History of Religions

”Mircea Eliade e Julius Evola. Un rapporto difficile” (Nuova Storia Contemporanea, Firenze, XVI, no. 2, marzo-aprile 2012)

by Liviu Bordas

« Preuve et malentendu : sur le mythe historiographique de l’origine et de la transmission du chamanisme en Grèce ancienne », dans M. Vartejanu-Joubert (éd.), La preuve en Histoire : controverses, Cahiers du Centre de Recherches Historiques 45 (avril 2010), p. 109-128

by Dan Dana

« Zalmoxis et la quête de l’immortalité : pour la révision de quelques théories récentes », Les Études Classiques, 75, 2007, p. 93-110

by Dan Dana

« Occultations de Zalmoxis et Occultation de l’Histoire. Un aspect du dossier Mircea Eliade », Anabases, 5, 2007, p. 11-25

by Dan Dana

Călătoriile adolescentului miop prin țara brahmanilor și fachirilor - partea II (Viața Românească, CVI, nr. 11-12, 2011)

by Liviu Bordas

Between the Devil's waters and the fall into History, or an alternate occount of Mircea Eliade's diopteries (International Journal on Humanistic Ideology, IV, no. 2, Autumn-Winter 2011)

by Liviu Bordas

The difficult encounter in Rome. Mircea Eliade's post-war relation with Julius Evola - new letters and data (International Journal on Humanistic Ideology, IV, no. 2, Autumn-Winter 2011)

by Liviu Bordas

Ultimele interviuri românești ale lui Eliade și "felix culpa" (Europa, Novi Sad, nr. 9, mai 2012)

by Liviu Bordas

Secțiunea ”Eliade în Serbia iugoslavă” are câteva completări față de versiunea din România literară (16 decembrie 2011).

În Addendum - primul interviu cu Petru Cârdu (tradus din limba sârbă de Adrian Costea) in versiune completa. In România literară a apărut fără partea introductivă și fără notele de subsol.

Les pommes d'amour des Hespérides (1). Le jardin aux portes du soir

by Philippe Matthey

A paraître dans: D. Barbu, P. Borgeaud, Y. Volokhine (éds.), Mondes clos. Cultures et jardins.

Résumé : Les Hespérides habitent aux confins du monde, dans un jardin que seuls les héros et les dieux sont... more Résumé : Les Hespérides habitent aux confins du monde, dans un jardin que seuls les héros et les dieux sont susceptibles d’atteindre. Cet article propose d’étudier de plus près la configuration de ce lieu particulier parmi tous ceux qui marquent les limites de la terre connue dans la géographique mythique grecque, entre Île des Bienheureux et pays des Hyperboréens. En suivant le motif des fameuses « pommes d’or » qui y sont gardées, on se rend compte qu’un véritable réseau mythologique semble pouvoir être tissé entre le jardin des Hespérides, le jardin d’Éden tel qu’il est réélaboré dans la tradition chrétienne dès l’Antiquité tardive, et les îles merveilleuses des mythologies celtiques du Moyen-Âge. La première partie de cette recherche en deux volets se concentre sur la double connotation que l’on peut attribuer aux pommes d’or, liées à la fois aux motifs de l’immortalité et de la séduction ou de l’envoûtement amoureux.

TartariaMag_issue1-2012

by Nikolay Tsyrempilov

Work Notes on the Tavola Eugubine Tablet 1a, Script N462-N748

by Mel Copeland

The Tavola Eugubine is a series of bronze tablets found near the city of Gubbio. There are seven tablets, some of which are written on both sides. The tablets are said to be written in the Umbrian language and in Latin. The texts of the group tend to follow a common theme, that of an oration. This text is a highly repetitive, hierophantic oration dealing with a funeral and perhaps a secret Bacchanalian rite. The archeological context of the tables is of interest, whether the seven bronze tablets were found in situ as one collection. This text appears to be an eulogy to Lord Tito.

This is an update of our work on the Tavola Eugubine, tables 1a, IIB , III and IV (http://www.maravot.com/Translation_EugubineQ.html et al.). Changes produced on this page will be added to our Etruscan GlossaryA.pdf. All of the words in the glossary follow a grammar similar to Latin. One can easily discover that the several hundred texts on Etruscan Phrases all share a common language and grammar. This controverts the prevailing theory that the Etruscan language is not an Indo-European language. It also warrants further examination of the prevailing conclusion that the Tavola Eugubine is written in the Umbrian language.

Etruscan GlossaryA.xls/pdf. is an index to about 2,300 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,500 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan.)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).
Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek.

The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging; since we have no multilingual Rosetta stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar are provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek.)

We look forward to the time when a peer review of these Work Notes will warrant corrections to the prevailing record, showing that the Etruscan language was similar to Latin and decry the theory that the "Etruscan language is unlike any other and not an Indo-European language." The theory of a non-Indo-European Etruscan language is absolutely false.

There is a far richer record to be written of an Indo-European branch, dead as of ~400 B.C., that can shed light on the movements of the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age Italic peoples, perhaps out of southeastern Europe to Anatolia and then to Italy by sea. Herodotus, who recorded the Etruscan tradition, that they came from Lydia as a result of a long drought after the Trojan War, may be right. We mention this because there is more to be gained in sorting out the grammar at Etruscan Phrases - and possible confirmation of Herodotus - than can ever be hoped for in the bogus theory that "the Etruscan language is unlike any other language known to man." Wikipedia et al. should be corrected.

This text may be of interest to those interested how the liturgy of an Augur may compare to that of a modern liturgy.

Girolamo Menghi, esorcista viadanese del Cinquecento

by Davide Balzano

Published in Vitelliana. Viadana e il territorio Mantovano fra Oglio e Po. Bollettino della Società Storica Viadanese, anno IV, 2009, pp. 103 – 124.
Language: italian

The essay deals with Girolamo Menghi, personage who was not very well known in the time of the Counter - Reformation,... more The essay deals with Girolamo Menghi, personage who was not very well known in the time of the Counter - Reformation, directly involved in the religious dynamics shaking those years. The analysis of his life and of his thought reflects the difficulties anyone would encounter when undertaking the hard job of the exorcist.

El sacerdocio próximo-oriental y los problemas de su estudio: los sacerdotes mesopotámicos [Priesthood in the Ancient Near East and the problems of its study: the Mesopotamian Priests]

by José Ángel ZAMORA

Published in:

J. L. Escacena - E. Ferrer (Eds.), Entre dios y los hombres: el sacerdocio en la antigüedad (SPAL monografías VII), Sevilla 2006, pp. 27-42.

El siguiente trabajo intenta presentar la dificultad general y las hondas implicaciones de estudiar un fenómeno o una... more El siguiente trabajo intenta presentar la dificultad general y las hondas implicaciones de estudiar un fenómeno o una figura predefinida (en este caso mediante las discutidas categorías de “sacerdocio” y “sacerdote”) en la información proporcionada por la antigua documentación próximo-oriental disponible. Se trata de apreciar no sólo el panorama que sobre el sacerdocio y los sacerdotes nos presentan las culturas del antiguo Oriente Próximo, sino también el modo en que la perspectiva presente aprecia tal panorama.
Este empeño debe afrontar las dificultades de un ámbito de trabajo tan extenso en el espacio como extendido en el tiempo, englobando una variedad de culturas (de pueblos, de lenguas, de escrituras) a la que corresponde una enorme diversidad y heterogeneidad documental. Construir la imagen de un hecho de cultura preciso sobre tales bases es en gran medida temerario (dados los problemas documentales) y a su vez poco riguroso (dada la irreductible variedad subyacente) por lo que, para producir la siguiente síntesis, se extraerán sólo informaciones significativas del área mesopotámica, cuya riqueza de fuentes directas nos deja acceder al hecho estudiado desde una perspectiva también práctica, no descriptiva, y por ello así mismo a aspectos cotidianos del culto. La cultura mesopotámica, que se constituye muchas veces en imagen arquetípica del Oriente, aporta continuidad en algunos de los rasgos culturales más relevantes de la larga y agitada historia próximo-oriental, y permite distinguir al menos hechos comunes o representativos sobre los que construir, sin perder de vista la perspectiva temporal, una síntesis informativa.

El sacerdocio en el Levante próximo-oriental (Siria, Fenicia y mundo púnico): Las relaciones entre el culto y el poder y la continuidad en el cambio [Priesthood in the ancient Levant (Syria, Phoenician and Punic world): Cult and power relationships in a changing continuity]

by José Ángel ZAMORA

Published in:
J. L. Escacena - E. Ferrer (Eds.), Entre dios y los hombres: el sacerdocio en la antigüedad (SPAL monografías VII), Sevilla 2006, pp. 57-82.

Se aborda en este artículo, asumiendo los problemas metodológicos inherentes al uso y definición de la categoría... more Se aborda en este artículo, asumiendo los problemas metodológicos inherentes al uso y definición de la categoría “sacerdote” o “sacerdocio”, el estudio de las figuras habitualmente englobadas por estos términos modernos en la antigua área costera siro-palestina (al margen del mundo bíblico) y en las áreas que acabaron siendo pobladas por sus habitantes. Las fuentes en las que estudiar la figura del sacerdote siro-levantino (las ugaríticas, las fenicias, las púnicas) nos exigen afrontar el devenir histórico de tal figura como eje fundamental de su síntesis, pues remiten a momentos diversos con personalidad propia. A través del estudio de estos grupos de documentación podemos percibir continuidades o rupturas, evoluciones o constantes, en un diálogo especialmente fértil en el contexto en que se enmarcan. Relevante resultará la constante relación entre los miembros de la esfera del culto y los de la esfera del poder, relación y hasta identificación íntima que se mantendrá más allá de los cambios producidos en uno y otro ámbito.

Fides et bona fides: Hiérarchie sociale et catégories juridiques

by Roberto Fiori

in "Revue historique de droit français et étranger " 86 (2008) pp. 465-481

It is a common misconception that fides and bona fides are ethical principles with changeable content, shaped by the... more It is a common misconception that fides and bona fides are ethical principles with changeable content, shaped by the development of social and moral values. They belong instead, since time immemorial, to the tradition of the ius civile, and are deeply rooted in Roman social structure (and its needs) as interpreted by the priests and by the jurists. The standard of fides and bona fides is always objective: in the archaic period, the real status of the parties (fides as the 'credit' of the individual within the group); afterwards, an abstact stardard identified with the bonus vir. The two concepts developed therefore from early on an (outwardly) dualistic value: on the one side, the respect of the parties' agreement; on the other side, the respect of all the terms implied in the nature of the relationship.

Review: Many Peoples, Many Faiths: Women and Men in the World’s Religions, 9th ed. (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009), by Robert S. Ellwood and Barbara McGraw.

by Richard Greydanus

Book review. ARC 38 (2010): 189-191.

Americanasana (review essay on history of yoga in America)

by Jared Farmer

Special attention given to Mark Singleton's YOGA BODY, Stefanie Syman's THE SUBTLE BODY, and Robert Love's THE GREAT OOM.

Fides e bona fides. Gerarchia sociale e categorie giuridiche

by Roberto Fiori

in AA.VV., Modelli teorici e metodologici nella storia del diritto privato 3, Napoli 2008, pp. 237-259

It is a common misconception that fides and bona fides are ethical principles with changeable content, shaped by the... more It is a common misconception that fides and bona fides are ethical principles with changeable content, shaped by the development of social and moral values. They belong instead, since time immemorial, to the tradition of the ius civile, and are deeply rooted in Roman social structure (and its needs) as interpreted by the priests and by the jurists. The standard of fides and bona fides is always objective: in the archaic period, the real status of the parties (fides as the 'credit' of the individual within the group); afterwards, an abstact stardard identified with the bonus vir. The two concepts developed therefore from early on an (outwardly) dualistic value: on the one side, the respect of the parties' agreement; on the other side, the respect of all the terms implied in the nature of the relationship.

2006 El Estructuralismo en Historia de las Religiones

by Marco García Quintela

en Mª Cruz Marín Ceballos, Jesús San Bernardino Coronil eds., Teoría de la Historia de las Religiones: Las Escuelas Recientes, Sevilla, Universidad de Sevilla, 2006, ISBN 84-472-1072-3, págs. 69-122

El estructuralismo ha sido una manera de realizar estudios en el ámbito de las humanidades que se convirtió en una... more El estructuralismo ha sido una manera de realizar estudios en el ámbito de las humanidades que se convirtió en una auténtica moda intelectual originada en Francia – como tal moda – en los años 60 del siglo XX. Pero no se pueden olvidar sus antecedentes importantes en diferentes campos de estudio y, seguidamente, sus ecos en otras disciplinas y países durante largos años. No es nuestro objetivo seguir los vericuetos de la génesis, influencias y desarrollos del estructuralismo en general. Nos limitaremos a explicar el interés y alcance de esta corriente de reflexión en lo que atañe a la Historia de las Religiones.
En esta faceta el estructuralismo está estrechamente vinculado a la obra de dos grandes sabios G. Dumézil (1898-1986) y C. Lévi-Strauss (1908), autores de sendas obras a la vez extensas, originales, influyentes y polémicas.

2005 De la Idolatría en el Occidente Peninsular Prerromano

by Marco García Quintela

en colaboración con FRANCISCO J. GONZÁLEZ GARCÍA, publicado en: Ilu. Revista de Ciencias de las Religiones (Madrid), 10, 2005, págs. 27-62

In the last fifteen years, a linguistic interpretation of the indo-european pre-roman religions from the Iberian... more In the last fifteen years, a linguistic interpretation of the indo-european pre-roman religions from the Iberian Peninsula has been developed. This paper, focused on a recent book (M.B. Prósper, Lenguas y religiones del occidente de la Península Ibérica, Salamanca, 2002) which summarizes this hypothesis,
is a critical review of these arguments. Our work criticizes its three basic methodological foundations: its consideration of these religions as idolatric cults, its implicit XIX Century evolutionist character and its evident anti-dumezilianism. We propose to integrate the linguistic analysis, together with others
from different disciplines, into the History of Religions as a way to construct hypothesis on the religion of these societies.