The relief cycle, excavated in 1997 in the theatre at the ancient Macedonian city Philippi, was produced during the Roman reconstruction of the theatre between 150 and 170 CE. It is presented on eight pylons, and its plot is attributed to the Bacchae of Euripides. One of the fve surviving fgures is identifed as the Tracian king Lycurgus, who is represented as a hunter, and four others as maenads. Te analysis of the composition and the choice of characters allow us to make an assumption that this cycle stems from a diferent storyline, namely, Aeschylus’ “Tetralogy of Dionysus”. Te iconography of the maenad that is placed on the third pylon, runs counter to the interpretation of the myth of Lycurgus and Roman (and classical) depiction formula. Tis female image serves as a semantic center of the composition and becomes a key one in the reconstruction of the cycle’s plot. Te sword and severed head in her hands indicate the paramilitary shades of the cult of Dionysus in the Roman Empire. Te iconography of the fgure has parallels with the images of the Amazons, who become new companions of Dionysus and even part of his army. Te image of the severed head, on the one hand, refers to the theme of barbarian military rite that was included in the repertoire of Roman art, and on the other hand, it might be associated with a sacred aristocratic rite adopted in Trace and related to Orphic ideas. Finally, the triumphal motives in the iconography of the fgure, its obvious link to the cult of Dionysus and the narrative’s modelling afer the Athenian drama of the ffh century BCE presumably indicate the combination of several plots in one cycle. Tus, if the general composition of the relief cycle in the theatre at Philippi reveals continuity in relation to the classical era, the female image from the third pylon is intended to indicate a new - Roman - view of theatrical drama and the cult of Dionysus.

For a long period of study of medieval agricultural tools, a wealth of material has been accumulated and examined by Russian scholars. The research has led to the development of classifcations, typologies, chronology and periodization of the main types of agricultural implements. Debatable issues have been raised in respect of the time of transition to arable farming in the territory of Ancient Rus’ and the emergence and evolution of some types of cultivating implements. Te research subject of this article is the works of national archaeologists, dedicated to the history of agriculture in Ancient Rus’, and ethnographers, who have employed extensive ethnographic material and examined in detail design features and use of the tools. Tis article examines the works of archaeologists and ethnographers on a wide range of issues related to the history of the development of agriculture and agricultural implements in the territory of Ancient Rus’. Since the last comprehensive study of this issue, which was carried out in 1961 by the Soviet historian A.D. Gorsky, a large amount of new material that requires analysis has been accumulated. Te author updates Gorsky’s ideas regarding the study of Ancient Rus’ian agriculture and its implements in the national historiography and identifes conditional chronological periods of this study. She concludes that the greatest contribution to the research on agricultural tools in Ancient Rus’ has been made by Soviet scholars. Recently, interest in this issue has somewhat faded. Te author provides a bibliographic index, which can become a useful guide for scholars, who are interested in the history of agriculture in Ancient Rus’.

The integration of China into the global world has led to the absorption of immigrants from diferent parts of the world, including Africa, into the previously closed and homogeneous Chinese society. China’s lack of historical practice when a signifcant number of representatives of other ethnocultural communities would interact on its territory, as well as the adherence of the Han majority to centuriesold and strictly regulated behavioral stereotypes, which newcomers always found quite difcult to adapt to, have made the growing number of migrants a big problem for Chinese citizens. Tis is especially true of immigrants from Africa: their ideas about the acceptable self-representation in relation to others are in many ways the opposite of corresponding Chinese views. Te changes brought to public life in China by the coronavirus pandemic have further exacerbated this problem and led to the fact that the Chinese discontent with African migrants began to spill over into their personal blogs. In this case the Chinese may relay the life stories of African migrants, told by themselves. Te typical scenario of such stories is that a migrant somehow managed to socialize and occupy a certain niche, but this happened despite the totally negative attitude of the local population. Moreover, the protagonists in these stories tend to accuse the Chinese of xenophobia and draw other negative conclusions about the national character of the Chinese based on their own experience in the PRC. In addition to such indirect (by retelling stories told in the frst person) dissatisfaction with migrants, the blogs contain obviously articulated dissatisfaction of Chinese citizens with immigrants from Africa. Te Chinese are concerned with the preservation of their own identity, although this fear looks clearly exaggerated given the ratio of the Han majority to migrants. However, the anxiety expressed in blogs indicates that there is an obvious problem in presentday Chinese society.

The article covers the visit of Harold Wilson, the Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to the USSR in February 1975. Te purpose of the visit was to stabilize bilateral relations between the countries afer a long period of deterioration. Te summit of the heads of state was of great importance both in the context of the process of the relaxation of international tension and in the framework of Anglo-Soviet relations. Tis is evidenced by the diplomatic documents and reports in the press analysed by the author. Te article traces the stances of the heads of state on the issues of détente, the settlement of conficts in the Middle East and Cyprus, the development of bilateral trade relations. While Leonid Brezhnev was interested in the early holding of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Harold Wilson sought not to miss the opportunity to expand trade and economic cooperation. Tus, both sides were interested in the success of the negotiations. As a result of the summit, six documents were signed, in which the countries agreed to take efective measures to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, organize political consultations between Great Britain and the USSR, implement cooperation programs in the feld of economy, industry, science and technology, medicine and healthcare. What the British press considered a signifcant achievement was the agreement to provide the Soviet Union with a loan of 950 million pounds sterling for a period of fve years, which was supposed to increase the volume of trade turnover. Another important step towards each other, according to journalists, was the organization of round tables for members of the public. Tere was, however, a reasonable scepticism about the outcome of the meeting in both the Conservative and Labour press coverage. Soviet articles noted the involvement of Great Britain in the struggle for peace led by the USSR. Harold Wilson’s visit, on the one hand, provided new opportunities for the development of Anglo-Soviet relations, and, on the other hand, demonstrated the diference in the approaches of political leaders to understanding the détente.

The article examines the principles of operation and the structure of the Soviet administrative system of missile production on the eve of the Cuban missile crisis, which made it possible to develop advanced missile technology. Tis system had been constantly reforming. Technological progress led to the expansion of interindustry ties and involvement of industrial plants of various branches and regions, many scientists and technical experts in the area of missile production. Te reform of governing bodies of industry and construction was based on the principles of democratic centralism, which was supposed to activate the human resources of the country. Te ministries that were based on the pyramidal principle of administration were abolished, and the management of industry was entrusted to the regional economic councils (1957). However, new developments in the feld of rocketry remained under the control of the central departments. Te most important missile science and design organizations were subordinated to the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR for defense technology. In terms of cooperation, enterprises of the radio-electronic, shipbuilding, machinebuilding and other industries participated in the development projects. In 1958, the missile mass production was entrusted to the economic councils. Decentralization of the Soviet administrative system of missile production made it possible to expand production ties and to increase involvement of the human resources in the missile industry. Yet it was necessary to organize a complex supply and sales system and to establish constant control over the operations of hundreds of enterprises. An authoritative coordinating governing body was needed, and the Commission of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on military-industrial issues, which was established in December 1957, played an important role in steady coordination of the decentralized industry. Te reforms helped mobilize limited resources and, by 1962, develop advanced missiles to protect the USSR interests in international conficts (R-7 intercontinental missile, R-11 shortrange missile, R-12 and R-14 mediumrange missiles, S-75 and Dal antiaircraf missile systems, Storm and Buran intercontinental cruise missiles, antimissile defense systems etc.). Finally, the USSR became a superpower capable of defending its foreign policy interests.

Special camps of the NKVD / Ministry of Internal Afairs of the USSR are one of the important research areas in the study of the Soviet occupation policy and functioning of Soviet occupation bodies in post-war Germany. Te purpose of the study is to review the main historical works on the history of special camps that have been published since the 1950s. Two periods of this historiography are examined: “pre-archival” (from the 1950s to the mid-1990s) and contemporary (from the mid-1990s up to the present). Te author mainly deals with the German historiography of special camps and evaluates the availability and representativeness of sources and substantive research conclusions important for understanding the principal elements of the Soviet occupation policy in East Germany in the frst post-war years. While in the “pre-archival” studies, which were based on a limited range of sources, the emphasis was placed on identifying individual, albeit important, aspects of the history of special camps (their location, the number of prisoners who passed through them, the criteria for arrest and placement of the civilian population in a special camp in the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany), current works concern a much wider range of issues. Tey deal with not only organizational issues, but also the place of camps in the system of Soviet special services on the territory of East Germany, their role in carrying out repressions against both the German civilian population and Soviet citizens who ended up in the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany afer the end of the war. In current historiography, special camps are defned as special places for confnement, combining the functions of temporary detention of various categories of people for their interning, fltrating and gathering together for further dispatching, for example, to the gulag camps. Te most important conclusion of current studies of the history of special camps is that they became an expressive manifestation of the “export” of Soviet repressive practices and pointed to the real and long-term plans of the Soviet administration to Sovietize East Germany.

Te author examines the functioning of Moscow’s cinemas during the Great Patriotic War in terms of the concept of “social space” introduced by the French philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre (1901-1991). According to this concept, social space in relation to the cinema includes three levels. Te frst one is a “representation of space”, i.e. a set of fxed norms that are set “from above”, according to the authorities’ views on the most efective cinema and its operation (architectural appearance, repertoire, propaganda programme, etc.). Te second one is “spatial practices”, i.e. the functioning of a cinema through the activities of its personnel, whose views on the best organization of flm viewing could differ signifcantly from the guidelines “from above”. Te third one is a “space of representations” - a “look from below”, that is, the perception (“experience”) of “going to the cinema” by spectators themselves. While analyzing the repertoire, specifcs of the work of wartime Moscow’s cinemas, administrative activities of state and party bodies in the area of flm distribution, the author draws the following conclusions. Cinemas’ “representation of space” did not change significantly since the pre-war years; they remained places of leisure and entertainment. At the same time, cinemas as agitation platforms were widely involved in propaganda for mobilization. Cinemas’ “spatial practices” under war conditions were significantly transformed due to the intensification of propaganda work and the obligation to strictly adhere to special instructions. Cinemas’ “spaces of representation” were directly related to significant changes in the repertoire: on the one hand, film distributors relied on edifying “defense” films, and on the other hand, on what the mass audience was primarily interested in, that is, distracting and relaxing melodramas and adventures, as well as war dramas and documentary films consolidating the “enemy image” and providing information from the fronts. In addition, Soviet moviegoers discovered “another world” on the screen through films of the Allies, American and British cinema production.

The article examines the formation of scientifc historical knowledge in the West Ural region and analyzes the works of authors who have made a signifcant contribution to the study of the history and culture of this region, expanded and enriched scholarly vision of the Russia’s past. Attention is focused on such an important area of national culture as regional studies. Te frst works on the history of the Western Urals date back to the 18th century. Te pre-Soviet period witnessed the appearance of special studies dealing with the development of industries, contribution of the Stroganov dynasty to the progress of the Perm-Kama region etc. along with the general works on the social, economic, cultural development of this territory. Regional studies, born in the Urals in the 18th century, received a powerful impetus in the second half of the 19th century. Local historians of that time understood the importance of such a research and strived to link it with processes across Russia. The author examines the efficient activities of the teaching staff of the Perm University established in 1916 as a branch of Petrograd University, its role in the development of the local history movement and scholarly study of regional history, which made the university the Ural centre for humanities research and studies in Ural history. The period of the “golden decade of national local history” lasted until the turn of the 1920s and 1930s. After the complete ideological control over humanities had been established and the course of forced industrialization had been adopted, the so-called industrial regional studies began to be implanted. Local lore societies, mainly of a humanities profile, began to announce their dissolution due to criticism, which would inevitably lead to their closure. Some representatives of academic science had to leave the university, and these resignations undoubtedly affected the quality of research. Nevertheless, the accumulated richest material, methodology and lines of research in that controversial period are of great interest to modern scholars.