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Revival: A Descriptive Handbook (Routledge Revivals)
By James Baikie. 1932
This book is confined to offering a description of objects of Egyptian architecture and art in the larger sense; though…
occasionally the importance of some exceptionally notable smaller specimen of art or craftsmanship may warrant its inclusion.
This book offers new translations of Aristotle’s Politics 5 and 6, accompanied by an introduction and commentary, targeted at historians…
and those who like to read political science in the context in which it was produced. Philosophical analysis remains essential and there is no intention to detract from the books as political theory, but the focus of this volume is the text as a crucial element in the discourse of fourth-century Greece, and the conflict throughout the Greek world between democracy, oligarchy, and the rise of the Macedonian monarchy.
Byzantium and the Other: Relations and Exchanges (Variorum Collected Studies)
By Angeliki E. Laiou. 2012
Angeliki Laiou (1941-2008), one of the leading Byzantinists of her generation, broke new ground in the study of the social…
and economic history of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium and the Other: Relations and Exchanges, the second of three volumes to be published posthumously in the Variorum Collected Studies Series, brings together fourteen articles published between 1982 and 2012 that reflect her enduring interest in Byzantium's political, ideological, and commercial relations with its neighbours. The first three articles examine Byzantine attitudes and institutional responses to foreigners and strangers within the empire, while the next four concern Byzantium's response to the Crusades and, more generally, to questions of justice in the spheres of conflict and colonisation. The final seven articles investigate Byzantium's political and commercial relations with other regional and Mediterranean powers; particular emphasis is placed on Venice and Genoa, whose increasing involvement in the Byzantine economy so marked the final centuries of the empire's existence.
Revival: Studies of Roman Life and Literature (Routledge Revivals)
By Frank Frost Abbott. 1911
This book, like the volume on "Society and Politics in Ancient Rome," deals with the life of the common people,…
with their language and literature, their occupations and amusements, and with their social, political, and economic conditions. We are interested in the common people of Rome because they made the Roman Empire what it was. They carried the Roman standards to the Euphrates and the Atlantic; they lived abroad as traders, farmers, and soldiers to hold and Romanize the provinces, or they stayed at home, working as carpenters, masons, or bakers, to supply the daily needs of the capital. The other side of the subject which has engaged the attention of the author in studying these topics has been the many points of similarity which arise between ancient and modern conditions, and between the problems which the Roman faced and those which confront us.
Livy's Women: Crisis, Resolution, and the Female in Rome's Foundation History
By Peter Keegan. 2021
Livy’s Women explores the profound questions arising from the presence of women of influence and power in the socio-political canvas…
of one of the most important histories of Rome and the Roman people, Ab Urbe Condita (From the Foundation of the City). This theoretically informed study of Livy’s monumental narrative charts the fascinating links between episodes containing references to women in prominent roles and the historian’s treatment of Rome’s evolutionary foundation story. Explicitly gendered in relation to the socio-cultural contexts informing the narrative, the author’s background, the literary landscape of Livy's Rome, and the subsequent historiographical commentary, this volume offers a comprehensive, coherent and contextualised overview of all episodes in Ab Urbe Condita relating to women as agents of historical change. As well as proving invaluable insights into socio-cultural history for Classicists, Livy’s Women will also be of interest to instructors, researchers, and students of female representation in history in general.
The Problem with Multiculturalism: The Uniqueness and Universality of Western Civilization
By John M. Headley. 2012
The horrors of the past century have done little to advance appreciation for the virtues of Western civilization. Criticism of…
the West has mounted and the West itself has lost sight of its uniqueness. Westerners tend to endow other societies with liberal philosophy and practices. While politically profitable, this fails to educate these societies about their own civilizations' contributions to the idea of a common humanity, human rights, and the legitimacy of dissent and diversity. John M. Headley argues for the West's uniqueness and universality, while critiquing multiculturalism's failure to recognize these special characteristics. He looks to civilization rather than to the nation-state as the source of the West's achievements, arguing that its uniqueness was evident from its beginnings. Headley also seeks to advance the ever-contentious discussion about secularization. He sees secularization as a neutralizing force regarding the religions of other civilizations, allowing them to accept Western influence, which thus becomes universal. To understand secularization and how it operates from a naturalistic perspective, one must see civilization itself as a defining element in world affairs.
The main aim of this book is to reconstruct a philosophical context for the Hieroglyphica of Horapollo, a late 5th…
century Greek study of hieroglyphic writing. In addition to reviewing and drawing on earlier approaches it explores the range of signs and meanings for which Horapollo is interested in giving explanations, whether there are characteristic types of explanations given, what conception of language in general and of hieroglyphic Egyptian in particular the explanations of the meanings of the glyphs presuppose, and what explicit indications there are of having been informed or influenced by philosophical theories of meaning, signs, and interpretation.
The Birth of the Athenian Community: From Solon to Cleisthenes
By Sviatoslav Dmitriev. 2018
The Birth of the Athenian Community elucidates the social and political development of Athens in the sixth century, when, as…
a result of reforms by Solon and Cleisthenes (at the beginning and end of the sixth century, respectively), Athens turned into the most advanced and famous city, or polis, of the entire ancient Greek civilization. Undermining the current dominant approach, which seeks to explain ancient Athens in modern terms, dividing all Athenians into citizens and non-citizens, this book rationalizes the development of Athens, and other Greek poleis, as a gradually rising complexity, rather than a linear progression. The multidimensional social fabric of Athens was comprised of three major groups: the kinship community of the astoi, whose privileged status was due to their origins; the legal community of the politai, who enjoyed legal and social equality in the polis; and the political community of the demotai, or adult males with political rights. These communities only partially overlapped. Their evolving relationship determined the course of Athenian history, including Cleisthenes’ establishment of demokratia, which was originally, and for a long time, a kinship democracy, since it only belonged to qualified male astoi.
Medieval Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond (Variorum Collected Studies)
By David Jacoby. 2018
Collected Studies CS1066 The articles in this collection cover the region extending from Italy to the Black Sea and to…
Egypt, over a period of seven centuries, with an emphasis on the considerable economic and social interaction between the West and the regions of the Eastern Mediterranean. They represent key works in the oeuvre of David Jacoby, the doyen of scholars in the field over many decades.
A History of Engineering in Classical and Medieval Times
By Donald Hill. 1984
It is impossible to understand the cultures and achievements of the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Arabs, without knowing something of…
their technology. Rome, for example, made advances in many areas which were subsequently lost and not regained for more than a millenium. This is a knowledgeable yet lucid account of the wonderful triumphs and the limitations of ancient and medieval engineering. This book systematically describes what is known about the evolution of irrigation works, dams, bridges, roads, building construction, water and wind power, automata, and clocks, with references to the social, geographical, and intellectual context.
Prudentius' Hymns for Hours and Seasons: Liber Cathemerinon (Routledge Later Latin Poetry)
By Nicholas Richardson. 2015
Combining faithfulness to the Latin with sensitivity to Prudentius’ poetic qualities, Nicholas Richardson offers a precise yet creative verse translation…
of a major work by one of the most important Christian Latin poets of late antiquity. Prudentius’ Hymns for Hours and Seasons also provides readers with a wealth of supporting material which sets the life and output of this poet in its historical, religious and literary context, outlines manuscript and editorial details, discusses metrics and Latinity, and also gives a sense of the individual hymns of the Cathemerinon. Richardson’s fresh translation allows readers unfamiliar with Latin to understand and interpret the poems, as well as offering those who know Latin a translation that keeps very close to the original text. Detailed notes at the end of the book illuminate both the literary and the religious aspects of each hymn. This commentary, along with the introduction and translated text, provides students and scholars alike with a comprehensive volume on one of the key works of later Latin poetry.
Athens in Decline: 404-86 B.C. (Routledge Revivals)
By Claude Mossé. 1973
Athens has, at different times and from different points of view, been cited as a model of moderate democracy and…
triumphant humanism, or, on the contrary, as an illustration of the disorders due to demagoguery and misguided imperialism. Professor Mossé looks beyond these judgments to discuss the exceptional destiny of Athens – a city which for two centuries dominated the Eastern Mediterranean world, but then faded from the political scene when Rome extended its control over the whole Mediterranean. The history of Athenian democracy does not end in 404 BC, as is sometimes thought, when the city capitulated to Sparta at the end of its Golden Age. Athens in Decline, first published in 1973, demonstrates how the city experienced another seventy-five years of greatness, and survived, more or less curtailed, under Macedonian domination. She examines the reasons for the final collapse and follows the stages of a decline which was not wholly without grandeur.
Stoicism (Ancient Philosophies #1)
By John Sellars. 2006
This is the first introduction to Stoic philosophy for 30 years. Aimed at readers new to Stoicism and to ancient…
philosophy, it outlines the central philosophical ideas of Stoicism and introduces the reader to the different ancient authors and sources that they will encounter when exploring Stoicism. The range of sources that are drawn upon in the reconstruction of Stoic philosophy can be bewildering for the beginner. Sellars guides the reader through the surviving works of the late Stoic authors, Seneca and Epictetus, and the fragments relating to the early Stoics found in authors such as Plutarch and Stobaeus. The opening chapter offers an introduction to the ancient Stoics, their works, and other ancient authors who report material about ancient Stoic philosophy. The second chapter considers how the Stoics themselves conceived philosophy and how they structured their own philosophical system. Chapters 3-5 offer accounts of Stoic philosophical doctrines arranged according to the Stoic division of philosophical discourse into three parts: logic, physics, and ethics. The final chapter considers the later impact of Stoicism on Western philosophy. At the end of the volume there is a detailed guide to further reading.
Nero Caesar Augustus: Emperor of Rome
By David Shotter. 2008
Propelled to power by the age of 17 by an ambitious mother, self-indulgent to the point of criminality, inadequate, paranoid…
and the perpetrator of heinous crimes including matricide and fratricide, and deposed and killed by 31, Nero is one of Rome’s most infamous Emperors. But has history treated him fairly? Or is the popular view of Nero as a capricious and depraved individual a travesty of the truth and a gross injustice to Rome's fifth emperor? This new biography will look at Nero’s life with fresh eyes. While showing the man 'warts and all', it also caste a critical eye on the 'libels' which were perpetrated on him, such as claiming he was a madman, many of which were most probably made up to suit the needs of the Flavians, who had overthrown his dynasty.
The Fantastic in Religious Narrative from Exodus to Elisha (BibleWorld)
By Laura Feldt. 2012
The Fantastic in Religious Narrative from Exodus to Elisha argues that perspectives drawn from literary-critical theories of the fantastic and…
fantasy are apt to explore Hebrew Bible religious narratives. The book focuses on the narratives' marvels, monsters, and magic, rather than whether or not the stories depict historical events. The Exodus narrative (Ex 1-18) and a selection of additional Hebrew Bible narratives (Num 11-14, Judg 6-8, 1 Kings 17-19, 2 Kings 4-7) are analysed from a fantasy-theoretical perspective. The 'fantasy perspective' helps to make sense of elements of these narratives that - although prominently featured in the stories - have previously often been explained by being explained away. These case studies can illuminate Hebrew Bible religion and offer wider perspectives on religious narrative generally. In light of the fantasy-theoretical approach, these Hebrew Bible stories - with the Exodus narrative at the centre - read not as foundational stories, affirming triumphantly and unambiguously the bond between the deity, his people, and their territory, but rather as texts that harbour and even actively encourage ambiguity and uncertainty, not necessarily prompting belief, orientation, and a sense of meaningfulness, but also open-ended reflection and doubt. The case studies suggest that other religious narratives, both in and beyond the Judaic tradition, may also be amenable to interpretation in these terms, thus questioning a dominant trend in myth studies. The results of the analyses lead to a discussion of the role of ambiguity, uncertainty, and transformation in religious narrative in broader perspective, and to a questioning of the emphasis in the study of religion on the capacity of religious narrative for founding and maintaining institutions, orienting identity, and defending order over disorder. The book suggests the wider importance of incorporating destabilisation, disorientation, and ambiguity more strongly into theories of what religious narrative is and does.
Attic Oratory and Performance (Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies)
By Andreas Serafim. 2017
In a society where public speech was integral to the decision-making process, and where all affairs pertaining to the community…
were the subject of democratic debate, the communication between the speaker and his audience in the public forum, whether the law-court or the Assembly, cannot be separated from the notion of performance. Attic Oratory and Performance seeks to make modern Performance Studies productive for, and so make a significant contribution to, the understanding of Greek oratory. Although quite a lot of ink has been spilt over the performance dimension of oratory, the focus of nearly all of the scholarship in this area has been relatively narrow, understanding performance as only encompassing 'delivery' – the use of gestures and vocal ploys – and the convergences and divergences between oratory and theatre. Serafim seeks to move beyond this relatively narrow focus to offer a holistic perspective on performance and oratory. Using examples from selected forensic speeches, in particular four interconnected speeches by Aeschines (2, 3) and Demosthenes (18, 19), he argues that oratorical performance encompassed subtle communication between the speaker and the audience beyond mere delivery, and that the surviving texts offer numerous glimpses of the performative dimension of these speeches, and their links to contemporary theatre.
“When on High the Heavens…”: Mesopotamian Religion and Spirituality with Reference to the Biblical World
By Giorgio Buccellati. 2024
This English translation of Giorgio Buccellati’s ambitious work offers readers an insightful discussion of ancient Mesopotamian religion and spirituality in…
its relationship to the biblical ethos. Our understanding of ancient Mesopotamian religion, while shaped by a wealth of archaeological, artistic, and epigraphic evidence, remains limited with regard to a proper hermeneutic approach. In this volume, Buccellati sheds light on the spirituality of Mesopotamian polytheism by drawing comparisons with that of biblical monotheism. These comparisons are used to better understand the divine-human relationship in the Mesopotamian context, as both individuals and members of a wider community. In addition, Buccellati provides detailed discussions on divination and the central role of fate in ancient Mesopotamia. Buccellati’s understanding of Mesopotamian religion and spirituality as illuminated by biblical texts, now available to an Anglophone audience, offers much food for thought on this challenging subject. "When on High the Heavens…": Mesopotamian Religion and Spirituality with Reference to the Biblical World provides a wide-ranging and thorough exploration of Mesopotamian religion for students, scholars, and researchers in Near Eastern archaeology and history, biblical studies, and the history of religion and spirituality.
City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction (The world Around Us Series)
By David Macaulay. 1974
The Caldecott Medal-winning author and illustrator takes young readers through the building of an imaginary city in Ancient Rome. …
In City, David Macaulay introduces readers to the fascinating world of Ancient Roman architecture and engineering, combining straightforward text and black and white illustrations to tell the story of a city&’s creation. While the Roman city of Verbonia is imaginary, its planning and construction are based on those of the hundreds of Roman cities founded between 300 B.C. and 150 A.D. From the process of selecting the ideal site on which to build, Macaulay moves through each phase of the process. &“Engineering, architectural and human details enliven a tour of the completed city—the water supply and drainage system, the forum and central market, the homes of a merchant and a craftsman, the theatre, the public baths&” and much more are intricately imagined, illustrated, and explained (Kirkus).
Roman Conquests: Britain (Roman Conquests Ser.)
By Simon Elliott. 2021
The Roman Conquests series seeks to explain when and how the Romans were able to conquer a vast empire stretching…
from the foothills of the Scottish Highlands to the Sahara Desert, from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf. How did their armies adapt to and overcome the challenges of widely varied enemies and terrain? In this volume, Dr Simon Elliott draws on the latest research and archaeological evidence to present a new narrative of the conquest (never completed) of Britain. From Julius Caesar’s initial incursions in 55 and 54 BC, through the Claudian invasion of 43 AD and the campaigns of expansion and pacification thereafter, he analyses the Roman army in action. The weapons, equipment, organization, leadership, strategy and tactics of the legions and their British foes are described and analysed. The ferocity of the resistance was such that the island was never wholly subdued and required a disproportionate military presence for the duration of its time as a Roman province.
Greek Mythology Explained: A Deeper Look at Classical Greek Lore and Myth
By Marios Christou, David Ramenah. 2018
A unique retelling of Greek mythological tales featuring love, betrayal, murder and ruthless ambitions—for fans of George R. R. Martin’s…
Game of Thrones.Discover six classic Greek myths in this exciting retelling that paints both famous and lesser-known characters in a whole new light. Follow the likes of Odysseus, Lamia, Bellerophon, Icarus, Medusa and Artemis as their fates are revealed through bloody trials, gut-wrenching betrayals, sinister motives and broken hearts. With an accessible writing style that delves into the thoughts, feelings, desires, and motivations of every character, these mythical figures and their compelling stories will resonate with readers as they are guided through perilous and tragic adventures.Greek Mythology Explained provides an in-depth analysis of each story told as it unravels the greater themes and valuable lessons hidden within each chapter. Inside these pages, you’ll . . .Sail with Odysseus as he navigates through the straits of Messina with a terrifying monster on each side, intent only on killing him and his crew.Witness Lamia’s world turned upside down as she loses her kingdom, her children and her humanity.Journey with Bellerophon as he battles the Chimera and becomes the hero that he was destined to be.Take flight with Icarus and Daedalus as they escape their confinement and the Cretan navy.Follow Medusa as she loses faith in the gods and becomes the monster she so adamantly wished to protect her people from.Experience the love between Artemis and Orion, as well as the bitter jealousy it spawns at the core of her brother Apollo.