Roman History

The clash of the Christian and pagan religions was inevitable, as by definition the two religions polluted the other. Pagans viewed the bodies in tombs that Christians frequently built their churches over as desecrating, while Christians believed the worship of false gods in pagan temples was desecrating. By the fourth century, this struggle between Christianity and paganism had escalated into the use and abuse of ‘sacred space’, as both groups violated the sanctuaries of their rivals and sometimes built their own over the same sites. This conflict was carried on at the highest levels as the emperor Constantine aligned himself with Christianity, as did his son Constantius II, yet both were followed by Julian, the last pagan emperor. This paper examines this phenomenon in several cases involving Constantine and Julian and explores the intention and execution of both emperors.

Few cities of the Near East remained beyond Roman control for long. The so-called client kingdoms of Syria and Arabia were gradually absorbed into the empire. Even Dura Europos, far down the Euphrates, was held by Rome for almost a century. But farther afield, between the Tigris and Euphrates, the desert city of Hatra jealously guarded her independence.

In 2003, a bibliography project started under the auspices of the University of Tampere as a rather modest enterprise of some 300 entries. Since then scholarship on ancient childhood has continued to flourish, and the original perspective of the bibliography has been widened from works by historians and classicists to include more and more scholarhip from art history, archaeology and, in particular, Biblical and Early Christian studies.  A new version is now available, thank to the support from the research project "Tiny Voices From the Past: New Perspectives on Childhood in Early Europe" (University of Oslo & Norwegian Research Council). There is currently 1776 entries in the bibliography. As the intention is that the bibliography will be updated on a yearly basis for now on, interested parties are more than welcome to propose additions and corrections. These can be sent to ville(at)vuolanto.fi.

Est-il légitime d’employer la notion moderne d’ « honneur » à propos de la République romaine antique ? Les Romains de cette époque obéissaient-ils à un code de conduite strict ? Sur quoi fondaient-ils le prestige social ? Quelles marques de distinction employaient-ils et à quelles fins ? Telles sont quelques-unes des questions auxquelles cet ouvrage tente de répondre. Pour ce faire, l’auteur analyse trois notions romaines, honos, honestum et honestas, qui recouvrent des objets socio-politiques (marques d’honneur, prestige, charges publiques) et des données morales (dignité de la conduite, bien éthique). Cette diversité est appréhendée dans l’ouvrage par une approche plurielle, relevant de la sémantique, de la sociologie et de l’histoire des idées. L’étude préalable du sens de ces termes dans les textes latins débouche ainsi sur l’examen des pratiques d’hommage et d’honorabilité dans la vie des Romains. Confrontant ensuite la pratique à la théorie, l’ouvrage étudie la manière dont ces trois notions ont été employées comme thèmes littéraires, instruments idéologiques et concepts philosophiques chez les auteurs latins de la République.

Der Artikel gibt einen kurzen Überblick über die Biographie des Publius Quinctilius Varus (cos. ord. 13 v. Chr.), der als namengebender Verlierer der Varusschlacht des Jahres 9 n. Chr. in die Geschichte eingegangen ist. Neben dem familiären Hintergrund und den verwandtschaftlichen Beziehungen des Varus zur domus Augusta werden die einzelnen Etappen seiner Ämterlaufbahn behandelt, die ihn in die höchsten Kreise der römischen Reichsaristokratie aufsteigen ließ und ihn u. a. nach Nordafrika, Syrien, Judäa, in die Alpenprovinzen und nach Germanien führte.