During the Neo-Assyrian period (approximately 934-612 BCE, based in modern Iraq) the annals and royal inscriptions of several kings mention women with a curious title: ‘Queen of the Arabs’. These women have been included in previous discussions regarding Assyrian interaction with the ‘Arabs’, but a full investigation into their roles as rulers…[Read more]

This is the first of a series of 12 blog posts published in 2019, discussing open problems in computational diversity linguistics. It presents a list of 10 problems on computational diversity linguistics.

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]

More detailed discussions on Thomas Biggs: Sown Men and Rome’s Civil Wars. Rethinking the End of Melinno’s Hymn to Rome (Mnemosyne 76.3) and Gerlinde Bretzigheimer: Intertextualität und Intratextualität in Ausonius’ Epitaphia heroum (Wiener Studien 135).

The term ‘affective politics’ is sometimes used to dismiss political strategies as being directed merely at affects at the expense of rational analysis (Massumi 2015: 65f). While such uses are meant to criticize certain politics, appeals to the affects – and consequently, forms of propaganda or populism – do not have to be bad at all. The point h…[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]

Extreme Individualism & Dawkins Fallacy Dawkins argues that “gene selfishness will usually give rise to selfishness in individual behaviour” – That is an excellent illustration in academia of what David Hay referred to as “Extreme Individualism” – a problem in Western Academia which Virgilio Enriquez also brought to light. Virgilio Enriquez…[Read more]

“Ideal theorists” in contemporary liberal political theory argue that we can only arrive at a conception of what our most important political values require by reference to an imagined ideal state of affairs and that we must therefore, to some extent, engage in utopian thinking. Critical theorists, from Marx and the Frankfurt School, have tra…[Read more]

The volume under review is based on the premise that there is no real dialogue between Greek and Latin studies on the literature (and especially on the poetry) of Late Antiquity, at least not a dialogue as intense as with regard to the earlier, ‘classical’ literature. The reason for this is not least the problem that mutual dependencies between…[Read more]

The Akkadian of this lexicon was spoken by Neolithic farmers who migrated to Europe from the Middle East starting around 6500 BCE. This lexicon combined with the new genetic migration information demonstrates that Europe had its own ancient Pagan civilization just as important and innovative as any other ancient civilization. This lexicon begins…[Read more]

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]

More detailed Discussions on J. van Waarden: Leafing through Pliny with Sidonius. Sidon. Ep. 1.1, Plin. Ep. 1.1, 1.2, and 1.5, and Satire, Mnemosyne 75/6, 2022, 1021–1043 (62–64) and G. Wöhrle: Fragmente im
Überfluss. Zur Problematik eines philologischen Begriffs, Hermes 150/4, 2022, 385-404 (64–67).

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]

In this short article, I discuss a form of civil disobedience that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic: the refusal to comply with lockdown rules. Because such rule-breakers often claim that they are acting to preserve freedom, I ask whether their unwillingness to help prevent the spread of the virus is symptomatic of neoliberal individualism.…[Read more]

The Companion assembles a total of twenty chapters in English throughout, which – as explained in more detail in the Introduction by the two editors – are thematically divided into three sections (“parts”): “Isidore’s Contexts” (chapters 1-4, including the “Introduction”), “Themes in Isidore’s Works” (chapters 5-13), and “Transmission andReception…[Read more]

These are excerpts from the Forward Press team’s India tour travelogue. Forward Press Consulting Editor Pramod Ranjan, sociologist Anil Kumar and Forward Press Editor (English) Anil Varghese were part of the team that went on the tour from Delhi to Kanyakumari between 5 January and 15 February 2017. The team covered nine states and one union t…[Read more]

भारत में क्या हालत हो चुकी है, इसका अनुमान दिसंबर, 2020 में हुए एक सर्वेक्षण से लगता है। इस सर्वेक्षण के अनुसार भारत की आधी से अधिक आबादी को कोरोना-काल में पहले की तुलना में कम भोजन मिल रहा है। इनमें ज़्यादातर दलित और आदिवासी हैं। लेकिन इन सूचनाओं से भी अधिक भयावह यह है कि भारत का बौद्धिक वर्ग, ग़रीबों के सर पर मँडराते मौत के इस साये से प्राय:…[Read more]

While the Res Gestae are understood as an important source for the life and work of Augustus, Henning Ohst presents letters of the Princeps. These have survived only in fragments and through other authors, but still offer research opportunities for new questions. The focus of the contribution is the relationship of the Princeps to poets such as…[Read more]