{"title":"The God Aion in a Mosaic from Nea Paphos (Cyprus) and Graeco-Phoenician Cosmogonies in the Roman East","authors":"C. López-Ruiz","doi":"10.1515/arege-2020-0022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/arege-2020-0022","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This essay offers a new interpretive angle on a fourth-century CE mosaic from Nea Paphos in Cyprus, in which the central panel depicts the god Aion presiding over the contest between Kassiopeia and the Nereids. The mosaic, which has other mythological scenes, two of them focused on Dionysos, has been interpreted in an allegorical Neoplatonic key or else as encrypting an anti-Christian polemic narrative. Here I propose that Aion and the other cosmogonic motifs in the panels, including the birth and triumph of Dionysos, point rather to Orphic and Phoenician cosmogonies, which in turn had a strong impact and reception among Neoplatonists and intellectuals of the Roman and late Roman Levant.","PeriodicalId":29740,"journal":{"name":"Archiv fur Religionsgeschichte","volume":"21-22 1","pages":"423 - 447"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/arege-2020-0022","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42472694","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introduction","authors":"S. Johnston","doi":"10.1515/arege-2020-0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/arege-2020-0001","url":null,"abstract":"The 2020 issue of ARG focuses on subjects that have been of perennial interest to its readers, as well as some newer topics. It falls into four sections. We start with four independently submitted papers: one on a weather ritual and its communicative power; two on a topic that we usually designate with the slippery term “magic”; and a fourth that brings us back to ritual by focusing on how we might recreate the ‘model experience’ of an initiate into the mysteries that underlay the “Orphic” gold tablets. The second section includes four papers addressing the material aspects of religious practice. These were first presented at the meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2018 as a panel organized by Sandra Blakeley and Nancy Evans and sponsored by the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions. Third in line is a set of three papers drawn from an ongoing project at the University of Toulouse – Jean Jaurès, entitled “Mapping Ancient Polytheisms: Cult Epithets as an Interface between Religious Systems and Human Agency.” The current papers, which were collected and edited by Fabio Porzia and Sylvain LeBreton, explore the significance of divine names in Anatolia and the Roman West. Finally, we present nine papers that debuted during a conference organized by Carolina López-Ruiz and Marco Antonio Santamaría at The Ohio State University in September 2018, entitled “Ex Arches: Looking Back at Myths of Origin.” The conference focused on thinking about how ancient Greek narratives about origins were articulated and the nature of their social functions. The events of the year 2020 have presented scholars with many challenges. I am very grateful to my editorial assistant, Colleen Kron, who helped me bring this volume into a properly finished state through the magic of Zoom, and to the editors and contributors for their patience as Colleen and I worked through the final stages of editing their articles. Let us hope that 2021 is a more auspicious year!","PeriodicalId":29740,"journal":{"name":"Archiv fur Religionsgeschichte","volume":"21-22 1","pages":"1 - 1"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/arege-2020-0001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46293138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Our Co(s)mic Origins: Theogonies in Greek Comedy","authors":"M. A. Santamaría","doi":"10.1515/arege-2020-0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/arege-2020-0019","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article focuses on the four theogonies which are documented in some texts and testimonies of Old and Middle Greek Comedy, namely in Cratinus’ Cheirons (frs. 258 – 259 PCG), in which Pericles and Aspasia are disguised as Zeus and Hera; Aristophanes’ Birds (693 – 703), a celebrated narration of the origins of these animals, presented as older than the gods; Antiphanes’ Anthropogony, on the births of several gods and humankind; and the disagreement between Cronus and Rhea in the fragment of an anonymous play of Middle Comedy (adespota fr. 1062 PCG). In these theogonies several aspects will be analyzed: the gods or characters whose genealogy or birth is mentioned, the means of parody of the traditional literary form of theogony, and the political and social implications present in the first two fragments, in order to offer a complete picture of the theogonies in Greek comedy and their functions according to their context.","PeriodicalId":29740,"journal":{"name":"Archiv fur Religionsgeschichte","volume":"21-22 1","pages":"369 - 386"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/arege-2020-0019","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42010817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Überlegungen zu einigen griechischen Wetterritualen","authors":"Oliver Pilz","doi":"10.1515/arege-2020-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/arege-2020-0002","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Historische und ethnographische Parallelen belegen, dass bei rituellen Handlungen, die einen Umschwung der herrschenden Witterungsverhältnisse bewirken sollen, häufig das Schema der Umkehrung zur Anwendung kommt, um die gewünschte Veränderung symbolisch zu befördern. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden Prozessionen und Bittgänge untersucht, die im antiken Griechenland im Bestreben abgehalten wurden, das Wettergeschehen zu beeinflussen. Mit dem Zug der angesehensten Bürger von Demetrias zum Heiligtum des Zeus Akraios auf dem Gipfel des Pelion steht dabei ein ritueller Komplex im Mittelpunkt, dessen Interpretation umstritten ist. Die Analyse macht deutlich, dass bei diesem Ritual nicht nur eine Inversion der für das Tieropfer üblichen Abfolge von pompe, Tötung des Tieres und Opfermahlzeit zu verzeichnen ist, sondern auch eine Umkehrung der herrschenden sozialen Verhältnisse vorliegt. Auf dieser Grundlage kann die Deutung des Prozessionszuges als Wetterritual bekräftigt werden. Abschließend wird am Beispiel des athenischen Prozessionsrituals der Pompeia der vielfach übersehene Zusammenhang zwischen der Reinheit der Gemeinschaft und der Fruchtbarkeit der Felder herausgearbeitet.","PeriodicalId":29740,"journal":{"name":"Archiv fur Religionsgeschichte","volume":"21-22 1","pages":"5 - 28"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/arege-2020-0002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45660660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"And You Will Be Amazed: The Rhetoric of Authority in the Greek Magical Papyri","authors":"Radcliffe G. Edmonds","doi":"10.1515/arege-2020-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/arege-2020-0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract An analysis of the rhetorical strategies used in the so-called Greek Magical Papyri to bolster the authority of the authors provides insight into the authors of these texts and their intended audiences. This article reviews the scholarship on the identity of the composers of the Greek Magical Papyri and explores the rhetorical strategies used in the texts to create authority, before comparing the dominant strategies in the Greek Magical Papyri with similar ones in other kinds of recipe collections, specifically alchemical and medical texts. The authors of the recipes in the Greek Magical Papyri make little use of the traditional authority of the temples but instead justify their claims of superiority with reference to the amazing efficacy of the procedures they describe. The direct, second person address in formulas such as “and you will be amazed” suggests that the intended audience was imagined not as potential clients who need to be convinced of the author’s expertise, but rather as potential practitioners interested in impressing their own clients.","PeriodicalId":29740,"journal":{"name":"Archiv fur Religionsgeschichte","volume":"21-22 1","pages":"29 - 49"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/arege-2020-0003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43177765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"More than text: Approaching ritual papyri from Oxyrhynchus as inscribed objects","authors":"Scott Possiel","doi":"10.1515/arege-2020-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/arege-2020-0009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Although papyri serve as critical forms of evidence for the study of ritual in the late antique Mediterranean, much about their function and significance in ritual performance remains unknown. This paper investigates this dimension of ritual texts through an examination of three papyri from Oxyrhynchus (P.Oxy. 4242, 2833, and 5304) – a horoscope, a sortes collection, and a magical formulary. Pairing close readings with an object-centered approach to the study of ritual in the ancient world, this paper addresses the text of each papyrus as well as its visual and physical characteristics including size, columniation, layout, evidence of wear, and marginalia. This analysis illuminates not only the role of each papyrus within the practice of astrology, divination, or magic, but also its influence on ritual performance. By mediating the experience of ritual participants, these papyri exert object-agency. Therefore, this paper argues that such texts are not simply passive instruments consulted by practitioners but rather active participants and collaborators in the performance of ritual.","PeriodicalId":29740,"journal":{"name":"Archiv fur Religionsgeschichte","volume":"21-22 1","pages":"175 - 200"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/arege-2020-0009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47718632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Syntactic Approach to the Orphic Gold Leaves","authors":"Attila Egyed","doi":"10.1515/arege-2020-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/arege-2020-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present paper provides a plausible interpretation of how a variety of literary elements and religious practices can augment our current understanding of ancient Orphism, although all of the sources seem to reflect a common religious function. The analysis is primarily based on close readings and deals with textual interpretation only as much as is necessary in order to highlight the intrinsic relations of textual constructions on the compositional, syntactical, and grammatical level. By focusing on structural relations, this syntactic approach enables us to integrate all the diverse emic interpretations on the basis of functional rules, while restraining us from the problem of interpreting surface meanings. The primary sources of the paper are specifically the A and D type Orphic gold leaves, because the structuring of these texts follows a common compositional pattern that seems to allude to a “model experience.” Using this “model experience” paradigm, this paper also aims to exceed the contemporary neo-ritualist interpretations of these texts as mere “ritual representations” and to propose a more holistic approach based on functionality. This is accomplished by separating formulaic components and treating them as contextualization cues which refer to the different stages that the initiate embodies, in an interdiscursive textual composition.","PeriodicalId":29740,"journal":{"name":"Archiv fur Religionsgeschichte","volume":"21-22 1","pages":"85 - 121"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/arege-2020-0005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49575878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ex arches: Looking Back at Greek Myths of Origin","authors":"M. A. Santamaría","doi":"10.1515/arege-2020-0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/arege-2020-0015","url":null,"abstract":"Where does everything come from? How did the universe, such as we know it, originate? Is it the result of a blind mechanical process or of the plan of a higher intelligence? As humans,we have always been concerned by these questions, and ancient cultures have offered different responses, usually in the form of cosmogonic myths, in which common solutions and exclusive features can be distinguished. Darkness, confusion, and violence are usually imagined at the origin of time. Later, through an enormous struggle against the primeval creatures that incarnate excess and chaos, the main god establishes a new order and inaugurates his kingship, which will then be threatened on many fronts. This section of the 2020 issue of Archiv für Religionsgeschichte compiles most of the papers that were presented at the colloquium “Ex arches: looking back at the myths of origin,” organized by Carolina López-Ruiz and Marco Antonio Santamaría at the Ohio State University on September 13 and 14, 2018. The conference’s aim was to explore how narratives of origin in ancient Greece were articulated and their functions within the literary context in which they are framed. Some of the articles focus on relevant passages of Hesiod’s Theogony, the canonical, but not indisputable, account of the world’s origins for the ancient Greeks. Thus, Jenny Strauss Clay studies the challenge presented to Zeus by Typhon, his last and most powerful antagonist, whereas Warren Huard examines Heracles’ fights against monstrous creatures, such as the Nemean Lion, which echo Zeus’ combat against Typhon and uphold the cosmic order established by the god. Marcus Ziemann adopts a cutting-edge approach to assessing the parallels between Hesiod’s Theogony and Enuma elis ̌, analyzing the ideological meaning projected on the latter poem by the Neo-Assyrian Empire to reinforce its power, an orientation apparently contested by Hesiod with his poem. Taking into account the Hesiodic background, Marco Antonio Santamaría investigates four passages from Old and Middle Greek Comedy that parody the traditional literary form of theogony and, in some cases, make use of the account of primitive times to denounce the political and social corruption of the present. Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal tackles certain legends about the miraculous appearance of wine, which must have triggered the attribution of the birth and infancy of Dionysus to these very regions. In his paper, Fritz Graf focuses on the cosmogony in the Hermetic Poimandres and compares it with similar examples of diakrisistype cosmogonies in Imperial times. Two papers examine the interaction between myths and images: Carolina López-Ruiz explores the presence of cosmogonic motifs, probably of Phoenician and Orphic origin, in a fourth-century CE mosaic from Cyprus, which depicts the gods Aion and Dionysus, and Gabriela Cursaru and Pierre","PeriodicalId":29740,"journal":{"name":"Archiv fur Religionsgeschichte","volume":"21-22 1","pages":"311 - 312"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/arege-2020-0015","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49649994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
