Based on the basilica of the Theater in Messene the architectural planning and building practices in provincial monuments of the sixth century is examined. In the basilica’s impost capitals, the use of position- ing marks for the correct setting of the colonnades is observed and on the paved floor of the sanctuary auxiliary etchings are visible f…[Read more]

During the older excavation of Messene by Anastasios Orlandos a quite original smaller than life-size marble statue of a Roman emperor wearing a short tunic and holding in his left hand the orb had been located and dated to the 4th c. AD. Further exploration of the area by Petros Themelis in the 1990s unearthed a magnificent Roman urban domus of…[Read more]

During the older excavation of Messene by Anastasios Orlandos a quite original smaller than life-size marble statue of a Roman emperor wearing a short tunic and holding in his left hand the orb had been located and dated to the 4th c. AD. Further exploration of the area by Petros Themelis in the 1990s unearthed a magnificent Roman urban domus of…[Read more]

Both in terms of its content and its methodology, Pious Irreverence is a pioneering work. Weiss artfully employs all the tools of textual analysis developed over the last four decades of rabbinic scholarship and brings them to bear on TY, a largely neglected corpus. Tanhuma-Yelammedenu has never been studied as a work of theology, nor from a…[Read more]

This paper has two parts. First, I examine Basil of Caesarea’s theological anthropology and show how he understands the human being as a body-soul unity. The body is the good instrument of the soul. It is marvelous because it has been molded by God’s own hands. In the second part, I examine what I call Basil’s theological physiology, which flows…[Read more]

Basil of Caesarea, in his polemic against astrology (Homiliae in hexaemeron 6,5−7), makes direct, creative uses of Origen’s anti-astrological treatise (Philocalia 23). My argument is based on an identical context, namely the interpretation of Gen 1:14b, and five close similarities in content, some verbatim, between Basil’s sermon and Orige…[Read more]

This dissertation proposes a social analysis of the Early Christian basilicas (4th-6th century) of Southern and Central Greece, predominantly those in the Late Roman province of Achaia. After an introduction which places the dissertation in the broader context of the study of Late Antique Greece, the second chapter argues that church construction…[Read more]

“And Both are Equal”: Exegesis Creating Values in Ancient Jewish Texts

Amit Gvaryahu

There are many gaps between the primary or literal interpretation of what is written in the Torah and the way the Sages interpreted it in midrashim, the Mishnah, and the Talmud. Many scholars see these gaps as a result of the Sages’ imposition of exter…[Read more]

Published in The Embroidered Bible: Studies in Biblical Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Honour of Michael E. Stone. Edited by Lorenzo DiTommaso, Matthias Henze, and William Adler (Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2017

Rachel Neis’ article treats Hekhalot Rabbati, a collection of early Jewish mystical traditions, and more specifically §§ 152–169, a series of Qedusha hymns. These hymns are liturgical performances, the highlight of which is God’s passionate embrace of the Jacob icon on his throne as triggered by Israel’s utterance of the Qedusha. §§ 152–1…[Read more]

The Department of Classical Archeology at the University of Vienna is currently investigating settlement processes and material culture in rural areas of the Roman province of Noricum by means of noninvasive survey methods. The aim is to create a new and widely accessible digital data base for different, tangible forms of rural settlement…[Read more]

The Department of Classical Archeology at the University of Vienna is currently investigating settlement processes and material culture in rural areas of the Roman province of Noricum by means of noninvasive survey methods. The aim is to create a new and widely accessible digital data base for different, tangible forms of rural settlement…[Read more]

The Department of Classical Archeology at the University of Vienna is currently investigating settlement processes and material culture in rural areas of the Roman province of Noricum by means of noninvasive survey methods. The aim is to create a new and widely accessible digital data base for different, tangible forms of rural settlement…[Read more]

Surveys the Begriffsgeschichte of istiṭāʿah (< τὸ αὐτεξούσιον; τὸ ἐφ´ ἡμῖν) in antique and late antique philosophical and theological/patristic texts, the Syriac&Arabic reception history of the Nicomachean Ethics, Alexander of Aphrodisias's Maqāla fī l-istiṭāʿa, Nemesius of Emesa's K. Ṭabīʿat al-insān, and early Christian-Arabic literature, and…[Read more]

Discusses the Graeco-Syriac-Arabic transmission of Nemesius of Emesa’s Περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου and related texts. The focus is on the notions of istiṭāʿah (τὸ αὐτεξούσιον; τὸ ἐφ´ ἡμῖν), irāda, qaṣd and ikhtiyār (προαίρεσις) in philosophical theories of action, the reception history of the Nicomachean Ethics, and their historical and conceptual relati…[Read more]

Surveys the Begriffsgeschichte of istiṭāʿah (< τὸ αὐτεξούσιον; τὸ ἐφ´ ἡμῖν) in antique and late antique philosophical and theological/patristic texts, the Syriac&Arabic reception history of the Nicomachean Ethics, Alexander of Aphrodisias's Maqāla fī l-istiṭāʿa, Nemesius of Emesa's K. Ṭabīʿat al-insān, and early Christian-Arabic literature, and…[Read more]

Discusses the Graeco-Syriac-Arabic transmission of Nemesius of Emesa’s Περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου and related texts. The focus is on the notions of istiṭāʿah (τὸ αὐτεξούσιον; τὸ ἐφ´ ἡμῖν), irāda, qaṣd and ikhtiyār (προαίρεσις) in philosophical theories of action, the reception history of the Nicomachean Ethics, and their historical and conceptual relati…[Read more]

Pre-publication draft (not intended for circulation or citation) of a contribution to a forthcoming edited volume on Narsai of Nisibis. Any comments, suggestions, or corrections are welcome (email to jwalters@rc.edu).

In this paper I outline a historical materialist framework for the transhistorical critique of ethnicity, providing a case study in the shaape of Armenian settlements in medieval New Rome. This is necessary since constructivism – the dominant theoretical tradition of the last forty years or so – has failed to dethrone common sense, met…[Read more]

An analysis of Ioannes Zonaras’ history, in particular its preface, in the light of recent debates over East Roman identity and republicanness, drawing a broad set of comparanda from the eleventh and twelfth centuries.