{"title":"The journeys of Orpheus","authors":"Francesca Ceci, Aleksandra Krauze-Kołodziej","doi":"10.1556/068.2023.00108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/068.2023.00108","url":null,"abstract":"The figure of Orpheus has been and continues to be the subject of in-depth studies focusing mainly on the historical, religious (relative especially to Orphism), and then iconographic aspects (the representation of Orpheus and typical moments of mythical imagination that concern him). It may be interesting here to draw a precise map of places visited by Orpheus, alive but also once killed, through his prophetic head and lyre. This paper also aims to present the iconographic itinerary of the journeys of the Thracian singer between Ancient and Modern times.","PeriodicalId":35670,"journal":{"name":"Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140216319","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":"Hannibal's hard ‘homecoming’ after 203 BCE","authors":"Patrick Hunt","doi":"10.1556/068.2023.00117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/068.2023.00117","url":null,"abstract":"“Hannibal's War” was what Carthage called the Second Punic War from 218–202 BCE because it was clear from the outset Carthaginian leadership was not fully participatory or even much engaged with him and his long Italian campaign. The signs of estrangement were seen at least as early as Hannibal's siege of Saguntum in 219 BCE when Carthage's Gerousia or Council of Elders took no responsibility with the envoy from Rome complaining about his “brutal” taking of Saguntum. But perhaps it is more important to examine exactly where – and when – Hannibal's real home might have been, since he could hardly call Carthage his true home, as this brief paper proposes. Discussion follows what Hannibal learned in Iberia and how important Iberia as his adopted homeland and its abundant silver meant to him instead – not Carthage – and how Iberia under his father Hamilcar prepared his lifelong stratagems for war, with Scipio as his eventual young rival student from Rome leading to Zama, which brought Hannibal back to Carthage under the worst circumstances and a periphery of his prior successes. Whether or not Hannibal's return to Carthage in 203–202 BCE can be called a “homecoming” is certainly moot in many ways, especially given that it was not his home for most of his life. Decades later, given his estrangement from Carthage, Scipio's famous epitaph could just as well be Hannibal's.","PeriodicalId":35670,"journal":{"name":"Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140225441","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":"From withdrawal to return in the first decade of the Ab Vrbe condita: An example of Livian dialectic of contrasts","authors":"Nicolas L.J. Meunier","doi":"10.1556/068.2023.00115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/068.2023.00115","url":null,"abstract":"Livy's narrative, far from being a faithful and scrupulous account of historical facts, is first and foremost a piece of literary, a narration, a collection of exempla that should serve as models or anti-models for readers, as Livy himself says in his Praefatio (Liv. Praef. 10). In his writing work, he follows guiding principles, the most important of which is the dialectic of contrasts, inspired by oratory and rhetoric. On the basis of different examples from the first decade of Ab Urbe condita, the objective of this article is to examine how this principle of writing was applied to the theme of Returns (a motif well known in the imaginary and literature of classical Antiquity). Thus, it appears that each episode of return or attempt to return is systematically preceded by an episode of withdrawal from the civic community, with which it is contrasted in various ways. Examples of such withdrawal-return antagonist pairs are numerous, and they concern both individual characters (Tarquin the Proud, Coriolanus, Cincinnatus, Kaeso Quinctius, etc.) and collective ensembles (in the form of a secessio of an entire ordo).","PeriodicalId":35670,"journal":{"name":"Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140242168","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":"The impossible return home of Lucius in Apuleius' Metamorphoses","authors":"G. Freyburger","doi":"10.1556/068.2023.00110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/068.2023.00110","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper I wish to analyze the impossible return home, namely that of Lucius in Book XI of Apuleius' Metamorphoses. Isis had decided that this would be so because she wished to wrest her new follower from the self-destructive passions he had developed in his home country, Corinth. She inspired him to leave his homeland and to make an initiatory voyage to Rome, where he would henceforth have to live as a perpetual exile among the priests of Isis (although he thereafter was safe from the evil passions he contracted in Corinth). I want to analyze this story. First of all, we will focus upon these passions which so beset Lucius in his homeland, then we will follow the voyage he took to Rome and finally we will see how he lives as an exile in Rome and, in conclusion, what are the benefits he obtains from his renunciation of a return to his homeland.","PeriodicalId":35670,"journal":{"name":"Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140243331","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":"Spatial and spiritual exile in Vergil's Aeneid","authors":"Henry John Walker","doi":"10.1556/068.2023.00112","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/068.2023.00112","url":null,"abstract":"For Homer, Cicero, and Ovid, exile is equivalent to death, or even worse. Vergil's Aeneas is torn between his old homeland of Troy and the new home he must create in Italy, but he overcomes his nostalgia. Aeneas is consoled by the Stoic doctrine that he is obeying Fate, which governs the entire world, and by the Cynic view that he can carry his true self and identity with him anywhere he goes. In Book 6 of the Aeneid, he is given a revelation about reincarnation that is based on the Republics of Plato and Cicero. This teaching that all of life is an exile from heaven contrasts sharply with the worldly mission of conquest that Aeneas must follow in Italy. Vergil's sympathies lie with the exile rather than the conqueror.","PeriodicalId":35670,"journal":{"name":"Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140243537","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":"“Cassius Dio, A Bithynian ‘exiled’ to Rome?”","authors":"Marie-Laure Freyburger-Galland","doi":"10.1556/068.2023.00105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/068.2023.00105","url":null,"abstract":"First, we will retrace the life and brilliant career of this Roman senator of Bithynian origins who came from an ancient family of public figures and who had served five or six emperors and been friends with several of them, having been twice appointed to the role of consul.Then we will consider the nature of his role as Senator coming from an Eastern province and its relationship with Roman power. We will come to see that he represents the perfect example of his theory of the association of provincial élites coming to power, which was developed at length in his work, Roman History, which he produced in Greek for a Greek readership.Finally, rather paradoxically, we will consider how he sees himself in a largely bi-lingual and bi-cultural empire and how he speaks of his homeland with a view to determining whether his attachment to his ‘little country’ is the stronger and if his numerous sojourns in Rome amount to little more than a ‘golden exile’ for him.","PeriodicalId":35670,"journal":{"name":"Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140245035","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":"The Failure of Poseidon, ‘Averter of Disaster’ and the Mythical Geography of Isaiah 23:1–14","authors":"Benjamin Scolnic","doi":"10.1556/068.2023.00032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/068.2023.00032","url":null,"abstract":"The nostos, the return home in Greek mythology, is most often a journey over the sea, and it is the god Poseidon who rules the sea, both ensuring the safe passage of fishermen and sailors and causing disasters to individuals like Ajax son of Oileus, sometimes through obstacles like his daughter Charybdis. Most famously, he uses his power to hinder the nostos of Odysseus, all the while knowing he cannot prevent him from reaching home. This example illustrates how a god who may once have been the most powerful deity can no longer control ultimate results. As his power declines over the centuries, that of Zeus increases.It is also by sea that we see the ships in Isaiah 23, attempting to return to their homes in Sidon and Tyre on the eastern Mediterranean coast. In this Biblical passage from the eighth century BCE, the ships wail when they see that their seaport homes have been destroyed; there are no homes to which they can return. The great god of the Sea and the epichoric gods have failed to protect the cities which are considered their progeny. The Israelite prophet mocks their powerlessness and celebrates the power of his One God. There is no nostos, no homecoming for ships because they no longer have homes. Just as Poseidon could not prevent Odysseus from his nostos, the so-called Averter of Disaster has not prevented the disaster that has befallen his children.","PeriodicalId":35670,"journal":{"name":"Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140249402","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":"The face of Eurydice","authors":"A. Mastrocinque","doi":"10.1556/068.2023.00102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/068.2023.00102","url":null,"abstract":"Eurydice could not come back to this world because Orpheus looked back at her. Persephone had forbidden this, but Orpheus disobeyed. Is there a logic for such a rule? A relief in the Archaeological Museum in Naples shows Orpheus looking at his wife after having removed a veil from her face, and the face of dead persons was a sensible element in ancient funerary art. We find two forms of hiding their face: by veiling it or by depicting the person but not the face, by leaving it unwrought. Euripides and several Roman sarcophagi depict Alcestis with her head veiled after her return to the house of her husband. On the other hand, some funerary busts from the necropolis of Cyrene show deceased women with their face flat and many sarcophagi of the Roman period are completely sculptured except the face of the buried person. The current explanation based on an untimely death cannot explain the large number of such cases; it would have been absurd to wait for the death of the customer before carving his or her portrait. There was a religious rule forbidding the vision of the face of dead persons, but it is impossible to ascertain what kind of people abided by this law and what religious stream forbade this.","PeriodicalId":35670,"journal":{"name":"Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140248649","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}
Helen Chouliara-Raios, Dimitra-Nefeli Makri, Ioannis Drakos
{"title":"Λύχνος: Shedding light on daily life in Graeco-Roman and Byzantine Egypt","authors":"Helen Chouliara-Raios, Dimitra-Nefeli Makri, Ioannis Drakos","doi":"10.1556/068.2023.00036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/068.2023.00036","url":null,"abstract":"The present paper aims to examine the role of the oil lamp (λύχνος) in the daily life of the residents of Egypt through the documentation of Greek papyri and ostraca from the Graeco-Roman and Byzantine periods. Due to the fragmentary condition of the archival material, the sources of ancient Greek and Latin literature are also taken into consideration with a view to corroborating some uncertain points of detail. Specifically, careful scrutiny is given to aspects such as the oil lamp's price and material, its domestic uses, its role as pledge (ἐνέχυρον) and part of inheritance, as well as its function in various activities performed at night. The matters of its importance in the realm of theatre, its connection to theft, the side-effects of its use, and the exploration of the figurative use of the term λύχνος as a literary device are also examined.","PeriodicalId":35670,"journal":{"name":"Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45186688","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":"L’allegoria svelata: elementi misteriosofici ed esegesi Porfiriana nell’Antro delle ninfe","authors":"Annamaria Furlan","doi":"10.1556/068.2023.00076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/068.2023.00076","url":null,"abstract":"Cover and uncover: is the attempt to unveil and reveal the hidden meaning of the mysteries a paradox (Porph. Antr. 4. 16–17)? The present contribution aims at exploring Porphyry's interest in the commentary Περὶ τοῦ ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ τῶν νυμφῶν ἄντρου (Cave of the Nymphs) for the allegorical interpretation of images, symbols and terms variously linked with the Mysteries and encapsulating truths on the nature of the divine, the soul and ultimately the cosmos. More specifically, attention will be drawn mostly (but not only) on features connected with Orphism, here defined and understood as a form of ‘mysteriosophy’. The scope of this analysis falls within the study of Porphyry's use of allegorical exegesis but also within the broader discussion of different forms of philosophical religion in Late Antiquity, underscoring the complex but fruitful relationship between theology, philosophy and the Mysteries.","PeriodicalId":35670,"journal":{"name":"Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46390561","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}