This article re-analyses in detail the meaning of the expression ludi Graeci which appears in two of Cicero’s letters (Ad Fam. 7,1 and Ad Att. 15,5). A careful examination of the first instance reveals that ludi Graeci indeed referred to theatrical performances in Greek language and not merely to Latin plays that followed Greek models. A brief s…[Read more]

At Christmas, Christians celebrate that Jesus was born on December 25 as the son of God andthe Virgin Mary. But this event is not unique. In this article, I show that the birth of Jesus hasseveral non-Christian predecessors, whereby various elements of the ritual dynamics have beenChristianized and implemented into the figure we know today as Jesus Christ.

Elodie Paillard, ‘Greek Theatre in Roman Italy: From Elite to Autocratic Performances’, in E. Csapo, H.R. Goette, J. R. Green, B. Le Guen, E. Paillard, J. Stoop, P. Wilson, Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, De Gruyter, 2022

This book explores the staging of non-élite characters in the seven extant tragedies of Sophocles and how they related to contemporary middling citizens. The structure of fifth-century Athenian society underwent deep changes between the early and late plays of Sophocles. The appearance and growing political importance of a middling…[Read more]

This paper compares psychostasia and/or kerostasia concepts from Indo-European, Semitic and adjacent cultures, and relates them to Cognitive Metaphor Theory. In the context of metaphysical weighing, the religions of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome all associated lightness with goodness and/or a favourable outcome; Hinduism does likewise. The…[Read more]

This paper aims to examine models by which symbolism of light and lamp in
the Mediterranean region was manifested in the early Christian visual culture,
i.e. lamp representations from Central Balkans. Lamps with Early
Christian representations are considered in the context of transculturality
of Late Antiquity, as well as political and…[Read more]

Two of the most fundamental distinctions in metaphysics are (1) that between reality (or things in themselves) and appearance, the R/A distinction, and (2) that between entities that are fundamental (or real, etcetera) and entities that are ontologically or existentially dependent, the F/D distinction. While these appear to be two very different…[Read more]

A survey of Buddhism in Japan from roughly the time of its introduction into the mid-ninth century. The following topics are covered:
The Introduction of Buddhism to Japan – Transmission Myths – The Myth of Prince Shōtoku – The Myth of a Buddhist-Shintō Rivalry – Temples in and around the Capital – Provincial Temples – The Order of Nuns – Female…[Read more]

Three consecutive patriarchs of Esoteric Buddhism were Amoghavajra of India, Huiguo of China, and Kūkai of Japan. This paper foregrounds the usually taken-for-granted but vital historical role of language education and translation in the international spread of religion and culture. There had to be sufficiently educated bilingual or multilingual…[Read more]

Through the book Kūkai the Universal, the podcast guest discusses the life and times of Japan’s great saint Kūkai, Esoteric Buddhism, and Zen, in terms of East Asian history, language education, and translation issues including voice.

The early history of the study of Parthian art may be profitably divided into three overlapping phases. The first phase, ‘Ordering’, begins with Johann Joachim Winckelmann’s dismissive assessment of Parthian art, at this point known mainly from coins, as derivative and barbaric. The second phase, ‘Exploration’, begins in the mid-ninet…[Read more]

पत्रकार और शिक्षाविद् प्रमोद रंजन ने जून, 2017 में हिमाचल प्रदेश के दुर्गम इलाकों की यात्रा की थी। इस यात्रा में उन्हें किन्नौर जिले के सुदूर गांव कानम के एक गोम्पा में सुमार नाम की जोमो मिलीं। जोमो यानी बौद्ध भिक्षुणी। मध्य हिमालय की अपूर्व शांति से भरी उस घाटी में सहज वात्सल्य से भरीं 56 वर्षीय सुमार के साथ कुछ घंटे बिताना उनके लिए एक अनूठा अ…[Read more]

This article examines the Greek goddess Hygieia by looking at her identity, cult status in the ancient world and subsequent scholarly reception. Should she be viewed as a goddess or a personification? By studying Hygieia primarily as a concept of health within ancient medicine, as well as a personification and a goddess, it will be argued that…[Read more]

In this paper, I argue that Hygieia has to be viewed as a full goddess in Greek religion and medicine, with a special focus on her position within the Asklepios cult. I will examine her identity, to which scholars attribute several labels like goddess, abstraction and personification. I further argue that Hygieia’s role in performing incubation r…[Read more]

The present paper aims to investigate the role of anthropology in the development of Ritual Studies as an inter-disciplinary platform, with a focus on ritual dynamics by using a historiographic description, focusing on thetransition of Greco-Roman to Christian culture. This study attempts to shed light not only on the contributionof anthropology…[Read more]

खूबसूरत प्राकृतिक दृश्यों से परिपूर्ण किन्नौर का समाज व संस्कृति शेष भारत से अलग है। यह बौद्ध धर्म का इलाका है, जिसे हिंदूवादी संस्कृति लीलती जा रही है। आर्थिक संपन्नता के आगमन से जाति-आधारित उत्पीड़न और भेदभाव कम हो रहा है। प्रमोद रंजन ने इस यात्रा संस्मरण में किन्नौर की विशिष्ट संस्कृति, बहु पत्नी प्रथा, वहां के समाज और राजनीति…[Read more]

Sometime in the second century CE, Pausanias of Magnesia (modern-day Turkey) wrote the Description of Greece. Ostensibly a tour of the places to see on the Greek mainland, the Description also provides historical accounts related to the topography through which Pausanias moves. Little attention has been given to how these building blocks of…[Read more]

The present article examines the Corpus Leidense, the group of eight Ciceronian treatises among which the De natura deorum was also transmitted, focusing on its archetype. The second and longer section contains the first complete list of the 174 identified manuscripts of De natura deorum, with 57 new items added to the 117 already listed by Pease…[Read more]

Recent scholarship has done much to challenge the long-held antipathy towards Pausanias, even if some of the best studies appear “enamored not so much of Pausanias himself as they are of the idea of Pausanias”. As one of the leading new Pausaniacs, Greta Hawes has been at the vanguard of efforts to get the measure of this storied landscape. Her…[Read more]