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Strange New Worlds
(2022)
The Indo-Pacific is fast becoming the main arena for great power competition. After explaining the regional power hierarchy, the paper describes how the EU defines like-mindedness as an explicit partnership category in the Indo-Pacific and which of the countries qualify. Finally, the paper also examines the structural problems the EU faces when projecting power into a faraway region such as this one. The paper argues that for China’s rise to remain peaceful and in the absence of fully regional security arrangements, other Asian actors are increasingly looking for new regional structures that combine elements of cooperation, competition and containment vis-à-vis China - including a more pronounced EU role in the region.
Speaking the Unspeakable
(2019)
This article discusses the filmic representation of the infamous Wannsee Conference, when fifteen senior German officials met at a villa on the shore of a Berlin lake to discuss and co-ordinate the
implementation of the so-called final solution to the Jewish question. The understanding reached during the course of the ninety-minute meeting cleared the way for the Europe-wide killing of six million Jews. The article sets out to answer the principal challenge facing
anyone attempting to recreate the Wannsee Conference on film: what was the atmosphere of this conference and the attitude of the participants? Moreover, it discusses various ethical aspects related to the portrayal of evil, not in actions but in words, using the medium of film. In doing so, it focuses on the BBC/HBO television film Conspiracy (2001), directed by Frank Pierson, probing its historical accuracy and discussing its artistic credibility.
Schlacht bei Fehrbellin
(2021)
Soldatenkönig
(2021)
Luise als Politikerin
(2020)
„Nur der Freiheit …“?
(2014)
Einleitung
(2014)
Erfahrene Männer
(2018)
Die heile Welt der Rosenburg
(2018)
A prelude to total war?
(2018)
The conflict between Italy and Ethiopia in 1935–36 has been framed as a prelude to the Second World War and as a watershed towards ‘Total War’. One perspective has so far been neglected: the assessments of foreign military observers. This article examines American, British, German, and Austrian views on the operations and thereby also analyses the mindset of European officers at the time. The core argument emerging from these reports is that the war was perceived as a rather ‘normal’ colonial conflict. Neither the use of gas, nor the employment of aircraft against civilians was seen as a taboo or created significant outrage among the military observers. Instead, they lauded the Italians’ steady logistical efforts and employment of artillery and airpower to overcome nature and the enemy’s resistance.
In der Humanmedizin stellt die sogenannte evidenzbasierte Medizin nach Einführung des Begriffs durch D.L. Sackett (Sackett et al. 1996) und der Gründung des Cochrane Instituts (1972) einen wichtigen Standard in der Aufbereitung und dem Transfer von Ergebnissen aus klinischen Studien in den ärztlichen Alltag dar. Ziel ist es, die Vermittlung von Erkenntnissen aus der Wissenschaft für die praktizierenden Ärzte zu erleichtern. Dabei werden Studienergebnisse in Abhängigkeit von der jeweiligen Fragestellung mittels systematischer Literaturrecherche zusammengetragen und hinsichtlich ihrer Evidenz bewertet, um so dem Arzt ein Instrument an die Hand zu geben, mit dem die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse im Hinblick auf eine konkrete klinische Situation abgewogen und angewendet werden können. In den letzten Jahren wurde allerdings vermehrt Kritik laut, dass der Ausgang vieler klinischer Studien in den Übersichtsarbeiten zu positiv dargestellt werde. Ursächlich hierfür ist der Aspekt des Publikationsbias, also die Beobachtung, dass Autoren wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse mit positivem Ausgang bevorzugt publizieren. Überträgt man diesen Sachverhalt auf die präklinische Forschung, die in weiten Teilen auf der Durchführung tierexperimenteller Untersuchungen beruht, so widerspräche das Zurückhalten negativer Ergebnisse in fataler Weise dem 3R-Konzept von Russel und Burch, da dadurch die Gefahr besteht, dass Forschungsvorhaben wiederholt durchgeführt werden.
Whether you open a manga, a French-language comic strip or a North-American comic strip with Classic subject, it seems normal to the reader to encounter many representations of sculptures, paintings or object of daily life from this period throughout the story.
These images are taken from catalogues notably available online. The artists also seem to have drawn their inspiration from museum publications or directly from the collections exhibited by these cultural institutions. This article will review the masterpieces used in comic strips and the reasons why they are chosen. Depending on the formats and cultures that stage them, these works do not constitute decorative elements of an ancient past but contribute to the narrative.
Ringing trumpets announcing the arrival of a Roman emperor, an oriental flowing and delicate harp reverberating inside the intimate palace of an Egyptian queen, a rude aulos singing in a bucolic Greek landscape: where are these familiar sound images coming from? Are these creations inspired by archaeological data or built after modern fantasy? The scarcity of ancient musical data necessitated, in fact, to reinvent the films’ soundscape taking place in the Ancient world. It is therefore a question of seeing on which models a peplum’s soundtrack is conceived and what it can reveal on our way of perceiving the ancient and contemporary world. Far from wanting to gauge the historicity of the sound backgrounds offered to the spectator of dark rooms, it is rather a question of seeing the imitation phenomena that can appear from the sound clichés created by the peplum itself and of also deducing from them thought patterns which, contextualized, influence these compositions. This article will focus on post-2000 productions.
Très peu d’originaux nous permettent de connaître la statuaire grecque ancienne. Eu égard à la grande production de statues en bronze, un nombre très limité d’oeuvres a été sauvé de la fureur du temps et des hommes. Le reste nous est connu de manière partielle et imparfaite par les copies romaines en marbre ou par des notes rapides d’auteurs anciens, qui mentionnent des artistes et des oeuvres dont le seul nom demeure. La découverte de statues en bronze de production grecque est donc un événement exceptionnel d’un point de vue scientifique. Les « Bronzes de Riace » ont notamment eu, dès leur découverte en 1972, une immense influence dans la culture populaire, que nous allons aborder dans cet article sous l’angle des Reception Studies, en essayant d’intégrer ces réflexions au débat sur leur perception dans le monde contemporain, déjà abordé par deux volumes sortis en 1986 et 2015 (Gli eroi venuti dal mare/Heroes from the sea et Sul buono e sul cattivo uso dei Bronzi di Riace1), en portant une attention particulière au Web et aux réseaux sociaux.
1 Je remercie Maurizio Paoletti et Fabien Bièvre-Perrin pour la relecture de cet article ; Domenico Benedetto D’Agostino pour m’avoir fait connaître, il y a quelques années, le poème de Felice Mastroianni dédié au Bronzes de Riace ; l’Archivio du Musée Archéologique National de Reggio Calabria, Mike_art04, le collectif La Psicoscimmia et Emanuela Robustelli pour les images qu’ils ont partagées.
This paper aims to analyse the figure of the Venus of Milo in (extreme) contemporary art productions. The reception of this sculpture has already been studied in the past, but without considering the last ten years (2010 – 2020), during which artists like Yinka Shonibare, Fabio Viale, or Daniel Arsham decided to use the Venus for their new productions. The paper also explains how the Venus of Milo became a globalised icon and an inspiration for artists from all over the world.
Despite its fame, the Winged Victory of Samothrace keeps on fascinating not only every visitor of the Louvre museum, but also the eye of the connoisseur. Despite its recent restoration in 2014, some of its mysteries might indeed never be solved, like the identity of its sculptor. But this fascination also comes from the statue itself, its majestic aesthetics and lack of head, in a similar fashion perhaps to the loss of the Venus of Milo’s arms. Since her discovery more than 150 years ago by Charles Champoiseau, she’s been on the throne at the top of the Daru stairs at the Louvre Museum. This hellenistic masterpiece, that Champoiseau called a ”mousseline de marbre”, became a must see in the Paris museum, together with the Mona Lisa and its other chefs d’oeuvre. But this statue’s fate is not set in stone. Many modern artists, like Omar Hassan or Xu Zhen, have tried to make it their own and give it a new depth. Recently, Beyonce and Jay-Z also offered a new perspective by including this Louvre masterpiece, among others, in their political masterstroke, the video clip ”Apeshit”. This paper seeks to decode the meanings and symbolism of these new versions of the Nike.
Laocoon Relooké
(2021)
This article focuses on the reception of the ancient statue of Laocoon in the arts and popular culture of the 21st century. It looks into why this icon has remained continuously present in the public’s collective imagination and covers, in particular, the recapturing of this motif by four contemporary painters : Richard Wallace (2002), Ron Milewicz (2005), Gilles Chambon (2008), Kent Monkman (2008). The article examines as well the new meanings associated with its treatment and finally explores the way our contemporary world deals with the notion of monument and the concept of academicism.
The Laocoön group, a famous source of inspiration for modern artists and a crucial masterpiece for historians of art and philosophers, is also a popular figure in queer contemporary art and culture, both distorted and celebrated through camp performative devices. After remarks about 1. “queer gaze” and the complex relation of queer or LGBTQIA+ culture and politics to the dialectics of kitsch/camp and classical / contemporary / pop art, and 2. (not straight but) queer classics, using “anachronisme raisonné” (Loraux”) and “écart” (Dupont), this article focuses on case studies from the 2010’s: 1. The untold gay history of Vatican guided tour; the music video Falling, by the “queer cowboy” Drew Beckman. 2. Paintings by Richard Wallace (esp. Laocoön); photographic series of Danil Golovkin (Modern Heroes : Photographing Bodybuilders in the Digital Age), 3. Julien Servy (Collages : Photo vs. Statues) ; the design firm modern8 (for the 2017 Utah Pride Festival). 4. The indigenous Canadian artist Kent Monkman, who, in paintings (The Academy), performances, installations, altogether stages and questions the violence of historical and cultural colonization and its impact on issues of gender and identity, and promotes dynamic interactions of aesthetics and politics, as well of pathos and camp.
A quote from Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk, 1996) may seem unusual for a Classicist. Nevertheless, this famous sentence summarises the contents of this special issue of thersites perfectly. As specialists in classical reception frequently witness, there is a sort of déjà-vu effect when it comes to the presence of Antiquity within popular culture. In 2019, to try to better understand the phenomenon, Antiquipop invited researchers to take an interest in the construction and semantic path of these “masterpieces” in contemporary popular culture, with a particular focus on the 21st century.
„Heimat“-Objekte
(2018)
Bei ihrer zumeist erzwungenen Emigration aus der deutschsprachigen Heimat nach Lateinamerika konnten bei weitem nicht alle ihren gesamten Hausstand mit in das neue Heimatland nehmen. Vielmehr war es der Mehrzahl der Emigranten nicht möglich, mehr als ein paar Kofffer aus ihrem alten Leben in das neue zu retten. Verkauft oder beschlagnahmt, vieles musste zurückbleiben, was über Jahre die Wohnungen und Häuser der deutschen Juden gefüllt hatte. Das Wenige, was doch mitgenommen werden konnte, hatte somit umso mehr persönlichen Wert für den Besitzer. Was also hatten die deutsch-jüdischen Emigranten und Exilanten in ihren Kofffern und weshalb waren gerade diese Objekte für sie bedeutend genug, um sie auf den beschwerlichen Weg über den Atlantik und auf einen neuen Kontinent in eine unbekannte Zukunft mitzunehmen?Eine Antwort auf diese Frage können die Objekte selbst geben, welche bis heute in den Familien der einstigen Emigranten aufbewahrt und benutzt werden. Sie repräsentieren die verlorene Heimat, ein Stück Geschichte des Ursprungslandes und der eigenen Familie. Diese Gegenstände sind mehr als nur Gebrauchsobjekte, welche ihren monetären Wert hatten und daher nicht zurückgelassen werden sollten. Es sind vielmehr Träger von gegebenen und zugeschriebenen Bedeutungen und Erinnerungen an Heimat, die ihnen anhaften und über Generationen hinweg weitergegeben und in ihrem Sym-bolgehalt ergänzt und erweitert werden.
Rebuilding an Austrian Army
(2019)
After the Second World War, a new Austrian Army (the Bundesheer) was formed to guarantee the country’s armed neutrality. But the period between 1938 and 1945 remained a point of contention. While some Austrian officers had been sidelined, the majority had served in the Wehrmacht and thus shared experiences and soldierly values. As Cold War realities necessitated a professional experienced army, a group around Erwin Fussenegger (1908–1986) dominated the new Bundesheer and contemplations about reforming the military culture and value system were postponed; while at the same time, the Bundesheer managed to prevent becoming a mere continuation of the Wehrmacht.
Paths Are Made by Walking
(2021)
Introduction
(2021)
Stuck in the past?
(2019)
After the Civil War the Spanish army functioned as a guardian of domestic order, but suffered from antiquated material and little financial means. These factors have been described as fundamental reasons for the army’s low potential wartime capability. This article draws on British and German sources to demonstrate how Spanish military culture prevented an augmented effectiveness and organisational change. Claiming that the army merely lacked funding and modern equipment, falls considerably short in grasping the complexities of military effectiveness and organisational cultures, and might prove fatal for current attempts to develop foreign armed forces in conflict or post-conflict zones.
This work journal recounts the experiences of a project undertaken with students of the University of Trier over the course of two semesters. The project attempted to design and produce an innovative audio guide pertaining to the cultural heritage of the Roman city, with students gauging market opportunities, writing a business plan, researching information and producing content for the audio guide. The work created, „Talking Stones“ (https://www.talking-stones.de/), takes the listener on a tour of Roman Trier embedded in a literary narrative and is available via download on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
In her writings on ancient myth, the British author Natalie Haynes moves women to the centre of attention. Her two latest books, A Thousand Ships and Pandora’s Jar – a fiction novel and a non-fiction one – approach this topic from two different perspectives. This interview takes stock of Haynes’ motives and methodology as well as of the challenges she faces in the process of writing.
Interview with Alana Jelinek
(2021)
Alana Jelinek is an art historian and artist — “an artist making art, and also writing about art”, in her words — , a former European Research Council artist in residence at the Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, and currently teaching in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire. Her art has revolved mostly around the issues of post- and neocolonialism and their connections with neoliberalism — a more implicit topic in her works from the 1990s on the “tourist gaze” developed into an interest in museums, collecting and ethnography throughout the past two decades. In this interview, she talks to thersites about the role of classical heritage and ancient art in her own work.
This article focuses on the feminist reception of Zenobia of Palmyra in Great Britain during the long nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. A special focus lies on her reception by the British suffragettes who belonged to the Women’s Social and Political Union. Even though Zenobia’s story did not end happily, the warrior queen’s example served to inspire these early feminists. Several products of historical culture – such as books, pieces of art, newspaper articles and theatre plays – provide insight into the reception of her as an historical figure, which is dominated by the image of a strong and courageous woman. The article will shed light on how exactly Zenobia’s example was instrumentalised throughout the first feminist movement in Britain.
Application areas and drugs of Egyptian, Greek and Roman medi-cine are popular references of research in the field of recent aes-thetic dermatology. There, Cleopatra VII is referred to as “mother of chemical peeling” because she is said to have bathed in donkey’s milk. Although extremely popular, there is no ancient source sup-porting Cleopatra’s bath in milk. Nevertheless, Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of Emperor Nero, is said to has bathed in donkey’s milk to beautify her skin. The aim of the paper is to reconstruct the genesis and develop-ment of the modern myth of Cleopatra bathing in donkey’s milk. The origin of this myth can be traced back to the cinema of the 1930s. The result is that in the person of the actress Claudette Colbert her two roles as Cleopatra and Poppaea converged. This convergence was the basis for the popularization of the milk bath by the Cleopat-ra movie of 1963 with Elizabeth Taylor.
Ruhm, Ide(ologi)e, Macht
(2021)
The first Hollywood film adaptation of Alexander the Great is Robert Rossen’s 1956 movie. Classicists have primarily been concerned with errors of historicity, Alexander’s assumed tragic traits, and rather associative conclusions concerning the movie’s political implications.
This paper raises the question of Rossen’s depiction of Alexander's motives and aims. His assessment of the king is surprisingly complicated. Therefore, for the first time, Rossen's interview comments on Alexander are analysed comprehensively and systematically. Furthermore, it is shown that neglected sources are central to the plot. Finally, the film is interpreted against the backdrop of Rossen’s oeuvre.
It can be demonstrated that Rossen’s issue is the problem of ideology. He seeks a redefinition of glory. Military success is only an excuse for the pursuit of mere power. For Rossen, however, the true fame is nothing but the benefit of the people. It took a long time for Alexander to realize that his rule was inane, and to reshape his policy. This interpretation is due to fundamental convictions reflected in Rossen’s oeuvre as well as to his personal experiences in politics. It is a plea for de-ideologization in times of the Cold War.
Der Aufsatz behandelt die drei unterschiedlichen Hinrichtungsformen, die im 5. und 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. in Athen angedroht wurden: apotympanismós , Sturz ins Barathron und Schierling. Eine solche Untersuchung verspricht reichen Aufschluss über die demokratische Ideologie, die entsprechenden Diskurse und ihre stetige Verstärkung durch Prozesse und Bestrafungen. Der Aufsatz vertritt dabei die These, dass eine chronologische Analyse dieser Hinrichtungsformen einen wichtigen und bisher unerforschten Beitrag zur Debatte über Kontinuität und Diskontinuität in der athenischen Demokratie vor und nach der Tyrannis der Dreißig leisten kann. Er zeigt, dass die Formen, in denen die Todesstrafe angedroht wurde, das Ausmaß der Änderungen in den Diskursen in der und über die athenische Demokratie nach der Niederlage im Peloponnesischen Krieg erkennen lässt. Die Unterschiede in den Exekutionsformen können einen wichtigen Beitrag zum Verständnis der Verschiebung des Begriffes der „Gleichheit“ vom 5. ins 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. leisten.
This article examines scenes of Zeitungslektüre (newspaper reading) in some exemplary Fontane novels to reconstruct them as a serial narrative pattern that fills specific narrative functions similar to other narrative patterns such as letter writing or country excursions (Landpartien) which have often been shown to be typical for Fontane’s novels. These newspaper scenes can be read as multifaceted culmination points at the surface of the novel’s story in which aspects of Fontane’s writing practices, formal aspects (characterization of figures, narrative temporalities, narrative structure), autopoietic reflection as well as addresses to the readers are brought into a complex interplay. The newspaper-reading scenes are thus significant textual signals of what has been called Fontane’s specific Zeitungspoetik. The argument is unfolded by examining examples from three different genres: the historical novel Unwiederbringlich, the “Berlin everyday novels” (“Berliner Alltagsgeschichten”) Irrungen, Wirrungen and Mathilde Möhring, and the Zeitroman or political novel Der Stechlin.
Zwischen Haskala und Heine
(2020)
Heinrich Heines humoristische Anekdote aus der „Harzreise“, in der ihm im Traum Saul Ascher als hartnäckig die Prinzipien der Vernunft verfechtendes Nachtgespenst erscheint (vgl. DHA VI, 103 ff.), kann aus heutiger Sicht nicht darüber hinwegtäuschen, dass Ascher in vielerlei Hinsicht als direkter Vorläufer Heines gelten kann. Bevor Heine und Ludwig Börne ab den 1820er Jahren mit ihren Reisefeuilletons und Korrespondenzberichten innovative Formen journalistischen Schreibens in die deutsche Literatur einführten, hat Saul Ascher bereits eine politische Publizistik praktiziert, die sich vor allem in Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zum Ausdruck brachte und bis dato unbekannte Formen politischer Öffentlichkeit erschloss.
Paul Frölichs Theorie zur Vergleichbarkeit von Revolutionen-Rekonstruktion eines Modellversuchs
(2019)
Vorwort
(2019)
Luxemburg oder Lenin?
(2019)
Katholizismus
(2019)
70 Jahre Israel
(2019)
Schon kurz nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg wurde die These vertreten, die Shoah sei ein wichtiger, wenn nicht gar entscheidender Faktor für die Gründung des Staates Israel gewesen. Der Essay arbeitet heraus, dass der nationalsozialistische Judenmord sicherlich eine moralisch-legitimatorische Funktion gehabt hat, ein unmittelbarer kausaler Zusammenhang mit der Staatsgründung aber nicht nachzuweisen ist.
Rückblick auf Rolf Hochhuth
(2020)
Abednego, der Pfandleiher
(2020)
Forging an Italian hero?
(2019)
Over the last two decades, Amedeo Guillet (1909–2010) has been turned into a public and military hero. His exploits as a guerrilla leader in Italian East Africa in 1941 have been exaggerated to forge a narrative of an honourable resistance against overwhelming odds. Thereby, Guillet has been showcased as a romanticized colonial explorer who was an apolitical and timeless Italian officer. He has been compared to Lawrence of Arabia in order to raise his international visibility, while his genuine Italian brand is perpetuated domestically. By elevating him to an official role model, the Italian Army has gained a focal point for military heroism that was also acceptable in the public memory as the embodiment of a ‘glorious’ defeat narrative.
Anton Schindling (1947–2020)
(2020)
Hohenzollern und Oranier
(2020)
Crimes of the Wehrmacht
(2020)
Of the up to eighteen million men who served in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War, ten million were deployed at one time or another between 1941 and 1944 in the conflict against the Soviet Union, a theatre of widespread and sustained mass violence. In order to determine how extensive complicity in Nazi crimes was among the mass of the regular German soldiers, it is necessary first of all to define what constitutes a criminal undertaking. The sheer brutality of the German conduct of war and occupation in the Soviet Union has overshadowed many activities that would otherwise be rightly held up as criminal acts.
More than Walls
(2019)
If Germany and Europe turned their attention to Latin America, they could extend the transatlantic partnership by adding new partners and focussing on new issues without breaking ties with Washington. However, the countries of the region have differing views of Europe. Mexico is a special case in Latin America because of its close ties with the US, and the economic, political, and strategic interests that it shares with Europe. There is a need for Europe and the US to work together more closely in order to counterbalance China’s growing influence.
Armee der Einheit
(2020)
On 6 June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to fight the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Between August 1982 and February 1984, the US, France, Britain and Italy deployed a Multinational Force (MNF) to Beirut. Its task was to act as an interposition force to bolster the government and to bring peace to the people. The mission is often forgotten or merely remembered in context with the bombing of US Marines’ barracks. However, an analysis of the Italian contingent shows that the MNF was not doomed to fail and could accomplish its task when operational and diplomatic efforts were coordinated. The Italian commander in Beirut, General Franco Angioni, followed a successful approach that sustained neutrality, respectful behaviour and minimal force, which resulted in a qualified success of the Italian efforts.
Vorwort
(2017)
Prólogo
(2017)
Große Pest (1708-11)
(2020)
Die ersten 40 Rechtsprofessoren der Viadrina immatrikulierten sich von 1506 bis 1571 in Frankfurt an der Oder. Sie lassen sich in zwei Gruppen einteilen, die von der Gründung der Universität 1506 bis 1539 Immatrikulierten und die nach Einführung der Reformation im Kurfürstentum Brandenburg 1539/40 bis zum Regierungsantritt des Kurfürsten Johann Georg von Brandenburg 1571 an der Viadrina eingeschriebenen Juristen. Die Profile der vorreformatorischen und der nachreformatorischen Rechtsexperten weisen Gemeinsamkeiten, z.B. die Eheschließung, aber auch Unterschiede auf. Am besten illustriert das Beispiel der Rechtsprofessorendynastien Zoch und Köppen die "Familienuniversität" Viadrina.
Both Libanius in his Autobiography (ca. 374) and Theodoret in his biographical sketch of the monk Macedonius in his Religious History (ca. 444) draw their readers’ attention to the accusations of magic as an everyday event in Late Antiquity. Yet there are differences between the ways in which they present their theme. Some of these differences pertain to genre conventions of autobiography and Christian hagiographic writing, but these are further conditioned by the concrete expectations of the intended audience and the authors’ different religious beliefs. While both are primarily engaged in creating different types of role models, the charge of magic functions as a narrative moment that shapes the character of the relevant hero differentially.
This article examines two series of coins that are characterized by a common violation of the gender roles and gender boundaries dominating in the Roman imperial society: the coins GALLIENAE AVGVSTAE minted for the emperor Gallienus and those with legend SOLI INVICTAE minted in the time of Maximinus Daza. These emissions are here inserted into the broader context of Roman mentalities and discourses surrounding gender, gender boundaries and their violations, that always appear to be a special prerogative pertaining to the divine.
Europa Universalis IV
(2020)
Achtsam Wissen schaffen
(2020)
The German Sonderweg thesis has been discarded in most research fields. Yet in regards to the military, things differ: all conflicts before the Second World War are interpreted as prelude to the war of extermination between 1939-1945. This article specifically looks at the Franco-Prussian War 1870-71 and German behaviour vis-a-vis regular combatants, civilians and irregular guerrilla fighters, the so-called francs-tireurs. The author argues that the counter-measures were not exceptional for nineteenth century warfare and also shows how selective reading of the existing secondary literature has distorted our view on the war.
Sängers Glück
(2020)
The German singer-songwriter Reinhard Mey, although not pretending to be a second Orpheus, nevertheless appears to be very familiar with classical myth.
„An Herrn Prof. A. Wlosok“
(2020)
In contrast to other European countries, female professors of Classical Philology have been severely underrepresented in Germany. This article wants to shed light on Antonie Wlosok (1930–2013), the first or second woman to hold a Chair of Classical Philology in Germany. How can Wlosok’s work at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz be described, considering especially the very male-dominated academic world? Based on testimonials from the university archives and selected publications, this essay aims to give insights to this question, highlighting current debates about women in academia.
Lotte Eisner
(2020)
Lotte Eisner (1896–1983) is without doubt one of the most important early film critics and pioneers of film history. In the history of Classical Studies, however, she plays no role. She is not even mentioned in the relevant scholarly books or articles, although she received a doctorate degree in Classical Archaeology. But it is worth taking a closer look at this relatively short phase of her life. The following lines are to be understood as a sketch of her specific ‘archaeological’ view of German Expressionist silent films. Lotte Eisner herself comments on this in her autobiography.
This article analyses, as an example of the advertising of cosmetic products, a campaign launched by the US-American company “Johnson Soap” for their product, the facial soap “Palmolive”. Examining its ads of 1911 in which certain ancient exempla are employed, it becomes clear that the Palmyrene queen Zenobia and with her the semi-historical Semiramis and the more mythical Dido are aligned to the “1001 Nights” character Scheherazade. Since they are jointly labelled as “historically famous oriental queens” and because of the reference to Zenobia’s white skin, they fall into the fantasy of fair-skinned harem women and evoke thoughts of all the pleasures and comforts of the luxurious Orient. To the modern female customer of 1900 (well steeped in the knowledge of those ancient characters) Zenobia and the other exempla should serve as celebrities worth emulating. Above all they are deemed to be beautiful, and experts in cosmetics which would guarantee the effect of the product they are standing for. A finding that proves to be valid even in an advertising concept of today for the Syrian-German “Zhenobya-soap”.
Träume statt Theurgie
(2020)
In his work De insomniis (On Dreams), Synesios adopts a rather critical view of theurgy, resembling Porphyry’s attitude; his wording shows polemical exaggeration. His insistence on the usefulness of dream revelation for hunting might be read as a (not too serious) claim to the divine inspiration of his work κυνηγετικαί.
Epistula 46 is an invitation, written under the name of Paula and Eustochium, for Marcella to go to Bethlehem, by all means with the aim to stimulate positive interest in the Holy Land for a wider public and to inspire the urge to travel and sojourn. The narrative defines pilgrimage not only through biblical references but also familiarizes it through references to ancient pagan practices and pagan literature and makes it compatible with the lifestyle of Rome’s urban elites. While biblical references predominantly propagate Palestine’s spiritual appeal as a site of centuries-long salvation events, references to the classics – often combined with the expression or the stimulation of emotions – put the region’s social and intellectual appeal to the fore. The use of pagan literature, in which the traditions of educational travel of a cosmopolitan elite, the social utopia of aristocratic recessus, and not least the pleasure of otium aestheticised through literature are prefigurated, shapes Palestine in particular fashion as a place of longing. Especially the appeal of Bethlehem thus only forms through the combination of spiritual-intellectual visio and emotionally attractive social utopia, through conjunction of spelunca Christi and bucolic idyll.