Articles

• Pelops: The Emergence of a Mythical Personality From Folktale, Ritual and Geography

  5–18.

  András Patay-Horváth

  Views:

  70

  Heroes were generally imagined by the ancient Greeks as historical personalities from a distant past who were remembered even centuries later and whose deeds became legendary. Although this concept is occasionally found even today, it is much more probable and indeed it is generally agreed that mythical heroes were not created in this way, but myths somehow evolved from/in tandem with rituals and/or as aetiological tales. On the other hand, the close connections between folktales and myths were always acknowledged, even if the nature of their relationship remains controversial. In this paper, the mythical biography of Pelops is discussed because I think it offers an instructive case-study illustrating the complexities involved. All the episodes of Pelops’ myths follow distinct folktale patterns and each of them was most probably inspired by different factors such as geography (strange rock formations around Mount Sipylos), popular etymology (the name of the Peloponnese) and ritual (some special cult practices in early Iron Age Olympia). The episodes of the hero’s life (childhood, marriage, kingship) were only loosely connected to each other and they were not amalgamated into a coherent biography until the end of the 19th century.

• Camillus – the surveyor?

  19–25.

  Levente Takács

  Views:

  31

  In the end of the fifth book of Livy’s history there is a grand speech of Camillus against the proposal that Romans should move to Veii. Although this speech is the highlight of the first pentad, it is followed by a closing chapter which is full of words and expressions that are specific to land surveying. The present paper aims to examine the vocabulary of Livy and show that it is related to land surveyors’ terminology.

• Lucius Brutus of Rome and Cypselus of Corinth

  27–44.

  Ádám Rung

  Views:

  77

  The story of Lucius Brutus, the founder of the Roman Republic has often been analysed as a historical story, somewhat mythicised, and embellished by literary tropes; and some have also interpreted it as primarily a myth, historicised by a later Roman culture more interested in the exemplary than in the marvelous. Starting out in the latter tradition, this article explores a connection that has been hinted at from antiquity, and has been analysed from the historical and historiographic perspective to some extent, but has not been interpreted in detail as a connection between two myths: the numerous parallels that the story of Brutus and the Tarquins, as told by Virgil, Livy and Ovid, has to the saga of the aristocratic Bacchiad and the tyrannical Cypselid families of early Corinth, as told by Herodotus and Aristotle. The newly discovered parallels (and the re-examination of the known ones) between these stories also invite the reader to reflect on the ways they might have evolved, their political and cultural functionality and on the complex interplay between myth and history.

• The Two Metamorphosesin Horace’s Second Roman Ode

  45–56.

  Attila Ferenczi

  Views:

  45

  It has always been a much-debated question how the two final stanzas of Horace’s Second Roman Ode fit to what came before in this poem. This paper will venture to place the apparent anomaly of these two verses within a new context emphasizing the strong and traditional connection between the constitution of the Roman State and the pax deorum. The second section of the poem (verses 5-6) portrays the workings of virtus as something incompatible with the usual ways and protocols of the late Republican political procedure in Rome. The all-changing power can be regarded as an inevitable consequence of the nature of the virtus, but at the same time, it can cause religious anxiety from somebody seeing and understanding this transformation. The last two verses about a religious panic do not contrast with the poem's previous passages but represent a new voice in the political discourse.

• Quirinius’ Sacrifice (Silius Italicus: Punica 4,192–215)

  57–75.

  Dániel Kozák

  Views:

  22

  Contrary to historical accounts, Silius inserts a preliminary encounter into his account of the Battle of Ticinus in the Punica in which, prior to facing Hannibal’s army, the Romans fight against the Gauls led by the Boian Crixus (4,143–310). Among Crixus’ victims, we found three soldiers whose names recall early kings of Rome: Tullus, Remulus, and Quirinius. After a brief overview of the significance of these names, the paper focuses on the character of Quirinius (4,192–215). I interpret this episode through three approaches. 1) Quirinius’ death recalls, by inversion, the miraculous survival of L. Sergius Silus (Plin. Nat. 7,104–106), 2) his plan to kill Crixus evokes the ritual of seizing and offering of the spolia opima, while 3) his being certain of impending death makes his case reminiscent of the devotio. Quirinius’ self-sacrifice thus can be seen as contributing to the Elder Scipio’s victory over Crixus, and is also paralleled by how the general’s life will be saved through external help (coming from the gods and his son) in the second half of the battle.

• Natur – Geschichte – Schreibung - Die Grenzsituation der Naturalis Historia von Plinius dem Älteren

  77–95.

  Ágnes Darab

  Views:

  49

  According to the preface, Pliny’s Natural History belongs to the genre of historia, of which subject is the nature. At the same time, the preface offers other genre classifications as well: encyclios paideia, thaesaurus. Pliny himself points out the novelty of his work: Libros naturalis historiae […] novicium opus (praef. 1.). Regarding Pliny’s peculiar concept of nature, in terms of the genre and literary history, Natural History can be interpreted as a borderline case.

• From the Isles of the Blessed to Taprobane

  97–107.

  Melinda Székely

  Views:

  54

  By analysing Pliny's Naturalis Historia and placing it in the broader context of ancient knowledge, I describe the knowledge and myths about the islands of the western and eastern edges of the known world in antiquity, with particular reference to Pliny's subjective ideas.

• Cursed horses

  109–115.

  György Németh

  Edina Gradvohl

  Views:

  55

  A small lead tablet with the drawing of a horse’s head is kept in the collection of the Musée Bargoin in Clermont-Ferrand. This study examines depictions of horses on curse tablets and magic gems and concludes that no examples of such depictions have been found so far.

• A Curse Against the Greens

  117–121.

  György Németh

  Andrea Barta

  Views:

  96

  The curse tablet presented in this study is part of the collection of Musée Bargoin in Clermont-Ferrand. After its discovery in 1906, it was forwarded to Auguste Audollent for examination. However, no scholarly investigation has been conducted on the tablet since then, and it has not been published, save for a short reference. The tablet, as indicated by its inscription, may have been made with the intent of influencing the outcome of a North African chariot race involving the Green team.

• The Educational Policy of Julian the Apostate

  123–134.

  Katalin Csízy

  Views:

  57

  Julian the Apostate, the last pagan ruler of the Roman Empire has left a rich correspondence, the content of which is extremely varied. The epistles, most of which are authentic, form a separate volume in the editions and can be divided into four groups. The first group consists of the so-called Gallic letters, the second group includes the letters of Illyria and Constantinople, the letters from Asia Minor form the third group. Finally, the letters written from Antioch complete the list. In the following, we will discuss the School Edict and more particularly the letter that accompanies it (Ep. 61 Bidez – second group of letters). The decree of the Codex Theodosianus, dated 17 June 362, was rather short-lived, being in force only from July 362 to 11 January 364, but it is nevertheless an outstanding document of ancient educational history since no other emperor had previously issued similar regulations on the operation of teachers. Alongside this decree we may place the edict associated with Justinian (Cod. Just. I,5,18,4; I,11,10,2), which, conversely, forbids the pagan rhetors from education, but in the sixth century no one attempted to criticise it.

• Quintus Aurelius Symmachus and the Roman Religion

  135–146.

  Orsolya Tóth

  Views:

  47

  Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, the renowned orator of Late Antiquity, took an active role in upholding the traditions of the ancient Roman religion. The present paper examines his relationship to religion and his priestly activities, mainly through his letters.

• When Was Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos Born?

  147–155.

  István Kovács

  Views:

  45

  This paper investigates the  birth date of Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, analyzing conflicting accounts of historical sources. The sources provide two primary narratives: the eulogies of Theodore Prodromos and Michael Italikos, which align Manuel's birth with his father John II Komnenos’ ascension in 1118, and the account of John Kinnamos, who suggests a birth year around 1122, based on Manuel's age during the Battle of Neokaisareia. This analysis is further enriched by examining the feast days of several saints named Stephen, as referenced by Prodromos. The paper seeks to reconcile these divergent perspectives, exploring the implications of each for our understanding of Manuel's life and reign. The study underscores the challenges in Byzantine historiography, where historical facts intertwine with literary motifs.

• A Critique of a Satire - Constantine Acropolites’ Letter on the Timarion

  157–164.

  Tamás Mészáros

  Views:

  45

  The protagonist of the satire Timarion, by an unknown author from the 11th or 12th century, falls into a state of suspended animation on his journey and is carried by two demons into the underworld, where he proves in a court trial that he is not dead and is allowed to return to the living. The aim of this paper is to present and interpret a short letter written two hundred years later by Constantine Acropolites, who sharply criticises the Timarion, without clearly presenting his objections.

• Zur Rezeption Claudians: Das Wunderreich der Venus (Epithalamium de nuptiis Honori Augusti 47–98)

  165–177.

  L. Zoltán Simon

  Views:

  46

  The major influence of Claudian on Neo-Latin poetry is well known but the reception of the late antique poet is still poorly studied in its details. This paper examines four typical imitations of Claudian’s splendid description of the realm of Venus. The influence of the ekphrasis will be analysed in Boccaccio’s description of the afterlife (Buccolicum carmen), in Baptista Mantuanus’ depiction of the Garden of Eden (Parthenice), in the exotic landscapes of Lorenzo Gambara’s epic poem (De navigatione Christophori Columbi), and finally in a metapoetic elegy by Girolamo Balbi.

• Die Grenzen der Bukolik

  179–191.

  József Krupp

  Views:

  53

  Szilárd Borbély (1963–2014) wrote long narrative poems in the last years of his life. The poems and the novel Nincstelenek (The Dispossessed, 2013) depict the life of a family in an East Hungarian village during the author's childhood years. In constructing the literary landscape, Borbély draws on ancient myths to paint a hierarchical picture of the village from a socio-economic perspective. Borbély planned to publish the poems under the title Bukolikatájban. Idÿllek (In a Bucolic Land. Idylls), although these are rather a palinody of a pastoral idyll. This essay examines how Borbély uses the word "gods" in the poems. Two poems (The Deucalion Collective Farm, Echo on the Veranda) serve as examples to show the role the reception of myth played in the construction of the "bucolic" world.