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Books > Humanities > History > World history > BCE to 500 CE
This volume aims to present an updated portrait of the Roman
countryside in Roman Spain by the comparison of different
theoretical orientations and methodological strategies including
the discussion of textual and iconographic sources and the analysis
of the faunal remains. The archaeology of rural areas of the Roman
world has traditionally been focused on the study of villae, both
as an architectural model of Roman otium and as the central core of
an economic system based on the extensive agricultural exploitation
of latifundia. The assimilation of most rural settlements in
provincial areas of the Roman Empire with the villa model implies
the acceptance of specific ideas, such as the generalization of the
slave mode of production, the rupture of the productive capacity of
Late Iron Age communities, or the reduction in importance of free
peasant labor in the Roman economy of most rural areas. However, in
recent decades, as a consequence of the generalized extension of
preventive or emergency archaeology and survey projects in most
areas of the ancient territories of the Roman Empire, this
traditional conception of the Roman countryside articulated around
monumental villae is undergoing a thorough revision. New research
projects are changing our current perception of the countryside of
most parts of the Roman provincial world by assessing the
importance of different types of rural settlements. In the last
years, we have witnessed the publication of archaeological reports
on the excavation of thousands of small rural sites, farms,
farmsteads, enclosures, rural agglomerations of diverse nature,
etc. One of the main consequences of all this research activity is
a vigorous discussion of the paradigm of the slave mode of
production as the basis of Roman rural economies in many provincial
areas. A similar change in the paradigm is taking place, with some
delay, in the archaeology of Roman Spain. After decades of
preventive/emergency interventions there is a considerable quantity
of unpublished data on this kind of rural settlements. However,
unlike the cases of Roman Britain or Gallia Comata, no synthesis or
national projects are undertaking the task of systematizing all
these data. With the intention of addressing this current situation
the present volume discusses the results and methodological
strategies of different projects studying peasant settlements in
several regions of Roman Spain.
This volume presents a wide range of literary and epigraphic
sources on the history of the world's first democracy, offering a
comprehensive survey of the key themes and principles of Athenian
democratic culture. Beginning with the mythical origins of Athenian
democracy under Theseus and describing the historical development
of Athens' democratic institutions through Solon's reforms to the
birth of democracy under Cleisthenes, the book addresses the wider
cultural and social repercussions of the democratic system,
concluding with a survey of Athenian democracy in the Hellenistic
and Roman age. All sources are presented in translation with full
annotation and commentary and each chapter opens with an
introduction to provide background and direction for readers.
Sources include material by Aristotle, Homer, Aristophanes,
Herodotus, Thucydides, Cicero, Tacitus and many others. The volume
also includes an A-Z of key terms, an annotated bibliography with
suggestions for further reading in the primary sources as well as
modern critical works on Athenian democracy, and a full index.
This book is a full translation of the Gongyang Commentary on the
Spring and Autumn Annals, a history of the Chinese state of Lu from
722 to 481 BCE, annotated so as to highlight the moral philosophy
of its supposed writer, Confucius.
This volume covers the transition period stretching from the reign
of Justinian I to the end of the 8th century, focusing on the
experience of individuals who lived through the last decades of
Byzantine rule in Egypt before the arrival of the new Arab rulers.
The contributions drawing from the wealth of sources we have for
Egypt, explore phenomena of stability and disruption during the
transition from the classical to the postclassical world.
From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the
fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced
art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000
years What does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated
in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we
deplore? In this book-against a background of today's "sculpture
wars"-Mary Beard tells the story of how for more than two millennia
portraits of the rich, powerful, and famous in the western world
have been shaped by the image of Roman emperors, especially the
"Twelve Caesars," from the ruthless Julius Caesar to the
fly-torturing Domitian. Twelve Caesars asks why these murderous
autocrats have loomed so large in art from antiquity and the
Renaissance to today, when hapless leaders are still caricatured as
Neros fiddling while Rome burns. Beginning with the importance of
imperial portraits in Roman politics, this richly illustrated book
offers a tour through 2,000 years of art and cultural history,
presenting a fresh look at works by artists from Memling and
Mantegna to the nineteenth-century American sculptor Edmonia Lewis,
as well as by generations of weavers, cabinetmakers, silversmiths,
printers, and ceramicists. Rather than a story of a simple
repetition of stable, blandly conservative images of imperial men
and women, Twelve Caesars is an unexpected tale of changing
identities, clueless or deliberate misidentifications, fakes, and
often ambivalent representations of authority. From Beard's
reconstruction of Titian's extraordinary lost Room of the Emperors
to her reinterpretation of Henry VIII's famous Caesarian
tapestries, Twelve Caesars includes fascinating detective work and
offers a gripping story of some of the most challenging and
disturbing portraits of power ever created. Published in
association with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
The Hippocratic Epidemics and Galen s Commentary on them constitute
milestones in the development of clinical medicine. However, they
also illustrate the rich exegetical traditions that existed in the
post-classical Greek world. The present volume investigates these
texts from various and diverse vantage points: textual criticism;
Greek philology; knowledge transfer through translations; and
medical history. Especially the Syriac and Arabic traditions of the
Epidemics come under scrutiny."
This book provides the first full edition and commentary of the
Oxyrhynchus Glossary (POxy 1802 and 4812). This is a unique
document both for the history of Greek lexicography and for the
study of the cultural and linguistic exchange between the Greeks
and the "others" in the Hellenistic near East. The fragment
contains a fully alphabetized glossary with lemmas defined as
"Persian," "Babylonian," and "Chaldaean", as well as lemmas taken
from Greek dialects or common Greek. The entries are rich in
quotations from ancient authorities including Berossus, Apollodorus
and Erasistratus. This glossary had never been analyzed in depth
previously. Francesca Schironi provides a comprehensive
introduction and commentary that places the Oxyrhynchus Glossary
into the wider context of Greek lexicography and scholarship,
discusses its interest for non-Greek languages and the problems
related to linguistic exchanges in the Near Eastern areas, and
shows the uniqueness and value of this document. The Oxyrhynchus
glossary and this study will be of interest to classicists,
papyrologists, comparative philologists, and scholars interested in
the history of Greek lexicography and scholarship.
John Ludwig Burckhardt (1784-1817), Swiss by birth, travelled to
London in 1806 with an introduction to Sir Joseph Banks, leading
member of the African Association. Burckhardt thereafter devoted
himself to the exploration of the interior of Africa, acquainting
himself with the language and customs of Arabic peoples in order to
pass through Islamic countries then hostile to Christians. Indeed,
so proficient he became in the vulgar Arabic, and in his knowledge
of the Qu'ran, that he was not only accepted as a true believer,
but praised as a great Muslim scholar. In 1814 he became one of the
first Christians to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca. In 1817, while
at Cairo, Burckhardt contracted dysentry from which he died. He was
buried as a holy pilgrim in the Muslim cemetery there. 'Travels in
Nubia' was the first of several works based on Burckhardt's
journals to be published by the African Society. First published in
1819, this facsimile edition of a rare work will be greatly
welcomed by Arabic scholars.
Various goddesses of the ancient Mediterranean world were once
understood to be Virgin Mothers--creators who birthed the entire
cosmos without need of a male consort. This is the first book to
explore evidence of the original parthenogenetic power of deities
such as Athena, Hera, Artemis, Gaia, Demeter, Persephone, and the
Gnostic Sophia. It provides stunning feminist insights about the
deeper meaning of related stories, such as the judgment of Paris,
the labors of Heracles, and the exploits of the Amazons. It also
roots the Thesmophoria and Eleusinian Mysteries in female
parthenogenetic power, thereby providing what is at long last a
coherent understanding of these mysterious rites.
Vitruvius' De architectura, the only extant work from Antiquity
dedicated to Architecture, has had a rich and diverse reception
history. The present volume aims to highlight the different aspects
of this history, showing how Vitruvius' work was systematically and
continuously misunderstood to justify innovation. Its comprehensive
and in-depth analyses make this book a reference work in the field
of Vitruvian scholarship.
Berenice II Euergetis (267/6-221 BCE), the daughter of King Magas
of Cyrene (Libya) and wife of King Ptolemy III of Egypt, was queen
at an important juncture in Hellenistic history. This collection of
four essays focuses on aspects of chronology, genealogy and marital
practices, royal ideology and queenship.
A very popular book which provides a great introduction to the
ancient Roman life, political system and religion.
"Walk Like An Egyptian is a compelling and informative survey of
ancient Egyptian philosophy and religion. Chapters are devoted to
basic concepts of reality and the human soul; the essential
Egyptian view of the self; the role and symbolism of ancient
Egyptian deities, and much, much more. Walk Like An Egyptian is a
highly valued contribution to New Age studies and will prove of
immense interest to students of Egyptology, philosophy,
metaphysical studies, and the meaning of the self." -- Midwest Book
Review
Blumell and Wayment present a thorough compendium of all published
papyri, parchments, and patristic sources that relate to
Christianity at Oxyrhynchus before the fifth century CE. Christian
Oxyrhynchus provides new and expanded editions of Christian
literary and documentary texts that include updated readings,
English translationsaasome of which represent the first English
translation of a textaaand comprehensive notes. The volume features
New Testament texts carefully collated against other textual
witnesses and a succinct introduction for each Oxyrhynchus text
that provides information about the date of the papyrus, its unique
characteristics, and textual variants. Documentary texts are
grouped both by genre and date, giving readers access to the Decian
Libelli , references to Christians in third- and fourth-century
texts, and letters written by Christians. A compelling resource for
researchers, teachers, and students, Christian Oxyrhynchus enables
broad access to these crucial primary documents beyond specialists
in papyrology, Greek, Latin, and Coptic.
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