Reception of Antiquity

Universität Turin, 13.05.2021, ESCL-Tagung "Narrations des origines"

Der Vortrag möchte den funktionalen Zusammenhang von Nacktheit und Imagination untersuchen und aufzeigen, wie innerhalb einer Kultur der Bekleidung das Begehren, unter den Textilien den nackten Körper zu erblicken, als Urszene des Ästhetischen entworfen wird.
In einem ersten Teil werden ausgehend von verschiedenen Kulturtheorien (u.a. Freud und Descola) theoretische Zugänge zur Nacktheit entwickelt, die die Nacktheit als Figuration von ‚Natur‘ in den Blick nehmen und rekonstruieren, inwiefern dabei diese nackte Natur einer bekleideten Kultur gegenübergestellt wird.
Der zweite Teil verfolgt diese theoretischen Zusammenhänge an ausgewählten Beispielen aus der Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte des nackten Körpers: zunächst bei Ovid im antiken Mythos, wo bereits die Gegensätzlichkeit von Nacktheit und Imagination angelegt ist, und dann mit Blick auf das 18. Jahrhundert und Johann Joachim Winckelmann im Besonderen. Dabei zeigen sich in Winckelmanns Texten (Gedanken über die Nachahmung; Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums) zwei verschiedene Konzeptionen der Nacktheit, die in der Gegenüberstellung von Natur und Kunst die Dichotomie von Natur und Kultur hervortreiben.

This talk wants to examine the relationship between nudity and imagination and show how within a culture of clothing the desire to glimpse the naked body under textiles is designed as a primal scene of the aesthetic.
In the first part, theoretical approaches to nakedness are developed based on various cultural theories (including Freud and Descola) that focus on nakedness as a figuration of 'nature' and reconstruct the extent to which this naked nature is thereby juxtaposed with a clothed culture.
The second part traces these theoretical correlations through selected examples from the literary and cultural history of the naked body: first with Ovid in the ancient myth, where the opposition of nakedness and imagination is already laid out, and then with a view to the 18th century and Johann Joachim Winckelmann in particular. In Winckelmann's texts (Gedanken über die Nachahmung; Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums) two different conceptions of nudity are revealed, which in the opposition of nature and art emphasize the dichotomy of nature and culture.

Abstract
In the Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece, is a heretofore unknown large-format volume that contains many extra illustrations, original drawings, and proofs of plates for The Arabian Antiquities of Spain by James Cavanah Murphy (1760–1814). Based on research conducted between 1802 and 1809, The Arabian Antiquities of Spain features engravings of major monuments of Hispano-Islamic architecture, including the Alhambra, the Great Mosque at Cordoba, and the Generalife at Granada; the work was published posthumously in 1816. Since the Gennadius volume also includes sketches of Islamic monuments from Malaga, Seville, and Xeres, it appears that Murphy originally intended to publish a complete survey of Hispano-Islamic monuments in southern Spain. In the Gennadius volume, grangerized drawings are placed opposite published engravings for comparative purposes; the drawings include notes written by Murphy to the engravers, and several are hand-tinted, which reveal Murphy’s interest in polychromy. This article presents the newly discovered drawings in the Gennadius volume, which adds to our understanding of the monuments depicted in the published plates of Arabian Antiquities, and serves to position Murphy’s pioneering efforts in the context of architectural scholarship, chromolithography, and the book trade in the early nineteenth century.

ABSTRACT: This book chapter considers the interest in Etruscan engraved gems and jewellery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from the scholarly and collecting activities of Philipp von Stosch, Anton Francesco Gori and others in Florence in the heyday of the Etruscan Revival, to the complete re-systematization of the Etruscan glyptic material by Adolf Furtwängler at the turn of the century 1900. It also discusses the interesting cultural phenomenon of the dactyliothecae (gem cast cabinets), amateur and commercial serial-production of gem impressions and gem casts in various materials, and the re-use and imitation of Etruscan gems and goldwork in the so-called “archaeological jewellery” produced by the Castellani and other workshops.

Neste traballo fago un estudo da presenza da lenda irlandesa de Breogán dentro dos escritos de Manuel Murguía. Cinco son os aspectos que quero analizar aquí: a narrativa da lenda; a interpretación que fixo dela; a adaptación da lenda á súa particular concepción do pasado galego; as funcións que exerceu dentro da obra de Murguía; e as fontes de información nas que el se baseou para coñecer o relato irlandés. No derradeiro apartado analizo algunhas das achegas do autor á popularización de Breogán dentro da cultura galega.

Collection of contributions on the reception of ancient historiography in Early Modern Culture and Intellectual History. 

INDICE
INTRODUZIONE
I. G. Mastrorosa (Università di Firenze)
Oltre ‘riscoperte’, Nachleben e ‘fortuna’: considerazioni introduttive
ARCHETIPI
L. Porciani (Università di Pavia)
La parola orale. Erodoto e la costruzione del discorso politico
M. Lentano (Università di Siena)
L’eredità di Serse. Suasoria retorica e discorso storiografico a Roma
INTERPRETI E MODELLI
S. Gambino Longo (Université de Lyon III)
Erodoto nel Rinascimento: dalla riabilitazione a un nuovo modello storiografico
J.C. Iglesias-Zoido (Universidad de Extremadura-Cáceres)
La ‘actualización’ de los discursos de Tucídides en las antologías renacentistas de contiones: los argumenta del epitafio (2.35-46)
A. Raffarin (Université Paris-Est-Créteil)
D’un antiquaire à l’autre : Varron source et modèle de Flavio Biondo
P. Ponzù Donato (Università di Firenze)
Interpretazione, divulgazione, attualità: Pier Candido Decembrio volgarizzatore di Cesare
I. G. Mastrorosa (Università di Firenze)
Livio e Machiavelli fra passato e presente: tendenze demagogiche, aspirazioni tiranniche e strumenti di tutela della ‘riputazione’
A. Severi (Università di Bologna)
Dalla Roma imperiale alla Bologna principesca: la vocazione attualizzante del commento beroaldiano a Svetonio
L. Claire (Université de Picardie Jules Verne)
Sur quelques évolutions des commentaires aux Annales de Tacite dans les années 1580: Lipse, Muret, Pasquali, Scotti
LABORATORI FIORENTINI
L. Bernard-Pradelle (Université de Limoges)
L’historien en son laboratoire: Leonardo Bruni Aretino (ca. 1370-1444) et le travail sur les sources antiques
V. Pineda (Universidad de Extremadura-Cáceres)
The Memory of the Ancients in the Florentine Genre of epistole e dicerie
CONCLUSIONI
U. Roberto (Università Europea di Roma)
‘Attualizzare il passato’: alcune riflessioni sulla rilettura dei testi antichi tra l’età tardoantica e l’Europa del Rinascimento
ABSTRACTS

A unique group of sculpture from Early Christian Cyprus comes from the so-called Villa of Theseus, at Nea Paphos. The group comprises (at least) twenty sculptures of divinities and mythological figures, which range in date from the Hellenistic to the Late Roman periods. Their discovery with connection to late antique layers demonstrates the long-lasting importance of sculpture to the villa culture and confirms the empire-wide appreciation of local elites to the medium in late antique times. In this paper, the decoration of the Villa of Theseus will be re-assessed in order to efficiently envisage its sculptural environment, between the late fourth and late sixth centuries. Possibilities for the display and usage of the sculptures within the villa will be offered, while possible reasons for the selection of particular iconographical types will also be suggested, within the broader context of Nea Paphos.

La mia tesi di laurea triennale in Grammatica Latina raccoglieva ed analizzava gli incantesimi in lingua latina presenti nella serie web audiovisiva Netflix "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" (2018-2020).
Preliminarmente, si è cercato di far luce sul particolare sistema di comunicazione in cui si inserisce la serie televisiva, adattamento della serie comics omonima; si è poi spaziato sul versante della magia antica, segnatamente nei punti di contatto con la webserie tv Netflix.
In seguito, la trattazione degli incantesimi latini si è divisa in un’analisi quantitativa, che consente di comprendere la frequenza e la distribuzione delle formule latine e il loro rapporto con quelle in inglese, e una qualitativa, che entra nel dettaglio di singole occorrenze significative.
Dalla prima si è evinto come gli incantesimi latini siano preferiti a quelli inglesi per due principali criteri: la genericità dell’incantesimo e la ‘potenza magica’ intrinseca al latino.
Una seconda valutazione più dettagliata delle frasi latine ha messo in luce come la forma di questi incantesimi sia spesso un pastiche di anglismi e usi del latino volgare, non disgiunti da prestiti di memoria poetica, come anche espressioni bibliche. A questi modelli tradizionali si accosta l'uso di strumenti odierni, di uso facile e immediato, fruibili sul web, come ebook di divulgazione d’incantesimi in latino o la stessa piattaforma Google Translate, che consente di tradurre approssimativamente da e in latino.
È possibile altresì ricondurre le deviazioni dal latino standard sia al genere della scrittura magica delle defixiones, caratterizzato da un’applicazione già in partenza distorta della morfologia e sintassi latina, sia a errori da lingua d’arrivo dell’inglese.
La ricerca è originale: non risultano altri studi sul latino di "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" (né sulle sue caratteristiche formali, né sui suoi precedenti nella cultura magica antica).

The excavations of the University of Warsaw in the so-called Villa of Theseus in Kato Paphos uncovered a unique group of at least twenty sculptures, predominantly depicting mythological figures and divinities. The building took its definite architectural form in the late fourth century, although its construction had started early in the second half of the second century. In terms of decoration, the villa reached its heyday between the late fourth and sixth centuries. Most of the sculptures, which vary in scale and style, have, nevertheless, been described as reduced copies of the late second or early third century at the latest. Yet, their discovery in late antique layers establishes their availability at the time and confirms the importance of sculpture to the villa culture that boomed in Late Antiquity (fourth to seventh century).

It is the aim of this paper to study the statuary from the Villa of Theseus against the background of the architectural development of the building. Immovable decorative elements and architectural features will be considered, in order to assess where sculpture might have been displayed and reconstruct—to the extent possible—the ancient viewers’ experience. The selection of certain sculptural subjects and their significance (decorative, allegorical, religious) will also be discussed.

Abstract - Roma Triumphans by Biondo Flavio represents the first treatise offering a systematic investigation of the religious, civic and political institutions of ancient Rome, evaluating data from a historical-comparative viewpoint. Observations on the religious structures of ancient Rome show Biondo’s original aptitude for noticing some specific aspects of Roman Paganism, civic meaning of some of its rituals and values, their evolution and influence on Christian ceremonies. reflecting nonetheless a critical position on Paganism and his profoundly Christian perspective influenced by Eusebius of Caesarea and Augustin. Key words: Biondo Flavio, Pagan Rome, religious institutions, critical position on Paganism, Eusebius of Caesarea
Key words: Biondo Flavio, Pagan Rome, religious institutions, critical position on Paganism, Eusebius of Caesarea - Augustin. ---

Sintesi - La Roma Triumphans di Biondo Flavio costituisce il primo trattato che offre una ricognizione sistematica delle istituzioni religiose, civili e politiche dell’antica Roma, valutando i dati dal punto di vista storico-comparativo. Le osservazioni sulle strutture religiose dell’antica Roma mostrano l’inclinazione originale di Biondo nel rilevare alcuni aspetti specifici del Paganesimo romano pur riflettendo una posizione critica nei riguardi del Paganesimo e la sua prospettiva strettamente cristiana, influenzata da Eusebio di Cesarea e Agostino.
Biondo Flavio, Roma pagana, istituzioni religiose, posizione critica nei riguardi del paganesimo, Eusebio di Cesarea - Agostino

The paper focuses on the interpretation of Roman Italy and its geographical borders in the Early Modern period, with particular attention to its rebirth in Biondo Flavio’s work - Key words: Italia romana, historical borders, regiones, Augustus, Pliny the Younger, Decretum Rubiconis, Alpine districts, Augusta Praetoria,  tropaeum Alpium, La Turbie, Aquileia, Histria, river Formio,  Tridentum.

In their pleadings Against Timarchos and On the false embassy, Aeschines and Demosthenes both evoke a statue of Solon erected on the agora of Salamis which would show the legislator with his hand inside his cloak, a gesture indicating his moderation when he spoke in public. The controversy about this representation has already been analysed in order to deepen various questions such as the conflict between the two speakers, our knowledge regarding Solon, the history of the Greek statuary or the reception of the past in Antiquity. The quarrel can be reinterrogated thanks to the heuristic tool of the truth-telling mechanism, used here in the sense of all the procedures, arguments and rhetorical figures that allow litigants to claim the truth. Then, the statue is a privileged means for both Aeschines and Demosthenes to put forward the direct knowledge that the jurors have of the facts. It is a point of tension from which one can examine the articulation between sight and knowledge in Classical Athens.

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo llamar la atención sobre una obra que ha pasado un tanto desapercibida. Considerada como un trabajo menor de un autor satírico, al-Jāḥiẓ, el Kitāb Fakhr al-Sūdān 'alā al-Bīḑān (La superioridad de los negros sobre los blancos), pese a su sugerente título, ha sido minusvalorado, pero es, en realidad, una obra seria y plenamente imbuida en el contexto y el debate político-social del siglo IX. Esta obra resulta fundamental para entender la complejidad que encierra toda sociedad, antigua o moderna. Frente a la imagen tradicional sobre la población negra como una grupo marginado, invisible y sin historia, el Kitāb Fakhr al-Sūdān 'alā al-Bīḑān les otorga el protagonismo de su obra, les saca de su invisibilidad dentro de la sociedad abbasí, y recupera y reelabora, y esto es interesante, una historia y una memoria que hunden sus raíces en la antigüedad.

Die frühneuzeitliche Rezeption klassischer Mythen in Text und Bild beförderte nicht nur eine Vielzahl von Deutungsmustern und Bildtraditionen, sondern provozierte zugleich bildliche und literarische Gegenreaktionen in Form neuartiger und komischer Mythenadaptionen. Der Witz dieser ikonographischen Verfremdungen hinterfragt sowohl die durch den Mythos vermittelten Sinngehalte als auch die aus der Antike herstammenden Verfahren der Mythenallegorese sowie die den antiken Vorbildern zugemessene Autorität. Die Studie kontextualisiert erstmals „launige“ Götterbilder aus der italienischen und nordalpinen Profanmalerei und Druckgraphik im Rahmen größerer Motivkomplexe sowie dichtungs- und kunsttheoretischer Diskurse.

Rezensionen von Jörg Füllgrabe: Wie geraten Götter auf Abwege? [...]. In: literaturkritik.de (23.09.2016); und von Kristina Deutsch: Was tun, sprach Zeus, die Götter sind so komisch? In: Kunstchronik 70 (Januar 2017), Heft 1, S. 30-36.

Turning to a region of South Italy associated with the heritage of Greater Greece and the geographies of Homer's Odyssey, Marco Benoît Carbone delivers a historical and ethnographic treatment of how places defined in public imagination and media by force of their associated historical events become sites of memory and identity, as their landscape, heritage, and mythologies turn into insignia of a romanticised antiquity.

For the ancient Greeks, Homer had set the marine monsters of the Odyssey in the Strait between Calabria and Sicily. Since then, this Mediterranean passage has been glowing with the literary aura of its mythological landmarks. Travellers and tourists have played Odysseus by re-enacting his journey. Scholars and explorers have explained the myths as metaphors of whirlpools and marine fauna. The iconic Strait and village of Scilla have turned into chrono-topic place-myths and playgrounds, defined by their literary aura and the region's ancient heritage inspiring representations in media, travels and tourism.

Carbone observes the enduring impact of Hellas on the real Strait today. The fascinations of artists and travellers, and their continuous rekindling of cultural and visual traditions of place have intersected with philhellenic Western historiographies, shaping local policies, public histories, views of development and tourism, and forms of Hellenicist identitarianism. Elements of society have celebrated the landscape of the Odyssey, appropriated Homer as their imagined heirs and fellow citizen, and even purported themselves as the original Europeans, thus pandering to outdated ideological appropriations of 'classical' antiquity and exclusionary, West-centric views of the Mediterranean.

This contribution aims to perform an iconographical and aesthetic analysis of the image of thePersian empire as it is shown on the cinematographical adaptation of the graphic novel by FrankMiller, “300” (Z. Snyder, 2007). The point of departure of the analysis is the assumption that thedeformed image projected in the film obeys more to the poetic turn of picturing the Persian realityfrom the point of view of the Spartans, offering nothing more than a new version of the strangenessof otherness, which stresses sensationalism and tries to present some kind of imperial image of theAchaemenid King and his people