This study focuses on the metaphysics of the great Arabic philosopher Avicenna (or Ibn Sina, d. 1037 C.E.). More specifically, it delves into Avicenna's theory of quiddity or essence, a topic which seized the attention of thinkers both during the medieval and modern periods. Building on recent contributions in Avicennian studies, this book proposes a new and comprehensive interpretation of Avicenna's theory of 'the pure quiddity' (also known as 'the quiddity in itself') and of its ontology. The study provides a careful philological analysis of key passages gleaned from the primary sources in Arabic and a close philosophical contextualization of Avicenna's doctrines in light of the legacy of ancient Greek philosophy in Islam and the early development of Arabic philosophy (falsafah) and theology (kalam). The study pays particular attention to how Avicenna's theory of quiddity relates to the ancient Greek philosophical discussion about the universals or common things and Mu'tazilite ontology. Its main thesis is that Avicenna articulated a sophisticated doctrine of the ontology of essence in light of Greek and Bahshamite sources, which decisively shaped subsequent intellectual history in Islam and the Latin West.

This is an unrivalled collection of source material on women in the ancient Greek world including literary, rhetorical, philosophical and legal sources, and papyri and inscriptions. The study of women in the ancient Mediterranean world is a topic of growing interest among classicists and ancient historians, and also students of history, sociology and women's studies. This volume is an essential resource supplying a compilation of source material in translation, with contextual commentaries, a glossary of key terms and an annotated bibliography. Texts come from literary, rhetorical, philosophical and legal sources, as well as papyri and inscriptions, and each text will be placed into the cultural mosaic to which it belongs. Ranging geographically from the ancient Near East through Egypt and Greece to Rome and its wider empire, the volume follows a clear chronological structure. Beginning in the eighth century BCE the coverage continues through archaic and Classical Athens, Etruscan Italy and the Roman Republic, concluding with the late Roman Empire and the advent of Christianity. "The Continuum Sources in Ancient History" series presents a definitive collection of source material in translation, combined with expert contextual commentary and annotation to provide a comprehensive survey of each volume's subject. Material is drawn from literary, as well as epigraphic, legal and religious, sources. Aimed primarily at undergraduate students, the series will also be invaluable for researchers, and faculty devising and teaching courses.

Cleopatra tells the story of the girl queen who inherited the richest empire in the world - one that stretched from the scorching deserts of lower Egypt to the shining Mediterranean metropolis of Alexandria. In his concise biography, Historian Jacob Abbott brings to life the intrigue, romance and dramatic action of Cleopatra's life and times.

'Lively and amusing [...] an engaging read. Ryan successfully makes this ancient civilisation more immediate and accessible.' - Current World Archaeology _____________________ '[Donald] Ryan - who has worked in and on Egypt for decades, as an archaeologist, historian and popular writer - has succeeded in bringing all of his characters to life. This is a great little volume.' - KMT Magazine _____________________ 'Very readable [...] its originality lies in the clever construction of the content. The variety of characters covered allows for a considerable breadth of information on life for the rich and poor.' - Ancient Egypt Magazine _____________________ Spend 24 hours with the inhabitants of the most powerful kingdom in the ancient world. Ancient Egypt wasn't all pyramids, sphinxes and gold sarcophagi. For your average Egyptian, life was tough, and work was hard, conducted under the burning gaze of the sun god Ra. During the course of a day in the ancient city of Thebes (modern-day Luxor), Egypt's religious capital, we meet 24 Egyptians from all strata of society - from the king to the bread-maker, the priestess to the fisherman, the soldier to the midwife - and get to know what the real Egypt was like by spending an hour in their company. We encounter a different one of these characters every hour and in every chapter, and through their eyes see what an average day in ancient Egypt was really like.

When thinking about the Mediterranean, Fernand Braudel's haunting words resound like an echo of the sea and its millenary history. From Prehistory until today, the Mediterranean has been setting, witness and protagonist of mythical adventures, of encounters with the Other, of battles and the rise and fall of cultures and empires, of the destinies of humans. Braudel's appeal for a long duree history of the Mediterranean challenged traditional views that often present it as a sea fragmented and divided through periods. This volume proposes a journey into the bright and dark sides of the ancient Mediterranean through the kaleidoscopic gaze of artists who from the Renaissance to the 21st century have been inspired by its myths and history. The view of those who imagined and recreated the past of the sea has largely contributed to the shaping of modern cultures which are inexorably rooted and embedded in Mediterranean traditions. The contributions look at modern visual reinterpretations of ancient myths, fiction and history and pay particular attention to the theme of sea travel and travellers, which since Homer's Odyssey has become the epitome of the discovery of new worlds, of cultural exchanges and a metaphor of personal developments and metamorphoses.

In 1869 the late Richard Henry Dana, Jr., prepared a new edition of his "Two Years Before the Mast''. In presenting the first 'author's edition' to the public, he has been encouraged to add an account of a visit to the old scenes, made twenty-four years after, together with notices of the subsequent story and fate of the vessels, and of some of the persons with whom the reader is made acquainted. The popularity of this book has been so great and continued that it is now proposed to make an illustrated edition with new material.

Hadrian's Wall is the largest, most spectacular and one of the most enigmatic historical monument in Britain. Nothing else approaches its vast scale: a land wall running 73 miles from east to west and a sea wall stretching at least 26 miles down the Cumbrian coast. Many of its forts are as large as Britain's most formidable medieval castles, and the wide ditch dug to the south of the Wall, the vallum, is larger than any surviving prehistoric earthwork. Built in a ten-year period by more than 30,000 soldiers and labourers at the behest of an extraordinary emperor, the Wall consisted of more than 24 million stones, giving it a mass greater than all the Egyptian pyramids put together. At least a million people visit Hadrian's Wall each year and it has been designated a World Heritage Site. In this book, based on literary and historical sources as well as the latest archaeological research, Alistair Moffat considers who built the Wall, how it was built, why it was built and how it affected the native peoples who lived in its mighty shadow. The result is a unique and fascinating insight into one of the Wonders of the Ancient World.

Oratory is a valuable source for reconstructing the practices, legalities, and attitudes surrounding sexual labor in classical Athens. It provides evidence of male and female sex laborers, sex slaves, brothels, sex traffickers, the cost of sex, contracts for sexual labor, and manumission practices for sex slaves. Yet the witty, wealthy, and independent hetaira, well-known from other genres, does not feature. Its detailed narratives and character portrayals provide a unique discourse on sexual labor and reveal the complex relationship between such labor and Athenian society. Through a holistic examination of five key speeches, Sexual Labor in the Athenian Courts considers how portrayals of sex laborers intersected with gender, the body, sexuality, the family, urban spaces, and the polis in the context of the Athenian courts. Drawing on gender theory and exploring questions of space, place, and mobility, Allison Glazebrook shows how sex laborers represented a diverse set of anxieties concerning social legitimacy and how the public discourse about them is in fact a discourse on Athenian society, values, and institutions.

The late antique and early medieval Mediterranean was characterized by wide-ranging cultural and linguistic diversity. Yet, under the influence of Christianity, communities in the Mediterranean world were bound together by common concepts of good rulership, which were also shaped by Greco-Roman, Persian, Caucasian, and other traditions. This collection of essays examines ideas of good Christian rulership and the debates surrounding them in diverse cultures and linguistic communities. It grants special attention to communities on the periphery, such as the Caucasus and Nubia, and some essays examine non-Christian concepts of good rulership to offer a comparative perspective. As a whole, the studies in this volume reveal not only the entanglement and affinity of communities around the Mediterranean but also areas of conflict among Christians and between Christians and other cultural traditions. By gathering various specialized studies on the overarching question of good rulership, this volume highlights the possibilities of placing research on classical antiquity and early medieval Europe into conversation with the study of eastern Christianity.

An updated history of classical philology had long been a desideratum of scholars of the ancient world. The volume edited by Diego Lanza and Gherardo Ugolini is structured in three parts. In the first one ("Towards a science of antiquity") the approach of Anglo-Saxon philology (R. Bentley) and the institutionalization of the discipline in the German academic world (C.G. Heyne and F.A. Wolf) are described. In the second part ("The illusion of the archetype. Classical Studies in the Germany of the 19th Century") the theoretical contributions and main methodological disputes that followed are analysed (K. Lachmann, J.G. Hermann, A. Boeckh, F. Nietzsche and U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff). The last part ("The classical philology of the 20th century") treats the redefinition of classical studies after the Great War in Germany (W. Jaeger) and in Italy (G. Pasquali). In this context, the contributions of papyrology and of the new images of antiquity that have emerged in the works of writers, narrators, and translators of our time have been considered. This part finishes with the presentation of some of the most influential scholars of the last decades (B. Snell, E.R. Dodds, J.-P. Vernant, B. Gentili, N. Loraux).

The epics of the three Flavian poets-Silius Italicus, Statius, and Valerius Flaccus-have, in recent times, attracted the attention of scholars, who have re-evaluated the particular merits of Flavian poetry as far more than imitation of the traditional norms and patterns. Drawn from sixty years of scholarship, this edited collection is the first volume to collate the most influential modern academic writings on Flavian epic poetry, revised and updated to provide both scholars and students alike with a broad yet comprehensive overview of the field. A wide range of topics receive coverage, and analysis and interpretation of individual poems are integrated throughout. The plurality of the critical voices included in the volume presents a much-needed variety of approaches, which are used to tackle questions of intertextuality, gender, poetics, and the social and political context of the period. In doing so, the volume demonstrates that by engaging in a complex and challenging intertextual dialogue with their literary predecessors, the innovative epics of the Flavian poets respond to contemporary needs, expressing overt praise, or covert anxiety, towards imperial rule and the empire.