In 2022, a hoard containing 20 Roman Republican and Imperial denarii was discovered in Mihăeşti Commune, Vâlcea County, using a metal detector. The coins date from the period situated between 90 BC and 80 AD, with nearly half – nine coins – issued during the reigns of Vespasianus and Titus. The latest coins in the hoard were minted during the reign of Titus for Domitian. It is highly likely that the hoard originated from a Dacian settle-ment, as a ceramic fragment and a piece of burnt clay from a dwelling wall were also recovered with the coins. The coins were likely burned either as a result of a fire that consumed the structure they were stored in or during a ritual context.

RESUMEN: En las excavaciones realizadas en el foro de Los Bañales de Uncastillo fue localizado un importante programa escultórico localizado en la zona sur del conjunto en una unidad de amortización. El presente trabajo estudia unos fragmentos escultóricos pertenecientes a una representación de tamaño colosal que se ubicó en el forum de la ciudad. El tamaño de la escultura contrasta con el exiguo tamaño del foro de Los Bañales, lo que no impidió exhibir una estatua de estas dimensiones. Este nuevo ejemplo de escultura colosal en comunidades de tamaño medio y pequeño nos muestra que estas representaciones no fueron exclusivas de las grandes ciudades hispanas.

This study attempts to assess the goals of Julius Caesar and the different forms of his destruction in Gaul by critically analysing, synthesizing, and comparing the relevant archaeological and written sources. For the assessment, I regarded the data provided by Caesar as the authentic maximum, considering that underestimation could not serve his interests; with their due moderation, the number of victims can be approximately estimated. I examined the figures within the context of period attitudes, system of norms, and political crisis in order to explore the contemporary perception of Caesar.
From earlier scholars Mommsen and T. Rice Holmes to Goldsworthy, many researchers have studied the Gallic wars. Despite that fact, I found it interesting to present the events focusing solely on the destruction, since most of the available literature is content to cite Caesar’s figures while maintaining the possibility of uncertainty and exaggeration. Could the statement of Plutarch be true about one million people killed and another million taken captive? What considerations motivated Caesar to kill or, alternatively, to spare various people or ethnic groups? An objective is to answer these questions numerically; however, owing to the various incomplete and different variables, the results must also inevitably be malleable. Under the concept of destruction, I mean not only the people who were killed in wars, but also material damages, as well as the people who were enslaved. Furthermore, I investigated how Caesar’s perception changed during the Gallic Wars, and where this perception was situated within the contemporary system of norms; therefore, the ancient way of thinking is also mentioned in connection with barbarians, human life, and destruction. Moreover, parallel with the above, I also took into consideration the changes within Roman politics, the shift in power relations, and the crisis of the republic; and in the light of these factors, I paid major attention to Cato’s accusations and Caesar’s goals and motives.
It can be stated that ancient authors in general exaggerated the extent of destruction, and the number of casualties was, in fact, in the magnitude of hundreds of thousands. The main goal was to consolidate and conquer Gaul and to forge political advantage; to this end, Caesar had to apply cruel means as well.

The article is concerned with urbanisation processes in roman africa, initiated by the Flavian dynasty (69-96). emperor vespasian and his successors focused their attention primarily on africa proconsularis. The new cities they created -colonies and municipia -were to perform an important strategic role, i.e. protect the territories of africa proconsularis against the southern tribes. with the great private latifundia and imperial domains, the province played a significant role in supplying the city of rome with grain. also, from the point of view of the state, the undertakings meant internal consolidation of the province.

This paper focuses on the story of Marcus Atilius Regulus as an exemplum fidei. Taking Matthew Roller's division of exemplary discourse into the following categories as a model (2004), it discusses Regulus according to action, audience, commemoration, and imitation. In accordance with fetial law, his action of returning to Carthage to keep an oath ensures that the gods will consider the Romans just. Three audiences-the Roman senate, the gods, and the Carthaginiansinterpret his action; the Roman senate and the gods approve, but the Carthaginians do not. Flexibility inherent in the Regulus story allows authors to mold the story with different thematic emphases so that the story maintains its relevance for new audiences. Romans imitate Regulus in a variety of ways that do not always include keeping an oath. Through these imitations the exemplary cycle renews itself and provides a sense of continuity to the next generation of Romans. There is some overlap among these categories, because the categorical elements of exemplary discourse are by nature interconnected. Nevertheless, focusing on these elements of the Regulus story demonstrates the significance of his story for a Roman audience through the ages. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Chapter 1 -Action Chapter 2 -Audience Chapter 3 -Commemoration Chapter 4 -Imitation Genre played a key role in the use of Regulus as an exemplum. Historians tended to use Regulus as an exemplum fortunae. This trend began with Polybius, the first extant source for Regulus, who wrote around the middle of the second century BCE. Polybius emphasized that Regulus had been doing well against the Carthaginians, but had demanded harsh terms when they sought a treaty and so his defeat was a retribution sent by fortune. 3 This interpretation was picked up by Diodorus Siculus, Florus, and possibly Livy, although the story as told by Livy comes down through the Periochae and it is hard to tell where emphasis has been added. 4 The historians who wrote in Latin also told a story that Regulus killed a one hundred and twenty foot snake, a deed which, combined with his early military success, made him an exemplum fortitudinis. 5 The major literary genres outside of history told the Regulus story either as an exemplum fidei, an exemplum patientiae, or as a mix of the two. The most influential authors who used this story are Cicero and Seneca the Younger. Cicero, writing during the Late Republic, mentioned Regulus in many of his works, but told the story most completely in the De Officiis. His version was representative of the story when it was told as an exemplum fidei and focused on the importance of keeping an oath regardless of the consequences. Conversely, Seneca the Younger, writing under the emperors from Caligula to Nero, shifted the focus to the importance of remaining happy under torture. In works such as De Providentia, he used Regulus as an exemplum patientiae. The same story was told, but the author shifted the emphasis to make a different moral point. At De Officiis 3.99-101, [3][4][5][6] Flor. 1.18. It has been noted by Walbank that instances of the story of Regulus is used to show the power of Tyche (fortuna) are typically Polybian (1945.6).

Since Flavian times a connection between the cult of Mater Deum with the imperial cult is detectable. The rule of Antoninus Pius then implied a further development with the implementation of the ritual of the taurobolium all over the Roman empire-very often devoted to the welfare of the emperor. Also, he priesthood of an archigallus appears to have been newly created. The Severan dynasty in particular seems to have taken up this tradition. Especially in the provinces of the western Roman empire the connection of Mater Deum with the imperial house seems to be a public act of loyalty in the provinces until the time of the Tetrarchy. So, Mater Deum Magna, at the latest with the Antonines, was part of the Roman "Imperial religion" and must be counted among the system-stabilizing deities.

The study of religion in the Roman Empire has traditionally been strongly based on literary and epigraphic sources with consequent disproportionate attention to the capital city of Rome and its state religion. This has to do with a bias in the sources: the literary sources have very little to offer on religion in the provinces. This paper seeks to draw a coherent picture of the religions of Rome, Italy and the provinces of the Roman Empire by integrating the archaeological evidence. It therefore consciously adopts a material approach to religion focussing on its material and performative aspects.

The first part of the paper investigates what role was played by religion in the legitimization of imperial power in Rome, and how this was articulated in material forms. It will be argued that in the age of transition between republic and empire the first emperor deliberately presented his military achievements as gifts from the gods and expressly associated himself with the world of the divine without actually claiming a divine status for himself. Statues of gods and men, and of altars and sacrifices were used as powerful tangible media to bring across the message of the divine foundation of the new political order.

The second part discusses the question as to how far the religions of subject territories were affected by the incorporation into the empire, and how these transformations become manifest in the material culture of cults in Italy and the provinces. Whilst there is compelling evidence for instructions from the imperial capital for the introduction of the imperial cult in the provinces, it is argued here that a crucial role was played by the provincial nobility, who translated the imperial ideology to the local context. At the local level, new cults, festivals and rites were introduced, but each community also kept part of its traditional religion. With conquest, the status, identity and hierarchical position of the old gods changed and new rites were created which did not exist before, neither in Rome nor in the provinces.

Plant disease detection with deep learning models has shown promising results, but these models often struggle with generalizing across diverse agricultural environments due to domain shifts in imaging conditions. This paper presents a novel hybrid approach focusing on cross-domain adaptation techniques to address the challenge of domain shift. Our proposed method combines the Domain-Adversarial Neural Network (DANN) with Correlation Alignment (CORAL) to mitigate domain shifts between datasets. The DANN framework enforces domain-invariant feature learning through adversarial training. Using the PlantVillage Dataset, with controlled environment images, and the New Plant Village Dataset, with varied conditions, the model is first trained on PlantVillage and then adapted to New Plant Village using the CORAL loss to support the second-order statistics. In case of domain shift experiments with various datasets, DANN-CORAL achieved accuracies 91.39%, precision 93.36%, recall 88.9% and F1-scores 91.05% indicating the robustness and generalizability of our model is better than the other baseline models. This approach enhances model robustness and adaptability, providing insights into combining adversarial and statistical alignment for cross-domain adaptation in agricultural imaging.

This text has a complex scholarly history. Although it has never been published, it has in fact been subject to proper scholarly peer review. It started out as Chapter 1 in my manuscript for what ultimately became my book The Domus Aurea and the Roman Architectural Revolution, (Cambridge University Press, 2003). The title below was simply the title for Chapter 1, with the elimination of "Chapter 1" being the only modification throughout this text. The MS, including this chapter, passed CUP peer review, passed muster with the NYC office of CUP and was then sent to the CUP syndicate in Cambridge for final approval. Their acceptance of the project, including this chapter, stipulated a substantial reduction in overall wording and illustration, however. To meet the required standard, this chapter on literary sources was deleted entirely, and it has sat in my computer as a relic ever since. Posting this text here does not in any way represent an imprimatur of approval by CUP for this stand-alone publication. The text is posted here entirely on my initiative, on the hope that someone in the field might find it useful. Since my own scholarly focus has shifted to Pompeii in the meantime, I have not given this text any thought or editing since 2003. As with houses for sale, used cars and fine critters at the local Humane Society, it is provided "As Is", for anyone to whom it may appeal.-LFB.

This text has a complex scholarly history. Although it has never been published, it has in fact been subject to proper scholarly peer review. It started out as Chapter 1 in my manuscript for what ultimately became my book The Domus Aurea and the Roman Architectural Revolution, (Cambridge University Press, 2003). The title below was simply the title for Chapter 1, the elimination of "Chapter 1" being the only modification throughout this text. The MS, including this chapter, passed CUP peer review, passed must with the NYC office of CUP and was then sent to the CUP syndicate in Cambridge for final approval. Their acceptance of the project, including the MS, stipulated a substantial reduction in wording and illustration, however. To meet the required standard, Chapter 1 was deleted entirely, and has sat in my computer as a relic ever since. Posting this text here does not in any way represent an imprematur of approval for the text as a stand-alone, ad hoc project. This is entirely on my initiative, in case anyone in the field might find an assessment of ancient texts associated with the Domus Aurea useful. In the meantime, my own scholarly focus has shifted to Pompeii, which means that I have not given this text any thought or editing since 2003. As with houses for sale, used cars and fine critters at the local Humane Society, it is provided "As Is", for anyone to whom it may appeal.-LFB.

Philo of Alexandria: On the Rivers of Paradise (Legum Allegoriae 1, 63–87)
(Translation, introduction and notes by Gábor Buzási and Judit Horváth)
This contribution offers a Hungarian translation of a passage from Philo’s Legum Allegoriae (Allegorical Interpretation of the Laws), the opening piece in the Alexandrian Jewish exegete’s allegorical commentary series on the Book of Genesis. The passage (LA 1, 63–87) is a detailed explanation of Gen 2,10–14 on the river of Paradise split into four branches and the respective regions adjacent to them. Philo’s allegorical interpretation of the seemingly geographical narrative discovers a deeper meaning beneath the surface of the plain sense: a subtle description of the soul, its four cardinal virtues, and their divine origin. As is his custom, Philo illuminates the hidden meaning of the Mosaic text with other passages from the Pentateuch. Due to these secondary interpretations Philo’s commentary does not only focus on the primary pericope but also on other passages such as Miriam’s conflict
with Moses (Num 12), the names of Judah and Issachar (Gen 29,35, 30,18), or the breastplate of the high priest (Ex 28,15–21). An introduction and extensive annotation are added to the translation in order to provide the reader with the information necessary for the understanding of this highly intricate but no less intriguing text from 1st century AD Alexandria. The contribution is part of the first complete Hungarian translation of Philo’s
Legum Allegoriae by Gábor Buzási and Judit Horváth, to be published soon.

– Nem tudlak megérteni – mondta Davin. – Hol
azt hallom, hogy az angol irodalom ellen beszélsz,
most meg az ír besúgók ellen van kifogásod... Ha
meggondolom, hogy hogy hívnak és miféle gondolataid vannak... Ír vagy te egyáltalán? –
(James Joyce: Ifjúkori önarckép)

Religious crimes in the acts of the collegium of the fratres
Arvales. Our work consists of the study of two fundamental paths that go
hand in hand and are present, even, in other priesthoods and rituals. In the first
place, we will study how the sacrifice was and the faults committed in it and secondly,
about the Arvales college. The Roman sacrifice had a series of specific
operating rules. If these immolations had any anomaly, their interruption would
be immediate so that they could be restarted. This return was atoned for with a new
sacrifice, generally of a sow, cow or calf that was prepared for that purpose. The
existence of numerous priestly collegia was evident in Rome thanks to epigraphic
or literary sources. We will discuss in this space the immolative changes, their reasons
and what elements could cause the sacrifices in general, and particularly those
made by the fratres Arvales, to be interrupted. We want to investigate the different
religious crimes1 that could have occurred in a sacrifice led by the fratres Arvales
and their legal consequences around the protagonists who committed it. We begin
this study from two complementary paths. On the one hand, we will capture what
are the different religious crimes linked to the sacrifice and, on the other, the
knowledge of the immolations by the fratres Arvales and what events forced them
to perform a series of expiatory rituals.

Sephardic Romanis also exist, and are now mostly found in Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and France, most fleeing persecution for their religion and culture (See: Great Gypsy Round-up. They can also refer to mixed families of Romani-Jewish descent from Spain, or Judeo-Kale. One group of partial Judeo-Kale descent, within some groups, are the Genizaro, who are mixed Indigenous, Sephardic, Kale, and Spanish, and exist in New Mexico and Southern Colorado. Many of the Judeo-Kale descendants are Conversos and now presently Catholic or Evangelical.

The Imperial Cult, I argue, was a recognizable phenomenon that brought the genius domus Iulii out of the private lalarium, itself a templum, into the the templa publici of the Roman world. This paper is focused on exploring the reaction to the establishment of the Imperial Cult by studying the archaeological evidence found in Pompeii. We will also carefully consider how a growing trend, near the end of the Republic, saw successful Romans, such as Marius and Sulla, already begin to associate themselves and their achievements with divine favour in order to sanctify their own positions.

one of the protagonists of Lucan's Pharsalia, disappears from the scene for a long time after the Battle of Pharsalus. He reappears at the end of Book 9, when he pays a visit to the ruined city of Troy. The function and the source of this historically unsupported scene are both worth examining. Earlier research disclosed as the literary source of the Troy scene the episode in Aeneid Book 8, when Evander shows Aeneas the future site of Rome. While fully accepting that, I would like to present another possible source that might have as much effect on the constructing of Lucan's Troy as the Evander-scene: the katabasis in Book 6 of the Aeneid. Definite parallelisms can be identified between the two scenes on both motivic and textual levels. Furthermore, the connection between these three scenes can be proved on the level of content, since by examining them together the real purpose of the Troy scene can be decoded: Lucan predicts Rome's destruction in this episode.

The temple tax has been the subject of controversy since antiquity, as the rabbinic literature attests, so it is not surprising that scholarly research into archaeological and written sources has not yet led to a consensus on most issues pertaining to the subject. This paper attempts to make some comments on the New Testament sources related to the temple tax in the light of the Torah and rabbinic rulings.

This chapter was published in László Benke (ed.): From Legendary Bones to a Sailor's Mutiny. Twenty-four Writings on the Relationship between the Past and Historical Sources in Honour of Sixty Years Old Tibor Grüll. Budapest: Kalligram.

While Domitian's damnatio memoriae led to the destruction of the emperor's image, the massive architectural footprint he left on the city of Rome was indelible. Most scholarly assessments of Domitian's building program emphasize the Flavian emperor's continuity with Vespasian and his more retrospective connection with Augustan policy. On closer inspection, however, his architectural projects exhibit an undeniable thirst for innovation. This dissertation provides the first systematic analysis of the entire building program carried out by Domitian in Rome between 81 and 96 A.D., and repositions this emperor among the great urban planners. His building program is characterized by scale and lavishness as a reflection of his grandeur and by an unprecedented planning for crowd management and circulation in larger public spaces. The imperial complex on the Palatine-the palace, the Domus Tiberiana and the Vigna Barberini-responded efficaciously to the increasing needs of the imperial self-representation and bureaucracy and remained in use after Domitian's death. Hyperbolic ornamentation met functionality. Traffic control was obtained by the use of original architectural forms such as a horsehoe shape and offaxis entry points in the Porticus Absidata in the forum Transitorium and the innovative solutions adopted in the stadium vestibule in the Campus Martius. The most "Domitianic" aspects of his building program can be identified in regulation of paths of traffic and topographical connections, sightlines and vistas, innovation in architectural design, sensorial experience of Domitian's Rome, special interest in libraries and horrea, and, last but not least, the importance of water features and landscape design. In conclusion, Domitian's Rome was beautiful and opulent, functional and comfortable, a city for the emperor but also for the people. This city deserves to be examined and visualized in a way that is holistic, complete, and reflective of its patron's innovative vision. New architectural and topographical designs aimed at beautification, but also at directing traffic and presenting the viewer with breathtaking vistas, made the Rome of Domitian eternal beyond the emperor's disgrace.

Lost Pleasures of an Epicurean Intertext &&UVOCTOV yap JJLT) cppovi[jLou<; elvai <J>aiaxa<;, oT ^aXa cpiXoi etal Geoicriv, &>c; f) Nauaixaa cprjatv. Eratosthenes 1 "It is impossible for Phaeacians not to be prudent, since they are very dear to the gods, as Nausikaa says." An Epicurean philosopher named Diodorus who committed suicide in the midfirst century CE reportedly chose as his last words the penultimate declaration of Virgil's Dido: vixi, et quern dederat cursum fortuna peregi ("I have lived, and I have run the course that fortune granted," Aen. 4.653). Although Seneca (to whom we owe the story) depicts Diodorus as a good philosopher who died with a clear conscience after a life of Epicurean tranquillity, other contemporaries seem to have protested that in choosing suicide, Diodorus had violated Epicurus' own teachings (de vita beata 19). Diodorus' quotation of Virgil, however, signaled more than a dramatic final exit; it was also a gesture toward a complex Epicurean tradition. Diodorus had an Epicurean precedent of sorts in Dido. Commentators since antiquity have remarked that Virgil's Dido espouses an intermittently Epicurean outlook in the face of Aeneas' similarly imperfect Stoicism. 2 Several recent articles have gone beyond previous statements of For support granted to this research, I am grateful to the American Council of Learned Societies, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the Sabbatical program of the University of Kansas. I would also like to thank Julia Gaisser, Harold Washington, Tara Welch, my students, and the anonymous referees and Chair of the Editorial Board for Classical Antiquity. This essay is dedicated to the memory of my nephew, friend, and mentor Tommy Ulrich. 1. Eratosthenes (ca. 285-194), who succeeded Apollonius Rhodius as head of the library at Alexandria, quoted by Athenaeus Deipnosophistae 1.16e. 2. For Virgilian citations and bibliography see Pease 1935 and Dyson 1996.

This chapter considers the issue of continuity and rupture between Neronian and Flavian policies in light of Vespasian's efforts to revive official cult honours for the deified Claudius. Re-examination of the evidence for the status of Divus Claudius during the reign of Nero suggests that the most salient feature of Claudius' divinity was the glory it conferred upon his successor's patriline. Accounts that stress the Flavians' rejection of Neronian precedents thus fail to offer adequate justification for the renewed emphasis that Claudius' cult received under Vespasian. A better explanation can be found in the ideological importance of the imperial cult itself, as the new dynasty sought to build on the example of Divus Claudius as a precedent for its own claims to charismatic authority.

This volume presents the proceedings of the third workshop of the international thematic network 'Impact of Empire', which concentrates on the history of the Roman Empire, c. 200 B.C.-A.D. 476, and, under the chairmanship of Lukas de Blois (University of Nijmegen), brings together ancient historians, archaeologists, classicists and specialists on Roman law from some 28 European and North American universities. The proceedings of the first two workshops, held

At the Crossroads of Cultures and Spiritualities
In the Gospel of John chapter 4 we read of a peculiar encounter. A Samaritan woman meets with a Jewish rabbi at a rather unusual time of the day at a well. It is a difficult task to have a clear picture of who the Samaritans were exactly, but we may assume three theories about them. The first approach is connected to the view of how the Samaritans perceive themselves. They see themselves as the true Israel, and all the others are heretics. Their own Torah inherited from Moses is the genuine one, and the others falsified it. The second approach is due to the Judeans. They regard as valid what we can read in the Jewish Old Testament, in the second book of Kings, chapter 17, verses 24-41. According to this view the Samaritans origin may be traced back to the Mesopotamian immigrants. Some Israelites got mixed up with pagans. After the return from the Babylonian captivity, the Jews refused to rebuild the Temple together with the Samaritans. This caused the building of a new temple by the Samaritans, and hence there many tensions arouse among the Jews and Samaritans. The third view can be called the scientific approach. According to this between Samaritans and Jews was no disruption in the 5th century B.C. Assyrians settled the Samaritans. The Jews looked at them with suspicion because of their ethnic and mainly religious background. The real drift apart became obvious in the 2nd century B.C., and after their temple was destroyed. The Samaritans worked on their own Pentateuch, they had their own priesthood, and these facts became a fundamental difference between them. Since then the Jews regarded Samaritans as pagans, and as their enemies.
In John 4 the woman in the beginning sees in the man a traditional enemy, but slowly her attitude changes. She is not sure if her conversational partner is greater than Jacob, who was their highly esteemed predecessor. At a certain point of their discussion, the unnamed woman calls the rabbi “Sir” and regards him as a prophet. The woman has strong doubts about Jesus being the Christ to come, and whom the Samaritans expected. At the end of this conversation, the woman changes her attitude, speaks without hindrance about the young rabbi, and recognizes with her fellow villagers that this is the long expected Saviour. It is remarkable the openness of the woman, who is not stuck with her predefined ideas, but is ready to listen carefully to the man whom she identified as her enemy in the beginning. In this Gospel we read many stories. One of them is Nicodemus, who is not entirely sure about what Jesus asks of him. The disciples of Jesus are often perplexed and confused when their Master speaks to them. Here we read of a woman, who understands Jesus and recognize in him Christ. She not just believes in Jesus, but becomes a missionary among her fellow Samaritans. The difference in huge between them in the beginning, but slowly they start to approach, and the woman at the end is converted. Her life is helped and influenced dramatically and existentially by the patience and understanding of Jesus.

Numismatics plays an important role in the study of the New Testament, not only because of the epigraphic and heraldic charateristics of coins, but also because of their material properties. The Gospels are known for their references to the systematically corrupt nature of tax collection. At the same time, however, seven minted coins are not only directly or indirectly mentioned, but are also presented as central to the teachings of Jesus Christ. I this parables, Jesus sometimes discussed a system of money trading known to his contemporaries, sharing with his audience eschatological statements too, in addition to practical and humanitarian ones. In other cases, the Gospels refer to numismatics issues that draw attention to the relationship between Jesus Christ an the rabbinic tradition, as can be seen, for example , in the encounters of the Temple money changers or the two-drachma collectors with Jesus. Moreover, the betrayal of Judas also raises questions of monetary history. Research into the numismatics of the New Testament and its primary economic historical contexts such as taxation, customs, donations, money trade, and law, seems justified, and this paper makes a modest attempt to do so. Since the subject is extremely diverse and complex, a study of the numismatic aspect of the New Testament passages must, on the one hand, cover the coins explicitely mentioned together with the ones referred to indirectly; and on the other, attempt to shed light on the legal, financial-infrastructural, social and cultural-historical issues raised by the Gospel passages by drawing on rabbinical and Hellenistic Jewish literature, with the hope of also contributing to further theological research.

Leadership in Rome after the Flavian victory in the civil war of AD 68-9 is based on an agreement made by Vespasian, Titus, and C. Licinius Mucianus. Tacitus presents the latter in hisHistoriaeas the person in charge in the western part of the empire. This article centers on the way in which Tacitus shows Mucianus’ leadership facing different serious challenges. It turns out that Mucianus is able to meet all threats to stability by appropriate measures. In Tacitus’ account, Mucianus shows excellent situational leadership.

In this paper I try to demonstrate that in his Argonautica Velarius Flaccus treats some episodes in a way that could be interpreted as a commentary on relevant passages of Virgil’s Aeneid. More particularly, I focus on cases the are presented as prequels to the Aeneid and I argue that this is a strategy that allows Valerius to safeguard his originality and at the same time reinforces his suggestion (with metaliterary implications) that Argo is the first ship.

This prayer falls within the tradition of prayers of petition or wish o fered publicly and in o cial circumstances. As is customary before Roman military expeditions, the general in command prays successful outcome of the army's enterprise-speci cally, safe navigation to Africa and victory over the Carthaginians. Witnesses Witnesses The prayer appears in the third decade of Livy's history of Rome, Ab urbe condita (Liv. 29.27.1-5). Books 26-30, which include Scipio's prayer, have been transmitted by two distinct manuscript tradi Puteanus (Italy, 5th century CE) and the Spirensian tradition (Italy, c. 13th century CE). It has been hypothesized that the prayer was rst recorded in Scipio's own commentaries. These may have be history of the Second Punic War by L. Coelius Antipater, who is one of Livy's sources for these books (Liv. 29.27.14), although this point is much debated (cf. Guittard 1996, 239; Chapot and Laurot 20 Formal Description Formal Description The prayer has an elaborate, though not unusual, outline: invocation to the gods (29.27.2); tripartite petition for the success of the expedition with identi cation of the prayer's bene ciaries (29.27.2 return and material gain from the expedition (29.27.3); petition for revenge and retribution for the Carthaginians (29.27.3-4). It is preceded by a call for silence (29.27.1) and ends with a sacri ce (29 the three petitions together as a single component of the prayer, we may nd parallels between Scipio's prayer and other petitionary prayers o fered in o cial circumstances, which commonly inclu request to the god, the identi cation of bene ciaries, and a concluding sacri ce (e.g.,

Medical plants play a vital role in curing many diseases. These plants, along with their leaves, have medicinal values. If these leaves are identified appropriately, they can be chosen directly to have more significant relief from the disease. Therefore, the identification of these medical species is a challenging task. The ecologically motivated Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have substantially contributed to computer visual research. This article introduces a unique approach to medical leaf identification based on the hybridization of the Gaussian mixture model and a Convolutional Neural Network (GMM-CNN). The experimentation is performed on the Flavia dataset and is carried out using benchmark evaluation metrics. The parameters like index volume, probability of random index, and global consistency error are evaluated. The Python simulation model is utilized for the evaluation of the proposed methodology. The hybrid technique combining GMM and CNN has considerable potential in medical leaf identification. The experimental findings indicate that the hybrid strategy exhibits superior performances. The methodology suggested in this study demonstrates exceptional levels of accuracy, precision, and recall when applied to a wide range of medical leaf categories. Moreover, integrating Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) addresses concerns associated with a scarcity of training data by offering a more resilient structure for extracting features and performing classification. By combining the advantages of statistical modelling with deep learning, we develop a resilient and precise system that has the potential to enhance botanical research, medical diagnostics, and environmental monitoring applications.

In ancient Roman culture and ritual, funeral processions and triumphs have been found to share many features as public ceremonies not just of purification, but also of demonstration both of individual glory and Rome’s imperialist enterprise. Seneca captures the symbolic capital these complex social institutions may endorse as tropes of power and prestige by referring to Drusus’ funeral as funus simillimum triumpho (Marc. 3.1). However, it is rather in the Flavian epics that the common imagery related to funeral rites and triumphs is often reversed or perverted in a way that undermines their obvious function as public spectacles and artistic representations. This is particularly evident in the closing scenes of several books of Silius Italicus’ Punica, where different aspects of ritual are often associated to create a sense of an ending that is ambiguous and incomplete. Such poetics of closure fuse together resolution and constraint to undercut the establishment of order supposedly achieved by ritual performances and religious practices on individual and public level. From this point of view, Silius may reflect upon the extreme subjectification and ritualisation of public spectacles under Nero and Domitian, who indulged themselves in playing the role of religious actors during their rule.

The Poetic Structure of Silius Italicus&#39; Punica (Books I-V) As concerns their poetic structure, the first five books of Silius’ Punica are very differentiated and complicated. However, all the events of the represented world concentrate around Hannibal and his improba virtus. Historical and mythological ekphrases are connected with Hannibal’s deeds. Aetiological stories seem to be invented by Silius himself. The panegyrical elements refer mainly to Domitian. Prolepses especially deserve to be noticed. Silius is influenced by learned Hellenistic poets, as well as Roman authors, mainly Ennius, Vergil, Lucan, Valerius Flaccus. In fact the author of the Punica can be described as poeta doctus.

The Corona Borealis or Northern Crown is a bright constellation that shines conspicuously in the early summer sky. Among the oldest recognized constellations visible in the northern hemisphere, its distinctive configuration is easily discernible. Once a group of nine stars, it was the only stellar ring visible to early Greek astronomers who named it Στεϕανοσ, the Wreath. It was later distinguished as πρωτοσ and Βορεοσ (first and northern) and ascribed a positive astrological influence. The constellation was associated with the myth of Bacchus and Ariadne as early as the third Century BCE. In this myth, the Crown was most often identified as Ariadne's wedding crown which Bacchus hurled into the sky at her death as a memorial of his undying love for her. Although there are variations in the telling of the myth in ancient texts, the constellation was firmly identified with the triumph of Ariadne, and her transformation into a goddess. The pictorial tradition was adapted in images of the Virgin Mary with a starry crown, as well as those representing her Coronation by Christ.

Los recientes hallazgos realizados en Segobriga (Cuenca) han sacado a la luz un amplio conjunto de esculturas, entre las que destaca el lote aparecido en las excavaciones de la basílica, constituido por ocho piezas datadas en su mayoría en época del emperador Claudio 1. Sólo dos de ellas han sido consideradas como pertenecientes a época augustea, un fragmento de estatua * Por diversa ayuda recibida mi agradecimiento a F. Albert, R. Gergel, P. León, J. M. Noguera y A. Peña. El presente trabajo se realiza gracias a la concesión de una beca F.P.U. del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. ** Universidad de Sevilla *** Esto ocurre fundamentalmente con los lambrequines de las estatuas militares, aunque también es extensible a la decoración central de la coraza. El origen de esta tendencia puede reconocerse básicamente en el trabajo de K. Stemmer, cf. Stemmer (1978: 152, 165). femenina 2 y una thoracata masculina de tamaño mayor que el natural (Fig. 1) cuyo análisis merece la pena retomar 3. Pertenece al tipo de los "loricatos clasicistas **** El ejemplo más claro de esto último es el de los estudios de R. Gergel. Los títulos de algunos de ellos se encuentran a lo largo del artículo y en el apartado bibliográfico, cf. además Gergel (2004: 371-409). Desde un punto de vista metodológico es fundamental Fittschen (1976: 175-210). En esta línea es también de interés el trabajo reciente de M. Cadario, valga como ejemplo su puesta al día del caso de las estatuas militares decoradas con el coro de Nereidas.