Journal Phasis - Greek and Roman Studies
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Iberien zwischen Rom und Iran. Beiträge zur Geschichte und Kultur Transkaukasiens in der Antike. Hrsg. Udo Hartmann, Timo Stickler und Frank Schleicher
Full text linkDer persische Großkönig und die Griechen in klassischer Zeit: Kontinuitäten? Brüche? – Dominanz? Abhängigkeiten?
Full text linkWhile Greco-Persian relations throughout the 5th century BC are shaped by dramatic events such as the Ionian revolt (500-494 BC), the campaign of Datis (490 BC) and the expedition of Xerxes (480/479 BC), they do appear to have been passing off in a rather calm way during the first decades of the 4th century BC. Since the ending of the Peloponnesian War, the influence of the Great King in Greece became more tangible than in the previous decades. Among contemporaries, the peace of Antalkidas (387/86 BC) was deemed as being “sent down by the Great King“ (cf. Xen. Hell. 5.1.36). Modern research into the period after these events alternates between the two extremes of an informal hegemony of the Achaemenids on the one hand and an inherent weakness of the Persian Empire on the other. It is the aim of this contribution to emphasize that the essential principles of Greco-Persian relations largely remained the same in many respects throughout the course of the 5th and 4th centuries BC – in terms of applied resources, locations and agents, along with the various appropriable options. Direct intervention and – above all – military intrusions such as those lead by Xerxes and Alexander the Great always constituted exceptional courses of events. In respect to an evaluation of Persian policy in regard to Greece, the expectations and intentions of the Achaemenids as representatives of a major Imperial power towards this arena and its protagonist have to be considered. Therein lie interesting parallels to other major powers in antiquity (such as the Roman Empire during the Imperial Era), especially in their core-periphery-relations
Das Wissen des Nichtwissens in der Schule von Nisibis
Full text linkThe paper highlights the significance of Barḥaḏbšabbā’s treatise Causa Fundationis Scholarum for the study of the transmission (and transformation) of Greek philosophy in the Syriac East during the period of Late Antiquity. Its first section introduces the importance of the Syriac philosophical tradition. The second and main part explores special aspects of Barḥaḏbšabbā’s treatise and contributes to our understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of Barḥaḏbšabbā’s thought. Throughout the paper, specific information drawn from Barḥaḏbšabbā is placed in a larger context and (comparative and contrastive) parallels are adduced from non-Syriac branches of the philosophical tradition. Thus, it is demonstrated within the treatise the confluence of mainstream Greek ideas and concepts that are found in Ephrem and are apparently not of Greek origin. Especially, the paper points towards a hitherto unnoticed, unusually early formulation of the difference between essence and existence within an ontological framework. The paper argues that such cases of departure from, and transformation of, mainstream Greek ideas may have been occasioned by, or may be related to, specificities of the Syriac language, as is shown for some of the terminologies of existence and being (iṯyā, iṯāw(hy), etc)
From Dioskurias / Aia (Ochamchire) over Sebastopolis / Dioskurias (Skurcha) to Sukhumi / Sebastopolis. The Letter of the Episcopus Sanastupolitanus Inferioris Georgiae Reconsidered
Full text linkTraditionally, Dioskurias was equated with Sebastopolis and located at Sukhumi, although the literary and archaeological source base is rather slim and epigraphic and numismatic evidence is nearly absent. Recently, A. Coşkun (in VDI 80.2, 2020, 354-376; 80.3, 2020, 654-674) proposed to seek the location of Aia-Dioskurias near Ochamchire and its refoundation as Sebastopolis by Lake Skurcha. For this, he draws on the mythical and geographical traditions, which describe Aia and Dioskurias as situated in the “recess of the Black Sea.” River names and neighbouring tribes further suggest that the land- and riverscape of legendary Aia was developed from the environs of Dioskurias / Ochamchire. Ancient itineraries and periplus literature further seem to support this reconstruction. T. Schmitt (2022, 14-44) has tried to refute the new approach. After closely comparing the arguments and counter-arguments, Coşkun’s position can be further strengthened. Schmitt, however, adduces for the first time important Medieval evidence, including a letter of the episcopus Sanastupolitanus inferioris Georgiae (1330). But this is not sufficient to prove that Sebastopolis lies buried under Sukhumi. After exploring the context of Genoese colonial activities and king George V’s fight for independence from Ilkhanid and Mongol occupation, it will be suggested instead that the Catholic bishop of Sukhumi became the titular successor of the then defunct Orthodox bishopric of nearby Sebastopolis-Skurcha
Medea the Feminist and Medea the Other in Modern Georgian Receptions
Full text linkThe receptions of Medea depicting her as the Other and as a feminist appear to be the main trends of her interpretation since the start of the 20th century. The article studies the Georgian receptions of Medea the Other and Medea the feminist in the context of these interpretative trends developed in her Western reworkings; namely, it focuses on three artistic productions: Medea: A World Apart, produced in 1997 by Tumanishvili Film Actors Theatre and based on Olga Taxidou’s two plays; Nino Kharatishvili’s 2007 play Mine and Your Heart (Medeia); and Madi Beriashvili’s play 2013 Medea as Medea. The conclusions suggest useful insights concerning the similarities existing between Medea’s Western and Georgian interpretations as well as the novelties her Georgian receptions present
