Iconography

Depuis le début du xx e siècle et plus encore depuis Vatican II, l'Église catholique encourage la création artistique locale. Dans des Églises désormais adultes, du monde de la mission, elle souhaite que les fidèles expriment leur foi dans les modalités artistiques qui sont les leurs. Malgré des efforts anciens mais ponctuels de quelques missionnaires, force est de constater que l'art kanak est encore absent dans de nombreuses églises de Nouvelle-Calédonie. Les raisons de cet état de fait sont à chercher non seulement dans le peu d'intérêt, à quelques exceptions prés, des prêtres pour encourager leurs ouailles dans une production artistique jugée souvent peu esthétique, mais aussi dans la conception kanak du sacré et du divin. Pensant, voyant et sentant le divin partout autour d'eux les Kanak ont toujours eu du mal d'une part à le représenter, mais aussi à l'enfermer dans un sanctuaire. C'est sans doute pour ces raisons et pour d'autres encore qu'ils continuent à investir plus l'extérieur que l'intérieur des sanctuaires.

Se presenta la investigación de la cerámica de la tradición Teuchitlán del occidente de México por medio del estudio iconográfico y la presencia de símbolos panmesoamericanos, con una visión alterna hacia los procesos de contacto intercultural, proponiendo que la interacción interregional del occidente fue más compleja y sucedió más prematuramente de lo que se considera. Motivos compartidos fueron incorporados a cánones representacionales locales con un simbolismo regional único indicando que los artesanos continuaron una tradición cultural e implementaron agencia artística. La evidencia indica simultáneamente una cosmovisión compartida a través de la incorporación a complejos simbólicos panmesoamericanos y una afirmación material de configuraciones regionales culturales específicas.

Las plantas acuáticas del lago Titicaca, conocidas como totoras (Schoenoplectus californicus), han sido empleadas en distintos ámbitos. Se estima que las balsas hechas de totora han permitido una apropiación del paisaje circum lacustre y han sido utilizadas para explotar los recursos del lago Titicaca desde el período Arcaico Tardío. En este recorrido histórico-cultural, ni las herramientas ni las técnicas de construcción ni los tipos de balsas de totora han experimentado cambios sustanciales, incluso hasta el presente. Sin embargo, han despertado un interés creciente desde hace más de medio siglo a partir de la idea de las migraciones y el contacto entre pueblos utilizando solo sus materias primas, así como la posibilidad de surcar mares abiertos empleando balsas de totora. Estas proezas se han llevado adelante con bastante éxito y dieron fama mundial a quienes las capitanearon, pero dejaron en el anonimato a sus constructores, quedando pendiente esa reivindicación histórica de quienes también aportaron en el conocimiento y la construcción de balsas para demostrar la factibilidad de esos postulados.

Atendiendo las tareas que son inherentes a la Dirección de Salvamento Arqueológico del INAH, es decir, el estudio y protección del patrimonio que con motivo de la construcción de una obra pública o privada pudiera verse en riesgo de afectación, es que se interviene por medio de excavaciones
arqueológicas sistemáticas, en un inmueble ubicado en el centro histórico de la ciudad de México.
Durante las labores, se recupera un recipiente manufacturado en piedra basáltica del que destaca su admirable labrado que representa a un importante animal mitológico de la religión mexica; bajo testigos de actividad humana constante, a 3.98m de profundidad, se detectan vestigios de una estructura arquitectónica de base rectangular conformada por piedras de basalto y tezontle; en el desplante de la misma y quizás formando parte del sistema constructivo. Como herramienta
metodológica, complementaria en la investigación, se realiza un registro tridimensional por medio de fotogrametría digital al objeto y a su contexto de hallazgo, creando así un entorno virtual funcional que pudiera facilitar la lectura y compresión de ellos en cualquier momento, posibilitando también la conservación misma del objeto, así como la difusión del hallazgo a través de medios digitales, por ejemplo.
Apoyándonos en dicho registro, se realiza un estudio iconográfico con la finalidad de reconocer cada uno de los atributos de la representación plasmada en el objeto y así identificar la entidad simbolizada en la pieza. Esto permitió abordar de manera más completa el hallazgo, tanto en la búsqueda de la integración de él mismo en su contexto, como en su propia interpretación.

Il rinvenimento di alcuni depositi fossiliferi riferibili ad ammoniti all'interno della configurazione pavimentale della chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta a Rovato e all'esterno della chiesa campestre di San Bernardo a Zurane, nella frazione di Provaglio d'Iseo, pone alla nostra attenzione alcuni semplici interrogativi circa il significato della presenza di fossili nelle chiese del XVI sec. in Franciacorta. Quale può essere la funzione di questi fossili ammonitici? Dobbiamo supporre come casuale o volontaria la loro presenza? E, in questo caso, hanno soltanto una funzione decorativa o possiamo invece considerarli come un'espressione simbolica? A proposito della loro ipotetica valenza simbolica rimane anche da chiedersi quale sia il significato di tale simbolismo. La risposta più plausibile a questi interrogativi è riconducibile alla tradizione cristiana che risale a Tertulliano e che nei fossili tende a riconoscere una tangibile testimonianza storica del diluvio Universale. 1 Ciò può essere inoltre significativo se riferito a luoghi di culto databili tra la fine del XV sec. e l'inizio del XVI. In questo lasso di tempo il mai sopito entusiasmo per l'interpretazione dei "segni dei tempi" da parte delle diverse correnti millenaristiche si salda con i pronostici degli astrologi per l'anno 1524, i quali parlano dell'imminenza di un nuovo diluvio preannunziato da una congiunzione di pianeti in un segno d'acqua. 2 All'origine di tutto c'è un'opera pubblicata nel 1499 dagli astrologhi Johannes Stöffler e Jakob Pflaum. 3 Si tratta dell'Almanach nova un calendario che tra il 1499 e il 1551 pervenne a ben tredici edizioni. In corrispondenza dell'anno 1524, si leggeva una previsione di questo tipo: "[…] nel corso dell'anno si verificheranno alcune straordinarie configurazioni planetarie. Infatti nel mese di febbraio ci saranno venti congiunzioni, piccole, medie e grandi. Sedici di esse saranno in un segno d'acqua. Esse annunceranno cambiamenti e modificazioni e alterazioni nel mondo intero, in tutte le regioni, i regni, le province, gli stati, i ceti, per tutti gli animali terrestri e marini e tutte le creature sulla Terra -cambiamenti come non ne abbiamo mai visti in tutti i secoli precedenti, come non ne hanno mai parlato né i libri degli storici né i nostri antenati". 4 La paura della fine del mondo si diffonde così anche in Italia, dove si registrano caratteristici fenomeni di panico collettivo, tanto è vero che la gente comincia a costruirsi delle imbarcazioni in attesa del nuovo diluvio universale. Nel 1520, Agostino Nifo darà alle stampe il De falsa diluvii pronosticatione al fine contrastare gli effetti negativi di questa previsione astrologica, mentre Girolamo Cardano ricorda, negli Aphorismi astronomici, che in quell'epoca "molti fuggirono sulle montagne". 5 Della congiunzione del 1524 si trova menzione anche nei canti Carnescialeschi di Machiavelli: " Imperò che ogni astrologo e indovino v'han tutti sbigottiti (secondo che da molti inteso abbiamo) che un tempo orrendo e strano minaccia a ogni terra peste, diluvio e guerra

Η παρούσα εργασία αποτελεί καρπό της επιθυμίας να φωτιστεί μια συναρπαστική, αλλά συχνά παραγνωρισμένη πτυχή της Ελληνικής Επανάστασης: η δημιουργία και δράση του Τάγματος των Φιλελλήνων, η κάθοδός του στην Ήπειρο και η τραγική κατάληξή του στη μάχη του Πέτα. Βασίζεται στη μετάφραση αποσπασμάτων από το έργο του Maxime Raybaud, με τίτλο “Mémoires sur la Grèce pour servir à l’histoire de la guerre de l’Indépendance”, και πλαισιώνεται από κείμενα του Άγγλου ιστορικού William St Clair, μέσα από το μνημειώδες βιβλίο του “That Greece Might Still Be Free: The Philhellenes in the War of Independence”.

Beauty has two distinctive aspects: (i) the objective, which refers to that which is intrinsic to the object (intelligibility, its value as the bearer of meaning), and (ii) the subjective, which refers to the experience (a value response) of delight, admiration, or love which the encounter with beauty produces in the subject. Man, by virtue of his rational nature, needs and aspires to transcendence. Beauty not only appeals to our senses of sight and hearing, it also stirs our heart and mind, elevating our spirit toward the divine. As such, beauty can be a pathway to the mystery of the divne. From this, flows the natural connection between beauty and religion, and consequently, the connection between beauty and temple.

The approach to a reflection on the beauty of the temple begins with God’s creation because: (i) for every human being, the very first experience of beauty (which occurs around the time of birth) is the human face, an instance of Imago Dei; (ii) in Genesis 1, God saw all that He had created was very good. Beauty and goodness in an entity are fundamentally identical (ST I, q.5, a.4). God, Who created out of the superabundance of His love, loved and delighted in the beauty of His creation. This beauty reflects the divine beauty, order, and harmony, such that man, as Imago Dei and the pinnacle of God’s creation in the corporeal order, endowed with intellect and will, can enter into communion with God through enjoying and cultivating the beauty and goodness of God’s creation. To the eyes of the ancient Israelites, the created world (the cosmos) was understood as a temple with two distinct realms, the heavenly realm of the transcendence where God and angelic beings “reside” and the earthly realm for man and other living creatures. Art (techne in Greek) mimics nature. The architecture and sacred art in the Jerusalem Temple and churches built by ancient Israelites and Christians, respectively, sought to “recreate,” symbolically, both the distinction between the heavenly and earthly realm and the beauty of God’s creation. The beauty of sacred art, when born of faith and expressing faith, can draw believers into a deeper reality, the mystery of the divine.

For Christians (and, given the stain of original Sin), creation is not complete without re-creation (new creation) which began with Christ. In His humanity, Christ is the new creation, the perfect Imago Dei, the new Temple and perfect beauty, fully manifesting the glory of God (Jn 1:14) through His Passion, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. Through baptism, the Christian becomes a new creation and also the temple, the dwelling of the living God (1 Cor 3:16-17; 2 Cor 6:16). As God’s temple, the Christian is to radiate spiritual beauty by living virtuously in conformity with the demands of the Gospel. By letting the light of Christ shine in and through him/her, the Christian becomes a “vehicle” to bring other people to God. As such, Christians are living stones of the temple of the new covenant (the Church) of which Christ is the cornerstone, the beauty that saves the world

Presented are the research objectives of the project 'Irep en Kemet', Wine of Ancient Egypt, and the content of the project's website. This research aims at documenting the complete corpus of wine in ancient Egypt and analysing the data (iconography, textual sources and artefacts) to unveil the importance of the ancient Egyptian wine culture legacy in the Mediterranean region. At this stage, a bibliographical researchable database relevant to wine, viticulture and winemaking in the ancient Egypt has been completed, with 197 entries including articles, books, chapters in book, academic thesis (PhD and MA), essay, abstracts, on-line articles and websites. Moreover, a scene-detail database for the viticulture and winemaking scenes in the Egyptian private tombs has been recorded with 97 entries, some of them unpublished, and the collected data is under study. The titles of the tombs' owners and the texts related to the scenes will be also recorded. A photographic survey of the graves containing images related with viticulture and winemaking will be carried out in order to have the most accurate information on the location and stage of conservation of those images. Our main goal is to provide scholars with a complete, comprehensive archaeological and bibliographical database for the scenes of viticulture and winemaking depicted in the Egyptian private tombs throughout the ancient Egyptian history. The project's website (www.wineofancientegypt.com) will include all the collected data, the study and analysis, the project's history and team members, publications as well as the results of our research.

Gospođa Elisabetta Marcucci obratila se 8. listopada 2015. godine prof. Lujani Paraman, kustosici u Muzeju grada Trogira, s molbom da joj potvrdi je li reljef u njenom vlasništvu zaista djelo čuvenog majstora Radovana, kako se to prenosi obiteljskom tradicijom. 1 Od listopada 2015. godine nastavio sam intenzivnu korespondenciju s gospođom Marcucci. Reljef potječe iz Hrvatske; donio ga je, navodi, jedan njen predak (1430.?), možda Marcuccio Marcucci, prijatelj i sudrug izvjesnog Malateste s kojim je zajedno ratovao u pljačkaškim upadima u Hrvatskoj (amico e compagno di avventure e scorribande anche in Croazia). Reljef se donedavno nalazio uzidan pored štale na njihovoj gospodarskoj zgradi (casa colonica) u Pesaru. Bio je, kako piše, predmetom štovanja tamošnjih ribara, a prepoznavao se kao prikaz sv. Kristofora. Gospođa Marcucci izrazila je želju da bi ona i njena sestra htjele da reljef, uz nadoknadu, dospije u Hrvatsku. O njenoj ponudi putem medija bila je obaviještena javnost. Nažalost, kod nadležnih ustanova, Muzeja grada Trogira i Ministarstva kulture, nije bilo mogućnosti, odnosno volje da se reljef otkupi. Poslije, 16. lipnja 2016. godine reljef je prodan na dražbi u galeriji Piasa u Parizu. U luksuznom aukcijskom katalogu četiri fotografije reljefa popraćene su tekstom u kojem se reljef datira u drugu polovicu 13. stoljeća i prepoznaje kao prikaz apostola. 2 Reljef je kupio dr. Vlado Muzar i tako je ipak dospio u Hrvatsku, u Zagreb, u Art Salon. Kako me upozoravaju galeristi, vlasnici antikviteta ponekad daju nepouzdane informacije. Postavlja se stoga pitanje o podrijetlu umjetnine koja bi navodno potjecala iz Hrvatske, kao i o osobama u svezi s reljefom (Marcucci i Malatesta). Prema priopćenju vlasnice, njeni su predci podrijetlom iz Venecije trgovci i brodari (armatori) koji su se naselili u San Marinu, gdje su neki od njih obnašali čast jednoga od dvojice dužnosnika na čelu republike San Marina (capitano reggente). Inače, prezime Marcucci je često na području Pesara: postoji i plemićki rod Marcucci Pinoli. 3 Izvjesnog kapetana Rainalda Marcuccija, koji je ratovao u Dalmaciji (nije precizirano kada), spominje među svojim predcima biskup Francesco Antonio Marcucci ( †1798.). 4 Tijekom gotovo jednog stoljeća Malateste su držali obalu od Riminija do Senigalije, pa su tako bili i gospodari Pesara od 1285. do 1445. godine. Tamošnji gradovi bili su u trgovačkim vezama s Dalmacijom. 5 Karlo I. Malatesta, vojskovođa (condottiere) i plaćenik u službi Venecije, ratovao je protiv ugarskog kralja Sigismunda Luksemburškog te je bio ranjen 1412. godine. 6 Čuveni vojskovođa Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417. -1468.) bio je povezan s Dubrovnikom gdje je posjedovao nekretnine; Dubrovniku je 1451. godine poslao u pomoć 30 vojnika za rata s hercegovačkim vojvodom Stjepanom Vukčićem Kosačom. U tom je gradu 1464. godine našao utočište u doba sukoba s papom Pijom II. 7 Za nabavu kamene građe crkve, mauzoleja u Riminiju (Tempio Malatestiano), bio je angažiran Juraj Dalmatinac. 8 Malatesta Baglioni (1498. -1531.), također vojskovođa (condottiere) u 1. Kameni reljef s prikazom neidentificirane osobe, Zagreb, privatno vlasništvo Stone relief depicting an unidentified person, Zagreb, private property

Ancora sul Festino di S. Rosalia.
Pare che l’etimologia del nome greco di Palermo non
sarebbe legata al suo grande porto (Pan-ormos, tutta
ormeggio), bensı̀ ad ormos nel senso di monile (tutta
gioiello), che si rifà al nome fenicio Sys. In questo
senso Conca d’Oro è un’espressione ancora più evo-
cativa di un luogo che ha prodotto nei suoi tre mil-
lenni di vita cittadini meravigliosi e opere preziose.
Comprendere cosa rappresenti Rosalia per Palermo
non è un mero esercizio intellettuale. E gettare le
fondamenta solide per una rinascita prodigiosa.

At the 2004 Palenque Round Table, Erik Velásquez proposed that Maya rulers bearing the Kaanuˀl emblem glyph may have resided in Dzibanche during the Early Classic, as there are no references linking them to Calakmul before A.D. 631. Here we review data on their presence at Dzibanche and other settlements in the region. Arguments of a different nature supporting this scenario were published from 2005 to 2016, including the Xunantunich findings (Helmke and Awe 2016a, 2016b), which allow us to conjecture that a dissident faction of the dynasty separated from Dzibanche and founded an alternative seat in Calakmul in A.D. 635. This produced the scenario that we propose, where, in the Late Classic, there were simultaneous rulers of the Kaanuˀl dynasty in southern Campeche and southern Quintana Roo, since Kaanuˀl rulers continued to reside in Dzibanche at least until the seventh century.

En la Mesa Redonda de Palenque de 2004 Erik Velásquez propuso que los gobernantes mayas que portaban el glifo emblema de Kaanuˀl pudieron haber residido durante el Clásico Temprano en Dzibanché, pues no existen referencias que los vinculen con Calakmul antes de 631 d.C. Aquí revisamos los datos sobre su presencia en Dzibanché y otros asentamientos de la región. Argumentos de distinta naturaleza que apoyan este escenario se publicaron desde 2005 hasta 2016, incluyendo los hallazgos de Xunantunich (Helmke y Awe 2016a, 2016b), que permiten conjeturar que una facción disidente de la dinastía se separó de Dzibanché y fundó en 635 d.C. una sede alternativa en Calakmul. Ello produjo el panorama que proponemos en el Clásico Tardío, donde había mandatarios simultáneos de la dinastía Kaanuˀl en el sur de Campeche y en el sur de Quintana Roo, toda vez que en Dzibanché seguían residiendo gobernantes Kaanuˀl al menos hasta el siglo VII.

From the perspective of political iconography, this article takes a rather unusual view on a group of graphic works by the German secessionist Lovis Corinth. Martin Luther, whom Corinth honored in an extensive graphic cycle in 1921, is a figure in German religious and national history who played a significant role as a paragon of manliness in the formation of the German nation-state. As the epitome of the German man who stood out for his firmness of faith, steadfastness, and will to fight, Luther was also a suitable model for Corinth himself, who wished for a better reality, especially in the disastrous situation after the First World War.

Hier soll mit einigen ausgewählten antiken Gemmen eine
kleine Gruppe von Originalen aus der Sammlung Sigmund Freud vorgestellt werden, die bislang noch wenig bekannt ist.
Dazu treten die in den Briefen Freuds und in anderen biographischen Quellen erwähnten Gemmengeschenke an Familienangehörige und Freunde und die so genannten Komiteeringe.
Freuds Antiken- und Sammelleidenschaft kommt zur Sprache; es wird
nach der möglichen Herkunft einzelner Objekte und einem Zusammenhang mit Leben und Werk gefragt.

The Mathura School of Art is one of the vibrant chapters of Indian Art history, that is celebrated for its distinctive red sandstone sculptures and a blend of indigenous and foreign elements. The Indian Museum holds a remarkable collection, belonging to the Buddhist, Jain and Brahminical traditions. Despite of its cultural significance, the sculptures are dispersed across the museum, making it difficult for the visitors to appreciate their shared story. This study not only enumerates the importance of the art specimens from this school, through historical studies but also a visitor-authority survey to propose a dedicated gallery to the Mathura sculptures. The findings highlight support for this initiative, emphasizing on the potentials for heritage studies, academic interpretations and visitor engagement towards this art form.

The presence of figurative terracottas, and more generally
of coroplastic material, in domestic settings is a complex
and multifaceted issue, in which the reassembling of the
context plays a fundamental role. Excavation reports, especially
those of old excavations, not always provide data useful
for the contextualisation of the figurative terracottas
within the domestic space and in relation to other objects
originally associated with it. For this reason, the evidence
provided by those sites of the Greek Sicily that have been
investigated, studied and published with a rigorous attention
to contexts is of paramount importance in order to fully
understand the function of specific finds - or groups of
them - as markers of cult activity at the domestic level.
Conversely, the same evidence is essential for distinguishing
cases in which the figurative terracottas belong to
spheres different from the domestic cult, such as ritual
deposits resulting from the history of a building or contexts
related to the production and/or sale of artefacts. This
article aims to provide a general overview of that issue
through a series of examples and highlight the problems
inherent in the study of this specific topic.

The article analyzes the understanding of the relationship between the Eucharist and the realization of the Church by Fr Anatoly Zhurakovsky. Special attention is paid to the development of Zhurakovsky’s theological ideas and the identification of the sources of his concept. In his early article “The Liturgical Canon Now and Before” (1917), Zhurakovsky considers the ecclesiological perspective of the Eucharistic sacrifice both at the level of the realization of the love of the particular ecclesial community in the liturgy and at the level of communion with the pan-unity of the Church. In this perspective, the Eucharist not only represents the reality of the Church in a Eucharistic community, it also has a cosmic dimension, going back to the Universal Eucharist which unites man with all creation and the cosmos. In this connection, the influence of the ideas of kenosis and incarnation (plototvorenie) formulated by A. Tuberovsky, the trinitarian ecclesiology of P. Florensky, and, in general, the ideas of the Russian religious renaissance can be traced back to Zhurakovsky. The author identifies the period of persecution of the Church as the key period for the transformation of Zhurakovsky’s ideas. In the new context hostile to the Church, the Eucharist is placed in an apocalyptic perspective projected onto modernity and becomes a link between the Church and those suffering for Christ. Drawing on Zhurakovsky’s sermons and epistles from exile, the paper notes that in the Eucharistic perspective, martyrdom becomes an integral part of the Church’s journey, affirming the close connection between liturgy and suffering for the faith.
В статье анализируется осмысление свящ. Анатолием Жураковским связи между Евхаристией и реализацией Церкви. Особое внимание уделяется развитию богословских идей Жураковского и выявлению источников его концепции. В своей ранней статье «Литургический канон теперь и прежде» (1917) экклезиологическую перспективу Евхаристической жертвы Жураковский рассматривает как на уровне реализации любви в литургии — в отдельной церковной общине, — так и на уровне причащения «многоединству» Церкви. В таком ракурсе Евхаристия не только являет реальность Церкви в конкретной евхаристической общине, но имеет и космическое измерение. Она восходит к «Вселенской Евхаристии», которая объединяет человека со всей тварью и космосом. В связи с этим прослеживается влияние на Жураковского, во‑первых, идей кенозиса и плототворения, сформулированных А. Туберовским, во‑вторых, тринитарной экклезиологии П. Флоренского и, в‑третьих, в целом идей русского религиозного ренессанса. Автор обозначает период гонений на церковь как ключевой для трансформации идей Жураковского. В новом, враждебном церкви контексте Евхаристия помещается в апокалиптическую перспективу. Та, в свою очередь, проецируется на современность и становится связующим звеном между церковью и страдальцами за Христа. Основываясь на проповедях и посланиях Жураковского из ссылки, следует отметить, что в евхаристической перспективе мученичество становится неотъемлемой частью пути церкви, утверждая тесную связь между литургией и страданиями за веру.

The relationship between Chinese models of science and those in the West has been the topic of one of the most striking scholarly undertakings of the last thirty years, Joseph Needham's multi-volume history of science and technology in China.' The central theme of Needham's study is the autonomy of Chinese science and its central role in the development of a scientific world-view of the "Orient", which is of equal stature to that of "occidental" science. The mythology which Needham succeeds in destroying is that the Chinese, although able to evolve rather sophisticated technologies, remained on a relatively primitive level of technical sophistication, especially in comparison with the parallel rate of scientific and technological progress in the West. Needham counters this by showing the complexity as well as the autonomy of Chinese scientific thought and by stressing its progress within a model of "Chinese" science. As of yet only peripherally covered in Needham's monumental undertaking is the development of the theories and technologies of Chinese medicine.2 This area,

How do we organize our perceptions of the world? Recent discussions of this age-old question have centered around the function of visual conventions as the primary means by which we perceive and transmit our understanding of the world about us.' Nowhere are these conventions more evident than in artistic representations, which consist more or less exclusively of icons. Rather than presenting the world, icons represent it. Even with a modest nod to supposedly mimetic portrayals it is apparent that, when individuals are shown within a work of art (no matter how broadly defined), the ideologically charged iconographic nature of the representation dominates. And it dominates in a very specific manner, for the representation of individuals implies the creation of some greater class or classes to which the individual is seen to belong. These classes in turn are characterized by the use of a model which synthesizes our perception of the uniformity of the groups into a convincingly homogeneous image. The resulting stereotypes may be overt, as in the case of caricatures, or covert, as in eighteenth-century portraiture. But they serve to focus the viewer's attention on the relationship between the portrayed individual and the general qualities ascribed to the class. Specific individual realities are thus given mythic extension through association with the qualities of a class. These realities manifest as icons representing perceived attributes of the class into which the individual has been placed. The myths associated with the class, the myth of difference from the rest of humanity, is thus, to an extent, composed of fragments of the real world, perceived through the ideological bias of the observer.

This article  raises the long-standing interpretative issue in the Hebrew Bible regarding the relationship between Cyrus of Persia and Yahweh. For Lewis, the issue of belief is integrally tied up in a matrix of internal and external politics, hegemony, ancestral traditions, and royal legitimacy. To unpack the complexities of belief in this context, Lewis presents a case study of Bar Rakib, an Aramean monarch of the eighth century of ancient Samʾal (Zincirli, Syria).
He shows how Bar Rakib employed a variety of media (orthostats, inscriptions, seals) combining textual and visual narratives about divinity in order to shape the perceptions of his local constituents and external powers, namely the Neo-Assyrian empire. At times he portrays divinity conservatively, in line with inherited traditions of his royal ancestors and their devotion to a dynastic deity. At other times he innovatively breaks with his royal family’s traditions to pragmatically curry more favor with his local constituency due to its hybrid makeup. His boldest move is to play to imperial power by again using both text and image on an imposing orthostat to portray his allegiance not to his local gods but rather to Neo-Assyrian divinity. The take-away for Cyrus’s putative belief in Yahweh is cautionary. Had we more data for Cyrus (similar to what we have for Bar Rakib) we would shun simplistic reconstructions realizing that all monarchs portray religious belief in ways that are politically, culturally, and sociologically contingent and audience dependent. Without such data, we must be agnostic with regard to reconstructing Cyrus’s belief in divinity, Yahweh or otherwise.

Among the earliest written documentation from third millennium BC Mesopotamia, recorded shortly after the overwhelmingly administrative documentation (c. 85%) from the Late Uruk and Jemdet Nasr periods (3300-3000 BC),1 we find an equally intriguing and intricate group of script-bearing objects, usually referred to in the scholarly literature as 'ancient kudurrus'. These objects seem to be well suited for the purpose of investigating the interplay of material, text, and associated iconography, an approach only rarely intensively pursued among Assyriologists.2 The appearance of a seminal volume dealing extensively with this special group of records has contributed a great deal to reviving the issue of the relation of these early land-sale documents to the later kudurrus, i.e. boundary stones, from second millennium BC Babylonia.3 This unique group of texts (see ELTS nos. 1-12 and 18) on the one hand consists of several stone tablets (ELTS nos. 1-7) with a convex obverse and reverse, a peculiar shape not found in any other group of texts from any other period or area,4 and two further stone objects formed like animals, i.e. a recumbent sheep (ELTS no. 8) and a lion-headed bird (ELTS no. 9). On the other hand, there are three quite exceptional stone artefacts with associated iconography (ELTS nos. 10+11, 12, 18), on which I will focus in extenso below. Formally, the rather tablet-like stone objects, i.e. ELTS 1-7, generally display vertically arranged columns with This article emerged from the Heidelberg Collaborative Research Center 933 "Material Text Cultures. Materiality and Presence of Writing in Non-Typographic Societies". The CRC 933 is financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG). I am indebted to D. Sürenhagen for bringing J. Boese's recent archaeological treatment of the 'Blau'schen Steine' (cf. Boese 2010) to my attention. Palaeographic references follow the numbers in A. Deimel's "Liste der archaischen Keilschriftzeichen" (Leipzig, 1922), henceforth abbreviated as LAK, M. Green and H. Nissen, Zeichenliste der archaischen Texte aus Uruk (Berlin, 1987), henceforth ZATU, and E. Burrows' Sign List (pls. 1-36), henceforth SL, of the archaic texts from Ur (cf. Burrows, UET 2 [1935]). Sumerian personal names are consequently given with translations-despite the immanent imponderables-in order to impart some clues of the hidden connotative patterns. 1 Note that about 15% of the Uruk IV-III tablets are of the lexical genre; whereas Uruk IV tablets exclusively derive from the site Uruk, those of the Jemdet Nasr period (= Uruk III) come from a number of different

This paper presents the digital reconstruction of the carving of the iconostasis of the Assumption church in the town of Bansko in its original form, a research project of the Department of Mathematical Linguistics of the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

East-Christian icon art is recognised as one of the most significant areas of the art of painting. Regrettably, it is still being neglected in the digital documentation and the registry of the art of painting. The accessibility to that large part of mankind's cultural and historical ancestry would be enhanced greatly if icons of all possible kinds and origins were digitised, classified, and "exhibited" in the Internet. That would allow the preservation and even the future digital restoration of a large number of rare specimens of the East-Christian art of painting. This article aims to introduce how modern techniques from the area of digital libraries can be used for implementing the demonstrative multimedia library "Virtual encyclopaedia of the Bulgarian iconography " 4 , containing a large number of Bulgarian iconic art masterpieces and iconography of various authors, periods and schools.

Thanks to their specific characteristics, educational video games make game-based learning more effective than traditional teaching approaches with regard of students’ motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes. This demonstrator presents an educational 3D maze video game introducing Bulgarian Orthodox iconography. The structure and learning content of the maze game are defined declaratively by applying several contemporary teaching methods and learning scenarios for Orthodox iconographic art study. Next, the game is generated by means of a special software platform for creation of customizable desktop video maze games for education. The demonstrator outlines both the game design and development processes and provides a tour through the generated educational maze rooms and tunnels. It shows how the game can be adapted according player’s achievements, emotions and performance.

This paper demonstrates an approach for technology-enhanced learning, combining analysis, collaborative work, mobile learning (m-learning for short), discussion, and learning-by-authoring approaches in order to achieve more active participation of the learners during the reception of knowledge and to stimulate their creative thinking. The learners visit famous churches, monasteries, museums, etc., where they can see samples of Bulgarian Iconography supported by m-learning. They rely on the GUIDE@HAND platform containing personalized collections presenting location, historical data, pictures, etc. Multimedia and other information resources are delivered through the Virtual Encyclopaedia of the East-Christian Art digital library (BIDL)—a web-based environment for registration, documentation, access and exploration of Bulgarian iconographical artefacts. The main goal of the learners is to create their own learning material/project by analysing the available resources. The presented use...

This paper presents the digital reconstruction of the carving of the iconostasis of the Assumption church in the town of Bansko in its original form, a research project of the Department of Mathematical Linguistics of the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Abstract: East-Christian icon art is recognised as one of the most significant areas of the art of painting. Regrettably, it is still being neglected in the digital documentation and the registry of the art of painting. The accessibility to that large part of mankind's cultural and historical ancestry would be enhanced greatly if icons of all possible kinds and origins were digitised, classified, and „exhibited “ in the Internet. That would allow the preservation and even the future digital restoration of a large number of rare specimens of the East-Christian art of painting. This article aims to introduce how modern techniques from the area of digital libraries can be used for implementing the demonstrative multimedia library “Virtual encyclopaedia of the Bulgarian iconography ” 4, containing a large number of Bulgarian iconic art masterpieces and iconography of various authors, periods and schools.

Abstract: Preserving and presenting the Bulgarian folklore heritage is a long-term commitment of scholars and researchers working in many areas. This article presents ontological model of the Bulgarian folklore knowledge, exploring knowledge technologies for presenting the semantics of the phenomena of our traditional culture. This model is a step to the development of the digital library for the “Bulgarian Folklore Heritage” virtual exposition which is a part of the “Knowledge Technologies for Creation of Digital ...

East-Christian icon art is recognised as one of the most significant areas of the art of painting. Regrettably, it is still being neglected in the digital documentation and the registry of the art of painting. The accessibility to that large part of mankind's cultural and historical ancestry would be enhanced greatly if icons of all possible kinds and origins were digitised, classified, and "exhibited" in the Internet. That would allow the preservation and even the future digital restoration of a large number of rare specimens of the East-Christian art of painting. This article aims to introduce how modern techniques from the area of digital libraries can be used for implementing the demonstrative multimedia library "Virtual encyclopaedia of the Bulgarian iconography " 4 , containing a large number of Bulgarian iconic art masterpieces and iconography of various authors, periods and schools.

Based on the research background of Pingyao ancient city and its ancient residential buildings, combined with architecture and space research, folk culture and sociology research, visual design and other related theoretical research as theoretical basis, this paper studies the unique place space experience and place spirit expression of Pingyao ancient city through theoretical analysis. This paper analyzes from the perspective of space theory, from the regional culture, the relationship between people and places, extending to the shaping of visual environment, architectural decoration elements and means, etc., and explains it with the help of relevant theoretical basis. At different specific levels, the expression of humanization, rationality, applicability and humanistic value of ancient city space is introduced from the spirit of place, and it is used as the basic theoretical basis and theoretical guidance of related theoretical research, which makes the research process tend to be possible, realistic and operable.

As long as we remained within the Orthodox Church circles, worshiping and studying, there was no clear explanation on what icons stands for, or are meant to be. It was after venturing into theological training, at a Protestant ecumenical University, that the challenge of understanding icons was unveiled. Historically, Iconoclasm, a medieval period controversy, led to a schism in the Church and persecutions of the iconodules. Apparently, the persecutions did not bring to an end the question whether icons were idols or not. Listening to the public crusades by Protestant churches, it is not uncommon to hear condemnation of icons, especially from the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. This research article sets on the premise that if transcendentalism, as developed by John Macquarrie and Bernard Lonergan, is used to explain the use of icons in worship, the meaning and use of icons will be understood and thus appreciated in a multi-denominational context. The research was both field a...

Estudios sobre el África Romana II Las domus de Bulla Regia (Túnez): arquitectura y decoración musiva representa una contribución al estudio de la arquitectura y la decoración musivaria de los espacios privados romanos de Bulla Regia, situada al noroeste de Túnez, en una región rica y próspera gracias a su agricultura y producción oleícola. Este libro consti tuye una monografí a -la única hasta la fecha en lengua castellana -referida al conjunto del estudio de la arquitectura y decoración musiva de los espacios domésti cos en Bulla Regia. Sus posibilidades como yacimiento musivo permiten desarrollar un mayor conocimiento sobre el mosaico romano norteafricano.

分藏广东省博物馆、故宫博物院的两段《洗兵图》残卷，原是吴伟在1496年敬献南京锦衣卫黄琳的一幅白描画作。长卷的独特主题与天兵神将，在学界一直缺乏关注。本文聚焦于黄琳与吴伟二人交谊和各自职业，结合视觉材料和史料文献去考察画作主题，并主张《洗兵图》是吴针对黄的武勋家声而精心设计的纪念性图像。“洗兵图”题材典自“武王伐纣”传说，带有往古忠烈的规鉴性，而画中的道教神将在明代经官方祭祀和通俗文学的传播，需在宗教领域外加以解读。以吴伟敬赠黄琳的《洗兵图》为个案，有助拓展画家与观者互动在绘画史的研究视野。

Abstract
Xibing tu (Picture of Quelling Demons), a handscroll painted in 1496 by Wu Wei with monochrome ink lines for Huang Lin, a Nanjing Embroidered-Uniform Guard, was separated into two fragments held by the Guangdong Museum and the Palace Museum in Beijing, respectively. The distinctive theme and celestial martial deities in the scroll have long been overlooked in past scholarship. Based on visual and textual materials, this paper investigates its painted subject by examining the friendship between Wu and Huang as well as their professions. It contends that Xibing tu was elaborately designed by Wu to commemorate Huang’s military identity and family honor of imperial conferment. Originated from the legendary tale of ‘Wuwang fa Zhou’ (King Wu [of the Zhou]’s conquest of [King] Zhou [of the Shang]), Xibing tu has embodied didactic imagery by featuring Daoist marshals – incarnating as heroic martyrs from ancient times – beyond the religious realm. During the Ming period, the dissemination of these martial deities was driven by official canonization and vernacular literature. The case study of Wu Wei’s Xibing tu for Huang Lin aims to offer new insights into the dynamic interaction between the painter(s) and the expected audience in Chinese painting history.

Prima, luce assoluta: il Cielo del Prologo, ampio come il respiro degli dèi. Poi, un buio fitto di scaffali. Infine, mani stanche che sfogliano pagine come foglie secche. Così Goethe ci precipita dallo splendore cosmico al cubicolo più stretto d'Europa: lo studio di Faust. Una grotta di carta, pareti di libri che odorano di polvere e inchiostro, una finestra che sembra più una fessura che un affaccio sul mondo. Dal proscenio dell'infinito al cubicolo dell'io: un cambio di scala che ti toglie il fiato.

Este proyecto es un análisis integral de la obra pictórica El bautismo de Cristo, lienzo elaborado y firmado por Manuel Paz en 1749, pocos años después del cataclismo de Lima de 1746 y con el cual se re-funda la parroquia de San Lázaro, una de las más antiguas de la capital y repositorio actual de dicha obra. A partir del uso holístico de las metodologías de la historia del arte, la presente investigación se ha propuesto a identificar y examinar los motivos historiográficos que impulsaron el encargo de la obra, la funcionalidad de la imagen en el aparato ritual del templo de San Lázaro y en función a ella su expresión formal y planteamiento iconográfico a fin de comprobar de modo heurístico su valor estético e histórico de acuerdo a las exigencias visuales de sus clientes y de su entorno artístico.
Cabe puntualizar que en el desarrollo de la presente tesis la palabra Bautismo en el título de la obra de Manuel Paz ha sido subsanada a su correcta escritura en minúsculas.