Search

Caterina Sforza (1462/3-1509) was famous during her lifetime because of her twelve-year regency over her husbands' territories in the Romagna region of Italy after his assassination. Scholars have focused on her political maneuverings and bold sexuality, but Sforza’s patronage and collecting were integral parts of her statecraft and merit further attention. Careful analysis of the surviving artifacts, combined with information culled from archival sources, reveals that Sforza, like her elite peers, was an astute patron and collector despite financial limitations. She updated fortresses and made key improvements to her subject cities, projects that demonstrated her beneficence as ruler. She also refurbished her residence to make it reflect the proper character of a prince and express humanist notions of magnificence and splendor. Always in need of more money, Sforza on occasion sought out workshops that championed cost-effective serial production and called on community support for some of the religious projects she initiated.

Review

The article is devoted to the problem of attributing monuments of medieval nomads from the Ukrainian steppe in the period of X-XIV centuries on the example of three burials from the Novosilsky Kurgan group located in the North-Western Black Sea coast. The attribution of such burials is problematic for the archaeology of Ukraine. The number of modern studies on this topic is rather small, which is determined by the somewhat biased attitude of scientists towards the monuments of medieval nomads of the 10th-14th centuries as those left by a certain homogeneous community, as evidenced by the still used term „late nomads”. However, such a strong generalization does not reflect reality. During the Middle Ages, the steppe of Ukraine was replaced one after another by waves of multi-ethnic nomads who migrated here from Central Asia. The ethnic diversity of the Pechenegs, Torks, Cumans, and the Central Asian peoples who came with the Mongols, but also their similarities, including the significant similarity of funeral rites, made it difficult to attribute and identify features for certain ethnocultural groups and chronological periods. The purpose of this paper is to trace possible solutions to this problem. Modern technologies can also help with this – namely, 3-D modelling of artefacts from burials, which allows us to learn the detailed parameters of each object and visualize it in high resolution. For this work, three 3-D models were created – one object from each burial site, which will be characterized in the paper. The models also perform an important task of preserving cultural heritage, because unfortunately, since 2014, because of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, nomadic monuments from the medieval steppe of Ukraine have been destroyed.

Copyright of Il Capitale Culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage is the property of Il Capitale Culturale Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper discusses the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education, particularly focusing on digital tourism. It highlights the use of AI-assisted learning to personalize educational content and enhance learning experiences for students. Specific examples include AI-powered platforms for designing cultural travel blogs and personalized learning paths for cultural tourism education. The paper also emphasizes the role of AI in supporting self-learning, adaptive learning systems, intelligent tutoring systems, and natural language processing. It showcases case studies from the University of Rome "Tor Vergata" and explores AI's potential to improve accessibility and provide tailored educational experiences for learners with disabilities.

(The ancient tradition concerning Pythagoras of Samos’ role as the founder of physiognomy): This paper collects and analyzes ancient sources that refer to Pythagoras of Samos as the founder of physiognomy. Interest in physiognomy, which deals with the relationship between the body and the spirit, has become more popular over the last few years; however, many aspects of research into the topic are still obscure and worthy of further study. Physiognomy was assumed by ancient authors to be the method by which candidates were selected to enter the Pythagorean community, used by the Greek philosopher and his followers. Information about Pythagoras, who – by simply looking at somebody – could recognize their character appears, in the works of Aulus Gellius, Hippolytus, Porphyry, Iamblichos, Proclos and Olympiodorus. Apart from discussing testimonia about Pythagoras and his physiognomic examinations, the text explores the role of physiognomy during the selection process for the Pythagorean community in order to provide a better understanding of elite traditions within society. The paper also supplies further insight with regards to the methodology behind physiognomical surveys, which were popular during antiquity.

Radiocarbon dating by AMS accelerated ion mass spectrometry method, used from 2012 at IFIN-HH-Măgurele, offered recently the scientific frame for an interdisciplinary approach, from archaeologic and archaeometric perspectives, applied to wood samples. The first AMS results, issued in 2021 on six samples from Măguricea Branului archaeological site, have suggested a chronology around the 13th century AD, the differences being explained on terms detailed in this paper. The latter four samples, collected in the next archaeological campaign, gave very different dates. The difficulties experienced with these four samples driven us to develop new lab treatment, aiming carbonization of wood. Even so, the samples from 2022 could not be dated in a helpful manner, with parameters as terminus post quem, time-width, apparent ages. The paper could be of interest to archaeologists taking wood samples for AMS dating.

One of the striking features of ancient Mediterranean urbanism is the capacity of individual cities to weather all kinds of shocks, from earthquakes, floods, droughts, plagues, and crop failures to sieges and violent shifts in political gravity. This is all the more remarkable given the environmental precarity of ancient Mediterranean life, and the relative instability of so many of the political entities that ruled them. This paper considers these issues in relation to resilience. Resilience theory was developed in the 1970s to investigate why some ecosystems were better able than others to withstand external pressures. Resilient systems “absorb shocks”, “spring back”, or simply “adapt” after major disruptions. The idea has been borrowed by social scientists, including archaeologists and town planners. This paper will ask where resilience is to be located in the ancient world, and will consider the role of urban economics, networks and imperial polities in promoting resilient cities in antiquity.

The paper analyses the practise of surveying and reconstruction of the buildings in a Roman North Africa monumental centre by means of photogrammetry and three-dimensional modeling. Photogrammetry, in particular, proves to be an efficient and economic method for field analysis, although it has limitations in terms of processing time and the need for very powerful computers. Photogrammetric models, characterized by a high volumetric and colorimetric quality, constitute an ideal basis for reconstruction by means of 3D modeling, particularly in the case of research, such as this one, related to the Archaeology of Construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The honorific monuments erected in late antiquity in the city of Aphrodisias are striking in their preservation and in their appearance. Two scholars, Charlotte Roueché and R.R.R. Smith, have provided full and ground-breaking publications of these monuments and have extracted important information from careful study of the epigraphic and sculptural elements. Further study conducted under the aegis of Smith and B. Ward-Perkins in the Last Statues of Antiquity Project, has grounded these monuments in the larger, empire-wide context of late antiquity. These fine academic studies have made these late Aphrodisian honours points of reference. Without the work of these distinguished scholars, this paper would not be possible or relevant. This paper seeks merely to focus attention on small details of structure, technique, and iconography in an attempt to sharpen our vision of the very last of these monuments. It endeavours to distinguish tendencies specific to the sixth-century honorific statuary habit at Aphrodisias and to understand the concept of re-use and recycling in that last moment of the statue culture in this conservative city, by looking at three monuments dedicated to the same man in the last moments of the habit. These are three statues monuments to one Rhodopaios of the second quarter of the sixth century, preserved in different states. The paper is divided into three parts; an introduction that considers the main trends of honorific statuary, the presentation of the three monuments of Rhodopaios, and a conclusion. On cover: Late Roman wall, the portion immediately south of the West Gate (Porta Oea) with re-used blocks from first-century mausolea (Drawing by Francesca Bigi) and Tombstone of Regina from South Shields (Arbeia) (Tyne and WearArchives and Museums/ Bridgeman Images). E-ISSN (online version) 2611-3686 ISSN (print version) 0065-0900

This paper investigates the personal adornment that was found in the medieval cave of ‘Āsi al-Hadath in Lebanon, which yielded a magnificent treasure from the second half of the thirteenth century. Indeed, several bodies lay there along with their belongings, all remarkably preserved. Historical sources reveal that this group belonged to the Maronite community. This paper attempts to address the identity of these individuals by studying the associated jewellery finds, thus adding new insights to this well-studied material. On cover: Late Roman wall, the portion immediately south of the West Gate (Porta Oea) with re-used blocks from first-century mausolea (Drawing by Francesca Bigi) and Tombstone of Regina from South Shields (Arbeia) (Tyne and WearArchives and Museums/ Bridgeman Images). E-ISSN (online version) 2611-3686 ISSN (print version) 0065-0900

The replication of conventionalised motifs on engraved gemstones of the Roman imperial period has often prompted their dismissal by scholars who deem them too frivolous, too plentiful, and too small to be taken seriously as image-bearing objects, or else prioritise their workaday capacity as seals. Foregrounding gems’ function as personal adornment, this paper uses examples excavated from Herculaneum to argue that the repetition of certain images was, in fact, central to their agency as markers of identity, signalling the gender, age, and in some cases, social status of their wearer through the propagation of easily recognisable visual paradigms. Where other studies have emphasised the ways in which Roman jewellery communicated identity publicly, this paper also brings the material properties of gemstones into play to consider alternative, more intimate modes of viewing and suggest how engraved gems enabled the private self-bolstering and imaginative negotiation of identity as much as – or perhaps even instead of – its outward expression. On cover: Late Roman wall, the portion immediately south of the West Gate (Porta Oea) with re-used blocks from first-century mausolea (Drawing by Francesca Bigi) and Tombstone of Regina from South Shields (Arbeia) (Tyne and WearArchives and Museums/ Bridgeman Images). E-ISSN (online version) 2611-3686 ISSN (print version) 0065-0900

La filosofia kantiana definisce il concetto di trascendentale ponendo una relazione essenziale tra soggetto, conoscenza ed esperienza. Con il riferimento alle filosofie di Fichte e Deleuze, si vuole mettere in evidenza una determinazione del trascendentale che si pone oltre il piano del soggetto, nell’intuizione di una dimensione oltre la coscienza espressa dal concetto di divenire. L’articolo focalizza come questo legame tra trascendentale e divenire si definisca in modo diverso nella filosofia fichtiana e deleuziana, ipotizzando infine una possibile base di confronto tra le due speculazioni. Kantian philosophy defines the concept of trascendental establishing an essential connection between subject, knowledge and experience. The paper’s goal is to highlight a different definition of transcendental in the philosophies of Fichte and Deleuze. Specifically, the paper shows as these two philosophies connect respectively the transcendental to a becoming beyond consciousness. On this basis, I eventually suppose a possible way of comparison between Fichte’s and Deleuze’s philosophies.

Priests and their functions in Ptolemaic Egypt in light of the archive of the temple in Soknopaiou Nesos): Little is known about priests and how temples functioned in Ptolemaic Egypt. This paper provides an insight into the organisation and hierarchy of temples under the Ptolemies. The main aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the titles and functions of temple personnel by analysing documents from the archive of the temple of Soknopaios and Isis Nepherses in the village of Soknopaiou Nesos (Dimeh).

This paper identifies an early sixteenth-century Renaissance marble pedestal that was in a Maltese private collection which has since been donated to the church it was originally commissioned for. The pedestal portrays three scenes in relief relating to the iconography of St Mary Magdalene. Executed in Carrara marble, it is here being associated with a full-length Carrara marble sculpture portraying St Mary Magdalene in the Franciscan Minor’s church of Santa Maria di Gesù in Rabat, Malta. The sculpture has been linked with the oeuvre of followers of the Sicilian school of the Palermitan sculptor Antonello Gagini who was active in Messina for a decade between 1497 and 1507, but it has recently been identified as a work by the Carrarese sculptor who was active in Messina, Giovan Battista Mazzolo. This paper therefore discusses the sculpture and pedestal together as a whole work of art as well as the attribution to Mazzolo.

The continuous progress of digital technologies is leading to a methodological redefinition in archaeology: how to use the new digital tools and software in the field - often low cost - to obtain functional elements for the historical reconstruction of a landscape, site, or building, without invasive investigations. This moment for the archaeological matter could be defined as the era of the "Digital Archeology" for the progress of the new technologies that now it is necessary to connect to the traditional methods of analysis. In recent years, the UAV has become an indispensable instrument for territorial research in archeology, allowing us to create a georeferenced photogrammetric product and 3D digital models in scale. This paper will illustrate the drone use in the castle of Montefalco in Sabina (RM) during the field survey activities promoted by Roma Tre University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological sites in urban centres represent tangible historical evidence, but they can also be a clear cut in the heart of cities. They are often undervalued, and their survival is threatened by stratifications with which they should coexist for mutual enhancement. An emblematic case is the Catania Roman amphitheatre, one of the most representative Sicilian examples of hypogeal monumental archaeology. The remains are located below the 18th and 19th-century urban fabric; they are in a precarious state of preservation and unsolved integration with the city. The paper presents the results of a helpful cognitive process to provide the basis for a conservation and restoration plan. After a specific archival survey about all the scientific studies carried out so far, the research has made photogrammetric and constructive surveys to identify the leading causes of decay and propose a design solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Reti Medievali is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper analyses and edits two anonymous Latin letters that help to assess the political climate in the aftermath of the Great Schism: a Devil’s letter addressed to Clement VII and a literary polished invective against Urban VI. After a brief investigation of the events that led to the outbreak of the schism, the paper compares the two letters in light of the contemporary political framework, in order to demonstrate why they qualify as propagandistic documents that present each of the two popes as a threat for Christendom and to evaluate how they exploited their literary distinctiveness to increase the strength of their political accusations. In doing so the aim is to assess the outbreak of the Schism from a viewpoint based on some distinctive strategies of political communication employed after the double election.

The goal of this article is to provide several practical procedures for working within the GIS environment in the archaeological sector, with specific reference to the excavation site, through open source methodologies and software such as Qgis and PyArchinit. It will also demonstrate how to use the data derived from the survey, processed and managed through Qgis and PyArchinit for enhancement projects such as 3d modeling and 3d mapping through Blender software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the geopolitical status of the Upper Tigris area in antiquity, with a special focus on the period between ca. 401 BCE and the 6th century CE. Despite the popular impression that this area had a distinctly Armenian character, a closer look at its history shows that it was rather a territory with many local geopolitical entities that many neighboring countries periodically fought to possess. This area was strategically significant as a transit region located on the crossroads of important long-distance communication lines. Likewise, its natural resources were undoubtedly crucial to the neighboring countries. Indeed, powerful neighbors around the Upper Tigris area, including Armenia, the Iranian kingdoms of the Parthians and Sasanians, and Rome, sought to control this area, which was often located on the fringes of their states and as such was inevitably doomed to be contested by these empires onmany occasions. This situation can be acutely seen in the conflict between Rome and the Iranian kingdoms of the Parthians and Sasanians, when northern Mesopotamia became a real battleground between the competing empires. In particular, the paper will sketch the development of the geopolitical status of several small geopolitical entities in this region—Sophene, Osrhoene, Gordyene, and Adiabene.

This paper focused on the first imperial Mausoleum of the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam, Emperor Gia Long (reigned 1802-20), which is one of the components of the World Heritage property [Complex of Hué Monuments]. The paper discussed the relationship between the Gia Long Mausoleum (after this GLM) and its territory from the aspects of "Shan-Shui design", "water management system suitable to tropical monsoon climate" and "symbiosis with local com- munities". This study also revealed that the current protected area is only a tiny part of the area that Gia Long planned by deciphering an old drawing which expresses the ideal worldview of Gia Long and an old map which shows the forbidden area in that era. These research findings contribute to expanding and deepening the OUV of GLM, which was not fully taken into account when the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993 and provide a basis for establishing the appropriate protected area of GLM.

It is possible to ensure this talk into the “Open” philosophy tout-court and not on a specific issue. As it will read, only during the last year did ArcheoFOSS officially bring the “golden road” for its proceeding publication. The paper aims to get the public up to date as a brief guide to speed with Open Access applications and smartly understand the value of Open Access in the research world. The paper consists of four sessions: during the first, titled “The project,” we will recognise the previous situation in ArcheoFOSS publication, and we will define why it was essential to decide to publish from 2020 on all the proceedings in an Open Access way. The second called “Open Access Basics”, shows the fundamental rules to remember when discussing this theme. In the third session, we can find how to “Publish in Open Access”, and the last one, a “Smart introduction in the Wiki-world”, is a practical chapter.

The finds from the ancient city of Gerasa brought in 1930’two inscriptions dated to the second half of the 1st century CE which mention the deity called Pakeidas. The aim of this paper is to discuss Pakeidas and his relation to another god labelled Theos Arabikos worshipped in the same city. The authors make a broad Semitic overview on the etymology of the name Pakeidas looking at the West and East (Akkadian) Semitic evidence. The authors discuss the possible location of the temple dedicated to this god beneath the Cathedral. They also reexamine in the light of epigraphic sources in comparison to the Aramaic material from the Near East the function of archibomistai, cultic agents who served to this local god. FINANCING This paper is an outcome of a cooperation between the authors during a 10-month WiRe fellowship, Women in Research at the University of Münster, between October 2020 and July 2021. The improvements for this research are funded by National Science Centre (Poland) UMO-2021/42/A/HS3/00421 “Epigraphic culture in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East in antiquity: status, display, democracy, identity.” For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC-BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission.

The paper focuses on different aspects of material culture in communities that inhabited two of the most important regions in the Early Neolithic Balkans, North Macedonia and Bulgaria. Paper seeks to discover the causes for similarities of certain artefact types in communities that produce and use rela-tively different material culture.

Even though ovens are the most prominent feature in the Vinča culture houses, they have often been neglected in the archaeological publications. Usually, only the information about their location or number of floors is provided, but more detailed descriptions are missing. This is also influenced by their poor preservation in the archaeological record, as parts of their upper structure are often missing. But, although fully preserved ovens represent quite a rarity, contexts surrounding them are usually filled with different categories of artefacts and architectural features. These complex contexts that include ovens, offer plethora of information about different socio-economic phenomena in the Late Neolithic of the Central Balkans. Therefore, ovens should be perceived as more than just fire installations for food processing and house heating, as they can offer insight into household organization and symbolic aspects of the Neolithic life. Additionally, ovens located in the outdoor spaces can provide information about settlement organization and social dynamics on a larger scale. In this paper, different contexts around ovens are presented and interpreted – from functional, economic, social, and symbolic perspective.

The present paper deals with a whole series of ceramics from a private collection belonging first to Vasile Cosma and then sold in 1976 and in 2009 to the National Museum of History and Archaeology of Bucharest (MNIR). These objects, essentially amphora, come from late sixties-early seventies underwater discoveries, in the Mangalia harbor, 2 May village and Constanța harbor areas.

In this brief paper 34 earrings are presented, all of which are curated in the Archaeological Museum of İznik in south-western Marmara region of Turkey. They are significant, as very few items of jewellery from Bithynia have been published.

Copyright of Il Capitale Culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage is the property of Il Capitale Culturale Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines some political-institutional, cultural, and religious dynamics in the border areas of Roman Tripolitania. The site of Ghirza, in particular, offers insights into the forms and content of intercultural exchange between the native groups and the Romano-Byzantines. The settlement was also crucial for the territorial political control of the Roman administration in those marginal areas. Some of the reliefs on the local mausolea show ceremonial scenes concerning the investiture of certain chiefs. Scholars have suggested that the depiction may refer to a Roman magistrate, such as praefectus or princeps gentis. This paper aims to better define the powers related to the tribal chief of Ghirza. It also attempts to distinguish the earliest legal-institutional basis on which this office may have been rooted. The Roman government in the borderlands acted as a guarantee of political legitimacy in the management of the confederations of tribes that gravitated on the Roman limes. In this sense, this research is supposed to identify the residual “fossils” of the Etruscan-Italic magistracies which in frontier contexts were much more suitable than the Roman magistracies for indirect political management.

In the chamber tombs of Murgia Timone (Matera), a considerable amount of Middle Bronze Age 3 pottery came to light that largely fall within the typological panorama of the traditional Apennine facies. However, the study of these finds, through a comparative analysis, made it possible to highlight the presence of other specific pottery types, belonging to the so-called “Punta Le Terrare” facies, recently defined by G. Recchia and C. Ruggini. This paper discusses the material culture of the site of Murgia Timone and analyses how it relates to these two already defined facies. One example is a drinking cup from tomb 2 of Murgia Timone with a handle characterized by a depression at the centre and lateral apexes. For this type, we can find very precise comparisons at Monopoli-Piazza Palmieri, Rissieddi, Le Pazze, Roca and Punta Le Terrare. In the same tomb some bowls with a very recessed rim were also found, two of which have some small vertical segments underneath the rim. This type, attested at Murgia Timone in four examples, is also present in Civita di Paterno (Potenza), but has also comparisons in Puglia, in the sites classified within the “facies of Punta Le Terrare”: Rissieddi, Roca, Egnazia - level IV and at Punta Le Terrare. A pot with a nozzle-handle, found into tombs 1 and 2, is significant for its similarity with artefacts from the upper layer of the Cardini Cave, Cave1 of Latronico and tombs 17 and 22 of the Podere Caravello necropolis. This vessel shape is mainly attested in central and south-western Italy during the Middle Bronze Age, but has been also found at Punta Le Terrare. These data show a distribution of types that does not always coincide with the areas where usually the facies is attested. Murgia Timone is in a key geographical position between the diffusion area of the “facies Punta Le Terrare”, from which it partially takes the pottery models, and the diffusion area of the Apennine facies in northern Puglia, Campania and Calabria. The pottery from Murgia Timone displays moreover numerous similarities with sites in the Tyrrhenian area (for example the Cardini Cave). This paper therefore focuses on a critical point related to the concept of facies: the definition of rigid boundaries does not apparently reflect the real distribution of pottery types, which often go beyond the canonical limits of defined facies. This observation points out that models widely circulate between different geographical and “cultural” areas.

This paper aims to understand how heritage is the result of a simultaneous game of memory and oblivion, which carries with it visions of a hierarchical society. For this purpose, the most important heritage sites of Santa Marta, the most ancient city of South America, are analysed. In this city, it’s possible to appreciate the heritage framework that involves the commemoration of two temporalities: Spanish colonialism of XVI century, and republican endocolonialism in the XIX century. In the paper it is analysed how these two historical segments have imposed a sense of identity.

The aim of the paper is to illustrate a sharing project of an on-line digital atlas of prehistoric structures, where scholars can share the products of their research or their discoveries, enrich their mind of knowledge through several updated comparisons, analyze any details of construction and related stratigraphy, identify main types, open discussions within the frame of interpretation of ancient features. Actually, particularly related to this meeting, the early phase of the project regards published protohistoric ovens and fireplaces, proposing a basic form to fill with information and documentation as well as introducing a general discussion on models and processes. Instead of proposing a classification the paper deals with indicating characters and markers recognizable in the archaeological context as well as building a conceptual map related to the ontology of use of fire in prehistory.

The paper is concerned with a detailed consideration of one of the most well-known and frequently mentioned Slavic pagan deities: Dazhbog (or Daž(d)bog). Historiographic stereotypes full of contradictions and problems have been fixed in research concerned with the deity, for example, defining Dazhbog as the deity of the sun; its proximity to another solar deity (Chors) and vagueness, why are there two solar deities; Dazhbog’s relation to the deity Svarog/Svarozhich; Dazhbog’s belonging only to the East Slavic area; the etymology of his name as a “giving deity”. An alternative view on Dazhbog (overlooked rather than new) that can solve these problems is given in this paper.

The paper discusses a series of issues linked to the restauration and maintenance of archaeological structures consisting partly or entirely of earth layers and stratigraphic sections. Taking recent maintenance work on the theatre of the ancient Greek colony of Velia, southern Italy, as a starting point, the author explores the role of public accessibility for the conservation and perception of archaeological remains and monuments. With regard to ancient theatres, the multisensorial perception of archaeological structures and spaces is highlighted, particularly with regard to acoustics. The paper concludes by advocating an enlarged and inclusive conceptualization of monuments and landscapes in the field of archaeological restauration and conservation that pays attention to the visual, acoustic, and kinetic experience of archaeological sites.

This paper aims to explore the phenomenon of the opera minute which emerged from the avant-garde experimentalism after WWI; its beginner and one of the foremost masters, the French composer Darius Milhaud put three short, eight-minute operas on stage in 1927. Others soon followed, among them the Slovenian composer Slavko Osterc who composed the opera-minute “Medea” in 1932. This paper is the first to transcribe in length the manuscript of Osterc’s “Medea”, comparing it to Euripides’ original. Furthermore, the article aims to establish the fine similarities and distinctions between the approach regular opera took towards myth and that of the avant-garde opera-minute.

This paper critically analyses and discusses two recent re-interpretations of the name of the Slavic god known as Sventovit. This deity was worshipped on Rügen Island, on Wittow Peninsula, at a locality called Arkona. The temple of Sventovit, with his four-headed statue, stood there on the cliff there in the Middle Ages until its destruction by the Danes in 1168/9. The paper explores an article by Michał Łuczyński published in the Polish journal Ling Varia in 2015, and a chapter on Sventovit in the book by Judith Kalik and Alexander Uchitel, titled Slavic Gods and Heroes, which was published by Routledge in 2018, in the USA and UK. In his work, Łuczyński postulated that root-stem -vit in the name of a deity is, in fact, a suffix -ovit implying its attributive character. The paper argues for a widely accepted explanation that root-stem -vit derives from the Slavic vitędzь, denoting warrior, hero, freeman, lord, master or ruler. In their book, Kalik and Uchitel argued that the name “Sventovit” was a corrupted form of the name of the Christian Saint Vitus. This article challenges this notion, arguing that the deity’s name Sventovit has nothing to do with Saint Vitus.

Si presentano in questo studio alcuni materiali ceramici di produzione apula, finora inediti, provenienti da un sequestro e conservati presso l’ex Soprintendenza Archeologia della Lombardia. I materiali sono inquadrati all’interno del panorama vascolare apulo e attribuiti a specifiche mani pittoriche. I vasi, di probabile provenienza funeraria, sono inoltre analizzati sotto l’aspetto iconografico e iconologico al fine di comprenderne il loro significato e il valore all’interno della società indigena alla quale si ipotizza fossero destinati. Questa, seppur piccola, collezione offre infatti un interessante spaccato di alcune delle tematiche più importanti e diffuse nella ceramica apula di IV secolo a.C. This paper presents a selection of vases of Apulian fabric, until now unpublished, coming from a seizure and stored in the former Soprintendenza Archeologia della Lombardia. These pieces are set within the Apulian workshops and they are attributed to specific pictorial hands. The paper undertakes an iconographic and iconological analysis of the vases, probably from funerary contexts, in order to understand their meaning and value within indigenous society, to which it is supposed they were addressed. This collection, even though small, offers an interesting image of some of the more important and common themes of Apulian pottery of the IV century B.C.

In contemporary society, artificial intelligence (AI) impacts human lives to different extents, including reshaping the public's creative experience. Software and programs enable users to create images from scratch, notwithstanding their actual knowledge or competencies. The visual art system is currently facing an ongoing democratization process, in which the distance separating the creator and the informatic algorithm is gradually fading. Therefore, there is a growing need to analyze AI's implications on the creative process. The paper will analyze the different software and websites providing image- generating services while discussing their impact on society as a whole.

This paper announces the launch of a research project of high scientific impact in the main field of humanities, which aims to shed new light on the process of Roman municipalization in an extended part of North Africa through the study of a rich dossier of historical sources thanks to the cooperation of scholars of different backgrounds.

The present paper deals with the dedications made by the soldiers from Germania Inferior to Celtic deities. The most frequently worshipped deities by soldiers of all ranks are Hercules Magusanus and Rhenus. Differences in the preference of Celtic to Germanic or Mediterranean divine names cannot be postulated. Since most of the inscriptions can be dated to the end of the 2nd or the 1st half of the 3rd century CE, it is not possible to speak of a Celtic worship of gods of any kind.

Each unit of the Roman army constituted a major logistic operation that cannot be reduced to the fighting men who formed their core and purpose. While camp followers are depicted in literary sources especially as an hindrance to war operations, inscriptions provide a different picture of the world that gravitated around the military forts and fortresses. In the military settlements that guarded the limes, the presence of paramilitary and non-military personnel did not represent a burden, but an important part of the military economy, which in some cases even led to the emergence of a new business class. In this paper, we provide an anthology of verse inscriptions dedicated by, or to, camp followers, with a view to showcase how their everyday interactions with the army were conceptualised and verbalised, ultimately contributing to a richer picture of the limes social ecosystem.

This article aims to explore the uses of material culture and their relevance to identity formation. The premise is applied specifically to the moving auxilia, in order to observe the effects of movement and transfers on the selection and consumption of material culture within the military environment. It is common knowledge that pottery supply and use within the Roman military were to an extent governed by specific state-controlled supply routes and contracts, meaning that the same pottery styles could have been observed at different forts from different regions. Nonetheless, the cultural side of demand should not be overlooked as it may have tailored supply differently to various regions depending on the preferences in the area. Similarly, auxiliary units transferred from home may have preserved some of their familiar pottery styles and reproduce them upon arrival to the new territory. This article will explore the ways pottery was employed at locations associated with Batavian auxilia in order to capture their image construction between home and abroad. Once removed from their core territory and placed in a new environment with new norms in terms of material culture and even dressing and addressing one another, how did their consumption adapt to the area and to which extent did it keep a unique character? The main case-study explored in this paper is Războieni in order to assess the pottery consumption patterns of Batavian auxilia abroad in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.

In his paper the author deals with a funerary verse epitaph from Scarbantia (Sopron) published by him earlier (TRHR 38). Based on his new restoration, the gravestone (stela) was erected to a veteran by his wife who served earlier as fleet soldier. He was most probably called Britto. Several vulgar Latin phenomena can be observed in the inscription that was erected in the second half of the third century or at the very beginning of fourth c. The type of the metrical formula resiste viator et lege can be found in several Pannonian verse inscriptions. Based on the pieces of information given in the problematical parts of lines 2 and 3 that concern the wife, at least one line is missing at the beginning of the text and she erected the grave monument and the funerary epitaph to herself as well.

This paper presents graffiti discovered on a few plates discovered in a barrack from the fort of ala I Batavorum milliaria in Dacia. Typical for the Batavian troops, the onomastics is Latin and Greek. The instrumenta prove that the soldiers scribbled their names on every-day use vessels and offer us a glimpse of the very men that lived there together.

This paper focuses on the military personnel epigraphically attested at Callatis and Odessus up to the 3rd century AD. Considering the status of the two cities as civitates peregrinae, the presence of soldiers is exceptional, and mostly temporary, consequently, it is interesting to see what are the epigraphic traces that soldiers leave here, and in what context.

Palermo during late antiquity and the early Byzantine period is largely unknown. Many reasons contribute to this gap. What remains yet to be uncovered is continuity of life that has not seen any systematic investigation, hampered also by a critical delay in the publishing of previous excavations. Despite these issues, our knowledge of the town in the above period has improved slightly in recent years thanks to chance discoveries. Among them, the excavations conducted inside the former Montevergini monastery where archaeologists have found a complex sequence of archaeological levels from the 3rd century B.C. to the present day. This paper will focus on a single layer that has yielded a rich pottery assemblage comprising late African imports and other presumed locally manufactured objects. These findings enhance our knowledge of the local economy and daily life in one of the major port cities of western Sicily.

This paper aims to investigate the role of the sanctuaries in regards to the settlement-pattern, control of metal resources and mobility of those resources during the Final Bronze Age (1200-900 BC) and Early Iron Age (900-700 BC) in Nuragic Sardinia. The rise of Nuragic sanctuaries relates as a response to a profound societal and economic crisis that invests the Nuragic civilization around 1200 BC. Defined as ‘territorial compounds’ and generally associated with the cult of water, the rise of these new types of settlements corresponds also to a period of increasing metal production, internal and external metal trade. However, their role in a model that investigates the control, exchange and the internal mobility of metal resources have never been conceptualized or tested. In this paper, I argue that the rise of the sanctuaries acted as symbolic, territorial and economic nodes within and between Nuragic settlements and natural resources. The study takes advantage of spatial analysis applied with two different methods: Terrain analyses through GIS and Network Analysis. Cost Surface Analysis and Least Cost Path to investigate mobility patterns between sanctuaries, settlements and metal resources. The results will be used in the Network Analysis to understand the role of sanctuaries in connection to the exchange of metal resources among settlements.