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Books > Humanities > History > World history > BCE to 500 CE
This volume brings together scholars from various areas (history,
philology, linguistics, history of political ideas) and attempts a
fresh survey of current trends in the analysis of Thucydides'
historical narrative. Individual contributions range from a general
outlook of Thucydides' historical and historiographical concepts to
detailed analysis of narrative strategies, linguistic features and
stylistic devices. Special attention is given to questions such as
the representation of character, the role of individuals, the
interaction between leaders and masses in Athenian democracy, the
construction of speeches in Thucydides' work, etc. The analysis of
language, style and narrative properties is related to the
construction of meaning according to current standards of textual
analysis and interpreation.
From the early modern period, Greek historiography has been studied
in the context of Cicero's notion historia magistra vitae and
considered to exclude conceptions of the future as different from
the present and past. Comparisons with the Roman, Judeo-Christian
and modern historiography have sought to justify this perspective
by drawing on a category of the future as a temporal mode that
breaks with the present. In this volume, distinguished classicists
and historians challenge this contention by raising the question of
what the future was and meant in antiquity by offering fresh
considerations of prognostic and anticipatory voices in Greek
historiography from Herodotus to Appian and by tracing the roots of
established views on historical time in the opposition between
antiquity and modernity. They look both at contemporary scholarly
argument and the writings of Greek historians in order to explore
the relation of time, especially the future, to an idea of the
historical that is formulated in the plural and is always in
motion. By reflecting on the prognostic of historical time the
volume will be of interest not only to classical scholars, but to
all who are interested in the history and theory of historical
time.
Malaria and Rome is the first comprehensive book on the history of malaria in Roman Italy. Aimed at an interdisciplinary readership, it explores the evolution and ecology of malaria, its medical and demographic effects on human populations in antiquity, its social and economic effects, the human responses to it, and the human interpretations of it. Robert Sallares argues that malaria became increasingly prevalent in Roman times in central Italy as a result of ecological change and alterations to the physical landscape such as deforestation. Making full use of contemporary sources and comparative material from other periods, he shows that malaria had a significant effect on mortality rates in certain regions of Roman Italy.
This is the first full-scale assessment of the theological, social
and ideational implications of our new understandings of ancient
Israel's social and religious development. Scholars now stress the
gradual emergence of Israel out of the culture of ancient Palestine
and the surrounding ancient Near East rather than contrast Israel
with the ancient world. Our new paradigms stress the ongoing and
unfinished nature of the monotheistic 'revolution', which is indeed
still in process today. Gnuse takes a further bold step in setting
the emergence of monotheism in a wider intellectual context: he
argues brilliantly that the interpretation of Israel's development
as both an evolutionary and revolutionary process corresponds to
categories of contemporary evolutionary thought in the biological
and palaeontological sciences (Punctuated Equilibrium).
Comprehensive overview of the entire Near East, including Egypt and
ancient Israel, allowing students to work comparatively across
cultures. New edition incorporates new insights from recent
technological advances, and recent interest in subject territories
and imperialism in the Near East. Incorporates archaeological and
art historical evidence, encouraging students to engage with
material culture as important evidence of the past. "Debating the
evidence" section discusses controversial issues in Near Eastern
studies, allowing students to engage with these important topics.
Geography of Claudius Ptolemy, originally titled Geographia and
written in the second century, is a depiction of the geography of
the Roman Empire at the time. Though inaccurate due to Ptolemy's
varying methods of measurement and use of outdated data, Geography
of Claudius Ptolemy is nonetheless an excellent example of ancient
geographical study and scientific method. This edition contains
more than 40 maps and illustrations, reproduced based on Ptolemy's
original manuscript. It remains a fascinating read for students of
scientific history and Greek influence.CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY (A.D. 90-
A.D. 168) was a poet, mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and
geographer who wrote in Greek, though he was a Roman citizen. He is
most well-known for three scientific treatises he wrote on
astronomy, astrology, and geography, respectively titled Almagest,
Apotelesmatika, and Geographia. His work influenced early Islamic
and European studies, which in turn influenced much of the modern
world. Ptolemy died in Alexandria as a member of Greek society.
Excavation of the Small Temple of Petra, Jordan has revealed a
Roman building likely dedicated to the imperial cult. Constructed
in the wake of Roman annexation of Nabataea in 106 CE, the temple
would have helped to solidify Roman control. Reid systematically
examines the evidence used to support the identification of the
Small Temple as an imperial cult building through the discussion of
its prominent use of marble, a material with Roman imperial
associations and almost entirely monopolized by the bureaucracy of
the Roman Empire. The analysis of architectural evidence, as well
as the placement of the Small Temple within the city, also support
this identification.
I Know myself, I know myself, I am One With God -From the Pert Em
Heru "The Ru Pert em Heru" or "Ancient Egyptian Book of The Dead,"
or "Book of Coming Forth By Day" as it is more popularly known, has
fascinated the world since the successful translation of Ancient
Egyptian hieroglyphic scripture over 150 years ago. The astonishing
writings in it reveal that the Ancient Egyptians believed in life
after death and in an ultimate destiny to discover the Divine. The
elegance and aesthetic beauty of the hieroglyphic text itself has
inspired many see it as an art form in and of itself. But is there
more to it than that? Did the Ancient Egyptian wisdom contain more
than just aphorisms and hopes of eternal life beyond death? In this
volume Dr. Muata Ashby, the author of over 25 books on Ancient
Egyptian Yoga Philosophy has produced a new translation of the
original texts which uncovers a mystical teaching underlying the
sayings and rituals instituted by the Ancient Egyptian Sages and
Saints. "Once the philosophy of Ancient Egypt is understood as a
mystical tradition instead of as a religion or primitive mythology,
it reveals its secrets which if practiced today will lead anyone to
discover the glory of spiritual self-discovery. The Pert em Heru is
in every way comparable to the Indian Upanishads or the Tibetan
Book of the Dead." $28.95 ISBN# 1-884564-28-3 Size: 81/2" X
The coverage of the Reallexikon der Assyriologie und
Vorderasiatischen Archaologie embraces those ancient Near Eastern
cultures which used the cuneiform script (Mesopotamia, North Syria
and Anatolia) together with neighbouring regions in the 4th to the
1st millennia B.C. Entries include important personalities,
deities, ancient place names and modern archaeological sites, as
well as cultural items and concepts, which are treated from both
philological and archaeological perspectives, as appropriate.
The decline of the Roman Empire has been a subject of fascination
and debate for centuries. In this original new work, Neil Christie
draws on numerous sources, interweaving the latest archaeological
evidence, to reconstruct the period's landscape and events. In the
process, he rethinks some of historians' most widely held and
long-established views: Was the Empire's disintegration caused
primarily by external or internal factors? Why did the Eternal City
of Old Rome collapse in the West, while the 'New Rome' of
Constantinople endured in the East? What was destroyed and what
remained of Roman culture after successive invasions by Vandals,
Goths, Huns and other 'barbarians', and what was the impact of the
new Christian religion? As Christie expertly demonstrates, the
archaeology of the late Roman period reveals intriguing answers to
these and other questions. Taking an innovative, interdisciplinary
approach that combines traditional historical methods and a unique
familiarity with the Empire's physical remnants, he uncovers new
aspects of Rome's military struggles, its shifting geography, and
the everyday lives of its subjects. Written in a clear, accessible
style, The Fall of the Western Roman Empire is a perfect
introduction for newcomers to the subject, and essential reading
for undergraduate students and specialists in archaeology and
ancient history.
The conventional view of Aristophanes bristles with problems.
Important testimony for Alcibiades' paramount role in comedy is
consistently disregarded, and the tradition that "masks were made
to look like the komodoumenoi, so that before an actor spoke a
word, the audience would recognize who was being attacked" is
hardly ever invoked. If these testimonia are taken into account, a
fascinating picture emerges, where the komodoumenoi are based on
the Periclean household: older characters on Pericles himself,
younger on Alcibiades. Aspasia, Pericles' mistress, and Hipparete,
Alcibiades' wife, lie behind many female characters, and
Alcibiades' ambiguous sexuality also allows him to be shown on the
stage as a woman, notably as Lysistrata. There is a substantial
overlap between the anecdotal tradition relating to the historical
figures and the plotting of Aristophanes' plays. This extends to
speech patterns, where Alcibiades' speech defect is lampooned.
Aristophanes is consistently critical of Alcibiades' mercurial
politics, and his works can also be seen to have served as an
aide-memoire for Thucydides and Xenophon. If the argument presented
here is correct, then much current scholarship on Aristophanes can
be set aside.
What significations did Egypt have for the Romans a century after
Actium and afterwards? How did Greek imperial authors respond to
the Roman fascination with the Nile? This book explores Egypt's
aftermath beyond the hostility of Augustan rhetoric, and Greek and
Roman topoi of Egyptian "barbarism." Set against history and
material culture, Julio-Claudian, Flavian, Antonine, and Severan
authors reveal a multivalent Egypt that defines Rome's increasingly
diffuse identity while remaining a tertium quid between Roman
Selfhood and foreign Otherness. Vespasian's Alexandrian uprising,
his recognition of Egypt as his power basis, and his patronage of
Isis re-conceptualize Egypt past the ideology of Augustan conquest.
The imperialistic exhilaration and moral angst attending Rome's
Flavian cosmopolitanism find an expressive means in the
geographically and semantically nebulous Nile. The rapprochement
with Egypt continues in the second and early third centuries. The
"Hellenic" Antonines and the African-Syrian Severans expand
perceptions of geography and identity within an increasingly
decentralized and diverse empire. In the political and cultural
discourses of this period, the capacious symbolics of Egypt
validate the empire's religious and ethnic pluralism.
The oath was an institution of fundamental importance across a wide
range of social interactions throughout the ancient Greek world,
making a crucial contribution to social stability and harmony; yet
there has been no comprehensive, dedicated scholarly study of the
subject for over a century. This volume of a two-volume study
explores the nature of oaths as Greeks perceived it, the ways in
which they were used (and sometimes abused) in Greek life and
literature, and their inherent binding power.
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy
Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive
selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to
reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional
imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor
pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues
beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving and promoting the world's literature.
A Prosopography to Martial's Epigrams is the first dictionary of
all the characters and personal names found in the work of Marcus
Valerius Martialis, containing nearly 1,000 comprehensive entries.
Each of them compiles and analyses all the relevant information
regarding the characters themselves, as well as the literary
implications of their presence in Martial's poems. Unlike other
works of this kind, the book encompasses not only real people,
whose positive existence is beyond doubt, but also fictional
characters invented by the poet or inherited from the cultural and
literary tradition. Its entries provide the passages of the
epigrams where the respective characters appear; the general
category to which they belong; the full name (in the case of
historical characters); onomastic information, especially about
frequency, meaning, and etymology; other literary or epigraphical
sources; a prosopographical sketch; a discussion of relevant
manuscript variants; and a bibliography. Much attention is paid to
the literary portrayal of each character and the poetic usages of
their names. This reference work is a much needed tool and is
intended as a stimulus for further research.
The case studies presented in this volume help illuminate the
rationale for the founding of libraries in an age when books were
handwritten, thus contributing to the comparative history of
libraries. They focus on examples ranging from the seventh to the
seventeenth century emanating from the Muslim World, East Asia,
Byzantium and Western Europe. Accumulation and preservation are the
key motivations for the development of libraries. Rulers, scholars
and men of religion were clearly dedicated to collecting books and
sought to protect these fragile objects against the various hazards
that threatened their survival. Many of these treasured books are
long gone, but there remain hosts of evidence enabling one to
reconstruct the collections to which they belonged, found in
ancient buildings, literary accounts, archival documentation and,
most crucially, catalogues. With such material at hand or, in some
cases, the manuscripts of a certain library which have come down to
us, it is possible to reflect on the nature of these libraries of
the past, the interests of their owners, and their role in the
intellectual history of the manuscript age.
This book provides an economic analysis of the earliest Islamic
society, focusing on the policies of the Messenger of Islam (Sawa)
and his successors during the first four formative decades of
Islam. Two institutions of great importance - the market and the
public treasury (Baitul Mal) - and their roles in the development
of the private and public sectors are particularly emphasized in
this study. The first part of the book is devoted to the economic
and cultural dimensions of life in the Arabian Peninsula during the
pre-Islamic period, including an analysis of trade and financial
relationships with the Roman and Persian economies; the challenges
faced by the Messenger's mission and the economic policies of the
Messenger after the migration to Madinah are also examined in
detail. The author then moves on to a devoted analysis of the
nature and functions of the public treasury, its revenues and
expenditures, as well as financial and fiscal policies. Also
examined is the role of the public sector in maintaining
equilibrium in the financial and real sectors, as well as in
promoting economic growth and employment. Analysis of the
institution of the market, its characteristics, and its functions
during the earliest Islamic period constitutes the third section of
the book. The behaviors of consumers, producers, and investors in
an economy without an interest rate mechanism are also addressed
here. The final section investigates the fundamental objective of
Islam for human societies - that is, justice - within the context
of discussions in earlier parts of the book. The author uses
historical economic data, facts, and evidences that are reported
from the period, both prior to and after the establishment of the
Islamic State, to explore the economic relations, policies, and
models that were in practice and applied at that time.
The Book of the Dead was intended to assist the deceased in the
afterlife and comprised a collection of hymns, spells and
instructions to allow the deceased to pass through obstacles in the
afterlife.
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