This year we commemorate 350 years since the birth and 300 years since the death of Dimitrie Cantemir (October 26, 1673 - August 21, 1723), the most famous Romanian humanist thinker and also the author of the first original Romanian philosophical works.
Dimitrie Cantemir represents one of the highest peaks of thought of his time, in all areas that his genius touched - in historiography, geography, philosophy, he opened up new perspectives for development. The great scholar was well acquainted with the Muslim environment, speaking, in addition to Western, also Eastern languages (Turkish, Persian and Arabic), and also had extensive knowledge in the fields of logic, medicine, natural sciences, astronomy and music. This well-educated Christian beyzade, being a born diplomat, won the trust of Sultan Ahmed III, who favorably allowed him to familiarize himself with the documents of imperial history that Cantemir used in working on his famous work "The Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire", which still remains a reference publication in a specialized bibliography.
The National Museum of History of Moldova possesses a German edition of this work, published in Hamburg in 1745. This edition is an impressive volume of 863 pages, accompanied by a preface in German by the editor, containing words of praise and appreciation: "... we consider that such a work of great significance must be known to the Germans in their mother tongue..."
Dimitrie Cantemir was the first scholar to show that the history of the Ottoman Empire divides into two parts. The first part that of growth, includes biographies of 19 sultans and ends around 1672, when the empire entered a new phase, that of political and military decline. Through this work, Cantemir tried to draw attention to the need for an alliance of European countries against Turkish expansion. At the same time, he praised certain aspects of the culture of the Turkish people.
Like "Description of Moldavia", "The Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire" enjoyed wide popularity in European countries. The work was first translated into Russian by Dmitry Grozin, but was not printed. After the death of Dimitrie Cantemir, thanks to his son Antiochus, who became the Russian ambassador in London and then in Paris, this fundamental writing of our scholar was translated and published in English (two volumes, 1734-1735, followed by a new edition in 1756) and in French (1743, in four small volumes). In 1745, the work was also published in German. It was read, highly valued and used in their writings by Voltaire, Byron, Victor Hugo and others. This is the first treatise that addresses the issue of Ottoman power and the multicultural nature of the empire. Work on it began during the author's stay in the Ottoman Empire, resumed after 1711, and finished in 1717. This writing brought him European fame and placed him among the great scholars of the time.
The Cucuteni C pottery in the Cucuteni-Trypillia cultural complex (Formulation of the problem and a brief historiography)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică Chișinău, 2016
Keywords: Cucuteni, Trypillia, Cucuteni C pottery, import, influence.
Abstract: The "Cucuteni C pottery" is a special term for a kind of Cucuteni pottery, injected by Hubert Schmidt. The earliest samples of this pottery are dated by the B1 stage. According to T. Movsha, this kind of pottery appeared at Cucuteni-Trypillia sites under the influence of Serednii Stig Culture. Another question is whether these contacts were important for developing of this kind of pottery, especially for the Trypillia B1 - Cucuteni A stages.
Samples of Serednyi Stig Culture from Cucuteni-Trypillia sites are innumerous. These sites are distributed on large area, but mainly in the western rather than eastern part, close to the Serednii Stig Culture area. For Trypillia B1- B2 - Cucuteni A-B stages the most of finds come from sites of the Soloncheny local group. At the Soloncheny and Myropillia sites this pottery is most similar to Steppe samples in terms of technology, stylistics and, partly, forms of pots. Some of samples may have been really imported of produced by the bearers of Serednii Stig Culture. But the appearing of Cucucteni C pottery at this time did not change the original Trypillia-Cucuteni traditions and the Serednii Stig Culture influence was limited. The use of cord decorations from BII stage may have been connected with the influence of Chernavoda I Culture. On the other hand, the Cucuteni C pottery was the main common feture of pottery assemblages at whole area inhabited by the Cucuteni-Trypillia people. The most realistic point of view is that the spreading of Cucuteni C pottery reflected more tribal than intercultural relations.
List of illustrations: Fig. 1. Pottery from Trypillia B1 sites: 1-4 - Neporotove 22; 5-9 - Berezivska GES (8а, 9а after Даниленко 1974); 10-14 - Vasyliivka (after Збенович, Шумова 1989); 15 - Daribany; 16 - Sabatynivka I. Fig. 2. Pottery of Serednii Stig Culture: 1-16 - Skelya stage; 17-24 - Stog stage. Fig. 3. Cucuteni C pottery from Kolomyitsiv Yar. Fig. 4. Cucuteni C pottery from Trypillia B1-B2 stage sites: 1-2 - Klishchiv (after Заец 1974); 3, 7, 8 - Dnipro region (after V. Khvoika); 5 - Buchach. Fig. 5. Cucuteni C pottery from Soloncheny group sites. Fig. 6. Cucuteni C pottery from Soloncheny 2 site (after Мовша 1998). Fig. 7. Serednii Stig and Trypillia pottery. Fig. 8. Cucuteni C pottery from Trypillia B1-B2 stage sites: 1-7, 13-14 - Dnipro region (after V. Khvoika); 8-12 - Mykolaivka. Fig. 9. Cucuteni C pottery from Trypillia B2 sites: 1, 3 - Nemyrivka; 4 - Nemyriv; 5-7 - Stanislavivka; 8 - BerezovBereg; 9-11, 13-14, 16 - Grebeni; 15 - Studenitsya. Fig. 10. Cucuteni C pottery from Chapaivka. Fig. 11. Cucuteni C pottery from Maidanetske. Fig. 12. Cucuteni C pottery from Trypillia CI stage: 1 - Talne-2; 2-4 - Dnipro region (after V. Khvoika).
Наталья Бурдо
Anthropomorphic figurines from early Bronze Age burial mounds in the Bug-Dnieper interfluves and the Dnieper area
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XII [XXVII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Наталья Бурдо
Interpretation of the cultural layer of the early Trypillian site of Bernashevka I
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XI [XXVI], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Наталья Бурдо
Traces of the ritual practice at a large Trypillian culture settlement near Maydanetske
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Михаил Видейко, Джон Чапмен, Наталья Бурдо, Биссерка Гейдарская, Стоилка Игнатова, Светлана Иванова, Виталий Рудь
Research project "Early urbanism in prehistoric Europe: the case of the Trypillian mega-sites" in 2013
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Наталья Бурдо
Spindle whorls of Trypillia-Cucuteni cultural unity
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XIII [XXVIII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
This year we commemorate 350 years since the birth and 300 years since the death of Dimitrie Cantemir (October 26, 1673 - August 21, 1723), the most famous Romanian humanist thinker and also the author of the first original Romanian philosophical works.Dimitrie Cantemir represents one of the highest peaks of thought of his time, in all areas that his genius touched - in historiography, geography, philosophy, he opened up new perspectives for development...
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
