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The treaty between the Hittite King Suppiluliuma (c. 1350-1319 B.C.) and Niqmadu, the king of Ugarit (Ras Shamra) has been preserved in several akkadian (syllabic cuneiform) tablets and one ugaritic (alphabetic cuneiform) version (RS 11.772+ = KTU 3.1). The ugaritic text raises several problems of interpretation and datation. A daring study has recently suggested that the all texts relating to the treaty refer to the begin of Suppiluliyama (II) at the end of 13th century B.C. It seems impossible and must be excluded. The first record of Ugarit’s passage from Egyptian sphere of influence to Hittite fold is surely connected to Suppiluliuma’s actions in Syria around 1340-1330 B.C. and not to the Suppiluliyama’s reign (c. 1210-1185 B.C.).

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The Roman augur Attus Navius was famous for having prevented king Tarquinius the Elder from changing the tarditional organization of Roman cavalry with its three centuries. Other texts tell us how, as a child, he reinvented the art of observing birds as practiced by augurs. He was also connected with the alleged translation of the fig-tree under which the founder of Rome, Romulus, was suckled by the she-wolf. These three stories can be related together, as forming parts of a career conceived along the lines of old Indo-European trifunctional ideology, after which Attus Navius’ mysterious vanishing can be understood as a kind of heroization.

 

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Examination of the Aegyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Biblical and Achaemenid texts, indicates that the “Ionians” (Yaw/mnayi, Yawan, Yauna) were not only Greek and Cypriot populations, but also Anatolian populations, mainly Luwians, settled at the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts during the Archaic and Classical periods. For the Oriental chanceleries, the “Ionians” were the non-semitic western “Sea Peoples”, from Cicilia to Greece.

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L’article de Marco Cavalieri a pour objet la politique urbanistique à Rome à l’époque de l’empereur Domitien. Partant du présupposé que l’action évergétique du souvrain est toujours le résultat de la rencontre entre exigences du pouvoir et du consentement populaire, le texte prend en considération toutes les interventions architectonico-urbanistiques les plus connues voulues par Domitien, cherchant à en comprendre de manière plus approfondie les motivations et les buts idéologiques. Les conclusions auxquelles il arrive mettent en évidence un projet de rénovation de l’aspect urbanistique de la ville fondé sur les nouvelles exigences du dominatus : d’un côté, l’exaltation de la figure du souverain au moyen d’une politique dynastique et triomphaliste, de l’autre un nouveau centre de concentration politique, le Palatium. Comme conséquence à tout ceci, la démagogie toujours attentive du panem et circenses.

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By the time when Vergil wrote the Aeneid, the number and identification of the Olympian Gods had long been determined. The Gods were twelve in number, collectively known as “dodekatheoi”, and their names, in Latin, were: Apollo, Ceres, Diana, Iuno, Iuppiter, Mars, Mercurius, Minerva, Neptunus, Venus, Vesta and Vulcanus. Yet it may be safely assumed that no order or, as it were, logical sequence, was ever imposed for the group as a whole, so that any artist or writer in Antiquity remained free to represent or describe them in the order of his choice. This article focuses on the question of the Twelve Olympians in the Aeneid. It puts forward a method whose purpose is to examine whether each book of the poem may be said to be dominated by one particular Olympian god. This investigation comes as a complement of previous studies already published about the literary architecture of the Aeneid.

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According to the ancient traditions, the king, in Mesopotamia, was supposed to be chosen by the gods and was reigning under their patronage.
However, in actual fact, the king went sometimes into exile, or the king happened to be killed by his son; a usurper seized the throne. The queen mother or the royal spouses planned the accession to the throne.
All these events are basically political problems, which include no religious references.

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This paper investigates the relations between the Hittite and the Assyrian kings during the 13th century B.C., with special reference to the use of the title “Great King”. New possible interpretations of some famous passages of the royal correspondence are proposed, as well of the attitude of the Hittite king towards the Assyrian king.

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À propos de Thèbes ΎΠΟΠΛΑΚΊΗ: La critique moderne tend à situer Thèbes Ύποπλακίη, la capitale des Ciliciens, d’après une vision « restrictive » de la guerre de Troie et de son étendue réelle.Toutefois, si nous nous fixons l’objectif de déterminer – au-delà des exigences poétiques d’insérer plusieurs événements dans un cadre unitaire – les témoignages objectifs que l’épos homérique nous offre – enrichis par les données de la tradition – relatifs à Thèbes Ύποπλακίη apparaîtront sous un jour tout à fait différent, situés dans une campagne militaire qui a précédé la guerre de Troie, dans un bien différent contexte géopolitique.

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This paper examines the Roman human sacrifices in situation of political violence, throughout the Republic and the Empire. First are considered the human sacrifices made in a private area, secondly the human sacrifices made in a public context.

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After a first paper devoted to the iconographical evidence from the temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu, this one analyzes the weapons of the Philistines from the textual evidence of the Old Testament, especially the description of the duel between Goliath and David. The scale-corset, the greaves of bronze, the javelin likened to a « weaver’s beam » and the singular contest give us some interesting information. In the problem of the supposed Aegean roots of the Philistine material culture, a close examination of the weapons and the singular contest shows that, apart from the greaves, they are typical in the ancient Near East at the end of the second millennium B.C.

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Shortly before and after the fall of the Hittite Empire dynasty and the capital, Ḫattuša, the title “Great King” is found in some hieroglyphic inscriptions belonging:
– at first to the vassal king of Tarḫuntašša, a germain of the hittite king (inscription from Hatip and seals, second half of the 13th century B.C.),
– to the so-called Hartapu (Kızıldağ, Karadağ, Burunkaya, 12th century B.C. ?),
– to some kings of Tabal in the assyrian epoch (9th-7th centuries B.C.)
The difficult question of the continuity or of the discontinuity between Kurunta, king and Great King of Tarḫuntašša, Hartapu and the late kings of Tabal is posed and settled here on behalf of the discontinuity.

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The goal of this paper is to provide the reader with some clues about a specific kind of soldier usually represented on the neo-assyrian visual documents in the depictions of siege-combats. As one might see further in these pages, the repeated illustrations of a dagger used by some warriors as a wall-drilling device is sometimes surprising, but finds its counterpart in the textual evidences of the Old Babylonian period. The author will explain some neo-assyrian methods designed to enter a city in special conditions and trace the general evolution of these practices as represented on and in the available documents. Finally, the paper will come to an end with a new perception of the depictions of sapper yielding a dagger to cut through a wall during a siege.

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The usage of Greek symbols on Hasmonean coins solely reflects a superficial dualism which does not distort in any way the national character of the Hasmonean state. The coins do not reflect any cultural dualism whatsoever, evenless a kind of syncretism. The Greek symbols used by the Hasmonean were not seen as symbols of paganism or idolatry. They were chosen in accordance with their relevance to the Jewish tradition.

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From the year names of the Sumerian period, we learn the destruction of many towns that are supposed to be ruined to the ground in wartime. The houses were burnt, the king captive or killed, the inhabitants taken away, the fields ravaged, metals, cattle and flock carried as a booty. We are amazed at seeing that, two or three years later, these towns and their bordering country were completely destroyed again. I would try to understand what the texts really mean. It seems interesting to consider the social and economic consequences of the facts that are mentioned above.

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Some parts of Guštāsp’s life told by Firdawsi’s Shahnameh are like some parts of Lug’s life: the Iranian prince and the Celtic god came incognito at the chief town of a kingdom; both presented themselves to king’s palace and enumerated their ability, but failed; both must undergo many tests, but then were successful; both became king’s allies, won at war, and became kings. These resemblances partly question Dumezil’s thesis and deny some parts of Guštāsp’s life are taken from an episode of the Mahābhārata.

 

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In this contribution, P.-A. Deproost estimates the originality of the Roman interpretation of the races hesiodic myth. In opposition to the Greek myth, Rome situates the Golden Age at the origin of a process which binds the imaginary of happiness and the political reflection on the survival of the Vrbs and her values.

 

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Contre l’idée répandue que les siècles étrusques duraient plus de cent ans, on démontre que les siècles longs n’appartiennent qu’à l’annalistique romaine, tandis que les siècles étrusques duraient moins de cent ans. Dans cette perspective, on comprend aussi mieux deux fins de siècles annoncées par les devins étrusques en 88 et en 44.

 

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From Obodas III’s reign (30-9 BC), Nabataean kings and queens appeared together on the coins, like the Ptolemies. The queen took the attributes of Isis and Tyche in order to be the benefactress and protector of her people.

 

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In this paper, the author introduces some aspects concerning relations between Egypt and different states of Asia Minor in the second millenium B.C. A very particular attention is granted in writings and in languages played by the diplomats intervening under the reigns of Ramses II and Ḫattušili III, notably during their deputations in Syria-Palestine.

 

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In this paper, the author redraws essential stages of the life of Diodorus of Sicily. The trip which this one accomplished in Egypt must exercise important influence for the writing of his work : the Library of History. This sicilian historian could consult sources kept in Alexandria, what allowed him to insert new books (I-VI) dedicating in events previous to the war of Troy.

 

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