Vol 15, No 3 (2023): The Man of Antiquity in public and private life

The purpose of the study is to find out whether the hoplitodromos, or hoplite race, was more of a military or sporting event, whether the nature of this agon was associated with its late introduction into the program of the Panhellenic games, and whether the rules for its organization differed in Panhellenic and local competitions. On the basis of written sources and data from Attic vase painting, the author shows that there were different types of weapons of the participants in the run - heavy and light, and also that over time the “full” weapons of the hoplite - helmet, greaves, shield - change, retaining only the shield. Despite the widespread opinion in the scientific literature that the hoplitоdromos belonged to “military” competitions, the author comes to the conclusion that the nature of the run was determined by the type of games. And if at local games this agon was often associated with the aition of the festival, for example, with the military exploits of Athena on Panathenaia or the anniversary of the Battle of Plataea on Eleutheria, then at Panhellenic competitions, such as the Olympic Games, the military nature of the run was transformed into a reconstruction, thereby acquiring the nature of an entertaining spectacle.

The study is devoted to the origins of the cult of Venus of Eryx, whose temple was erected on the Capitol during the Hannibal War. After analyzing the sources, the author studied both the specific historical context of the establishment of a new cult, and the connection of the new deity with various hypostases of Venus, which became widespread in the territory of ancient Italy. The author associated the creation of the cult of Venus Erucina, firstly, with victories during the struggle between Rome and Carthage and, secondly, with an attempt to integrate Rome into the cultural space of the Greek world, since Venus was identified with Aphrodite. The scientific novelty of the undertaken study lies in the fact that the author, taking into account the famous senatusconsultum on bacchanalia, put forward a hypothesis about the conduct in 186-184 BC by the Porcii clan and their allies, a kind of religious reform, which made it possible, on the one hand, to preserve the Greek traditions of the veneration of Venus of Eryx, and on the other hand, to “cleanse” the cult of Venus Capitoline from foreign influences.

The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the range of rights and obligations of farmers-tenants of sacred lands (temenos) in Attica in the second half of the 4th century BC on the basis of epigraphic material. In modern historiography, there are no special works devoted to this problem. At the same time, the study of the legal status of the tenant farmer is of great importance for understanding the nature of land relations in Attica in the 4th century BC. Having studied the temenos lease agreements, the author characterized the legal status of tenant farmers, considering in detail their rights and obligations. The author’s conclusions: in accordance with the terms of the lease agreement, the tenant farmers personally cultivated the sacred lands, while their rights and obligations were clearly fixed in the temenos lease agreements.

The relevance of the research topic is due to the insufficient study of the role of the governors of the Senate provinces in the military command system of the early Roman Empire. Completion of this knowledge is necessary both for studying the military organization of Rome, and for revealing the essence of the Roman state-political system. The purpose of the study is to find the legal and ideological grounds for the military status of the governors of the senatorial provinces, which, in the author’s opinion, should be resolved primarily in the context of considering the issue of imperium militiae of such governors. In the absence of direct indications in this regard in the sources, the method of reconstruction was the analysis of specific material (including prosopographic), reflecting the military functions of the governors appointed by the Senate. The author made an attempt to find out the commander’s status of the governors by finding a full-fledged imperium militiae in them. The author’s conclusion: throughout the entire period of the early Empire, the governors of the senatorial provinces retained their imperium militiae, continuing to carry out the functions of a military leader, although to a much lesser extent than at the beginning of the period. Such governors remained an important element in the system of military command, especially in critical situations that regularly arose even in the «pacified» provinces.

The duel of Gaius Marius with a Celtiber is one of the heroic episodes of the early biography of the future seven-time consul and commander. Plutarch’s information about this duel is fragmentary and does not allow us to fully clarify the circumstances under which it took place. In part, they are clarified by the archaeological data obtained by A. Schulten during excavations in the area of ancient Numantia. After analyzing the sources and literature, the author came to the conclusion that the episode with the duel became for Marius the starting point in his military career, from which his rise began. According to the author, in fact, the notorious duel could have been an ordinary skirmish, but later Marian propaganda turned it into a heroic deed of Marius, a brilliant military leader and an experienced «father commander». The author does not exclude the possibility that Plutarch himself became the culprit of the confusion, who did not distinguish between an individual duel and participation in a collective hand-to-hand combat.

The article is devoted to the civic position and political views of Alkaios, a fighter against tyranny, and his opponent Pittacus, the tyrant of Mytilene. The purpose of the study is to identify the presence or absence of political differences between Alkaios and Pittacus based on an analysis of all available sources. The author proves that the political views of Alkaios and Pittacus coincided and did not change throughout the entire period of their joint actions. According to the author, the situation changed due to the role of Pittacus in the victorious end of the first stage of the Sigean War. Conclusions: Pittak decided to seize power by changing allies. Having established tyranny, he did not radically reform the state system, supplementing the traditional regime with personal authoritarian power.