Volume 97, Issue 2

Zusammenfassung In den Jahren 2004 und 2005 kamen bei Arbeiten am sog. Totentempel Amenophis III. in Kom el-Hettan (Theben-West) verschiedene Fragmente von kolossalen beschrifteten Statuensockeln zutage. Diese ergänzen die schon bekannten, umfangreichen Fremdländerlisten aus dem Bereich dieses Tempels. Einige der in den Inschriften genannten Toponyme wurden inzwischen mit den Namen Asia, Ionia, Maeonia sowie mit dem aus hethitischen Quellen bekannten Land Luwiya in Verbindung gebracht. Der vorliegende Aufsatz bietet eine kritische Untersuchung dieser Identifikationen mit zwei Exkursen zu damit verbundenen Fragen der westkleinasiatischen Geographie der Hethiterzeit.

The problem of the meaning of earth and water in the context of the language of Achaemenid imperial diplomacy towards the Greeks is considered in this paper. It is concluded that the Persian demand for subjugation was a verbal expression of Persian diplomacy while earth and water themselves as material things that could have different symbolic meanings for different peoples was its non-verbal expression. The Greeks might have perceived the giving of earth and water simply as an acknowledgement of the Persians’ superiority by both land and sea. It is argued in this paper that the Persian official conception of earth and water would have been dependent on imperial ideology seeing the earth as meaning a land / territory and the water as symbolizing seas or / and rivers as limit of this territory.

Nicole Loraux’s seminal book „L’invention d’Athènes“ (1981) opened a new way of understanding the Athenian funeral oration. It is a well-known fact that the Athenians exploited the annual logos epitaphios in honor of the war dead to convey a patriotic image of the Athenian past, centered on a canonical list of glorious mythic-historical deeds. This list – the so called „Tatenkatalog“ – has been so far investigated in terms of either ,political propaganda‘ or ,official polis tradition‘, where both definitions involve a high degree of historical simplification and, to some extent, falsification. This view, if somehow true as for the 4 th century literary version of the list, must be reassessed as for the 5 th century catalogue, which in fact is to be considered as a prominent example of ,intentional history‘ (in H.-J. Gehrke’s definition), produced by – and at the same time turned to – the political community itself, as the result of complex identity needs.

Primary historical, epigraphic and archeological evidence and research on Early Hellenistic Colophon are re-examined in this study. More specifically, the article deals with a famous inscription found on the site at the beginning of the 20 th century (SEG 19.698) regarding the unification of the hyparchousa polis and the palaia polis of Colophon within a large wall-circuit, as well as the building of a new agora , streets, and other public edifices. A new dating for this decree – traditionally dated either under Alexander the Great or Antigonus Monophthalmus – is offered, namely to 296 BCE, when Colophon was included in the anti-lysimachean alliance of Demetrius Poliorcetes and Seleucus. In light of archaeological evidence, the traditional historical view according to which Lysimachus deported en masse the Colophonians to Ephesus / Arsinoeia and razed the original settlement is radically rejected. The article also offers new insights on the unclear relationships between inland Colophon and Notion / Colophon by the Sea in the late fourth – early third century BCE.

Riassunto Se si raffronta l’antico Israele con le culture circonvicine, colpisce senza ombra di dubbio la costante affermazione per cui salute e salvezza possono venire esclusivamente da Yahweh, mentre altrove si fa affidamento su qualche divinità del pantheon . In proposito, non disponiamo soltanto dei materiali rifluiti nei libri di quello che è per noi l’„Antico Testamento“. Un corpus , con ogni probabilità destinato ad accrescersi, di iscrizioni risalenti ai secoli iniziali del I millennio a. C. conferma quanto emerge dalle testimonianze bibliche, di per sé altamente problematiche, ma non perciò riconducibili sempre a un orizzonte relativamente tardo. Un ulteriore elemento a disposizione è l’onomastica personale teoforica: l’esame di questi nomi si rivela altamente remunerativo e fornisce indicazioni più di una volta preziose.

Riassunto Le difficoltà e le contraddizioni tra le fonti sul processo di Gallo e le reazioni dei contemporanei alla sua morte lasciano intuire un clima politico difficile tra il 27 e il 26 a. C.: Ottaviano, dopo aver accettato un compromesso con il senato ed aver abbandonato Gallo, affrontò critiche e malumori degli amici e dei poeti. Per queste ragioni la sua propaganda cercò di deformare i fatti e minimizzare le sue colpe.

Riassunto Flavio Giuseppe mette in bocca ad Agrippa II un lungo discorso, con cui il re tenta di dissuadere i suoi connazionali dalla rivolta contro l’impero romano; un argomento cruciale consiste nella forza militare dei Romani, alla quale lo storiografo dedica un catalogo concentrato sulla dislocazione delle legioni. La data dichiarata del discorso è il 66 d. C. Emil Ritterling contestò tale ambientazione e datò le informazioni militari del fittizio discorso sotto il regno di Vespasiano; alcuni studiosi hanno pienamente accettato questa ricostruzione, ma altri danno ancora credito alla data narrativa. Qui si dimostra che Flavio Giuseppe, componendo il catalogo delle legioni, riportò diligentemente la genuina dislocazione delle truppe romane poco prima dello scoppio della ribellione giudaica; i pochi anacronismi non vanno oltre il 69 d. C. Questa conclusione permette di gettare nuova luce sulla cronologia e sulla portata delle imprese di Tiberius Plautius Siluanus Aelianus.

Resumen El mitraísmo está considerado dentro de las religiones orientales practicadas en el Imperio romano, como la que más firmemente mantuvo su rasgo mistérico. Ajeno a manifestaciones externas, desarrolló su culto dentro de los mitreos, excluyendo además a un importante sector de la población romana: las mujeres. A través de los textos epigráficos que vamos a analizar, comprobaremos que esta percepción no es tan monolítica como se piensa, sino que los propios iniciados encontraron mecanismos con lo que hacer una cierta proyección hacia afuera de sus creencias y también encontraron el medio para incluir en sus creencias a sus mujeres, hijos y demás familiares.

Zusammenfassung Der erstmals in deutscher Übersetzung vorliegende Brief an den Senat und das Volk der Athener, in dem der spätere Kaiser Julian dem Vorwurf der Usurpation entgegentritt, zeichnet sich durch irritierende Offenheit aus. Kein anderes Werk des letzten Vertreters der konstantinischen Dynastie kennt einen vergleichbaren Tonfall. In drastischen Ausdrücken schildert Julian, wie er von Constantius II. und dessen Hofstaat trotz seiner militärischen Erfolge verachtet und hintergangen wurde. Es resultiert ein in vielerlei Hinsicht interessanter Bericht, dessen Potential als historische Quelle bei weitem noch nicht ausgeschöpft wurde.

The recent critical edition of Jacob Burckhardt’s classic „Die Zeit Constantin’s des Großen“ by Hartmut Leppin and others is a monument of accurate scholarship. It carefully documents the changes that Burckhardt made when he revised his original text of 1852 for the new edition of 1880 which has since then been the standard text read and used by historians. Apart from Burckhardt’s belated acceptance of Lactantius’ authorship of the De Mortibus Persecutorum , which he had denied in the first edition, most of the changes were minor matters of wording and punctuation, but two substantive changes stand out as significant. (1) In 1880, developing in a more precise form the characterisation of Constantine’s relation to the Christian church by Theodor Brieger as one of complete domination, Burckhardt used the novel term „Reichskirche“ for its status under Constantine. (2) Burckhardt sharpened his critical attitude towards theurgy and spiritualism, perhaps under the influence of Robert Browning, whose dramatic monologue „Mr Sludge, ‚The Medium‘“ must have come to his attention during his visit to England in 1879.