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Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome
By Charles Gates, Andrew Goldman. 2024
The third edition of Ancient Cities surveys the cities of the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Greek, Etruscan, and…
Roman worlds from the perspectives of archaeology and architectural history, bringing to life the physical world of ancient city dwellers by concentrating on archaeological evidence.Urban form is the focus: the physical appearance and overall plans of cities, their architecture and natural topography, and the cultural and historical contexts in which they flourished. Attention is also paid to non-urban features such as religious sanctuaries and burial grounds, places and institutions that were a familiar part of the city dweller’s experience. Objects or artifacts that furnished everyday life are discussed, such as writing systems, pottery, sculpture, wall paintings, mosaics, and coins. Ancient Cities is unusual in presenting this wide range of Old World cultures in such comprehensive detail, giving equal weight to the Preclassical and Classical periods, and in showing the links between these ancient cultures. In this new edition, in which Andrew Goldman has joined Charles Gates in updating the volume, readers and lecturers will be delighted to see a major revision of the chapters on Greek cities in South Italy and Sicily, the Etruscans, the development of the capital city, Rome, during the Republic as well as the Empire, and the end of the ancient city.This new edition includes several new and updated user-friendly features, such as: Clear and accessible language, assuming no previous background knowledge Lavishly illustrated, with almost 350 line drawings, maps, and photographs, including new contributions from Neslihan Yılmaz Tekman adding to her already acclaimed illustrations Suggestions for further reading for each chapter A companion website with images, study guides, and an interactive timeline. With its comprehensive presentation of ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern cities, its rich collection of illustrations, and its companion website, Ancient Cities remains an essential textbook for university and high school students across a wide range of archaeology, ancient history, and ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Classical Studies courses.The Nile Delta: Histories from Antiquity to the Modern Period
By Katherine Blouin. 2024
This is the first volume on the history of the Nile Delta to cover the c.7000 years from the Predynastic…
period to the twentieth century. It offers a multidisciplinary approach engaging with varied aspects of the region's long, complex, yet still underappreciated history. Readers will learn of the history of settlement, agriculture and the management of water resources at different periods and in different places, as well as the naming and mapping of the Delta and the roles played by tourism and archaeology. The wide range of backgrounds of the contributors and the broad panoply of methodological and conceptual practices deployed enable new spaces to be opened up for conversations and cross-fertilization across disciplinary and chronological boundaries. The result is a potent tribute to the historical significance of this region and the instrumental role it has played in the shaping of past, present and future Afro-Eurasian worlds.Classical Antiquity and the Cinematic Imagination
By null Martin M. Winkler. 2024
This book aims to enhance our appreciation of the modernity of the classical cultures and, conversely, of cinema's debt to…
ancient Greece and Rome. It explores filmic perspectives on the ancient verbal and visual arts and applies what is often referred to as pre-cinema and what Sergei Eisenstein called cinematism: that paintings, statues, and literature anticipate modern visual technologies. The motion of bodies depicted in static arts and the vividness of epic ecphrases point to modern features of storytelling, while Plato's Cave Allegory and Zeno's Arrow Paradox have been related to film exhibition and projection since the early days of cinema. The book additionally demonstrates the extensive influence of antiquity on an age dominated by moving-image media, as with stagings of Odysseus' arrow shot through twelve axes or depictions of the Golden Fleece. Chapters interpret numerous European and American silent and sound films and some television productions and digital videos.New York Times Editors’ Choice “A mighty, polymathic work, equally at home in all four corners of the globe.… It…
is a gift to be savored.” —Chris Vognar, Boston Globe In Culture, acclaimed author, professor, and public intellectual Martin Puchner takes us on a breakneck tour through pivotal moments in world history, providing a global introduction to the arts and humanities in one engaging volume. What good are the arts? Why should we care about the past? For millennia, humanity has sought to understand and transmit to future generations not just the “know-how” of life, but the “know-why”—the meaning and purpose of our existence, as expressed in art, architecture, religion, and philosophy. This crucial passing down of knowledge has required the radical integration of insights from the past and from other cultures. In Culture, acclaimed author, professor, and public intellectual Martin Puchner takes us on a breakneck tour through pivotal moments in world history, providing a global introduction to the arts and humanities in one engaging volume. From Nefertiti’s lost city to the plays of Wole Soyinka; from the theaters of ancient Greece to Chinese travel journals to Arab and Aztec libraries; from a South Asian statuette found at Pompeii to a time capsule left behind on the Moon, Puchner tells the gripping story of human achievement through our collective losses and rediscoveries, power plays and heroic journeys, innovations, imitations, and appropriations. More than a work of history, Culture is an archive of humanity’s most monumental junctures and a guidebook for the future of us humans as a creative species. Witty, erudite, and full of wonder, Puchner argues that the humanities are (and always have been) essential to the transmission of knowledge that drives the efforts of human civilization.Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power
By Alison Futrell. 1997
&“Fresh perspectives [on] the study of the Roman amphitheater . . . providing important insights into the psychological dimensions&” of gladiatorial combat (Classical…
World). From the center of Imperial Rome to the farthest reaches of ancient Britain, Gaul, and Spain, amphitheaters marked the landscape of the Western Roman Empire. Built to bring Roman institutions and the spectacle of Roman power to conquered peoples, many still remain as witnesses to the extent and control of the empire. In this book, Alison Futrell explores the arena as a key social and political institution for binding Rome and its provinces. She begins with the origins of the gladiatorial contest and shows how it came to play an important role in restructuring Roman authority in the later Republic. She then traces the spread of amphitheaters across the Western Empire as a means of transmitting and maintaining Roman culture and control in the provinces. Futrell also examines the larger implications of the arena as a venue for the ritualized mass slaughter of human beings, showing how the gladiatorial competition took on both religious and political overtones. This wide-ranging study, which draws insights from archaeology and anthropology, as well as Classics, broadens our understanding of the gladiatorial show and its place within the highly politicized cult practice of the Roman Empire.101 Secrets of the Freemasons: The Truth Behind the World's Most Mysterious Society
By Barb Karg, John K. Young. 2009
From the illustrious George Washington and the infamous J. Edgar Hoover to brilliant imaginer Walt Disney and bad boy of…
baseball Ty Cobb, Freemasons have influenced every aspect of American life. Yet this secret society remains as controversial and mysterious as ever. In this book, you'll learn the truth about:The power and meaning behind the symbols, rites, and ritualsAlleged connections with Jack the Ripper, the KKK, and the Holy GrailFreemasons vs. the NazisThe centuries-long rivalry with the Catholic ChurchFreemasonry's growing influence here and abroad As the largest - and oldest - fraternal organization, the Freemasons will continue to shape the world we live in for the foreseeable future. With this tell-all guide, you'll unravel the mystery of this intriguing society - one secret at a time!Hannibal
By Patrick N Hunt. 2017
Hannibal is &“an exciting biography of one of history&’s greatest commanders…a thrilling page-turner&” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) about the brilliant…
general who successfully crossed the Alps with his war elephants and brought Rome to its knees, and who is still regarded today as one of the greatest military strategists in history.Hannibal Barca of Carthage, born 247 BC, was one of the great generals of the ancient world. His father, Hamilcar, imposed Carthaginian rule over much of present-day Spain. After Hamilcar led the Carthaginian forces against Rome in the First Punic War, Hannibal followed in his father&’s footsteps. From the time he was a teenager, Hannibal fought against Rome. He is famed for leading Carthage&’s army across North Africa, into Spain, along the Mediterranean coast, and then crossing the Alps with his army and war elephants. Hannibal won victories in northern Italy by outmaneuvering his Roman adversaries and defeated a larger Roman army at the battle of Cannae in 216 BC. Unable to force Rome to capitulate, however, he was eventually forced to leave Italy and return to Carthage when a savvy Roman general named Scipio invaded North Africa. Hannibal and Scipio fought an epic battle at Zama, which Hannibal lost. Many Carthaginians blamed Hannibal, who was exiled until his death. Hannibal is still regarded as a military genius. Napoleon, George Patton, and Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. are only some of the generals who studied and admired him. His strategy and tactics are still taught in military academies. &“With wonderful energy…archeologist and historian Patrick Hunt distills his survey of literature about the Second Punic War into a brightly dramatic story that covers virtually every anecdote connected with Hannibal&” (The Christian Science Monitor). &“Hunt&’s story of the doomed general, whose exploits are more celebrated than those of his vanquishers, will appeal to any reader interested in military history or strategy&” (Publishers Weekly).Greek Mythology (Ken Jennings' Junior Genius Guides)
By Ken Jennings. 2013
Unleash your inner genius and become a master of mythology with this interactive trivia book from Jeopardy! champ and New…
York Times bestselling author Ken Jennings.With this Junior Genius Guide to Greek mythology, you’ll become an expert and wow your friends and teachers with all the best ancient stories: how Prometheus outsmarted the gods, how Achilles’s heel led to his death, and how we mere mortals always seem to get mixed up in so many misadventures. With great illustrations, cool trivia, and fun quizzes to test your knowledge, this guide will have you on your way to whiz-kid status in no time!Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt
By Barbara Mertz. 2009
A fascinating, erudite, and witty glimpse of the human side of ancient Egypt—this acclaimed classic work is now revised and…
updated for a new generationDisplaying the unparalleled descriptive power, unerring eye for fascinating detail, keen insight, and trenchant wit that have made the novels she writes (as Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels) perennial New York Times bestsellers, internationally renowned Egyptologist Barbara Mertz brings a long-buried civilization to vivid life. In Red Land, Black Land, she transports us back thousands of years and immerses us in the sights, aromas, and sounds of day-to-day living in the legendary desert realm that was ancient Egypt.Who were these people whose civilization has inspired myriad films, books, artwork, myths, and dreams, and who built astonishing monuments that still stagger the imagination five thousand years later? What did average Egyptians eat, drink, wear, gossip about, and aspire to? What were their amusements, their beliefs, their attitudes concerning religion, childrearing, nudity, premarital sex? Mertz ushers us into their homes, workplaces, temples, and palaces to give us an intimate view of the everyday worlds of the royal and commoner alike. We observe priests and painters, scribes and pyramid builders, slaves, housewives, and queens—and receive fascinating tips on how to perform tasks essential to ancient Egyptian living, from mummification to making papyrus.An eye-opening and endlessly entertaining companion volume to Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs, Mertz's extraordinary history of ancient Egypt, Red Land, Black Land offers readers a brilliant display of rich description and fascinating edification. It brings us closer than ever before to the people of a great lost culture that was so different from—yet so surprisingly similar to—our own.Our Occulted History: Do the Global Elite Conceal Ancient Aliens?
By Jim Marrs. 2013
Bestselling author Jim Marrs steps once again to the cutting-edge of research into conspiracies and hidden truths. In Our Occulted History,…
Marrs goes beyond the revelations of his classic Alien Agenda and illustrates how human civilization may have originated with non-humans who visited earth eons ago...and may still be here todayOur Occulted History: Do the Global Elite Conceal Ancient Aliens? is an extensive survey that includes a mass of well-documented scientific and historical texts and sources. It will change the way you view the origins of mankind and the current state of society.No subject is too controversial for Marrs, an award-winning journalist whose other investigative works include Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy, the basis for the Oliver Stone film JFK; Rule by Secrecy; and The Trillion-Dollar Conspiracy.Temples, Tombs, & Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt
By Barbara Mertz. 2007
World-renowned Egyptologist Barbara Mertz explores the reality behind the bestselling fiction she writes (as Elizabeth Peters) and casts a dazzling…
light on a remarkable civilization.Afascinating chronicle of an extraordinary people—from the first Stone Age settlements through the reign of Cleopatra and the Roman invasions—Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs brings ancient Egypt to life as never before. Lavishly illustrated with pictures, maps, and photographs, it offers tantalizing glimpses into Egyptian society; amazing stories of the pharaohs and the rise and fall of great dynasties; a sampling of culture, religion, and folklore; stories of explorers, scientists, and scoundrels who sought to unravel or exploit the ageless mysteries; and new insights into the architectural wonders that were raised along the banks of the Nile.Pax: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age
By Tom Holland. 2023
From a &“remarkably gifted historian&” (New York Times), the definitive account of the golden age of Rome -- an ultimate…
superpower at the pinnacle of its greatness The Pax Romana has long been shorthand for the empire&’s golden age. Stretching from Caledonia to Arabia, Rome ruled over a quarter of the world&’s population. It was the wealthiest and most formidable state in the history of humankind. Pax is a captivating narrative history of Rome at the height of its power. From the gilded capital to realms beyond the frontier, historian Tom Holland shows ancient Rome in all its glory: Nero&’s downfall, the destruction of Jerusalem and Pompeii, the building of the Colosseum and Hadrian&’s Wall, the conquests of Trajan. Vividly sketching the lives of Romans both ordinary and spectacular, from slaves to emperors, Holland shows that Roman peace was the fruit of unprecedented military violence. A stunning portrait of Rome&’s glory days, this is the epic history of the Pax Romana.Frozen in Time: What Ice Cores Can Tell Us About Climate Change (Books for a Better Earth)
By Carmella Van Vleet. 2024
A dazzling introduction to paleoclimatology for kids, connecting the methods that scientists use to study our climate history with future…
climate change solutions.Believe it or not, ice isn&’t always just frozen water. In fact, most of the ice covering our planet contains thousands of years' worth of information about our atmosphere. This ice is made up of a lot more than snow—it has soot, volcanic ash, gasses, and other substances that affect the climate. And if we drill a piece of that ice? We get a frozen time capsule, courtesy of Earth. In this exhilarating middle grade nonfiction book by a former educator, kids are immersed in the field of paleoclimatology. Readers go along on an ice core expedition, run through each step in the collecting and transporting process, review the fascinating components of an ice core, and explore the specialized labs where scientists examine them.But these pieces of our planet are more than just cool records. By preserving and studying these frosty collections of climate history, we can learn from previous patterns and better protect our planet in the future. The final chapter focuses on ice as a key tool in the fight against climate change.With crystal-clear explanations and an engaging, kid friendly tone, the book features 15+ full-color photographs, diagrams, interviews with paleoclimatologists, a glossary of terms, and simple experiments for budding scientists at home. Books for a Better Earth are designed to inspire children to become active, knowledgeable participants in caring for the planet they live on.A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard SelectionThis book encapsulates a long period of history of human progress by highlighting crucial social, economic, and cultural dynamics. It…
presents recent historiography and new analytical tools used to analyse multi-dimensional themes involved in social formations in different parts of the world. This is a reader-friendly book with simple and lucid language and fulfils the pressing needs of students studying the course on Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of the ancient and medieval world at various universities across the world. The summary, key words, and representative questions at the end of each chapter would assist in revision and a better understanding of the issues dealt with therein. A detailed chapter-end reference would enable and motivate the readers to engage in further studies for a better understanding of the themes. This book will be of interest to students, researchers, and academics in the area of history – ancient and medieval world history, in particular, and anthropology. It will also be an interesting read for general readers interested in knowing about the ancient and medieval world.Rome's Patron: The Lives and Afterlives of Maecenas
By Emily Gowers. 2024
The story of Maecenas and his role in the evolution and continuing legacy of ancient Roman poetry and cultureAn unelected…
statesman with exceptional powers, a patron of the arts and a luxury-loving friend of the emperor Augustus: Maecenas was one of the most prominent and distinctive personalities of ancient Rome. Yet the traces he left behind are unreliable and tantalizingly scarce. Rather than attempting a conventional biography, Emily Gowers shows in Rome’s Patron that it is possible to tell a different story, one about Maecenas’s influence, his changing identities and the many narratives attached to him across two millennia.Rome’s Patron explores Maecenas’s appearances in the central works of Augustan poetry written in his name—Virgil’s Georgics, Horace’s Odes and Propertius’s elegies—and in later works of Latin literature that reassess his influence. For the Roman poets he supported, Maecenas was a mascot of cultural flexibility and innovation, a pioneer of gender fluidity and a bearer of imperial demands who could be exposed as a secret sympathizer with their own values. For those excluded from his circle, he represented either favouritism and indulgence or the lost ideal of a patron in perfect collaboration with the authors he championed.As Gowers shows, Maecenas had and continues to have a unique cachet—in the fantasies that still surround the gardens, buildings and objects so tenuously associated with him; in literature, from Ariosto and Ben Johnson to Phillis Wheatley and W. B. Yeats; and in philanthropy, where his name has been surprisingly adaptable to more democratic forms of patronage.The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity
By James D. Tabor. 2006
Based on a careful analysis of the earliest Christian documents and recent archaeological discoveries, The Jesus Dynasty offers a bold…
new interpretation of the life of Jesus and the origins of Christianity. The story is surprising, controversial, and exciting as only a long-lost history can be when it is at last recovered. In The Jesus Dynasty, biblical scholar James Tabor brings us closer than ever to the historical Jesus. Jesus, as we know, was the son of Mary, a young woman who became pregnant before her marriage to a man named Joseph. The gospels tell us that Jesus had four brothers and two sisters, all of whom probably had a different father than his. He joined a messianic movement begun by his relative John the Baptizer, whom he regarded as his teacher and a great prophet. John and Jesus together filled the roles of the Two Messiahs who were expected at the time: John, as a priestly descendant of Aaron, and Jesus, as a royal descendant of David. Together they preached the coming of the Kingdom of God. Theirs was an apocalyptic movement that expected God to establish his kingdom on earth, as described by the Prophets. The Two Messiahs lived in a time of turmoil as the historical land of Israel was dominated by the powerful Roman Empire. Fierce Jewish rebellions against Rome occurred during Jesus' lifetime. John and Jesus preached adherence to the Torah, or the Jewish Law. But their mission was changed dramatically when John was arrested and then killed. After a period of uncertainty, Jesus began preaching anew in Galilee and challenged the Roman authorities and their Jewish collaborators in Jerusalem. He appointed a Council of Twelve to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel, and among the Twelve he included his four brothers. After Jesus was crucified by the Romans, his brother James -- the "Beloved Disciple" -- took over leadership of the Jesus dynasty. James, like John and Jesus before him, saw himself as a faithful Jew. None of them believed that their movement was a new religion. It was Paul who transformed Jesus and his message through his ministry to the Gentiles. Breaking with James and the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem, Paul preached a message based on his own revelations, which would become Christianity. Jesus became a figure whose humanity was obscured; John became merely a forerunner of Jesus; and James and the others were all but forgotten. James Tabor has studied the earliest surviving documents of Christianity for more than thirty years and has participated in important archaeological excavations in Israel. Drawing on this background, Tabor reconstructs for us the movement that sought the spiritual, social, and political redemption of the Jews, a movement led by one family. The Jesus Dynasty offers an alternative version of Christian origins, one that takes us closer than ever to Jesus and his family and followers. This is a book that will change our understanding of one of the most crucial moments in history.Rome and Persia: The Seven Hundred Year Rivalry
By Adrian Goldsworthy. 2023
A &“magnificent&” (Spectator) history of the epic rivalry between the ancient world&’s two great superpowers The Roman empire was like…
no other. Stretching from the north of Britain to the Sahara, and from the Atlantic coast to the Euphrates, it imposed peace and prosperity on an unprecedented scale. Its only true rival lay in the east, where the Parthian and then Persian empires ruled over great cities and the trade routes to mysterious lands beyond. This was the region Alexander the Great had swept through, creating a dream of glory and conquest that tantalized Greeks and Romans alike. Tracing seven centuries of conflict between Rome and Persia, historian Adrian Goldsworthy shows how these two great powers evolved together. Despite their endless clashes, trade between the empires enriched them both, and a mutual respect prevented both Rome and Persia from permanently destroying the other. Epic in scope, Rome and Persia completely reshapes our understanding of one of the greatest rivalries of world history.Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint
By Peter Sarris. 2023
A definitive new biography of the Byzantine emperor Justinian Justinian is a radical reassessment of an emperor and his…
times. In the sixth century CE, the emperor Justinian presided over nearly four decades of remarkable change, in an era of geopolitical threats, climate change, and plague. From the eastern Roman—or Byzantine—capital of Constantinople, Justinian&’s armies reconquered lost territory in Africa, Italy, and Spain. But these military exploits, historian Peter Sarris shows, were just one part of a larger program of imperial renewal. From his dramatic overhaul of Roman law, to his lavish building projects, to his fierce persecution of dissenters from Orthodox Christianity, Justinian&’s vigorous statecraft—and his energetic efforts at self-glorification—not only set the course of Byzantium but also laid the foundations for the world of the Middle Ages. Even as Justinian sought to recapture Rome&’s past greatness, he paved the way for what would follow.George Washington Carver (Christian Encounters)
By John Perry. 2011
Christian Encounters, a series of biographies from Thomas Nelson Publishers, highlights important lives from all ages and areas of the…
Church. Some are familiar faces. Others are unexpected guests. But all, through their relationships, struggles, prayers, and desires, uniquely illuminate our shared experience.A generation of 20th-century Americans knew him as a gentle, stoop-shouldered old black man who loved plants and discovered more than a hundred uses for the humble peanut. George Washington Carver goes beyond the public image to chronicle the adventures of one of history's most inspiring and remarkable men. George Washington Carver was born a slave. After his mother was kidnapped during the Civil War, his former owners raised him as their own child. He was the first black graduate of Iowa State, and turned down a salary from Thomas Edison higher than the U.S. President to stay at the struggling Tuskegee Institute, where he taught and encouraged poor black students for nearly half a century. Carver was an award-winning painter and acclaimed botanist who saw God the Creator in all of nature. The more he learned about the world, the more convinced he was that everything in it was a gift from the Almighty, that all people were equal in His sight, and that the way to gain respect from his fellow man was not to demand it, but to earn it.The Terrible Speed of Mercy: A Spiritual Biography of Flannery O'Connor
By Jonathan Rogers. 2012
&“Many of my ardent admirers would be roundly shocked and disturbed if they realized that everything I believe is thoroughly…
moral, thoroughly Catholic, and that it is these beliefs that give my work its chief characteristics.&”—Flannery O&’ConnorFlannery O&’Connor&’s work has been described as &“profane, blasphemous, and outrageous.&” Her stories are peopled by a sordid caravan of murderers and thieves, prostitutes and bigots whose lives are punctuated by horror and sudden violence. But perhaps the most shocking thing about Flannery O&’Connor&’s fiction is the fact that it is shaped by a thoroughly Christian vision. If the world she depicts is dark and terrifying, it is also the place where grace makes itself known. Her world—our world—is the stage whereon the divine comedy plays out; the freakishness and violence in O&’Connor&’s stories, so often mistaken for a kind of misanthropy or even nihilism, turn out to be a call to mercy.In this biography, Jonathan Rogers gets at the heart of O&’Connor&’s work. He follows the roots of her fervent Catholicism and traces the outlines of a life marked by illness and suffering, but ultimately defined by an irrepressible joy and even hilarity. In her stories, and in her life story, Flannery O&’Connor extends a hand in the dark, warning and reassuring us of the terrible speed of mercy.