The deities on the Kushano-Sasanian coins

This article deals with Kushano-Sasanian coins, aiming to interpret the images of deities used on their reverses. The topic has occasionally been discussed in numismatic studies on the Kushano-Sasanian series, and some images have also been examined in archaeological literature on Central Asia. Yet Kushano-Sasanian religious imagery has never really been the subject of specific treatment. In fact, such series provide extremely interesting evidence of the religious imagery of the Sasanian period, due to the conventions which governed typological selection, since these allowed a more varied iconographic repertoire in comparison with what we can see on the imperial issues. Contrary to previous hypotheses of the phenomenon of syncretism produced by the supposed Bactrian religious specificity, the analysis results in a picture showing a fully Zoroastrian imagery, which absorbed iconographic features of Sasanian and Kushan derivation against the background of the presence of the new Sasanian power

Again on “Heraios” being Kujula and some related problems

The question of the identity of the issuer of the so-called “Heraios”coinage is analysed, and it is proposed that these series be ascribed to Kujula Kadphises, as already suggested by some scholars. In this regard, the circulation of these coins and the connections established by their imagery are focused upon. Some possible inferences on the original location of Kujula Kadphises are discussed in the concluding part, hypothesizing a southern context different from the northern one commonly ascribed to the founder of the Kushan dynasty

Edward Dąbrowa. Were the Arsacids Deities ‘Revealed’?

The use of the appellative of Epiphanes was introduced in Arsacid coin titolature by Artabanus I (c. 126-122 BCE), son of Mithradates I, aiming at conveying the message that he belonged to a family with divine status. After Mithradates II, it featured regularly in the titolature until the end of the dynasty. The religious dimension connected to the royal aspirations to divinity implied by the initial use of the title were lost when the Arsacid kings had to change their priorities in the strug..

Uwe Ellerbrock. Religiöse Ikonographie auf partischen Münzen: der Einfluss politisch-gesellschaftlicher Veränderungen auf das Bild der Göttin Tyche im partischen Reich

The development of the image of the goddess appearing on Parthian tetradrachms in the guise of Tyche and her identification are discussed in connection with the various stages of Arsacid history. The latter is divided in four broad phases: the birth of the empire (247-171 BCE), its expansion (171-70 BCE), the period in which Parthia was an international power (70 BCE-51 CE), and the final one up to the end (from 51 CE onwards). The image of the goddess appears after the conquest of Seleucia i..

Leonardo Gregoratti. The importance of the Mint of Seleucia on the Tigris for Arsacid History: Artabanus and the Greek Parthian Cities

The policy of Artabanus II (12-38/40 CE) towards the Greek cities is analyzed, detecting a gradual penetration of the royal power in the municipal institutions as opposed to the idea of a direct conflict. This took place through various means, as shown by the famous letter to the city of Susa of 21/22 CE, aiming at a general consolidation of Arsacid control on all the entities which coexisted within the empire. A special focus is devoted to the civic coinage of Seleucia struck in the years of..

Edward Dąbrowa. ΑΡΣΑΚΕΣ ΘΕΟΣ. Observations on the nature of the Parthian ruler-cult

Mithradates I promoted the divinization of his father and predecessor Phriapitius in order to strengthen his own political position and that of the Arsacid dynasty, providing it with a solid religious foundation. It was this decision that determined the creation of a dynastic center in Old Nisa, giving birth to a distinctly Parthian ruler-cult. While the cult made use of Hellenistic patterns, its theological contents were probably based more on Iranian rather than Greek traditions, and was ma..

Edward Dąbrowa. Greek: a Language of the Parthian Empire

The special status enjoyed by Greek language in the Parthian empire was due to the role of the Greeks and the weight of the Seleucid heritage in the building by the Arsacids of an ideological community to support their new state. Indeed, the legends of coins struck all across the empire show that the Arsacids used Greek to communicate not only with Greeks. The quality of the legends and of the engraving on coins started to decline from the early 1st century BC, and we can accordingly determin..

Edward Dąbrowa. Hellenistic Elements in the Parthian Kingship: The Numismatic Portrait and Titolature

Arsacid numismatic iconography and titolature show that the Parthians deliberately followed Hellenistic patterns to achieve political and propaganda aims focused on bolstering the ideological foundations of their kingship. Royal iconography shows the Hellenisation of the portrait under Mithradates I, while the Parthian archer of the drachm reverses was inspired by the Seleucid Apollo on omphalos. The coin titolature, much richer in comparison to Seleucid patterns, is divided in titles referri..

The Role of Silicone Oil in the Surgical Management of Endophthalmitis: A Systematic Review

(1) Background: We aimed to systematically review the current literature to evaluate if in patients with postoperative endophthalmitis treated with pars plana vitrectomy, silicone oil tamponade could provide a useful contribution to the control and eradication of infection and if it could influence anatomical recovery and functional outcome. (2) Randomized controlled trials, cross-sectional studies, case series, and case reports published in the English language in peer-reviewed journals were included. No restriction was placed based on the study location. We used medical subject headings (MeSH) and text words. We searched MEDLINE (OVID and PubMed), Google Scholar, ISI Web of Science (Thom-on-Reuters), and the Cochrane Library (Wiley) from January 1995 to the present. To ensure literature saturation, we scanned the reference lists of included studies or relevant reviews identified through the search. Risk of Bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale for longitudinal studies and Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials. (3) Results: abstracts of 75 articles were selected for full-text reading; after full-text reading, 44 articles were taken into consideration in the systematic review. 5 out of 7 in vitro experimental studies demonstrated antimicrobial activity against different species of bacteria and fungi. The use of SO as endotamponade associated with PPV led to better visual acuity and a lower rate of retinal detachment and the need for additional surgery. (4) Conclusions: Silicone oil reduces the risk of postoperative retinal detachment, especially in case of undetected retinal breaks, produces compartmentalization of the eye, may lead to early visual recovery, allows laser photocoagulation, prevents severe postoperative hypotony and has antimicrobic activity due to an inhibitory effect for several species of pathogens. Concerns regarding possible toxic effects on the retina and optic disc, compartmentalization and impaired washout of pathogen toxins have been reported. It may also influence intravitreal antibiotic distribution and clearance

Dynamic spectral signatures of mirror movements in the sensorimotor functional connectivity network of patients with Kallmann syndrome

In Kallmann syndrome (KS), the peculiar phenomenon of bimanual synkinesis or mirror movement (MM) has been associated with a spectral shift, from lower to higher frequencies, of the resting-state fMRI signal of the large-scale sensorimotor brain network (SMN). To possibly determine whether a similar frequency specificity exists across different functional connectivity SMN states, and to capture spontaneous transitions between them, we investigated the dynamic spectral changes of the SMN functional connectivity in KS patients with and without MM symptom. Brain MRI data were acquired at 3 Tesla in 39 KS patients (32 without MM, KSMM-, seven with MM, KSMM+) and 26 age- and sex-matched healthy control (HC) individuals. The imaging protocol included 20-min rs-fMRI scans enabling detailed spectro-temporal analyses of large-scale functional connectivity brain networks. Group independent component analysis was used to extract the SMN. A sliding window approach was used to extract the dynamic spectral power of the SMN functional connectivity within the canonical physiological frequency range of slow rs-fMRI signal fluctuations (0.01-0.25 Hz). K-means clustering was used to determine (and count) the most recurrent dynamic states of the SMN and detect the number of transitions between them. Two most recurrent states were identified, for which the spectral power peaked at a relatively lower (state 1) and higher (state 2) frequency. Compared to KS patients without MM and HC subjects, the SMN of KS patients with MM displayed significantly larger spectral power changes in the slow 3 canonical sub-band (0.073-0.198 Hz) and significantly fewer transitions between state 1 (less recurrent) and state 2 (more recurrent). These findings demonstrate that the presence of MM in KS patients is associated with reduced spontaneous transitions of the SMN between dynamic functional connectivity states and a higher recurrence and an increased spectral power change of the high-frequency state. These results provide novel information about the large-scale brain functional dynamics that could help to understand the pathologic mechanisms of bimanual synkinesis in KS syndrome and, potentially, other neurological disorders where MM may also occur