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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Non-Christian religions > Pre-Christian European & Mediterranean religions
This book explores the reasons for which weights and scales were
used to measure goods in Early Mesopotamia (ca. 3,200-2,000 BCE).
The vast corpus of cuneiform records from this period sheds light
on the various mechanisms behind the development of this cultural
innovation. Weighing became the means of articulating the value of
both imported and locally-produced goods within a socioeconomic
system that had reached an unprecedented level of complexity. This
study provides a comprehensive analysis of this cultural and
economic phenomenon, which simultaneously reflected and shaped the
relationships between individuals and groups in Mesopotamia
throughout the third millennium BCE.
Sir E. A. Wallis Budge (1857-1934) was Keeper of the British
Museum's department of oriental antiquities from 1894 until his
retirement in 1924. Carrying out many missions to Egypt in search
of ancient objects, Budge was hugely successful in collecting
papyri, statues and other artefacts for the trustees of the British
Museum: numbering into the thousands and of great cultural and
historical significance. Budge published well over 100 monographs,
which shaped the development of future scholarship and are still of
great academic value today, dealing with subjects such as Egyptian
religion, history and literature. First published in 1899 as part
of the Egypt and Chaldaea series, Egyptian Religion explores the
principal ideas and beliefs held by the ancient Egyptians with
regard to the doctrine of the resurrection and the future life.
Although no systematic account dealing solely with this doctrine
has been discovered, the Book of the Dead and various other
religious texts from which this work is derived reflect ancient
Egyptian beliefs, ideals and superstitions. Wallis Budge explores
the Gods of the Egyptians and the themes of resurrection and
immorality in a classic work, of great significance to students and
scholars with an interest in ancient Egyptian and Middle Eastern
history and religion.
The face of the divine feminine can be found everywhere in Mexico.
One of the most striking features of Mexican religious life is the
prevalence of images of the Virgin Mother of God. This is partly
because the divine feminine played such a prominent role in
pre-Hispanic Mexican religion. Goddess images were central to the
devotional life of the Aztecs, especially peasants and those living
in villages outside the central city of Tenochtitlan (present day
Mexico City). In these rural communities fertility and fecundity,
more than war rituals and sacrificial tribute, were the main focus
of cultic activity. Both Aztec goddesses and the Christian Madonnas
who replaced them were associated, and sometimes identified, with
nature and the environment: the earth, water, trees and other
sources of creativity and vitality. This book uncovers the myths
and images of 22 Aztec Goddesses and 28 Christian Madonnas of
Mexico. Their rich and symbolic meaning is revealed by placing them
in the context of the religious worldviews in which they appear and
by situating them within the devotional life of the faithful for
whom they function as powerful mediators of divine grace and
terror.
In the 660s BC Egypt was a politically fragmented and occupied
country. However, this was to change when a family of local rulers
from the city of Sais declared independence from the Assyrian
Empire, and in a few short years succeeded in bringing about the
reunification of Egypt. The Saites established central government,
reformed the economy and promoted trade. The country became
prosperous, achieving a pre-eminent role in the Mediterranean
world. Egypt of the Saite pharaohs is the first monograph devoted
entirely to a detailed exploration of the Saite Dynasty. It reveals
the dynamic nature of the period, the astuteness of the Saite
rulers and their considerable achievements in the political,
economic, administrative and cultural spheres. It will appeal not
only to students of Egyptology but also, because of the
interactions of the Saite Dynasty with the Aegean and Mesopotamia
worlds, to anyone interested in ancient history. -- .
John Nemec examines the beginnings of the non-dual tantric
philosophy of the famed Pratyabhijna or "Recognition of God]"
School of tenth-century Kashmir, the tradition most closely
associated with Kashmiri Shaivism. In doing so it offers, for the
very first time, a critical edition and annotated translation of a
large portion of the first Pratyabhijna text ever composed, the
Sivadrsti of Somananda. In an extended introduction, Nemec argues
that the author presents a unique form of non-dualism, a strict
pantheism that declares all beings and entities found in the
universe to be fully identical with the active and willful god
Siva. This view stands in contrast to the philosophically more
flexible panentheism of both his disciple and commentator,
Utpaladeva, and the very few other Saiva tantric works that were
extant in the author's day. Nemec also argues that the text was
written for the author's fellow tantric initiates, not for a wider
audience. This can be adduced from the structure of the work, the
opponents the author addresses, and various other editorial
strategies. Even the author's famous and vociferous arguments
against the non-tantric Hindu grammarians may be shown to have been
ultimately directed at an opposing Hindu tantric school that
subscribed to many of the grammarians' philosophical views.
Included in the volume is a critical edition and annotated
translation of the first three (of seven) chapters of the text,
along with the corresponding chapters of the commentary. These are
the chapters in which Somananda formulates his arguments against
opposing tantric authors and schools of thought. None of the
materials made available in the present volume has ever been
translated into English, apart from a brief rendering of the first
chapter that was published without the commentary in 1957. None of
the commentary has previously been translated into any language at
all."
Originally published in 1970, this book represents a unique study
of beliefs and ritual practices in a pagan religion, and of the
processes by which a transformation to Christianity took place.
Christianity came to the major islands of Polynesia nearly two
centuries ago, and within a couple of generations, the traditional
pagan religion had disappeared. Only a few remote islands such as
Tikopia preserved their ancient cults. Over eighty years ago, the
author first observed and took part in these pagan rites, and on
later visits he studied the change from paganism to Christian
faith. Unique in its rich documentation, this book presents a
systematic account of the traditional beliefs in gods and spirits
and of the way in which these were fused with the social and
political structure. The causes and dramatic results of the
conversion to Christianity are then described, ending with an
examination of the religious situation at the time of the book's
original publication. The book is both a contribution to
anthropology and a case study in religious history. It completes
the major series of studies of Tikopia society for which the author
is famous. It gives the first full account of a Polynesian
religious system in a state of change.
The hill of Uisneach lies almost exactly at the geographical center
of Ireland. Remarkably, a fraction at least of the ancient Irish
population was aware of that fact. There is no doubt that the place
of Uisneach in Irish mythology, and more broadly speaking the
Celtic world, was of utmost importance: Uisneach was - and probably
still is - best defined as a sacred hill at the center of Ireland,
possibly the sacred hill of the center of Ireland. Uisneach or the
Center of Ireland explores the medieval documents connected with
the hill and compares them with both archeological data and modern
Irish folklore. In the early 21st century, a Fire Festival started
being held on Uisneach in connection with the festival of
Bealtaine, in early May, arguably in an attempt to echo more
ancient traditions: the celebration was attended by Michael D.
Higgins, the current president of Ireland, who lit the fire of
Uisneach on 6 May 2017. This book argues that the symbolic
significance of the hill has echoed the evolution of Irish society
through time, be it in political, spiritual and religious terms or,
perhaps more accurately, in terms of identity and Irishness. It is
relevant for scholars and advanced students in the fields of
cultural history, Irish history and cultural studies.
A stimulating, provocative and lavishly illustrated analysis of the
role of the naked goddess and the mistress of the animals within
Greek religion. This book explores the power of naked females in
the art of the Levant and Greece.
"Collective memory" has attracted the attention and discussion of
scholars internationally across academic disciplines over the past
40 50 years in particular. It and "collective identity" have become
important issues within Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies; the
role collective memory plays in shaping collective identity links
the two organically. Research to date on memory within biblical
studies broadly falls under four approaches: 1) lexical studies; 2)
discussions of biblical historiography in which memory is
considered a contributing element; 3) topical explorations for
which memory is an organizing concept; and 4) memory and
transmission studies. The sixteen contributors to this volume
provide detailed investigations of the contours of collective
memory and collective identity that have crystallized in Martin
Noth's "Deuteronomistic History" (Deut-2 Kgs). Together, they yield
diverse profiles of collective memory and collective identity that
draw comparatively on biblical, ancient Near eastern, and classical
Greek material, employing one of more of the four common
approaches. This is the first volume devoted to applying memory
studies to the "Deuteronomistic History."
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Some doors are kept locked for a reason...
London, 1799. Dora Blake lives with her uncle in what used to be her
parents' famed shop of antiquities.
When a mysterious Greek vase is delivered, Dora is intrigued by her
uncle's suspicious behaviour and enlists the help of Edward Lawrence, a
young antiquarian scholar. For Edward, the ancient vase is the key to
unlocking his professional future. For Dora, it's a chance to restore
the shop to its former glory, and to escape her nefarious uncle.
But what Edward discovers about the vase has Dora questioning
everything she has believed about her life, her family, and the world
as she knows it...
Winner of The PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize 2022 Shortlisted for The
Wolfson History Prize 2022 A The Times Books of the Year 2022 Three
thousand years ago, in the Southwest Asian lands we now call Israel
and Palestine, a group of people worshipped a complex pantheon of
deities, led by a father god called El. El had seventy children,
who were gods in their own right. One of them was a minor storm
deity, known as Yahweh. Yahweh had a body, a wife, offspring and
colleagues. He fought monsters and mortals. He gorged on food and
wine, wrote books, and took walks and naps. But he would become
something far larger and far more abstract: the God of the great
monotheistic religions. But as Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou
reveals, God's cultural DNA stretches back centuries before the
Bible was written, and persists in the tics and twitches of our own
society, whether we are believers or not. The Bible has shaped our
ideas about God and religion, but also our cultural preferences
about human existence and experience; our concept of life and
death; our attitude to sex and gender; our habits of eating and
drinking; our understanding of history. Examining God's body, from
his head to his hands, feet and genitals, she shows how the Western
idea of God developed. She explores the places and artefacts that
shaped our view of this singular God and the ancient religions and
societies of the biblical world. And in doing so she analyses not
only the origins of our oldest monotheistic religions, but also the
origins of Western culture. Beautifully written, passionately
argued and frequently controversial, God: An Anatomy is cultural
history on a grand scale. 'Rivetingly fresh and stunning' - Sunday
Times 'One of the most remarkable historians and communicators
working today' - Dan Snow
This handy guide to Egyptian mythology explores how the ancient
Nile-dwellers explained the world around them. It delves into the
origins of life, the creation and evolution of the world, and the
reigns of the gods on earth, before introducing us to the
manifestations of Egypt's deities in the natural environment; the
inventive ways in which the Egyptians dealt with the invisible
forces all around them; and the trials and tribulations of the life
hereafter. This is the perfect introduction for modern readers to
the mysteries of Egyptian mythology.
The city of Constantinople was named New Rome or Second Rome very
soon after its foundation in AD 324; over the next two hundred
years it replaced the original Rome as the greatest city of the
Mediterranean. In this unified essay collection, prominent
international scholars examine the changing roles and perceptions
of Rome and Constantinople in Late Antiquity from a range of
different disciplines and scholarly perspectives. The seventeen
chapters cover both the comparative development and the shifting
status of the two cities. Developments in politics and urbanism are
considered, along with the cities' changing relationships with
imperial power, the church, and each other, and their evolving
representations in both texts and images. These studies present
important revisionist arguments and new interpretations of
significant texts and events. This comparative perspective allows
the neglected subject of the relationship between the two Romes to
come into focus while avoiding the teleological distortions common
in much past scholarship.
An introductory section sets the cities, and their comparative
development, in context. Part Two looks at topography, and includes
the first English translation of the Notitia of Constantinople. The
following section deals with politics proper, considering the role
of emperors in the two Romes and how rulers interacted with their
cities. Part Four then considers the cities through the prism of
literature, in particular through the distinctively late antique
genre of panegyric. The fifth group of essays considers a crucial
aspect shared by the two cities: their role as Christian capitals.
Lastly, a provocative epilogue looks at the enduring Roman identity
of the post-Heraclian Byzantine state. Thus, Two Romes not only
illuminates the study of both cities but also enriches our
understanding of the late Roman world in its entirety.
Using archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources; and
incorporating current scholarly theories, this volume will serve as
an excellent companion to any introduction to Greek mythology,
showing a side of the Greek gods to which most students are rarely
exposed. Detailed enough to be used as a quick reference tool or
text, and providing a readable account focusing on the oldest, most
widespread, and most interesting religious practices of the ancient
Greek world in the Archaic and Classical periods, Ancient Greek
Cults surveys ancient Greek religion through the cults of its gods
and goddesses, heroes and heroines. Jennifer Larson conveniently
summarizes a vast amount of material in many languages, normally
inaccessible to undergrad students, and explores, in detail, the
variety of cults celebrated by the Greeks, how these cults differed
geographically, and how each deity was conceptualized in local cult
titles and rituals. Including an introductory chapter on sources
and methods, and suggestions for further reading this book will
allow readers to gain a fresh perspective on Greek religion.
In this formidable study, Jastrow compares several aspects of the
religious life of the Israelites and ancient Babylonias by
comparison of their written texts. Among the topics examined are
the creation and flood accounts, the concept of the Sabbath, and
the ethics of both cultures.
This phenomenologically oriented ethnography focuses on
experiential aspects of Yanomami shamanism, including shamanistic
activities in the context of cultural change. The author
interweaves ethnographic material with theoretical components of a
holographic principle, or the idea that the "part is equal to the
whole," which is embedded in the nature of the Yanomami macrocosm,
human dwelling, multiple-soul components, and shamans'
relationships with embodied spirit-helpers. This book fills an
important gap in the regional study of Yanomami people, and, on a
broader scale, enriches understanding of this ancient phenomenon by
focusing on the consciousness involved in shamanism through
firsthand experiential involvement.
A number of long-standing theories concerning the production of
Deuteronomy are currently being revisited. This volume takes a
fresh look at the theory that there was an independent legal
collection comprising chs 12-26 that subsequently was set within
one or two narrative frames to yield the book, with ongoing
redactional changes. Each contributor has been asked to focus on
how the "core" might have functioned as a stand-alone document or,
if exploring a theme or motif, to take note of commonalities and
differences within the "core" and "frames" that might shed light on
the theory under review. Some of the articles also revisit the
theory of a northern origin of the "core" of the book, while others
challenge de Wette's equation of Deuteronomy with the scroll found
during temple repairs under Josiah. With Deuteronomic studies in a
state of flux, this is a timely collection by a group of
international scholars who use a range of methods and who, in
varying degrees, work with or challenge older theories about the
book's origin and growth to approach the central focus from many
angles. Readers will find multivalent evidence they can reflect
over to decide where they stand on the issue of Deuteronomy as a
framed legal "core."
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