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Ancient Egyptians (What They Don't Tell You About #35)
By David Jay. 2013
Did you know that Egyptian policemen used monkeys to arrest people?The Ancient Egyptians lived half of their lives up to…
their eyes in mud, the other half choking on desert sand, and spent most of their time thinking about dying! Any history book will give you the boring facts THEY think you should know, but only this one will tell you just how weird life in Ancient Egypt REALLY was ...From Armageddon to the Fall of Rome
By Erik Durschmied. 2002
In the Mediterranean, this most fought-over region in the world, the figures of potentates and conquerors appear god-like: Thutmosis, Leonidas,…
Xerxes, Pyrrhus, Hannibal, Caesar and Vercingetorix. Ancient history, from Pharaonic Egypt and the Shahs of Persia, to the Golden Age of Greece and the conquests of Alexander the Great and his dream of a universal brotherhood, is dominated by these incredible characters. And then comes Rome, the supreme political event of Ancient History and the world's first superpower.Ancient Battles is the history of incredible men, brave and reckless, lucky and ill-fated, engaging their forces in battles that are prime examples of ruse, chance, and military brilliance. Erik Durschmied looks at seventeen of ancient history's most fascinating battles, many of which have been almost forgotten, but which in reality changed both the world and time itself.Emperors of Rome: Imperial Rome From Julius Caesar To The Last Emperor
By David Potter. 2008
The Emperors of Rome charts the rise and fall of the Roman Empire through profiles of the greatest and most…
notorious of the emperors, from the autocratic Augustus to the feeble Claudius, the vicious Nero to the beneficent Marcus Aurelius, through to the maniac Commodus and beyond. Interwoven with these are vivid descriptions of sports and art, political intrigues and historic events. In this entertaining and erudite work, acclaimed classical scholar David Potter brings Imperial Rome, and the lives of the men who ruled it, to vivid life.Early in the third century, a small group of Greek Christians began to gain prominence and legitimacy as intellectuals in…
the Roman Empire. Examining the relationship that these thinkers had with the broader Roman intelligentsia, Jared Secord contends that the success of Christian intellectualism during this period had very little to do with Christianity itself.With the recognition that Christian authors were deeply engaged with the norms and realities of Roman intellectual culture, Secord examines the thought of a succession of Christian literati that includes Justin Martyr, Tatian, Julius Africanus, and Origen, comparing each to a diverse selection of his non-Christian contemporaries. Reassessing Justin’s apologetic works, Secord reveals Christian views on martyrdom to be less distinctive than previously believed. He shows that Tatian’s views on Greek culture informed his reception by Christians as a heretic. Finally, he suggests that the successes experienced by Africanus and Origen in the third century emerged as consequences not of any change in attitude toward Christianity by imperial authorities but of a larger shift in intellectual culture and imperial policies under the Severan dynasty. Original and erudite, this volume demonstrates how distorting the myopic focus on Christianity as a religion has been in previous attempts to explain the growth and success of the Christian movement. It will stimulate new research in the study of early Christianity, classical studies, and Roman history.From Then to Now: A Short History of the World
By Christopher Moore. 2011
Traces human civilization from early bands of hunter-gatherers to the multicultural world cities of the present, covering the development of…
agriculture, empires, law, and the major religions, the rise of Europe, colonies, and industrialization.The Ark Before Noah: Decoding The Story Of The Flood
By Irving Finkel. 2014
In THE ARK BEFORE NOAH, British Museum expert Dr Irving Finkel reveals how decoding the symbols on a 4,000 year…
old piece of clay enable a radical new interpretation of the Noah's Ark myth. A world authority on the period, Dr Finkel's enthralling real-life detective story began with a most remarkable event at the British Museum - the arrival one day in 2008 of a single, modest-sized Babylonian cuneiform tablet - the palm-sized clay rectangles on which our ancestors created the first documents. It had been brought in by a member of the public and this particular tablet proved to be of quite extraordinary importance. Not only does it date from about 1850 BC, but it is a copy of the Babylonian Story of the Flood, a myth from ancient Mesopotamia revealing among other things, instructions for building a large boat to survive a flood. But Dr Finkel's pioneering work didn't stop there. Through another series of enthralling discoveries he has been able to decode the story of the Flood in ways which offer unanticipated revelations to readers of THE ARK BEFORE NOAH.The Story of Egypt
By Joann Fletcher. 2015
The story of the world's greatest civilisation spans more than 4000 years of history that has shaped the world. It…
is full of spectacular sites and epic stories, an evolving society rich in heroes and villains, inventors and intellectuals, artisans and pioneers. Now Professor Joann Fletcher pulls together the complete Story of Egypt - charting the rise and fall of the ancient Egyptians while putting their whole world into a context that we can all relate to.Joann Fletcher uncovers some fascinating revelations, from Egypt's oldest art to the beginnings of mummification almost two thousand years earlier than previously believed. She also looks at the women who became pharaohs on at least 10 occasions, and the evidence that the Egyptians built the first Suez Canal, circumnavigated Africa and won victories at the original Olympic games. From Ramses II's penchant for dying his greying hair to how we know Montuhotep's wife bit her nails and the farmer Baki liked eating in bed, Joann Fletcher brings alive the history and people of ancient Egypt as nobody else can.Numantia: El libro del Cónsul
By Ralph Hauptmann. 2021
NUMANTIA - El libro del Consul. Cuando Caius Hostilius Mancinus recibe una invitación inesperada para asistir a una reunión secreta que…
celebran los hombres más poderosos de Roma, piensa que por fin ha dejado de ser un político mediocre relegado a la nada por las sagas ilustres de Roma. Un año después, cuando es enviado como cónsul a Hispania para acabar con el último bastión de resistencia de la península, se da cuenta, ya demasiado tarde, de que había sido utilizado como una marioneta para llevar a cabo una estrategia encaminada únicamente a consolidar el poder político de Publio Cornelio Escipión el Africano, el conquistador de Cartago. Tras sufrir una vergonzosa humillación, Mancino da la espalda a Roma y busca refugio en el mismo lugar contra el que había estado luchando. Allí encuentra todo lo que hasta entonces le había sido negado: amigos verdaderos, reconocimiento y un gran amor. Pero entonces aparece de nuevo Roma… "NUMANTIA - El libro del cónsul" es el segundo libro de la serie "Viaje en el tiempo celta’’ escrito por Ralph Hauptmann. El primero es "DRUNEMETON - El libro del druida" (actualmente sólo en alemán, impreso en diciembre de 2014; eBook en enero de 2015). Del mismo autor es el libro ilustrado y no de ficción titulado "Gobernantes de la Edad de Hierro. Los celtas - Tras la pista de una cultura misteriosa" (actualmente sólo en alemán, impreso en septiembre de 2012; eBook en mayo de 2013). Estamos ante una novela apasionante, escrita tras una precisa investigación de las fuentes historiográficas e ilustrada por su autor con dibujos y mapas. En ella se cuenta la historia poco conocida de cómo Roma logró conquistar el último y más obstinado bastión de resistencia de los celtíberos de la Península Ibérica.By triangulating the Greco-Roman world, classical reception, and disability studies, this book presents a range of approaches that reassess and…
reimagine traditional themes, from the narrative voice to sensory studies. It argues that disability and disabled people are the ‘forgotten other’ of not just Classics, but also the Humanities more widely. Beyond the moral merits of rectifying this neglect, this book also provides a series of approaches and case studies that demonstrate the intellectual value of engaging with disability studies as classicists and exploring the classical legacy in the medical humanities. The book is presented in four parts: ‘Communicating and controlling impairment, illness and pain’; ‘Using, creating and showcasing disability supports and services’; ‘Real bodies and retrieving senses: disability in the ritual record’; and ‘Classical reception as the gateway between Classics and disability studies’. Chapters by scholars from different academic backgrounds are carefully paired in these sections in order to draw out further contrasts and nuances and produce a sum that is more than the parts. The volume also explores how the ancient world and its reception have influenced medical and disability literature, and how engagements with disabled people might lead to reinterpretations of familiar case studies, such as the Parthenon. This book is primarily intended for classicists interested in disabled people in the Greco-Roman past and in how modern disability studies may offer insights into and reinterpretations of historic case studies. It will also be of interest to those working in medical humanities, sensory studies, and museum studies, and those exploring the wider tension between representation and reality in ancient contexts. As such, it will appeal to people in the wider Humanities who, notwithstanding any interest in how disabled people are represented in literature, art, and cinema, have had less engagement with disability studies and the lived experience of people with impairments.Ancient Religions: A Guide (Blackwell Ancient Religions Ser. #8)
By Sarah Iles Johnston. 2007
Religious beliefs and practices, which permeated all aspects of life in antiquity, traveled well-worn routes throughout the Mediterranean: itinerant charismatic…
practitioners journeying from place to place peddled their skills as healers, purifiers, cursers, and initiators; and vessels decorated with illustrations of myths traveled with them. New gods encountered in foreign lands by merchants and conquerors were sometimes taken home to be adapted and adopted. This collection of essays by a distinguished international group of scholars, drawn from the groundbreaking reference work Religions of the Ancient World, offers an expansive, comparative perspective on this complex spiritual world.China between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties (History of Imperial China #2)
By Mark Edward Lewis. 2011
After the collapse of the Han dynasty in the third century CE, China divided along a north-south line. Mark Lewis…
traces the changes that both underlay and resulted from this split in a period that saw the geographic redefinition of China, more engagement with the outside world, significant changes to family life, developments in the literary and social arenas, and the introduction of new religions. The Yangzi River valley arose as the rice-producing center of the country. Literature moved beyond the court and capital to depict local culture, and newly emerging social spaces included the garden, temple, salon, and country villa. The growth of self-defined genteel families expanded the notion of the elite, moving it away from the traditional great Han families identified mostly by material wealth. Trailing the rebel movements that toppled the Han, the new faiths of Daoism and Buddhism altered every aspect of life, including the state, kinship structures, and the economy. By the time China was reunited by the Sui dynasty in 589 ce, the elite had been drawn into the state order, and imperial power had assumed a more transcendent nature. The Chinese were incorporated into a new world system in which they exchanged goods and ideas with states that shared a common Buddhist religion. The centuries between the Han and the Tang thus had a profound and permanent impact on the Chinese world.Cleopatra and Rome
By Diana E. Kleiner. 2009
With the full panorama of her life forever lost, Cleopatra touches us in a series of sensational images: floating through…
a perfumed mist down the Nile; dressed as Venus for a tryst at Tarsus; unfurled from a roll of linens before Caesar; couchant, the deadly asp clasped to her breast. Through such images, each immortalizing the Egyptian queen's encounters with legendary Romans--Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Octavian Augustus--we might also chart her rendezvous with the destiny of Rome. So Diana Kleiner shows us in this provocative book, which opens an entirely new perspective on one of the most intriguing women who ever lived. Cleopatra and Rome reveals how these iconic episodes, absorbed into a larger historical and political narrative, document a momentous cultural shift from the Hellenistic world to the Roman Empire. In this story, Cleopatra's death was not an end but a beginning--a starting point for a wide variety of appropriations by Augustus and his contemporaries that established a paradigm for cultural conversion. In this beautifully illustrated book, we experience the synthesis of Cleopatra's and Rome's defining moments through surviving works of art and other remnants of what was once an opulent material culture: religious and official architecture, cult statuary, honorary portraiture, villa paintings, tombstones, and coinage, but also the theatrical display of clothing, perfume, and hair styled to perfection for such ephemeral occasions as triumphal processions or barge cruises. It is this visual culture that best chronicles Cleopatra's legend and suggests her subtle but indelible mark on the art of imperial Rome at the critical moment of its inception.The Search For Nefertiti
By Joann Fletcher. 2004
Joann Fletcher, presenter of BBC2's 'Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings' has written an enthralling…
account of Nefertiti, one of Egypt's most compelling and mysterious figures. Wife of the controversial pharaoh Akhenaten, she lived through perhaps the most tumultuous period in the country's long history. The so-called Amarna Period has long held a fascination - not just for the enormous changes it brought to the religion, art and administration of Egypt, but for the many mysteries which surround it. Mysteries, that is, until now. Leading Egyptologist Dr Joann Fletcher has taken a fresh eye to the evidence and arrived at one of the most dramatic discoveries in recent times. Working with a team of leading experts, she has identified a long-forgotten mummy as the body of a female pharaoh of the Amarna Period, whom she believes is Nefertiti herself. Lying for over three thousand years in an unused side chamber of Tomb KV.35 in the Valley of the Kings, it tells a story which will forever change the way in which we view Nefertiti - and indeed women throughout Egyptian history. Now at last we see the full significance of her role as co-regent and later Pharaoh of Egypt, as well as understanding the astonishing luxury and decadence of her life in Amarna - a life she led as the country around her began to disintegrate.Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity
By William V. Harris. 2009
From the Iliad to Aristophanes, from the gospel of Matthew to Augustine, Greek and Latin texts are constellated with descriptive…
images of dreams. Some are formulaic, others intensely vivid. The best ancient minds—Plato, Aristotle, the physician Galen, and others—struggled to understand the meaning of dreams. With Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity the renowned ancient historian William Harris turns his attention to oneiric matters. This cultural history of dreams in antiquity draws on both contemporary post-Freudian science and careful critiques of the ancient texts. Harris traces the history of characteristic forms of dream-description and relates them both to the ancient experience of dreaming and to literary and religious imperatives. He analyzes the nuances of Greek and Roman belief in the truth-telling potential of dreams, and in a final chapter offers an assessment of ancient attempts to understand dreams naturalistically. How did dreaming culture evolve from Homer’s time to late antiquity? What did these dreams signify? And how do we read and understand ancient dreams through modern eyes? Harris takes an elusive subject and writes about it with rigor and precision, reminding us of specificities, contexts, and changing attitudes through history.Classics and Prison Education in the US (Classics In and Out of the Academy)
By Emilio Capettini. 2021
This volume focuses on teaching Classics in carceral contexts in the US and offers an overview of the range of…
incarcerated adults, their circumstances, and the ways in which they are approaching and reinterpreting Greek and Roman texts. Classics and Prison Education in the US examines how different incarcerated adults – male, female, or gender non-conforming; young or old; serving long sentences or about to be released – are reading and discussing Classical texts, and what this may entail. Moreover, it provides a sophisticated examination of the best pedagogical practices for teaching in a prison setting and for preparing returning citizens, as well as a considered discussion of the possible dangers of engaging in such teaching – whether because of the potential complicity with the carceral state, or because of the historical position of Classics in elitist education. This edited volume will be a resource for those interested in Classics pedagogy, as well as the role that Classics can play in different areas of society and education, and the impact it can have.Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History
By Alex R. Knodell. 2021
A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. Situated at the disciplinary boundary between prehistory…
and history, this book presents a new synthesis of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Greece, from the rise and fall of Mycenaean civilization, through the "Dark Age," and up to the emergence of city-states in the Archaic period. This period saw the growth and decline of varied political systems and the development of networks that would eventually expand to nearly all shores of the Middle Sea. Alex R. Knodell argues that in order to understand how ancient Greece changed over time, one must analyze how Greek societies constituted and reconstituted themselves across multiple scales, from the local to the regional to the Mediterranean. Knodell employs innovative network and spatial analyses to understand the regional diversity and connectivity that drove the growth of early Greek polities. As a groundbreaking study of landscape, interaction, and sociopolitical change, Societies in Transition in Early Greece systematically bridges the divide between the Mycenaean period and the Archaic Greek world to shed new light on an often-overlooked period of world history.The Global Church---The First Eight Centuries: From Pentecost through the Rise of Islam
By Donald Fairbairn. 2021
Discover the Variety and Unity of the Early ChurchThe Christian church of the early centuries spread throughout much of Asia,…
Africa, and Europe, spoke many languages, was situated within diverse cultural settings, and had varied worship practices; yet it maintained a vital unity on core teachings at the heart of the Christian faith. In The Global Church--The First Eight Centuries: From Pentecost through the Rise of Islam, author Donald Fairbairn helps readers understand both the variety and unity of the church in this pivotal era by:Re-centering the story of the church in its early centuries, paying greater attention to Africa, Turkey, and Syria, where most of the church's intellectual energy was nurturedHighlighting Christian communities outside the Roman Empire, as far afield as Persia and India, alongside those within itIdentifying key events by their global, not merely Western, significance and taking into account early Christian interactions with other religions, particularly IslamThe Global Church--The First Eight Centuries is an ideal introduction to the patristic era that broadens the narrative often recounted and places it more firmly in its varied cultural contexts. Students of the early church, formal and informal alike, will appreciate the fresh approach and depth of insight this book provides.Coffin Commerce: How a Funerary Materiality Formed Ancient Egypt (Elements in Ancient Egypt in Context)
By Kathlyn M. Cooney. 2021
This discussion will be centered on one ubiquitous and rather simple Egyptian object type – the wooden container for the…
human corpse. We will focus on the entire 'lifespan' of the coffin – how they were created, who bought them, how they were used in funerary rituals, where they were placed in a given tomb, and how they might have been used again for another dead person. Using evidence from Deir el Medina, we will move through time from the initial agreement between the craftsman and the seller, to the construction of the object by a carpenter, to the plastering and painting of the coffin by a draftsman, to the sale of the object, to its ritual use in funerary activities, to its deposit in a burial chamber, and, briefly, to its possible reuse.Ruling the Later Roman Empire (Revealing Antiquity #15)
By Christopher Kelly. 2006
In this highly original work, Christopher Kelly paints a remarkable picture of running a superstate. He portrays a complex system…
of government openly regulated by networks of personal influence and the payment of money. Focusing on the Roman Empire after Constantine's conversion to Christianity, Kelly illuminates a period of increasingly centralized rule through an ever more extensive and intrusive bureaucracy. The book opens with a view of its times through the eyes of a high-ranking official in sixth-century Constantinople, John Lydus. His On the Magistracies of the Roman State, the only memoir of its kind to come down to us, gives an impassioned and revealing account of his career and the system in which he worked. Kelly draws a wealth of insight from this singular memoir and goes on to trace the operation of power and influence, exposing how these might be successfully deployed or skillfully diverted by those wishing either to avoid government regulation or to subvert it for their own ends. Ruling the Later Roman Empire presents a fascinating procession of officials, emperors, and local power brokers, winners and losers, mapping their experiences, their conflicting loyalties, their successes, and their failures. This important book elegantly recaptures the experience of both rulers and ruled under a sophisticated and highly successful system of government.The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han (History of Imperial China #1)
By Mark Edward Lewis. 2010
In 221 bc the First Emperor of Qin unified the lands that would become the heart of a Chinese empire.…
Though forged by conquest, this vast domain depended for its political survival on a fundamental reshaping of Chinese culture. With this informative book, we are present at the creation of an ancient imperial order whose major features would endure for two millennia. The Qin and Han constitute the "classical period" of Chinese history--a role played by the Greeks and Romans in the West. Mark Edward Lewis highlights the key challenges faced by the court officials and scholars who set about governing an empire of such scale and diversity of peoples. He traces the drastic measures taken to transcend, without eliminating, these regional differences: the invention of the emperor as the divine embodiment of the state; the establishment of a common script for communication and a state-sponsored canon for the propagation of Confucian ideals; the flourishing of the great families, whose domination of local society rested on wealth, landholding, and elaborate kinship structures; the demilitarization of the interior; and the impact of non-Chinese warrior-nomads in setting the boundaries of an emerging Chinese identity. The first of a six-volume series on the history of imperial China, The Early Chinese Empires illuminates many formative events in China's long history of imperialism--events whose residual influence can still be discerned today.