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Arts and Humanities
Abstract
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Habsburg Monarchy was a political entity giving home to great numbers of people of different nationalities and ethnicities. However, the dominant power in the structure of this multi-ethnic state was reserved for the Germans. Yet, the ever more emphatic demands of ethnic groups of other origins for more autonomy had a serious impact on the political and cultural supremacy of the Germans. Based on this recorded background, I will examine in the context of my paper to what extent Viennese music criticism of Franz Liszt’s symphonic programme music proves to be influenced by the reception of his national facets of identity. To do justice to this concern, the first step is to gain an overview of what statements were made during the journalistic discourse on Liszt’s symphonic programme music regarding its nationality. Building on this, it will be determined what function these statements had in the argumentative mediation of the aesthetic judgement on Liszt’s programmatic compositions. Against the political background outlined above, the question arises as to whether the Hungarian-national facet of Liszt’s identity in particular was instrumentalized by Viennese critics in order to strengthen negative judgments about his œuvre by means of a politically motivated German-nationalist narrative.
2018 Symposium Classicum Peregrinum: “Blessings and Curses in Antiquity”
June 21–24, 2018 Lonato del Garda, Italy
Abstract
The discovery of the fountain of Anna Perenna in Rome in 1999, and especially the presence there of curse tablets, establishes that she was known as a religious presence in the time of Ovid and, presumably, of Vergil. This paper seeks to examine the depictions we find of her in the works of Ovid, Vergil, and in Statius’ Punica 8.
Abstract
According to Durkheim, the notion of ‘sacred’ is per se ambivalent, because it includes antinomic notions such as the pure and the impure. This theory would be justified by the original ambiguity of the Latin sacer. Only one case is always quoted: the peculiar condition of the homo sacer, a criminal consecrated to the gods. But the ambiguity of the sacer is not a problem for the Romans. The uncertainties of modern interpretation stem from the fact that this consecratio of a criminal is often explained as a sacrifice, but the destiny of the homo sacer is more analogous to the fate reserved for the violators of international treaties: on the profane side, the culprit is deprived of his citizenship and becomes a foreigner. Nor, however, is he accepted by enemies. In the same way, from an anthropological point of view, the consecrated person stays on a liminal stage: he remains forever in an uncertain gap between the sphere of men and the world of the gods. There is no ambiguity of the sacred because the homo sacer could not really reach the gods or pollute them.
Abstract
In Virgil's Eclogues curses and blessings are the heritage of the Theocritean tradition, which in turn reproduced a common feature in folk poetry. But in comparison to Theocritus, who uses these topics to give his poems a folkloric flavour, the Latin poet treats them in a very different way, removing excessively vulgar phrases from his verses, and using curses and blessings in order to give voice to deep feelings on the part of his characters. Sometimes these τόποι express positive or negative hopes in a contrasting pattern (in ecl. 3. 89–91; 7. 21–28, and, first of all, 1. 59–66, which is a special case), while sometimes there is only a positive (ecl. 5. 60–61, 65 and 76–77; ecl. 9. 30–31) or negative (ecl. 8. 52–58) view. The most common figure of speech for curses and blessings is the adynaton.
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to underline some cultic features of the cult of the Great Gods of Samothrace, in its development between Hellenistic and Roman Age. In this regard, we analyze the mythological background of this cult, with particular reference to Trojan war and Aeneas saga and the influences on the cultic performances and ideology in Roman age. Our main goal is to show, through an analysis of the different syncretic cults (Dioskuroi, Penates, Lares) and the archaeological data, how the metaphors of sea and sailing influenced the transmission of this soteriological cult in Rome and how these cultural changes represent a weighty argument to demonstrate the very important revolution introduced by the Samothracian cult in the religious thought of classical world.
Abstract
I would like to focus my paper on several words belonging to the sphere of the “Sacred” as translated from Latin into Greek by Cassius Dio. Actually, the Severian historian has to translate, that is, to explain to Greek-speaking or -thinking readers terms like sacer, sacrosanctus (especially for the tribunician power), and augustus (particularly in connection with the name of the first emperor). We shall see that Cassius Dio knows very well the exact meaning of each and every one of these Latin words, but often distances himself from traditional Roman beliefs.
The celebration of the lizard:
The iconography and iconology of a magic ritual against the evil forces
Abstract
The aim of this paper is the analysis of the meaning of the iconography of the month of September in Late Antique Roman illustrated calendars. This image alludes to the apotropaic ritual of the grape harvest done through the suspension of a lizard above bunches of grapes or containers of wine. The use of this image attests to the continuity of the Dionysian cult in Late Antiquity, even if only at a popular level, because of the definitive affirmation of Christianity. At the same time, the new religion included this iconographic pattern, which has acquired an eschatological meaning related to eternal life.
Abstract
In the glyptic repertoire of roman-republican age, numerous subjects that must be recognized as amulets with probaskanica function. These objects are designed to protect the owner from the negative effects of the evil eye. The ridiculous and caricatural aspect often seen in these engraved gems characterized the grotesque and/or deformed beings such as hunchbacks, bald, dwarfs, pygmies. A further common typical element is the sexual hypertrophy, another characteristic that, in literature, has always been associated with a clear apotropaic function. From a functional perspective, all these features would contribute to identify these characters as useful expedients to ward off the charm. Instead, from a perspective of antithetical analogy, they communicate positive symbolic concepts, such as the fullness of life, fertility, rebirth and victory over death.
Thanks to the analytical study of some pictures engraved in gems conducted by the authors, it has been possible to define a singular set similar for style, subject and type of material, produced between the second and first century BC in the Italian peninsula. The paper intends to explain the figurative and material elements, both constant or variable, that contribute to reinforce the symbolic and amuletic meaning of these gems.
Abstract
The Roman father and son of the same name, P. Decius Mus, became paragon heroes by deliberately giving their lives in battle that Rome might win over a fierce enemy. Both engaged in a special ritual called devotio (from which our word “devotion” derives) to offer themselves to the gods of the Underworld, with whom regular people have very little interaction and to whom they rarely sacrifice. While the Mus family is the most famous for this act, it turns out the willingness to sacrifice oneself for Rome frequently occurs within stories of great patriots, including the story of Horatius Cocles, Mettius Curtius, Atilius Regulus, and even the traitors Coriolanus and Tarpeia.
Romans regarded self-sacrifice as a very high, noble endeavor, whereas they loathed and persecuted practitioners of human sacrifice. It is therefore quite amazing to read that the Romans thrice engaged in state-sponsored human sacrifice, a fact they rarely mention and generally forget. The most famous enemy practitioners of human sacrifice were the Druids, whom the Romans massacred on Mona Island on Midsummer Night's Eve, but the Carthaginians, the Germans, the Celts, and the Thracians all infamously practiced human sacrifice. To Romans, the act of human sacrifice falls just short of cannibalism in the spectrum of forbidden practices, and was an accusation occasionally thrown against an enemy to claim they are totally barbaric. On the other hand, Romans recognized their own who committed acts of self-sacrifice for the good of the society, as heroes.
There can be no better patriot than he who gives his life to save his country. Often the stories of their heroism have been exaggerated or sanitized. These acts of heroism often turn out to be acts of human sacrifice, supposedly a crime. It turns out that Romans have a strong legacy of practicing human sacrifice that lasts into the historic era, despite their alleged opposition to it. Numerous sources relate one story each. Collecting them all makes it impossible to deny the longevity of human sacrifice in Rome, although most Romans under the emperors were probably unaware of it. The paradox of condemning but still practicing human sacrifice demonstrates the nature of Roman religion, where do ut des plays a crucial role in standard sacrifice as well as in unpleasant acts like human sacrifice. Devotio was an inverted form of sacrifice, precisely because it was an offering to the gods of the Underworld, rather than to Jupiter or the Parcae. Romans may have forsaken devotio, but they continued to practice human sacrifice far longer than most of us have suspected, if one widens the current narrow definition of human sacrifice to include events where a life is taken in order to bring about a better future for the commonwealth, appease the gods, or ensure a Roman victory in battle.
Abstract
Vergil constructs Dido's curse on Aeneas in direct correspondence to Dido's personal experiences; it is thus a measured response to Aeneas' desertion, as it includes a desire that he suffer what Dido herself has endured. Because Dido had initially offered a union between the Trojans and Tyrians and considered herself and Aeneas married, her curse involves both their nations.
Abstract
This paper is focused on the context of an excavation where the Capitoline Philactery was found. It is a silver-inscribed foil, in the upper part we read a short Greek text, while in the lower one the text is written in Hebraic. The foil could protect from malaria.
It was found in Rome in the Esquilino quarter in 1874 inside a Mithraeum, that took place in the 3th–4th century within an area of Imperial property. To the same place converged the cult of salutary divinities as well and in the 4th–5th century some sacred artifacts were buried together before the abandonment of the Mithraeum itself, between them there was the Capitoline Philactery.
Abstract
This paper will focus on magic rituals aimed at causing maleficia in a specific area: Sardinia. Although difficult to retrace, there is some evidence, on the island, of the existence of forms of both necromancy and oracular divination that refer, with their own forms, to the culture spread in the Roman empire. Among the most significant documents, there are the tabellae defixionum, some epigraphic texts widely documented in the Roman world, and even earlier in the Punic world. The evidence, in this case, is quite interesting, also, because it reflects the combination of different cultures in Sardinia, whose results are “original”, also in the world of magic.
Abstract
A careful methodology can enable us to be confident in the idea, largely neglected by historiography, that Socrates understood the relationships between men, the gods and wealth, in a very different manner to that of the large majority of his contemporaries. While the latter thought that the rites could lead the gods to bring them prosperity, that wealth was a blessing, Socrates was convinced of the opposite: wealth was not, in his view, a blessing, and had nothing to do with the gods. This was able to draw a few Athenians to think that philosophy could threaten the practice of religious rituals.
Abstract
This small study aims at clarifying some aspects of the encounter between Alexander the Great and the Celts on the Danube in 335 BC and the possible oath sworn by the Celts in order to seal their treaty with Alexander. The main idea is that the breaking of the oath works on the wrongdoer as a curse and the elemental gods of the Universe will seek and succeed in bringing about the evildoer’s destruction.
Abstract
The paper focuses on the occurrence of Castelluccian (Early Bronze Age) pebble pendants in sub-adult tombs found in Greek, but also indigenous sites in Sicily from 8th century BC onwards. These pebble-shaped pendants are made of various materials, especially alabaster and translucent stones. They are usually unearthed with shells, perhaps to form a single ornament, in close bond with selected people.
The occurrence in archaic infant burials, both in Greek and indigenous contexts, without being documented meanwhile, brings up a challenging issue: we can argue that these items, discovered accidentally in very ancient tombs, were considered to be old and therefore deemed particularly valuable also due to the intrinsic properties of the stones, being shiny and translucent. As a consequence (by drawing inspiration from native women's ancient knowledge?) they were probably conveyed a new meaning and turned into apotropaic amulets in order to protect children from diseases during life, and from perils in afterlife.
Abstract
This paper, which is a work in progress and a continuation of previous articles that were published on the Roman concepts of evocatio and devotio, will explore a new approach: the juridical context and implications of these religious and magical rituals. After reminding briefly the traditional interpretation (religious prayers pronounced only in a context of war) and the results of our previous articles 1 (evocatio was not limited to military context, and evocatio and devotio included magical elements very similar to formulas of execration (defixiones), we will ask questions that seem to be innovative: on the one hand, “can we compare these prayers with juridical contracts?”, and on the other hand, “had these rituals juridical and political consequences?”, such as the loss of status of a person (in this case, the devotio of enemies) and the loss of status of a place/city (in the case of evocatio). Were these religious rituals a way of making possible the symbolical destruction of a territory and the transfer of a divinity's statue to Rome, and consequently a way of making possible the real destruction of this territory and justifying its conquest? To carry out this study, we will analyze different texts that mention evocatio and devotio, and we will contrast them with texts that refer to juridical concepts (such as consecratio capitis et bonorum, exsecratio, bellum iustum, and damnatio memoriae). We will also analyze the case of cities (Veii, Praeneste, Falerii Veteres, and Carthago) that probably lost their juridical and political status after a war and after religious rituals such as evocatio and devotio. It would not be the first time that religion was used for political reasons, to justify Roman imperialism.
Abstract
Some Roman rituals with political value ware provided with the power of a curse whose mechanics was similar to that of Greek defixiones. Those who injured a plebeian tribune were consecrated to the gods or to the gods of the dead. The consecratio of a man was sometimes enacted when the blood of a citizen or the tears of a parent were poured. Blood was particularly efficacious in unleashing a curse on the person responsible for something wrong and offensive to the gods and the Roman people.
Abstract
This work focuses on the analysis of a series of famous episodes that underline the prodigious birth and the exceptional destiny of Alexander the Great. First, the article examines the accounts of the Macedonian king's conception, due to the union of his mother Olympias with the king/magician Nectanebo, or with a snake, or with the god Ammon – depending on the different versions. Subsequently, the stories of the oracles foretelling Alexander's domination over the world and the premonitions that mark his rise to power are analyzed. Finally, the death omens are also taken into account. Summing up, this study deals with the elements related to Alexander's mythology and the reasons why the literary sources of the classical world present him as a being halfway between human and divine.
Abstract
This discussion examines the religious conflict between the cult and oracle of Glykon and its Epicurean opponents recorded in the second century CE satire, Alexander the False Prophet, by Lucian of Samosata. Following the market theory of religion approach, these groups can be understood to have been engaged in an intense and escalating struggle over followers, financial support, status, and, ultimately, for survival. For the oracle and Glykon's prophet, Alexander of Abonouteichos, this effort included the use of magical curses, which were deployed against their adversaries. As such, these circumstances represent an as-yet unrecognized agonistic context for cursing to take place in the Graeco-Roman world. Alexander's use of cursing also highlights previously overlooked aspects of his own connections to the practice of magic in Graeco-Roman antiquity.
Abstract
Curse tablets are artefacts of a very specific nature. They are generally interpreted as material expression of a particular magic action, usually performed by an individual. Such finds are especially interesting for the study because they represent an epigraphic monument, on the one hand, as well as a standard archaeological find with its specific context on the other hand.
A particularly interesting phenomenon is visible on curse tablets throughout the Mediterranean – the presence of mother's name to identify the victim of the curse. The “boom” of this phenomenon occurs in the 2nd century AD, but there also are much older examples, particularly from the 4th and 3rd century BC. In the 2nd century AD, the identification of the mother spread to Italy and the African provinces, where this kind of targeting became dominant. In my paper, I will focus on the later, Latin and Greek curse tablets in the Roman Empire.
Mothers' names were assigned to identify a particular person: This is interesting because patronyms were usually used in the Greco-Roman world as the identifier. The purposes of the curse tablets bearing the mother's name were thus different: the tablets were used in cases of private action in competition, love or trials linked to family affairs – all within a ritual framework. For this reason, this paper aims to observe the curse tablets as an important medium of the ritual practice which should enable us to answer the questions: Why should the name of the father, which is usually used, be replaced by the name of the mother? Could the reason for such replacement be the recognition of the mother as a mediator for targeting her child? Is this the most precise identification, as the mother is more accurately identifiable than the father? What does it tell us about the care-giving function of the mother within the family and about the authors of the curse tablets?
Who protects children in the Roman religion? From whom?
Some reflections concerning Carna, Ino, and Thesan, in connection with Mater Matuta
Abstract
If we think of child protection in the Roman religion, the first goddess that comes to mind is Mater Matuta. This paper, however, does not focus directly on Mater Matuta, but on other divine figures to some extent related to her: Carna, Ino, and Thesan.
Carna-Cranaë-Cardea, the nymph of the thresholds was celebrated on the calends of June, just ten days after the ceremony in the temple of Mater Matuta. The cult of Ino and Melicertes arose in Italy, where they were called by the Greeks Leukothea and Palaemon, and by the Romans Matuta and Portunus. Thesan was the Etruscan goddess connected with the Dawn, like Mater Matuta. To some extent, these divine figures are all related to kourotrophia.
Incidentally, I will try to suggest that the Roman religious calendar from the 1st of June to the 11th of June was full of details which might allude to one another, with the aim of underlining the importance of human and divine kourotrophia, by using the concept of intertext in literary criticism.
Abstract
The House of the Tribunus Laticlavius, a large building in the legionary fortress of Aquincum, has only been partially excavated, and this was in the 1970s. This short paper makes an attempt to understand its function and find its place in Roman architecture through a reconstruction of its floor plan and comparison with other prominent residential buildings of the period which share similar features. It appears very likely that the house is based on a loose adaptation of a Hellenistic model, tailored to the needs of high-ranking officers of the Roman army.
Abstract
Although well known to the community of Avar Age archaeologists, the old excavated cemetery of Edelstal (Hung. Nemesvölgy) played a quiet limited role in the discussion about social structures and societies, even for the northwestern part of the Carparthian Basin. This circumstance was also linked to the lack of publication of all graves. Based on this and the complete analyses of this cemetery the author wants to illustrate how important the burial community might have been in the social system of the Late Avar Khaganate. A special focus lies hereby on prominent items like gilded boar belts, buckles with the emperor's image or golden earrings and hair clips indicating wealth, communication, relations and links to the top social elites and presuming a high elaborated prestige chain network.
Abstract
The occurrence of foreign, more precisely eastern, cultural elements among local archaeological finds is commonly regarded as a characteristic feature of the cultural-historical development during the Early Migration Period in Central Europe. Such interpretations, which generate many questions and are sometimes accepted with scepticism, have gained some ground, but most of them indisputably demand verification and less strictly defined views. These foreign cultural elements usually represent objects, whose symbolic values made them, part of the new funerary customs connected with changes of social structures during the historical development of barbarian peoples on the Danube. The main attention in this regard is paid to a well-distinguished group of weapon graves, which contained both the so-called eastern weapon types and, on the other hand, clear acculturation traits. Within the group of eastern weapons, which influenced the armament of Danubian warriors, encompassed also various types of double-edged long swords – spathae. A conspicuous type is represented by long swords with relatively narrow blade and a massive iron cross guard, so-called swords of Asian type, which occupy a special position in the Danube region.
Abstract
The present paper analyses the precious metal artefacts, scarcely known in the huge archaeological material of the “late Avar period” (eighth to early ninth centuries AD). Unlike in the previous era the majority of the gold and silver objects of the late Avar period are stray finds; in particular high-quality goldsmith's artefacts are absent in the grave assemblages of the eighth century. The significance of precious metal objects in grave assemblages reached its low ebb around the middle of the late Avar period; afterwards not only new object types appeared but a new grave-horizon emerged comprising precious metal objects. This paper, based on the quality and morphology of the objects, their archaeological contexts as well as their spatial distribution, draws a conclusion concerning the social and cultural changes in the early medieval Carpathian Basin.
Abstract
At the eastern border of the Carolingian Empire two different groups of elite emerged. When referred to, the individuals in one of the groups were called either by personal names, or by the name of the area they governed; individuals in the other group were called by the name of their people. Members of the first group administered the territorial units of the central area of the former Avar Khaganate just like the Carolingian chief officials and royal vassals in the interior of the Empire. The members of the second group were (indirect) allies of the Avars and had their own tribal prince and gentile nobles. The administrative centres of the Carolingian province Pannoniae developed in synchrony with the inner centres of the Empire, while the centres of power outside the Empire had their own special settlement structures showing a conglomerate of the courts of the tribal nobility.
Abstract
The method of facet-cutting was invented in the 1st century AD. The glass cutters began to create zoned facet-cut decoration to arrange the facets in horizontal zones divided by linear grooves mostly in Isings 96 bowl in the second half of 2nd century and first half of 3rd century AD. A look at the distribution and the major concentrations of sites reveals that they had been manufactured in four main regions: the Rhine region (perhaps at Cologne), Pannonia, Syria (possibly at Dura Europos) and the Pontic, at Tanais. Its popularity is best indicated by the fact that this elegant ornamental technique began to be applied on silverware which clearly imitated the glass bowls, as shown by the adoption of the Isings 96 hemispherical bowl form that was lacking from among silver vessels.
Mindmáig nem jutott nyugvópontra a kutatás azon kérdésben, hogy milyen égitest tűnik föl Janus Pannonius De stella aestivo meridie visa című elégiájában. Bollók János az égitestet az 1462 nyarán Kínában megfigyelt üstökössel azonosította. Álláspontját azonban kétkedés fogadta, s az elégiát elemző újabb tanulmányok a Venus bolygóval való azonosítás mellett foglalnak állást. Tanulmányunkban a kutatásban eleddig figyelmen kívül hagyott irodalmi párhuzamok vizsgálatával amellett érvelünk, hogy a leírás üstököst kíván ábrázolni. Megvizsgáljuk Tito Vespasiano Strozzi Borsias című eposzának hasonló tárgyú leírását, s kimutatjuk, hogy a kedvező hatású üstökösökről vallott asztrológiai fölfogása azonos volt Januséval. Ezt erősítik meg a Matteo Maria Boiardo eclogáiban föllelhető, Janustól származó kölcsönzések is. Úgyszintén figyelmen kívül hagyta a kutatás T. Calpurnius Siculus 1. eclogájának jótékony hatású üstökösét. A szövegszerű megfelelések vizsgálatával megkíséreljük igazolni, hogy ez az ecloga Janus elégiájának egyik fontos előképe volt, s hatása nemcsak az üstökös leírásában, hanem az elégia aranykori motívumokat megidéző fohászkodásában is kimutatható.
So far there is no unanimity among researchers concerning the identification of the celestial body appearing in Janus Pannonius’ elegy De stella aestivo meridie visa. János Bollók identified it with the comet observed in China in the summer of 1462. However, his view was not generally accepted, and recent studies on the elegy have argued for an identification with the planet Venus. Based on the analysis of literary parallels so far left out of consideration, in our paper we claim that the description aimed to depict a comet. We examine the similar description found in Tito Vespasiano Strozzi’s epic poem Borsias and show that his astrological views on comets with a beneficial influence were the same as that of Janus. This is further supported by the expressions taken over from Janus in the eclogues of Matteo Maria Boiardo. Researchers have also neglected the beneficial comet in Eclogue I of T. Calpurnius Siculus. Based on the examination of textual parallels we aim to prove that this eclogue was an important model for the elegy of Janus – its influence can not only be detected in the description of the comet but also in the invocation in the elegy alluding to motives of the Golden Age.
A Közép-Anatóliában fekvő Phrygia nagy történelmi múlttal, sajátos nyelvvel és kultúrával rendelkező térség volt a Római Birodalomban, ahol az írásbeliséget és az irodalmi műveltséget igen sokra becsülték. A Kr. u. II–IV. század közötti időszakból több száz görög nyelvű epigráfiai emlék maradt ránk, amely mindezt tanúsítja. A síremlékeken feltűnően nagy számban ábrázoltak írótáblákat, tolltartókat és papirusztekercseket, és sehol másutt nem került elő ennyi verses sírfelirat, melyeknek szinte mindegyike zsúfolásig tele van homérosi reminiszcenciákkal és klasszikus mitológiai utalásokkal. Mindez ráadásul nemcsak a városok, hanem a rurális területek lakói – többnyire egyszerű földművesek és állattenyésztők – körében is egyformán jellemző. Az epikus nyelven fogalmazott verses epitáfiumok a görög–római vallás hívei és a keresztények között is népszerűek voltak. Az utóbbiak természetesen bibliai idézetekkel és allúziókkal is bővítették irodalmi repertoárjukat, ráadásul már nagyjából másfél száz évvel a konstantini vallásbéke előtti időszakban.
Phrygia in Central Anatolia was an area with a rich historical heritage, its own language, and particular culture within the Roman Empire, where literacy and literary education was highly valued. All this is witnessed by hundreds of Greek epitaphs that have come down to us from the period between the second and fourth centuries A.D. A strikingly large number of these funerary monuments depict writing tablets, styluses, pen cases and papyrus scrolls; and nowhere else have so many metrical epitaphs been preserved in the territory of the whole Empire, filled with Homeric reminiscences and classical mythological references. Besides, this is equally typical of the inhabitants of urban and rural areas – simple farmers and stockbreeders – as well. Poetic epitaphs in an epic language were popular among both the devotees of the Greco-Roman religion and Christians. And naturally, the latter expanded their literary repertoire with Biblical quotations and allusions as early as 150 years prior to the religious peace of Constantine’s reign.
Az alábbi tanulmány összeveti a görögök két ikonikus alakja, Oidipus és Sókratés történetét, és megvizsgálja delphoi jóslatukra adott reakciójukat. Amellett érvel, hogy Oidipus vétke és hybrise nem másban áll, mint a „kettős tudatlanságban”, melytől a sókratési elenchos (’vizsgálat’, ’cáfolat’) megtisztítani szándékozik polgártársait. Sókratés – Oidipusszal ellentétben – elkerüli a tragédiát, mivel megszívleli a delphoi intést, az „ismerd meg tenmagad!” felszólítását. A sókratési filozófia egy olyan katartikus eljárás, melynek célja a tragikus katarzis elkerülése. A sophoklési tragédia és a sókratési-platóni filozófia ugyanarra az örök emberi tényezőre, a „kettős tudatlanság” hybrisére reflektál, s intésük is hasonló. Látszat és valóság, vélekedés és tudás között hányódva – miként az V. századi görögség – választásunk ma is ugyanaz: a tragikus és a filozófiai megtisztulás közötti.
This paper is a comparative study on the iconic Greek heroes, Oedipus and Socrates. In particular, it contrasts their responses to the Delphic oracle and argues that Oedipus’ hamartia, his hubris consists in “double ignorance”, a state of which the Socratic elenchos is meant to purge citizens of Athens. In contrast with Oedipus, Socrates evades tragedy, for he takes the Delphic admonition (“Know thyself!”) to heart. Socratic philosophy is a cathartic procedure meant to preclude tragic catharsis. Sophoclean tragedy and the Socratic-Platonic philosophy respond to the same, perennial human hubris of “double ignorance”, and their lesson is similar. Wavering between appearance and reality, opinion and knowledge – as 5th century Greeks were – our choice is the same today: that between tragic and philosophical catharsis.
Jelen tanulmány célkitűzése kettős. Egyrészt a Timokratés elleni beszéd érvrendszereinek mélyreható elemzését kívánom nyújtani, másrészt ezen elemzésen keresztül a XIX. században felmerült és azóta is sokat vitatott szövegkritikai problémákat veszem górcső alá. Új aspektusból közelítve a korábban felvetett problémákhoz – az érveléstechnika elemzésén keresztül kiegészítve E. M. Harris meggyőző érveit – amellett érvelek, hogy a beszéd két része valójában egy jól átgondolt, precízen szerkesztett egészet alkot, így a szöveg integritását nem indokolt megkérdőjelezni.
The current study has two objectives. On the one hand, it provides an in-depth analysis of the argumentation of the oration Against Timocrates. On the other hand, the analysis focuses on the issues of textual criticism that arose in the 19th century and have been debated ever since. Approaching the problems from a new perspective – augmenting the convincing arguments put forward by E. M. Harris with the analysis of the argumentation – the study argues that the two halves of the speech are in fact parts of a well-planned, and precisely edited whole, and the integrity of the text need not be questioned.
Abstract
To date, the assessment of student translations has been largely based on configurations of error categories that address some facet of the translation product. Focal points of such product-oriented error annotation include language mechanics (punctuation, grammar, lexis and syntax, for example) and various kinds of transfer errors. In recent years, screen recording technology has opened new doors for empirically informing translation assessment from a more process-oriented perspective (Massey and Ehrensberger-Dow, 2014; Angelone, 2019). Screen recording holds particular promise when tracing errors documented in the product back to potential underlying triggers in the form of processes that co-occur on screen in their presence. Assessor observations made during screen recording analysis can give shape to process-oriented error categories that parallel and complement product-oriented categories. This paper proposes a series of empirically informed, process-oriented error categories that can be used for assessing translations in contexts where screen recordings are applied as a diagnostic tool. The categories are based on lexical and semantic patterns derived from a corpus-based analysis of think-aloud protocols documenting articulations made by assessors when commenting on errors made in student translations while watching screen recordings of their work. It is hoped that these process-oriented error categories will contribute to a more robust means by which to assess and classify errors in translation.
Coping with syntactic complexity in English–Chinese sight translation by translation and interpreting students.
An eye-tracking investigation
Abstract
This study approaches syntactic complexity from a relative point of view and examines how translation and interpreting students cope with relative clauses and passive constructions, two exemplifications of syntactic complexity in English–Chinese sight translation. A group of students (N = 23) took part in the study. The study consisted of three parts: an English reading span test, a sight translation task, and a baseline reading task. During the sight translation task, the participants sight translated English sentences with different degrees of structural asymmetry into Chinese in the single sentence context and the discourse context. During the baseline reading task, they silently read the English sentences and answered the comprehension questions. The participants' eye movements in the sight translation and baseline reading tasks were recorded as indicators of cognitive load. Three major findings were generated: (1) Syntactic complexity resulted in a significant increase in cognitive load during the sight translation task. The syntactic aspects of the target language were activated during the initial stage of comprehension, which favoured the parallel view of translation. (2) Although sight translation became more time efficient due to wider contexts, a larger amount of contextual information did not make word-based processing less effortful, as indicated by more fixations and the longer regression path duration in the discourse context. (3) No correlations were found between reading span and cognitive load in addressing syntactical complexity.
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of topic familiarity on interpreting quality of eighteen Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) student interpreters in Chinese–English consecutive interpreting (CI) at a university in China. Data were collected from two interpreting tasks in a 2-hour interpreting course over a four-week period. The interpreting quality was assessed by using three analytic rating scales (i.e., information completeness, fluency of delivery, and target language quality) and a holistic rating. Semi-structured interviews with the students were conducted to gain some in-depth perceptions of the effects of topic familiarity on interpreting quality. The results showed that topic familiarity had significant effects on information completeness, fluency of delivery, target language quality, and holistic scores of the interpreting tasks. It was also found that topic familiarity strongly correlated with information completeness, fluency of delivery, target language quality, and holistic scores. The findings of the study indicate that topic familiarity should be included and highlighted in Chinese–English consecutive interpreting in classroom contexts. The study provides effective guidance for interpreting teaching, training, and research.
