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The repair of ancient ceramics has become a topic of growing interest to scholars of Greek and Roman ceramics. This study focuses on the ancient ceramic repairs uncovered at the city of Myra in the Lycian region. An analysis is presented regarding the repairs made to the Roman and Byzantine pithos, amphorae and green glazed bowl uncovered in the Myros Valley, the Acropolis and the Agora. The reasons for the ceramic repair in Myra are also discussed.

This article presents a state-of-the-field assessment of the use of digital resources and tools in ancient Mediterranean studies teaching. 1 This includes a presentation of the results of a recent survey focusing on pedagogical practices and multimedia use among ancient Mediterranean studies professionals and an overview of the benefits and challenges of incorporating rich-format media and digital resources into learner-centered curricula. The article also provides a summary of methodological approaches that can enhance learning retention and promote authentic and deep learning, with the goal of empowering students to think critically about the ancient past and their modern world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the identification and study of the features of cognitive metaphors of the past and related concepts in the Greek linguistic picture of the world. The analysis considers the nominations: ιστορία (history), κληρονομιά (heritage), παρελθόν (past) and αρχαιότητα (antiquity). The research sets main cognitive structures in the source domain that are inherent to all analyzed concepts. Metaphorization predominantly takes place around the image-scheme of the path (“sourcepath-goal”), personification and perception of the concepts in the target domain as objects. The path has a structure-shaping role: both linear and labyrinthine path models are registered, while the movement mostly occurs in the opposite direction with the focus on the starting point of the journey (the source). Ethno-specific feature includes orientational metaphor, which suggests that the past is up. The broad scope has personification (first of all, with social and professional roles), as well as objectification, based mostly on visibility or concealment of the objects, as well as on their physical characteristics. A distinctive feature is the perception of antiquities as neighbors that exist side by side with the modern population, and antiquity, on the contrary, as a poet communicating with poems. One can also highlight the perception of the past and heritage as exhibits – something that is exposed to the public and is source of pride. Besides, natural phenomena and the construction are the common source of metaphorization for the past, history, heritage and antiquity in the Greek linguistic picture of the world.

The ancient town located at Alto de Rodilla (Monasterio de Rodilla, Burgos, Spain), identified as Tritium Autrigonum, has never been the subject of an archeological excavation, although the site has been known for a long time. However, the aerial survey campaigns conducted between 2001 and 2015 made it possible to take a large number of photographs that expose the urban form of the city. They reveal, on an unprecedented scale, a significant portion of the buried structures throughout the agglomeration. After a brief presentation of the site and the extent of our current knowledge, this work details the exploitation of the rectified and georeferenced aerial views, making it possible to obtain an unedited planimetry of the remains. It also provides an exceptionally detailed description of the site. This expanding documentary base was used in 2016 to study the remains identified as monuments. Since then, the analysis of the analysis of the aerial photographs has made it possible to obtain a general plan of the city, the various facets of its urbanism in its various aspects and to situate the city within the urban spaces of the northern Hispanic area.

Several skulls dated to the Early Iron Age discovered in various burial grounds located in the Prikuban and North Caucasus regions are examined in the article. All the skulls are dated to the early Iron Age. The skulls exhibit distinctive signs of scalping. Two of the skulls originate from the Meotian burial ground found in the Starokorsunsky hillfort No. 2, situated near Krasnodar and spanning from the 6th century BC to the 3rd century AD. One of the skulls was excavated from an ancient rural settlement dating to the 2nd centuries BC near the village of Starotitarovskaya in the Krasnodar region. Finally, the remaining skull was unearthed at the Gaston Uota site in Digor Gorge, North Ossetia. This site, concerning the Kobani culture, is dated between the 7th century BC and the 1st half of 4th century BC. The article presents four new instances of scalping originating from Southern Russia. All of the skulls belonged to adult males, and two of them exhibited injuries that appear to have occurred shortly before death. Among the skulls found at the Gaston-Uota burial ground and the settlement near Starotitarovskaya, scalping was executed in the conventional manner, entailing full-scale incisions over the entire hair-covered area. On the other hand, victims buried at the Starokorsunsky hillfort No. 2 displayed evidence of partial scalping, where only the top portion of the cranium vault was scalped, resulting in a limited area of scalp removal. This discrepancy in scalping techniques may reflect distinct cultural traditions associated with this ritualistic practice.

The article revisits the first catalogue of ancient Greek and Roman coins in British collections, published by N.F. Haym in London in 1720. In the collection of the Duke of Devonshire, Haym found a golden coin from Cyrene with the image of strange small animal next to the silphium, the vegetative symbol of Cyrene, which evinced a multidisciplinary interest during the Enlightenment period in England. Such coins from Cyrene constitute the subject of the current investigation, which aims to analyze their iconography and, specifically, to identify the animal and tentatively suggest the reason that it was depicted together with the silphium. Among other things, the author concludes that the coin from the collection of the Duke of Devonshire helped the development of three fields of study: numismatics, zoology, and botany.

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Copyright of Stratum Plus Journal is the property of P.P. Stratum plus 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 article presents the results of archaeoparasitological and palynological research of the cultural layers located in the ancient Artesian settlement in the Eastern Crimea. The study revealed the species composition of parasites and palynological spectrum in the cultural layers. Parasite eggs distribution over the layers indicates high content of eggs in almost all periods of the citadel’s existence. High abundance of geohelminth eggs in the studied samples, which might belong to both humans and domestic animals, indicates the unsatisfactory sanitary state of the settlement and the constant risk of infection with geohelminthiasis and intestinal infections possessing the same fecal-oral route of transmission. Features of the studied spore-pollen spectra do not allow a detailed reconstruction of the vegetation dynamics in the vicinity of the Artezian fortress at the turn of the millennium. The major reason is complexity of spectra formation: in addition to pollen deposited from the air (pollen rain), a significant proportion consists of pollen grains brought from other sources. Furthermore, interpretation of the spore-pollen spectra is complicated by presence of a large number of microcharcoals and burnt pollen grains. Despite the above-mentioned challenges in the study of samples from the cultural layers of the Artezian archaeological site using spore-pollen method, we have determined that the inhabitants of the settlement probably used animal dung as fuel, and that at the turn of the millennium, forestless open landscapes covered with steppe vegetation were predominant around the settlement. An important result of the study is the demonstration of unexplored opportunities to investigate cultural layers by archaeoparasitological and palynological methods and of the obtained data use as a source of bioarchaeological information.

Методы петрографии давно и успешно применяются в геологии для описания и классификации горных пород. Во второй половине XIX в. они были заимствованы исследователями для изучения глиняных изделий, с целью определения компонентного состава сырья и минералов, использованных в качестве отощителя, а также для установления степени их изменений в процессе декарбонизации. Кроме того, петрография позволяет изучать органические остатки в составе формовочной массы с целью определения температуры обжига изделия. Со временем данное направление переросло в отдельную дисциплину, получившую название керамической петрографии и ставшей, по сути, археологическим методом изучения артефактов из глины, сочетающим традиционные археологические (визуальный, морфологический, типологический и т.д.) и естественнонаучные приемы характеристики керамики. В статье рассматривается отечественная и зарубежная историография, посвященная петрографическому анализу, преимущественно, обожженных сосудов. Главный акцент делается на исследованиях, затрагивающих основные вехи развития самого метода, а также характеризующих опыт его применения при изучении керамики античной эпохи. В статье также затрагиваются проблемы современного состояния керамической петрографии в отечественной науке.

Copyright of Stratum Plus Journal is the property of P.P. Stratum plus 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 “Cinquante Arpentsʺsettlement at Tremblay-en-France (Seine-Saint-Denis) was founded at the turn of the 4th and 3rd c. BC on the north-eastern edge of the city of Parisii. Its occupation was continuous until the end of the 3rd century AD, followed by a brief settlement in the last third of the 4th century. Despite it being heavily eroded, a wealth of data on finds and features represent seven well-characterised occupation phases, grouped into four main phases: Middle and Late Tène, the Early Roman Empire, the second half of the 3rd century and the end of the 4th century. For most of its long history, the site was home to an elite whose prosperity was based on the exchange of agricultural produce and through the control of the surrounding farmland. Its social position and the legibility of its interpretative models make it a benchmark site in the Plaine de France.

This paper presents a brief overview of fishing in Galicia during Antiquity on the basis of fishing equipment—in particular hooks and weights—recovered from several sites of indigenous origin (castros or hill forts) and newly-established Roman settlements around the basin of the Miño river. Although the topic has often passed unnoticed by archaeological research and suffers from a distinct lack of literature to guide future efforts, the more or less recent publication of papers dealing with this topic in depth has facilitated the study of the Galician record, which is supported by literary and iconographic sources as well as ethnographic documents. The latter have proved relevant in this context, as the world of fishing tends to hold on to traditions. The author sets out to establish a correlation between the remains of fishing implements found and the possible fishing gear they would have been attached to. RESUMEN: Se presenta una síntesis del estado de la cuestión pesquera en Galicia durante la Antigüedad a partir de las evidencias de equipamiento pesquero, esencialmente anzuelos y lastres, registradas en diversos yacimientos de raíz indígena (castros) y de asentamientos romanos ex novo emplazados en la cuenca del río Miño. Pese a la falta generalizada de atención por parte de la investigación arqueológica, ausente de directrices de proyección global, la publicación más o menos reciente de ciertos trabajos que abordan en profundidad esta cuestión facilita el estudio del registro gallego, sustentado por las fuentes literarias, iconográficas y por la documentación etnográfica, la cual revela aquí su relevancia, dado el carácter marcadamente conservador del mundo de la pesca. Se propone un ensayo de correlación entre los restos de instrumental pesquero exhumado y los posibles aparejos y artes de pesca a los que irían adheridos.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the term “manubiae” in the context of the construction activity of magistrates in ancient Rome. The author's arguments show that neither ancient sources nor historiography can resolve the dispute about war booty and manubial construction. Therefore, the author of the article proposes a different solution to the problem – in order to determine what manubiae is, how it differs from praeda, how and who could use manubiae, it is necessary to consider some property embezzlement claims by Roman generals (i.e. how and who could not use manubiae and on what grounds the Roman Senate could accuse duces of peculatus during the Rebuplic period). In conclusion, the definition of manubiae is given as part of the spoils of war, which was at the disposal of the generals.

The article describes a method for calculating the volume of amphorae using the three-dimensional editor Blender and proposes a new fairly accurate method for calculating the volume of antique amphorae on the example of transport amphorae of the Kos island IV–I century BC. The method described in the article is based on the 3-D model of amphorae as complex bodies of revolution. The creation of an effective 3-D model of a transport amphora proves the fundamental possibility of creating similar mathematical models for amphorae in other antique centers of winemaking and trade.

This study was based on the material of two anthropological series originating from the territory of the kurgan cemetery sites at Volna 1 and the Starokorsunskaya settlement 2. Volna 1 is located 10 km from the village of Taman, and according to archaeologists, it could have been a previously unknown Greek Apoykia. To this date, the excavations of the monument have been fully completed, which gives us the opportunity to speak with confidence that 6th–2nd centuries BC is the period it dates back to. The second kurgan cemetery we examined belongs to Starokorsunskaya settlement No. 2 located 6 km from the village. The settlement and the adjacent necropolis have been studied by the Krasnodar archaeological expedition for almost 35 years, as a result we have an extensive anthropological collection, and a part of it became the subject of our study. The monument dates back to the period of 6th century BC – 3rd century AD and is considered to be a reference one of the largest Meotian settlements in the Kuban region. Both sites are characterized by poor preservation of bone tissue and strong skeletons fragmentation. In spite of that, we used the craniophenetic program and studied 81 skulls obtained during excavations of Volna 1 and 60 skulls from the Starokorsunskaya settlement. As a result of pairwise intragroup comparison using the chi-square of the two population groups of Volna 1 6th–4th centuries BC and 4th–2nd centuries BC we cannot speak of a statistically significant difference. When comparing the two sample population groups from Volna 1 and the Meots from the Starokorsunskaya settlement No. 2, a high similarity of the inhabitants of the Black Sea territories with the Meotes from the Kuban region was noted. Probably, this allows us to assume predominance of Meotian groups in Volna 1 population.

A Roman-Egyptian mummy portrait of a young woman in a pink tunic is part of the Allard Pierson collection in Amsterdam. The portrait is well-known and a key piece of the collection, but has received little scholarly attention so far. The life and the afterlife of the portrait are therefore poorly understood. The authors approach the portrait from different perspectives: its provenance and acquisition, the artist’s materials and techniques, the dating conventions surrounding mummy portraits and their cultural context. The authors advocate for this in-depth multidisciplinary approach primarily because it spotlights specific areas in mummy portraits (in this case, the pearl earrings) where iconography, materials and techniques and ancient socio-economic developments converge. Provenance research proved important not only for securing the object’s bona fide acquisition, but also for tracing its second-life biography. These converging perspectives effectively cast light on research areas where more work remains desirable. In lieu of secure documentation of the archaeological findspot (which is the case with most mummy portraits) this approach is a powerful tool to nonetheless compose histories that help to understand the meaning of mummy portraits in the past and in the present and provide a durable framework for future research.

Within contemporary developments of Asian regional security, a core undertone of conflict catalysts and motivations for territorial claims is directly motivated through archaeological findings. These findings include artefacts and settlements, which are utilised to justify political and territorial claims in the region. This overlooked factor will be analysed using three regional case studies through an archaeological and security studies lens. The research aims to further understand Asia Pacific regional security and political disputes and reflect conflict motivation undertones of each interacting nation-state. The article assesses core case studies of Chinese claims in the South China Sea, Japanese and Korean island claims, and Thai-Cambodian temple disputes. The research will analyse how site evidence becomes politicised to justify territorial claims in Asia- Pacific. Through interdisciplinary research, the article will conclude with a greater understanding of assessing conflict development and motivations between state actors in the Asia Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper features a review of the book AZERBAIJAN ON THE SILK ROAD. Baku: “Tahsil” Publ., 2020, 384 p., prepared and published in the Republic of Azerbaijan under the guidance of Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan Sh.M. Mustafayev and a group of scientists represented by archaeologists, architects and orientalist historians. This group of authors was able to clearly demonstrate the deep influence of the Silk Road on the centuries-old history of Azerbaijan. The abundance of illustrations provides a clear understanding of the Silk Road routes in the territory of Azerbaijan in various historical periods, allowing to familiarize with the main objects of material culture imported and exported along the Silk Road routes at various historical stages of its operation. The publication demonstrates the role of cultural relations having formed because to the Silk Road in the development of the infrastructure of the ancient and medieval Azerbaijan cities.

The article publishes 87 ceramic stamps from the excavations of the ancient settlement “Lenina” in the agricultural district of Gorgippia. 69 of them (80.2%) were identified, while at least 14 should be considered new. The earliest stamps are dated to the 5th century BCE. These are uninformative single stamps on amphorae of Chios, Thasos, Aenus and Mende. From the 390s until the 330s BCE the settlement received Thasian and Heracleian products in stamped amphorae. A pair of stamps on amphorae of the “Thasian circle”, including Acanthus, belongs to the same period. Sinop products that again appeared in the second half of the 350s BCE on the market after a short break in 2 decades replaced almost all other products. In the period from 2nd third of 4th to early 3rd century BCE, also fixed the supply of goods marked amphorae from Knidos, and at the turn of 4th — 3rd centuries BCE — from Tauric Chersonesos. The dynamics of Sinopian products admission during the 2nd half of the 350s — mid-270s BCE remained relatively stable. However, from the mid-270s to 250s BCE, there is a noticeable break, after which only 4 Sinopian stamps were fixed until the end of the 3rd century BC, and from the end of the 230s to the end of the 160s BCE, there were also 4 Rhodian ones. This situation is related to a decrease in the volume of imported products received by the settlement.

A Roman-Egyptian mummy portrait of a young woman in a pink tunic is part of the Allard Pierson collection in Amsterdam. The portrait is well-known and a key piece of the collection, but has received little scholarly attention so far. The life and the afterlife of the portrait are therefore poorly understood. The authors approach the portrait from different perspectives: its provenance and acquisition, the artist's materials and techniques, the dating conventions surrounding mummy portraits and their cultural context. The authors advocate for this in-depth multidisciplinary approach primarily because it spotlights specific areas in mummy portraits (in this case, the pearl earrings) where iconography, materials and techniques and ancient socio-economic developments converge. Provenance research proved important not only for securing the object's bona fide acquisition, but also for tracing its second-life biography. These converging perspectives effectively cast light on research areas where more work remains desirable. In lieu of secure documentation of the archaeological findspot (which is the case with most mummy portraits) this approach is a powerful tool to nonetheless compose histories that help to understand the meaning of mummy portraits in the past and in the present and provide a durable framework for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ars Adriatica is the property of Sveuciliste u Zadru (University of Zadar) 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 presents a small circular mirror frame found in the rural settlement at Acic Suat. The mirror is made out of lead and decorated with radial lines on the frame, missing the reflective surface. Even though, such finds are numerous in the Danubian and Black Sea provinces, their functionality is still questionable, ranging from cosmetic to votive. Discussing the find from Acic Suat, together with the analogies and their potential functions, allows us to integrate the item in a wider context. Two sets of analyses were performed on the mirror, ED-XRF and PIXE, revealing its composition and highlighting the presence of bismuth and silver which can be indicators for the provenance of the lead core.

This article brings additional information to the previous reports on the amphora stamps discovered and published by the authors in various publications in the country and abroad, regarding the new amphora stamps found both in the area of ancient Callatis and its chora.

In 2003-2004, at Slava Rusă, a small-scale archaeological excavation took place, near one of the archaeological bases. The excavation brought to light a level dated in the first half of the sixth century, marked by a building and a street. Among the archaeological materials discovered are 30 tableware fragments, analyzed in this article. All of them can be dated to the end of the 5th century and the first half of the 6th century and come from Phocean and North African workshops.

The aim of the present article is to publish amphora stamps found during recent archaeological research in Tomis, on the western shore of the Black Sea, focusing this time on stamps found in 2006. The stamps originate from Rhodos, Knidos, Sinope, and Thasos.

The main issue of this paper is the study of a group of amphorae of Heraclea Pontica origin which have been found during the late antique workshop excavations in the ancient theatre of Prusias ad Hypium. According to Memnon of Heraclea, the ancient city of Prusias ad Hypium was established by the Greek immigrants who were founders of the ancient city of Heraclea Pontica. Although the city joined the Bithynian Kingdom during the reign of King Prusias I, the most brilliant and powerful age of the city was during the Roman Empire period. The ancient theatre is the best preserved ancient architectural ruin in the city, although today most of the ancient city remains are under the modern town of Konuralp. It seems to be a Greek theatre due to its location on the slope but the use of vaults and its semi-circular plan and dramatic multi-stores stage building reflect its Roman character. In this context, this theatre is a Greco-Roman building and thus, it can be accepted as a transitional form between Hellenistic and Roman theatres. The archaeological excavations which have been conducted in the theatre since 2013 brought to light several archaeological structures belonging to the period when the theatre was abandoned. Among these remains, a structure belonging to a late antiquity workshop (specialised in bone tools production) is important. The commercial amphoras, found among other ceramic categories inside the workshop, represent a group of finds that should be evaluated and constitute the subject of the present paper.

This study aims to present a series of glass finds from recent archaeological excavations in several important settlements of Roman Dobroudja-Tropaeum Traiani / Adamclisi, Carsium / Hârșova, Altinum / Oltina and Ulmetum / Pantelimon. Most of these discoveries belong to the Early Byzantine era and fall into the typology of Isings 111 stemmed goblets, used mostly as candles for lighting in early churches. However, we can also mention some earlier vessels, among which we can count the fragment of a carinated bowl made of opaque-red glass paste or two fragments of ribbed bowls from Tropaeum Traiani, as well as other fragments of beakers and cups dating back to the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. Although they do not represent typological rarities, the glass discoveries presented in this study are able to complete the general panorama of Roman and Early Byzantine glass finds in the Pontic Danubian space.

Firmalampen, produced in enormous quantities in the Northern provinces of the Roman Empire, bear with them still many mysteries to be solved. The most important of these concerns the very few individuals which have ever been used, if compared to the immense corpora of this type, gathered from Britannia to all the provinces situated along the Rhine and the Danube limes. This fact is not only in contrast with the quantities unearthed, but also with the incredible technological progress brought by a Firmalampe. By placing the wick on its channel, its lighting power doubles, being then comparable to the cumulative light provided by two contemporary "discus-lamps". This article aims to offer a new framework and new hypothesis for further studies, by examining diverse elements: locations and delocalizations of the workshops, supply chains leading to the most remote newly conquered areas, military and civilian logistic needs and tastes. Last but not least, a list of specific contexts where the majority of the lamps of this type are found with traces of use will give further clues, for the Firmalampen as well as for another poorly aesthetic and merely utilitarian type, which seem to have the same fate: the much less studied Imperial Vogelkopflampen. The latter type has also been created and manufactured massively during almost three centuries, with a specific "industrial design" elaborated to suit other specific needs: package easiness and possibility to fix them on a wall with a simple nail thanks to their vertical, pierced handle.

This paper is intended to be the first in a short series presenting the glass goblets and lamps found in the Acropolis Centre-South Sector (ACS) from Histria/Istros (Romania). The items presented here were found during the 2013-2016 archaeological campaigns and belong to the category of goblets on folded stemmed foot (Isings form 111), being mainly dated, based on type, context and associations, to the 6th century – beginning of the 7th century AD.

In the collection of the Museum of Lower Danube Călărași is housed a large number of fibulae discovered, in particular, on the iconic sites of Ostrov-Ferma 4 and Izvoarele (former Pîrjoaia, settlement associated with Sucidava of Moesia). These were discovered during the archaeological investigations and field surveys carried out at Ostrov-Ferma 4 or exclusively during field surveys in the case of the settlement/settlements from Izvoarele/Sucidava. In addition to the fibulae discovered in these sites, several other examples were donated to the Museum or left in custody, following confiscations at the Bulgarian-Romanian border, by the Romanian Border Police. The authors present this small assemblage discovered, according to the available information, on the territory of Bulgaria, in the Silistra area (Durostorum), respectively in an unknown place in Greece. We consider that their publication is necessary as some of the finds have unique traits and have few analogies in the corpus of brooches from the Lower Moesia. Moreover, because these finds were discovered outside a clear archaeological context, the question arises as to their authenticity. While some of the finds (Figs. 1-2, 8) they have not been cleaned and have all the characteristics of the antique (bronze) alloy, other finds (Figs. 3-7) – probably purchased in Greece – were somehow cleaned and kept for a long time. For this reason, the material (a bronze alloy) has become whitish. Even if we have close parallels to them, we maintain some suspicion about their authenticity.

This paper brings to the attention of researchers a bronze handle, most likely from a larger vessel, a piece that was part of the famous Pongrácz collection, housed by the National Museum of Banat in Timișoara, now unfortunately lost, kept only in the form of a drawing. We cannot say with certainty the piece comes from the ancient Dierna, but we cannot exclude this possibility either. We will try in our approach to establish the functionality of the piece and, through analogies, to try a typological and chronological classification of it. Due to the quality of the execution, the attention to detail and the mastery of the decor, we do not exclude the hypothesis that we are in front of an imported piece, both a testimony of trade relations and the level of civilization reached in antiquity by the settlements in the Danube area.

Antique architectural elements are used by the church-builder of the Middle Ages as building materials in Saint-André’s Church of Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert (Loire) for increase the prestige and the antiquity of the Saint-Rambert priory. Many of this spolia come from funeral monuments who could perhaps be linked with the villa of Saint-Côme, the most meridional of the Segusiave’s city, of which archaeological remains have been discovered 600 meters distance of Saint-André’s Church.

The articles deals with the analysis of Russian and Soviet works related to Cicero’s views on the ideal citizen, ruler, and state. There are several contradictory trends in the Russian and Soviet historiography on the topic mentioned above. The first one is about Cicero’s conservatism in ethical and political questions (Grabar’-Passek and Utchenko considered Cicero conservative). A bigger number of scholars, on the contrary, wrote about Cicero’s definite innovation (Derevnin, Kamalutdinov, Temnov, and Bragova). The approach to the essence of Cicero’s concept of the best ruler is also twofold: Vipper and Marchenko attach a monarchical essence to it, while the majority of the scholars (Vekhov, Protasova, Mashkin, Utchenko, Zimin, Motus, Derevnin, Kamalutdinov, Temnov, and Bragova) point to its non-monarchical nature. Zvirevich and Derzhavitsky wrote about the humanism of Cicero’s image of the ideal citizen. Some researchers (Zelinsky, Knabe, Motus, Chernyshov, and Bragova) believe that Cicero’s perfect state was a utopia in the time of transition from the republic to the principate, while Temnov is convinced of its realism.

The article examines human interaction with the natural environment in antiquity with a specific focus on Cyrene during the period from the sixth century B.C. to the first century A.D. The object of this examinationis silphium, a largely forgotten plant for which ancient Cyrenaica was famous. Relyingon an interdisciplinary approach, the author analyzes written and material (mainly numismatic) evidence to demonstrate how and why the discovery of silphium led to the flourishing of Cyrene, and the ways in which the undermining of environmental balance affected Cyrenaica.

At Callatis were discovered, based on the information existent at present, several representations of goddess Aphrodite, among them three clay discs or pyxis lids, four protomes, six clay figurines in various states of fragmentation, three marble statues, and three moulds, of which two for producing protomes. Aphrodite had numerous attributions, including the assuring of cohesion between citizens of a polis, her cult being a guarantee of their unity. As patroness of the magistrates, she was responsible for the cordial relations between magistrates and demos, and also of the familial harmony. The most numerous media of representation of Aphrodite are the protomes, with a double signification, votive and funerary. The protomes with feminine representations are frequently found in graves belonging to women and young girls, starting with the middle of the 5th century, their use becoming generalised during the 4th century and being still present in the 3rd century BC.

The ancient settlement of Châteaubleau (Seine-et-Marne) has delivered a significant set of triangular terracotta spinel. Their study highlighted its homogeneity and thus, permit to establish a local typology. The presence of many brands is one of the originalities. It allows us to tackle different issues, the first of which is the location of their place of production. But it also offers the opportunity to question or re-examine the function of these objects, perhaps too systematically attributed to a weaving activity. Lastly, this set has been placed in its regional context, in order to evaluate the extension area of this type of spinel, for a long time considered absent or anecdotic during Antiquity.

In 2002, a limited archaeological excavation was carried out on 3 B, Arcului Street, within the urban area of Hellenistic period Callatis. From an archaeological point a view, the north-western corner of a Hellenistic edifice was researched, where a fragmentary ceramic statuette of Aphrodite Anadyomene was found together with fragments of a small ceramic altar. The discovery confirms the cultic character of this type of ceramic statuette, while adding another researched site on the map of the Hellenistic city of Callatis.

Our paper deals with the amphora stamps (from Rhodos, Sinope, Thasos and Tauric Chersonesus; all unpublished) discovered during several excavation campaigns at Histria, the ACS (Acropolis Center-South) sector.

Our paper deals with a number of amphora stamps (from Rhodos, Sinope and the Tauric Chersonesus) discovered during the excavation campaigns at the Pârvan Basilica in Histria (all unpublished), as well as with a few new amphora stamps from previous excavations in various parts of the city. Another paper on remaining amphora stamps will follow shortly.

The importance of the Arles harbor's garbage which "sealed" the Arles-Rhône 3 shipwreck, shortly depicted hereafter, is so huge in archaeological materials, quantitatively and qualitatively, that it will give birth in the next decade to more than twenty monographs devoted each one to a specific type of artefact. This lamp-focused article aims to propose, in "avant-première" and in "globish" (the recently accepted expression designating for non-native very poor English), is to highlight only one of the many important results of the final study of the more than 816 intact lamps and +5'000 fragments discovered during the underwater excavations of the Arles-Rhône 3 shipwreck, to be published next year. As a matter of fact, never, in lychnological history, a single small excavation delivered so many motifs from so many different manufactures and adorning productions framed in only 60 years of history (70 to 130 AD), and the different social, economic, productive and merely lychnological topics to be covered in the monograph abound. Here, we would like t propose a discussion on the micro- and macro-regional trade roads and their influences on lamp iconography. As a matter of fact, the corpus is made of artifacts brought to Arles from the most remote parts of the Mediterranean as well as from the nearest Gallic workshops, exactly during the apex of creativity of the Roman workshops in terms of quantity and variety of discus themes. This flourishing lamp decoration vogue started with Tiberius' reign and will slowly end with Trajan's one, our garbage is hence covering the second half of this momentum. Arles, a major multimodal platform as we would say today, transferring goods from the sea to the river Rhône as well as to the consular road network and vice-versa, is certainly one the most perfect observation points possible towards the whole Western Roman Empire. There, we can guess some partial answers on important questions such as: which motifs remained at the level of individual imports? Which ones seduced the local manufactures? Which ones were also produced by the flourishing manufactures of one or both ends of the Western Empire (the Rhine Valley and Africa)? Which ones belong to Gallic lamp-makers' own creativity? The short comparison tables will indicate that there are a lot of hypothesis to study further in this domain. Further, an in-depth immersion on each motif will be proposed through an "illustrated dictionary" of the 290 more relevant motifs with the most relevant lists of parallels and the intact/context-dated lamps found in Gaul, eliminating all additional French-known fragments which did not bring anything relevant to the article.