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Books > Humanities > History > World history > BCE to 500 CE
While modern students of Greek religion are alert to the
occasion-boundedness of epiphanies and divinatory dreams in Greek
polytheism, they are curiously indifferent to the generic
parameters of the relevant textual representations on which they
build their argument. Instead, generic questions are normally left
to the literary critic, who in turn is less interested in religion.
To evaluate the relation of epiphanies and divinatory dreams to
Greek polytheism, the book investigates relevant representations
through all major textual genres in pagan antiquity. The evidence
of the investigated genres suggests that the 'epiphany-mindedness'
of the Greeks, postulated by most modern critics, is largely an
academic chimaera, a late-comer of Christianizing
19th-century-scholarship. It is primarily founded on a
misinterpretation of Homer's notorious anthropomorphism (in the
Iliad and Odyssey but also in the Homeric Hymns). This
anthropomorphism, which is keenly absorbed by Greek drama and
figural art, has very little to do with the religious lifeworld
experience of the ancient Greeks, as it appears in other genres. By
contrast, throughout all textual genres investigated here,
divinatory dreams are represented as an ordinary and real part of
the ancient Greeks' lifeworld experience.
A wide-ranging survey of the history of the Roman Empire--from its
establishment to decline and beyond Empire of the Romans, from
Julius Caesar to Justinian provides a sweeping historical survey of
the Roman empire. Uncommonly expansive in its chronological scope,
this unique two-volume text explores the time period encompassing
Julius Caesar's death in 44 BCE to the end of Justinian's reign six
centuries later. Internationally-recognized author and scholar of
Roman history John Matthews balances broad historical narrative
with discussions of important occurrences in their thematic
contexts. This integrative approach helps readers learn the
timeline of events, understand their significance, and consider
their historical sources. Defining the time period in a clear, yet
not overly restrictive manner, the text reflects contemporary
trends in the study of social, cultural, and literary themes.
Chapters examine key points in the development of the Roman Empire,
including the establishment of empire under Augustus, Pax Romana
and the Antonine Age, the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine,
and the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Discussions of the
Justinianic Age, the emergence of Byzantium, and the post-Roman
West help readers understand the later Roman world and its impact
on the subsequent history of Europe. Written to be used as
standalone resource or in conjunction with its companion Volume II:
Selective Anthology, this innovative textbook: Combines accessible
narrative exposition with thorough examination of historical source
material Provides well-rounded coverage of Roman economy, society,
law, and literary and philosophical culture Offers content taken
from the author's respected Roman Empire survey courses at Yale and
Oxford University Includes illustrations, maps and plans, and
chapter-by-chapter bibliographical essays Empire of the Romans,
from Julius Caesar to Justinian is a valuable text for survey
courses in Roman history as well as general readers interested in
the 600 year time frame of the empire.
"This book is the true story of my (Art Winstanley) involvement in
the Denver Police scandal of the early 1960s. I was the first
policeman arrested and the first to be sent to the Colorado Stated
Penitentiary in Canon City in the largest case of police corruption
in U.S. history"--Back cover.
The circulation of books was the motor of classical civilization.
However, books were both expensive and rare, and so libraries -
private and public, royal and civic - played key roles in
articulating intellectual life. This collection, written by an
international team of scholars, presents a fundamental reassessment
of how ancient libraries came into being, how they were organized
and how they were used. Drawing on papyrology and archaeology, and
on accounts written by those who read and wrote in them, it
presents new research on reading cultures, on book collecting and
on the origins of monumental library buildings. Many of the
traditional stories told about ancient libraries are challenged.
Few were really enormous, none were designed as research centres,
and occasional conflagrations do not explain the loss of most
ancient texts. But the central place of libraries in Greco-Roman
culture emerges more clearly than ever.
Imagine investigating a murder in which there was no crime scene,
no physical evidence, and no victim's body. How would you identify
a person of interest in such a case? Designed to be used alongside
Person of Interest and the Person of Interest Video Study, this
study guide will teach you the same investigative strategies used
by detective J. Warner Wallace to examine the claims of history.
Dateline featured cold-case detective and bestselling author, J.
Warner Wallace, has investigated a number of these "no body missing
person" cases and has successfully identified and convicted the
killers, even without the victim's body or evidence from the crime
scene. Can the historicity of Jesus be investigated in the same
way? Can the truth about Jesus be uncovered even without a body or
a crime scene? In Person of Interest, Wallace describes his own
personal investigative journey from atheism to Christianity, as he
employs a unique investigative strategy to confirm the historicity
and deity of Jesus--without relying on the New Testament
manuscripts. Imagine a scenario in which every New Testament
document has been destroyed, Wallace carefully sifts through the
evidence from history alone to reconstruct the identity of Jesus as
the world's most important person of interest. Person of Interest
will: Invite readers into the life of a cold-case detective as he
uncovers the truth about Jesus, using the same approach he also
employs to solve a real murder case Teach readers how to become
good detectives, using an innovative and unique "'fuse' and
'fallout'" investigative strategy they can also use to examine
other claims of history Help readers to explore common objections
to Christianity Concrete, compelling, and unique in its approach,
Person of Interest will strengthen the faith of believers, while
engaging those who are skeptical and distrusting of the New
Testament.
The edition collects and presents all papyri and ostraca from the
Ptolemaic period, connected to Jews and Judaism, published since
1957. It is a follow-up to the Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum (= CPJ)
of the 1950s and 60s, edited by Victor Tcherikover, which had
consisted of three volumes - I devoted to the Ptolemaic period; II
to the Early Roman period (until 117 CE); and III to the Late Roman
and Byzantine periods. The present book, CPJ vol. IV, is the first
in a new trilogy, and is devoted to the Ptolemaic period. The
present and upcoming volumes supplement the original CPJ. They
present over 300 papyri that have been published since 1957. They
also include papyri in languages other than Greek (Hebrew, Aramaic,
Demotic), and literary papyri which had not been included in the
old CPJ. Aside from quite a number of papyri in these categories,
the present volume (of over 100 documents) includes 21 papyri from
Herakleopolis in Middle-Egypt that record the existence of a Jewish
self-ruling body - the politeuma. These papyri put an end to a
long-standing dispute over whether such a Jewish institution had
ever existed in Egypt.
The Roman Principate was defined by its embrace of a central
paradox - the ruling order strenuously advertised continuity with
the past, even as the emperor's monarchical power represented a
fundamental breach with the traditions of the 'free' Republic it
had replaced. Drawing on the evidence of coins, public monuments
and literary texts ranging from Tacitus and Pliny the Younger to
Frontinus and Silius Italicus, this study traces a series of six
crucial moments in which the memory of the Republic intruded upon
Roman public discourse in the period from the fall of Nero to the
height of Trajan's power. During these years, remembering the
Republic was anything but a remote and antiquarian undertaking. It
was instead a vital cultural process, through which emperors and
their subjects attempted to navigate many of the fault lines that
ran through Roman Imperial culture.
In this book, Sara Phang explores the ideals and realities of Roman
military discipline, which regulated the behaviour of soldiers in
combat and their punishment, as well as economic aspects of their
service, including compensation and other benefits, work and
consumption. This thematically-organized study analyzes these
aspects of discipline, using both literary and documentary sources.
Phang emphasizes social and cultural conflicts in the Roman army.
Contrary to the impression that Roman emperors 'bought' their
soldiers and indulged them, discipline restrained such behaviour
and legitimized and stabilized the imperial power. Phang argues
that emperors and aristocratic commanders gained prestige from
imposing discipline, while displaying leadership in person and a
willingness to compromise with a restive soldiery.
Covering figures ranging from Catherine Monvoisin to Vlad the
Impaler, and describing murders committed in ancient aristocracies
to those attributed to vampires, witches, and werewolves, this book
documents the historic reality of serial murder. The majority of
serial murder studies support the consensus that serial murder is
essentially an American crime-a flawed assumption, as the United
States has existed for less than 250 years. What is far more likely
is that the perverse urge to repeatedly and intentionally kill has
existed throughout human history, and that a substantial percentage
of serial murders throughout ancient times, the middle ages, and
the pre-modern era were attributed to imaginative surrogate
explanations: dragons, demons, vampires, werewolves, and witches.
Legends, Monsters, or Serial Murderers? The Real Story Behind an
Ancient Crime dispels the interrelated misconceptions that serial
murder is an American crime and a relatively recent phenomenon,
making the novel argument that serial murder is a historic
reality-an unrecognized fact in ancient times. Noted serial
murderers such as the Roman Locuta (The Poisoner); Gilles De Rais
of France, a prolific serial killer of children; Andres Bichel of
Bavaria; and Chinese aristocratic serial killer T'zu-Hsi are
spotlighted. This book provides a unique perspective that
integrates supernatural interpretations of serial killing with the
history of true crime, reanimating mythic entities of horror
stories and presenting them as real criminals.
Published for the first time in this book is the History of the
Governors of Egypt by Abu Umar Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Kindi (d.
870). Edited from a single manuscript by Nicholas Koenig, this
study is as close as possible to a critical edition when only one
manuscript survives.
The Romans commanded the largest and most complex empire the world
had ever seen, or would see until modern times. The challenges,
however, were not just political, economic and military: Rome was
also the hub of a vast information network, drawing in worldwide
expertise and refashioning it for its own purposes. This
groundbreaking collection of essays considers the dialogue between
technical literature and imperial society, drawing on, developing
and critiquing a range of modern cultural theories (including those
of Michel Foucault and Edward Said). How was knowledge shaped into
textual forms, and how did those forms encode relationships between
emperor and subjects, theory and practice, Roman and Greek, centre
and periphery? Ordering Knowledge in the Roman Empire will be
required reading for those concerned with the intellectual and
cultural history of the Roman Empire, and its lasting legacy in the
medieval world and beyond.
Law and Empire is the first systematic treatment in English by a historian of the nature, aims and efficacy of public law in the society of the Later Roman Empire. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the author offers new interpretations of central issues in the study of Roman law--what it was and how effective: contemporary attitudes to torture and punishment, judicial corruption, and the settlement of disputes.
Death and Burial uses archaeological and textual evidence to
examine death and burial in Iron Age Israel and Aram. Despite
dramatic differences in the religious systems of these peoples,
this monograph demonstrates striking connections between their
basic material and psychological frameworks for dealing with death.
The classic account of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides,
translated by Richard Crawley. Himself an Athenian general who
served in the war, Thucydides relates the invasions, treacheries,
plagues, amazing speeches, ambitions, virtues, and emotions of the
storied conflict between Athens and Sparta in a work that has the
feel of a tragic drama. Though in part an analysis of war policy,
The History of the Peloponnesian War is also a dramatic account of
the rise and fall of Athens by an Athenian man.
This book reconstructs the history of conception, pregnancy and
childbirth in Europe from antiquity to the 20th century, focusing
on its most significant turning points: the emergence of a
medical-scientific approach to delivery in Ancient Greece, the
impact of Christianity, the establishment of the man-midwife in the
18th century, the medicalisation of childbirth, the emergence of a
new representation of the foetus as "unborn citizen", and, finally,
the revolution of reproductive technologies. The book explores a
history that, far from being linear, progressive or homogeneous, is
characterised by significant continuities as well as
transformations. The ways in which a woman gives birth and lives
her pregnancy and the postpartum period are the result of a complex
series of factors. The book therefore places these events in their
wider cultural, social and religious contexts, which influenced the
forms taken by rituals and therapeutic practices, religious and
civil prescriptions and the regulation of the female body. The
investigation of this complex experience represents a crucial
contribution to cultural, social and gender history, as well as an
indispensable tool for understanding today's reality. It will be of
great use to undergraduates studying the history of childbirth, the
history of medicine, the history of the body, as well as women's
and gender history more broadly.
The second volume of the Giessen Papyri (P.Giss. II) includes an
edition of two previously unpublished Greek documents. The first
one, numbered 127, is a notebook roll from Philadelphia dated to
the last years of Vespasian's reign, containing nine documents
concerning overdue rents for land in the ousiac parces; of
particular interest is a draft of a complaint regarding peculation
addressed to Ammonios, strategos of the Herakleidou meris. The
second, numbered 128, is a fiscal codex from the Hermopolite nome,
dated to the second half of the fourth century. This papyrus offers
direct insight into many taxation issues, including the method of
tax assessment based on the concept of kephale, which is still
poorly understood; it also provides information regarding key
fiscal changes that occurred after the reforms of Diocletian. The
editions of these papyri will help scholars to reconstruct specific
details of everyday life in Roman and Late Roman Egypt in areas
including taxation, monetary systems, land tenure, onomastics,
prosopography, administration, and social and economic situations.
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