Preface

In the Summer of 1977 Carleton University announced the forthcoming publication of Florilegium, an annual devoted to the ancient and mediaeval cultures of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. The first issue was planned for the Spring of 1978. This, the first issue of Florilegium, appears, therefore, one year late — not as a result of the editors' tardiness but because of the comparatively small number of acceptable submissions that met both the high standards of quality set by our editorial board and the particular scope planned for the annual at its initiation. Our intention was then, and still is, to welcome papers which take a cross-cultural or interdisciplinary approach to history, literature, and other relevant areas of study, which explore the continuities between the ancient and the mediaeval world, and which try to develop n ew methodologies or adapt those developed by other disciplines. Many of the papers in the first volume do not come as close to meeting these objectives as we would have liked; it is our hope that authors interested in this kind of research will be more widely represented in future issues.