Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
<em>Ot Boga i ot Peruna</em>. I trattati tra la Rus’ e Bisanzio<b> The Treaties Between Rus' and Byzantium</b> <p>&#13; &#13; In this paper, the Author analyzes the lexicon of the treaties between Rus’ and Byzantium (10th Century). The use of ethnonyms, toponyms and of spatial terminology shows a clear predominance of personal-ethnic terms over spatial ones. This may reflect the typical “concreteness” of Roman law. Broadly speaking, the titles of Byzantine emperors and of Rus’ princes follow the usages of the imperial chancery. However, in many instances there are significant divergences, which do not necessarily prove that these documents are not authentic. On the contrary, this procedure reflects the highly flexible practices of Byzantine diplomacy. Besides, the mention of Slavic pagan deities alongside the Christian God could be read as reminiscent of very archaic practices, reflected by the Roman evocatio and ius fetiale.&#13; Furthermore, the paper focuses on the inadequacy of the dichotomy autochthonous (‘Russian’) ~ allogeneous (‘Byzantine’) usually adopted in studies concerning these texts. Although such an approach may shed light on some of the issues raised, it appears to be misleading in the study of phenomena with deeper historical roots. In conclusion, in the context of culture, the loan represents the norm, not the exception.
-
Malefici e matrimoni. A proposito di due testi novgorodiani su corteccia di betulla scoperti nel 2005<b> Sorcery and Marriages: About Two Novgorod Birchbark Documents Found in 2005</b> <p>&#13; &#13; In this article the author expounds on some marginal notes on two twelfth-century gramoty (no. 954 and no. 955). When these were discovered in the summer of 2005, they were thought to display obscene implications because of the reference to female genitals in text no. 955 and because of the presence (in the other text) of the verb pošibati. If interpreted as ‘rape’, the latter would transform gramota 954 into evidence of cases of zoophilia. On closer analysis, however, these documents turn out to be of much greater interest and not bawdy at all, since they reveal evident links with East-Slavic pre-Christian cultural traditions. These notes will be further developed in a new edition of the author’s book, Iscrizioni novgorodiane su corteccia di betulla (Udine 1995), currently in progress.
-
The Notion of <em>Antemurale Christianitatis</em> in Connection with the City of Lemberg/Lwów/L ́viv Lemberg als <em>Antemurale christianitatis</em> zur Zeit des Ersten Weltkriegs“<em>Antemurale christianitatis</em>” (“Bastion of Christianity”) is a notion frequently associated with the city of L’viv / Lwów/ Lemberg / Leopolis , especially within the context of World War I and the following years. This notion occurs in texts of different genres written in different languages from different national points of view. This concept is thus an essential element of the text of the city of L’viv. The concept of “<em>antemurale</em>” is based on a spatial model consisting of a few elementary components – a dichotomous space divided into two parts, West and East, a strict border between them, and the bastion itself as a kind of fortress situated to the West of that border . In the given texts, all these components are displayed by different historic actors, political powers which are to fulfil either the role of the West or that of the East. When the actors in this concept change, the connotations connected with certain roles do not change – the West is always civilized and cultured, the East always chaotic and barbaric, while the bastion has to defend pure Western values. Here we can find stereotypes which do not correspond to real facts, but show the imaginative force of the concept. Discussing the notion of “<em>antemurale</em>” leads to a discourse that shows the influence of political power executed by linguistic expressions: the concept of “<em>antemurale</em>” is mainly a Polish invention, but it is taken over by the weaker opponent, the Ukrainian side in Galicia, which takes over this model to display it in another, controversial way. There is only a very small number of voices, Austrian and German writers, who try to weaken the rigid border line between the two antagonistic spaces and in this way reveal the notion of Antemurale as an ideological concept.<br>“<em>Antemurale christianitatis</em>” (“Bastion of Christianity”) is a notion frequently associated with the city of L’viv / Lwów/ Lemberg / Leopolis , especially within the context of World War I and the following years. This notion occurs in texts of different genres written in different languages from different national points of view. This concept is thus an essential element of the text of the city of L’viv. The concept of “<em>antemurale</em>” is based on a spatial model consisting of a few elementary components – a dichotomous space divided into two parts, West and East, a strict border between them, and the bastion itself as a kind of fortress situated to the West of that border . In the given texts, all these components are displayed by different historic actors, political powers which are to fulfil either the role of the West or that of the East. When the actors in this concept change, the connotations connected with certain roles do not change – the West is always civilized and cultured, the East always chaotic and barbaric, while the bastion has to defend pure Western values. Here we can find stereotypes which do not correspond to real facts, but show the imaginative force of the concept. Discussing the notion of “<em>antemurale</em>” leads to a discourse that shows the influence of political power executed by linguistic expressions: the concept of “<em>antemurale</em>” is mainly a Polish invention, but it is taken over by the weaker opponent, the Ukrainian side in Galicia, which takes over this model to display it in another, controversial way. There is only a very small number of voices, Austrian and German writers, who try to weaken the rigid border line between the two antagonistic spaces and in this way reveal the notion of Antemurale as an ideological concept.