Roman Syria

"This paper proposes three new (and tentatively, another two) identifications of sundials in Middle Eastern mosaics of the 5th – 8th century. The author discusses a vignette from the Holy Martyrs’ Church at Tayibat al-Imâm, central Syria, a mosaic panel from the tomb of Georgia and Theodosia in Jerusalem, two
vignettes of Sebastis and Kastron Mefaa from the St. Stephan’s Church at Umm al-Rasas, and a vignette of Jerusalem from the St. George’s Church at Madaba. These mosaics date, respectively, to 442, to the reign of Justinian (527 –565), and to the Byzantine Umayyad era (718). According to the author, these are probably the latest representations of sundials known to date from the Late Antiquity. Until this study, only six representations of sundials on mosaics from the Roman period were known. This paper adds three new items and two hypothetical ones from Byzantine times. It also offers an interpretation of the function of the famous column in Jerusalem, shown on the map of Madaba and the mega-vignette of the Holy City.
Key words: Sundials, Sonnenhuhren, Meridiane, Cadrans solaires, Relojes de sol."

The scenes tell the story of the founding of Pella/Apamea and further development of this city on the Orontes river. Three main groups of scenes can be distinguished: (1) the foundation of Pella-on-the-Orontes by the legendary Archippos, (2) the (re)foundation of the city as Apamea-on-the-Orontes (earlier Pella-on-the-Orontes) by Seleucus I Nikator and the simultaneous financial generosity of his wife, Apama, for the development of the new Seleucid colony in 300 BC, and (3) the raising of the town fortifications around monumental public buildings and an illustration of the daily life of a joyous people living in the rich Apamean agglomeration and hinterland. Features of style date the panels to the 4th century AD.

This article offers a new way to explore the category of “Jewish Christians,” by examining how two fourth-century Syrian authors, namely John Chrysostom and the Pseudo-Clementine Homilist, each respectively made sense of Jesus’s harsh treatment of a suffering Roman Syrian woman, first recounted in Mark 7:24–30 and Matthew 15:21–28. In the biblical retellings of the story, when a distraught gentile mother approaches Jesus to solicit his aid in alleviating the torments of her demon possessed daughter, Jesus does not respond with the alacrity one would expect. Instead, he utterly humiliates her, insinuating that she was less than a human, no better than a dog. My analysis reveals that while the former distanced Jesus’s actions from his Jewish ethnicity, the latter suggests the woman received Jesus’s aid only after she becomes a “Jew” herself. Since the two authors lived in chronological and geographical proximity to one another, I suggest that their different exegetical responses shed light onto the dynamic manner in which Christian and Jewish identity formation played out in the Roman Syrian context, thereby complicating past assumptions that the parting of the ways between these two religions occurred in a manner that was unilinear in character and global in scope. The evidence suggests instead that, in Roman Syria at least, efforts to draw the boundary between who was a Jew and who was a Christian constituted a long and involved process, insinuating that—at least in this geographical context—these two designations were not fixed entities even as late as the fourth century CE.

Abstract: Le village de Shahba, devenu la colonie romaine de Philippopolis, est situé à quatre-vingt dix kilomètres au sud de Damas et à vingt kilomètres au nord de Suweida’ en Syrie du Sud. Sa notoriété et son développement sont dus à l’empereur Philippe l’Arabe qui a transformé la petite bourgade où sa famille s’était installée, en une petite, mais riche cité de 244 à 249 lors de son règne.
La mosaïque polychrome qu’on pourrait appeller mosaïque de la « Fête Nocturne Pannychis » - à cause de sa représentation personnifiée - a été quelque peu oubliée par la littérature scientifique. On trouve cependant quelques brèves descriptions dans les travaux de J. Balty, de J.-Ch. Balty, de H. Hatoum, de L. Abad Casal, de H. Sichterman et d’A. Kossatz-Deismann. À ma connaissance, elle n’a été publiée que par petits fragments. Seul J.-Ch. Balty, dans un article du LIMC consacré à la personnification abstraite d’Euphrasia, propose une rapide interprétation de la mosaïque en expliquant le sens des mots « pannychis » et « euphrasia ».
La mosaïque de Pannychis n’est plus malheureusement en place, on peut néanmoins supposer, vu le thème représenté, qu’elle devait probablement orner une salle à manger (triclinium ou œcus).
Cette mosaïque rectangulaire, abritée au musee de Shahba, est composée d’une large bordure géométrique, de six petits panneaux représentant des personnifications inscrites sur les cotés courts du tapis, et d’un grand tableau central avec une effigie des trois Grâces (Charites) mis en valeur dans une belle bordure géométrique de ruban torsadé. Les tableaux angulaires représentent les Quatre Saisons. En commençant par l’angle gauche dans la rangée inférieure et en suivant le mouvement contraire à celui des aiguilles d’une montre, les Saisons sont placées en ordre suivant : Theros (l’Été), Methoporon (l’Automne), Heimon[e] (l’Hiver) et Ear (le Printemps). Entre l’Été et l’Automne, l’artiste a placé le buste de la personnification féminine de Pannychis – de la Fête Nocturne. Entre les personnifications du Printemps et de l’Hiver, le portrait en trois quart de la personnification féminine d’Euphrasia – (la Gaîté, la Joie dans un festin, la Réjouissance) a été placée.
Quel sens se cache derrière toutes ces images et à quelle idée elles font allusions ? Si le tableau central est le plus grand, il n’est que complémentaire par rapport aux panneaux latéraux. La clé du programme de la mosaïque est la personnification de Pannychis – de la Fête Nocturne. La personnification de la Gaîté – Euphrasia fait son pendant.
Que sait-on de ces faites nocturnes que les citoyens romains hellénisés en Orient célébraient en se réunissant en grand nombre ? Une source inestimable dans la recherche sur l’histoire des mentalités grecques sous la domination romaine est l’auteur grec d’Éphèse connu sous le nom d’Artémidore de Daldis, spécialiste de l’oniromancie. Il est célèbre grâce à son manuel d’interprétation des rêves (Onirocriticon) rédigé probablement à Éphèse à la fin du IIe siècle. Artémidore parle des Fêtes nocturnes vues dans les rêves. La fête nocturne est célébrée très joyeusement par ses participants. C’est une fête bruyante avec danse et musique. C’est l’occasion pour tout le monde de se rassembler et de faire de nouvelles connaissances. De plus, cette fête permet aux jeunes de dépasser certaines interdictions et d’exprimer leurs sentiments. Les nouveaux couples formés durant cette fête nocturne peuvent confirmer leur engagement par un mariage. Artémidore effectue des rapprochement entre la Fête nocturne et la réunion de personnes, le mariage, la gaîté, la bonne humeur, l’abondance et l’acquisition des biens (pour les pauvres). Le Pannychis et l’Euphrasia sont présents ensemble dans le texte d’Artémidore comme sur la mosaïque de Philippopolis. Sa description met l’accent sur des éléments caractérisant la Fête Nocturne : la joie, la bonne humeur et l’abondance (de la table et des boissons) que les fêtes offrent aux participants. La signification des Charites est complémentaire de celle qui est évoquée par les personnifications de Pannychis et d’Euphrasia. Le tableau de la mosaïque de Philippopolis fait sans doute allusion aux fêtes nocturnes que le propriétaire envisageait d’organiser, et sans aucun doute organisait dans sa demeure.
La mosaïque de la Fête Nocturne de Philippopolis qui ornait probablement un triclinium rappelle ce qu’on rencontre dans d’autres salles à manger chez les riches propriétaires. La théorie du caractère allusif à la vie de l’aristocratie de l’époque romaine (et de ses nouveaux riches) dans la décoration interne des maisons et des villa a de plus en plus de partisans parmi les chercheurs. La mosaïque de Philippopolis ressemble à la décoration des salles à manger qui évoquent la fête, les festins, la boisson, la bonne nourriture, la musique et la danse, tout les ingrédients d’un banquet réussi.

By engaging with recent developments in the study of empires, this book examines how inhabitants of Roman imperial Syria reinvented expressions and experiences of Greek, Roman and Syrian identification. It demonstrates how the organization of Greek communities and a peer polity network extending citizenship to ethnic Syrians generated new semiotic frameworks for the performance of Greekness and Syrianness. Within these, Syria's inhabitants reoriented and interwove idioms of diverse cultural origins, including those from the Near East, to express Greek, Roman and Syrian identifications in innovative and complex ways. While exploring a vast array of written and material sources, the book thus posits that Greekness and Syrianness were constantly shifting and transforming categories, and it critiques many assumptions that govern how scholars of antiquity often conceive of Roman imperial Greek identity, ethnicity and culture in the Roman Near East, and processes of 'hybridity' or similar concepts.

Hace algunos años, Warwick Ball propuso que el Templo de Elagabal de Emesa, jamás encontrado, debe identificarse con el complejo de templos de Baalbek. Más recientemente, Gary Young ha pretendido mostrar la endeblez de las evidencias con que apoyó tal aserto, así como la falsedad de algunas de sus suposiciones. Tratamos de refutar a Young y demostrar que las evidencias textuales, arqueológicas y epigráficas en realidad apoyan la tesis de Ball, añadiendo algunas nuevas pruebas.

This article examines the sacred inscriptions that military units known as "national numeri" set up in the Danubian provinces between the second and third centuries CE. In the past decades, scholars have considered these regiments, which bear ethnic names such as numerus Palmyrenorum or numerus Maurorum, as semi-barbarian units characterized by the lowest degree of Romanization in the imperial army. However, the analysis of the votive inscriptions set up by these soldiers demonstrates that they often worshipped Roman gods in the same way as legionary and auxiliary troops. It seems that in some cases the Roman officers in command of numeri explicitly encouraged the worship of gods belonging to the soldiers' ethnic background. This fact suggests that military authorities used these cults to enforce the esprit de corps of these units and, consequently, to preserve ethnic features connected to their military skills.

""The author analyses the mythological subjects known from the funerary paintings of the Near East. He is interested principally in the meaning and the message which these representations conveyed. He studies the interpretative problems of funerary iconography in terms of the principles that we encounter in the iconography of roman art - principles which are confirmed by Artemidorus of Ephesus (or Artemidorus of Daldis), a Greek author of the Antonine period, in his manuel Key to Dreams (Onirocriticon). This approach has never previously been attempted. To support his argument, he refers to numerouse monuments of funerary art as well as to a series of inscriptions adorning the monuments in Roman necrpoleis.

L’auteur analyse les sujets mythologiques connus de la peinture funéraire au Proche-Orient. Il s’intéresse principalement au sens et au message que ces représentations portaient. Il étudie la problématique de la sémantique de l’iconographie funéraire en fonction des principes qu’on retrouve dans l’iconographie plastique et qu’Artémidore d’Ephese (soit Artémidore de Daldis), auteur grec de l’époque antonine, confirme dans son manuel La clef de songes (Onirocriticon). Cette démarche n’avait jusqu’alors, jamais été entreprise. Pour appuyer son raisonnement, l’auteur se réfère à des nombreux monuments d’art funéraire, ainsi qu’à une série d’inscriptions ornant des monuments des nécropoles romaines.
See also: M.T. Olszewski, Artémidore, mythologie et symbolique funéraire, Archeologia (Warsaw) 52, 2001, pp. 39-60.
M.T. Olszewski, Le statut de l'image selon Artémidore et l'art romain, in: Morlier, H. ed., IXe Colloque international pour l'étude de la mosaïque antique et médiévale, Roma 5.11.2001-10.11.2001, Collection de l'Ecole Française de Rome 352/2, Rome 2005, pp. 859-880.""

This paper analyzes the role of the military costume in the portrait of the Hellenistic and Roman rulers in the Near East from Alexander to the third century AD. Even if there is little contemporary evidence, two important
monuments as the so-called Sarcophagus of Alexander and the Nemrut Dağ, the portraits of the Near Eastern rulers in other media as coins or gems, the so-called ‘cuirassed gods’ and the later imperial images of Alexander and Seleucus allowed to highlight the major role of the cuirassed image in the iconography of the Hellenistic sovereigns in the Near East. Alexander brought in the region a new military habitus that was immediately and consciously used to emphasize both the Greek identity and the authority of the king. The cuirassed statue, with a few exceptions, prevailed also in the portraiture of the Roman Emperors. However, the Imperial Age
gradually introduced also a ‘new’ element, the fully decorated cuirassed statue that had been elaborated in the
Augustan Rome. This ‘Roman’ model was not immediately accepted, but in the second century the statuarytypes
used in the Near East were often the same used in the western provinces as well. In this way, the fully
decorated breastplate became a true symbol of the power of the Roman emperors.

L'analyse des écrits de Flavius Josèphe ayant amené, dans la première partie, à conclure que Quirinius n'était pas gouverneur de Syrie en 6AD, les autres pièces de la documentation invitent à comprendre qu'il avait accompli une précédente légation en Syrie en tant que gouverneur; à ce titre, le Titulus Tiburtinus analysé d'un point de vue grammatical et épigraphique en donne la confirmation.

In diesem Buch werden erstmals mehr als 160 epigraphische und papyrologische Zeugnisse zu Veteranen des 2. - 4. Jh n. Chr. im römischen Nahen Osten gesammelt vorgelegt.  Die auswertende Untersuchung hat einen sozial-, wirtschafts- und kulturgeschichtlichen Fokus, stellt aber auch sicherheitspolitische Fragen: Sie analysiert Veteranen als rechtlich privilegierte Gruppe von "Bindegliedern"
zwischen den Bereichen Militär und "ziviler Gesellschaft". Die ehemaligen Soldaten zeigen hier aus verschiedenen Gründen einen hohen
Integrationsgrad: z. B. rückten sie in hohe soziale P ositionen im Rahmen der Gebietskörperschaften und städtischen Ansiedlungen des römischen Syrien und der Provinz Arabia  auf. Veteranen und Veteranenfamilien stellen ein Segment der provinzialrömischen Gesellschaft dar, an deren Beispiel auch wirtschaftliche und kulturelle Prozesse in den Militärprovinzen Roms im Nahen Osten sichtbar gemacht werden können.

The study of Roman placenames has a long and respectable history, though littered with erroneous and strange identifications. Today we are generally agreed on the locations of the places listed in our ancient sources, though some defy identification. The military sites that we have ancient names for are largely frontiers, fortresses, and forts, but the Roman military also made use of much smaller installations, such as fortlets and towers. How were they referred to? What' s in a name? How to find your outpost on the Roman frontier While the ancient names of many major Roman military bases are known today, it is less clear how smaller posts were distinguished. What steps did the authorities take to ensure that orders, post, goods, relief parties, or reinforcements were sent to the right place? David Breeze, Christof Flügel, Erik Graafstal, Simon James, Matthew Symonds, and Andreas Thiel investigate.

"Frank Daubner discusses the evidence for gymnasia and gymnasiarchs in Syria and Arabia (149-166). Apart from a useful presentation of data, Daubner offers two main insights: First, gymnasiarchs were regularly natives and not Greeks, an observation that casts doubts on the idea that gymnasia could have served as exclusive clubs of Greeks preserving their culture. Second, most gymnasia in the Near East were of Roman origin, and they fulfilled an integrative function: Far from being mere bathing facilities, gymnasia still trained people for their role as citizens – of both their city and the empire."
B. Eckhardt, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2016.09.34 (http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2016/2016-09-34.html)

Prouincia et Imperium: el mando provincial en la República romana (227-44 a.C.) presenta un panorama de conjunto de la organización administrativa de las provincias romanas desde las primeras conquistas culminadas por Roma en el Mediterráneo, una vez concluida la Primera Guerra Púnica en el año 241, hasta la muerte de César, ya en el año 44 a.C. A partir de un detallado estudio del concepto de prouincia en el latín de la República, el autor trata de determinar los distintos pasos que condujeron a la conversión de una serie de prouinciae en competencias de carácter permanente y, en consecuencia, en el marco de desarrollo de la administración y el dominio romano, consolidado mediante un sistema de mando basado en la concesión periódica de cada uno de estos destinos a un cónsul o un pretor dotado de su correspondiente imperium.

A previous paper on the titulus Tiburtinus re-opened the debate concerning the noto- rious ignotus, then generally thought to be P. Sulpicius Quirinius (cos. 12 BC), suggesting in- stead that he might be identified with C. Sentius Saturninus (cos. 19 BC). This suggestion was subsequently challenged in favour of L. Calpurnius Piso (cos. 15 BC), who had originally been argued by Sir Ronald Syme. Since the identification of the consular concerned is significant for Augustan prosopography and for the history of Asia, among other provinces such as Syria and Germany, a detailed and wide-ranging restatement of the case for Saturninus is made here. Piso (unlike Quirinius) is really a non-starter, and it is surprising that he would have been supported  by formidable Syme. The rex of the titulus could not have been Rhescuporis I or Rhoemetalces I. The iterum would not have referred to the second legateship of Piso (presumably that of Syria) given Piso’s early career.The binas, referring to two public thanksgivings, does not inspire con-fidence in Piso receiving a second supplicatio. Piso the Pontifex is not attested as proconsul of Asia, nor is he attested as governor of Syria, and the reconstruction of the fasti of this province is  much more reasonable than previously thought. By contrast, all points in Saturninus career can be  successfully compared with the information in the titulus. Origins of the Sentii from an area near Tibur is a bonus, if dispensable. Saturninus could not have been proconsul of Africa at the time in-ferred from Tertullian (29 BC), and hence Asia is open for him in c. 14/13 BC. His office in Syria  (c. 12–8 BC) is well-attested, as it is that in Germany (c. AD 3–6). He was awarded ornamenta triumphalia in the company of Tiberius, after ‘two’ victories and no doubt supplicationes binas. Finally, a flexible understanding of the word iterum can accommodate also the meanings ‘for another time’ and ‘twice’, either of which can work with the career of Saturninus. As for deprived        Quirinius, among various problems, no two thanksgivings can be conceived for a war such as that  of the Homonadenses, and, most condemningly, a reference to his important office under Gaius will never have been omitted in the titulus.

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According to Eusebius, the famous Edessene thinker Bardaisan wrote his work On Fate in a time of persecution and addressed it to a figure named Antoninus (HE 4.30). It is commonly surmised that this ‘Antoninus’ was a Roman emperor who sanctioned Christian persecution in some way. But scholars have varied in their interpretations. Some have identified this figure as Caracalla, who visited Edessa in 216–217. But since Eusebius situated Bardaisan’s activity in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, he is often deemed to be the Antoninus in question. As this article surmises, the testimony of Eusebius and other late antique authors, like Epiphanius, reflect certain memories both of the integration of Edessa into the Roman provincial system under Caracalla and the social tensions that it raised. But largely due to Eusebius’ narrative, late antique authors conceived of Marcus Aurelius as the ‘Antoninus’ to whom Bardaisan reportedly addressed On Fate and other apologetic work, and they created social memories of Bardaisan as a would‐be confessor in a context of persecution.

In the late fourth and early fifth centuries we are informed of the activities of Cassian by Palladius in his defence of John Chrysostom and by Innocent I, both with regard to the exile of John Chrysostom in 404 and with regard to the reconciliation between the churches of Rome and Antioch in 414. Do these three instances refer to the same person, and is that person John Cassian? In this paper it is argued that Palladius does indeed refer to John Cassian and so does Innocent I in his comments about the exile of John Chrysostom. However, the individual involved in the reconciliation between Antioch and Rome is to be seen as a different person, contrary to the opinion of several scholars. This becomes evident through a close reading of Innocent I's Epistulae 19 and 20.

""■ Exhibition: Syria Splendor and Drama
■ معرض: سورية الألق والمأساة
■ Mostra: Siria Splendore e Dramma

■ "Syria Splendor and Drama" Exhibition opens in Rome. The goal is to raise public awareness about the value of the Syrian Cultural Heritage and the importance of its protection.
■ يفتتح في روما، معرض "سورية: الألق والمأساة"، والذي يهدف إلى رفع مستوى الوعي العام حول قيمة التراث الثقافي السوري وأهمية حمايته
■ Apre a Roma la mostra "Siria Splendore e Dramma", il cui obiettivo è di sensibilizzare l’opinione pubblica sul valore del patrimonio culturale siriano e l'importanza della sua tutela.

Roma | Palazzo Venezia
روما | قصر فينيسيا
Rome | Venice Palazzo

20 Giugno | 31 Agosto 2014
من 20 حزيران | 31 آب 2014
June 20 | August 31, 2014

OPENING TIMES
أوقات الزيارة
ORARI
10:00 - 19:00

● Read and watch more in
اقرأوا و شاهدوا المزيد في
Leggi altro in
► http://goo.gl/R1Goe5 ◄

Pagina ufficiale della mostra!
الصفحة الرسمية للمعرض
Official fan page of the exhibition!
► http://goo.gl/BtGaca ◄

Mostra Siria Splendore e Dramma

Promossa da
Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo

Organizzata da
Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio Storico Artistico ed Etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Assieme a
Associazione Priorità Cultura
Missione Archeologica Italiana in Siria - Università La Sapienza di Roma
in collaborazione con Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, Berlino

L'iniziativa è stata determinata dall’esigenza, ormai improcrastinabile ed urgente, di sensibilizzare al più alto livello e con persuasiva efficacia l’opinione pubblica mondiale sui danni già provocati e sui rischi estremi che corre il patrimonio culturale della Siria in relazione alla gravissima crisi politica, civile, militare e umanitaria in cui è piombato il Paese da tre anni.

Photo(s): © Associazione Priorità Cultura
#DCHSyria #Syria #CulturalHeritage
#سورية #سوريا #التراث_الثقافي""

La question des rapports entre Rome et les Parthes au temps des Flaviens a dej" a fait plus d'une fois l'objet des recherches (1). Toutefois, en depit du grand interet porte" a ce probleme, certains aspects particuliers n'en ont pas encore ete etudies. Ainsi, entre autres ...

Paper availabel on www.persee.fr