Description: Theft is probably one of the most annoying aspects of social life. It is by no means the most dramatic one, but it is one of those things you constantly have in mind. In most Slavic languages, a thief (‘złodziej’ in Polish, ‘злодій’ in Ukrainian, ‘zloděj’ in Czech) literally means an evildoer, as it was this kind of wrongdoing that almost everybody had to deal with. But while theft likely existed in all human societies, it changed over time: how much the thieves stole, what they stole, who stole and from whom, and how people protected themselves - all of these evolved over time. In short, theft has its history and can be a subject of historical research. Late Antiquity is a good period to study it because, in this era, thieves become more visible than before. This paper, examining documentary and literary evidence, will seek to answer questions about how people dealt with theft, attempted to apprehend thieves and recover goods, and, most importantly, what impact theft and the methods of dealing with it had on communities and individuals.
I'm trying to follow all the updates about the Pope's visit to Mongolia. (A country with less than 2,000 Catholics).
This photo really captured me and I'm not sure why.
THE CONSERVATION OF CAVE 85 AT THE MOGAO GROTTOES, DUNHUANG by Lori Wong and
Neville Agnew (editors, 2013).
"The Mogao Grottoes, a World Heritage Site in northwestern China, are located along the ancient caravan routes—collectively known as the Silk Road—that once linked China with the West. Founded by a Buddhist monk in the late fourth century, Mogao flourished over the following millennium, as monks, local rulers, and travelers commissioned hundreds of cave temples cut into a mile-long rock cliff and adorned them with vibrant murals. More than 490 decorated grottoes remain, containing thousands of sculptures and some 45,000 square meters of wall paintings, making Mogao one of the world's most significant sites of Buddhist art."