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Our knowledge of Phoenicia during the Achaemenid period has made important progresses during the last thirty-five years thanks to new epigraphic discoveries and researches: the succession of several kings has been précised as well as the chronology of their reigns and the extent of their kingdoms. Although all of them used the Phoenician language and writing in their administration, each kingdom kept its originality within the huge Achaemenid empire with various orientations of their political, economic and religious spheres. Their political, economic and cultural influence was very strong on Persian period Cisjordan, especially in Galilee, the Sharon plain and Ashkalon.

This chapter considers what can be learnt about the origins of Roman law by the examination of texts from the Italian peninsula in languages other than Latin. Through a survey of all the attested legal documents with an Italian provenance (i.e. those written in a language of the Sabellian family, in Etruscan and in other languages including Messapic) the chapter traces commonalities and differences in the language of laws, in the format of their presentation, and in the media on which they are inscribed. Although there is shown to be no single ‘origin’ of Roman law, the chapter shows that the influence of Greek law and Greek traditions of writing law have a continual influence across all the different Italian traditions.

Ceramic texts and imagery have been critically important tools in the study of Maya iconography and epigraphy. However, how these narratives coordinate with those in other media as coherent, media-specific compositions has been little explored. This chapter presents a single case study to address issues of intertextuality. In particular, it focuses on the iconography and textual composition of the Regal Rabbit Vase (K1398) with the imagery found on Naranjo Stela 22. That the royal house of Naranjo commissioned both objects makes this a useful comparison, because it provides historical links between the vessel and the stela. Taking advantage of this fortuitous pairing of contemporaneous objects, we look to the visual rhetoric through which K’ahk Tiliw Chan Chahk’s (688–726? A.D.) military and youth rites were presented in each medium. Then, these rites are placed in conversation with the extensive iconographic and textual record at Palenque to contextualize the pan-Maya significance of youth rites involving the deity B’olon Okte’ K’uh and their mythological underpinnings. Through this example, we explore why ceramics were a preferred medium for the presentation of certain genres of imagery (e.g. mythological narratives) that are rarely presented in the monuments and how this choice is itself meaningful.

This conclusion reviews briefly the principal findings of each of the book’s chapters, but more lengthily reviews their secondary findings. This is because only the former are reviewed at each chapter’s end. These secondary findings include the likelihood that the Kaʿba played a ritual role for the proto-Muslim community of Believers from a very early period, contrary to revisionist claims, and the remarkable degree to which the canon of Islamic architecture comprises buildings whose epigraphic programmes, foundation documents and mentions in contemporary texts make comparisons to the Kaʿba. The conclusion ends with a discussion of the Kaʿba’s absence in Islamic architectural scholarship and the importance of decolonising academic knowledge to prevent similar lacunae from developing.

This chapter addresses the interrelated topics of law and citizenship in Roman Achaia. The epigraphic evidence for cohabitation of Greek and resident Roman communities since the second century BCE, as well as the consequences of Roman military involvement—namely the creation of citizen colonies, administrative and political restructuring, transfers of land, and displacement of populations—inevitably raise questions of juridical gradation between and within the communities of mainland Greece. The spread of Roman citizenship on the one hand, and the persistence of the importance of local citizenships on the other, are directly relevant to the questions of jurisdiction and legal development in the province. Among the most discernible changes in juridical matters of the region is the decline of interstate arbitration and judicial capacities of territorial leagues. The institution of foreign judges, although still mentioned in epigraphic sources of the mid-second century CE, likely lost its original functionality too. Inter-community disputes fell under the complete jurisdiction of Roman authorities by the early first century CE, and the development of territorial dispute resolution under Rome reveals various points of interaction between Hellenistic arbitral practices and the procedural framework of Roman civil law. That said, the governor’s court, whether operating on an assize system or not, could not have been easily accessible, and private law matters within a polis were often dealt with by local judiciaries.

3–5 sentences, or around 120 words and no more than 200 words Published accounts by Fioravante Martinelli in 1655 and the prior of S. Prassede, Dom Benigno Davanzati in 1725 regarding the ministries of Praxedes and Pudentiana, introduce this chapter. Circumstantial evidence from epigraphy, texts, and works of art is studied in detail and historiographically to develop a picture of women's officially deputed pastoral offices in Rome, a church which traditionally has been thought to have had no women in official pastoral office. These offices paralleled those already found in the previous chapter on women's ministries outside Rome.

This chapter integrates ceramics, stratigraphy, epigraphy, and careful readings of ethnohistoric sources to propose a historical reconstruction of Chichen Itza, focused particularly on the ninth century. The authors reject the partial and total overlap models for Chichen Itza construction and settlement and argue for the sequential construction of architecture in the Late Classic, Puuc, and International styles. Focusing on the individual named K’ak’ Upakal, the authors reconstruct the activities of this early ruler, his relatives and his court and the rituals at the core of Chichen’s ceremonial life.

Excavations and mapping of the small site of Akte, located 7.2 km northwest of Motul de San José, near the confluence of the Rio Akte and the Rio K'ante't'u'ul, documented an extensive occupational history, seven stela monuments, and several features suggesting that the site played a complex role in regional sociopolitical interactions. This chapter by Suzanna C. Yorgey and Matthew D. Moriarty summarizes the results of the research, pointing to both site planning and ceramic differences and similarities between Akte and Motul, in order to contextualize the nature of the role of minor sites in the Motul de San José polity and on the larger Central Peten geopolitical scene.

This chapter offers an introduction to the study of the funerary archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia from ca. AD 400 to 1100. After introducing the sources and taking account of the history of research, theoretical approaches and dating criteria are considered. This is followed by a chronological overview drawing upon key sites and publications that seeks to trace major developments in cemetery and tomb typologies, as well as the social and religious dimensions of tomb locations, burial styles, and objects. The chapter concludes with some general observations on the development of burial practices between the sixth and eleventh centuries and argues that funerary archaeology is an essential source for the study of Byzantine Anatolia.

Binbirkilise means thousand and one churches in Turkish and includes various sites on the slopes of Mount Karadağ, an ancient volcano ca. 29 km north of Karaman, in south-central Anatolia. The mountain is littered with stone buildings including ca. 40 churches as well as fortresses, houses, and cisterns. The available data were generated mostly over a century ago when fieldwork prioritized monumental architecture and epigraphy. In spite of evidence for collapse and repair in some early basilicas, the evidence may suggest continuous occupation at Madenşehir from late antiquity into the second millennium. At Değle, located high in the mountain, large building complexes that may have been monastic or elite houses, developed mostly after the early Byzantine period. Numerous small chapels and associated structures on the hilltops seem to have had a memorial function.

Germia was famous for its thermal springs and a church dedicated to the archangel Michael. There were several other churches and monasteries, but little space for ordinary residential buildings. The Christians seem to have established their healing shrine half way between two pre-existing Roman poleis of Mantalos and Goeleon, because Mantalos was already the centre of a pagan cult and Goeleon lacks thermal springs. Otherwise, there was no need for an additional, third polis, and Germia never developed into a sizable settlement, although it became an autocephalous archbishopric and metropolis. The case of Germia confirms that in the Byzantine period the status of polis and metropolis as well as that of diocese and archdiocese were not necessarily indicative of any degree of urbanization. The site is also outstanding for surviving the Invasion Period without fortifications and for continuing throughout the middle Byzantine period without any apparent sign of decline.

Ethnohistorical accounts of tribute among the Yukatek Maya provide an impressive list of materials and products in circulation at the time of Spanish contact while also affording a glimpse of the interwoven layers of socioeconomic relationships underlying these acts of exchange, tribute, and taxation. This chapter compares the 16th-century Yukatekan configurations with patterns of production and distribution of Classic period decorated ceramics that also link prime cotton-producing regions to major centers of political power. The data intimate that cotton and cloth were crucial components of Classic period exchange networks underlying political power. The study employs a multidisciplinary approach combining investigations of artistic style, ceramic paste chemical analysis, epigraphy, and archaeology.