Le jeu du kottabe, intervenant une fois le symposion entamé, est sans doute le plus célèbre des jeux de banquet. Cette pratique ludique, source d’émulations entre les buveurs, consistait à projeter d’un geste habile et maîtrisé la dernière goutte de vin de sa coupe sur une cible prédéfinie. Le vin, médiateur de sociabilité, est dans ce cadre à la fois la modalité et l’instrument du jeu, tandis que la vaisselle de banquet est détournée de son usage premier. À partir d’une (...) sélection de vases italiotes, cet article questionne l’agentivité féminine associée à ce divertissement habituellement considéré comme masculin. À la fois cible animée, enjeu du lancer, joueuse ou accessoire ludique, la présence féminine mise en scène dans le champ métaphorique de l’image est multiple et protéiforme. À l’aide de jeux visuels, les imagiers italiotes se jouent des codes et des normes établies en proposant une vision renouvelée, réelle ou fantasmée, autour de la culture du vin. (shrink)

The long Japanese tradition of Korean ceramics appreciation, closely associated with the Zen tea ceremony _(chanoyu), _has played an important role in the development of Korean aesthetics in the twentieth century. The art critic and philosopher Yanagi Soetsu was instrumental in this process during the occupation period, since, continuing in this tradition, he particularly valued Joseon ceramics for their aesthetic qualities - such as naturalness, nonchalance, and simplicity - akin to praised values in Zen Buddhism. Yanagi’s pioneering writings (...) might have been influential in the prevalence of those traits when defining Korean art and aesthetics in general. After a brief presentation of key expressions defining Korean art and aesthetics, the paper focuses on Yanagi’s aesthetic assessment of Joseon ceramics and particularly on his proposal of its appreciation beyond the modern Western division between art and craft. (shrink)

It has usually been held, on the strength of several passages in Thucydides, that the Athenian army which was besieging Syracuse in 414–413 b.c. contained a contingent of Etruscans desirous of retaliating upon the Syracusans for losses inflicted upon them in past days—e.g., in 474 at Cumae and in 453 at Elba.

This article re-examines the sole surviving fragment of Aeschylean elegy alongside the available contextual evidence in an attempt to enhance our currently very limited understanding of Aeschylus’ elegiac output. The first section explores Theophrastus’ citation of this fragment in theHistoria Plantarumto demonstrate what we can learn about the original Aeschylean poem from its use within the later writer's discussion. The second section examines how the Italian focus of the fragment fits into a wider historical and literary discourse of interactions between (...) Greeks and non-Greeks in the west. The third and concluding section builds on these findings to examine the possible Sicilian performance context of the original Aeschylean poem to which the fragment belongs. Ultimately the discussion demonstrates that the fragment is an important and hitherto underappreciated early witness of the development of influential cultural concepts regarding interactions between Greeks and non-Greeks in the west, and that the possibility that Aeschylus produced a poem relating to the victory of Hieron I of Syracuse over the Etruscans at Cumae in 474b.c.e.is worth serious consideration. (shrink)

Recent excavations and technical analyses of medieval ceramics from North Africa, or Ifrīqiya, from the eighth and tenth centuries have shown that these objects form a distinct corpus, in contrast to earlier scholarship that discussed Ifrīqiyan material in relation to ceramics from Eastern Islamic lands. In this study, these objects are examined in an art historical context, which situates them within artistic production not only from North Africa, but also from Egypt, West Africa, and al-Andalus. It demonstrates the (...) connections that emerged as a result of the relationships – both congruous and contentious – among the various political polities ruling these regions. This investigation of medieval ceramics from North Africa situates this corpus within the visual and material cultures of the African continent and the Mediterranean world, and contextualizes the transregional dimension of North African visual and material culture. Keywords / al-Andalus, ceramics, Egypt, geography, Ifrīqiya, medieval art, North Africa. (shrink)

Lors des fouilles du Prytanée de Délos en 1987, un puits d’époque classique fut mis au jour. Ce puits avait été entièrement comblé, vraisemblablement en une seule fois, à la fin du iii eou au début du iv e s. apr. J.-C., avec des matériaux divers pris sur place et une grande quantité de céramiques. Cet ensemble clos, contenant un minimum de 215 individus, est presque exclusivement constitué de fragments de céramiques communes très diverses, de céramiques culinaires et d’amphores de (...) 24 types différents. Un tel matériel permet d’enrichir considérablement notre connaissance sur la céramique cycladique d’époque impériale romaine, qui reste à ce jour encore très mal documentée. Il apporte également un nouvel éclairage sur tout un pan — jusqu’à présent souvent resté dans l’ombre — de l’histoire économique, commerciale et artisanale de Délos en ces siècles « tardifs ». (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Aristotle on the Etruscan Robbers:A Core Text of "Aristotelian Dualism"Abraham P. Bos (bio)1. A Non-Platonic Dualism in Aristotle's Lost WorksThe Soul of a Mortal on Earth is not "At Home," says Aristotle in his dialogue Eudemus. The story about the mantic dream of the expatriate Eudemus and his expectation that he "will return home"1 is well known. It makes clear that, in Aristotle's view, the death of the (...) human individual should be interpreted as the soul's "return to its homeland."2 This is strongly suggested by "the revelation of Silenus" which Plutarch (first century CE) passes down in a literal quotation from the Eudemus.3 It contains the theme of human life on earth as a punishment (timôria). The motif of human life as a punishment is central to two texts by Iamblichus (250-325 CE) and Augustine (354-430 CE), which are usually connected with Aristotle's Protrepticus.4 I want to examine these texts in more detail here. My intention in the following exposition is to propose a non-Platonistic explanation of these texts. In my opinion they have wrongly been read as testimonies of a "Platonistic" phase in Aristotle. The existence of such a phase in Aristotle's development has never been proved. Besides, the interpretation of these texts suffered from the fact that [End Page 289] Aristotle's De anima had also been explained in an unhistorical way since Alexander of Aphrodisias in the third century CE.2. Revising the Modern View of AristotleWe have to make a different assessment of Aristotle's contribution to the discussion on the soul compared with what was current until recently. For after W. Jaeger5 and F. Nuyens6, modern scholars became inclined to leave Aristotle's dialogues out of consideration, because they regarded them as "Platonizing." But a fundamental correction is necessary on this point.7 Jaeger led modern Aristotle studies in a wrong direction by assuming a sharp distinction between Aristotle's lost dialogue Eudemus and his surviving treatise De anima. Although nowadays Jaeger's theory for many scholars is something of a dead horse, nevertheless a real alternative has not been proposed. We still have to get rid of the consequences of the Jaegerian paradigm and develop a unitary interpretation of Aristotle's entire oeuvre. Even more consistently than O. Gigon has already done,8 we should assume that Aristotle's lost works and his surviving biological writings and De anima did not propose two (or more) different psychological theories but one and the same. Because this one Aristotelian psychology was a non-Platonistic but nevertheless dualistic psychology, we have much more reason than could be recognized in the past to assume Aristotelian influence on this discussion.On one essential issue Aristotle disagreed with his teacher Plato: the soul,9 more particularly the indissoluble bond of the soul with a body. Aristotle radically and [End Page 290] consistently argued for the distinction between nous and psychè.10 For Aristotle the nous-in-act is always wholly incorporeal. But he considered it characteristic of the soul that it cannot carry out its functions "without body."11However, the crucial question is: what body does Aristotle mean when he says that the soul cannot perform its specific activities "without body"? Jaeger and Nuyens were wholly convinced that Aristotle was referring to the visible, external body of a human being, animal, or plant. Hence they saw a yawning gap between Aristotle's views in De anima and his position in the dialogue the Eudemus. In the Eudemus Aristotle had clearly argued that the soul can perform its own functions very well, indeed better, without the galling and oppressive visible body.12 But in De anima II 1, in his famous definition of "the soul," Aristotle says that the soul is inextricably bound up with a "sôma physikon organikon."13 Jaeger and Nuyens, following an almost unanimous tradition since Alexander of Aphrodisias in the third century CE, interpreted this sentence in the sense that the soul is the formal principle or entelechy of an "organic body" or a "natural body equipped with organs," i.e., the visible body... (shrink)

Hospitality can be considered a key institution in the social relationships in the ancient Mediterranean. To identify the people involved in a hospitality agreement, in certain contexts small objects were used in a similar way to a password, which the Greeks called symbolon and the Romans tessera hospitalis. We know how the latter were used thanks to Plautus' Poenulus. At least 64 pieces are currently known which may be identified as tesserae hospitales. All come from the Western Mediterranean. The majority (...) contain brief inscriptions, written in Etruscan, Latin, Greek, or Celtiberian. They share a series of common features, which impart a clear family resemblance beyond geographic, cultural, or linguistic borders. (shrink)

Painted ceramics occupy an important place in ancient Chinese art and are the result of creative activity of people of primitive society. A large number of Neolithic patterns on ceramics are similar to those signs and symbols that were made on jade products of the same period. Such patterns resembled drawings made by hand and represented realistic and abstract ornaments, plant, zoomorphic patterns, etc. Thus, the subject of this study is the so-called "jade" patterns on painted ceramics (...) of the Neolithic era. The object of the study are objects of painted ceramics of the Neolithic era in China. Special attention is paid to the consideration of the specifics of ceramic products, as well as the features of their decors. The semantics of images on objects of Chinese painted ceramics is complex and ambiguous. The study revealed that it is associated with the development of human thinking, people's understanding of natural phenomena, awareness of the changing seasons, as well as the emergence of animism and totemic culture. These patterns had different interpretations, while they were not only a way of expressing the feelings and experiences of primitive people, but also a way for them to record important events from life, similar to modern memoirs. Thus, the novelty of this article is its comparative nature, manifested in the comparison of ornaments of painted ceramics and ancient Chinese jade products. (shrink)

The Folk Classification of Ceramics: A Study of Cognitive Prototypes provides a general understanding of folk classification that compares cognitive structures across cultures through anthropological field studies. The topic of this book, the structure and use of folk categories, is relevant to all cognitive sciences and is distinctly anthropological in examining variation among subcultural groups and change through time. The study of variation and change illuminates aspects of category structure that would not be envisioned from experiment or introspection. This (...) text concentrates on the study of folk classification of artifacts on ceramic vessels, focusing on gross social groupings such as "potters” or "traditional villages”. Some topics discussed include the exploring interview techniques; structure of vessel categories; subcultural variation; and semantic change. This publication is a good reference to students studying folk classification and other disciplines such as cognitive psychology, linguistic semantics, and artificial intelligence. (shrink)

The Creation of Contemporary Ceramic Sculptures from Buriram Volcanic Stone Powder: The "Beauty of Family Relationships" Series, has the following objectives: 1) to develop and test the physical properties of clay bodies and glazes incorporating volcanic stone powder from Buriram province to determine their suitability for artistic creation; 2) to create contemporary ceramic sculptures using volcanic stone powder from Buriram province as a raw material; 3) to disseminate the contemporary ceramic sculptures through exhibitions, publications, and other media to the public; (...) and 4) to integrate research into teaching and academic services, promoting shared aesthetic experiences through knowledge sharing. In the study of clay bodies, the optimal mixture ratio was found to be 50% Ban Kruat clay and 50% ball clay, further enhanced by the addition of 15% basalt stone powder. This resulted in a unique color and texture, suitable for forming large-scale pieces. For the glaze, a composition of 60% basalt stone powder, 30% feldspar, and 10% ball clay was fired at 1230 degrees Celsius. The resulting glaze exhibited excellent properties, allowing for the layering of different glazes to achieve a diverse range of beautiful colors. In the creative process, the researchers designed the artworks by sketching 2D and 3D drawings. The designs were divided into five sets based on ceramic forming techniques: Set 1 utilized coil building; Set 2 employed pinching and coiling; Set 3 involved slab building; Set 4 used wheel throwing; and Set 5 focused on sculptural techniques. The creative process revealed unique and distinctive characteristics of the artistic creation. The artworks are not limited in terms of shape, form, or decorative techniques. The researchers were able to design and create a diverse range of works according to the intended objectives, while adhering to the design principles based on the concept and inspiration derived from the Beauty of Family Relationships. These contemporary ceramic sculptures consider both aesthetics and functionality, resulting in a new form of sculptural expression that is harmonious, aesthetically valuable, and fully functional in accordance with the purpose of each piece. (shrink)

The firing of clay is one of the most significant developments in the history of humankind. It is a technological advance, now taken so much for granted, that many have forgotten the ancient power that fire & change exercised over the lives of our ancestors & their imaginations. This book aims to redress that balance.

Waterfowl--ducks, geese, and swans--are a pervasive, ubiquitous element in Etruscan art, just as they are in well-watered Etruria itself. From the formative Villanovan Period though the terminus of Etruscan culture, waterfowl are regularly depicted in a variety of plastic and glyphic media: pottery, painting, metalwork, and stone. Waterfowl are particularly frequent in funerary contexts. Minimal attention, however, has been accorded this unique branch of avians; waterfowl are generally assumed to have little more than decorative value in the present (...) literature, Nonetheless, it can be shown that ducks, geese, and swans were endowed with social, medicinal, magical, and religious significance in ancient culture and, indeed, in most cultures where waterfowl gather in large numbers. A goodly portion of Etruscan art, as well as comparanda from contemporaneous peoples with whom the Etruscans, directly or indirectly, enjoyed economic and cultural intercourse--the Hellenic lands, Asia Minor and Egypt, central and northern Europe--bears out the preceding statement. This study first examines the natural history of the waterfowl of Etruria, as critical an aspect in their deployment as symbols as are the natural behaviors of the snake and lion in their respective symbolisms. Next, the various roles of waterfowl in medicine, magic and mythology, as well as etymological studies of both Etruscan and Indo-European words for "waterfowl" are investigated and analyzed. Certain aspects of Etruscan conceptions of the afterlife that eventually prove germane are also discussed. Analysis of the combined data helps elucidate the meaning of a number of Etruscan monuments in which waterfowl appear, and simultaneously calls for a reassessment of others, e.g., Villanova and later armor (helmets, pectorals, shield); Orientalizing pieces such as the Regolini-Galassi fibula; Archaic and later bronze mirrors; the Aurora Krater; tomb paintings; and duck askoi. To be sure, there are representations of waterfowl in Etruscan art where the birds serve as decorative elements only -- their beauty is universally admired -- but, as have other cultures, the Etruscans saw considerably more in ducks, geese, and swans than just graceful birds gliding about the waters. (shrink)