What's in a hump? Re-examining the hunchback in the Villa-Albani-Torlonia

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 130-156
Author(s):  
Lisa Trentin

The private collection of the Villa Albani-Torlonia in Rome holds the only surviving large-scale sculpture of a hunchback [fig. i]. Although this hunchback has been intensely studied, it remains enigmatic. The hunchback is generally agreed to be Roman and dated to the second century CE on the basis of its portrait head, particularly in the drilling technique of its hairstyle, though the realism of its misshapen and ugly body is in the direct tradition of works of the third century BCE.Whether this hunchback is an original of its time or a copy of a now lost Greek work is still contentious. Since its discovery in the Baths of Caracalla, the figure has been identified as the famous Greek fabulist Aesop, who, according to literary tradition, may have been a hunchback. Although several scholars have suggested new possibilities for the identity of this hunchback, including the proposition that it is a Roman original representing a jester of the imperial court, its association with Aesop has remained. But is its identity necessarily key to understanding its significance? This article intends to move away from the identification of this figure to consider the hunchback primarily as a type, rather than a person, and shifts the emphasis to its context within a bathhouse.

2008 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kloppenborg

AbstractAlthough there is little evidence of private farm tenancy in the Tanak, examination of documents from the third century BCE to the early second century CE suggests that this economic system became an important instrument of agricultural exploitation in Jewish Palestine sometime in the third or second century BCE. The growth of large estates, the implementation of tenancy, and shifts from polyculture to export-oriented monoculture had important effects on the structure of labor, creating classes of underemployed day laborers (ergatai) and 'free' tenants, who made their first literary appearances in the Septuagint, the parables of Jesus, and the Mishnah. Il n'existe guère dans le Tanak d'attestations de 'métayage agricole indépendant'. Néanmoins, l'examen de documents datant du IIIe siècle av. J.-C. jusqu'au début du IIe après, suggère que ce système économique devint un important instrument dans l'exploitation des campagnes en Palestine juive au cours du IIIe ou IIe siècle av. J.-C. L'accroissement des grands domaines au détriment des petites exploitations, l'établissement de métairies et le passage d'une polyculture à une monoculture orientée vers l'exportation eurent des conséquences notables sur la structure du travail. Des catégories de journaliers sous-employés (ergatai) et de métayers 'libres' furent ainsi générées, dont les premières mentions apparaissent dans la version des Septante, les Paraboles de Jésus et la Mishnah.


1976 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Cunliffe

SummaryThe results of five seasons of excavation (1971–5) are summarized. A continuous strip 30–40 m. wide extending across the centre of the fort from one side to the other was completely excavated revealing pits, gullies, circular stake-built houses, rectangular buildings, and 2-, 4-, and 6-post structures, belonging to the period from the sixth to the end of the second century B.C. The types of structures are discussed. A sequence of development, based largely upon the stratification preserved behind the ramparts, is presented: in the sixth–fifth century the hill was occupied by small four-post ‘granaries’ possibly enclosed by a palisade. The first hill-fort rampart was built in the fifth century protecting houses, an area of storage pits, and a zone of 4-and 6-post buildings laid out in rows along streets. The rampart was heightened in the third century, after which pits continued to be dug and rows of circular houses were built. About 100 B.C. rectangular buildings, possibly of a religious nature, were erected, after which the site was virtually abandoned. Social and economic matters are considered. The excavation will continue.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Detty Manongko

The research of exploring the Church History have not been many studies done in Indonesia. Though this field is related to the theology, especially the development of Christian Theology for centuries. One area of Church History that needs to be examined are the Christian Thought of the Church Fathers from first to third centuries. The field is often called “Patrology” which is the study of Church Fathers from first to third centuries. Who are they, what are the results of their work, why they have produced such theological thoughts, and what they thoughts are still influencing to the contemporary theologians in Indonesia?The main problem in this research is how does the perception of contemporary theologians in Indonesia to the Chruch Father’ s theological thoughts? Through a literature review of Soteriology, Christology, and Eschatology, then this research has yielded important principles concerning to the Church Fathers’s theological thoughts at the Early Church period. And then through the field research has proven that the majority of contemporary theologians in Indonesia have a positive perception to the Church Fathers’s theological thought from first to the third centuries. Therefore, the reasons of why this research is conducted and how it is done are described in the first chapter of these book. The second chapter of this writing contains a literature review of the theological thoughts of the church fathers from the first century to the third. There are four groups of Church Fathers from the first century to the third. There are four groups of Church Fathers that are described in this chapter, i.e., The Apostolic Fathers (from the first to the middle of second century), The Aplogists (second century), The Anti-Gnostic Fathers (second and third century), and The Alexandrian Fathers (third century). The third chapter discusses the quantitative methods used in this research including statistical models to prove the validity and reliability of the data acquisition method that is used in the field of this research. It desperately needs accuracy and diligence in order to display a quality and useful research reports for the development of Church History studies. Discussion of the results of this study, along with the evidence that reinforces the result of this research is presented in the fourth chapter. Finally, the fifth chapter of this study elaborates the main thoughts that are generated in this study, which also expected to be important principles in conducting futher research.The results obtained in this study are not yet maximal on account of various constraints, such as limited time, facilities, funding, and so forth. However, the writer wishes that the results achieved in this study will give a valuable contribution to all readers of this writing and that it will be a motivation for a further research in the field of Church History in the future.


1975 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank D. Gilliard

At the end of the nineteenth century Louis Duchesne's Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule decisively undermined the foundation for maintaining the apostolicity of Gallic sees. This epochal study proved that, of the twenty-five lists of Gallic bishops which were credible and could be verified, only that of the church at Lyon reached back as far as the second century, and only four others as far as the third century. Thus it effectively discredited the pious medieval myths which had been created to prove that the Gallic episcopal traditions derived from the apostles, and led Duchesne confidently to conclude that, except for the “mother-church” at Lyon, established probably in the middle of the second century, no other church was founded in the Gallic provinces of Belgica, Lugdunensis, Aquitania, and Germania much before A.D. 230.


Antiquity ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (339) ◽  
pp. 126-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuzhen Janice Li ◽  
Andrew Bevan ◽  
Marcos Martinón-Torres ◽  
Thilo Rehren ◽  
Wei Cao ◽  
...  

The Terracotta Army that protected the tomb of the Chinese emperor Qin Shihuang offers an evocative image of the power and organisation of the Qin armies who unified China through conquest in the third century BC. It also provides evidence for the craft production and administrative control that underpinned the Qin state. Bronze trigger mechanisms are all that remain of crossbows that once equipped certain kinds of warrior in the Terracotta Army. A metrical and spatial analysis of these triggers reveals that they were produced in batches and that these separate batches were thereafter possibly stored in an arsenal, but eventually were transported to the mausoleum to equip groups of terracotta crossbowmen in individual sectors of Pit 1. The trigger evidence for large-scale and highly organised production parallels that also documented for the manufacture of the bronze-tipped arrows and proposed for the terracotta figures themselves.


1935 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 77-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick H. Wilson

The building with which this study is concerned occupies the eastern half of Region ii, 2, just inside the city gate at Ostia. Two specific statements have been made concerning it, that it commenced as magazzini or horrea in the republican era, and that it was converted into baths in the late third century A.D.; these were the suggestions of the excavators, and have never yet been questioned. They are points of considerable importance, because this building would thus be the only example of republican horrea yet discovered in Ostia, and the conversion of horrea into baths or shops, which the theory implies, would be important for the economic history of Ostia, whether the reason for the change was the concentration of horrea elsewhere or merely the decline of the city. The second statement, too, would point to building activity in Ostia at a time when no other big building was being put up. This paper is an attempt to prove that at no time was the building used as horrea, and that the conversion to baths is to be placed not in the third, but in the late first, or very early second century A.D. Five main periods will be distinguished, of which the appended table gives a summary.


1975 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
pp. 92-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth S. Sacks

The discovery and publication two decades ago of the Roman-Aetolian treaty of 212/11 has helped to place Polybius' reliability as a source under close scrutiny. As a result, his account of the confrontation between the Aetolians and Flamininus at Tempe, in 197, may not stand the test of a comparison. Yet in order to use the preserved inscription as a control for this specific event, Polybius' general feelings concerning Aetolian responsibility for the consequent Syrian War must also be considered. Historians have hitherto assumed that if Polybius is demonstrably antagonistic towards his northern neighbours when recording affairs of the third century, he must be equally so for those of the second century. A close examination of Polybius, however, will reveal substantial reasons for doubting such an assumption.For events of the third century, where he is most completely preserved, Polybius is indeed prejudiced against the Aetolians. He unleashes his venom both when following Aratus' Ὑπομνήματα to 220 and afterwards when employing various sources. To Polybius, the Aetolians are violent and aggressive in spirit (iv 3.5), cruel (iv 18.7–9), impious (iv 62.2), haughty (iv 64.8), inhuman (iv 67.3–4), and cowardly (iv 79.1). They are also natural revolutionaries (xiii 1.2), spendthrifts (xiii 1.1), and liars (iv 29.4–5). Though at times Polybius considers their behaviour scandalous (iv 27.1–8), he admits that the Greeks have become quite inured to it (iv 16.1–2). The most grievous faults of the Aetolians, however, are their desire for aggrandizement and lust for booty.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (18) ◽  
pp. 3403
Author(s):  
Rossella Gagliano Candela ◽  
Livia Lombardi ◽  
Alessandro Ciccola ◽  
Ilaria Serafini ◽  
Armandodoriano Bianco ◽  
...  

The Hasti Afunei sarcophagus is a large Etruscan urn, made up of two chalky alabaster monoliths. Dated from the last quarter of the third century BC, it was found in 1826 in the small town of Chiusi (Tuscany- Il Colle place) by a landowner, Pietro Bonci Casuccini, who made it part of his private collection. The noble owner’s collection was sold in 1865 to the Royal Museum of Palermo (today under the name of Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum), where it is still displayed. The sarcophagus is characterized by a complex iconography that is meticulously illustrated through an excellent sculptural technique, despite having subjected to anthropic degradation and numerous restorative actions during the last century. During the restoration campaign carried out between 2016 and 2017, a targeted diagnostic campaign was carried out to identify the constituent materials of the artefact, the pigments employed and the executive technique, in order to get an overall picture of conservation status and conservative criticalities. In particular, this last intervention has allowed the use of the innovative micro-sampling technique, patented by the Cultural Heritage research group of Sapienza, in order to identify the employee of lake pigments through SERS analyses. Together with this analysis, Raman and NMR technique have completed the information requested by restorers, for what concerns the wax employed as protective layers, and allowed to rebuild the conservation history of the sarcophagus. In fact, together with the identification of red ocher and yellow ocher, carbon black, Egyptian blue and madder lake, pigments compatible with the historical period of the work, modern pigments (probably green Paris, chrome orange, barium yellow, blue phtalocyanine) have been recognized, attributable with not documented intervention during the eighteenth and twentieth centuries.


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