|
|
Books > History > World history > BCE to 500 CE
Herodotus' Histories is a fascinating account of the interactions
between the Greeks and their powerful Near-Eastern neighbours. In
it he explores the long-term causes for the Persian invasions of
Greece in the early fifth century BCE, a momentous event both for
the development of Greek civilization and for the beginnings of
historiography, and traces the rise of the Persians as rulers of a
large multi-ethnic empire whose lands and cultures are vividly
described. This first surviving history is a tapestry of brilliant
and entertaining narratives, but it also addresses profoundly
serious concerns, such as the advantages and failings of different
forms of government, the role of religion and morality in public
life, and encounters with different cultures. This collection - the
first of two volumes - is dedicated to the historical component of
the Histories and includes important previously published essays,
some translated into English for the first time, which discuss
Herodotus' historical method, sources, narrative art, literary
antecedents, intellectual background, and political ideology. The
introduction contains an account of Herodotus' life and times, as
well as a survey of recent scholarship designed as a guide for
contextualizing the selected articles according to the range of
approaches they represent.
Although a great deal of historical work has been done in the past
decade on Roman triumphs, defeats and their place in Roman culture
have been relatively neglected. Why should we investigate the
defeats of a society that almost never lost a war? In Triumph in
Defeat, Jessica H. Clark answers this question by showing what
responses to defeat can tell us about the Roman definition of
victory. First opening with a general discussion of defeat and
commemoration at Rome and then following the Second Punic War from
its commencement to its afterlife in Roman historical memory
through the second century BCE, culminating in the career of Gaius
Marius, Clark examines both the successful production of victory
narratives within the Senate and the gradual breakdown of those
narratives. The result sheds light on the wars of the Republic, the
Romans who wrote about these wars, and the ways in which both the
events and their telling informed the political landscape of the
Roman state. Triumph in Defeat not only fills a major gap in the
study of Roman military, political, and cultural life, but also
contributes to a more nuanced picture of Roman society, one that
acknowledges the extent to which political discourse shaped Rome's
status as a world power. Clark's work shows how defeat shaped the
society whose massive reputation was-and still often is-built on
its successes.
This anthology of sixteen seminal studies of Homer's Iliad offers essential insights into the poem's artistry and cultural background. Two of the contributions have been translated for this volume and others have been revised and updated. An authoritative introduction sets the papers in context and explores significant connections between them. All Greek is translated and a glossary of Greek terms is provided.
The formula 'for the life of' is often found in votive
inscriptions, cast in Aramaic and other languages, which originate
from the Syrian-Mesopotamian desert and adjacent areas and which
roughly date from the first three centuries A.D. They belong to
objects like statues and altars that usually were erected in
temples and other structures with a ritual or sacred function. The
inscriptions establish a relationship between the dedicator and one
or more beneficiaries, those persons for whose life the dedication
was made.
Since the social context evidently bears on both the meaning of the
inscriptions as well as the status of the dedications, this volume
deals with the nature of the relationships and the socio-religious
function the dedications perform.
Die Universitatsbibliothek in Basel ist im Besitz einer kleinen
Papyrussammlung von 63 Papyri aus ptolemaischer, roemischer sowie
spatantiker Zeit in uberwiegend griechischer, aber auch
hieratischer, lateinischer, koptischer und mittelpersischer
Sprache. Der Freiwillige Museumsverein der Stadt Basel erwarb sie
im Jahre 1899 fur die Universitatsbibliothek und machte damit Basel
zur einer der ersten Universitaten, die im Besitz einer Sammlung
griechischer Papyri war. Im fruhen 20. Jahrhundert nahm sich zwar
der an der Universitat Basel als Professor fur Rechtsgeschichte
lehrende Ernst Rabel (Basel 1906-1910) der Sammlung an und
bearbeitete einige ausgewahlte Texte. Doch er beliess es bei einer
Auswahl von 26 Papyri, die er als "Papyrusurkunden der
OEffentlichen Bibliothek der Universitat zu Basel" wahrend des 1.
Weltkriegs im Jahre 1917 publizierte. Dieser Band bietet nun eine
Reedition der bereits bekannten Stucke und eine Erstedition aller
weiteren Basler Papyri.
AN IMPORTANT BRANCH OF EUROPEAN CIVIL LAW. Origianlly published:
Grahamstown, Cape Colony: African Book Co., 1908. iv (new
introduction), xv, 791 pp. With a New Introduction by Michael
Hoeflich, John H. & John M. Kane Professor of Law, University
of Kansas School of Law. Roman-Dutch law is a hybrid of medieval
Dutch law, mainly Germanic in origin, and Roman law as defined by
the Corpus Juris Civilis and its later reception. It was developed
in Holland during the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. Bynkershoek, Damhouder, Grotius and other Roman-Dutch
jurists had a profound influence on the development of European
civil law and were the primary source of civil-law study in
America. The Dutch brought it to their colonies, most notably South
Africa and Indonesia, and it became the basis of their
post-colonial legal systems. This engagingly written history offers
a thorough analysis of Roman-Dutch jurisprudence and its
intellectual background. Wessels devotes a great deal of attention
to its literature, and he analyzes several treatises at length.
Valuable as an introduction to one of the most important legal
systems in history, it is equally useful as a reference.
"On the whole, the work is deserving of high praise, both for its
learning and its literary quality. It will prove a most
illuminating adjunct to the standard authorities on this system of
law." --JAMES MACKINTOSH, Juridical Review 20 (1908-1909) 370.
JOHANNES WILHELMUS WESSELS 1862-1936] was a judge of the Transvaal
Supreme Court. His works include The Status of the Uitlander
(1894), Codification of Law in South Africa (1927) and The Law of
Contract in South Africa (1937).
MICHAEL H. HOEFLICH is the John H. & John M. Kane Professor of
Law at the University of Kansas School of Law. He is the author of
numerous books including Roman and Civil Law and the Development of
Anglo-American Jurisprudence (1997), Legal Publishing in Antebellum
America (2010), Sources of the History of the American Law of
Lawyering (2007) and The Law in Postcards and Ephemera 1890-1962
(2012), the latter two published by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
A broad introduction to a major turning point in human development,
this book guides the reader through the emergence of civilization
in Mesopotamia, when city life began and writing was invented.
Covering Mesopotamia from around 3000 BCE to the fall of Babylon in
539 BCE, Mesopotamia and the Rise of Civilization: History,
Documents, and Key Questions combines narrative history material
and reference entries that enable students to learn about the rise
of civilization in Mesopotamia and its enormous influence on
western civilization with primary source documents that promote
critical thinking skills. The book provides essential background
via a historical overview of early development of society in
Mesopotamia. This introduction is followed by reference entries on
key topics; 4,000-year-old primary sources that explore
Mesopotamian civilization through voices of the time and bring to
light the events of a schoolboy's day, the boasts of kings, and
personal letters about family concerns, for example; and a section
of argumentative essays that presents thought-provoking
perspectives on key issues. While the intended readership is high
school students, the book's authoritative coverage of intriguing
subject matter will also appeal to the wider public, especially in
these times of heightened focus on the Middle East. Includes
reference entries that explore important aspects of Mesopotamian
civilization, such as key historical developments, technological
and intellectual innovations, and aspects of social, economic,
political, and domestic life Enables readers to gain insight into
the thinking and life experience of ancient Mesopotamians through
primary sources Provokes discussion through the debate of three
major questions about the rise of civilization Combines several
different approaches to the subject to promote critical thinking
skillls and support Common Core State Standards Supports NCHS World
History standards for Era 2, Standards 1A and 1B, and Common Core
critical thinking skills for English Language Arts/World History
and Social Studies
The medical literature of ancient Greece has been much studied
during the 20th century, particularly from the 1970s on. In spite
of this intense activity, the search for manuscripts still relies
on the catalogue compiled in the early 1900s by a group of
philologists led by the German historian of Greek philosophy and
medicine Hermann Diels. However useful the so-called Diels has been
and still is, it is now in need of a thorough revision. The present
five-tome set is a first step in that direction. Tome 1 offers a
reproduction of Diels' catalogue with an index of the manuscripts.
The following three tomes provide a reconstruction of the texts
contained in the manuscripts listed in Diels on the basis of Diels'
catalogue. Proceeding as Diels did, these three tomes distinguish
the manuscripts containing texts by (or attributed to) Hippocrates
(tome 2), Galen (tome 3), and the other authors considered by Diels
(tome 4). Tome 5 will list all the texts listed in Diels for each
manuscript in the catalogue. The present work will be a reference
for all scholars interested in Greek medical literature and
manuscripts, in addition to historians of medicine, medical book,
medical tradition, and medical culture.
Die Bibliotheca Teubneriana, gegrundet 1849, ist die weltweit
alteste, traditionsreichste und umfangreichste Editionsreihe
griechischer und lateinischer Literatur von der Antike bis zur
Neuzeit. Pro Jahr erscheinen 4-5 neue Editionen. Samtliche Ausgaben
werden durch eine lateinische oder englische Praefatio erganzt. Die
wissenschaftliche Betreuung der Reihe obliegt einem Team
anerkannter Philologen: Gian Biagio Conte (Scuola Normale Superiore
di Pisa) Marcus Deufert (Universitat Leipzig) James Diggle
(University of Cambridge) Donald J. Mastronarde (University of
California, Berkeley) Franco Montanari (Universita di Genova)
Heinz-Gunther Nesselrath (Georg-August-Universitat Goettingen)
Oliver Primavesi (Ludwig-Maximilians Universitat Munchen) Michael
D. Reeve (University of Cambridge) Richard J. Tarrant (Harvard
University) Vergriffene Titel werden als Print-on-Demand-Nachdrucke
wieder verfugbar gemacht. Zudem werden alle Neuerscheinungen der
Bibliotheca Teubneriana parallel zur gedruckten Ausgabe auch als
eBook angeboten. Die alteren Bande werden sukzessive ebenfalls als
eBook bereitgestellt. Falls Sie einen vergriffenen Titel bestellen
moechten, der noch nicht als Print-on-Demand angeboten wird,
schreiben Sie uns an: [email protected] Samtliche in
der Bibliotheca Teubneriana erschienenen Editionen lateinischer
Texte sind in der Datenbank BTL Online elektronisch verfugbar.
The second volume of the Handbook describes different extractive
economies in the world regions that have been outlined in the first
volume. A wide range of economic actors - from kings and armies to
cities and producers - are discussed within different imperial
settings as well as the tools, which enabled and constrained
economic outcomes. A central focus are nodes of consumption that
are visible in the archaeological and textual records of royal
capitals, cities, religious centers, and armies that were
stationed, in some cases permanently, in imperial frontier zones.
Complementary to the multipolar concentrations of consumption are
the fiscal-tributary structures of the empires vis-a-vis other
institutions that had the capacity to extract, mobilize, and
concentrate resources and wealth. Larger volumes of state-issued
coinage in various metals show the new role of coinage in taxation,
local economic activities, and social practices, even where textual
evidence is absent. Given the overwhelming importance of
agriculture, the volume also analyses forms of agrarian
development, especially around cities and in imperial frontier
zones. Special consideration is given to road- and water-management
systems for which there is now sufficient archaeological and
documentary evidence to enable cross-disciplinary comparative
research.
This classic work has served students of Akkadian literature as a
useful sourcebook and as a model publication for the study of a
specific corpus of cuneiform literature. These timeless proverbs,
instructive precepts, and ancient fables demonstrate a rich
heritage in the Mesopotamian development of this genre. Lambert's
focused collection also provides scholars with a unique comparative
reference for those studying biblical wisdom literature. An
Eisenbrauns classic reprint.
Nature and Illusion is the first extended treament of the portrayal
of nature in Byzantine art and literature. In this richly
illustrated study, Henry Maguire shows how the Byzantines embraced
terrestrial creation in the decoration of their churches during the
fifth to seventh centuries but then adopted a much more cautious
attitude toward the depiction of animals and plants in the middle
ages, after the iconoclastic dispute of the eighth and ninth
centuries. In the medieval period, the art of Byzantine churches
became more anthropocentric and less accepting of natural images.
The danger that the latter might be put to idolatrous use created a
constant state of tension between worldliness, represented by
nature, and otherworldliness, represented by the portrait icons of
the saints. The book discusses the role of iconoclasm in affecting
this fundamental change in Byzantine art, as both sides in the
controversy accused the other of "worshipping the creature rather
than the Creator." An important theme is the asymmetrical
relationship between Byzantine art and literature with respect to
the portrayal of nature. A series of vivid texts described seasons,
landscapes, gardens, and animals, but these were more sparingly
illustrated in medieval art. Maguire concludes by discussing the
abstraction of nature in the form of marble floors and revetments
and with a consideration of the role of architectural backgrounds
in medieval Byzantine art. Throughout Nature and Illusion, medieval
Byzantine art is compared with that of Western Europe, where
different conceptions of religious imagery allowed a closer
engagement with nature.
This commentary discusses Aeschylus' play Agamemnon (458 BC), which
is one of the most popular of the surviving ancient Greek
tragedies, and is the first to be published in English since 1958.
It is designed particularly to help students who are tackling
Aeschylus in the original Greek for the first time, and includes a
reprint of D. L. Page's Oxford Classical Text of the play.
The introduction defines the place of Agamemnon within the Oresteia
trilogy as a whole, and the historical context in which the plays
were produced. It discusses Aeschylus' handling of the traditional
myth and the main ideas which underpin his overall design: such as
the development of justice and the nature of human responsibility;
and it emphasizes how the power of words, seen as ominous
speech-acts which can determine future events, makes a central
contribution to the play's dramatic momentum. Separate sections
explore Aeschylus' use of theatrical resources, the role of the
chorus, and the solo characters. Finally there is an analysis of
Aeschylus' distinctive poetic style and use of imagery, and an
outline of the transmission of the play from 458 BC to the first
printed editions.
This volume explores the significance of literacy for everyday life
in the ancient world. It focuses on the use of writing and written
materials, the circumstances of their use, and different types of
users. The broad geographic and chronologic frame of reference
includes many kinds of written materials, from Pharaonic Egypt and
ancient China through the early middle ages, yet a focus is placed
on the Roman Empire.
Wealth and power are themes that preoccupy much of Greek literature
from Homer on, and this book unravels the significance of these
subjects in one of the most famous pieces of narrative writing from
classical antiquity. Lisa Kallet brilliantly reshapes our literary
and historical understanding of Thucydides' account of the
disastrous Sicilian expedition of 415-413 b.c., a pivotal event in
the Peloponnesian War. She shows that the second half of
Thucydides' "History" contains a damning critique of Athens and its
leaders for becoming corrupted by money and for failing to
appropriately use their financial strength on military power.
Focusing especially on the narrative techniques Thucydides used to
build his argument, Kallet gives a close examination of the
subjects of wealth and power in this account of naval war and its
aftermath and locates Thucydides' writings on these themes within a
broad intellectual context.
Among other topics, Kallet discusses Thucydides' use of metaphor,
his numerous intertextual references to Herodotus and Homer, and
thematic links he makes among the topics of money, emotion, and
sight. Overall, she shows that the subject of money constitutes a
continuous thematic thread in books six through eight of the
"History." In addition, this book takes a fresh look at familiar
epigraphic evidence. Kallet's ability to combine sophisticated
literary analysis with a firm grasp of Attic inscriptions sheds new
light on an important work of antiquity and provides a model
example of how to unravel a dense historical text to reveal its
underlying literary principles of construction.
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.
|
|