Volume 103, Issue 1

This paper discusses how the notion of clock time was introduced in the Greek world. On the basis of an analysis of the earliest (potential) references to hours and clocks in texts from the late fifth to the early third century BC in their historical context, and with reference to the earliest archaeologically attested clocks, it proposes a scenario for the conception and development of this conventional system. It offers a new interpretation of the problematic passage Herodotus 2.109 and argues that an hour-like unit was developed by late fifth century astronomers, under Babylonian influence, to denote the time in which a celestial body moves through a section of its diurnal circle. When this astronomical concept moved to the civic sphere in the second half of the fourth century, it changed from a scientific unit of duration to a civic unit for measuring the time of day. This shift probably took place in Athens, where the first references to hours appear in this period together with multiple experiments in clock making, as well as humorous reactions to the newfound sense of temporal precision. The paper will also show, however, that these first clocks did not yet tell seasonal hours – the type of hours that would eventually define Greco-Roman clock time – and still measured the lapse of time rather than enabling the location of moments in time. Greco-Roman clock time was only fully formed when it incorporated Egyptian notions of the hour in the Ptolemaic kingdom of the early third century BC.

Riassunto L’articolo prende in esame un ben noto frammento degli «Aitia» di Callimaco che offre la più importante testimonianza del culto dell’ecista nelle colonie siciliane. Una più approfondita indagine dei vv. 40–41 consente di istituire un parallelo con le norme rituali concernenti i Tritopatreis nella lex sacra di Selinunte (A 9–15). In entrambi i casi a un sacrificio animale con sversamento del sangue segue una libazione senza vino e un banchetto sacro. La sequenza rituale è inusuale e la sua diffusione nel mondo coloniale siciliano mette in luce sia la complessità del culto dell’ecista dal punto di vista religioso, sia l’intimo nesso che lo connette con la memoria sociale e l’identità della comunità politica.

Scholars have usually understood the epigraphical evidence for an Athenian naval mission led by Diotimos as an example of the treaties in the framework of the Corinthian League and Athens’ role as guarantor of security on the seas. Nevertheless, a close look at the main characters involved in the inscription and the mission of Diotimos, as well as to the historical context and the rise of the Macedonian hegemony, seems to allow a new interpretation of the evidence, in order to shed some light on the nature of Diotimos’ mission.

Earlier studies of the “Pride of Halikarnassos” have emphasized its role situating Halikarnassos in the changing geopolitical landscape of the second century. In these interpretations Rome looms large. The inscription, however, is also an example of a Local Discourse Environment, in which different versions of Halikarnassian myth and history, some Greek, others Karian, are used to assert the competing traditions of the different groups who inhabited Halikarnassos. Comparison with other inscriptions from Halikarnassos underscores the continued existence of local groups, defined by ethnicity, familial affiliation, even neighbourhood, each vying with the other for preeminence. The “Pride of Halikarnassos” offers a vision of the reconciliation of local rivalries through shared narratives.

This paper argues that the Tacitean passage ( Annales 2.53.3) referring to an actual foedus between Rome and Athens should be accepted, and that the date for this treaty may be assigned to 191 BC.

Riassunto Sulla base di nuove considerazioni, si propone la ricostruzione della battaglia di Pidna (168 a.C.) sotto l’aspetto topografico, tattico e strategico. Il luogo dello scontro individuato da N.G.L. Hammond viene confermato, ma vi sono dettagli delle fonti che fanno pensare a una diversa disposizione delle truppe. La battaglia sembra essere stata accuratamente preparata dai Romani.

The question of Cassius Dio’s time of writing is characterised by scant evidence and a lack of consensus. This article will present a highly significant correction to our understanding of the most important passage for this question, as well as two passages that have not generally been taken into consideration. The article will argue that Dio finished his main work in the late 210s and thereby support a so-called ‘early dating’. This is central for the current re-evaluation of Dio since it gives a clearer picture of the background against which Dio conceived his work and his many sophisticated interpretations. 

Starting from late Classical-early Hellenistic age a series of witty, lighthearted and irreverent funerary verse-inscriptions aiming to produce some effect of amusement or laughter appeared on a number of monuments, reaching their apogee during Greek-Roman era. Most of them originated in Asia Minor and Rome. Some earliest examples were related to widespread hedonistic exhortations on tombs. Their later ramifications, consisting of ironical or playful expressions, amusing puns and instances of black humour, were written in a more satirical vein, except with inscriptions dedicated for animals that were rife with sentimental motifs. Remarkably diverse as they were, such verse-inscriptions cannot be defined in terms of a distinctly separate, continuous tradition, but they shared some common features. Lacking – for the most part – conventional and formulaic elements, they struck us as heavily individualised, which sets them apart from the mainstream tradition of funerary poetry. This in turn might shed some light on social standing or/and mentality of individuals who opted for such expressive ways of remembering the dead.

Zusammenfassung Humor ist ein historisch schwieriges Thema: Über was gelacht wird und in welchen Situationen, ist historisch variabel. Vielfach geht Humor mit Normtransgressionen einher, die nur deshalb nicht als anstößig wahrgenommen werden, weil in der konkreten Situation Humor erwartbar und toleriert ist – man kann hier von sozial konstruierten ‚Humorräumen‘ sprechen. Die pompa funebris im republikanischen und kaiserzeitlichen Rom bildete einen solchen ‚Humorraum‘. Von der Forschung bisher kaum beachtet, finden sich hier zahlreiche karnevaleske Elemente, die einen Leichenzug zu einem durch die Stadt ziehenden Humorraum machten. Das Lachen konnte dabei nebst einer möglichen apotropäischen Funktion den ‚liminalen‘ Charakter des Rituals unterstreichen, vor allem aber diente es dazu, das Potential für Spannungen, die bei der Inszenierung aristokratischen Prestiges im an sich egalitären Raum der res publica auftreten konnten, aufzufangen. Doch gerade dadurch wurde der potentiell subversive und unkontrollierbare Charakter der pompa funebris in das Ritual selbst eingebunden und machte Leichenzüge zu einem Kristallisationspunkt potentieller Transgressionen. Dass Spott und Lachen die Leichen angesehener Aristokraten begleiteten, wirft dabei nicht nur ein neues Licht auf das an sich gut erforschte Phänomen aristokratischer Leichenfeiern im öffentlichen Raum, sondern zeigt auch die Fremdheit antiker Lachkultur.

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag ordnet die supplicationes von den Anfängen bis in die letzte Phase der späten Republik in die laufende Debatte um die inneraristokratische Konkurrenz der politischen Elite Roms ein. Im Vordergrund steht die Frage nach der Rolle und Funktion der supplicatio als Distinktionsmerkmal im Wettkampf um honos und honores . Die Genehmigung einer supplicatio sah für die erfolgreichen Feldherren eine besonders prominente Rolle innerhalb des Rituals vor und hob sie zugleich aus dem Kreis ihrer Konkurrenten hervor. Das hohe Interesse der Feldherren an einer supplicatio wird bei der Untersuchung derjenigen Dankfeste deutlich, die vom Senat abgelehnt wurden: Schließlich stellte die supplicatio einen Zwischenschritt nach der Verleihung des imperator -Titels, aber vor der Genehmigung des Triumphs dar.

Zusammenfassung Anhand unterschiedlicher Fallbeispiele aus dem 5. Jahrhundert wird gezeigt, dass die Mobilität barbarischer Verbände in der Regel ein temporäres Phänomen darstellte. Der Alterungsprozess der Kerngruppen kriegerischer mobiler Verbände erhöhte mit der Zeit den Druck auf den Anführer, nach Ansiedlungsmöglichkeiten zu suchen. Der Prozess der Ansiedlung selbst überführte den Anführer einer mobilen Kriegergemeinschaft in die neue Rolle eines Herrschers über ein stehendes Heer. Er war mit enormem ökonomischem Aufwand verbunden und führte offenbar dazu, dass die Herrscher sich verstärkt um dynastische Absicherung bemühten, obwohl eine solche während der liminalen Phase des Übergangs in der Regel zum Scheitern tendierte.

Theoderic’s diplomacy with distant peoples has often been considered as a kind of ‘Realpolitik’ chiefly aimed at military or strategical purposes, but the symbolic importance of two embassies from the Warni and Hesti should be taken into consideration more carefully. The king aimed to convince his subjects and neighbours that he was the rightful heir of the Roman emperors by following a subtle policy of imitatio Imperii . He also used diplomacy to achieve this goal and took advantage of two embassies from remote peoples of Northern Europe in order to imitate both Augustus and contemporary emperors, who prided themselves upon receiving envoys from far-away lands.