commentaires byzantins à la Théogonie d'Hésiode ».
16h45-17h15 : Oretta Olivieri (Université d'Urbino) : « Les récits mythiques de la poésie pindarique réécrits, expliqués et remodelés par les scholiastes ».
17h15-17h45 : Charles Delattre (Université Paris Ouest-Nanterre-La Défense) : « Les noms mythiques dans les scholies ».
17h45-18h : Discussion.
20h : Dîner pris au Restaurant « Les 4 saisons », 22 rue Mégevand.

Samedi 10 novembre

Fin de la deuxième partie : contenus culturels et troisième partie :processus de transmission
(Président de séance : Glenn Most)
9h-9h30 : Suzanne Saïd (Columbia University et Université Paris OuestNanterre-La Défense) : « Les épithètes d'Ulysse et d'Achille dans l'Iliade et l'Odyssée : synonymes et commentaires dans les scholies ». 
9h30-10h : Michel Briand (Université de Poitiers) : « L'ambiguïté créatrice dans les scholies anciennes à Pindare : sur quelques images d'or et de lumière ».
10h-10h30 : Orlando Poltera (Université de Fribourg) : « Les corneilles, l'aigle et Hiéron : les attaques supposées de Pindare contre ses rivaux dans les scholies ».
10h30-11h : Discussion, puis pause-café.

(Président de séance : Michel Casevitz)
11h-11h30 : Kristina Tomc (Université de Ljubljana) : « La synonymie dans les descriptions de la création poétique chez Pindare ».
11h30-12h : Sylvie David (Université de Franche-Comté) : « Les scholiastes et la concision pindarique ».
12h-12h15 : Discussion.
12h15-14h : Déjeuner pris à la Brasserie 1802, place Granvelle.

Fin de la troisième partie : processus de transmission
(Présidente de séance : Suzanne Saïd)
14h-14h30 : Ekaterini Vassilaki (Université de Strasbourg) : « Vainqueur glorieux, tyran puissant, oikistes, homme affaibli par la maladie : le portrait de Hiéron de Syracuse dans les scholies pindariques ».
14h30-15h : Elsa Bouchard (Université de Montréal) : « Aristarque et l'étymologie des noms divins ».
15h-15h30 : Cécile Daude (Université de Franche-Comté) : « Objets de sens : synonymie et thématique dans les scholies aux épinicies de Pindare ».
15h30-16h : Synthèse et conclusion.

16h45 : Visite des collections archéologiques du Musée des Beaux-arts et d'Archéologie de Besançon, 1 place de la Révolution (si nombre de participants suffisant).

Contact : Sylvie David
sylvie.david-guignard@univ-fcomte.fr 

Programme complet

Because of Hurrican Sandy, the University of Pennsylvania, where the APA is based, has suspended operations for Monday and Tuesday, October 29 and 30.  The APA Office will therefore be closed on those days.  We will respond to e-mail and telephone messages as soon as possible.

In Revelation 14:6-7, the author says that he saw an angel bringing the eternal gospel in order to proclaim it to every nation, language, and people. Futurist interpreters claim that this shows that by that stage all Christians have been raptured or killed, and so an angel has to deliver the message. But anyone who reads Revelation carefully will note not only the absence of a “rapture” but also that it is a false dichotomy which suggests one has to choose between something being done by humans or by angels in the Book of Revelation. Indeed, very often angels represent rather than replace human communities.

What I find most interesting in the passage is what we are presumably to understand to be the eternal gospel that the angel proclaims, quoted in v7:

He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

This is the only occurrence of the word “gospel” in Revelation. If what the angel says is indeed the gospel as the author understands it, reduced to its most basic and essential summary, then it is striking in its simplicity. It could even be boiled down further, presumably, to “Worship God.” Such an understanding reflects a preservation of the theocentricity of Jesus' own proclamation of the “good news,” as well as the Book of Revelation's focus on worship as the make-or-break issue facing humankind. The choice as the author of this work sees it is between glorifying the Creator and adoring emperor and Empire.

Can you imagine how different Christianity and Christian relation would be if Christians in fact treated this as the essential gospel, and everything else as something that it is possible to discuss and disagree about without it leading to a rupture of unity and fellowship?

My Sunday school class has been in chapter 14 of the Book of Revelation for the past two weeks, and I will be sharing some more thoughts, insights, and interesting discussions that have come up there in separate posts by theme or topic, rather than lumping them all together.

In the mean time, I invite discussion of Revelation 14:6-7. Do you think that “Worship God” was the essence of the Gospel for this early Christian author? How do you think Christianity might look differently if Christians made that, and that alone, their essential core message and identity?

New Open Access Article- BETWEEN FOOD NEEDING AND SPORTS ACTIVITY
HUNTING IN THE GETO-DACIAN1 ARREAS

http://www.brukenthalmuseum.ro/publicatii_en/01_1.htm

“Like a Certain Tornado of Peoples”: Warfare of the European Huns in the Light of Graeco-Latin Literary Tradition

By Valerii P. Nikonorov

Anabasis: Studia Classica et Orientalis, Vol.1 (2010)

Introduction: In the early 370s, from behind the Volga river certain nomads, who werenamed Huns (Hun[n]i and Chuni in Latin) in the Late Classical tradition, had invaded the steppes of the Northern Pontic area. Their invasion delivered a mighty impulse to the great movement of tribes within thewestern part of Eurasia, which has been called ‘The Great Migration Period’.  Shortly after, in the first half of the 5th century, the Huns, thanks to their supe-riority in warfare over local peoples (Sarmato-Alans, Eastern Germans andothers), turned into the strongest military and political power in South-Easternand Central Europe. The Hun domination lasted there until the fall of the em- pire created by the great king Attila, which occurred under his sons, c. 470 A.D. That, not so long, a space of time (just about one century) had, nevertheless, a considerable influence upon the world of Late Antiquity. Indeed, Hun hordes led by Attila, who was nicknamed the ‘Scourge of God’ byhis European contemporaries, did threaten more than once the existence itself of the Western civilization.

The present paper deals with all the basic components of martial practices of the European Huns, such as arms and armour, horse equipment, armed forces, strategy and tactics, siegecraft and the structure of military organization. The main data to be analysed are the available written records from surviving Late Roman and Early Byzantine literary sources, among which the most principal ones come from the works of Ammianus Marcellinus, Olympiodorus of Thebes, Zosimus, Sozomenus, Priscus of Panium, Claudian, Merobaudes, Sidonius, and Jordanes. The majority of these authors were contemporaries of the Huns. True, unfortunately, not all of their writings (in particular, those of Olympiodorus and Priscus) have survived as a whole. When necessary, the literary evidence is supplemented with archaeological material to shed more light on the matters in question.

Click here to read this article from Academia.edu

Halloween Customs in the Celtic World

By Bettina Arnold

Paper given at the UWM Center for Celtic Studies Halloween Inaugural Celebration, on October 31, 2011

Introduction: Night of the spirits; Feast of the Dead; New Year’s Eve; the year’s turning; Calends of winter; Summer’s End; one of the “joints of the year”; beginning of the barren time; day of divination; festival of the harvest; doorway into the new year; Mischief Night; Punky Night; Samhain; Nos Calan gaeaf; All Hallow’s Eve. These are all descriptions of one of the most important seasonal festivals of the Celtic world, the night of October 31, this evening, Halloween. In Wales it is known as Hollantide, in Cornwall Allantide, and in Brittany Kala-Goanv. Samain’s equivalent on the Christian calendar is All Saints’ Day, introduced by the Catholic church partly to supplant the pagan festival of the dead.

Halloween’s counterpart is the other great “hinge of the year”, April 30, Beltain or May Day Eve, which marks the beginning of summer. To understand the significance of these seasonal festivals, we need to step back in time for a moment, closer to the food production cycle than most of us are today. In pre-Christian Europe, most important holidays were celebrated on the evening of the day before the actual date of the transition from one season to the next, since the easiest way of measuring the passing of time was by observing a complete cycle of the moon – the origin of the english word “month”.

Samhain was the end of summer and the beginning of the new year. It coincided with the rounding up of the herds for culling and penning, the storing of crops, and the beaching and repairing of fishing boats and gear, all in preparation for the coming winter. Warfare officially came to an end at Samhain, partly for practical reasons related to weather, but raiding, especially of cattle, seems to have peaked between Michaelmas (September 29) and Martinmas (November 11), at least in the Border region of Scotland, where we have 16th century accounts of such activity during this time. Herds under cover are concentrated and easier to steal, whereas before Lammas (August 1) the cattle were dispersed in the high shielings. According to one official writing in the 16th century, at Samhain “are the fells good and drie and cattle strong to drive”.

Click here to read this article from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Information signalée par Jacques Elfassi

Cambridge Classics Archaeology Seminar
Michaelmas Term 2012
Seminars are held on Tuesdays at 4.30 pm in Room 1.04, Faculty of Classics. All welcome.

6 November
Ian Haynes (Newcastle University)

The Transformation of Rome from Severus to Constantine: Perspectives from the Lateran Project

Source : University of Cambridge.

Information signalée par Jacques Elfassi

Friday, November 2
4:30 p.m.
Founders Hall 207

Timothy Cornell (University of Manchester)

Biographies in Historians' Clothing? The Methods of Plutarch and Suetonius

Reception to follow.

Source : Wellesley College.

If you read this review to see whether a book is sufficiently good to buy it, read no further: John Grainger’s The Syrian Wars is a good book. It is even an important book, and if I will appear to be very critical, this is because it is worth criticizing.

The nine Syrian Wars, waged between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires over the possession of Coele Syria, are a neglected subject. There were few battles to attract the historians’ attention, but more importantly: Rome was at the same time uniting the Mediterranean, a process that was to have more lasting consequences than the eastern wars. Grainger, however, succeeds in showing that the Syrian Wars deserve more attention. He stresses that the conflict was central to the growth of the governmental system of two Hellenistic states, which he calls ‘competitive development’.

On which foundation does he build his thesis? On written sources and coins, of course, which he treats with great care. However, this also means that The Syrian Wars is essentially a N=1 study, which might be refuted easily. As Grainger indicates, any part of his reconstruction can be challenged by the discovery of new texts. If this happens several times, it will be fatal to his thesis.

When empirical foundations are weak, students of most disciplines invoke comparisons. When they do not have sufficient evidence to build a firm structure, it is useful to tie it to more solid objects. This is why historians of Antiquity are inevitably forced to compare their reconstructions to reconstructions of comparable processes in other pre-industrial societies.

Fortunately, the necessary parallels exist. Competitive development is hardly unique; historians and sociologists have often shown that state formation is usually a consequence of a prolonged military conflict. Tilly’s Coercion, Capital, and European States (1990) is a modern classic. If Grainger had referred to it, his book would have been more convincing, because its thesis would be based on more than one example. N=10 is better than N=1.

The need for comparisons is even greater, because Grainger appears to be unaware of a lot of recent literature. The new sources that might challenge parts of his reconstruction, have in fact already been published. For instance, Grainger’s dates of the Second Diadoch War are based on Manni’s ‘low chronology’ (1949), not on Tom Boiy’s little gem Between High and Low (2007). The relevant new sources are ostraca and cuneiform texts.

Occasionally, Grainger is unaware of new readings of well-known texts. It is strange to see how he antedates the Antigonid invasions of Babylonia to 311, and presents Ptolemy’s naval expedition to the Aegean in 309 as a trick to lure Antigonus away from the eastern theater of war. This leaves the reader with a sense of confusion, because one would expect the two operations to be more or less simultaneous. Fortunately, the problem is only apparent: the Chronicle of the Diadochs (= Babylonian Chronicle 10) dates the Babylonian War to 310/309. Grainger knows the source, but ignores recent scholarship.

This can also be said of his treatment of the reign of Antiochus IV. Fortunately, his treatment resembles Mittag’s beautiful Antiochos IV (2006). Both authors show that the king pursued a policy that is far more rational than the authors of the ancient sources are willing to admit.

Another omission is the set of twenty texts known as the Babylonian Chronicles of the Hellenistic Period. The evidence was known for some time already (seven of these texts were already included in Grayson’s Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, 1975). Several statements of Grainger’s are directly contradicted by BCHP. For example, Grayson says that we do not know where crown prince Antiochus was when his father Seleucus Nicator was assassinated. He settles for Ecbatana, but Chronicles BCHP 5, 6, and 7 suggest that the crown prince often resided in Babylon. (Disclosure: I am involved in the publication, preparing the online editions that scholars use to discuss these chronicles.)

Grainger’s discussion of the Third Syrian War ignores BCHP 11, a chronicle that not only proves that the Egyptians captured Babylon, but also offers interesting details about the fights. After an unsuccessful siege of Seleucia-on-the-Euphrates, Ptolemaic heavy infantry (‘ironclad Macedonians who are not scared of the gods’, according to the chronicler) attacked Babylon, which held out twelve days until it fell on January 20. The citadel remained in the hands of its Seleucid garrison, however, and early in February, the commander of Seleucia tried to lift the blockade. He was defeated and the Seleucid troops who had remained in Seleucia, were massacred. We do not know what happened next, but this is important information. Grainger, unaware of this first-rate source, concludes ‘that Ptolemy crossed the Euphrates but did not reach Babylon’.

The real problem, however, is not that Grainger ignores useful comparisons and recent scholarship. The study of ancient societies is complex, no one can know everything, and scholars cannot even establish what they do not know. Ancient history is the discipline of the unknown unknowns. To fill the lacunas in the knowledge of their writers, publishers have boards of editors. If Grainger is unaware of the existence of BCHP – which is, like so many cuneiform resources, only available online – it is the editors’ task to help. This time, however, the board has been sleeping, which may also explain the unusually great number of typos and the unusually poor maps.

All this should not distract us, however, from the simple fact that Grainger has written an important book that no student of Hellenistic institutions or military history can afford to ignore. With a more energetic board of editors, it might have been a good book, but still, Grainger has achieved his aim: to prove that the continuing conflict forced two Hellenistic states ‘to undertake measures to strengthen themselves internally, financially, militarily, politically, by alliances, and by recruiting manpower, so that they could face yet another war which both sides came to anticipate’.

[Originally published in Ancient Warfare]

“Swansea University has been awarded a £158,000 grant to explore the world of demons in the 2nd millennium BC ancient Egypt.

The Ancient Egyptian Demonology Project, directed by Kasia Szpakowska from the Department of History and Classics, aims to create an encyclopedia as no such resource currently exists.

Dr Szpakowska said: “I am absolutely thrilled to have this opportunity to bring the world of demons into the limelight.

“While gods such as Osiris or Isis are familiar, the darker side of religion and ominous entities such as Sehaqeq, Fiery-Breath, or Consumer of Hearts, have remained in the shadows.

“New digital technology will allow our team to explore their world and make it accessible.

“I just hope that the demons don’t mind being brought out of hiding and behave themselves.” “ – via This Is South Wales.

“Taxidermy is not front and center at the Oriental Institute Museum’s new ornithological exhibition.

That art form is better observed to the north, at the Field Museum, where the institution’s Ronald and Christina Gidwitz Hall of Birds has recently been renovated (more on that in a moment). 

But there is one preserved bird in the Hyde Park museum that is simply stunning. Resting amid a larger exhibition comprising mostly artistic representations of birds, it’s a mummified eagle, stripped of its swaddling, laid out on its back in a display case. 

It won’t make the splash that King Tut’s remains have made, of course, and it’s not even the centerpiece of the show it’s in. But its presence, at once desiccated and regal, timeless and powerfully ancient, is remarkable nonetheless. 

It’s a perfect example of why Rozenn Bailleul-LeSuer, a University of Chicago doctoral candidate in Egyptology, thought birds were worthy not just of her scholarship but also of an exhibit at the school’s museum devoted to early civilization. 

“Between Heaven and Earth: Birds in Ancient Egypt” derives from the observation by guest curator Bailleul-LeSuer, a bird enthusiast even before she chose her academic path, that the more she looked into ancient Egypt, “the more I realized birds were everywhere.” “ -via Chicago Tribune.

‘Between Heaven and Earth: Birds in Ancient Egypt‘

When: Through July 28

Where: Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago, 1155 E. 58th St.; 773-702-9520 and oi.uchicago.edu

Tickets: $10 suggested donation

Gidwitz Hall of Birds

When: Ongoing

Where: Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive; 312-992-9410 orfieldmuseum.org

Tickets: Included in admission, $15 adults.

“Tracene Harvey is the curator at the University of Saskatchewan’s Museum of Antiquities.

The small museum is located in the Peter MacKinnon Building (formerly the College Building), and hosts a trove of ancient arti-facts.

One of these artifacts may harbour some paranormal energy from the time of ancient Egypt.

“There’s been a few odd things. We haven’t seen anything or captured anything on camera yet,” said Harvey.

She takes Bridges to see the artefact, a small example of an Egyptian “false door,” which was believed to allow spirits to pass from one world to the next” – via The StarPhoenix.
Read more here.

Conserving Egyptian mummies is the focus of a new exhibit at the Penn Museum in which visitors can view a glass-enclosed conservation lab workspace and speak to the conservator about the conservation of artefacts.

Penn Museum’s Egyptian Conservation lab: The Penn Museum is giving visitors an inside look at the conservation lab used to study Egyptian artefacts. The new lab is open five days a week, during regular museum hours.

“Housed in a glass box in a third-floor gallery, “In the Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies,” allows visitors to interact with conservators stripping away millennia of grime to uncover the world’s first picture frames, fairytales and graffiti art. Twice a day, the team slides open a window to answer questions about the 2,000-square-foot exhibition. An interactive whiteboard details their tasks for the day, supplemented by a blog at www.penn.museum/sites/artifactlab“ - via Courier Post Online.

Read more here.

Watch the video here.

They found about 100 examples of a cone, which had been registered as # 66 by Norman de G. Davies and M. F. Laming Macadam, in the heaps of the collapsed facade of the recently-found Saff tomb K10.1 which is located on Dra Abul Naga (They have not shown the map so I do not know the exact location but it must be near TT 232 and the pyramid of Nebkheperre-Antef).

Note that M. Betro and P. D. Vesco working at nearby tomb (TT 14) had already identified this cone to be of that Nebamun (Cf. Betro and Vesco (2010). Un cono funerario dall'area di M.I.D.A.N.05 a Dra Abu el-Naga e il problem della tomba perduta di Nebamon. Egitto e vicino Oriente, 33, 5-16).

 

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A showcase of Vietnamese artefacts spanning 2,000 years of history will be on display next year at the Kyushu National Museum in Japan.

photo: MShades

Japan to display Vietnamese treasures
Viet Nam News, 25 October 2012

One hundred and thirty precious Vietnamese artefacts will be put on display in Japan in April 2013 for an exhibition called Viet Nam-The Great Story.

The exhibition is the result of the new relationship between the Viet Nam National Museum of History and Japan’s Kyushu National Museum, which was sealed as a signing ceremony on Wednesday.

Full story here.

Towards a Better Understanding of the Opening of the Mouth Ritual

By Mariam Ayad

Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Egyptologists, Grenoble 6-12 September 2004, edited by J-C Goyon and C. Cardin; Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 150 (Leuven: Peeters, 2007)

Introduction: Recent work on the funerary chapel of Amenirdis I at Meditnet Habu has proved her selections from the Opening of the Mouth ritual to be deliberately chosen and meticulously laid out on the walls of her funerary chapel such that the texts, which were inscribed in retrograde, commence at the doorway of the chapel and culminate on the innermost wall of the corridor surrounding her cella. This interpretation of the layout of OM scenes suggests that the scenes inscribed on opposite walls run parallel to each other and should thus be read concurrently rather than sequentially. While this theory differs from more conventional interpretations of the division of the ritual, it accounts for the scenes’ layout, their retrograde direction of writing, and relates the scenes’ textual content to their physical location on the walls of the chapel. A new system for numbering the various scenes of the Opening of the Mouth arose from this particular analysis of Amenirdis’s texts. The new numbers incorporates the scenes’ physical location on monuments on which they occur.

Click here to read this article from Academia.edu