A writer’s guide to Ancient Rome

The article substantiates: the ancient Greek reciprocal (tax) law and the ancient Roman redistributive one are paradigmatic opposite phenomena. They have nothing in common but some external formal features. The ancient Greek reciprocal law was that of the citizens of the ancient Greek polises. The ancient Roman redistributive law was the law of the ancient Roman Empire as a substantial state. The most fundamental among the causes of paradigmatic distinction between the ancient Greek reciprocal law and the ancient Roman redistributive law became the late-Antique mental, in particular, and the worldview on the whole, revolution in the ancient Roman imperial society and its legal thinking compared to the ancient Greek polis mentality and consciousness. As a result of that revolution the ancient Greek polis tradition discontinued and the ancient Roman, imperical tradition arrived. It became one of the most fundamental milestones in the evolution of human societies, states and law. The idea, dominant till nowadays in the minds of the most scientists, of the organic unity and direct continuity of Hellenism and Romanizm, of the existence of a unified ancient civilization is not more than a myth, a methodological error. The roots of this myth dates back to great antiquity and are simultaneously (but at different times in varying proportions) both, the consequence of incredible complexities of the process of sociogenesis, politogenesis, genesis of the state, anthropogenesis, genesis of law and other, regular and random evolutionary changes, and ordinary human, including cognitive, errors, and to some extent the result of a profound, precily considered and handled in a masterly way disinformation. This myth is so enduring that even today it is still practically impossible to predict, more or less reasonably, the time of its collapse. By virtue of that, everybody has to consider it while seeking to cognize the Antiquity and, through it, to learn the modernity.   Keywords: the ancient Greek reciprocal law; the ancient Roman redistributive law; the ancient Greek human-centered mentality; the ancient Roman state-centered mentality; late-Antique worldview revolution. https://doi.org/10.31861/ehrlichsjournal2017.01.013

Southern and southeastern Spain has experienced an outstanding coastal landscape change since the middle Holocene, when most of the lower reaches of fluvial valleys were drowned by the mid-Holocene sea level highstand. Since then, many of the main rivers have seen how their mouths evolved from open estuaries discharging into wide embayments to broad wetlands isolated from the open sea by the growths of spit bar systems.The silting up of these estuaries led to the development of flat lowland areas where geological processes such as floodings, earthquakes and tsunamis affected historic and prehistoric coastal settlements inducing severe landscape changes, that triggered abrupt abandonments of sites and important population changes. Multiple geoarchaeological data support this complex interaction among coastal changes and ancient populations from at least Late Bronze times including Phoenician and Roman settlements in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Iberian littorals.Good examples of this evolution are, among many others, the present marshlands at the Guadalquivir (Atlantic) and Segura (Mediterranean) river mouths. Historical descriptions show that during roman times (1st century BCE) the present Guadalquivir marshland (Doñana National Park) was an ancient embayment (Lacus Ligustinus) that was progressively closed by the growth of large spit-bars since roman times. Geological and historical data indicate the occurrence of several islets downstream Sevilla and the initial filling of the ancient bay by a prograding delta-like environment. A severe tsunami event (218-90 BCE) reshaped the geometry of the littoral spit bar system inducing important coastal changes and site abandonments. Progressive growth of the closing spit bars, and coeval fluvial dynamics accelerated by the strong deforestation suffered in Spain in the 19th century, caused the continuous infilling of these embayments.The evolution of the coastal landscape at the Segura River mouth (Lower Segura Depression) is quite similar, with a Segura River mouth evolving from a mid-Holocene estuary to a delta environment that grew into a broad brackish lagoon isolated from the open sea by spit bar systems (Sinus Ilicitanus) during Phoenician to Roman times. This lagoon environment persisted till the dawn of the 17th century CE when it was anthropically infilled for the agricultural improvement of the zone. These reclaimed lowlands suffered destructive earthquakes during Phoenician, Roman, Muslim and modern times. The first documented event affected a littoral Phoenician settlement (7th century BCE) and the last destructive one was the 1829 AD Torrevieja earthquake with multiple liquefaction cases inland and coastal uplift of centimetric scale (10-15 cm). Both events have triggered the destruction, abandonment and relocation of several localities.In both cases, these lowland coastal areas have been recurrently affected by severe flash-flood events, storm-surges, tsunamis and large earthquakes. The massive urbanization and tourism improvement of these zones, before modern practices of land planning and management, imprint to these coastal zones an important multi-hazard nature to be considered by policy makers for future land-use planning.Acknowledgements: This is a contribution to IAG Working Group on Coastal Geoarchaeology; supported by the Spanish Research Project I+D+i PID2021-123510OB-I00 (QTECIBERIA-USAL) funded by the MICIN AEI/10.13039/501100011033/.

The research analyses the historical evolution of the water supply systems of the city of Benevento (southern Italy) during centuries. We focused on three main historical periods, namely the Roman, Lombard and Papal times, and the recent-present times. During this long historical time, the water supply amount and quality have changed many times, and this has probably affected the well-being and growth of the city. The best water quality characterized the Roman times, when large karst springs were tapped, feeding the town for centuries. In this period, the town experienced the largest population expansion. On the other hand, the most depressed period was the Papal times, coinciding with the isolation of the city, as it was an enclave of the Pontifical State. During this period, the water supply from external sources was not guaranteed and therefore it primarily derived from the local, low-quality water resources. Only after the unification of Italy, and also after the Second World War, the water supply systems have been improved, and new aqueducts have brought again high-quality waters to Benevento coming from karst aquifers. Nowadays, the drinking water management of Benevento is still a matter of debate. In the near future, the water from a dam-reservoir (Campolattaro dam, Tammaro River) will be exploited to guarantee the water needs of the city, and water-supply systems will undergo further changes . The knowledge about the historical evolution of the water supply of Benevento represents an essential requirement for consciously analyzing the future planning and management of water resources.

The article analyzes approaches to understanding the essence of technological culture and the patterns of its development from the methodological positions of the design culture and the theory of selforganization. The phenomenon of technological culture is studied in the unity of the conceptual, praxeological and organizational aspects. The process of formation and development of technological culture is cyclical. Cyclicity is appearing in the periodic reiteration of the stages of cultural reproduction and cultural variability. The study gives a description of the three-phase structure of the cultural cycle, taking into account the role of self-organization processes at each formative stage. At the first formative stage the specificity of the self-organization mechanism is reduced to the formation of rigid links (structures) that measure and fasten images, signs and objects that are useful for the cultural formation. At the second stage a fundamental livelihood of the developing object as a whole is created. Usually this is a fundamental principle that sets coherence, synchronization of processes in a sociocultural system. At the third stage the processes of self-organization provide a livelihood for the components of the object which leads to the achievement of morphological and axiological integrity and uniqueness of the object, the system enters into symbiotic relationships with objects of another type, completes development and prepares the transition to a new three-part cycle of shaping. The article deals with the first historical cycle of formation and development of technological culture: "Hellenism – Ancient Rome – Byzantium". Each phase of the cultural cycle is characterized by the originality of subject, target and organizational factors. In future the undertaken research will reveal the features of technological culture on its modern "digital" stage basing on the logic of cyclic patterns developed within the framework of the proposed methodology.

Education in Ancient Rome - Stanley F. Bonner: Education in Ancient Rome: From the elder Cato to the younger Pliny. Pp. viii + 404; 25 illustrations. Methuen: London, 1977. Cloth, £9·50. - Volume 29 Issue 1

The purpose of the article is the introduction into the cultural discourse of analytically processed and summarized information on the genesis and evolution of chariot racing as the form of entertainment events in ancient Rome, their functional features, specific features of mass events of Antiquity in the context of entertainment culture of Rome. The methodological basis consisted of the methods of critical analysis of cultural, historical, and literary sources, specific and historical analysis, and interdisciplinary synthesis, induction, and deduction. The problematic and chronological, system and structural, comparative, descriptive methods and methods of social and phenomenological analysis were applied from specific and scientific methods. Scientific novelty. The article analyzes the genesis and evolution of chariot racing as a form of events in the context of entertainment culture in ancient Rome. Based on the ancient literary reflection, through the prism of works of culturologists, philosophers, historians, poets, writers of the ancient Rome Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, annals of Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Cassius Dio, ethic works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, letters of Gaius Pliny the Younger, poetry pages of Publius Ovidius Naso, epigrams of Marcus Valerius Martialis and others. The author revealed the essence and content of chariot racing as an entertainment form of events in ancient Rome, statistics, and specific features of entertainment events and instruments of ruling the Roman emperors. The author describes the moral aspects of chariot racing in the context of the entertainment culture of antiquity. Conclusions. The place of entertainment culture of Antiquity in the system of cultural knowledge and cultural tradition of their social universe is revealed. The transformations of chariot racing as a social and humanitarian experience of ancient society, the political instrument of government in Rome are explored. The role of entertainment of Antiquity for modern cultural practices is established.

Relevance. The relevance of this study is determined by its examination of the dramatic poem «Orgy» through a historical-receptive lens. This approach allows for the identification of the mechanisms behind the author’s interpretation of the historical period and the tracing of the specifics of the reception of Antiquity within the text. Aim. The aim of the article is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the dramatic poem «Orgy» by the Ukrainian writer and poet Lesia Ukrainka, utilizing the methodological framework of classical reception studies. It also seeks to identify the mechanisms and reveal the role of these historical borrowings in the context of the author’s vision of Antiquity as a whole, and specifically the Greco-Roman relations from the military conquest of Hellas to the era of the Second Sophistic (2nd century BC – 2nd century AD). Methodology. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism and objectivity, characterized by an interdisciplinary approach. The theoretical and methodological framework relies on the principles of receptive aesthetics and the concepts of classical reception studies. The study also employs analytical, hermeneutic, and comparative-historical methods. Results. The study establishes that the specificity of the author’s interpretation of historical events, against which the main plot unfolds, lies in chronological hybridization – combining two temporal spaces to provide a deeper elucidation of Greco-Roman relations. It was found that the historical narrative in the work functions as a «safe distance» for constructing analogies between the past and the present. The history and specifics of the perception of Greek culture in the ancient world (from the 2nd century BC to the Second Sophistic period in the 2nd century AD) are examined. It is revealed that the reception of Greek culture by ancient Rome, as described in the text, is based on the principles of selectivity and pragmatism, utilized for cultural appropriation to achieve the political self-determination of the Roman elite and the legitimization of power by the Antonine dynasty emperors. The evolution of the concept of «orgy» in a historical context is analyzed: from a sacred ritual associated with the cult of Dionysus to its interpretation by the recipient – ancient Rome. It is established that throughout the plotline, there is a shift in semantic accents regarding the primary definition of the concept of «orgy», which indicates the conflict of Greek and Roman identities depicted in the work. Conclusions. The obtained results indicate that applying the methodology of classical reception allowed for a holistic disclosure of the mechanisms of assimilation and interpretation of ancient history in Lesia Ukrainka’s dramatic poem «Orgy». The study emphasizes that the author appeals to universal problems, actualizing the issue of Greco-Roman relations during Antiquity (2nd century BC – 2nd century AD) as a model of interaction between dominant and subjugated nations. The semantic transformation of the concept of «orgy» serves as a key marker demonstrating the specifics of the Roman reception of Greek culture. The proposed approach opens prospects for further studies of Antiquity in the context of classical reception within the writer’s creative heritage.

Reviewed by: Ancient Rome in Early Opera Peter G. McC. Brown Robert C. Ketterer. Ancient Rome in Early Opera. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009. Pp. xi, 253. $40.00. ISBN 978-0-252-03378-0. This is an exceptionally intelligent and well-informed book on a topic of some importance for the reception of classical antiquity in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a period rich in operas based on Roman history. In an introductory chapter, Ketterer traces with admirable lucidity not only the main outlines of ancient history from Alexander to Hadrian but also the intellectual, social, and political movements that both led to the establishment of opera as a genre and influenced the first two centuries of its development; he ends this chapter with some basic facts about the circulation of librettos and the evolution of performance practices in the period studied. In the following eight chapters he discusses a representative sample of operas from 1643 to 1797, mainly to do with Scipio Africanus the Elder, Julius Caesar, Cato the Younger, Nero, and Titus, elucidating above all the development and interconnectedness of two themes, "the myth of the clement prince" and "the myth of liberty." All these works used Italian librettos, and Ketterer's approach is "essentially literary" (20), a study above all of the libretto texts, though he has pertinent things to say about their musical settings at many points. He provides translations, generally his own, of the passages discussed, quoting the original text in his endnotes or in the appendix of "Passages from unpublished Italian sources." The works discussed are The Coronation of Poppaea (Busenello and Monteverdi, 1643); Scipio Africanus (Minato and Cavalli, 1665); Agrippina (Grimani and Handel, 1709–1710) and Otto in his Villa (Lalli and Vivaldi, 1713); Zeno's libretto for Scipio in Spain (1710); Julius Caesar in Egypt (Haym and Handel, 1724) and Cato in Utica (Metastasio and Vivaldi, 1737); Corradi's libretto for Germanicus on the Rhine (1676), the anonymous libretto written for Arminius in London in 1714, and the Arminius of Salvi and Handel (1737); Metastasio's libretto for The Clemency of Titus (1734) and the Julius Sabinus of Giovannini and Sarti (1783); and finally (under the title "The Revolution and the End of a Myth") Mazzolà and Mozart's version of The Clemency of Titus (1791), Salfi's libretto for The Pisonian Conspiracy (1797), and The Horatii and the Curiatii (Sografi and Cimarosa, 1797). The arrangement is largely diachronic, but works have been grouped together so as to bring out thematic points in the development of the genre. In each chapter we are given a summary of the historical (or quasi-historical) events underlying the drama and of the historical context within which the librettos were written. Nor is the literary context neglected: Addison's Cato is given due prominence in the chapter on Julius Caesar and Cato, for example. Themes of republicanism and resistance to tyranny are shown to have different resonances in different contexts, and the myth of the clement prince (an almost inevitable ingredient of works written for royal courts) is seen gradually to give way to the myth of liberty. But the example of Nero in particular had shown from the start that princes were not always clement, and some "happy endings" had rung quite hollow long before they ceased to be required by convention. Ketterer's rich analyses enable us to follow [End Page 120] the fortunes of these themes and to tease out the often subtle relationships between the events on stage and in life at the ruling courts of the day. He also analyzes, for instance, Platonic, Ovidian, and Stoic elements in The Coronation of Poppaea; and Ovidian and Stoic elements in Scipio Africanus. There are many comic elements to examine, too, particularly in the earlier operas discussed, though Ketterer's final remark, that "Plautus and Terence, not Sophocles and Aristotle, were the real fathers of dramma per musica" comes as a bit of a surprise as the conclusion to this book: if it is a trailer for his next, I look forward eagerly to that. Peter G. McC. Brown Trinity College, University of Oxford Classical World 104.1 (2010) Copyright...

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Ancient Roman Thinkers About Politics, Power, the State

The aim of the research: to identify changes in the nature of relationship between mythological, religious and social aspects in the sphere of agonistics in Ancient Greece in the Roman Era. Methods and research: Analysis of literature and written sources on the history of ancient agonistics. The result of the study is the determination of the specific traits of agonal traditions of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The article explores the sacral and secular aspects of the traditions and rules of antique agon. The Author shows a change in their ratio in Ancient Greece in the Roman Era. The paper focuses on the process of transformation of the sacral and secular content of agonistics and a variety of agon in Ancient Greece in the Roman Era, which is characterized by the clash of Hellenic and Roman agonal traditions. One of the most significant phenomena in the ideological life of that period was the cult of the Emperor, which was the official political religion of the Roman Empire. The Emperor’s cult with agon as one of the rituals became widespread in the western and eastern provinces including Greece. Greece had the status of "Achaea Roman Province" at that time. The Author describes the events that took place in Olympia and other religious centers of Ancient Greece at that time. Conclusion: Agonist features of the period were determined by changing the ratio of religious and social components of agonistics and transforming agony as a religious ritual into a spectacle that was widely used for political purposes.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the transformation of European consciousness attitude to sensuality by means of European graphic arts of 17th–18th centuries. The perception of Ancient Greek and Roman mythological stories as moral emblems was an integral part of the inheritance that the Renaissance had left to the baroque consciousness. Myths were perceived within the framework of the cause-and-effect relation of sin and punishment. Any feeling was considered as an instrument of complying with the moral devoir or as a temptation to slide into sin. An euhemeristic approach to Ancient Greek and Roman mythology became very popular at beginning of 18th century. The popularity of this approach was connected to the rationalism of 17th century. Moreover, the euhemeristic approach and rococo style were two unseparable parts of one conception in a number of illustrated books. At that time, self-commenting of the image became symbolic, not moral. The works by G. Vico, J. Winkelmann and French Enlighteners gradually were preparing a radical change in the perception of the Ancient Greek and Roman mythology as an embodiment of human feelings. Antiquity began to be understood as the Other, with its own internal laws of existence. This change was reflected in the stylistics of the graphics and in the glorification of feelings. The main emphasis was moved from the inner purity of the characters to the plot of the illustrated myth. The emblematic approach to the Ancient Greek and Roman mythology disappeared almost completely after the end of French Revolution and the mythology gradually was becoming the object of professional studying. Ethics and human nature merge in a harmonizing synthesis of early Romanticism.

Intoxication in the Ancient Greek and Roman World considers the psychotropic plants used in the ancient world and ancient attitudes towards intoxication. Alan Sumler surveys primary Greek and Roman sources for noteworthy mentions of ancient intoxicants like hellebore, mandrake, deadly nightshade, thorn apple, opium poppy, cannabis, wine, and other substances and reveals how psychoactive drugs were used in ancient Greek and Roman religion, medicine, magic, artistic inspiration, and recreation. Interpreted through the lens of modern-day scholarship from Classics, philosophy, and ethnobotany, the primary sources illuminate how commonplace psychotropic plants and drugs were in the ancient Greek and Roman world and—given different contexts for psychotropic drug usage—what attitudes these societies held about the appropriateness of intoxication.

Roman law is one of the foundations of modern law. However, today the issue of personal non-property and property relations between parents and children of ancient Rome remains poorly understood. This determines the relevance of the research. The aim of the article is to study the non-property and property relations between parents and children of ancient Rome. The methodological basis of the research was the dialectical method of scientific knowledge, general scientific (formal-logical, methods of analysis and synthesis, method of observation and comparative method) and special-legal method (formal-legal). The article analyses a number of scientific works of Ukrainian and foreign scholars on non-property and property relations between parents and children of ancient Rome. It was found that the status of children as participants in property and non-property relations between children and parents in ancient Rome was directly dependent on the status of parents. In particular, it was illustrated that the status of children born in concubinage and children born in marriage was different. It is substantiated that the mother and father had somewhat different rights in the context of caring for and raising children together. It was established that in the families of that time the power of its head was introduced not only over the children born in the family, but also over the persons whose will was included in the family as its free members by the will of the householder. At the same time, under the paternal authority was not only the property of children, but also their lives. At the same time, it was found that the content of personal non-property and property relations of parents and children in ancient Rome changed for the most part during the period of Roman private law, which under the influence of different circumstances and during the reign of different rulers. The presented data can serve as a guide for Ukrainian and foreign scholars in the process of further research in this field in Ukraine and around the world

(2000). Gestures and Acclamations in Ancient Rome. History: Reviews of New Books: Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 86-87.