Safran Publishers

Propos sur la naissance de la notion de sphère dans l’Antiquité

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the Greek notion of sphere is part of a process of continuity / rupture which goes back to Sumer. There, the cosmos becomes in astronomy the celestial sphere, known under two aspects: that of the theory where, although absent from the lexicon, we can deduce from two tangent circles which wrap it; and that of the practice where is used the hemispherical sundial, named scaphe by the Greeks; at the same time, the "totality" is, on the clay tablet, a perfect disk / ring. In Greece, the mathematical sphere, which assumes a perfect shape and acquires for the human thought a remarkable efficiency, also ensues from the vision of a cosmos influenced by Mesopotamia and feeds, in the diverse stages of its elaboration, contributions of the Babylonian astronomy.

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14,50 €

Les échanges de motifs littéraires entre chrétiens et musulmans à l’époque ottomane : le cas de la tradition orale des âşık

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The analysis of the Turkish popular literature, which was told and sung by the âşık, the story-tellers who used to recite their folk stories in the remote villages of Anatoly, shows that though these folk stories are original, some of their episodes go back to former traditions, like the Armenian legends and the Byzantine epos. In the same time, the religious and/or ethnic minorities of the Ottoman Anatolia – Greek, Armenian and Georgian Christians, but also Jews and Shiite Muslims – developed various attitudes toward these Anatolian folk stories. In some cases, they adopted it as they were told and they introduced them in their own repertory. In other cases, they adapted, partially or totally, these folk stories, making their heroes Christians or Shiites, changing their names and their places of birth. All these attitudes show the extreme vitality of the oral tradition in Anatolia.

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14,50 €

Urartu. Les sources épigraphiques de la langue

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Following the publication of the Corpus of Urartian Inscriptions, namely of the first three volumes dedicated to the monumental texts (inscriptions on building stones and rocks) it is important to stress the importance of strong epigraphic research for linguistic studies. Apart from the well known methods of interpretation of an ancient language (ethymology, bilinguals, combinatory method) in the case of Urartian there is another one, consisting mainly in the study of the connections between inscriptions and their monumental and archaeological contexts. In this article some rock inscriptions are studied and interpretations of lexical elements and grammatical forms are offered. All these hypotheses are based exclusively on in situ study of inscriptions both in Eastern Turkey and Iranian Azerbaijan.

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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 €

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