The building we see today when we approach the monastery of Saint Pedro of Rocas reveals the modern architecture: the priory house. But this architecture "hides" another one that corresponds to the ...various construction phases carved in the rock, both in its worship, residential and funerary function. An architecture excavated in the rock that is directly related to its hermitic origins linking Saint Pedro of Rocas with an anchoretic tradition characteristic of the territory in which it is located and which we know as Ribeira Sacra. Many are the questions, and the enigmas, which still contains Saint Pedro of Rocas and it is precisely in the rock where we find the answers to those questions. We do not intend to solve them within the framework of this article, but we will point out some reflections that allow us to understand the complexity and enormous historical dimension that enclose the rock of Saint Pedro of Rocas. The data that we are obtaining from the interdisciplinary research that we have been carrying out points to a clear oriental origin in the forms of community life that took place in Saint Pedro of Rocas. The influence of Saint Martín of Dumio (bishop of Braga, in the second half of the 6th century) in the importation of monastic life forms of Syrian-Palestinian origin ended up configuring an architecture carved into the rock at the service of a clearly Byzantine liturgy.
The archaeological investigations carried out to the south-east of the forum of the Roman town of Baelo Claudia have uncovered a number of phases in the monumental sector indicating reform, ...abandonment and reoccupation between the 3rd and 6th centuries. The structures uncovered, along with numerous associated objects and materials (coins, ceramics, glass, metal, fauna, etc.) throw new light on the history and the condition of the site in late antiquity, which between the end of the 4th century and its final abandonment in the 6th century resembled that of a large village rather than a town.
El comentario como género discursivo se caracteriza por ser un espacio textual de encuentro cultural. Para irrumpir en el espacio cultural estático fijado por el texto fuente, y volverlo dinámico, el ...comentarista debe construir su auctoritas. Los Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis de Macrobio y el Commentarius in Timaeum de Calcidio son interesantes ejemplos de estos espacios textuales. El presente trabajo analiza cómo a partir del uso de la obscuritas como estrategia discursiva, ambos comentaristas irrumpen en el espacio textual y se construyen como lectores, filósofos y escritores.
This article presents a new interpretation of the historiographical production of Jordanes by situating it in the political and social environment of Constantinople of the years 550–552. It argues ...that these years were a period of crisis in Justinian's reign and that this is reflected in the pessimistic view of Roman power and the critique of Justinian's military and religious policy we can see in Jordanes’ Romana. If this prevents us from understanding Jordanes as a mouthpiece of the court, he cannot be reduced to a mere reproducer of Cassiodorus either: while there is more evidence for a close interaction between Jordanes and Cassiodorus (in particular the use of the Historia Tripartita in the Romana) than usually adduced, this is balanced by Jordanes’ explicit attempts to keep his distance from the senator. If the latter can be explained by Jordanes’ much lower social and literary status and his Moesian rather than Italian origin, which made him only a marginal member of Cassiodorus’ circle in Constantinople, the agreement between both men is the result of a confluence of views caused by the turn of the Italian war in 540–550. Jordanes, then, appears as a unique voice in what must have been a polyphony of opinions in mid-sixth-century Constantinople.
Late Antique Christian poets preserved the epithet tonans (thundering), one of the many descriptive terms for Jupiter, and applied it to the Christian god as a means of proclaiming his supremacy. As ...this poetic tradition continued into the Middle Ages, tonans and its derivatives appeared in new contexts, with the Jovian epithet and other storm-related imagery appearing in ritual environments and on precious objects. Although the classical origins and subversive connotations of the epithet receded from view, its ability to evoke lightning, thunder, and other celestial manifestations meant that it could intensify the multisensory experiences of readers and viewers. This is particularly clear when written references to the Thunderer are paired with other classical allusions, with descriptions of powerful voices and miraculous weather phenomena, or with comparisons of material brilliance and spiritual illumination. Many of these same references were designed to help audiences recall the scriptural accounts of God's celestial throne or the Ark of the Covenant revealed in Heaven. Creative uses of tempestuous symbolism also allowed artists and authors to emphasize connections among biblical motifs and to imbue text and image with apocalyptic overtones.
Over the last few decades, there has been a growing interest in the fusion of the humanities and the hard sciences. The continuous experimentation and contamination between these two disciplines has ...led to the emergence of new horizons of research and open to perspectives and issues previously unthinkable. Finally, it has started the development of specific technologies for the cultural domain. Among these technologies, virtual archaeology, which we could define as the set of processes of acquisition, analysis and interpretation aimed at visualizing and simulating the past using 3D digital technologies and a theoretical and multidisciplinary scientific approach, has now reached its maturity. In this contribution the potentials in using 3D modelling as a tool of investigation and visualization for a deeper understanding of archaeological sites is presented. The discussion is supported by the case study of the roman villa of Aiano, built at the beginning of the 4th century A.D. and characterized by monumental architecture and decorations.
Le temple d’Apollon à Daphné n’a pas été intégralement détruit par l’incendie de 362 : les auteurs païens déplorent surtout la disparition de la statue du dieu, tandis que les chrétiens s’en ...réjouissent et insistent également sur l’embrasement du toit pour démontrer que le feu fut envoyé du ciel et ne fut pas l’œuvre des hommes. Les murs et les colonnes du temple ont continué de marquer longtemps le paysage, si l’on en croit deux oeuvres de Jean Chrysostome et un passage de l’Histoire ecclésiastique de Philostorge. L’absence de restauration du bâtiment et de démolition des vestiges illustre le sort ambigu des lieux de culte païens à la fin du IVe siècle et s’explique aussi par le prestige du site de Daphné et de son bois sacré. Par ailleurs, Jean Chrysostome, dans son Discours sur Babylas, donne des ruines du temple une description inédite par sa précision et leur prête la fonction de mémorial pour la postérité. Toutefois, le prédicateur chrétien n’appelle pas à une conservation volontaire des vestiges, mais son discours montre comment, dans cette période de transition religieuse, les bâtiments détruits peuvent être investis de significations radicalement nouvelles.
The Temple of Apollo in Daphne was not completely destroyed by fire in ad 362. The pagan authors deplore the loss of the divine statue, whereas the Christians welcome it and insist on the burning of the roof, in order to demonstrate that God sent the fire, not men. The temple’s walls and columns remained in the landscape for a long time, according to two orations of John Chrysostom and Philostorgius’s Church History. The building was neither restored nor demolished: this fact illustrates the ambiguous fate of the pagan sacred places at the end of the fourth century and can also be explained by the prestige of Daphne and its holy wood. Besides, John Chrysostom, in On Babylas, gives a very original, precise description of the temple’s ruins, describing them as a memorial for posterity. However, the Christian preacher doesn’t call for the vestiges’ conservation, but his oration shows how, in this period of religious transition, the destroyed buildings can be invested of completely new meanings.
لم يتم تدمير معبد أبولو في دافني بالكامل أثناء حريق عام ٣٦٢ : يستنكر المؤلفون الوثنيون بشكل خاص اختفاء تمثال الإله، بينما يبتهج المسيحيون بذلك ويصرون أيضاً على حرق سقف لإثبات أن النار انطلقت من السماء ولم تكن من عمل البشر. ميزت جدران وأعمدة المعبد المناظر الطبيعية لفترة طويلة، كما ورد في مؤلفات جون كريسوستوم ومقطع من التاريخ الكنسي لفيلوستورج. يوضح عدم ترميم المبنى وهدم بقاياه المصير الغامض لأماكن العبادة الوثنية في نهاية القرن الرابع ويفسر أيضا مكانة موقع دافني وخشبها المقدس. بالإضافة إلى ذلك يصف جان كريسوستوم، في خطابه عن بابيلاس أنقاض المعبد وصفا غير مسبوق في دقته ويجعلها تذكاراً للأجيال القادمة. ومع ذلك، لا يدعو الواعظ المسيحي إلى الحفاظ الطوعي على المعالم، لكن خطابه يوضح كيف يمكن استثمار المباني المدمرة في هذه الفترة من التحول الديني من اجل معاني جديدة جذرية.
Relations between Jewish and Christian communities in Late Antiquity involved interactions relating to a complex cultural and religious landscape. An intrinsic aspect of the exchange between Jews and ...Christians refers to attitudes towards pagan communities in their shared environment as a common discourse pertaining to a symbolic construction of the Other. More specifically, a persisting topos was the implication of pagan communities and their respective religious specialists in illicit magical practices including necromancy. In the following, a discussion of testimonies regarding variants of necromantic practices in ancient, rabbinic and Christian sources will explore the dissemination and special characteristics of the different necromantic accounts in Late Antiquity and contextualise this peculiar practice of a divinatory talking head as evidenced in contemporary Jewish and Christian traditions.
A continuación se presentan los resultados relativos a las tumbas con individuos no-adultos halladas en tres necrópolis del yacimiento de Humanejos (Parla, Madrid): la más antigua datada en época ...tardoantigua, otra medieval islámica y una tercera bajomedieval cristiana. La cronología abarca aproximadamente desde la segunda mitad del siglo VI hasta el siglo XVI. Se han excavado un total de 121 estructuras funerarias que contenían los restos de 154 individuos de los cuales 36 eran no-adultos. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las tumbas infantiles desde una perspectiva arqueológica y bioantropológica, para conocer cuáles eran las prácticas funerarias hacia este grupo social, así como observar las posibles diferencias existentes entre ambos ritos. _____________________________________________ Graves containing non-adult individuals found in the Late Antiquity and Late Medieval cemeteries of Humanejos (Parla, Madrid) are presented (VIth-16th centuries A.D.). On this graveyard 121 funerary structures belonging to both Muslim and Christian rites were excavated. An exhaustive anthropological report of 154 individuals has been made, 36 of which which were children from all age groups. The aim of this paper was to analyse the non-adult burials from an archaeological and bioanthropological perspective in order to determine the funerary patterns among this social group, as well as to observe potential differences between non-adults and adults in both religious rites and periods. Some of the archaeological variables used in this research were the type of structure, the position and orientation of the bodies or the presence or absence of grave-goods, which have been combined with anthropological variables such us the age at death or the paleo-pathological characteristics of the population. As a result, no big differences in the funerary treatment have been detected between adults and non-adults of both rites and their graves appear mixed throughout the necropolis. Some differences can be however identified among children given that new-borns are extremely scarce in both periods, what would possibly indicate a differential funerary treatment towards them. Certain diversity has also been detected in Christian graves of both periods since children individual tombs are proportionally more abundant in Late Antiquity than in Medieval times. In any case, there is no doubt that non-adults are a crucial part of every society and that the funerary record is one of the best scenario to understand the social role that boys and girls would have in their communities. Indeed the funerary treatment that they received is a true reflection of social consideration and at the same time shows eventual differences that would exist between them.
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