Abstract The significant fragment of Hyperides' speech Against Diondas , which survived in the Archimedes Palimpsest, was previously dated to the spring (Horváth) or summer (Rhodes) of 334 BC. Lane Fox's recent paper in ZPE expressed doubts, primarily regarding the January–March 334 BC date and instead placed the speech in 331 BC. This study responds to that suggestion and reconfirms the early 334 BC date.

Abstract Artus de Bretagne is a French prose romance written around 1300, which renews the Arthurian tradition by sending the hero on quests to the East. Demonstrating a certain familiarity with Greek and Byzantine place names, this work of fiction is undoubtedly linked to the Duke of Brittany Jean II's stay in the Holy Land between 1270 and 1273. However, it is noteworthy that Constantinople is mentioned only twice. Commentary on these two mentions confirms that Artus was composed in two stages: in the older part of the text, Constantinople is just one geographical landmark among others, demythologised, which can be explained by the context in which the story was produced, fuelled by Duke John's memories, at a time when Constantinople was in ruins and had just been returned to the Byzantines. A more anecdotal contribution to this research is that the White Tower, also known as the ‘Clere Tower’, may be a transposition of the ‘Blanche Garde’, a stronghold also known as Mons Clarus , between Jerusalem and Ascalon, where it is not impossible that Duke John may have stopped during his stay in the Holy Land.

Abstract Gyula Moravcsik remains the most renowned Hungarian Byzantinologist to date. However, his scholarly work and academic virtues were not only appreciated in Hungary. His humility towards research and his extraordinary perseverance resulted in outstanding works that also won the recognition of his colleagues abroad. Over the years, he became a member of numerous scholarly organizations both at home and abroad, sometimes holding the post of President or Vice-President. He was elected an external or honorary member of six foreign academies and received a number of prestigious decorations, both military and civilian. Perhaps the most significant of these was the German Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste, for whose official presentation he had to wait for four years. This paper examines the reasons behind this, using contemporary documents.

Abstract A number of recent works have attempted to trace the history of Byzantinology, or at least the study of Byzantine history and literature, which actually began in the Renaissance. The role of Lutheran circles, of Löwenklau, Hieronymus Wolf and the banker Fugger, and in France, of Claude Dupuy and Nicolas Fabri de Peiresc, is well known in this process: interest in the history and sources of Eastern Christianity very gradually led to the perception of a distinct intellectual object. The aim of this article is to give an account of the major role played by devout humanist circles in Paris in the second half of the sixteenth century, and more particularly the figure of Jean de Saint-André. The very title Corpus Historiæ byzantinæ is due to this philologist, who supported rather than published in his own name.

Abstract The important production of Latin hagiographies, written at the end of the 10th century and the very beginning of the 11th century, whose heroes are Armenians or supposed to be so, deserve an overall study aiming at identifying the specific features of the promoted saints according to two different approaches and questions: from the Eastern point of view, why would so many wandering holy men end up lost in Northern France, in Germany, or far from the most famous pilgrimage roads, precisely at this time? From the Western point of view, what is the point of declaring and promoting the sanctity of these individuals to whom an Armenian identity is so readily attributed? In other words, was there a real or an imaginary Armenian diaspora in the West at this time?

Abstract Historiography has downplayed the significance of migrations and invasions for a period of some 30 years, during which the paradigm of “indigenism” has been the element in explaining cultural change. This “retreat from migrationism” in favour of local development and transculturation hypotheses was parallel to the decline of colonialism after World War II and the withdrawal of Westerners from Africa and India in particular, and lasted until around 1990, when the fall of the Berlin Wall could be seen as an illustrative event of changing trends. It is no coincidence that attention to migration patterns and invasions as ways of explaining cultural change has reappeared since the 1980s and 1990s in parallel with the rise of the movement of migrants and political refugees. Emigration is not an exception, but a constant in social life and history, and therefore requires renewed attention from historians.

Abstract Pliny asserted that the cult statue of Artemis Ephesia remained unchanged despite her sanctuary in Ephesus having undergone seven renewals. While some scholars concur with this view, others suggest the existence of multiple statues. This paper examines the history, materials, and structure of the cult statue by utilizing both material and textual sources. The primary inquiries are whether the sanctity of the cult statue is compromised by the replacement of its parts and how the contradiction regarding the existence of one or multiple statues can be resolved. In doing so, this study also reflects on how the statue's continuity contributed to the shaping of collective identity and the preservation of foundational tradition, both in Ephesus and in later contexts of Greek colonization.

Abstract Hercules and Liber Pater (Herakles and Dionysos) were called dii patrii in Leptis Magna and Cuicul (now Djémila, in Algeria). These patron gods of Septimius Severus, a native of Leptis, were identified with two Phoenician-Punic gods, Milk‘ashtart and Shadrapha. Edward Lipiński has underlined the essential Greek origin of these dii patrii and recognized their identification with Punic gods as a secondary feature. The choice of Heracles depended on the traditional identification of this god with Melqart, the divine lord of Tyre, homeland of Carthage. Milk‘ashtart was probably a different name of Melqart, worshipped along with Ashtart. The couple Hercules and Liber still lack a clear explanation. A clue resides in the myths of Tyre and the mythic relationships between Greeks and Phoenicians. Tyre, and consequently Carthage, must have been proud of being the homeland of these gods. Herodotus testified to an early cult of Heracles in Tyre, and the birthplace of this hero was Thebes, the city founded by Cadmos, a Phoenician prince. Furthermore, Dionysos was also clearly Theban as the son of Semele, daughter of Cadmos. Tyre and Carthage could claim priority in the cult of these outstanding gods thanks to the foundation myths of Tyre and Thebes.

Abstract As far as concerns 15th-century Hungary, there is a rhetorical closeness in the literary writings of Italian Humanists such as Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Francesco Filelfo, Antonio Bonfini or Sicilian Pietro Ranzano. Their panegyrics of John Hunyadi and his son King Matthias Corvinus give the exalted portrait of these rulers as Christian warlords and defenders of the Faith against Turks. Hungary is currently identified as bulwark of the Western Christendom opposed to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. This topos is also echoed by Pope Sixtus IV and his Chancellery and also by late Scholastic chronicler János Thuróczy. The Hungarian bulwark image was, thus, spread among European sources starting from the 16th century. Hungarian superiority at the head of European powers was, thus, assured through this propagandistic theme.

Abstract By studying the literary and artistic representations of the gods, created by the people who paid religious worship to them, we can learn what each deity meant to con-temporary society. This meaning is extremely complex, and yet this complexity can manifest itself in the form of a single divinity. The concept of liminality is closely re-lated to the goddess Ceres. An event like crossing over from life to death or from war to peace is a good example of liminality. This type of change disturbs the balance of society and creates a crisis that affects both the individual and society. In numerous cases, the introduction of religious rites serves the purpose of mimetically represent-ing the crisis and allaying the fear of transition to a new condition. Transitional rites are performed to create a new group of social interactions. For the individual, the goddess can be tightly linked to death, birth, marriage, and divorce, through various rites. In my study, with the help of the relevant sources and literature, I will demon-strate the role of transitional rites associated with the cult of Ceres in ancient Roman society. I am pointing out how these rituals appeared in practice and how they were applied, with the help of works from ancient authors such as Cicero, Virgil, Festus, Plutarch, and Varro.