6 research outputs found
«le lodi degli iddii e degli eroi». L’elogio sublime delle eroine nella sezione d’apertura della «Seconda parte» delle rime tassiane.
No full textThe essay deals with “Part Two” of Tasso’s lyric poems as published by the poet himself in 1593. Following a previous introductory essay on the same subject by the same author, the paper focuses on the first section of poems in the book, stressing the thematic and stylistic strategies chosen by Tasso to produce a sequence of poems in praise of distinguished noblewomen of his time whose names recall those of several figures from ancient mythology whom the poet connects them to in his praise
«MUSA, CHE ’N ROZZO STIL...»: IL LABORATORIO DELLE RIME
No full textThe essay focuses on some portions of the huge corpus of Torquato Tasso’s rime, mainly underlining their relationship with the poet’s biography, as explained through several of them, and reflecting on the composition of his three-part volume of rime (love poems, celebratory poems, sacred poems) and the strategic functions and rhetorical means that the Author uses to mark the unity of his collection of lyric poems as conceived and partially published under his supervision during the last years of his life
TRANSPLANTING KINGSHIP: ALEXANDER’S VISIT TO CYPRUS AND PTOLEMAIC POWER LEGITIMATION IN THE EARLY HELLENISTIC PERIOD
No full textThis article analyses a passage of Plutarch which relates that Alexander the Great visited Cyprus and appointed the gardener Abdalonymus, descendant of the Cinyrads, as king of Paphos. While historical records attest to a king Abdalonymus in Sidon, Plutarch’s account is clearly ahistorical. Alexander never set foot in Cyprus, and Abdalonymus never ruled over Paphos. The transfer of the story from Sidon to Cyprus was not a simple factual mistake, however, but a deliberate political and propagandistic device, created by an unknown author with strong Ptolemaic interests, most likely in conjunction with the establishment of Ptolemaic dominion over Cyprus by Ptolemy I. Through the long-standing Ancient Near Eastern tradition of royal gardening symbolism, which significantly influenced the island and the Levant, the story aims to legitimize the new Ptolemaic rule in Paphos, the capital of Ptolemaic Cyprus. By lending a venerable air to the new order, the story offers an alternative narrative to the dramatic death of Nicocles, the last king of Paphos and priest of the local great-goddess, who claimed descent from Cinyras and eventually committed suicide under pressure from Ptolemy I
Annelid Distal-less/Dlx duplications reveal varied post-duplication fates
No full textAdditional files can be viewed at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/11/241/additional/ "Work in the authors’ laboratory is supported by the BBSRC and the School of Biology, University of St Andrews"Background: Dlx (Distal-less) genes have various developmental roles and are widespread throughout the animal kingdom, usually occurring as single copy genes in non-chordates and as multiple copies in most chordate genomes. While the genomic arrangement and function of these genes is well known in vertebrates and arthropods, information about Dlx genes in other organisms is scarce. We investigate the presence of Dlx genes in several annelid species and examine Dlx gene expression in the polychaete Pomatoceros lamarckii. Results: Two Dlx genes are present in P. lamarckii, Capitella teleta and Helobdella robusta. The C. teleta Dlx genes are closely linked in an inverted tail-to-tail orientation, reminiscent of the arrangement of vertebrate Dlx pairs, and gene conversion appears to have had a role in their evolution. The H. robusta Dlx genes, however, are not on the same genomic scaffold and display divergent sequences, while, if the P. lamarckii genes are linked in a tail-to-tail orientation they are a minimum of 41 kilobases apart and show no sign of gene conversion. No expression in P. lamarckii appendage development has been observed, which conflicts with the supposed conserved role of these genes in animal appendage development. These Dlx duplications do not appear to be annelid-wide, as the polychaete Platynereis dumerilii likely possesses only one Dlx gene. Conclusions: On the basis of the currently accepted annelid phylogeny, we hypothesise that one Dlx duplication occurred in the annelid lineage after the divergence of P. dumerilii from the other lineages and these duplicates then had varied evolutionary fates in different species. We also propose that the ancestral role of Dlx genes is not related to appendage development.Peer reviewe
