British School at Rome

Abstract This chapter sets the scene for the relationship between Martial’s epigrams and epitaphs, which the monograph envisages as one of osmosis and permeability. Taking its cue from epigram 2.6, where Martial explicitly compares his fickle reader to an exhausted traveller, the chapter compares the reading of a book of epigrams to the common epitaphic situation of a traveller who might pause to read an inscription on a tomb and then walk on. Informed by reader-reception theories, the chapter elucidates common aims of epigrams and inscribed poems in imagining their own survival. It explores the topos of the lassus viator found in funerary inscriptions. The intertextual relationship between epigrams and epitaphs demonstrates how Martial’s ironically self-deprecating remarks, which parody the reader’s boredom, find a key precursor in verse epitaphs. Intertextuality between stone and book epigrams enlightens the satirical nature of the literary puns embedded in epigraphic poetic texts, which, while asking for the traveller to rest, often mock them with reminders of their own mortality. The constructs of the studiosus lector (1.1) and lassus viator (2.6) demonstrate the existence of similar paradoxes in the reception of and ironic attacks upon readers both within Martial’s Epigrams and epitaphic poetry. A close comparative analysis of epigrams and metrical epitaphs moves away from notions of directionality and hierarchies of influence, suggesting instead how epigrams and verse inscriptions display interconnected conceptualizations of authorship and plagiarism, and a developed interest in a paradoxical conception of (poetic) monumentality.

Horses have inhabited Iberia (present-day Spain and Portugal) since the Middle Pleistocene, shaping a complex history in the region. Iberia has been proposed as a potential domestication centre and is renowned for producing world-class bloodlines. Here, we generate genome-wide sequence data from 87 ancient horse specimens (median coverage = 0.97X) from Iberia and the broader Mediterranean to reconstruct their genetic history over the last ~26,000 years. Here, we report that wild horses of the divergent IBE lineage inhabited Iberia from the Late Pleistocene, while domesticated DOM2 horses, native from the Pontic-Caspian steppes, already arrived ~1850 BCE. Admixture dating suggests breeding practices involving continued wild restocking until at least ~350 BCE, with IBE disappearing shortly after. Patterns of genetic affinity highlight the far-reaching influence of Iberian bloodlines across Europe and north Africa during the Iron Age and Antiquity, with continued impact extending thereafter, particularly during the colonization of the Americas.

Technology advances have touched all the fields of human life, and the educational system is not an exception. Students in Nigerian universities experience challenges in their early or later stages of school due to a lack of a knowledge-based support system. This results in massive failure and confusion in later days in school. A knowledge-based online support system has been developed and implemented in this paper to improve academic support services for students and faculty members in the university. The need for such a support system stems from the various academic problems that the students often experience, including a lack of answers to certain questions, which can result in academic failure, taking too long to graduate, or dropping out of the university altogether. The system is web-based; therefore, users can access the necessary information when needed, and, in most cases, it solves common academic issues in a short time using the web. Following the Agile software development methodology and employing a client-server architecture, the system was designed in a user-friendly and efficient manner. Highlights of the system include an extensive database of FAQs, real-time interactive services, and multi-typed query handling. Testing phases were performed and integrated, and modular testing showed that the system worked as intended, providing valid inputs and also flagging any invalid inputs without causing the system failures, and performing provisions for user corrections. The results suggest that the online support system could enhance the academic environment at AE-FUNAI and therefore would benefit students and staff members alike. Nevertheless, certain limitations still prevail, such as poor internet access, which calls for constant enhancement and provision of support to the system.

This article analyses a case study that integrates green skills education into Master’s programs, focusing on green transition education and developing skills and professionals in sustainability. Data from the study demonstrate the positive impact of green skills education on participants. The results provide insights for curriculum design, pedagogical approaches, and institutional policies to empower students with the necessary skills to address environmental challenges. The research also emphasises the positive impact of training on green skills. The implications of this research extend well beyond academia, as developing green skills is crucial for individuals wishing to contribute to the environmental transition and promote sustainability in their future careers. Competenze green e formazione nei Master: un caso applicato. Questo articolo presenta un caso di studio applicato nell’ambito della formazione in materia di competenze green nei programmi di formazione universitaria superiore, con un focus sull’educazione alla transizione verde al fine di sviluppare competenze specifiche per i professionisti che operano a favore della sostenibilità. I risultati forniscono indicazioni per la progettazione di curricula, approcci pedagogici e politiche istituzionali per dotare gli studenti delle competenze necessarie per affrontare le sfide ambientali. la ricerca evidenzia anche l’impatto positivo della formazione sulle competenze verdi. Le applicazioni di questa ricerca vanno ben oltre il mondo accademico, in quanto lo sviluppo di competenze green è fondamentale per coloro che aspirano a contribuire alla transizione ambientale e a promuove la sostenibilità nelle loro carriere future.

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