Preface

What we call "cultural identity" is a set of values and conventions guiding behaviours and conditioning a group to reproduce them by repetition, indefinitely. A cultural identity creates a common notion of belonging and normality in each society. It reinforces the idea of temporal continuity, as it strengthens the bonding of a group to their ancestors and, in a more general perspective, to "their past." However, "the past," as a collective social memory, can become an instrument of discourse for any cultural identity to legitimate its own narrative. In that case, the relations of cause and effect that define the subject studied by "History" (and the "Humanities") are reduced to national "Myths" and reproduced carelessly by the community.

Our notion of "Classical Antiquity" is a myth created during the Renaissance (14th–16th centuries), when European philosophers rediscovered Greek and Roman antiquity. In this same sense, "Western Identity" is another recent and subjective demarcation of the civilizational sphere, based on Catholic Christianity, and a common geography shared by the Catholic nations.

In opposition to that idealization of an "Us"–"West," defined by Graeco-Roman philosophy, arts, reason, and Christianity, was invented a lustful, sinful, and impulsive "Them"–"East" to be confronted as its "Other." The otherness produced by the creation of the "East" personified contemporary concerns with the Ottoman Empire and the threat of an Islamic expansion over Europe. Thus, the separation between Western and Eastern antiquity is the product of an ideological narrative that obeys a logic of polarization and hierarchization: "pre-classic" antiquity was centered in the "tyrannic" and "cruel" Bronze civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, existing only as the antagonists of the Biblical prophets; later on, with the Iron Age, Greece and Rome would emerge to "save mankind" with their wisdom and to promote Christian values across the globe, always triumphing over the barbaric peoples from the East.

From the 17th to 19th centuries, modern thinkers continued to encourage the ideological portrayal of West European monarchies as the heirs of a moral Greek–Roman legacy. That "invented tradition" aimed to legitimate their imperial agendas, based on a discourse of hegemony by a superior intellect, culture, religion, and ethnicity.

It was under such historical-cultural background that, in the 19th century, the European school curriculum was developed. Its "paideia" crystallized the hierarchization of stereotyped West and East, and became the paradigm reproduced also by the European colonies, especially in the Americas. Thus, the "Western Civilization" created a myth of identity based not on historical Greek–Roman Antiquity, but rather on an idiosyncratic and unreal construction of idealized Classic Antiquity.

The usages of the past, and of antiquity, were felt throughout history, reflecting the fabric of apologetic and ideological narratives. Understanding antiquity does not end in the exiguity of its chronology. Antiquity is studied to understand time to understand the way in which the past is received, integrated, and used. Interdisciplinarity, thanks to the intersection of philosophy, history, literature, archaeology, and art history, corresponds to the transversal, comprehensive, and complex look essential to understand the intrinsic value of antiquity in each time and in each present.

Therefore, when we mention "Western Identity" and "the East" we are reproducing the myths perpetuated by a discourse of identity and an idealization disconnected from history. By "disconnected" from history, we mean that ancient civilizations were not "culturally/ethnically impermeable," as we are led to believe by traditional views (or "myths") on Classics.

Ancient history and archaeology demonstrate how diverse the ancient world truly was. Intercultural relations were increasingly frequent across the entire Mediterranean basin, from the Iron Age onwards, and especially under the Roman Empire. Socio-cultural change and dynamics in contact situations between groups of distinct cultures produced constant innovations and adaptations. Studies on intergroup relations and processes in shaping social change emphasize the role of marginality, conflict, and competition, and suggest that people at the edge of two different societies were more likely to adopt practices from both cultures.

This work presents seven case studies that demonstrate how artificial and anachronic is the idea of a frontier splitting West and East Antiquity.

The first section focuses on archaeological approaches. In Chapter 1, "Egyptian Amulets in the Western Mediterranean: The Case of Cadiz", Dr. Munõz Pérez discusses the importance of Egyptian and Egpyptianizing funerary amulets in the Phoenician colony of Cadiz, Spain. In Chapter 2, "The Heritage of Eastern Mediterranean Cultures in Greco-Roman Town of *Akrai/Acrae*, SE Sicily", Dr. Chowaniec examines material culture to discuss Greek identity in Sicily as a product of combined elements of the Eastern Mediterranean basin and Roman culture. In Chapter 3, "Technopoiesis in the Southern Levantine Metallurgy and Its Implications on the Rise and Fall of the Ghassulian Society", Dr. Amzallag discusses social-cultural transformations in the southern Levant as the result of the transition into the Bronze Age. In Chapter 4, "Social and Economic Developments in Pre-Islamic Somalia: Introducing African-Arabian-Mediterranean Interaction", Dr. Hussein presents material and linguistic evidence to debate mobility and migration, and the economic integration of ancient Somalia into a trade network connected to the Mediterranean.

The second section addresses the Bible as a historical source. In Chapter 5, "Genesis 1: Where Babylon and Greece Meet", Dr. Gnuse debates Greek and Near Eastern common elements shared also by the Old Testament Book of Genesis. In Chapter 6, "Including the Ancient Near East as "Western Identity": The Case of Enochic Traditions in Early Christian Literature," Dr. Hogeterp debates cultural identity and early Christianity by discussing intertextuality and interdiscursivity.

**V**

The final section includes one chapter. In Chapter 7, "Perspective Chapter: Bάλτοi – The Reception of Western Asian Colors-Cardinal Points System along the Boundaries of the Hellenic Oikumene", Dr. Bonda discusses neurolinguistics and the complex formation of a koine that mingled Byzantine and Western Asian peoples' influence regarding the

**Prof. Helena Trindade Lopes**

**Ronaldo G. Gurgel Pereira**

FCSH - Universidade Nova de Lisboa,

CHAM, FCSH, Universidade Nova de Lisboa,

Full Professor,

Lisbon, Portugal

Research Fellow,

Lisbon, Portugal

expression of spatial perception in Greek.

The final section includes one chapter. In Chapter 7, "Perspective Chapter: Bάλτοi – The Reception of Western Asian Colors-Cardinal Points System along the Boundaries of the Hellenic Oikumene", Dr. Bonda discusses neurolinguistics and the complex formation of a koine that mingled Byzantine and Western Asian peoples' influence regarding the expression of spatial perception in Greek.

> **Prof. Helena Trindade Lopes** Full Professor, FCSH - Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

**Ronaldo G. Gurgel Pereira** Research Fellow, CHAM, FCSH, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

**1**

Section 1

Archaeology
