- Trinity College Dublin, Department of Classics, Department Memberadd
Marrying recent volcanic and hydrological science with environmental historical sources, this article introduces non-specialists to the impacts of major eruptions and resulting climate change on some societies of the first eight centuries... more
Marrying recent volcanic and hydrological science with environmental historical sources, this article introduces non-specialists to the impacts of major eruptions and resulting climate change on some societies of the first eight centuries BCE (in Dutch).
Research Interests:
The importance to Jewish history and identity of the events of the 160s BCE cannot be overstated: the Maccabaean Revolt against Seleucid rule laid the political groundwork for the emergence of the independent kingdom of Judaea some twenty... more
The importance to Jewish history and identity of the events of the 160s BCE cannot be overstated: the Maccabaean Revolt against Seleucid rule laid the political groundwork for the emergence of the independent kingdom of Judaea some twenty years later and set its ideological direction. Among the critical occurrences of that decade mentioned in narrative sources – the Biblical books of 1 and 2 Maccabees and the accounts of the historian Josephus – are two famines said to have been so severe that they altered the course of the rebellion. Owing perhaps to the paucity of primary data, these famines have been little examined heretofore; attention has concentrated on the mention of a ‘sabbatical’ year in the Jewish religious calendar and its implications for the chronology of the Revolt. However, revised dating of atmospheric aerosol records within ice cores (Sigl, Winstrup et al. 2015) and recent geoscientific studies of the impacts of volcanic eruptions on climatic and social conditions (Manning, Ludlow et al. 2017; Singh, Tsigaridis et al. 2023) provide a new lens through which the consecutive famines can be understood, revealing volcanic forcing as a significant causal factor. In addition, this fresh perspective enables a reassessment of the textual sources concerning these seminal episodes of Judaean history.
Research Interests:
As an ancient history undergraduate I was fortunate to have had Professor Brian McGing for one of my first teachers; later came the privilege of studying my doctorate under his supervision; and now I am honoured to call him my friend –... more
As an ancient history undergraduate I was fortunate to have had Professor
Brian McGing for one of my first teachers; later came the privilege of studying
my doctorate under his supervision; and now I am honoured to call him my
friend – this paper is dedicated to him, in gratitude for his guidance and with
the deepest of respect. His very first assignment to our class was the analysis
of an obscure Lycian stela inscribed in Greek. On my laboured assessment of
the epigraphy, the society that produced it, its significance, etc., he wrote only:
‘Don’t forget the stone itself, and what it can tell you.’ The present study
remembers this sage advice as it examines the affordances of another carved
stone, a threshold block from Sardis. It traces a particular legacy transmitted
via a number of cultures beloved by Brian, including those of Egypt and Persia,
in that land which has so often engaged his attention, ancient Anatolia.
KEYWORDS
Kuvava/Kybebe – sanctuary – marble – threshold – Sardis – Lydia – Persia –
theory of affordances
Brian McGing for one of my first teachers; later came the privilege of studying
my doctorate under his supervision; and now I am honoured to call him my
friend – this paper is dedicated to him, in gratitude for his guidance and with
the deepest of respect. His very first assignment to our class was the analysis
of an obscure Lycian stela inscribed in Greek. On my laboured assessment of
the epigraphy, the society that produced it, its significance, etc., he wrote only:
‘Don’t forget the stone itself, and what it can tell you.’ The present study
remembers this sage advice as it examines the affordances of another carved
stone, a threshold block from Sardis. It traces a particular legacy transmitted
via a number of cultures beloved by Brian, including those of Egypt and Persia,
in that land which has so often engaged his attention, ancient Anatolia.
KEYWORDS
Kuvava/Kybebe – sanctuary – marble – threshold – Sardis – Lydia – Persia –
theory of affordances
The archaeology of the sacred landscape at the ancient Lydian capital city of Sardis, on the fringes of Anatolia, has much to tell us about a persistent conundrum of ancient Near Eastern history: how Cyrus the Great of Persia utilised... more
The archaeology of the sacred landscape at the ancient Lydian capital city of Sardis, on the fringes of Anatolia, has much to tell us about a persistent conundrum of ancient Near Eastern history: how Cyrus the Great of Persia utilised religion and religious institutions in the conquest of new territories and in the consolidation of political power. For his support of the indigenous religions of subordinate populations, Cyrus has come to be regarded as the world’s first ‘humanitarian’ imperial leader. This reputation is based largely on contemporaneous texts attesting to Cyrus’ restoration of native temples and cults in Babylonia and that of Yahweh in Jerusalem. But little is known about Anatolia and the period in which the king’s religious policies were probably formulated and first implemented; no substantial written records remain. Instead, archaeological survivals enable the reconstruction of Persian influence on the sacred landscape, as well as provide unambiguous evidence of the acculturation of religious customs. Aspects of the social policy of Cyrus can also be disclosed through acculturation theory, an important heuristic tool in the study of socio-cultural anthropology. His innovations constituted public demonstrations of a new environment, both literal and ideological, that was encouraged in the years following the Persian conquest of Lydia in 547/6 BCE.
Research Interests:
The conquest of ancient Lydia by the Persian forces of Cyrus the Great in 547/6 BCE spelled the end of a sacrificial ritual in the capital city of Sardis. The remodelling of an altar of the State goddess Kuvava (Herodotus’ Kybebe)... more
The conquest of ancient Lydia by the Persian forces of Cyrus the Great in 547/6 BCE spelled the end of a sacrificial ritual in the capital city of Sardis. The remodelling of an altar of the State goddess Kuvava (Herodotus’ Kybebe) ostensibly for reuse as a Persian fire altar has long been a source of puzzlement to scholars, as an action incommensurate with Cyrus’ apparent support of the diverse religious practices within territories under his control and, indeed, promotion of acculturation in matters of religion. This paper delves into that perplexing occurrence, identifies the ceremonial involved in the closure of the Lydian altar as a Near Eastern one prevalent in the Iron Age, and puts forward an explanation for the events.
It is an axiom of the ancient world that politics and religion were inseparable; the example of the urban elite of Babylon and their response to the rise of the Persian Empire in the sixth century BCE is a case in point. The defection of... more
It is an axiom of the ancient world that politics and religion were inseparable; the example of the urban elite of Babylon and their response to the rise of the Persian Empire in the sixth century BCE is a case in point. The defection of King Nabonidus from the patronage of the chief god, Marduk, to that of the moon god, Sîn, and his mismanagement of domestic religious policy pre-empted a religious schism in the Babylonian ruling class that resulted in the complicity of some elite groups in the transition of sovereignty to the Persian invader Cyrus the Great. This article treats the unravelling of Nabonidus' relationship with the Marduk cult in the decade prior to the Persian assault and then turns to the religious motivations of responses by Nabonidus' most powerful subjects at the time of the fall of Babylonia.
The approach of the founder of the Persian empire, Cyrus the Great, to the establishment and consolidation of his rule in newly conquered territories was a major departure from that of his predecessors in the ancient Near East, the... more
The approach of the founder of the Persian empire, Cyrus the Great, to the establishment and consolidation of his rule in newly conquered territories was a major departure from that of his predecessors in the ancient Near East, the Neo-Assyrian kings (c.934-609 BC). The centuries-old model of reinforcing military victory ideologically, with religious triumphalism and the imposition of Assyrian gods into the lives of new subjects, was turned on its head by Cyrus’ unique policy of religious acculturation. Cyrus pioneered an imperial strategy that neither extinguished nor subjugated local belief systems, instead facilitating the acculturation of his own religion and its customs to foster social cohesion and bring about reconciliation to Persian hegemony. In his trailblazing foray into Anatolia about 547 BC we may glimpse the formative period of this approach to peacemaking, later made manifest in the Babylonian ‘Cyrus Cylinder’ and reflected in the Old Testament, which shaped Cyrus the Great’s reputation for religious tolerance in posterity.
Research Interests:
The White Paper of an international and interdisciplinary research project supported by EUROPOL (EC3) investigating juvenile pathways into 'cyber' criminality.
Research Interests:
In 1963 a Roman-era synagogue was discovered at the ancient Lydian capital of Sardis. The fallen walls and piers of the main hall had been filled with fine architectural and ornamental fragments originating, according to an inscription on... more
In 1963 a Roman-era synagogue was discovered at the ancient Lydian capital of Sardis. The fallen walls and piers of the main hall had been filled with fine architectural and ornamental fragments originating, according to an inscription on one of these, from an earlier sanctuary and temple “of the Mother”. Among the late sixth and early fifth century BC spolia were two unparalleled examples of Lydian religious sculpture depicting a female deity with serpent(s), standing in apparently different phases of her shrine or temple. These works can help us to deduce something about the identity of the Sardian snake goddess in the late Archaic period and her connections to Anatolia and the Greeks of Ionia, but for her antecedent persona and probable function, we must look to the further Near East.
Sacred Nature & Structuring the Sacred: Constructing and Re-Writing Sacred Landscapes in the Ancient Near East A one-day conference session at the BANEA Conference, UWTSD Lampeter, Wales PROGRAMME: 9.00-9.10 Introduction, Sacred... more
Sacred Nature & Structuring the Sacred:
Constructing and Re-Writing Sacred Landscapes in the Ancient Near East
A one-day conference session at the BANEA Conference, UWTSD Lampeter, Wales
PROGRAMME:
9.00-9.10 Introduction, Sacred Landscapes (Dr Ralph Haussler, UWTSD)
9.10-9.30 Cyrus the Great of Persia and Acculturation of Religion at Sardis (Dr Selga Medenieks, Classical Association of Ireland)
9.35-9.55 The Ever-Weeping Mountain: Characterising Baal and Zeus on Jebel Aqra (Eris Williams Reed, Durham)
10.05-10.25 Landscape, Literature and Symbolism in the Theban Necropolis: a Study of the Tomb-Chapel of Neferhotep
(Max Stocker, Edinburgh)
COFFEE BREAK
11.00-11.20 (Re)constructing the Sacred Landscape of Saqqara (Scott Williams, Cardiff)
11.30-12.00 (Re)Constructing the Sacred Landscape of Nubia in the Early Nineteenth Century (Dr Daniele Salvoldi, Berlin)
12.00-12.30 The Deconstruction of New Space Identities for Looted Archaeological Sites: the Case of Abusir el-Malek (Dr Monica Hanna, the Egypt Heritage Task Force / Cairo)
LUNCH
14.00-14.30 Desacralized Landscapes: Nilotic Views in the Ethiopian Stories by Heliodorus (Marco Palone, Freiburg)
14.30-15.00 Christianising the Sacred Landscape in Phrygia: the Case of Hierapolis (Dr Gian Franco Chiai, Berlin)
15.00-15.30 Sacred Landscapes and Achaemenid Imperial Strategies in Central Asia (Dr Wu Xin, Albright Institute Jerusalem)
TEA BREAK
16.00-16.20 Sacred Landscapes of Politics: Ghirza, Gurzil and the Romans ( Prof. Cordovana Orietta, Aarhus)
16.25-16.45 Minoan Peak Sanctuaries between Heaven and Earth (Dr Christine Morris, Trinity College Dublin & Dr Alan Peatfield, UCD)
16.50-17.10 Movement and the Religiosity of Routines in the Iron Age Negev: a Deleuzo-Guattarian Approach to the Archaeology of Religion (Neil Erskine, Glasgow)
17.15-17.30 Final Discussion
Discussant: Dr Katharina Zinn, UWTSD
Convenors: Dr Gian Franco Chiai (Berlin) & Dr Ralph Haeussler (Lampeter)
For more information on the BANEA conference and for abstracts, please see:
http://viasacra.org.uk/banea/
http://banea2016.org/
Constructing and Re-Writing Sacred Landscapes in the Ancient Near East
A one-day conference session at the BANEA Conference, UWTSD Lampeter, Wales
PROGRAMME:
9.00-9.10 Introduction, Sacred Landscapes (Dr Ralph Haussler, UWTSD)
9.10-9.30 Cyrus the Great of Persia and Acculturation of Religion at Sardis (Dr Selga Medenieks, Classical Association of Ireland)
9.35-9.55 The Ever-Weeping Mountain: Characterising Baal and Zeus on Jebel Aqra (Eris Williams Reed, Durham)
10.05-10.25 Landscape, Literature and Symbolism in the Theban Necropolis: a Study of the Tomb-Chapel of Neferhotep
(Max Stocker, Edinburgh)
COFFEE BREAK
11.00-11.20 (Re)constructing the Sacred Landscape of Saqqara (Scott Williams, Cardiff)
11.30-12.00 (Re)Constructing the Sacred Landscape of Nubia in the Early Nineteenth Century (Dr Daniele Salvoldi, Berlin)
12.00-12.30 The Deconstruction of New Space Identities for Looted Archaeological Sites: the Case of Abusir el-Malek (Dr Monica Hanna, the Egypt Heritage Task Force / Cairo)
LUNCH
14.00-14.30 Desacralized Landscapes: Nilotic Views in the Ethiopian Stories by Heliodorus (Marco Palone, Freiburg)
14.30-15.00 Christianising the Sacred Landscape in Phrygia: the Case of Hierapolis (Dr Gian Franco Chiai, Berlin)
15.00-15.30 Sacred Landscapes and Achaemenid Imperial Strategies in Central Asia (Dr Wu Xin, Albright Institute Jerusalem)
TEA BREAK
16.00-16.20 Sacred Landscapes of Politics: Ghirza, Gurzil and the Romans ( Prof. Cordovana Orietta, Aarhus)
16.25-16.45 Minoan Peak Sanctuaries between Heaven and Earth (Dr Christine Morris, Trinity College Dublin & Dr Alan Peatfield, UCD)
16.50-17.10 Movement and the Religiosity of Routines in the Iron Age Negev: a Deleuzo-Guattarian Approach to the Archaeology of Religion (Neil Erskine, Glasgow)
17.15-17.30 Final Discussion
Discussant: Dr Katharina Zinn, UWTSD
Convenors: Dr Gian Franco Chiai (Berlin) & Dr Ralph Haeussler (Lampeter)
For more information on the BANEA conference and for abstracts, please see:
http://viasacra.org.uk/banea/
http://banea2016.org/
Research Interests:
Eight papers in a special, themed volume of 'Hermathena', the Trinity College Dublin journal of the Classical world, theology, and philosophy.
Research Interests:
33 authors collaborated in this volume on sacred landscapes in the ancient world in a comparative, multi-disciplinary perspective, between Britain and Egypt, Portugal and China. From generation to generation, people experience their... more
33 authors collaborated in this volume on sacred landscapes in the ancient world in a comparative, multi-disciplinary perspective, between Britain and Egypt, Portugal and China.
From generation to generation, people experience their landscapes differently. Humans depend on their natural environment: it shapes their behaviour and it is often felt that one has to appease one's deities that were responsible for natural benefits, but also for natural calamities, like droughts, famines, floods and landslides. In many societies, we presume that lakes, rivers, rocks, mountains, caves and groves were considered sacred. Individual sites and entire landscapes are often associated with divine actions, mythical heroes and etiological myths. Throughout human history, people also felt the need to monumentalise their sacred landscape. But this is where the similarities stop as different societies had very different understandings, believes and practises. The aim of this book is therefore to carefully scrutinise our evidence and rethink our methodologies in a multidisciplinary approach. More than thirty papers investigate diverse sacred landscapes from the Iberian peninsula and Britain in the west to China in the east. They discuss how to interpret the intricate web of ciphers and symbols in the landscape and how people might have experienced it. We see the role of performance, ritual, orality, textuality and memory in people's sacred landscapes. A diachronic view allows us to study how landscapes were 're-written', adapted and redefined in the course of time to suit new cultural, political and religious understandings, not to mention the impact of urbanism on people's understandings. How was the landscape manipulated, transformed and monumentalised, especially the colossal investments in monumental architecture we see in certain socio-historic contexts or the creation of an alternative humanmade, seemingly 'non-natural' landscape, with perfectly astronomically aligned buildings that defines a cosmological order? This volume therefore aims to analyse the complex links between landscape, 'religiosity' and society, developing a dialectic framework that explores sacred landscapes across the ancient world in a dynamic, holistic, contextual and historical perspective.
From generation to generation, people experience their landscapes differently. Humans depend on their natural environment: it shapes their behaviour and it is often felt that one has to appease one's deities that were responsible for natural benefits, but also for natural calamities, like droughts, famines, floods and landslides. In many societies, we presume that lakes, rivers, rocks, mountains, caves and groves were considered sacred. Individual sites and entire landscapes are often associated with divine actions, mythical heroes and etiological myths. Throughout human history, people also felt the need to monumentalise their sacred landscape. But this is where the similarities stop as different societies had very different understandings, believes and practises. The aim of this book is therefore to carefully scrutinise our evidence and rethink our methodologies in a multidisciplinary approach. More than thirty papers investigate diverse sacred landscapes from the Iberian peninsula and Britain in the west to China in the east. They discuss how to interpret the intricate web of ciphers and symbols in the landscape and how people might have experienced it. We see the role of performance, ritual, orality, textuality and memory in people's sacred landscapes. A diachronic view allows us to study how landscapes were 're-written', adapted and redefined in the course of time to suit new cultural, political and religious understandings, not to mention the impact of urbanism on people's understandings. How was the landscape manipulated, transformed and monumentalised, especially the colossal investments in monumental architecture we see in certain socio-historic contexts or the creation of an alternative humanmade, seemingly 'non-natural' landscape, with perfectly astronomically aligned buildings that defines a cosmological order? This volume therefore aims to analyse the complex links between landscape, 'religiosity' and society, developing a dialectic framework that explores sacred landscapes across the ancient world in a dynamic, holistic, contextual and historical perspective.