Search Results
Income distribution is a widely neglected subject in applied macroeconomics. This paper looks at the current state of art, which can be summarised as the “Transatlantic Consensus”explaining inequality through a partial analysis approach with changes on the labour market at its core. The potential interrelationship between inequality and growth is particularly important for transition countries, because according to common knowledge in this case the change of regime went along with rising inequality and declining income in the initial phase. The Czech case - the Czech Republic being the most egalitarian country among the former socialist economies - is even more interesting, because here income distribution remained relatively stable before and throughout the transition period. This result is illustrated by Lorenz curves. The analysis of so-far unpublished empirical data indicates that there is no need for active distribution policy in the Czech Republic. This result might not hold for other transition countries, which find themselves at the initial part of the Kuznets curve, but on a lower level of income.
Summary
This paper discusses the Mithraic reliefs found in Etruria (Regio VII). The reliefs are analysed and their iconographic, archaeological and chronological features compared with a view to advancing new proposals on the cult of Mithras in the area concerned. The paper focuses first on the new Mithraic relief discovered in Veii and discusses the presence of a specific object that constitutes the most original iconographic feature of the relief. It can be seen aligned behind Mithras' head, which obscures its central part: considering its shape and the presence of the quiver over Mithras' right shoulder, the object can be identified as a bow. The object's specific position, probably connected to the symbolic importance of the bow in the mysteries of Mithras, is unique not only among Mithraic reliefs but also in the surviving Mithraic evidence from the Roman world. The other reliefs from Etruria are analysed, with a brief description of the type of iconography, the chronology and archaeological context of each piece. Comparing the reliefs allows us to pinpoint differences in size, style and chronology, highlighting the uniqueness of the new relief from Veii. These differences can be put down to factors that are yet to be examined in more detail, connected to the clients and the workshops operating in the region. The study concludes that the Veii relief can be considered not only the oldest and most stylistically refined of these pieces, but also one of the earliest attestations of the cult of Mithras in Etruria.
Forschung, CNCS-UEFISCDI, Projekt Nr. PNII-RU-TE-2014-4-488 unterstützt. Literatur Ardevan 1998 R. Ardevan : Viata municipala în Dacia romana . Timitoara 1998 . Beskow 1980 P. Beskow : The Portorium and the mysteries of Mithras
The Aquincum Museum houses the fragments of a terracotta object belonging to the finds unearthed in the so-called Symphorus Mithraeum. Careful study and following restoration of the object, previously identified as an architectural ornament in the museum inventory book, made it clear that the fragments belonged to a terracotta sculpture. The surviving parts of the hollow terracotta sculpture suggest that it was a representation of Mithras. This paper does research on which scene in Mithraic iconography this rare terracotta depiction of Mithras was an element of; whether the object can be connected to any other terracotta sculptures of gods originating from the cult place; and whether it was once part of the shrine equipment.
Mithraic Iconography in Hispania
Reinterpretation of the Catalogue and New Findings
Summary
This proposal aims to provide an update of the catalogues of findings associated with the mysteries of Mithras in Hispania produced by García y Bellido (1967) and Alvar Ezquerra (1981). A new approach to the archaeological material is needed due to the multiplicity of findings in recent decades and the overcoming of traditional theories in this field of study. We have focused on the figurative monuments, as Mithraic iconography has been considered a mere vehicle for the transmission of the eschatology of the cult.
Although three representations of tauroctony were located in the province of Baetica, the findings of Tróia and Mérida, both in Lusitania, are the most important source of materials in the territory of Hispania. Recent discoveries in Lugo, Altafulla, Cabrera de Mar, Puente Genil, San Juan de la Isla, Barbate, Mérida, along with the revision of the Museo Nacional de Arte Romano collection, have been a great contribution to the study of Mithraism in the Iberian Peninsula.
Summary
In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, Poetovio (modern town of Ptuj in north-eastern Slovenia) was a melting pot of various cultures due to the arrival of various peoples. Mithraea are undoubtedly the most recognisable monuments of Poetovio. As many as five or perhaps even seven Mithraea were discovered in Ptuj and its immediate surroundings: two of them (Breg na Ptuju, Hajdina) are preserved in situ, on the site where they were discovered. During the construction of the local sewage system in 2011, some findings that can be attributed to the Mithras cult were unearthed in the vicinity of the first Mithraeum in Spodnja Hajdina.
Drawing on the testimonia of the Antiquity and the relevant special literature, the paper outlines and summarizes the three cardinal point under discussion which have emerged in connection with the education and youth of Julianus Apostata (361-363). They are the following: the emperor's date of birth; the date of his exilement and deportation to Macellum; the year of his initiation into the Mithras cult. The author's primary interest is centered on the date of the emperor's banishment, as he thinks that Julianus elected to finally abandon Christianity already in Macellum, before his formal introduction to the cult. Considering his age, Julianus may have stayed on the Cappadocian estate between 345 and 351.
Patay Pál: L. A. Horváth-K. H. Simon, Das Neolithikum und die Kupferzeit in Südwesttransdanubien. (Inventaria Praehistorica Hungariae IX.) A Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum kiadása, Budapest 2003. 253 oldal; Szabó Miklós: U. Jantzen, Die Wasserleitung des Eupalinos. Die Funde. Samos XX. Bonn 2004. XIX + 373 oldal, 18 melléklet, 104 tábla; Kemenczei Tibor: V. Dergačev, Die äneolithischen und bronzezeitlichen Metallfunde aus Moldavien. Prähistorische Bronzefunde. Abt. XX, Bd. 9. Stuttgart 2002. 251 oldal, 134 tábla; Szirmai Krisztina: Tóth I., Mithras Pannonicus. Specimina Nova Universitatis Quinqueecclesiensis XVII. Budapest-Pécs 2003. 146 oldal, 42 tábla + 12 szövegközi kép; Kiss Etele: „Die Welt von Byzanz” - Europas östliches Erbe. Glanz, Krisen und Fortleben einer tausendjährigen Kultur. München, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Archäologische Staatssammlung 2004. október 22.-2005. április. Kiállítási katalógus. Kiadja L. Wamser (Schriftenreihe der Archäologischen Staatssammlung Bd. 4). München 2004. 496 oldal, 541 kép; Holl Imre: Der Schatzfund von Fuchsenhof. Hg. B. Prokisch-Th. Kühtreiber. Studien zur Kulturgeschichte von Oberösterreich F. 15. Linz 2004. 954 oldal, 152 ábra, valamint fotók 609 katalógustételről; CD-ROM. Verlag Publication Pno 1, Weitra
A tanulmány az előző számban azonos címmel közölt cikk folytatása. Ebben a részben először a sopronbánfalvi Hegyi templom alaprajzának és tájolásának csillagászati hátterét vizsgálja (4. fejezet); az elemzés alapvetően a XV. században épült apszisra vonatkozik. Az apszis imago mundi rendeltetése hűen tükrözi a pálos szemléletet: ez a látásmód a teremtett Univerzum egységét és az Örökkévaló érzékelését geometriai, csillagászati, filozófiai analógiák által lépésről lépésre közelíti meg. Az analógiák felismerésére és helyes értelmezésükre a védőszent legnagyobb ünnepéhez kötött, rejtett szakrális geometria vezeti rá a szemlélőt. Az 5. fejezet az említett szakrális geometria szerves részét képező Mária-oszlop holdnaptár vonatkozásait elemzi. Az oszlopszent kulcsfontosságú összekötő, közvetítő szerepet tölt be a templom-apszis és az évszázadokkal később épült lépcsősor szimbólumrendszere között. Ez a szerep az oszlopon álló Szent Szűz alakjára teljesülő csillagászati, naptári, geometriai konstellációk felismerése által tudatosul a szemlélőben. Egyértelművé válik, hogy a tanulmányban elemzett három szakrális objektum szerves egységet képez, függetlenül megépítésük idejétől. Bebizonyosodik a lépcsősor szimbólumrendszerének szakrális célja: az Immaculata-oszloppal együtt rávezetni a szemlélőt a templom rejtett szakrális geometriájára és annak üzenetére. A tanulmány végül kísérletet tesz arra, hogy az alkalmazott szimbólumrendszer eredetét, lehetséges gyökereit feltárja, kimutatva egy mélyebb kontextusban közös elemeit a Mithras-relieffel. Az összekötő elem a precesszió, amiről (ha okáról nem is) a két rendszer egyaránt tudott. A pálosoknál azonban nem misztikus ködbe burkoltan jelenik meg az üzenetet kifejező szimbolizmus, hanem megtervezett kompozícióba foglalt, tudományos igazságok által. A nagyságrenddel mélyebb kifejezésmód és az egyértelmű szimbolika világviszonylatban teszi egyedülállóvá ezt a szakrális építménykomplexumot. Hűen tükrözi a hívő hitbéli tudatosságát, és általában a magyarság régmúltban gyökeredző szellemi minőségét.
Egyptianism
Appropriating ‘Egypt’ in the ‘Isiac Cults’ of the Graeco-Roman World*
Summary
When dealing with Isis, Serapis and the other members of the so-called ‘gens isiaca’, scholars have hesitated whether to emphasize their (indisputable) historico-geographic origin in the Nile valley or their (no less indisputable) character as Graeco-Roman cults. We thus find these deities referred to as ‘Egyptian’, ‘Graeco-Egyptian’, ‘Graeco-Roman’, ‘Greek’, ‘Roman’ and, again, ‘Oriental’, ‘Orientalized Roman’, and so on. Each of these definitions is evidently partial, which is one reason for the growing preference for the less specific terms ‘Isiac gods’ and ‘Isiac cults’. Yet even these elide the problem of how these cults were perceived in relation to Egypt. This article aims to challenge the terms of the conventional dichotomy between Egyptian and Graeco-Roman, by exploring the many specific contexts in which ‘Egypt’ was appropriated, for example, by institutions, intellectuals (e.g. ‘Middle-’ and Neo-Platonists), Christian apologists, late-antique encyclopedists, etc. Starting with the comparandum ‘Persianism’ recently highlighted in relation to the cult of Mithras, the paper will explore the various interests and aims involved in the construction of ideas of Egypt, which might even involve more than one ‘Egyptianism’ at the same time. Each of our nine suggested ‘Egyptianisms’ is the creation of numerous ‘producers’, who adapted what they knew of ‘Egypt’ (‘foreign’, ‘exotic’, ‘other’) to create their own religious offers. Our basic model is derived from the Erfurt project Lived Ancient Religions, which inverts the usual representation of ancient religion as collective (‘polis religion’, ‘civic religion’) in favour of a perspective that stresses individual agency, sense-making and appropriation within a range of broader constraints.
