Dmitri Panchenko | Saint-Petersburg State University (original) (raw)

Papers by Dmitri Panchenko

УДК 80(082) ББК 80я434 V51 О т в е т с т в е н н ы й р е д а к т о р М. Л. Кисилиер Р е д ко л л ... more УДК 80(082) ББК 80я434 V51 О т в е т с т в е н н ы й р е д а к т о р М. Л. Кисилиер Р е д ко л л е г и я Н.

Baneful night of Cimmerian land (Od. 11, 13–19): poetry, history and the whim of chance The Odys... more Baneful night of Cimmerian land (Od. 11, 13–19): poetry, history and the whim of chance

The Odyssey places “the city of the Cimmerian men” in the immediate vicinity of the realm of the dead – in an area that is never illuminated by the rays of the sun. Meanwhile, Greek writers call by the same name "Cimmerians" a real people who invaded in the 7th century BC Asia Minor and who are called gimir / gamir in Assyrian sources. This state of affairs has given rise to many ingenious, sometimes extravagant lines of thought in the minds of scholars – ancient and modern. Two ideas became especially influential: according to one, the Cimmerians are the most northern people living in the conditions of the polar night; according to another, the Homeric image was due to the reports of fogs covering the shores of the Black Sea Colchis. A common tendency, however, was to ignore the poet's words that “the breath of the North Wind” will bear Odysseus's ship towards the realm of the dead. These words clearly imply that this realm is located in the extreme south, but such a conclusion seemed so strange to scholars that they preferred to pass over the issue in silence. The article explains that the unusual localization of the realm of the dead goes back to the Bronze Age. It is the notion of a solar disk bright only on one side, which stands behind such a localization. The Odyssey depends on a particular version of this notion that came, apparently, from Scandinavia. As for similar sounding of the names of imagined and real peoples, it is the whim of chance.

UNFINISHED WORK OF THUCYDIDES ABSTRACT. Thucydides' statement that he described the entire war up... more UNFINISHED WORK OF THUCYDIDES ABSTRACT. Thucydides' statement that he described the entire war up to the surrender of Athens (V, 26, 1) must be taken in strict accordance with his words. On the whole, his work was completed; all that remained was to fix, supplement, decorate. The fact that in the published version the text breaks off at the presentation of the events of 411 is due to the following circumstances. During his stay in Athens, where he returned in the early summer of 404 after almost twenty years of exile, Thucydides introduced individual parts of his work to those who wish. There was a rumor about the work of Thucydides. The attention of Lysander's friends and henchmen was attracted by the presence in the work of detailed information about the establishment in Greek cities of political clientele, who were much more dependent on Lysander than on the Spartan state. The kings and other persons in the Spartan government, pushed into the background by Lysander, saw these actions of Lysander as the basis for the gradually carried out coup d'état by him. Authoritative information about the clientele founded by Lysander could pose a great danger to his career. Meanwhile, Thucydides, for some reason, returned to his Thracian possessions. Lysander went there too. In the fall of 404, Thucydides was murdered, and the manuscript of his work was stolen. Everything that seriously compromised Lysander was removed from it; the rest was saved and taken to Sparta. In the spring of 395, Lysander died in a battle. In the fall of 394, Agesilaus, who had returned to Sparta from Asia, searched the house of Lysander in order to find materials revealing that he was preparing a coup d'état. Along with the planted fake, books of the history of Thucydides were also discovered. After making sure that they did not contain anything fundamentally harmful to Spartan politics, Agesilaus handed the manuscript to Xenophon, an officer of his army, an Athenian exile and a credible writer. Xenophon published the intact part of the manuscript as it was, without editing it. The materials of the damaged part formed the basis of the first two books of his Hellenica.

Calendars of the Trundholm Sun Chariot

Stratum plus, Apr 30, 2022

The article develops K. Randsborg’s idea, according to which the decorative elements of the Trund... more The article develops K. Randsborg’s idea, according to which the decorative elements of the Trundholm disc have the character of calendar symbols. When considering these elements in their structural and numerical groupings, astronomical and calendar significance is found for all belts of both sides of the disk, and the proposed interpretations are consistently contextual. One discloses on the right side of the disk an 8-year cycle connecting the counting of days according to the sun and to the moon, 16 transitions of the sun from winter solstice to summer solstice, and 27 weeks of the summer half of the year. The patterns represented on the left side of the disk are relevant to the night sky: the same 8-year cycle, since it refers to the counting of days not only according to the sun, but also according to the moon; either division of a year into 10 months or the 19-year cycle of the return of both the moon and sun to their common position with respect to the stars; 25 weeks of the darker, winter half of the year. One concludes that in Denmark of the Bronze Age two types of calendars were used: lunisolar, which regulated the timing of religious festivals, and a solar, so to speak, civil, with a year made up of two not quite equal half-years, 52 weeks and 364 days (probably coexisting with knowledge of a year of 365 ¼ days). The data concerning the medieval Scandinavian calendars, on the one hand, and ancient calendars of Greece and the Near East, on the other, are in perfect agreement with the above conclusions.

The reputation of The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire (1926) is contradictory. On... more The reputation of The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire (1926) is contradictory. On the one hand, Rostovtzeff's work has been recognized as a masterpiece. On the other hand, its main ideas have been repeatedly dismissed. The critics pointed to the personal experience of Rostovtzeff, an exile from revolutionary Russia; they saw in his argument the intrusion of the concerns that properly pertain to Russian history. However, there is no direct retrojection of Russian conditions onto the Roman Empire in Rostovtzeff's work, and his personal experience, that of a historian emotionally preoccupied with the problems of his own time, gave him a more acute vision of comparable phenomena of the past.

The next king, I was told, was a priest of Hephaestus, called Sethos. This monarch despised and n... more The next king, I was told, was a priest of Hephaestus, called Sethos. This monarch despised and neglected the warrior class of the Egyptians, as though he did not need their services. Among other indignities which he offered them, he took from them the lands which they had possessed under all the previous kings, consisting of twelve acres of choice land for each warrior. Afterwards, therefore, when Sanacharib, king of the Arabians and Assyrians, marched his vast army into Egypt, the warriors one and all refused to come to his aid. On this the monarch, greatly distressed, entered into the inner sanctuary, and, before the image of the god, bewailed the fate which impended over him. As he wept he fell asleep, and dreamed that the god came and stood at his side, bidding him be of good cheer, and go boldly forth to meet the Arabian host, which would do him no hurt, as he himself would send those who should help him. Sethos, then, relying on the dream, collected such of the Egyptians as w...

ΒΟΣΠΟΡΟΣ: On some Greek-Scandinavian parallel

Петербургский исторический журнал, 2015

Warrior’s Razor in Bronze Age Europe: Symbol and Function

Stratum plus. Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology, 2021

Razors are frequently found in warrior graves of the later half of the second millennium BC in Sc... more Razors are frequently found in warrior graves of the later half of the second millennium BC in Scandinavia, central Europe, Italy and Greece. It is common to treat such razors as indicating a status and symbolizing an elite lifestyle. This view is justified, but it offers no explicit explanation of why the razor acquired such a role. It was repeatedly observed that razors are frequently found in the graves that contain a sword as well. It is further worth noting that Nordic razors (the most remarkable class within the type) appear in graves during period II of Montelius when also a new kind of weapon — the slashing swords appear there. This epoch-making weapon spread throughout Europe and the Mediterranean in the course of a few centuries. A close association between the slashing sword and the razor is clarified by occasional remarks by Greek authors. One learns from them (Plutarch, Theseus, 5 is particularly important passage) that swordsmen, being close fighters, cut off their hai...

The strange servitude of Poseidon and Apollo to Laomedon who denies payment for construction of t... more The strange servitude of Poseidon and Apollo to Laomedon who denies payment for construction of the wall of Troy and threatens the gods ( Il . 7. 452–453 and 21. 441–457) can be explained in terms of the transformation of original motifs. Divine builders were originally busy with constructing the stronghold for the gods. Since the Olympian gods as shown by Homer no longer need a stronghold, the story of the glorious construction was relocated and combined with the motif known in folklore of a master and disciple working for a treacherous king.

This piece of information about the man famous through his exploration of India and subsequent sa... more This piece of information about the man famous through his exploration of India and subsequent sail from Indian shores to Egypt (c. 518– 515 BC) has not impressed scholars.1 Moreover, the text of Avienus was cited to prove that Scylax had never been at the Strait of Gibraltar.2 I shall argue that the evidence implies the contrary, which entails rather impressive conclusions. It was repeatedly pointed out that since maximal breadth of the Bosporus is about 4,5 km and minimal breadth is just above 700 m, while the Strait of Gibraltar is 14,2 km broad at the narrowest, their likening is out of the mark.3 This fair observation was not supplemented, however, by the ques-

The Sixth-Century Samian Foot of 26.25 cm and Evolution of the Greek Linear Measures

Herodotus notes that both the height and the width of the Eupalinian aqueduct equal 8 feet (3. 60... more Herodotus notes that both the height and the width of the Eupalinian aqueduct equal 8 feet (3. 60. 2). Modern measurement gives 2.10 m for both height and width. It follows that the sixth-century Samian foot was 26.25 cm, and there is much to support such a conclusion. However, a standard Greek foot was much longer. We are dealing here with two different systems. In the earlier one, the foot corresponds to the height of an average Greek man, and it measures a half of a cubit and a third of a pace. In the standard system, there is no integer number of feet in one pace, a foot corresponds to the height of exceptionally tall persons and it is in a ratio to a cubit of 2 : 3. The change was probably caused by the growing interest in athletic competitions. The stadiums were extended to accommodate more spectators, and, since each stadium was 600 feet long by definition, the foot was extended accordingly.

Nie jest łatwo opisać doświadczenia rodziny zmagającej się z chorobą dziecka, a jeszcze trudniej ... more Nie jest łatwo opisać doświadczenia rodziny zmagającej się z chorobą dziecka, a jeszcze trudniej określić poziom dialogiczności jej członków. Nadmiar trudnych przeżyć i związanych z nimi emocji może skutecznie uniemożliwić obiektywny przekaz. Nie zwalnia to z potrzeby prowadzenia takich badań. Wydaje się, że rację bytu mają również badania wykonane w czasie, w którym nastąpiło twórcze przystosowanie do niepełnosprawności. Taka sytuacja ma miejsce w przypadku studentów z niepełnosprawnością, którzy, zmagając się z własnymi ograniczeniami i utrudnieniami zewnętrznymi, podejmują studia. Podjęte badania pozwalają na zaprezentowanie sposobu postrzegania roli dialogu w rodzinie, w okresie dzieciństwa i dorastania. Odległość czasowa stwarza możliwość zatarcia niektórych faktów, ale jednocześnie daje szansę na uświadomienie własnych przeżyć i uporządkowanie ich, co warunkuje podjęcie analiz. Zostaną one umiejscowione w kontekście pedagogicznym, pozwalającym na podjęcie próby określenia postulatów dotyczących kształtowania właściwych więzi rodzinnych.

Thales's Prediction of a Solar Eclipse

Journal for the History of Astronomy, 1994

... cit. (ref. 2), 186ff.; JLE Dreyer, A history of astronomy from Thales to Kepler, 2nd edn (New... more ... cit. (ref. 2), 186ff.; JLE Dreyer, A history of astronomy from Thales to Kepler, 2nd edn (New York, 1953), 12f. Yet we are told that Anaximander convinced the Lacedaimonians to leave their homes because of the coming earthquake (Cicero, On divination, 1.50.112). ...

Parmenides, the Nile and the Circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenicians

Libyae Lustrare Extrema Realidad Y Literatura En La Vision Grecorromana De Africa Estudios En Honor Del Profesor Jehan Desanges 2008 Isbn 978 84 472 1156 2 Pags 189 194, 2008

The City of the Branchidae and the Question of Greek Contribution to the Intellectual History of India and China (на китайском языке)

Configurations, 1993

How did Thales determine the distance of a ship in the sea? Cosmology and the proof of incommensu... more How did Thales determine the distance of a ship in the sea? Cosmology and the proof of incommensurability of a square's diagonal with its side HOW DO WE KNOW ABOUT THALES? Thales as a monopolist and the father of federalism

Social Framework of Early Theoretical Science