Innholdsfortegnelse for AH 45 i Ancient History Magazine

Evidence for the oldest surviving codex-form book has been discovered among material that was later repurposed in antiquity for use on a mummy. The discovery was made purely by chance during routine work on papyrus fragments in the Special Collections at Graz University Library in Austria. The Egyptian papyrus measures about 15 cm by 25 cm. Head of conservation Theresa Zammit Lupi said: “I saw a piece of thread, and only then did I notice the format of a book. I saw a central fold, the stitching holes, and the written text within clearly defined margins on the papyrus.” The evidence of sewing indicates that it must have been part of a codex-form book. The word codex derives from the Latin caudex. Meaning ‘block of wood', it was later used…

UNROLLING HISTORY TEXTS FROM THE VILLA OF THE PAPYRI Pompeii may be the most famous of the towns destroyed by Vesuvius in AD 79, but it is not the only one. Halfway between Pompeii and Naples lies Herculaneum, where eighteenth-century archaeologists discovered a splendid Roman villa, destroyed by volcanic rubble. It was once inhabited by Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, consul in 58 BC and father-inlaw of Gaius Julius Caesar. The excavator, Karl Jakob Weber (1712–1764), is considered a forerunner of scientific archaeology. He was not just a treasure hunter who found a fabulous collection of sculptures, but he also dug tunnels to investigate the house itself. He documented it perfectly. In a not-too-large room measuring about three metres by three metres, no less than 1826 ancient book scrolls lay on wooden…

THEME: Ancient luxury THEME A LADY THAT WAS BOTH LOVED AND FEARED A round the year 480 BC, a woman of some status was buried at the base of the flat-topped hillfort of Mont Lassois, near the upper Seine River. While hers was only one grave in a larger necropolis, the Woman of Vix clearly stood out. The grave goods she was buried with – jewellery, feasting equipment, and a ceremonial wagon – combined the best metalwork that local artisans could produce, as well as Greek, Etruscan, and Scythian goods, and other exotic luxuries that spoke of contact with the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas. Who this woman was and why she was buried with such elaborate grave goods has fascinated historians since her grave was discovered in 1952. Follow the rivers Before…

Competition held a position of great importance in archaic Greece, so much so that the period has been called a culture of competition. Athletic prowess was a marker of one's quality to the Greeks. Cleisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon in the sixth century, had the suitors of his daughter, Agariste, compete in running and wrestling matches (Herodotus, 6.126). There was certainly no lack of opportunities for Greeks to compete with one another. Besides the Panhellenic sanctuaries, such as the games at Olympia and Delphi, there were also local games, such as the Panathenaic games at Athens. Victory at the Olympic games could translate into political power. Both Herodotus (5.71) and Thucydides (1.126), in their accounts of Cylon's attempt at becoming tyrant of Athens, stress the would-be tyrant's status as an Olympic…

THEME FUNERARY PRACTICES IN ANCIENT ROME The series of tombs along the Appian Way is one of the most representative examples of how grave monuments contribute to conveying the memory of both famous and lesser-known individuals. In the Republic, the area became typically associated with the commemoration of the dead, whose remains could not be buried inside the city's boundaries (Cicero, On the Laws 2.23.58). Walking along the road, one would see, among the earlier monuments, the Tomb of the Scipiones, which received the bodies of some of the most famous magistrates and generals of Rome. A hypogeum with numerous underground galleries built between the third and second century BC, the tomb not only led the trend in the use of such monuments to emphasize the public roles of the individuals…

THEME: Ancient luxury LAND OF RIVERS AND HORSES The core of Mittani was located in northern Syria, in what is today known as the Khabur Triangle, an area of land between the Euphrates and Khabur rivers. However, at its height, ca. 1500 BC, Mittani encompassed a vast swath of territory, from the Zagros Mountains to the shores of the Mediterranean. The spread of so-called Nuzi ware throughout the Near East attests to the cultural influence of the state. Thanks to a paucity of evidence, how Mittani governed these lands is not known for certain. Indeed, how the state is identified – whether as a kingdom, empire, or confederation – is hardly settled. What we do know for certain, however, is that the people of Mittani were a polyglot population. Within Mittani…

BOOK REVIEWS ISBN: 978-9464260779 Sidestone Press (2022) - €35.00 www.sidestone.com I was very excited to read this book. Unfortunately, by the end, I was sorely disappointed. Mull purports to use Greek myths as a source of evidence for Bronze Age trade. In some ways this is a novel idea, and yet there are large quantities of Near Eastern myths to draw on, which have more chronological relevance to the topic. This brings me to my main issue with the book. The work is overly Hellenocentric and Eurocentric, with the Near East marginally represented. Additionally, too much time is spent discussing the Neolithic era at the expense of the Bronze Age. While it is important to mention the beginnings of long-distance trade in commodities in the Neolithic era, this might have…

The term conspicuous consumption, first coined by Thorstein Veblen in 1899, refers to the excessive expenditure by economic and social elites to demonstrate just how wealthy and powerful they are. Today, we see this type of behaviour among the superrich as they buy excessively large yachts, but also among everyday people as they buy overpriced branded clothes or fast, flashy cars. This may seem like a strange topic to discuss in connection to antiquity. However, this is not a modern phenomenon. The ancients, particularly ancient elites, were well aware of the power of such expensive displays, as well as the dangers that competitions for wealth and power posed to their communities. The Greeks and Romans, for example, had laws preventing such display, regulating how much could be spent by private…

The Instituto de Arqueología de Mérida (IAM-CSIC) has revealed the remains of five anthropomorphic reliefs dating from the fifth century BC found at the site of Casas del Turuñuelo, Badajoz in Spain. Two of the figurative reliefs are almost complete and correspond to two female figures adorned with earrings that represent typical pieces of Tartessian goldsmithing. The technical quality and artistic detail with which the reliefs were made suggests that they represent two female divinities from the Tartessian pantheon. However, the researchers have not ruled out that they could be prominent figures in the society of ancient Tartessos. Other fragments of reliefs were recovered, which belong to at least three other individuals. One of them has been identified as a warrior from the surviving part of a helmet. The finds…

This was the eighth part of a series on papyrology. In issue 36 of Ancient History we offered a general introduction. In the next issue, we explained how easy it is to create a plausible-looking fake. With a couple of exceptions, such as the Leiden Amun papyrus (AH 40), only papyri with a documented provenance can be trusted. In issue 39, we focused on the dating of papyri. In the issues 42 and 43, we dealt with the Oxyrhynchus Papyri and the Dead Sea Scrolls, while the previous issue of AH focused on the Secret Gospel of Mark.…

THEME: Ancient luxury THEME POWER AND WEALTH IN THE MYCENAEAN WORLD Early (3000–1600 BC) fortifications in the Aegean Bronze Age world were fairly simple structures. They were thick walls surrounding settlements, made from rubble or mudbrick on stone foundations. Horseshoe-shaped or rectangular towers reinforced the walls and protected the gates, while a low rubble wall (breastwork) was occasionally built to increase difficulty of access. The fortifications of the Late Bronze Age (1600–1200 BC) Mycenaean citadels, however, were very different both in masonry and size. The characteristic of their masonry is the use of very large, undressed, irregular-shaped limestone boulders, averaging 0.6–1.0 m in height by 0.7–1.5 m in length and 0.8–1.0 m in thickness. Their weight averaged between 500 kilos and two tons. At distinctive and highly visible sections, however, such as…

THEME: Ancient luxury THEME SHOWING STATUS IN THE ROMAN HOME As has been pointed out by historians such as Parkin and Pomeroy, a person's house in antiquity was “the basis of social obligations”, where “status and wealth were essentially transmitted”. This was particularly true for the indoor spaces of the Roman domus, where aristocrats and everyday Romans could vie with one another to promote themselves and their cultural pedigree. It was in and through these fascinating spaces that Romans would greet and receive their peers and clients, perhaps for a luxury dinner, or to hold a quasi-court to reward services and delegate tasks. In all of this, the home and its proper decoration was pivotal in presenting an impressive and idealized image of its owner. Roman homes varied in size and complexity…

ANCIENT COOKING CULINARY CREATIVITY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD In ancient Rome, root vegetables, such as beets, carrots, and parsnips, were often boiled or stewed in a sauce or added to meat stews. Pumpkin, cucumber, and courgette were also filled, usually with a mixture of meat (a favourite for fillings was brains!) and spices. Vegetables were also processed in patinae – casseroles with meat or fish or vegetables and liquid ingredients, that were usually made with eggs to bind the liquid into a firm texture. Vegetables less common to us today, such as flower bulbs, were also on the menu in antiquity (see Ancient History 42). Apart from the fact that the Romans ate vegetables that are no longer common to us, another difference to today is that in the Apicius cookbook,…

SPECIAL ROMAN MILITARY LOGISTICS IN SPAIN It was a huge challenge to feed armies that numbered tens of thousands of soldiers and servants off the land, especially since war itself had such an impact on agriculture and food supply. Roman commanders preferred the reliability of organized external supply. Consequently, the Romans created governmental structures that diverted resources from subject communities and allies to their armies. External procurement reduced dependence on resources offered by the war zone, but it had its own limitations. Because it was virtually impossible to transport the large quantities of food consumed by armies over larger distances on land, external supply required access to waterways, in addition to ports and welldefended places to store supplies. All armies ‘lived off the land' to some degree, as they needed water…

ISBN: 978-1788162906 Profile Books (2022) - £25.00 www.profilebooks.com When we think of Greek and Roman sculpture, we tend to think of Polykleitos' “Spear Bearer” or the “Augustus Prima Porta”, their well-muscled bodies and serene expressions encapsulating our impressions of antiquity. As Vout writes, “The Greek and Roman body is a flawless body, lean, lovely, on a pedestal”, yet “It is also a beautiful lie” (p. 4). This is the core aim of Vout's work: to expand our understanding of ancient bodies beyond the ideal to “the real Greek and Roman bodies that lurked beneath the archetypes” (p. 351), and in so doing reveal the ancient world as the living, breathing place it was. It is easy to become enamoured of the ideal, the image that the Greeks and Romans presented…

COMPETITION IN THE ANCIENT WORLD By Nick Fisher and Hans van Wees The Classical Press of Wales, 2011 ISBN: 978-1905125487 The Greeks are described as having a ‘culture of competition', but competition and competitive displays are by no means restricted to them. This volume contains a variety of articles by leading academics on aspects of competition, from athletics to conspicuous construction, and discusses not just the classic cultures, but also features the Assyrians and the Aztecs. STYLE AND FUNCTION IN ROMAN DECORATION: LIVING WITH OBJECTS AND INTERIORS By Ellen Swift Routledge, 2016 ISBN: 978-03678880604 While the home was one of the most important markers of social distinction in the Roman world, there is more to the home than the building itself. In this book, Ellen Swift discusses the objects that…

SPECIAL LITERACY AND OCCUPATIONS IN ANCIENT EGYPT Written symbols appeared in ancient Egypt from at least the Early Dynastic Period, evolving historically from labelling and listing items to personal, literary, funerary, and administrative writings through the Greco-Roman Period. Persons who could understand and reproduce these symbols had some degree of literacy and were required in very early Egyptian history to provide documents/ writings on papyrus, stone, or ostraca (pottery fragments) for economic valuation, social and funerary literature, and legal proceedings. The importance of these documents would increase through the GrecoRoman period, and these texts and those who created them would become important to specific economic and social transactions, to royalty and the elite in funerary contexts, and to the representation of authority. In ancient Egyptian mythology, the god Thoth was believed…

THEME: Ancient luxury THEME LUXURY, COMPETITION, & AUSTERITY The Oxford English Dictionary defines a ‘sybarite' as “A person devoted to luxury or pleasure; an effeminate voluptuary or sensualist.” The word is a common one, often used by journalists and laypersons alike to characterize the decadent exploits of the rich and powerful. The Oxford English Dictionary also notes that, with a capital S, ‘Sybarite' indicates “A native or citizen of Sybaris, an ancient Greek city of southern Italy, traditionally noted for its effeminacy and luxury.” The shift in the meaning of the word from indicating the inhabitants of Sybaris, an Achaean colony founded in the second half of the eighth century BC on the Gulf of Taranto, in what is now northern Calabria, to describing “a person devoted to luxury or pleasure” happened…

As Roman society placed ever more emphasis on ostentatious domestic display, several distinct styles began to develop, which are usually broken down into a number of ‘phases' or ‘styles'. Some of the most well-known are the four phases of wall painting visible in the remains of Roman Pompeii, discussed in part by the Roman writer Vitruvius. These phases trace how Roman wall painting initially went from depicting simplistic and lifelike representations of architecture (such as at the House of Sallust and the Villa of the Mysteries), to more elaborate renditions of everyday scenes (e.g. the House of 2Marcus Lucretius Fronto), ultimately developing into unrealistic and expensive depictions of mythological scenes (e.g. the House of Naviglio). This development seemed to start the spread of the practice of wall painting throughout every…

SPECIAL WAS THIS FAMOUS PHILOSOPHER ALSO A SLAVE? In the spring of 384 BC Plato was on his way home from Syracuse, the greatest Greek city in Sicily. He had left Athens the previous year for an extended visit to southern Italy and Sicily. Several ancient biographers tell us that at least one of his purposes was to explore the volcanic terrain of Sicily, and especially Mount Etna. That seems likely in itself, and some familiarity with Sicily's turbulent landscape is reflected in the fantastic geography with which Plato concludes the dialogue Phaedo. But his main purpose was to get better acquainted with Pythagoreans and Pythagorean thought. Greater Greece, as it was known – Magna Graecia, southern Italy, and Sicily – had been the centre of Pythagoreanism for well over 100…

LIVING LIKE AN ANCIENT THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BONDS BETWEEN FAMILIES After marrying his ward, Publilia, the Roman orator Cicero was accused of going soppy. Yet, he defended himself by pointing out that the actual reason for the marriage was that he needed the money from her dowry. Love was not a suitable motivation to marry, but wealth was. A family affair Consider the engagement of a Roman couple as described by the biographer Plutarch (Tiberius Gracchus 4): Appius [Claudius], who had been consul and censor, fell into friendly conversation with Tiberius [Gracchus], and asked him to become the husband of his daughter. Tiberius gladly accepted the invitation, and they arranged the betrothal. The unusual thing about this particular Roman marriage was not that the bride was not consulted, but that…