Animals in Culture

This paper aims to highlight what is specific to Herodotus' narratology in his description of what happens to the winged snakes of Arabia (3.107-110). The ring composition allows him to build a crescendo of horror and θῶμα thanks to examples of the animal balance of species (hares, lionesses and vipers). It weaves together different authorial voices with his own voice in order to deliver a lesson about the foresight of the divine (so that humanity is not wiped out) in his own vocabulary of revenge. A close reading of a passage in Plato's Protagoras, where Protagoras describes the animal balance of species in his famous myth using the same rare vocabulary, suggests Plato is creating an intertextual play against this very passage, aiming to assert what divine foresight about mankind really is.

Esta pesquisa baseou-se em uma colaboração na qual o antropólogo ofereceu oficinas de vídeo a seus interlocutores manoki e mỹky, para que estes pudessem se apropriar dos recursos audiovisuais e gravar seus próprios filmes. Buscou-se deslocar o princípio evans-pritchardiano de seguir o que se encontra em campo para, então, seguir aquilo que os jovens indígenas escolheram registrar. A partir das temáticas escolhidas e abordadas pelos realizadores, aprofundamos as questões referentes às características sócio-cosmológicas dessas populações que estiveram envolvidas na produção e circulação das imagens. Criou-se colaborativamente um coletivo de cinema indígena chamado Ijã Mytyli, que reuniu os realizadores e as produções dos dois povos. Dentre alguns temas abordados nos filmes – e, portanto, aprofundados nesse estudo – estão as descrições dos jogos de ãjã(l)í e os discursos cerimoniais de xatjako, as relações diplomáticas entre as populações, suas estratégias de resistência à pandemia de coronavírus, os rituais de Jetá, as relações entre vivos e mortos, e assim por diante.

Du mythe du « bon sauvage » à l'ontologie relationnelle 7 En partant de ce qui est communément appelé le « mythe du bon sauvage », ce chapitre propose d'examiner comment la société occidentale a construit le stéréotype de l'autochtone proche de la nature. À partir de textes de la Renaissance et des premiers explorateurs, mais aussi des images contemporaines véhiculées par la culture populaire, nous visons à indiquer l'ethnocentrisme de ce stéréotype et ses limites pour comprendre les relations particulières qui unissent les Autochtones à leurs territoires. Nous proposons ensuite d'utiliser le modèle de l'ontologie relationnelle afin de nous rapprocher davantage des manières de penser et d'habiter le territoire parmi les Autochtones. En recourant à des exemples de pratiques de la chasse chez les Eeyouch/Cris de la Baie-James (Québec), nous illustrons la contemporanéité de ces ontologies relationnelles -ou animistesqui témoignent d'un rapport au territoire et aux êtres qui le peuplent radicalement différent de celui de nos sociétés occidentales. Enfin, en guise d'ouverture, nous faisons le lien entre la littérature liée au « tournant ontologique » et les écrits sur la résurgence autochtone, faisant ultimement appel à une forme d'animisme méthodologique.

The site of the 'Main Cemetery' of Naqada, north of Luxor, has yielded significant material remains that provide insights into this culture, which played a vital role in the early development of Egyptian civilization in the fourth millennium BCE. Unfortunately, of the 1918 tombs listed by W.M.F. Petrie during his excavation of the site, only 138 were described in the 1896 publication. This article aims to reinvestigate 735 tombs from this cemetery, which most were thought to be empty or for which most data was lost (not represented in the field notebooks preserved in the Petrie Museum, London), through extensive work on Petrie's archival material, original publication, recently rediscovered pottery lists, and artifacts known in museums. This first sample is published here as an interim result of the project and will be made available in an online database. The reassessment revealed that the studied assemblages contain many additional artifacts, they could now be dated or their previous dating revised, and the corrected assemblages even give us a chance to highlight some mistakes in the seriation models built on previous ceramic inventories. These preliminary results testify once more to the importance of reexamining seemingly well-known sites in the light of old excavation data.

Početkom novembra 2022. godine, mediji u Srbiji preneli su vest o neobičnoj pojavi na zapadu Bačke. Crni panter koji po tvrdnjama navodnih očevidaca luta šumama u blizini Apatina, izazvao je fascinaciju, strah, podsmeh i nevericu građana, dopuštajući kratkotrajno i delimično preusmeravanje pažnje sa zgusnutih informacija o potencijalnoj globalnoj krizi izazvanoj uslovima koje je diktirala pandemija i sve učestalijih informacija o ugroženosti životne sredine na globalnom i lokalnom planu, na bajkoviti narativ sa simboličkim značenjima. Na osnovama Langerovog koncepta "drugih vesti" i Kelsijevog shvatanja diskurzivnih mitologija, kritički su analizirana tri medijska diskursa o pojavi pantera u Apatinu: 1. Panter kao metafora neprijateljske drugosti; 2. Panter kao imaginarni prijatelj i saveznik

'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?', authored by Philip K. Dick and published in 1968 by Doubleday provides a comparative view of the intricacies of the human emotional psyche. The story, told through the protagonist Rick Deckard, sheds emphasis on the visceral capacities of humans as compared to android artificial intelligence. Dick's acclaimed novel, which explores the manufactured relationship between man and machine, provides the reader with a rich insight into the rooted, yet often concealed, differences between human characteristics and the rigid traits of robots, providing a tangible contrast between human idiosyncrasies and electronic creations. The novel poses the important question of what it means to be human. 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' served as the basis for Ridley Scott's dystopian classic film 'Blade Runner', and it is to Philip K Dick's imagination's immense credit that neither the book nor the film appears irrelevant even in today's date. The story was undoubtedly ahead of its time. Indeed, seldom a year goes by without some technological advancement that brings Dick's 1968 vision of the future closer. Hovercars may be a while off but the likes of video conversations and genetic tweaks are clearly in the present. The initial pages introduce "mood-organs," (Dick 3) which are activated to suppress or increase emotions in a needy populace. It's tough not to draw parallels with the internet which is constantly on, always available, yet never truly genuine.

El estudio de las relaciones de sucesos ha incorporado al panorama investigativo histórico aportes que, desde hace unos años, han aumentado los caudales del conocimiento científico humano desde enfoques de diversidad amplia. Concretamente, al análisis de las relaciones de sucesos prodigiosas y los acercamientos metodológicos desde líneas de estudio sobre la cotidianeidad y la cultura remanente han arrojado luz sobre las sociedades modernas desde enfoques hasta ahora no contemplados. El siguiente aporte investigativo se aproxima, desde estas mismas premisas, al análisis de textos referidos a la aparición de un monstruo pescado en las orillas de un rio polaco, un evento que más allá de su evidente fantasía, aporta lecturas cuanto menos importantes a la hora de considerar la composición mental y cultural de la sociedad moderna.

В сборник «Искусство византийского мира 3» вошли статьи, написанные на основе докладов, сделанных на Международной научной конференции, проходившей в Государственном институте искусствознания 27-29 сентября 2023 года. Это вторая конференция памяти нашего учителя (первая конференция «Искусство византийского мира. Индивидуальность в художественном творчестве» была организована к 80-летию О.С. Поповой), проходившая в год, когда ей должно было бы исполниться 85 лет. В конференции 2023 года, как обычно, принимали участие ученики, коллеги и друзья Ольги Сигизмундовны, живущие как в России, так и за ее пределами, а также двое молодых специалистов. Проблематика докладов, а теперь уже статей, связана с темами, которые особенно интересовали Ольгу Сигизмундовну: произведения всех видов византийского и древнерусского изобразительного искусства и архитектуры; соотношение столичных влияний и местных особенностей в провинциальных памятниках; стиль и характер образа как основа для атрибуционных исследований.

As obras Mugido [ou diário de uma doula], da poeta brasileira Marília Floôr Kosby (2017), e Carneada, da poeta argentina Soledad Castresana (2007), aceitam o convívio tanto com a indeterminação da vida que se inicia quanto com a inevitabilidade da morte, sem se furtar ao questionamento sobre nossa responsabilidade e participação em sistemas de dominação, reducionismo e expropriação. Ao questionarem a cisão entre humano e animal, que organiza o modo como vivemos, tomando o mundo e os demais seres vivos como recurso, as poetas nos convocam a pensar, também, as relações de gênero em que a ordem patriarcal separa e hierarquiza homens e mulheres, aproximando-as dos seres não humanos. Os poemas se corporificam, nos pedem que os habitemos enquanto corpo-carne-e nos colocam diante da relação com a morte e a violência, mas também das dores e alegrias de quem gera vida, da multiplicação de um amor multiespecífico que prolifera entre fêmeas inespecíficas. A reflexão aqui proposta busca estabelecer diálogo entre os dois poemários citados e a pesquisa de Raj Patel e Jason Moore (2017), Vinciane Despret (2021) e Donna Haraway (2022), além de outras autoras e autores, que indicam horizontes para um bem viver e um morrer com dignidade, convocando-nos à desarticulação, numa comunicação sempre imprevista, porém profusa de significados.

The authors present a remarkable site with a remarkable interpretation: a structured platform of dugong bones, containing skulls laid in parallel and ribs in sets, together with artefacts of the Neolithic period. They propose that the bones have been symbolically arranged and the mound as a whole had a ritual purpose – an interpretation endorsed by analogy with dugong platforms noted in the Torres Strait in recent times.

Diese Untersuchung widmet sich der Figur des Cheiron in der Achilleis des Statius und beleuchtet die emotionale Dimension seiner Rolle als liebender und geliebter Lehrer. Als hybrides Wesen – halb Mensch, halb Tier – überschreitet Cheiron seine tierhafte Natur durch die pädagogische Beziehung zu Achilleus. Diese Beziehung, die auf Fürsorge, Respekt und gegenseitiger Zuneigung beruht, verkörpert ein Ideal des Lehrers, das die Grenzen zwischen Mensch und Tier verwischt. Anhand zentraler Passagen der Achilleis wird analysiert, wie Cheirons Hybridität seine Fähigkeit zur Erziehung von Achilleus (vgl. z. B. Achilleis , II, 96 - 125) prägt, indem er tierische Eigenschaften mit Weisheit und emotionaler Intelligenz verbindet. Die Studie setzt diesen Ansatz in den Kontext antiker Bildungstheorien, insbesondere Quintilians Vorstellungen des idealen "väterlichen" Lehrers (vgl. z. B. Institutio Oratoria , II, 2,4), und zeigt, wie Cheirons doppelte Natur seinen pädagogischen (er wird mehrfach als magister bezeichnet) Ansatz bereichert. Besonderes Augenmerk wird auf die emotionale Bindung zwischen Cheiron und Achilleus gelegt, die Cheirons Darstellung als Figur der Fürsorge und moralischen Führung in der klassischen Literatur prägt. Die Analyse von Cheiron als liebevollem Lehrer (durch seine "väterliche" Charakterisierung) in der Achilleis bietet nicht nur Einblicke in die antike Vorstellung von Bildung und emotionalen Bindungen zwischen Mensch und Tier, sondern erlaubt auch einen kritischen Vergleich mit modernen Konzepten hybrider Identitäten und interspezifischer Beziehungen. Die Untersuchung kann Brücken schlagen zwischen der klassischen Pädagogik und zeitgenössischen Diskussionen über Empathie, interkulturelles Lernen und die Überschreitung anthropozentrischer Perspektiven in der Bildungstheorie. Indem Cheiron in den breiteren Rahmen der Mensch-Tier-Beziehungen in der Antike eingebettet wird, hebt der Beitrag die emotionale Resonanz interspezifischer pädagogischer Verbindungen hervor. Abschließend wird argumentiert, dass Cheiron ein einzigartiges Bildungsparadigma verkörpert, in dem Menschliches und Tierisches harmonisch koexistieren, um eine transzendente emotionale Beziehung zu schaffen, die traditionelle Dichotomien infrage stellt.

O numero de animais abandonados e um importante problema em saude publica (LIMA; LUNA, 2012). O seu precoce amadurecimento sexual e as crias numerosas contribuem para o crescimento descontrolado de caes e gatos (OLIVER; SILVA, 2008). A falta de politicas publicas de educacao e conscientizacao, aliada a carencia de legislacoes efetivas sobre questoes como guarda responsavel, favorecem a instalacao dessa situacao. O trabalho avaliou a eficacia do “Castramovel” no controle populacional de caes na cidade de Ponta Grossa, Estado do Parana, Brasil. O “Castramovel” e um trailer equipado com um centro cirurgico, que pode ser levado para regioes da cidade onde exista grande quantidade de caes e gatos. A identificacao das areas criticas pode ser obtida com o censo realizado nas unidades de Estrategia Saude da Familia. O setor de propaganda da prefeitura faz a divulgacao antecipada do local onde o “Castramovel” ficara para que a populacao realize o cadastramento e leve os animais. Nesses locai...

This thesis analyzes Pajtim Statovci‘s novels My Cat Yugoslavia (in Finnish, Kissani Jugoslavia, 2014), Crossing (Tiranan Sydän, 2016), and Bolla (2019) from a Literary Animal Studies point of view. Using Frederike Middelhoff‘s, Sebastian Schönbeck's, Roland Borgards' and Catrin Gersdorf's categorized approach of Zoopoetics, the analysis aims to investigate the function, behavior, and appearances of animals, and how they are taking part in the creation of a literary text. As this approach states, animals are not symbols or metaphors, as would be in the case of a traditional literary analysis, but rather ―makers‖ of the text in the author‘s creative process. It explores these non-humans‘ character features and their relationship with the literary environment. Going ”beyond” the traditional interpretation is one of the aims of this analysis in order to widen the reception of the author‘s work and to gain more insights on it.

This essay examines how zoological and horticultural metaphors informed rhetoric concerning sexual ethics in the writings of early Christians. Using case studies on Clement of Alexandria, Ambrose of Milan, Jerome, and John Chrysostom, among others, I argue that Christian authors used animals and plants as gendered representations of the "natural world," a rhetorical move that appeals to an authority unique for its divinely-created and 'transhistorical' essence, to ground their prescriptions regarding Christian sexual nature and conduct. Ambrose of Milan, for example, points to the purported coloring of birds to argue for a male/female gender binary among humans. Other early Christian authors, however, cite animal behavior as an example of sexual deviance or change. The Epistle of Barnabas, for example, presents examples of eccentric animal sexual behavior as negative exemplars for the types of practices humans ought to avoid. My analysis of nature and animals in early Christian sexual ethics, therefore, reveals how nature functioned in a polyvalent manner in Patristic literature, simultaneously representative of God's creative perfection as well as humanity's fallen deviance.

Așa cum bine se știe, în dezbaterile asupra întemeierii Moldovei o atenție aparte este acordată așa-zisului descălecat, o relatare istorico-mitologică, după care această țară a fost fondată de un grup de coloniști din Maramureș, conduși de cîțiva nobili. Întîi ar fi venit un grup condus de Dragoș, întîiul descălecător, care avea să devină un personaj celebru în creația istorică și literară a românilor și despre care unii istorici susțin că fusese trimis aici de regele Ungariei cu scopul de a forma la răsărit de Carpați un voievodat, o formațiune mai degrabă militară decît politico-administrativă, "căpitănie regală", după o expresie a lui Nicolae Iorga, ce ar fi fost gata de a opune o primă rezistență năvălitorilor mongoli. La un moment dat chiar a apărut părerea că "descălecatul" lui Dragoș a "făcut parte din «vasta ofensivă» îndreptată de Ludovic cel Mare împotriva tătarilor" 1 . Observăm că parcă ar fi sugerată ideea că apariția statului moldovenesc a fost produsul colateral al luptei coroanei ungare împotriva tătarilor. Se zice, apoi, că peste cinci sau zece ani a sosit aici, tot din Maramureș, o altă echipă, condusă de Bogdan, al doilea descălecător, care a înlăturat din fruntea voievodatului Moldovei pe urmașii lui Dragoș, dependenți de coroana ungară, afîrmînd astfel independența noului stat românesc. Cele două componente ale acestei relatări impun ideea că statul moldovenesc a apărut în rezultatul a două colonizări succesive venite din Maramureș, altfel spus, conducerea lui cu structurile sale corespunzătoare -militare, administrative, eventual și de alt gen -au fost implantate în spațiul care de acum încolo avea să se numească Moldova pe un teren viran. Cu alte cuvinte, începutul istoriei politice, sociale, economice și spirituale a acestui teritoriu începea anume din acest moment. Legenda este cît se poate de semnificativă în acest sens: ea susține că Dragoș și oamenii lui au găsit în Moldova un singur locuitor, un prisăcar, și acela străin, un fel de rus sau ucrainean. Apropo de acest detaliu, este foarte interesantsau chiar simptomatic -că, în ciuda faptului că pe parcursul cel puțin a unui secol și jumătate legenda descălcatului a fost examinată pe toate fețele, nimeni dintre istoricii români -sau, cel puțin, nu cunosc eunu s-a arătat interesat de ce cronicile care relatează această poveste menționează că pînă la data descălecării primul și singurul locuitor al Moldovei era un slav. Ideea este oarecum caracteristică pentru ciclul legendelor despre întemeiere prin colonizare; dacă coloniștii ar fi nimerit într-un spațiu plin de oameni foarte bine organizați pentru viața lor în comun, cei sosiți nu ar mai fi avut loc aici. Elementul de care legenda avea cea mai mare nevoie ca să pară credibilă era ca spațiul respectiv să fi fost curățat de populație. Din păcate, povestea din legenda descălecatului despre Moldova fără locuitori a fost preluată de unii dintre cei mai serioși autori care au scris despre acea vreme. De ex. Cantemir susține în Descrierea Moldovei că Dragoș "a găsit țara cea nouă pustie de locuitori" 2 , contrazicîndu-se atunci cînd, îl altă parte, susținea că nu toată populația s-a retras sub presiunea invaziei mongole 3 . O astfel de părere introducea un plus de confuzie în povestea

What was the role of animals, material "things, " and other nonhuman entities in the formation of early Christian views of Jesus? What can these portrayals teach us about early Christianity's more general relation to nature and nonhuman others? The ensuing essay explores these two questions through an analysis of how zoological metaphors informed portrayals of Christ and the construction of Christian ethics in the Epistle of Barnabas, an early Christian text written in the late-first to early-second century CE. While Barnabas is often classified among the early Christian "Apostolic Fathers, " it was composed contemporaneously with writings that would eventually become the New Testament, and was even included in some early New Testament collections (e.g., Codex Sinaiticus) (Lookadoo 2022, 4-16; Loman 2005). This makes it a valuable work for elucidating the broader cultural contexts that may have shaped views of animals among the writers and readers of (other) New Testament texts. My approach comprises an ideological-critical analysis, which seeks to examine how the meaning and function of ideas, as contextualized within their socio-historical contexts, inter-inform, support, and/or subvert particular relations of power. 1 In Barnabas, I argue that animal metaphors, simultaneously representative of Christ's messianic identity as well as the world's fallen deviancy, functioned to undergird Christian superiority and forward anti-Jewish ideologies. In such a way, the Epistle provides an important opportunity to reflect on the role of animals both in ancient identity formation and in contemporary conversations surrounding animal and environmental ethics.

Bison is a commonly depicted bovine in prehistoric Rock-art of India. Genomic studies have revealed its pattern and manner of spread in India and from here to neighboring regions, along with contribution of Indian Gaur in genetic constitution of other bovine species, especially Mithun (Bos frontalis). Apparently, this scenario can be made more nuanced by collating the genetical picture with that artistically narrated in Prehistoric Rock-art. In this paper, an attempt shall be made to comprehend the differentiated occurrences of bison in Indian Rock-art, its multifaceted roles in prehistoric hunting-foraging societies, and supplement further material to the complex genetic prehistory of movement of Indian Bison, through a comparative assessment of four major prehistoric sites of Rock-art in India. The study would also try to exhibit the epi-genetic factors that affected Bison biology, as strictly gleaned from Rock-art evidence.

In recent times TV channels and print media are covering news about the menace of the stray dogs, dog bites and deaths due to it, since stray dogs have reached a sizable number where deaths across the age groups throughout the country happening due to its bites has now become a phenomenon-where a population of stray dogs grows and deaths of people due to it are increasing day-by-day. As against the background, the Supreme Court of India in August 2025, has modified its earlier order concerning stray dogs, permitting vaccinated and sterilised dogs to be released in their original localities after treatment, but not those with rabies or aggressive behaviour. In its order, the Court banned public feeding, mandating dedicated feeding spot, and called for a national policy on stray dog management, expanding the scope of the order to the entire country. The following are key directives of the August, 2025 Order:

A priest of Sabazius on a funerary relief
and the question of the cult of Sabazius in Macedonia
Until now, the only evidence of the worship of Sabazius
in Macedonia was the bronze hand, probably votive in
nature, from Edessa currently in the Archaeological Museum
in Pella. Further evidence of the cult of Sabazius
is provided by a late 2nd or early 3rd century funerary
relief in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, if
my interpretation of one of its two figures as a priest of
Sabazius is indeed correct. The bearded man wearing a
Phrygian cap and with a pectoral on his ungirt, sleeved
garment appears to be a priest and, more specifically,
a priest of a Phrygian deity, possibly Sabazius, who is
closely linked to Cybele-Magna Mater. The god himself
very often wears a phrygian cap (and relevant garments)
as does the only epigraphically attested depiction of a
priest of Sabazius in the so called hypogeum of Vibia at
the Via Appia (4th century AD).
In Asia Minor, in which the majority of the inscriptions
relating to this cult originate, but also in Greece, the god
is frequently mentioned as Zeus Sabazius. Through his
attire and symbols, he is also identified iconographically
with the Greek Zeus. This hellenised god is also a supreme
god, often called κύριος or ὕψιστος on inscriptions.
It is probable that in Macedonia, in which the cult
of Zeus Hypsistos was widespread during the Imperial
Period, the cult of the cognate Phrygian god Sabazius
was also accepted next to Zeus Hypsistos. It is perhaps no
coincidence that the hand of Sabazius mentioned above
comes from Edessa, a city from which we have abundant
evidence of the cult of Zeus Hypsistos.
Finally, the Annex presents a relief from Boeotian
Koroneia dedicated to Sabazius, together with its votive
inscription.

While describing the coup that Pekah b. Remaliah instigated against Pekahiah b. Menahem, the Bible states: “And Pekah son of Remaliah, his aide, conspired against him and struck him down in Samaria, in the royal palace with Argob and with the lion, and with him were fifty Gileadites, and he killed him and succeeded him as king” (2 Kgs 15:25). The meaning of the words “with Argob and with the lion” is unclear, and many modern scholars believe that the verse is distorted. I suggest that these words are not distorted, but rather reflect a phenomenon that has existed in Hebrew throughout the ages (including Biblical Hebrew): a syncopated letter Heh that occurs during a fast colloquial pronunciation. The phrase should be translated as “By [the] Argob and by the lion” and describes the precise location of Pekahiah’s assassination: between two specific objects located at the palace. The reasoning behind this description is also discussed.

The etching Head of a Cat (A Good Cat is Not Greedy) of 1646 is one of the best known works of Wenceslaus Hollar and can be regarded as his iconic piece. The diversely treated cat theme can also be found in prints and drawings by other artists, in which cats appear either as the main subject or a marginal motif. In old prints, cats were depicted in genre, allegorical, portrait, or natural science contexts, as well as in religious imagery. They were presented as bearers of symbolic or moralistic meanings. Artists were attracted by both their playfulness and mysterious traits, as well as their other ambivalent and even contradictory characteristics. The book accompanying a small exhibition will examine the highly varied artistic treatments of the cat theme in the works of graphic artists and draughtsmen from the 16th century up to the turn of the 19th century.

Οι Όρνιθες αποτελούν την μεγαλύτερη σε έκταση, την πιο πολυπρόσωπη και την πιο άρτια κωμωδία  (ανάμεσα στις 11 σωζόμενες) του Αριστοφάνη. Παρουσιάστηκαν στα Μεγάλα Διονύσια το 414 π.Χ. με τον ποιητή να καταλαμβάνει τη δεύτερη θέση στους δραματικούς αγώνες. Αν και απουσιάζουν σε μεγάλο βαθμό οι πολιτικοί υπαινιγμοί και το δηκτικό σκώμμα εναντίον πολιτικών και στρατηγών (χαρακτηριστικό στοιχείο των αρχαίων αττικών κωμωδιών), ο Αριστοφάνης στους Όρνιθες κάνει, στην ουσία, ένα επικριτικό σχόλιο πάνω στην πολυπραγμοσύνη της Αθήνας και την απόφασή της να κάνει εκστρατεία στη Σικελία, προτάσσοντας την απραγμοσύνη  των δύο κωμικών ηρώων. Πρόκειται για ένα «έργο φυγής», γιατί οι κωμικοί ήρωες όντας σε μια κρίσιμη κατάσταση, αποφασίζουν να αναζητήσουν ένα καλύτερο γι’ αυτούς μέλλον. Δύο Αθηναίοι, ο Πεισθέταιρος («αυτός που του αρέσει να νουθετεί») και ο Ευελπίδης («ο αισιόδοξος»), απογοητευμένοι από την πολιτική κατάσταση που επικρατεί στην πόλη τους λόγω της δικομανίας και της πολυπραγμοσύνης της υπερδύναμης Αθήνας, αποφασίζουν να την εγκαταλείψουν και να αναζητήσουν μια ιδανική, ουτοπική πολιτεία, όπου θα μπορέσουν να διάγουν έναν ήσυχο βίο. Με τη βοήθεια του Τσαλαπετεινού (Έποπα) – Τηρέα θα πείσουν τα πουλιά να ιδρύσουν μια πολιτεία μεταξύ ουρανού και γης, την Νεφελοκοκκυγία .
Οι Όρνιθες ακολουθούν την τυπική δομή της αρχαίας ελληνικής κωμωδίας, η οποία αποτελείται από τον πρόλογο, την πάροδο, τον αγώνα, την παράβαση, τις ιαμβικές σκηνές και την έξοδο . Στην παρούσα εργασία, θα σταθούμε στον πρόλογο και τον επιρρηματικό αγώνα, εστιάζοντας στη δραματική λειτουργία που επιτελούν, στον ρόλο που διαδραματίζουν στην εξέλιξη του έργου.

Dogmi, rituali e potere nella società contemporanea Introduzione L'idea che la società umana sia assimilabile a una "grande setta" può sembrare una provocazione. Una setta, nell'immaginario comune, è un gruppo chiuso, guidato da un leader carismatico, caratterizzato da dogmi rigidi e rituali ossessivi. La società moderna, invece, ama pensarsi come il regno della razionalità, della libertà individuale, del pluralismo e della democrazia. Eppure, se osserviamo più attentamente le dinamiche che regolano la nostra convivenza, emergono sorprendenti analogie. Anche le società moderne sono fondate su credenze collettive, praticano rituali che rinsaldano l'identità, venerano idoli invisibili, costruiscono gerarchie e individuano nemici da combattere. L'obiettivo di questo saggio è esplorare questa metafora, sviluppandola su due piani: 1. Filosofico, mostrando come l'uomo abbia bisogno di narrazioni collettive per dare senso alla propria esistenza. 2. Sociologico e politico, evidenziando come il potere utilizzi dogmi, rituali e simboli per mantenere l'ordine e il consenso. La metafora della "grande setta" non va intesa come un giudizio morale, bensì come uno strumento critico: un modo per svelare ciò che consideriamo "naturale" ma che è, in realtà, il prodotto di credenze condivise. Capitolo 1-L'uomo come animale simbolico Aristotele definiva l'uomo zoon politikon, l'animale politico. La sua idea era che l'essere umano realizzi la propria natura non nell'isolamento, ma nella comunità. Questa intuizione è stata arricchita nei secoli: Ernst Cassirer, nel Novecento, lo ha descritto come animal symbolicum, l'animale simbolico, capace di creare sistemi di significato per organizzare il mondo. Le società non sono semplici aggregati di individui: sono costrutti simbolici. Senza un linguaggio condiviso, un insieme di valori e di narrazioni, non esisterebbe coesione. È questo il fondamento della "grande setta": la nostra tendenza a creare mondi immaginari e viverli come reali.

This article presents research that examines how changing characteristics of the natural world were incorporated into ancient Cypriot art. A key objective is to synthesize and apply data pertaining to the distribution and socioeconomic uses of animals during the Bronze Age to analysis of their representation in Cypriot material culture. This permits trends in human-environment relationships to be examined, including characteristics of transported landscapes, changing attitudes toward the natural world, the evolution of artistic convention, and, more broadly, the interplay between human occupation, cultural production, and environmental impact in Cyprus during a period of increasing social, economic, and cultural integration. Preliminary observations pertaining to animal representations in the prehistoric Bronze Age in Cyprus are presented.

The religious landscape of Thebes—modern-day Luxor—was
composed of numerous temples, chapels, sanctuaries, a vast
necropolis, and processional roads connecting these sacred spaces.
Individuals working in this landscape held diverse roles: temple
priests performed rituals or acted as scribes; mortuary priests
mummified the dead and maintained funerary cults; temple
personnel baked offerings or guarded sanctuary doors.
Temple priests are primarily known from Egyptological sources such
as funerary papyri and tomb equipment, while mortuary priests and
temple personnel are mostly attested in Greek and Demotic
documentary papyri. As these sources are often studied separately,
their interconnections remain underexplored.
This lecture brings Egyptological and papyrological evidence into
conversation to better understand the functions and titles of those
active in Thebes’ religious sphere. It examines how priestly titles
were used, translated, or adapted across languages, revealing how
the priests’ functions were perceived.
Beyond this, it explores professional and personal ties among
temple and necropolis workers: who collaborated during festivals,
lived together as neighbors, or witnessed each other’s contracts. It
also considers how terminology for services and payments may
have differed between those employed in the temples versus the
necropolis. By integrating different source types, the lecture offers a
fuller picture of sacred duties, social links, and priestly life in
Ptolemaic Thebes.

In our times, phenomena such as industrial animal agriculture, increased meat consumption, and the loss of species necessitate an urgent shift in human attitudes towards animals. Within the Orthodox Church, there seems to exist some discrepancy concerning different approaches to animals. On the one hand, the ideals and praxis of monastic saints demonstrates a harmonious relationship with animals, supported by the idea of a return to the original paradisiacal state. On the other hand, this seems to have minimal impact on the broader Church, or its teachings.

The patristic, hymnographic, and even modern Orthodox discourses are inherently linked with the concept of animals as αλόγα, beings lacking the faculty of reason. Historically, this notion has frequently been used to justify human entitlement to treat animals as objects of consumption and mistreatment. The validity of this argument was debated already in antiquity, and its integration into patristic theology created some tensions with the paradisiacal ideals. The notion of animals as αλόγα is problematic in several ways related to its semantic ambiguity, inconsistent applications, and practical realities. Therefore, the argument requires reinterpretation in the light of contemporary concerns and modern scientific discoveries regarding animal cognition. This paper seeks to trace and examine the principal uses, applications, and problematic aspects of the idea of animals as αλόγα, focusing on patristic sources with some reference to Greek antiquity, in addition to some insights of modern natural science.

This article presents the metaphor of the Great Farm as a critical lens to analyze social and spiritual organization in the contemporary world. Through an interdisciplinary approach—critical sociology (Marx, Bourdieu, Foucault), political philosophy (Debord, Byung-Chul Han), and biblical theology—the study proposes a reflection on how different social groups can be symbolically represented: the cattle (the masses), the donkeys (intellectuals), the horses (celebrities and elites), the farm workers (governments and billionaires), the farm owner (Satan), the cat (the awakened), and the sheep (the faithful).
The purpose is to invite readers to critically consider their position within the “farm” and to reflect on the dynamics of power, alienation, and spiritual hope.

This article explores the political significance of “spontaneous animal videos” through the example of “Octopus Steals My Video Camera and Swims Off with It (While It’s Recording)” (Victor Huang, 2010). These videos create opportunities to re-examine and reflexively engage with human–animal dynamics and responsibilities in the space of the filmmaking encounter. Produced inadvertently by nonhuman animals seizing cameras of their own volition, these videos are distinct from other kinds of multispecies imagery circulating on the Internet. They are multispecies achievements: something humans and animals accomplish together. However, the animals’ involvement in their making remains underexplored. It is argued that these instances of playful resistance are concealed as an aesthetic effect that promises to incite transformations only in the human viewer. Returning to the circumstances of their creation, the article uses Sara Ahmed’s framework of “the strange encounter,” to argue that animals are encountered and reproduced as strangers, especially when a camera is present, and when the animal in question is an octopus. By seizing control of cameras, animals are redefining the terms of their own representation. In this case, an uncooperative octopus turns a disruption into a creative act. Incorporating themself into the footage, the octopus claims a subjective position in it, and the story of its making. At once playful acts of resistance and collaborative cinematic practices, spontaneous animal videos nudge us to expand the domain of politics and reflect on the composition of the social from which it develops. Finally, it is argued that they visualize a creaturely solidarity that not only is possible but is already under way.

Shamanic peoples such as the indigenous inhabitants of Amazonia and Siberia frequently appear in the popular imagination as 'living in harmony with nature', and indeed this image has become part of their identity on the global political stage (United Nations 2007). It is therefore not entirely accidental that two thinkers, Rousseau and Marx, had particularly lasting influence over the ethnography of these two regions. Each of them relies in important and divergent ways upon the distinction between nature and culture, and together they have been described as part of the bedrock of modern anthropology (Leach 2000). Rousseau's noble savage, partly inspired by reports of Amazonian Indians, represented humanity before its decisive break with nature, while Marx's vision of human history depends on humanity's ability to act autonomously upon nature as a separate entity. 1 The anthropology of nature has become prominent since the publication by Tim , 2000), Bruno Latour (1997, 1999) and Philippe Descola (2005) of powerful arguments that the conventional Western nature/culture dichotomy is contingent, historically situated and just one of many other possible and indeed empirically existing modes of understanding relations between humans and nonhumans. Many years before them, Edmund Leach, in a wide-ranging discussion of the problem, pointed out that the dichotomy mirrors other recurring themes in the Western history of ideas -for instance, 'the artificial distinction between nature and culture … which is, from one point of view, a logical derivation from the moral relativism of Locke, is, from another angle, a transformation of the Cartesian opposition between conscious mind and mindless matter. The limitations of the latter dyad apply equally to the former' (Leach 2000: 324). The nature/ culture dichotomy is part of the legacy of Western philosophy out of which modern social anthropology has grown, but the very emergence of the anthropology of nature, and its practice, have been dedicated precisely to deconstructing and discrediting the dyad with which they are concerned. 2 This volume is dedicated

Provides background on World War II silk production in the United States.
While this pamphlets was submitted by Dr. William Gawthrop (August 2025), he is not the author. The 1940 authors are Girardo Marandino, and John Knowles. The pamphlet was sponsored by the Anscowain Manufacturing Company, Inc of New York.

Today, wisdom demands we listen to all the ways places speak and respond with every means we possess. This is the Journey toward belonging." with reference to the "Spirit of a Place" or “Soul of City” with an awareness of the many different cultures.

In an age often characterised by digital ephemerality and rootless mobility, the profound assertion that "today, wisdom demands we listen to all the ways places speak - and respond with every tool of heart, mind, and hand we possess. This is the pilgrimage toward belonging" resonates with urgent significance. This statement is not mere poetic sentiment; it is a call to reclaim a fundamental, yet increasingly neglected, dimension of human existence: our deep, reciprocal relationship with the Spirit, or Soul, of Place - and perhaps even more urgently - to cities. While often perceived as purely human constructs, dense with concrete and commerce, cities possess a distinct genius loci – a spirit, character, and voice that demands the same attentive listening and integrated response as any natural landscape.

Interpretativna vremenska lenta izlaže imaginarij o mačkama u južnoslavenskim običajima i vjerovanjima od Natka Nodila preko Tihomira R. Đorđevića i Ljubinka Radenkovića sve do suvremenih kulturnoanimalističkih istraživanja, i to kontekstualno vezano uz ostale Slavene i indoeuropsku komparativnu mitologiju. I dok se Nodilo oslanja na interpretaciju mitologije prirode Angela de Gubernatisa, Tihomir R. Đorđević prati etnografski materijal Južnih Slavena (što se tiče Hrvatske pomno je, među ostalim, istražio mačkogradivo u Zborniku za narodni život i običaje Južnih Slavena), a Ljubinko Radenković semiotički promatra mačku u simbolici svijeta Južnih Slavena, gdje zamjećuje da su čovjeku od domaćih životinja najbliži konj, ovca, krava i vol, a zatim slijede bik, koza, magarac, kokoš, svinja, pas i mačka. Završno se razmatra simbolika mačke u suvremenoj hrvatskoj vizualnoj kulturi s obzirom na to da je mačka iznimno jak zoosimbol postkonceptualne i transmedijalne prakse, odnosno "antropološke strukture imaginarnog", da uporabimo Durandovu sintagmu.

This book gathers eight papers devoted to specifi c aspects of Cicero's engagement with Roman religion, and seeks to make a wider contribution to the understanding of Cicero's work as historical evidence. By engaging with religion as a fundamental factor of social cohesion and political stability, both in his theoretical works and his speeches, Cicero shaped a wide-ranging and ambitious discourse around themes and images that were fi rmly located in fi rst-century BCE Rome. His contribution also proved very infl uential in the centuries to come. The volume focuses on the relationship between law, religion, and religious authority in Cicero; the interplay between divine images, ritual contexts, and the conceptualization of the divine; Cicero's construction of a Greek deity for a Roman audience; the role of religious elements in the shaping of a Roman political identity; the tension between 'natural law' and Roman pietas; the problem of divine and human foresight; the relationship between theoretical views of the gods and late Republican public cult; and the reception, use, and readaptation of Ciceronian theology in the English Enlightenment.

The Greek community in Brasov, Transylvania has a long history.
Many Greeks (Greci), as not only those of Greek origin, but in
general Orthodox Balkan merchants were called,  settled in this
city, also known as Kronstand (or Stephanoupolis), which was an
important center of trade between East and West. They established a
trade guild  and erected the church of  Hagia Triada (Holy Trinity) in
1786-1787 within the fortified town after  the decree of secularism of
Emperor Joseph II of the Habsburg monarchy. Later the community
declined, but continued to exist. This paper deals with the funerary
monuments, which are a valuable testimony to the history of the
Greek community in Brasov. The small cemetery of Hagia Triada
includes the tomb of the Metropolitan of Hungrowallachia Dositheos
Filitis, graves of members of princely families, graves of members
of the old Greek community, current graves, as well as an arcade
with burial crypts of Greek families, where are preserved  marble
inscribed slabs, relief busts and paintings. In another cemetery, that
of the church of Hagia Paraskevi, there are a few Greek graves and
a funerary monument made by Greek marble sculptors. The paper
is based on field research, archival sources and newspapers of the
time, as well as on the use of literature and on electronic sources.

Deux chapiteaux deux églises grecques médiévales montrent que l'occupation franco-italienne de la Grèce continentale après la Quatrième Croisade (1204) a déclenché toute une série de modes culturelles, chevaleresques aussi bien que pornographiques.