Sicily, 478-431b.c.

This article deals with the lacquer traditions of the late Warring States period as seen in the Qin and Chu kingdoms and in relation to recent discoveries from Sichuan. Qin lacquer working techniques and style are different from those of Chu, which are evidenced by hundreds of objects. By contrast, due to poor conditions of preservation, Qin lacquer craftsmanship can only be known through very few objects, some of which show a strong influence from nomadic art. During the late fourth and early third century BC, Sichuan appears to have been a key region in the development of the lacquer art of Qin. Several Qin lacquers have marks either stamped on the core before the application of lacquer or incised with a needle on the lacquer surface. They confirm that the lacquer workshops operated under the control of the state administration. Until the destruction of the Chu capital in 278 bc, the Chu lacquer tradition in the Jiangling area had a more diverse range of shapes than Qin. However, the techniques used to make the cores were less sophisticated than in Qin, except in the case of luxury objects. Only a small number of Chu lacquer pieces have marks. At the same time, the comparisons show that both traditions exerted a mutual influence on each other to some extent until the early third century bc. Thereafter, Qin seems to have dominated the production of lacquer, even in the area that was in earlier times the core of the Chu kingdom, in present-day Hubei and Hunan. Most of the lacquers found in Changsha tombs of the third century bc that have been traditionally considered as Chu products were in fact produced in workshops working in a Qin cultural environment.

This paper discusses continuity between ancient Pythagoreanism and the pseudo-Pythagorean writings, which began to appear after the end of the Pythagorean school ca. 350 BC. Relying on a combination of temporal, formal and substantial criteria, I dividePseudopythagoricainto three categories: 1) early Hellenistic writings (late fourth – late second centuries BC) ascribed to Pythagoras and his family members; 2) philosophical treatises written mostly, yet not exclusively, in pseudo-Doric from the turn of the first century BC under the names of real or fictional Pythagoreans; 3) writings attributed to Pythagoras and his relatives that continued to appear in the late Hellenistic and Imperial periods. I will argue that all three categories of pseudepigrapha contain astonishingly little that is authentically Pythagorean.

This article challenges the prevailing opinion that the inhabitants of Gallia Transalpina were largely unaffected by Roman hegemony in the late second and early first centuries BC. The monumental development of the site of Glanum in the late second century BC shows clearly that the local elite were reacting to, and interacting with, their Roman conquerors. This relationship is not immediately obvious because the style of the architecture dating to the second century bc is described as Hellenistic rather than Roman. However, I argue that this incongruity should not affect the perception of change in the area. Given the current emphasis in the scholarly literature on the participation of local elites in the process of culture change, what matters is not whether the monuments are 'Hellenistic' or 'Roman', but rather the motivation and timing of their production.

This chapter examines Seleukid–Attalid relations in the long third century bc. From early on, the Attalid rulers acted independently inside and outside their sphere of influence, while at the same time performing in a distinct Seleukid space as Seleukid power holders. Despite occasional conflicts and the emergence of the Attalids as kings, this relationship of dependence was re-affirmed throughout the period until the early years of Eumenes II, when the young king gambled on losing his Seleukid superstructure and joined a new player in Asia Minor: Rome. A second phase of Seleukid–Attalid interaction was initiated with Eumenes II's support of Antiochos IV's claims to his father's kingship — a phase which would influence both kingdoms' politics until the late second century bc.

This article presents the interim results of the Karakalpak-Australian excavations for the years 2001–2005 at the site of Kazakl'i-yatkan in north-western Uzbekistan. Data is presented on the construction and absolute chronology of the fortifications and an architectural survey of contemporary standing monuments in the region. Kazakl'i- yatkan was a major site in the delta of the Amu-dar'ya and was possibly at one time a regional capital. A series of C14 dates has shown that the site was established around the late third century BC and abandoned probably at some time in the second century AD. The regularity of the fortifications suggests a planned layout, but their efficacy was seriously hampered by inefficient design. The site suffered a major siege in the first century BC, but subsequently recovered and the fortifications were repaired. The identity of the attackers is as yet undetermined.

Entrusting the passage of souls on the other side of Acheron, people places in the ancient tombs a donation for the “ferryman” and a funeral wealth that could somehow serve the deceased in his eternal abode in Hades. Among the most common, as well as pottery, can be found anthropomorphic and zoomorphic clay statuettes, linked by a direct thread to the sphere of the divine. In this paper, we want to pay attention on the small Akrai, sub-colony of Syracuse, where since its founding in the second quarter of the 7th century BC, the religious life of its inhabitants in pursuit of peace, under the watchful eye and detached of the Olympian pantheon, was focused to make benevolent the souls of the dead or to exorcise the evil forces that in the mouth of poets, had taken the monstrous form notes in mythology. The phenomenon of the heroic cult in Akrai had found, especially in the Hellenistic age, a not indifferent political support, in the person of Hiero II, king of Syracuse. The stone quarry (latomeion) on the south-eastern of Acremonte, already active in the late 6th century BC, changes destination towards the end of Agathocles’s kingdom (4th century BC), when we assist its transformation into a worship place whose evidence has also inspired the scholarly name “Templi Ferali”, perhaps attributable to Paolo Orsi. Some materials, finally, from the Judica Collection and from stores of the Archaeological Museum in Syracuse, allow us to glimpse the divine and monstrous forms who, as glimmers of light in the darkness that still reigns on our knowledge of the religious sense and beliefs of Siceliotes, accompanied the earthly journey of the Acrenses. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v4n1p479

This chapter explores the archaeological record left by the coloniality of power on the islands of the Muni estuary in Equatorial Guinea between the late eighteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. From 1777, this tiny country in west-central Africa was nominally a Spanish colony, but it was not truly colonized until the 1880s. However, colonial interactions developed between different European agents and Africans since the late fifteenth century. The region provides, therefore, a good example of both the work of coloniality before colonies and the irruption of colonial capitalism in Africa. Between 2009 and 2012, we explored the rich archaeological record of the Muni, covering a period between the late first century BC and the present. Here we focus on the material evidence of coloniality, for which we focus on five categories of things: bodies, houses, wares, social drugs, and the construction of the Spanish colonial landscape. Through these material elements we will examine two main issues: (1) the transformation of the Benga under a regime of coloniality that implied a downward trajectory from an African bourgeois class to colonial pariahs and (2) the nature of the second wave of Spanish colonialism, oscillating between a faulty modernity and a failed iteration of the imperial spirit of the sixteenth century.

To understand how policy is made, one must understand not only the individuals who make the decisions, but also the role of bureaucratic politics and the goals of the institutions themselves. Graham Allison’s classic Essence of Decision created the bureaucratic politics model and was the catalyst for a rich research agenda on decision-making. Using Allison as a starting point, researchers have expanded the understanding of the role of bureaucracies in deliberation and decision-making, particularly during times of crisis. Typically, institutions fill the day-to-day “politics as usual” role of decision-making, but their actions during crisis, by definition an abnormal event, allow bureaucracies to pursue their own objectives by way of a new opportunity to exert influence and to reshape the power structure of the political landscape. The research agenda on individuals and decision-making has also made great strides since the 1970s and helps to illuminate when the bureaucratic politics model has great explanatory power and when it is less useful. The level of influence bureaucracies have is dependent upon where they sit within the system and how they are utilized by the executive branch of government. Leaders, such as the President of the United States, hold a significant amount of power, and the ways in which they hold onto power, or allocate it to other actors, which is a function of their leadership style, can either empower or disempower bureaucracies. In other words, the importance of bureaucracies connected to the executive branch of government fluctuates with an individual’s personality characteristics and leadership style. Specifically, a leader’s personal need for power, their expertise, and their personal interest in policymaking, as well as their cognitive complexity, the amount of differing information they want and are capable of cognitively processing, influence the way in which the leader will delegate decision-making. Leaders like Lyndon B. Johnson relied heavily upon expert advisers and allocated decision-making to lower-level agencies. Alternatively, some leaders (e.g., Richard Nixon) have experience, particularly in foreign policy, and believe they are their own expert adviser; thus, they are involved in nuanced decision-making and rely upon only a very small number of advisers (in Nixon’s case, just Henry Kissinger). A common normative criticism of bureaucratic politics, and group decision-making in general, is the collective cognitive conformity, commonly known as groupthink. The general assumption is that individuals within a group will seek conformity and avoid the conflict caused by raising alternatives during policy deliberation. However, bureaucratic politics mitigates groupthink by bringing in a greater number of actors with differing goals and perspectives, making deliberation more open. Again, this is significantly influenced by how the leader utilizes advisers and their respective bureaucracies. Where Kennedy was very open-minded and actively sought various perspectives during the Cuban missile crisis, George W. Bush created an insulated decision-making environment after 9/11 and leading up to the invasion of Iraq. As society continues to change, particularly with regard to reliance upon technological adaptations, such as nuclear energy, new crises will occur. These crises will require the cooperation of more bureaucracies and occasionally new bureaucracies. Through these crises, bureaucracies will compete for political influence, and the power structure of the political landscape will inevitably change and affect policy decision-making.

The Urartian Kingdom, as is well known, played a major power role on the stage of history in eastern Anatolia in the second half of the ninth century BC and remained powerful until the second half of the seventh century BC. With their highly advanced architectural traditions and organised state structure, the Urartians take their place among the most exciting civilisations of the first half of the first millennium BC in the Near East.Extensive detailed research and publication has been carried out on Urartian civilisation for over a hundred years, but the origin and dynamics of the development of this civilisation are still obscure. The Assyrian annals, which start from the 13th century BC, are at present the only source for understanding the early periods. These records were intended as propaganda and their accuracy is in many instances thus questionable.

Non-destructive Raman spectroscopic analysis of two red-pigmented fresco fragments from the Palace of King Herod the Great (late first century BC) at Jericho has provided some novel information about the source of the pigment and its application to the fresco plaster. The pigment is unadulterated cinnabar which closely resembles a mineral source from Tarna in Spain. The pigment actually consists of two layers, the lower one being of a lighter colour which was obtained using calcite dust, and there is a suggestion of remains of an organic wax or oil binder in this layer to provide better adhesion for the bright-red pigment superimposed layer. No trace of gypsum was found in the fresco substrate. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This chapter discusses the sieges of cities, wanton plunder, and massacres in the period of the Peloponnesian War, which contributed more misery to the Greeks than all previous wars and saw an increase in the number of cities taken and Greeks killed or exiled. It can often be seen in Greek siege warfare that a city surrendered after internal ideological strife brought about a betrayal of the town. The Greeks experienced a dramatic rise in the number of sieges during the Peloponnesian War, but sieges and the atrocities that often accompanied them were experienced by Greek poleis before the Peloponnesian War and long before the late fifth century BC. They made assaults on cities throughout the Peloponnesian War.

Through the examination of direct and indirect epigraphic sources, this article traces the history of the site of Ḥalzaw (Ḥlzwm), located in the wādī Lajiya, from its origins in the 7th century BC until its latest references in the 4th century AD. The textual corpus from Ḥalzaw is comprised of seven major inscriptions (four votive inscriptions and three fragmentary construction texts), plus twenty-five funerary objects. These epigraphs mention the name of the city (Ḥlzwm), its tribe (ḏ-Ḥlzwm), god (Bs2mm), and the main local clan (B‘gm). Four new inscriptions dating from the late 1st century BC - 1st century AD are published in this study; two important inscriptions that were already known, such as CSAI II, 14 = RES 4336, and UAM 327 are also re-examined here. Throughout its history, the control of Ḥalzaw was disputed between various regional powers and belonged to different realms (first Qatabān , and, from the end of the 1st century BC, Radmān). These historical events are reflected in the local inscriptions, which were first written in Qatabanic and afterwards in a mixture of Qatabanic and Sabaic elements. The study also shows that the same historical and linguistic dynamics observed in the sources from Ḥalzaw also occurred in wādī Markha as well as in the regions of Radmān and Ḥaṣī, namely in all the areas situated south and south-east of Qatabān, areas that were under the rule of this kingdom before they became independent.

Small-scale rescue excavations at Llwyn Bryn-dinas hillfort, on the Welsh Borderland, showed that the earliest fortification belonged to the late Bronze Age, with radiocarbon dates in the late 9th and 8th centuries be. A terrace, subsequently cut into the rear of the rampart to accommodate a metal-working floor, was associated with a radiocarbon date centred in the late 3rd century bc. Detailed analysis of the metal-working debris suggests that copper-alloy casting, iron forging and possibly bronze production were carried out within a single workshop. The finds include a distinctive form of handled crucible. The industry appears to have been fairly small-scale, of short duration, and probably only designed to meet the internal needs of the hillfort population. The excavation adds significantly to the local evidence for metal-working during the later prehistoric period. A distinctive zinc-impurity pattern in the copper alloy and raw copper, previously identified in material from other sites nearby, confirms the suggestion of an Iron Age bronze-working industry based on a specific metal source in the north Powys area. In addition, analysis of the iron-working debris suggests the exploitation of a distinctive local ore body. The metal-working activity appears to have come to an abrupt end, possibly with the enlargement or local repair of the rampart. Later phases of activity include a final occupation deposit with an associated radiocarbon date centred in the mid 2nd century bc.

Despite the widespread ideas, there were no cult male prostitutes in Ancient Israel. Therefore, we must reject the popular hypothesis according to which the “dogs” in Deuteronomy (23:19) meant “male prostitutes”. The interpretation of female qedešot and male qedešim as cult harlots and fornicators dates back at least to the Vulgate (late 4th century) (while the translators of the Septuagint did not understand these words and interpreted them according to context). However, such an understanding contains a huge number of logical stretches and internal contradictions. We agree with Phyllis Ann Bird’s hypothesis about its origin. The interpretation of Mesopotamian temple singers and dancers assinnu as cult homosexual prostitutes analogous to the “dogs” looks unconvincing. Qedešot were minor servants at local sanctuaries, who supposedly disappeared as a result of the reform of the Jewish religion under Josiah (7th century BC) and were analogous to the Mesopotamian qadištu priestesses. both groups had no sexual functions. Hosea (8th century BC) compared qedešot to prostitutes (4:15) following the biblical prophets’ manner of calling “fornication” all that they considered a betrayal of the YHWH cult. In the story about Judah and Tamar, qedeša is used as an euphemism for the harlot (Gen. 38:21). The qedešim were invented by the compiler of the Deuteronomy (23:19), who did not know who the qedešot were, but duplicated them in the masculine gender, to give the prohibition an absolute character. The remaining references to qedešim are either revoicings and reinterpretations of the consonantal text under the influence of Deuteronomy (2 Kings 23:7; Job 36:14), or later insertions to explain the origin of the qedešim in Israel (1 Kings 14:23; 15:11; 22:47).

The phenomenal expansion of the Roman Empire in the two centuries from the second Punic War (219–202 bc) to the reign of Augustus (27 bc–ad 14) coincided with the beginnings, development, and (Worst) Powering of Roman historical narrative. It is the purpose of this paper to describe, at least for two important periods, the ways in which the respective prose and verse works reflected the political process and to explore the extent to which ‘imperial thought’ can be apprehended in these texts. The two periods to be dealt with are from the late third to the mid-second century bc, which witnessed the decisive expansion of Roman power to the eastern part of the Mediterranean, and from the century bc to early century ad, which saw a renewed dynamism of imperial expansion and a lasting (re)organization of the administrative structures of the empire. They represent the formative phase of literary narrative in Rome and the one richest in works of Roman self-representation. The works of the two periods will be dealt with in the main sections of the paper (2 and 3). As, however, Roman historical consciousness began to take shape prior to the literary narratives and since its non-and proto-literary forms already reflected Rome’s relationship.