Ancient history Books

Book SynopsisIn Aeneas and the Roman Hero, the author explains and illustrates the ideals of the newly-created Roman empire under Augustus as they are reflected in Virgil’s Aeneid. National hopes were high; Rome had emerged from the bloodshed of internecine civil wars; her renewed civilisation was set to rule the known world. Virgil’s Aeneid explores and symbolises those aspirations in epic narrative through the myth of the Trojan hero Aeneas. The poem remains one of the most significant literary landmarks of our own civilisation; in this book, its story and its poetic magnificence are outlined for the student coming to the poem for the first time. This well-established series, Inside the Ancient World, presents elected aspects of the ancient world in such a way as to help students gain an understanding of the attitudes of the Greeks and Romans, and to allow them to form their own judgement on the issues raised. Designed to meet the need for material suited to Classical Studies / Classical Civilization courses, it will be found particularly useful by candidates taking examinations. It is also intended as a helpful ancillary to the study of Greek and Latin at these levels. Much of the information is given by way of translated quotations from ancient authors. the books are illustrated throughout and diagrams and maps are linked closely to the text.Table of ContentsList Of Illustrations And N1ap Preface 1. Virgil's Life And Times 2. Rome's Destiny: The Golden Age 3. Aeneas- The New Hero 4. Virgil's Private Voice: Dido, Turnus, Juno Index

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Book SynopsisThis text is a study of the origins and development of Greek science, focusing especially on the interactions of scientific and traditional patterns of thought from the 6th to the 4th centuries BC. The starting point is an examination of how certain Greek authors deployed the category of 'magic' and attacked magical beliefs and practices. In the second chapter the book outlines the development and significance of the theory and practice of argument in early Greek science and follows this with a study of the development of empirical research. Finally the author asks why the Greeks invented science: what precisely their contribution was, and what social, economic, ideological and political factors had a bearing on the growth of science in Greece. Designed primarily for students of the history and philosophy of science and classicists, this book also embraces comparative material from anthropology, and from the study of ancient Near Eastern civilisation, and is therefore suitable for anthropologists too.

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Book Synopsis"Greek Vases" is a discussion of the painted vases which were an ever-present but understated feature of life in the Greek world between the end of the Bronze Age and the rise of Rome, and, in the modern world, an important component of museum collections since the eighteenth century. The book uses specific illustrated examples to explore the archaeological use of vases as chronological indicators, the use of the various shapes, their scenes of myth and everyday life and what these tell us, the way in which we think about their makers, and how they are treated today as museum objects and archaeological evidence.

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Book SynopsisDesigned for students and teachers of Ancient History or Classical Civilisation at school and in early university years, this series provides a valuable collection of guides to the history, art, literature, values and social institutions of the ancient world. "Early Greek Lawgivers" examines the men who brought laws to the early Greek city states, as an introduction both to the development of law and to the basic issues in early legal practice. The lawgiver was a man of special status, who could resolve disputes without violence, and who brought a sense of order to his community. Figures such as Minos of Crete, Lycurgus of Sparta and Solon of Athens resolved the chaos of civil strife by bringing comprehensive norms of ethical conduct to their fellows, and establishing those norms in the form of oral or written laws. Arbitration, justice, procedural versus substantive law, ethical versus legal norms, and the special character of written laws, form the background to the examination of the lawgivers themselves. Crete, under king Minos, became an example of the ideal community for later Greeks, such as Plato. The unwritten laws of Lycurgus established the foundations of the Spartan state, in contrast with the written laws of Solon in Athens. Other lawgivers illustrate particular issues in early law; for instance, Zaleucus on the divine source of laws; Philolaus on family law; Phaleas on communism of property; and Hippodamus on civic planning. This is an ideal first introduction to the establishment of law in ancient Greece. It is written for late school and early university students.

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Book SynopsisThis engrossing book was the first ever investigation into the plight of the disabled and deformed in Graeco-Roman society, drawing on a wealth of material, including literary texts, medical tracts, vase paintings, sculpture, mythology and ethnography. It is now issued in paperback for the first time with a new preface and updated bibliography.Trade Review'... should be read by everyone with a concern for where we come from morally, intellectually, politically and culturally' - Paul Cartledge, Times Higher Educational Supplement. 'Garland's enthusiasm and erudition have produced one of the most readable and informative books of recent years in the field of ancient social history ... an excellent introduction to the subject' - Tim Parkin, Classical Review.Table of ContentsPreface to the Second Edition Supplementary Bibliography Preface to the First Edition Abbreviations Introduction 1. Survival of the Weakest 2. Half-Lives 3. The Roman Emperor in his Monstrous World 4. The Deformed and the Divine 5. Deriding the Disabled 6. The Physiognomic Consciousness 7. Images of the Deformed 8. Medical Diagnosis and Treatment 9. Towards a Teratology 10. Racial Deformity Conclusions Glossary Notes Bibliography Index Locorum General Index

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Book SynopsisThroughout the 11th and 12th centuries the Norman knight was possibly the most feared warrior in Western Europe. He was descended originally from the Vikings who had settled in Northern France under their leader Rollo in or around 911 at the behest of Charles the Simple and throughout the following centuries they remembered and built on their warlike reputation. This book shows how their military prowess was renowned throughout the known world and resulted in Normans conquering Sicily in 1060 and England in 1066, as well as participating in many important battles in Italy and playing a major part in the First Crusade.Table of ContentsHistorical Background · Chronology · Appearance and Equipment · Construction and Repair · Training · Tactics · Typical Engagements · Motivation · Bohemond · Logistics · Museums · Glossary

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Book SynopsisOffers a new approach to landscape perception.This book is an extended photographic essay about topographic features of the landscape. It integrates philosophical approaches to landscape perception with anthropological studies of the significance of the landscape in small-scale societies. This perspective is used to examine the relationship between prehistoric sites and their topographic settings. The author argues that the architecture of Neolithic stone tombs acts as a kind of camera lens focussing attention on landscape features such as rock outcrops, river valleys, mountain spurs in their immediate surroundings. These monuments played an active role in socializing the landscape and creating meaning in it.A Phenomenology of Landscape is unusual in that it links two types of publishing which have remained distinct in archaeology: books with atmospheric photographs of monuments with a minimum of text and no interpretation; and the academic text in which words provide a substitute for visual imagery. Attractively illustrated with many photographs and diagrams, it will appeal to anyone interested in prehistoric monuments and landscape as well as students and specialists in archaeology, anthropology and human geography.Table of ContentsContents: Introduction - Place, Landscape and Perception: Phenomenological Perspectives - The Social Construction of Landscape in Small-Scale Societies: Structures of Meaning, Structures of Power - An Affinity with the Coast: Places and Monuments in South

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Book SynopsisEgypt looms large in the Western imagination. Whether it is our attraction to pharaonic art, the pyramids or practices of mummification, Egypts unique understanding of materiality speaks to us across space and time. Is it because the ancient Egyptians fetishized material objects that we find their culture captivating today? And what exactly do Egyptian remains tell us about biography, embodiment, memory, materiality, and the self? Object Worlds in Ancient Egypt takes New Kingdom Egypt (1539-1070 BC) as its starting point and considers how excavated objects reveal the complex ways that ancient Egyptians experienced their material world. From life to death, the material world instantiated, reflected and influenced social life and existence for ancient Egyptians. Thus, in Meskells unique approach to the materiality and sensuousness of subjects and objects, we uncover the philosophical, spiritual and human meanings embedded in these cultural artefacts. Meskells book explores the fundamental existential questions that not only preoccupied ancient Egyptians, but continue to fascinate people today. What is the essence of persons and things? How might we understand the situated experiences of material life, the constitution of the object world and its shaping of human experience? How might objects successfully mediate between worlds? In the final analysis, Meskell moves forward through time and examines the consumption and appreciation of these Egyptian material objects in the contemporary world. Materiality is our physical engagement with the world, our medium for inserting ourselves into the fabric of that world and our way of constituting and shaping culture in an embodied and external sense. From that perspective it is very much the domain of anthropology and archaeology.Drawing on a wide range of objects, artefacts, and artwork, from Valley of the Kings through to Las Vegas, Meskell provides an elegant analysis of the aesthetics of ancient Egyptian material cultureTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1: Objects In The Mirror May Appear Closer Than They AreChapter 2: Taxonomy, Agency, BiographyChapter 3: Material Memories: Objects as AncestorsChapter 4: Statue Worlds and Divine ThingsChapter 5: On Hearing, Phenomenology and DesireChapter 6: Sketching Lifeworlds, Performing ResistanceChapter 7: Object Lessons from Modernity AcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1: Objects In The Mirror May Appear Closer Than They AreChapter 2: Taxonomy, Agency, BiographyChapter 3: Material Memories: Objects as AncestorsChapter 4: Statue Worlds and Divine ThingsChapter 5: On Hearing, Phenomenology and DesireChapter 6: Sketching Lifeworlds, Performing ResistanceChapter 7: Object Lessons from Modernity

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Book SynopsisThe only eye witness account of the Eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Surviving the test of time, this account is unique and the events were captured by a Roman Dignitary who was also a Literary Master. Relive the horror and tragedy of this major event.

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Book SynopsisShe was the last ruler of the Macedonian dynasty of Ptolemies who had ruled Egypt for three centuries. Highly educated (she was the only one of the Ptolemies to read and speak ancient Egyptian as well as the court Greek) and very clever (her famous liaisons with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were as much to do with politics as the heart), she steered her kingdom through impossibly taxing internal problems and railed against greedy Roman imperialism. Stripping away preconceptions as old as her Roman enemies, Joyce Tyldesley uses all her skills as an Egyptologist to give us this magnificent biography.Trade ReviewTyldesley's strength has always been her storytelling, and here she is on top form. * Sunday Telegraph *This excellent biography scores with a wealth of splendid detail. -- Christopher Hirst * Independent *Magnificent ... strips away preconceptions to provide a rich, absorbing picture of a country and its Egyptian Queen. * Belfast Telegraph *A very readable account of the life of Cleopatra VII, and one that goes some way to redress the way in which she is often viewed ... Intriguing insights into life and society in the Egypt of the Ptolemies. * THES *4 Stars: [A] sympathetic biography...she is able to place Cleopatra securely in Egyptian culture and history. * Mail on Sunday *A lively and informative history...The book is a treasure trove of facts and figures... -- Toby Clements * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisThe County of Lancashire - and the City of Lancaster in particular - have a richer archaeological heritage than is often appreciated. This was most dramatically demonstrated in November 2005 with the discovery of a massive stone bearing the image of a triumphant horseman and his fallen foe. This was without doubt one of the most significant finds of recent years. But who was the horseman, could the many fragments ever be satisfactorily be reassembled, and what did this stunning object mean for our history? To hope to answer these questions, and to put this artefact where it might be enjoyed by Lancastrians and visitors alike, would take the co-operative efforts of numerous museums, four universities, and the enthusiastic support of local people. This richly illustrated volume represents a first attempt - by archaeologists, classical historians, conservators and curators - to tell the stone's story, and in doing so to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding Insus, son of Vodullus.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements vAn Important Find 9The Stone and its Meaning 11The Arms and Equipment 27Dating the Tombstone 21The Stone Acquired and Conserved 29The Reiter Stones of Roman Britain 39Sources and Further Reading 53

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Book SynopsisThis is a revolutionary book that challenges our preconceptions about the past. We often think of history as a linear development in which we are steadily moving out of a violent and patriarchal past to a more equitable and peaceful future. While we have no shortage of wars -- and the incidence of violence against women is alarmingly high -- we are told that humans have never lived in such peaceful times. We continually hear that our predecessors were violent but also that patriarchy is inevitable and universal. But what if none of this were true? What if we were descended from peaceful societies in which women were respected and equal to men? Would this inspire us to seek new ways of organising our lives and of interpreting the present? Based on many years of research into ancient history and prehistory, Judy Foster and linguist Marlene Derlet take on the world. They argue that three million years of peace, a period when women's status in society was much higher than it is now, preceded the last six thousand years of war during which men have come to hold power over women. They challenge the academic resistance to these ideas and re-examine both the archaeological work of Marjia Gimbutas and recent research into the prehistories of Africa, East and South Asia, the Americas, Australia, South-East Asia and Oceania.Table of ContentsA Timeline of Human Prehistory; The Prehistoric Female Principle: The Goddess of Old Europe; Introduction; The Theory of Marija Gimbutas; Forms of Bias: Sex & Gender; Archaeology; Matriarchy; Civilization; First Writing; Intangible Evidence: The Role of Language, Oral Transmission & Myth; Tangible Evidence: Prehistoric Art: The Visual Image: Sign & Symbol; Northern Hemisphere: The Prehistoric Goddess Figurines of Old Europe; Hunter/Gathering, the First Horticulture & Agriculture; Northern Hemisphere: Three Prehistoric Civilizations; The First Indo-Europeans: the Beginning of Civilization & Written history; The First Changes to Womens Status; Early Indo-European Philosophies: Their Development & Effects; Earliest Indo-European Philosophies: Justification for, & the Results of, Colonisation, Development, & Appropriation; Peaceful Hidden Worlds: Africa; Hidden Worlds: India; Hidden Worlds: China. Korea. Japan; Hidden Worlds: Southeast Asia: Thailand; Hidden Worlds: Indonesia; New Worlds: Australia; New Worlds: Oceania; New Worlds: North America; New Worlds: South America. Mesoamerica ; Conclusion; The Gimbutas Legacy.

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Book SynopsisThis volume represents the interest of the American Academy in Rome (AAR), its fellows, residents, and the larger international community who use its excellent library and facilities. The Memoirs series presents a selection of articles on topics including—but not limited to—Roman archaeology and topography, ancient and modern Italian history, Latin literature, and Italian art and architectural history. Volume 56/57 includes the following essays and articles: ""Parsing Piety: The Sacred Still Life in Roman Relief Sculpture,"" by Laetitia La Follette; ""On the Outside Looking In: Pliny's Natural History and the Portrayal of Invisibility Rituals in the Latin West,"" by Richard L. Phillips; ""Cult and Circus in Vaticanum,"" by Regina Gee; ""Finding His Niche: On the 'Autoapotheosis' of Augustus,"" by A. J. Droge; ""Urbanism and Identity at Classical Morgantina,"" by Justin St. P. Walsh; ""The Visual Dreamscape of Propertius 3.3,"" by Emma Scioli; ""The Pons Sublicius: A Reinvestigation,"" by Pier Luigi Tucci; ""Apollo and Daphne by Antonio del Pollaiuolo and the Poetry of Lorenzo de' Medici,"" by Luba Freedman; ""Leonardo Bufalini and the First Printed Map of Rome, 'The Most Beautiful of All Things,'"" by Jessica Maier; ""The Matrix: Le sette chiese di Roma of 1575 and the Image of Pilgrimage,"" by Barbara Wisch; ""'Universal History of the Characters of Letters and Languages': An Unknown Manuscript by Athanasius Kircher,"" by Daniel Stolzenberg; ""G. B. Piranesi's Diverse manièreand the Natural History of Ancient Art,"" by Heather Hyde Minor; ""Architectural Amnesia: George Howe, Mario De Renzi, and the U.S. Consulate in Naples,"" by Denise R. Costanzo; and ""A Forgotten Dig near Ostia,' by Archer Martin.

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Book SynopsisThis volume from the American Academy in Rome represents the interests of the AAR, its fellows, residents, and the larger international community who utilize its excellent library and facilities. The Memoirs series (MAAR) presents a selection of ambitious articles on subjects represented by the AAR. These topics include, but are not limited to, Roman archaeology and topography, ancient and modern Italian history, Latin literature, and Italian art and architectural history.

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Book SynopsisVolume One, Catalogue of the Babylonian Collections at Yale

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Book SynopsisVolume Two, Catalogue of the Babylonian Collections at Yale

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Book SynopsisWith the appearance of this volume, the Oriental Institute marks the true completion of the Egyptian Coffin Texts Project , an international cooperative program begun by James Henry Breasted and Alan H. Gardiner in 1922 and edited by Adriaan de Buck from 1935 until his death in 1959. When published in 1961, Volume 7, de Buck's final volume, was announced as "the last volume of the autographed Coffin Texts in the contemplated Project" (p. vii), although the Oriental Institute had never produced the autographed edition of Pyramid Texts within the Coffin Text corpus that had been explicitly promised in the introduction to Volume 1. Assumed to comprise a "distinct" and "foreign body" within the Coffin Texts, these long-lived spells were "reserved for later" (p. xi). After a lapse of forty years, a formally renewed Coffin Texts Project was authorised by the Director of the Oriental Institute in 2001, with the goal of completing the Oriental Institute's outstanding commitments. The translation volume once envisioned and entrusted to Tjalling Bruinsma had been rendered unnecessary by the publications of Robert O. Faulkner in 1969 ( Pyramid Texts ) and 1973-1978 ( Coffin Texts ), which serve to engage scholars and laymen alike. Glossaries, bibliographies, symposia, and detailed textual studies appeared, but the critical edition of Middle Kingdom Pyramid Texts remained unaccomplished. By careful examination of the Oriental Institute's original collation sheets and unpublished sources from Lisht, James P. Allen, after years of concentrated study, has now fulfilled the task admirably. It is hoped that the new edition stimulates discussion not only of the longevity of the Pyramid Texts, but of the nature of the Coffin Texts themselves. While Breasted insisted that the Pyramid Texts were "sharply distinguished" from the Coffin Texts, the frequent appearance of "Pyramid Texts" on coffins (among the narrowly defined "Coffin Texts") leaves this opinion open to question. Ironically, the one coffin acquired in Chicago by Breasted for study by the Coffin Texts Project (OIM 12072) contained only "Pyramid Texts" and was therefore excluded from the initial seven volumes. Now at last these Middle Kingdom texts on a coffin can be examined among the "Coffin Texts" (Robert K. Ritner, Director, The Egyptian Coffin Texts Project, 2001-05).

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Book SynopsisBir Umm Fawakhir is a fifth-sixth century AD Coptic/Byzantine gold-mining town located in the central Eastern Desert of Egypt. The Bir Umm Fawakhir Project of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago carried out four seasons of archaeological survey at the site, in 1992, 1993, 1996, and 1997; one season of excavation in 1999; and one study season in 2001. This volume is the final report on the 1996 and 1997 seasons. The goals of the 1996 and 1997 field seasons were to complete the detailed map of the main settlement, to continue the investigation of the outlying clusters of ruins or "Outliers" and to address some specific questions such as the ancient gold-extraction process. The completion of these goals makes the main settlement at Bir Umm Fawakhir one of the only completely mapped towns of the period in Egypt. Not only is the main settlement plotted room for room and door for door but also features such as guardposts, cemeteries, paths, roads, wells, outlying clusters of ruins and mines are known and some of these are features not always readily detectable archaeologically. This volume presents the pre-Coptic material; a detailed discussion of the remains in the main settlement, outliers and cemeteries; the Coptic/Byzantine pottery, small finds and dipinti; as well as a study of ancient mining techniques.

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Book SynopsisWriting, the ability to make language visible and permanent, is one of humanity's greatest inventions. This book presents current perspectives on the origins and development of writing in Mesopotamia and Egypt, providing an overview of each writing system and its uses. Essays on writing in China and Mesoamerica complete coverage of the four pristine writing systems - inventions of writing in which there was no previous exposure to texts. The authors explore what writing is, and is not, and sections of the text are devoted to Anatolian hieroglyphs of Anatolia, and to the development of the alphabet in the Sinai Peninsula in the second millennium BC and its spread to Phoenicia where it spawned the Greek and Latin alphabets. This richly illustrated volume, issued in conjunction with an exhibit at the Oriental Institute, provides a current perspective on, and appreciation of, an invention that changed the course of history.Table of ContentsVisible Language: The Earliest Writing Systems, Christopher Woods Iconography of Protoliterate Seals, Oya Topcuoglu The Earliest Mesopotamian Writing, Christopher Woods Adaptation of Cuneiform to Write Akkadian, Andrea R. Seri The Rise and Fall of Cuneiform Script in Hittite Anatolia, Theo van den Hout The Conception and Development of the Egyptian Writing System, Elise V. MacArthur The Earliest Egyptian Writing, Andreas Stauder Egyptian Hieroglyphic Writing, Janet H. Johnson Hieratic, Kathryn E. Bandy Demotic, Janet H. Johnson Ptolemaic Hieroglyphs, Francois Gaudard Coptic, T. G. Wilfong Invention and Development of the Alphabet, Joseph Lam The Beginnings of Writing in China, Edward L. Shaughnessy The Development of Maya Writing, Joel Palka Anatolian Hieroglyphic Writing, Ilya Yakubovich

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Book SynopsisThe volume is the result of the eighth Annual University of Chicago Oriental Institute Seminar, held on March 2-3, 2012. Seventeen speakers, from both the US and abroad, examined the interconnections between temples, ritual, and cosmology from a variety of regional specializations and theoretical perspectives. The seminar revisited a classic topic, one with a long history among scholars of the ancient world: the cosmic symbolism of sacred architecture. Archaeologists, art historians, and philologists working not only in the ancient Near East, but also Mesoamerica, Greece, South Asia, and China, re-evaluated the significance of this topic across the ancient world.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Heaven on Earth: Temples, Ritual, and Cosmic Symbolism in the Ancient World. Deena Ragavan Part I: Architecture and Cosmology 2. Naturalizing Buddhist Cosmology in the Temple Architecture of China: The Case of the Yicihui Pillar. Tracy Miller 3. Hints at Temple Topography and Cosmic Geography from Hittite Sources. Susanne Gorke 4. Images of the Cosmos: Sacred and Ritual Space in Jaina Temple Architecture in India. Julia A. B. Hegewald Part II: Built Space and Natural Forms 5. The Classic Maya Temple: Centrality, Cosmology, and Sacred Geography in Ancient Mesoamerica. Karl Taube 6. Seeds and Mountains: The Cosmogony of Temples in South Asia. Michael W. Meister 7. Intrinsic and Constructed Sacred Space in Hittite Anatolia. Gary Beckman Part III: Myth and Movement 8. On the Rocks: Greek Mountains and Sacred Conversations. Betsey A. Robinson 9. Entering Other Worlds: Gates, Rituals, and Cosmic Journeys in Sumerian Sources. Deena Ragavan Part IV: Sacred Space and Ritual Practice 10. "We Are Going to the House in Prayer": Theology, Cultic Topography, and Cosmology in the Emesal Prayers of Ancient Mesopotamia. Uri Gabbay 11. Temporary Ritual Structures and Their Cosmological Symbolism in Ancient Mesopotamia. Claus Ambos 12. Sacred Space and Ritual Practice at the End of Prehistory in the Southern Levant. Yorke M. Rowan Part V: Architecture, Power, and the State 13. Egyptian Temple Graffiti and the Gods: Appropriation and Ritualization in Karnak and Luxor. Elizabeth Frood 14. The Transformation of Sacred Space, Topography, and Royal Ritual in Persia and the Ancient Iranian World. Matthew P Canepa 15. The Cattlepen and the Sheepfold: Cities, Temples, and Pastoral Power in Ancient Mesopotamia. Omur Harmansah Part VI: Images of Ritual 16. Sources of Egyptian Temple Cosmology: Divine Image, King, and Ritual Performer. John Baines 17. Mirror and Memory: Images of Ritual Actions in Greek Temple Decoration. Clemente Marconi PART VII: Responses 18. Temples of the Depths, Pillars of the Heights, Gates in Between. David Carrasco 19. Cosmos and Discipline. Richard Neer

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Book SynopsisAthens, 403 BCE. The end of the bloody oligarchic dictatorship of the Thirty. The democrats return to the city victorious. Renouncing vengeance, in an act of amnesia, citizens call for if not invent amnesty. They agree to forget the unforgettable, the past misfortunes of civil strife, stasis. More precisely, what must be denied is that stasis simultaneously partisanship, faction, and sedition is at the heart of Greek politics.This crucial moment of Athenian political history, Nicole Loraux argues in The Divided City, must be interpreted as constitutive of, not a threat to, politics and political life. Divided from within and against itself, the city is formed by that which it refuses. Conflict, the calamity of civil war, is the other, dark side of the beautiful, unitary city of Athens. Beneath the Greek city erected in totality and ideality, Loraux rediscovers the discord affecting the entire city, the stasis manifesting the fundamental conflictual ambivalence of the civic order. The city, by definition, is doomed to divide itself in two.In a brilliant analysis of the Greek word for voting, diaphora, Loraux underscores the conflictual and dynamic motion of democratic life: voting appears as the process of dividing up, of disagreement, in short, of agreeing to divide up and choose between. Not only does Loraux reconceptualize the definition of ancient Greek democracy, but she ultimately allows the contemporary reader to rethink the functioning of modern democracies in its critical moments of dissension and divide, of internal stasis.

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