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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian religions > Pre-Christian European & Mediterranean religions
This book sets a new agenda for mortuary archaeology. Applying
explicit case studies based on a range of European sites (from
Scandinavia to Britain, Southern France to the Black Sea),
'Mortuary Practices and Social Identities in the Middle Ages'
fulfills the need for a volume that provides accessible material to
students and engages with current debates in mortuary archaeology's
methods and theories. The book builds upon Heinrich Harke's
influential research on burial archaeology and early medieval
migrations, focusing in particular on his ground-breaking work on
the relationship between the theory and practice of burial
archaeology. Using diverse archaeological and historical data, the
essays explore how mortuary practices have served in the make-up
and expression of medieval social identities. Themes explored
include masculinity, kinship, ethnicity, migration, burial rites,
genetics and the perception of landscape.
Das biblische Buch Esther erzahlt den Aufstieg des judischen
Waisenkindes zur Koenigin Persiens und die Erhebung des loyalen
Juden Mordechai zum zweiten Mann nach dem Koenig sowie die
gleichsam wunderbare Errettung des Gottesvolkes Israel, dessen
Existenz durch den perfiden Statthalter Haman bedroht ist. Mit der
Auslegung des vorliegenden Stoffes, der in einer hebraischen
Fassung und zwei griechischen, unterschiedlich gestalteten
Fassungen vorliegt, sind basale linguistische, literarische,
redaktionsgeschichtliche, theologische und hermeneutische
Fragestellungen verbunden, die innerhalb der hebraischen Bibel
singular sind. Die Auslegung der Megilla nimmt das Gesprach mit den
griechischen UEberlieferungen sowie der zeitgenoessischen Literatur
und altesten rabbinischen Exegese auf. Einleitend werden die
wesentlichen Fragestellungen der Auslegung dargestellt.
This is a fascinating exploration of the role of the botanical in
ancient Greek and Roman myth and classical literature. This
engaging book focuses on the perennially fascinating topic of
plants in Greek and Roman myth. The author, an authority on the
gardens, art, and literature of the classical world, introduces the
book's main themes with a discussion of gods and heroes in ancient
Greek and Roman gardens. The following chapters recount the
everyday uses and broader cultural meaning of plants with
particularly strong mythological associations. These include common
garden plants such as narcissus and hyacinth; apple and
pomegranate, which were potent symbols of fertility; and sources of
precious incense including frankincense and myrrh. Following the
sweeping botanical commentary are the myths themselves, told in the
original voice of Ovid, classical antiquity's most colourful
mythographer. The volume's interdisciplinary approach will appeal
to a wide audience, ranging from readers interested in archaeology,
classical literature, and ancient history to garden enthusiasts.
With an original translation of selections from Ovid's
Metamorphoses, an extensive bibliography, a useful glossary of
names and places, and a rich selection of images including
exquisite botanical illustrations, this book is unparalleled in
scope and realization.
A compelling account of Christianity's Jewish beginnings, from one
of the world's leading scholars of ancient religion How did a group
of charismatic, apocalyptic Jewish missionaries, working to prepare
their world for the impending realization of God's promises to
Israel, end up inaugurating a movement that would grow into the
gentile church? Committed to Jesus's prophecy-"The Kingdom of God
is at hand!"-they were, in their own eyes, history's last
generation. But in history's eyes, they became the first
Christians. In this electrifying social and intellectual history,
Paula Fredriksen answers this question by reconstructing the life
of the earliest Jerusalem community. As her account arcs from this
group's hopeful celebration of Passover with Jesus, through their
bitter controversies that fragmented the movement's midcentury
missions, to the city's fiery end in the Roman destruction of
Jerusalem, she brings this vibrant apostolic community to life.
Fredriksen offers a vivid portrait both of this temple-centered
messianic movement and of the bedrock convictions that animated and
sustained it.
Building on the best-selling tradition of previous editions,
Classical Mythology, International Tenth Edition, is the most
comprehensive survey of classical mythology available. Featuring
the authors' clear and extensive translations of original sources,
it brings to life the myths and legends of Greece and Rome in a
lucid and engaging style. The text contains a wide variety of
faithfully translated passages from Greek and Latin sources,
including Homer, Hesiod, all the Homeric Hymns, Pindar, Aeschylus,
Sophocles, Euripides, Herodotus, Plato, Lucian, Lucretius, Vergil,
Ovid, and Seneca. Acclaimed authors Mark P.O. Morford and Robert J.
Lenardon- joined by new coauthor Michael Sham-incorporates a
dynamic combination of poetic narratives and enlightening
commentary to make the myths come alive for students. Offering
historical and cultural background on the myths (including evidence
from art and archaeology) they also provide ample interpretive
material and examine the enduring survival of classical mythology
and its influence in the fields of art, literature, music, dance,
and film.
Women and Religion in the First Christian Centuries focuses on religion during the period of Roman imperial rule and its significance in women's lives. It discusses the rich variety of religious expression, from pagan cults and classical mythology to ancient Judaism and early Christianity, and the wide array of religious functions fulfilled by women. The author analyses key examples from each context, creating a vivid image of this crucial period which laid the foundations of western civilization.
The Book of the Twelve Prophets contains an abundance of passages
that discuss ancient cities (Samaria, Bet-El, Jerusalem, Ninive,
Babel, among others) and their identity. Wide in scope, this volume
demonstrates the sensitivity and critical awareness shown by the
prophetic tradition which observed processes of urbanization that
were very much double-edged. In addition to historical analysis,
the essays assembled here offer important perspectives for current
theological research on urban studies.
Barsauma was a fifth-century Syrian ascetic, archimandrite, and
leader of monks, notorious for his extreme asceticism and violent
anti-Jewish campaigns across the Holy Land. Although Barsauma was a
powerful and revered figure in the Eastern church, modern
scholarship has widely dismissed him as a thug of peripheral
interest. Until now, only the most salacious bits of the Life of
Barsauma-a fascinating collection of miracles that Barsauma
undertook across the Near East-had been translated. This pioneering
study includes the first full translation of the Life and a series
of studies by scholars employing a range of methods to illuminate
the text from different angles and contexts. This is the
authoritative source on this influential figure in the history of
the church and his life, travels, and relations with other
religious groups.
'Lively' THE TIMES 'Engrossing' THE SPECTATOR 'Stunning' WOMAN
& HOME 'Marvellous' BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE Through ancient art,
evocative myth, intriguing archaeological discoveries and
philosophical explorations, Bettany Hughes takes us on a voyage of
discovery to reveal the truth behind Venus, and why this immortal
goddess is so much more than nudity, romance and sex. It is both
the remarkable story of one of antiquity's most potent forces, and
the story of human desire - how it transforms who we are and how we
behave.
The Arthasastra is the foundational text of Indic political thought
and ancient India's most important treatise on statecraft and
governance. It is traditionally believed that politics in ancient
India was ruled by religion; that kings strove to fulfil their
sacred duty; and that sovereignty was circumscribed by the sacred
law of dharma. Mark McClish's systematic and thorough evaluation of
the Arthasastra's early history shows that these ideas only came to
prominence in the statecraft tradition late in the classical
period. With a thorough chronological exploration, he demonstrates
that the text originally espoused a political philosophy
characterized by empiricism and pragmatism, ignoring the mandate of
dharma altogether. The political theology of dharma was
incorporated when the text was redacted in the late classical
period, which obscured the existence of an independent political
tradition in ancient India altogether and reinforced the erroneous
notion that ancient India was ruled by religion, not politics.
In ancient Greece, philosophers developed new and dazzling ideas
about divinity, drawing on the deep well of poetry, myth, and
religious practices even as they set out to construct new
theological ideas. Andrea Nightingale argues that Plato shared in
this culture and appropriates specific Greek religious discourses
and practices to present his metaphysical philosophy. In
particular, he uses the Greek conception of divine epiphany - a god
appearing to humans - to claim that the Forms manifest their
divinity epiphanically to the philosopher, with the result that the
human soul becomes divine by contemplating these Forms and the
cosmos. Nightingale also offers a detailed discussion of the
Eleusinian Mysteries and the Orphic Mysteries and shows how these
mystery religions influenced Plato's thinking. This book offers a
robust challenge to the idea that Plato is a secular thinker.
A comprehensive treatment of the significant symbols and
institutions of Roman religion, this companion places the various
religious symbols, discourses, and practices, including Judaism and
Christianity, into a larger framework to reveal the sprawling
landscape of the Roman religion. An innovative introduction to
Roman religion Approaches the field with a focus on the
human-figures instead of the gods Analyzes religious changes from
the eighth century BC to the fourth century AD Offers the first
history of religious motifs on coins and household/everyday
utensils Presents Roman religion within its cultural, social, and
historical contexts
The first and only Druidic book of spells, rituals, and practice.
The Druid Magic Handbook is the first manual of magical practice in
Druidry, one of the fastest growing branches of the Pagan movement.
The book breaks new ground, teaching Druids how to practice ritual
magic for practical and spiritual goals within their own tradition.
What sets The Druid Magic Handbook apart is that it does not
require the reader to use a particular pantheon or set of symbols.
Although it presents one drawn from Welsh Druid tradition, it also
shows the reader how to adapt rites and other practices to fit the
deities and symbols most meaningful to them. This cutting edge
system of ritual magic can be used by Druids, Pagans, Christians,
and Thelemites alike!
* The first manual of Druidic magical practice ever, replete with
spell work and rituals.
* John Michael Greer is a highly respected authority on all aspects
of Paganism.
Private associations abounded in the ancient Greek world and
beyond, and this volume provides the first large-scale study of the
strategies of governance which they employed. Emphasis is placed on
the values fostered by the regulations of associations, the
complexities of the private-public divide (and that divide's impact
on polis institutions) and the dynamics of regional and global
networks and group identity. The attested links between rules and
religious sanctions also illuminate the relationship between legal
history and religion. Moreover, possible links between ancient
associations and the early Christian churches will prove
particularly valuable for scholars of the New Testament. The book
concludes by using the regulations of associations to explore a
novel and revealing aspect of the interaction between the
Mediterranean world, India and China.
Death, Power, and Apotheosis in Ancient Egypt uniquely considers
how power was constructed, maintained, and challenged in ancient
Egypt through mortuary culture and apotheosis, or how certain dead
in ancient Egypt became gods. Rather than focus on the imagined
afterlife and its preparation, Julia Troche provides a novel
treatment of mortuary culture exploring how the dead were mobilized
to negotiate social, religious, and political capital in ancient
Egypt before the New Kingdom. Troche explores the perceived agency
of esteemed dead in ancient Egyptian social, political, and
religious life during the Old and Middle Kingdoms (c. 2700-1650
BCE) by utilizing a wide range of evidence, from epigraphic and
literary sources to visual and material artifacts. As a result,
Death, Power, and Apotheosis in Ancient Egypt is an important
contribution to current scholarship in its collection and
presentation of data, the framework it establishes for identifying
distinguished and deified dead, and its novel argumentation, which
adds to the larger academic conversation about power negotiation
and the perceived agency of the dead in ancient Egypt.
The Living Goddesses crowns a lifetime of innovative, influential
work by one of the twentieth-century's most remarkable scholars.
Marija Gimbutas wrote and taught with rare clarity in her
original--and originally shocking--interpretation of prehistoric
European civilization. Gimbutas flew in the face of contemporary
archaeology when she reconstructed goddess-centered cultures that
predated historic patriarchal cultures by many thousands of years.
This volume, which was close to completion at the time of her
death, contains the distillation of her studies, combined with new
discoveries, insights, and analysis. Editor Miriam Robbins Dexter
has added introductory and concluding remarks, summaries, and
annotations. The first part of the book is an accessible,
beautifully illustrated summation of all Gimbutas's earlier work on
"Old European" religion, together with her ideas on the roles of
males and females in ancient matrilineal cultures. The second part
of the book brings her knowledge to bear on what we know of the
goddesses today--those who, in many places and in many forms, live
on.
While the main focus of the book is on telling the stories, some
scene-setting is provided at the beginning and each chapter also
contains a section of commentary to explain what is going on and
its significance. The Norse myths have gained widespread attention
in the English-speaking world, partly through a Scandinavian
diaspora, especially in the USA) and partly through a great
interest in the myths and legends which lie behind Viking activity.
Tolkien's 'Middle Earth', too, as seen in both The Lord of the
Rings and The Hobbit films is heavily indebted to Germanic/Norse
mythology. The Whittock's book fills a gap in the market between
academic publications and the interest-generating (but confusing)
products of Hollywood and comic-culture. This is an accessible
book, which both provides a retelling of these dramatic stories and
also sets them in context so that their place within the Viking
world can be understood. The book explores Norse myths (stories,
usually religious, which explain origins, why things are as they
are, the nature of the spiritual) and legends (stories which
attempt to explain historical events and which may involve
historical characters but which are told in a non-historical way
and which often include supernatural events).
This book provides the first edition with an extensive introduction
and full commentary of a unique land survey written on papyrus in
Greek which derives from that area of southern (Upper) Egypt known
as the Apollonopolite (or Edfu) nome and is now preserved in
Copenhagen. Dating from the late second century BC, this survey
provides a new picture of both landholding and taxation in the area
which differs significantly from that currently accepted. The
introduction sets this new evidence in its contemporary context,
drawing particular attention to what it reveals about the nature of
the relations of the Ptolemaic royal administration with local
grandees, Egyptian temples and the army. No student of Hellenistic
Egypt can afford to ignore this text, which importantly extends our
knowledge of Upper Egypt under the Ptolemaic kings and involves
some modification to the prevailing picture of landholding in
Hellenistic Egypt.
Using sermons, exorcisms, letters, biographies of the saints,
inscriptions, autobiographical and legal documents--some of which
are translated nowhere else--J. N. Hillgarth shows how the
Christian church went about the formidable task of converting
western Europe. The book covers such topics as the relationship
between the Church and the Roman state, Christian attitudes toward
the barbarians, and the missions to northern Europe. It documents
as well the cult of relics in popular Christianity and the
emergence of consciously Christian monarchies.
This book demonstrates that we need not choose between seeing
so-called Presocratic thinkers as rational philosophers or as
religious sages. In particular, it rethinks fundamentally the
emergence of systematic epistemology and reflection on speculative
inquiry in Hesiod, Xenophanes and Parmenides. Shaul Tor argues that
different forms of reasoning, and different models of divine
disclosure, play equally integral, harmonious and mutually
illuminating roles in early Greek epistemology. Throughout, the
book relates these thinkers to their religious, literary and
historical surroundings. It is thus also, and inseparably, a study
of poetic inspiration, divination, mystery initiation,
metempsychosis and other early Greek attitudes to the relations and
interactions between mortal and divine. The engagements of early
philosophers with such religious attitudes present us with complex
combinations of criticisms and creative appropriations. Indeed, the
early milestones of philosophical epistemology studied here
themselves reflect an essentially theological enterprise and, as
such, one aspect of Greek religion.
Many people describe themselves as secular rather than religious,
but they often qualify this statement by claiming an interest in
spirituality. But what kind of spirituality is possible in the
absence of religion? In this book, Michael McGhee shows how
religious traditions and secular humanism function as 'schools of
wisdom' whose aim is to expose and overcome the forces that
obstruct justice. He examines the ancient conception of philosophy
as a form of ethical self-inquiry and spiritual practice conducted
by a community, showing how it helps us to reconceive the
philosophy of religion in terms of philosophy as a way of life.
McGhee discusses the idea of a dialogue between religion and
atheism in terms of Buddhist practice and demonstrates how a
non-theistic Buddhism can address itself to theistic traditions as
well as to secular humanism. His book also explores how to shift
the centre of gravity from religious belief towards states of mind
and conduct.
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