Safran Publishers

L’enfant de la IVe Bucolique : un autre Zarathuštra ?

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Because the ambiguousness of the Latin grammar we don’t know who in Virgil’s 4th Eclogue (vv. 60 – 63) smiles (the child to his mother or the mother to her child). In order to work out this problem we compare the birth of the child and Zoroaster’s whose Virgil’s contemporaries knew the live, at least partly. We thus may say not only the child smiles to his mother, but also he is born in a religious environment, as when Zoroaster was born. In the 4th Eclogue, Virgil provides the child with some Zoroaster’s salient features, in order that the child has the qualities of the founder of the religion the Parthians, i.e. the Rome’ enemies, practise, and because the child will see the submission of the Parthians.

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14,50 €

La conception des animaux domestiques et des animaux de compagnie dans la Mésopotamie d’époque historique

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In the ancient Near East the animals are very often represented in art and are present mostly in temples but also in houses and in palaces. Wild animals are more frequently reproduced than domesticated. The most represented domesticated animals are those ones mentioned in the texts : first cattle and then goat, sheep, donkey/horse, dog. It’s difficult to establish which kind of animals Mesopotamians considered as domesticated : only those which had an usefulness for milk and meat, for transport, for war and hunting, for ploughing or also those which aroused friendly feelings ? Was there a feeling for animals like that we have today for pets ? In iconography, but chiefly in texts and in archaeozoologic data there are some elements which suggested that there was a feeling for at least some animals, mainly monkey, cattle, dog and horse.

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14,50 €

Les métamorphoses animales des divinités dans la Méditerranée antique

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Looking for the authenticity of the sacred one may find out that the first human’s gods could often take the animal form. Since the prehistoric times, human beings worshipped wild animals and represented them in art with care and precision. During the Antiquity, even the most anthropocentric streams of philosophy couldn’t impede the survival of these popular beliefs. Some peoples, like ancient Egyptians, developed a very sophisticated zoomorphic pantheon. Greece and Rome testified a high level of the animal symbolism in mythology and divination. As for the Asia Minor, according to the old traditions, the idea of the wild nature couldn’t be separated there from the perception of the realm of the gods. This paper gives an approach to some historical evidences of god’s metamorphoses into animals and tries to examine the origins of these beliefs in the ancient Mediterranean world.

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14,50 €

Production céramique et representations animales à l’époque de Halaf

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Fauna is very well represented on Halafian ceramic production. Among it, domestic and wild animals are easily recognized.
Following Levi-Strauss’s point of view which highlighted that the « animals good to eat » are not the only ones « good to think », we will try to demonstrate that behind the picture, imagery, human activities and social orientations are reflected.
After a brief presentation of the halafian ceramic production, a comparitive study with zoological and archeozoological data and iconographic considerations, many observations will be proposed. Firstly, we will focus on the large variety of represented species. Secondly, the importance of the ceramic medium in the image diffusion will be considered. Lastly, the social implications of such a bestiary will be discuss.

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14,50 €

Le “Chien” dans la tradition juive des littératures bibliques et para- et postbiblique (Ahiqar, écrits de Qumrân, pseudépigraphes et littérature rabbinique)

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Dogs in Judaism in biblical and extra- and postbiblical traditions (Ahiqar, writings from Qumran, Apocryphal and Rabbinic literature)
In Judaism, from the Torah until the later writings from Qumran and the Rabbinic literature, dogs are generally considered to be unclean, bad and fierce.
Despite the general negative connation, there are a few exceptional passages where dogs occupy a very positive position as creatures faithful to their masters and as guardians like in the apocryphal book of Tobit where the dog accompanies Tobias on his journey to Ekbatana. A similar role is assigned to the dog in the Midrash where Cain, having killed his brother Abel, is given a dog by God as a symbol of his protection.
In the Rabbinic tradition it is also written that the dogs stayed silent while the Israelites began to exit from Egypt, and the Talmud says that Jews should "tolerate" dogs.

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14,50 €

Lumière sur les loups d’Apollon

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The origin of the name of the deity Apollo is still a matter of debate. The name is attributed to Greek, Anatolian or a substrate language of the Aegean area. Whatever the position one takes on this question, it has consequences far beyond the linguistic debate: it concerns the constitution of the Greek religious belief by inherited or by loan elements. In this article it is decisively taken part for the Greek origin of the deity, which is further linked to elements of Indo-European culture. In spite of some astonishing facts which could be in favor of an Anatolian (or substrate) origin, such an origin is refused. These facts belong already to a further development of the nature of the deity. The whole question is linked to the history of the movements of Indo-European men-groups to unknown regions, notably to the Greek presence in Western Anatolia which is older than generally asumed. In this perspective, Apollo can be considered as a kind of ‘frontier god’ who get’s ‘civilized’ in parallel to the institutional development of the political units venerating him.

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14,50 €

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