Ancient history Books

Book SynopsisAttila the Hun - godless barbarian and near-mythical warrior king - has become a byword for mindless ferocity. His brutal attacks smashed through the frontiers of the Roman empire in a savage wave of death and destruction. His reign of terror shattered an imperial world that had been securely unified by the conquests of Julius Caesar five centuries before. This book goes in search of the real Attila the Hun. For the first time it reveals the history of an astute politician and first-rate military commander who brilliantly exploited the strengths and weaknesses of the Roman empire. We ride with Attila and the Huns from the windswept steppes of Kazakhstan to the opulent city of Constantinople, from the Great Hungarian Plain to the fertile fields of Champagne in France. Challenging our own ideas about barbarians and Romans, imperialism and civilisation, terrorists and superpowers, this is the absorbing story of an extraordinary and complex individual who helped to bring down an empire and forced the map of Europe to be redrawn forever.Trade ReviewChristopher Kelly...gives a fine account of this complex story, unpicking its strands cleanly and persuasively * Literary Review *Learned, fluent and often witty study of the great Hunnish leader...Kelly is ideally qualified to write this account -- Tom Holland * Daily Telegraph *Acute and entertaining biography set against the fall of the Roman Empire * Metro *Gripping * The Times *

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Book SynopsisThe third in the Roman Conquests series briefly covers Rome's first forays into the dark continent during the First and Second Punic Wars, then covers in detail her vindictive final conquest and destruction of Carthage in the Third Punic War. The subsequent long wars against the slippery Numidian prince, Jugurtha, which tested the Roman military system to the limit, also occupy a central place. With a cast of characters including Hannibal, the Scipios, Marius, Sulla and the wily Jugurtha, this is sure to be a popular addition to the series.Like the other volumes, this book gives a clear narrative of the course of these wars, explaining how the Roman war machine coped with formidable new foes and the challenges of unfamiliar terrain and climate. Specially-commissioned colour plates by Graham Sumner bring the main troop types vividly to life in meticulously-researched detail.

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Book SynopsisAlthough much has been written on Greek and Roman slavery, slave resistance has typically been dismissed as historically insignificant and those revolts that are documented are portrayed as wholly exceptional and resulting from peculiar historical circumstances that had little to do with the intrinsic views or organizational capabilities of the slaves themselves.In this book Theresa Urbainczyk challenges the current orthodoxy and argues that there were many more slave revolts than is usually assumed and they were far from insignificant historically. She carefully dissects ancient and modern interpretations to show that there was every reason for the writers who recorded and re-recorded the slave rebellions and wars to repress or to reconfigure any larger-scale slave resistance as something other than what it was. Further, she shows that we often have the accounts that we do because of the happenstance of certain ancient authors having been particularly interested in creating accounts of them for their own interests. Urbainczyk argues that we need to look beyond the canonical sources and episodes to see a bigger history of long-term resistance of slaves to their enslavement.Trade Review"A valuable book for scholars and students alike. Urbainczyk's views will be discussed extensively and they will stir up the debate on a topic that has been neglected." - Constantina Katsari, School of Archaeology & Ancient History, University of LeicesterTable of ContentsPreface 1. Introduction 2. Outbreaks 3. Organisation 4. Leaders 5. Ideology 6. Diodorus 7. Historiography Appendices Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAndrew Morton looks at the botanical characteristics of yew trees, and how to measure and age them; at yew trees in pre-Christian and Christian literature, myths and legends; and at the connections between yews and the sites of ancient Christian settlements. Includes detailed case studies of ancient yew trees at Defynnog, Gwytherin, Llangernyw, Llanerfyl and Pennant Melangell.

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Book SynopsisIn BC 55 Julius Caesar came, saw, conquered and then left. It was not until AD 43 that the Emperor Claudius crossed the channel and made Britain the western outpost of the Roman Empire that would span from the Scottish border to Persia. For the next 400 years the island would be transformed. Within that period would see the rise of Londinium, almost immediately burnt to the ground in 60 AD by Boudicca; Hadrian's Wall which was constructed in 112 AD to keep the northern tribes at bay as well as the birth of the Emperor Constantine in third century York. Interwoven with the historical narrative is a social history of the period showing how roman society grew in Britain.

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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 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 SynopsisThis remarkable anthology of classical agricultural texts, entitled `Farm Work'' or Geoponika, was compiled at the behest of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (AD 913-959). Under his direction a series of handbooks was produced, distilling useful knowledge from more than a millennium of Greek and Latin writing on various subjects of practical use from diplomacy and siege warfare to farming. It is of particular value to modern scholars because it quotes from texts that have long since been lost to the world, particularly from authors of the late classical period whose works reflected the agricultural practices of Anatolia, Africa and the Near East.Although the Geoponika has been known in Britain since it was first published here in 1704, there has only been the one English translation, by the Rev. Thomas Owen in 1804/5. Andrew Dalby has considered the original afresh, leaning on the more modern edition of the Greek by Beckh in 1894, and has come up with a more fluent and comprehensible version for the present-day reader. His expertise in matters of food and cookery in the classical and Byzantine world has contributed greatly to the wider utility of his translation. So little is known, or published, about Byzantine food culture and domestic economy that this book should be a really important step forward for students and scholars alike.

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Book SynopsisTrees are now in the public eye as never before. The threat of tree diseases, the felling of street trees and the challenge of climate change are just some of the issues that have put trees in the media spotlight. At the same time, the trees in our parks, gardens and streets are a vital resource that can deliver environmental, social and economic benefits that make our towns and cities attractive, green and healthy places.Ever since Roman times when amenity trees were first planted in Britain, caring for those trees has required specialist skills. This is mainly because of the challenges of successfully integrating large trees into the urban environment and the risks involved in working with them, often at height and in close proximity to people, buildings and roads. But who are the people with the specialist expertise to care for our amenity trees? While professionals such as horticulturists, landscape architects, conservationists and foresters have a role to play, it is the arboriculturists who are the ‘tree experts’. For centuries arboriculture was often synonymous with forestry or considered an aspect of horticulture, until it emerged in the nineteenth century as a separate discipline. There are now some 22,000 people employed in Britain’s arboricultural industry, including practical tree surgeons and arborists, local authority tree officers and arboricultural consultants.This is the first book to trace the history of Britain’s professional tree experts, from the Roman arborator to the modern chartered arboriculturist. It also discusses the influences from continental Europe and North America that have helped to shape British arboriculture over the centuries. The Tree Experts will have particular appeal to those interested in the natural and built environment, heritage landscapes, social history and the history of gardening.Trade ReviewOverall this splendid book provides an illuminating and complete history of the practical management of trees and is to be strongly recommended to all those with an interest in garden, woodland and landscape history. * Landscape History *Overall, this is a clear and confident volume … and the depth of learning, meticulous research and hard work underpinning its creation is evident. Though detailed and authoritative, this is no dry academic text, and in many ways Johnston has written a love letter to his profession, but not one over-sweet with uncritical adulation, and it was a pleasure to read and review it. * Garden History *I, for one, have enjoyed the [book] immensely and wholehearted recommend it to anyone interested in where we started and what we had to go through in order to end up here, now, as arborists. -Donald F. Blair in Tree Care Industry Magazine * Tree Care Industry Magazine *''Outstanding in both depth and detail. ... It’s all there in Mark Johnston’s large but tight and tidy text, big on information and detail, interest and intrigue.'' * Forestry Journal and Essential Arb *To describe this book as a gallop through time would not only be a disservice to the sheer volume of research that Dr Johnston has undertaken, it would also be misleading, as its pages cover both broad concepts and detailed minutiae. … A must read for anyone interested in the promotion and evolution of the [arboriculture] sector. Nick Bolton, Quarterly Journal of Forestry * Quarterly Journal of Forestry *What a great way to explore the fascinating history of professional arboriculture in Britain. Navigating chronologically, [the author] provides a clearly constructed narrative that is brimming with historical references providing endless details to immerse yourself in time and time again. It was an absolute pleasure to read and review this book and it was a fascinating read from cover to cover. * Trees magazine (Institute of Chartered Foresters) *We can all marvel at the completeness of what is for me the most important book on the subject and which will never be equalled – let alone bettered. * Kew Guild Journal *[A]nyone with an interest in trees and how their use evolved to contribute to the gardens and landscapes of past and present would benefit from reading The Tree Experts. * The Horticulturalist *This weighty book contains a huge amount of information and will rightly find a place on many bookshelves. * The Arb Magazine (Arboricultural Association) *Table of ContentsList of Figures Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. The Romans Bring Arboriculture to Britain 3. Keeping the Flame Alight in the Dark Ages 4. Green Shoots in Tudor and Early Stuart Times 5. Arboriculture in the Age of the Formal Garden 6. Arboriculture in the English Landscape Garden 7. Heroic Arboriculture in the Nineteenth Century 8. The Rise of the Tree Experts, 1900–1945 9. Professional Arboriculture ‘Comes of Age’, 1946–Present Index

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Book SynopsisThe Late Bronze Age pile-dwelling settlement at Must Farm is one of the most important and best-preserved prehistoric sites to have been systematically excavated in Europe. The settlement comprised a curving palisade enclosing five stilt-raised houses erected above a freshwater river channel at the edge of one most Britain's most intensively studied and internationally renowned Bronze Age landscapes: the Flag Fen Basin. Built in the mid-9th century bc, the pile-dwelling was engulfed by a catastrophic fire less than a year after construction, sending the buildings and their artefact-rich contents into the sluggish waters below. A combination of fire, water and rapid burial ensured extraordinary levels of preservation, whilst the manner of collapse and brevity of settlement gave the structural remains, and their vibrant material assemblages, a pristine quality. Each household had its own inventory comprising combinations of delicate textiles, wooden containers, hafts and wheels, complete pottery sets, bronze toolkits and the scattered remnants of necklaces of glass beads. Food remains included butchered wild and domestic animal bones, charred plants and seeds, and even the burnt residues of individual meals. This comprehensive and methodologically innovative investigation, incorporating an array of scientific studies and collaborations amongst leading specialists, provides unprecedented insights into the nature of daily life and domestic practice in Bronze Age society. These challenge many expectations about the material worlds that people inhabited, shedding new light on aspects of architecture, material abundance, foodways, woodland management, landscape change and wetland living. The collective results are truly ground-breaking for Wetland Archaeology and wider Bronze Age studies. Volume 1 provides a thematic interpretive synthesis of the site, with a focus on landscape, architecture and occupation, whilst Volume 2 offers in-depth studies of the river setting, construction, dating, material culture and biological remains.

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Book SynopsisA translation from the original French by Tessa Dickinsonof an unpublished original manuscript dated 11 May 1862,in the possession of Robert Temple, London

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Book SynopsisThis publication presents the archaeological evidence from two associated Minoan sites situated at Apesokari in the Mesara Plain of South-Central Crete, Tholos Tomb A and the neighboring free-standing domestic complex on Vigla Hill. It thoroughly reconstructs the natural and social landscape of this Cretan community from the late Prepalatial to the early Neopalatial periods through its interdisciplinary character; this includes photogrammetric two- and three-dimensional models of the architectural remains, viewshed analysis of both monuments and of the earlier Tholos Tomb B, as well as A-DNA and stable isotope analysis of the bones. The study of the burial dataset provides insights into the social construction of collective memory and identity by the burying social group, whereas the habitational deposits from the building on Vigla hill establish the longevity and function of the site as a node of the southern Mesara communication and exchange networks.

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Book SynopsisThis volume presents the results of the survey and excavation of a second peak sanctuary on Minoan Kythera at Leska. An introduction to the archaeological background of the island is provided, as well as a discussion on peak sanctuaries there and in Minoan Crete. The discovery of Leska and the research conducted there are described, and a discussion of the diachronic use of the summit is presented, following analyses of the material remains (including pottery, figurines, stone vessels, stone tools, and jewelry). Detailed discussions of the active role and significance of the landscape and the cultic practices allow an in-depth analysis of the links between society and cult, and also of the ways in which the landscape and immediate surroundings at Leska were sacralised in the Middle Minoan IB to Late Minoan IB phase. The broader analysis of the sacred landscape on Kythera provides a unique opportunity to asess Aegean religion during the Minoan period outside Crete. Table of ContentsList of Illustrations in the Text List of Tables in the Text List of Figures List of Plates Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. Fieldwork 3. Pottery 4. Small Finds 5. The Palimpsest of Human Activities at Leska 6. Landscape Analysis 7. Rituals, Cult, and Beliefs 8. Comparisons and Synthesis References Index Figures Plates

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Book SynopsisThis volume provides a substantive introduction to Babylonian ceremonial script, along with a history of its modern study, and several case studies of how the script was actually used. Since the advent of Assyriology in the early nineteenth century it has been known that two distinct scripts were used in ancient Mesopotamian inscriptions and documents. One, usefully characterized as cursive, was used for the ephemeral documents of daily life as well as on most library and archival texts. The other was a deliberately archaizing script reserved for ceremonial use. This ceremonial script, of Babylonian origin, contained both archaic and archaizing signs, and was in productive use for over two millennia, not only in Babylonia but occasionally also in Assyria and beyond. Yet to date there has been no systematic study devoted specifically to this ceremonial script, nor any published syllabary of the archaic and archaizing signs it employs. This volume attempts to rectify this deficiency. The book's introduction is supplemented by an edition of the palaeographic lists of the second and first millennia BCE, which contain pedagogical inventories of the archaic and archaizing cuneiform signs, illustrating how the ceremonial script was taught, learned and transmitted in scholarly contexts.

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Book SynopsisThis volume tackles a pressing issue in Roman art history: that many sculptures conventionally used in our scholarship and teaching lack adequate information about their find locations. Questions of context are complex, and any theoretical and methodological reframing of Roman sculpture demands academic transparency. This volume is dedicated to privileging content and context over traditions of style and aesthetics. Through case studies, the chapters illustrate multivariate ways to contextualize ancient objects. The authors encourage Roman art historians to look beyond conventional interpretations; to reclaim from the study of Greek sculpture the Roman originals that are too often relegated to discussions of "copies" and "models"; to consider the multiple, dynamic, and shifting contexts that one sculpture could experience over the centuries of its display; and to recognize that post-antique receptions can also offer insight into interpretations of ancient viewers. The collected topics were originally presented in three conference sessions: "Grounding Roman Sculpture" (Archaeological Institute of America, 2019); "Ancient Sculpture in Context" (College Art Association, 2017); and "Ancient Sculpture in Context II: Reception" (College Art Association, 2019).Table of Contents1 Introduction Anne Hrychuk Kontokosta and Peter D. De Staebler 2 The Statues on the Propylon of the Sebasteion Complex at Aphrodisias: "Grounding" and the Interpretation of Archaeological Context Julia Lenaghan 3 Grounding the Ny Carlsberg Vespasian: Analysis and Alternatives Steven L. Tuck 4 The Bronze Captive in the Rhone River and Roman Art History Kimberly Cassibry 5 The Sleeping Hermaphrodite: Reception and Interpretation in Three Eras Elizabeth McGowan 6 The "Lansdowne Homer": A Neo-Attic Relief Depicting the Seer Calchas Grounded in Ancient and Modern Collections Kenneth Lapatin 7 Provenance, Historic Restorations, and the "Perseus Triumphant" Statue Type: An Overlooked Group of Heroic Hunter Portrait Statues from Imperial Rome Mark B. Abbe 8 Investigating the Ungrounded: The Paired Portrait Busts of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna in the Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University Julie Van Voorhis and Mark B. Abbe 9 The Farnese Hercules and Hercules within Roman Baths Maryl B. Gensheimer 10 Body/Culture: Display and Reception of the Farnese Hercules Marice Rose 11 Roman Sarcophagi in Context from the Catacomb of Praetextatus Sarah Madole Lewis 12 Lions at the Door: Ancient Context, Reuse, and Recreation on Italian Romanesque Facades Steve Burges 13 Eros and the Army (Constantinople and Context) Benjamin Anderson 14 Virtual Context for Roman Sculpture Sebastian Heath 15 Further Reflections on Groundedness Elizabeth Marlowe Contributors

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Book SynopsisOf the twelve Augustae who lived during the fifty years of the so-called “military anarchy” (235-284 A.D.), Ulpia Severina, wife of the “Illyrian” emperor Aurelian (270-275 AD), is certainly one of the most enigmatic and less known. The book focuses on Ulpia Severina, who, even though never mentioned by name in literary sources, has been studied almost exclusively from the perspective of the numerous coins issued in her name and is the subject of many interesting honorific inscriptions that had not been thoroughly examined or adequately valued until this study. This exceptional situation, represented by the sole presence of Ulpia Severina on the throne of Rome, deserves more attention than it has received. The pages of the university history textbooks dedicated to the reconstruction of a fifty-year phase of Roman-imperial history must be, if not rewritten, at least integrated in order to give the deserved space to this empress and, therefore, to the so-called “interregnum,” which lasted at least two months, between the death of Aurelian and the advent of emperor Tacitus.Table of Contents1 Literary Sources.1 Aurelian’s Anonymous Uxor.2 Ulpius Crinitus.Bibliography.2 Numismatic Sources.1 The Venèra Hoard.2 The interregnum between Aurelian and Tacitus.Bibliography.3 The Epigraphic Sources.1 The Inscriptions of Ulpia Severina, Coniux Aureliani.2 The Titles of Σεπτιμία Ζηνοβία Σεβαστή.Bibliography.Concluding Remarks.

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Book SynopsisThis work has established itself as a classical text in the field of New Testament studies. Written in a readable, non-technical style, it has become an indispensable textbook and reference for teachers, students, clergy, and the educated layperson interested in a scholarly treatment of the New Testament and its background in the Judaic and Greco-Roman world.

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Book Synopsis The philosopher Epictetus’ Encheiridion (“Little Handbook”), written c. AD 100, is one of the most influential works of Stoic philosophy. The Greek text presented here is the first one to be based an a full evaluation of the complete tradition.

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In Greek Late Antiquity philosophy defined itself above all through the interpretation of authoritative texts such as Plato’s dialogues or the treatises of Aristotle. This work looks at the last Late Antique commentaries on Aristotle’s Physics, the pagan Simplicius and the Christian Philoponus (both 6th cent. AD). Golitsis demonstrates how differently the two contemporaries interpreted the philosophical tradition and how this led them to deduce different routes to finding the truth.

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Book Synopsis The fluidity of myth and history in antiquity and the ensuing rapidity with which these notions infiltrated and cross-fertilized one another has repeatedly attracted the scholarly interest. The understanding of myth as a phenomenon imbued with social and historical nuances allows for more than one methodological approaches. Within the wider context of interdisciplinary exchange of ideas, the present volume returns to origins, as it traces and registers the association and interaction between myth and history in various literary genres in Greek and Roman antiquity (i.e. an era when the scientific definitions of and distinctions between myth and history had not yet been perceived as such, let alone fully shaped and implemented), providing original ideas, new interpretations and (re)evaluations of key texts and less well-known passages, close readings, and catholic overviews. The twenty-four chapters of this volume expand from Greek epos to lyric poetry, historiography, dramatic poetry and even beyond, to genres of Roman era and late antiquity. It is the editors’ hope that this volume will appeal to students and academic researchers in the areas of classics, social and political history, archaeology, and even social anthropology.

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Book SynopsisThe reception of ancient Cyprus in the Western world has not received much attention in scholarship, despite the fact that significant literary and extra-literary evidence presented by European intellectuals and artists explicitly or implicitly refers to the history of Cyprus, as well as to the myths and art produced on it or inspired by its landscape. This is a neglect that this volume wishes to address, by re-establishing the literary thread of the representation of ancient Cyprus beyond generic, spatial and temporal limits, and by thus shedding light on its depiction throughout the centuries, from the ancient Roman to the Western world up until modern times. The volume’s central thesis is that a number of Cypriot traditions constitute a unique example of intercultural and multi-level fusions of diverse European civilizations. By investigating the various and often contradictory ways in which Cyprus was represented in Latin literature and beyond, the volume treats its multifaceted reception as a vastly complex matter, and suggests that even though the island has always been an outlier, it has often been explored in literature as an intellectual landscape and a precious pathway between at times conflictual yet compatible worlds.

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Book SynopsisThe concept of news that we have today is not a modern invention, but rather a social and cultural institution that has been passed down to us by the Greeks as a legacy. This concept is only modified by the social, political, and economic conditions that make our society different from theirs. In order to understand what was considered news in Ancient Greece, a lexical study of ἄγγελος and all of its derivatives attested in a representative corpus of the period spanning from the second millennium BC to the end of the fourth BC has been conducted. This piece of research provides new contributions both to studies in Classics (there are hardly any studies on the transmission of news in Antiquity) and in journalism. This study also reveals an interesting point: the presence of false news – similar to current fake news – in ancient Greek literature, especially in tragedy and historiography when it comes to the use of the derivatives of ἄγγελος.

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Book SynopsisThe belief that dead people could assume non-human forms is attested in Egyptian texts of all periods, from the Old Kingdom down to Graeco-Roman times. It was thought that assuming such forms enhanced their freedom of movement and access to nourishment in the afterlife, as well as allowing them to join the entourages of different deities and participate in their worship. Spells referring to or enabling the deceased’s transformations occur in the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, and the Book of the Dead. But it is not until the Graeco-Roman Period that we find entire compositions devoted to this theme. Two of the most important are P. Louvre N. 3122 and P. Berlin P. 3162, both written in hieratic and dating to the 1st century AD. Both texts have been known to Egyptologists for more than a century, but neither is currently available in an up-to-date comprehensive edition. This book provides such an edition, including high-resolution images of the manuscripts, hieroglyphic transcriptions, translations, descriptions of their material aspects, studies of their owners, their titles, and their families, reconstructions of their context of usage, analyses of their orthography and grammar, and detailed commentaries on their contents.

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Book SynopsisTal Ilan explores the way historical documents from antiquity are reworked and edited in a long process that ends in silencing the women originally mentioned in them. Many methods are used to produce this end result: elimination of women or their words, denigration of the women and their role or unification of several significant women into one. These methods and others are illuminated in this book, as it uses the example of the Jewish queen Shelamzion Alexandra (76-67 BCE) for its starting point. Queen Shelamzion was the only legitimate Jewish queen in history. Yet all the documents in which she is mentioned (Josephus, Qumran scrolls, rabbinic literature etc.) have been reworked so as to minimize her significance and distort the picture we may receive of her. Tal Ilan follows the ways this was done and in doing so she encounters similar patterns in which other Jewish women in antiquity were silenced, censored and edited out.

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Book SynopsisDie wissenschaftliche Diskussion um die Entstehung von Weihnachten und Epiphanias kreist meist um zwei Entstehungshypothesen: Vor allem im angelsächsischen Sprachraum wird in der theologischen Literatur ein innerchristlicher Entstehungszusammenhang aufgrund von frühchristlichen Berechnungen favorisiert, während sonst meist auf parallele heidnische Feiern als Anlaß für die Entstehung der beiden Feste verwiesen wird. Eine derartige Parallelbildung eines christlichen Festes am Termin eines beliebten heidnischen Festes würde, so die weit verbreitete Ansicht, den heutigen Kenntnissen über die Inkulturation des Christentums entsprechen. Hans Förster zeigt, daß beide Hypothesen für die Entstehung von Weihnachten und Epiphanias die Situation des vierten Jahrhunderts nicht erklären können. Die Sonnensymbolik hat sicherlich zur Wahl des Festtermins entscheidend beigetragen. Sie konnte dies jedoch gerade deswegen, weil es eben kein paralleles römisches Sonnwendfest gab, das sich im vierten Jahrhundert besonderer Beliebtheit erfreut hätte. Das angeblich weit verbreitete und beliebte "Sol-Invictus-Fest" wurde vielmehr aufgrund einer höchst fragwürdigen Interpretation christlicher Quellen konstruiert; eine genaue Lektüre dieser Quellen vermag jedoch zu zeigen, daß es dieses Fest wahrscheinlich nicht gab, zumindest hat es sich um kein verbreitetes oder beliebtes Fest gehandelt. Dies bedeutet eine entscheidende Akzentverschiebung der gängigen Sicht des Christentums im vierten Jahrhundert.

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Book SynopsisGregor der Grosse (590-604) war sowohl ein geschickter Kirchenpolitiker als auch ein inspirierter Denker. Barbara Müller erschliesst den inneren Zusammenhang beider Bereiche unter dem Aspekt der Führung, indem sie sowohl Gregors literarische Werke als auch seine päpstliche Korrespondenz analysiert.Aus Gregors Schriften geht hervor, dass für ihn Kirchenleitung vor allem kluge Personalpolitik bedeutete. Obschon sein Ideal der Mönchsbischof nach östlichem Vorbild war, zeichneten sich in der Praxis seine Personalpolitik und seine Führungsmassnahmen durch eine erstaunliche Vielfalt aus. Durch die Berücksichtigung verschiedenster Schriften und aufgrund des konsequent chronologischen Vorgehens lassen sich im führungsbezogenen Denken und Handeln Gregors sowohl Entwicklungen als auch Divergenzen feststellen. Der umfassende Zugang durchbricht die in der Gregor-Forschung verbreitete Tendenz, das Denken und das kirchenpolitische Handeln Gregors je gesondert voneinander zu beleuchten.Die Studie geht auch auf bislang wenig Beachtetes ein, wie beispielsweise Gregors Andreaskloster in Rom, das als ein Hort der kirchlichen Reform identifiziert wird, oder seine östliche Prägung aufgrund seines langjährigen Aufenthaltes in Konstantinopel. Barbara Müller analysiert seine Korrespondenz und zeigt einen anfänglich zerrissenen Mönch, der schliesslich zu einem quasi-mystischen Verständnis von Führung und Kirchenpolitik fand.

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Book SynopsisDie kleinen Schriften von Herwig Görgemanns, die in diesem Band anlässlich des 80. Geburtstages des Heidelberger Gräzisten versammelt sind, vereinen, was andernorts in disziplinärer Zersplitterung und im Auseinanderdriften von Spezialistentum und Vermittlungskompetenz auseinanderfällt: Detailstudien zur antiken Literatur, Geistesgeschichte und Naturwissenschaft verbinden sich im Werk von Herwig Görgemanns mit einer souveränen Darstellung der großen philosophischen und religiös-theologischen Zusammenhänge. Die hier versammelten Beiträge reichen von der Frage nach "Wahrheit und Fiktion in Platons Atlantis-Erzählung" über das Problem der "Sonnenfinsternisse in der antiken Astronomie" bis hin zu Darstellungen der Geschichte der Ethik, der "Jenseitsfurcht und Jenseitshoffnung bei den Griechen" und von "Kosmologie, Kosmogonie und Schöpfung". Sie enthalten Interpretationen von Platon und dem homerischen Hermeshymnus bis hin zu Cicero, Plutarch und Mark Aurel, dem 4. Makkabäerbuch und Origenes.

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Book SynopsisLarge-scale economic change such as the rise of coinage occurred during the Persian-dominated centuries (6th -4th centuries BCE) in the Eastern Mediterranean and ancient Near East. How do the biblical texts of the time respond to such developments?In this study, Peter Altmann lays out foundational economic conceptions from the ancient Near East and earlier biblical traditions in order to show how Persian-period biblical texts build on these traditions to address the challenges of their day. Economic issues are central to the way that Ezra and Nehemiah approach the topics of temple building and of Judean self-understanding. Economic terminology and considerations also appear in Second Isaiah and the "Holiness Code." Following significant interaction with the material culture and extra-biblical texts, the author devotes special attention to the ascendancy of economics and its theological and identity implications as structuring metaphors for divine action and human community in the Persian period.

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Book SynopsisDie sumerische Literatur des 3. und 2. Jahrtausends v.u.Z. bietet auch zahlreiche hymnische Texte, die überwiegend der kultischen Tradition entstammen. Sie feiern Macht, Ansehen und Fürsorge von Gottheiten, Königen, Tempeln, usw. Erhard S. Gerstenberger analysiert, ausgehend von dem formelhaften, archaischen Heilsruf: "[Name] sei Preis!" = "[dGN] zà-mí" (vergleichbar dem biblischen "Halleluja"), die mannigfachen Aussagen des Lobpreisens (zà-mí). Er zeigt, dass es im sumerischen Lob nicht nur um die untertänige, pflichtgemäße Anerkennung von Übermächten geht, sondern um eine effektive Kraftübertragung von Seiten der Lobenden auf die Rezipienten der Huldigung. Stärkendes oder Existenz begründendes Lob kann also nicht nur von Machtträgern ausgehen. Auch das Geschöpf Mensch nimmt am Welt gestaltenden, erhaltenden, heilsamen Preisen teil, vor allem durch Bitten und Loben. Es übernimmt damit seine Verantwortung inmitten der geheimnisvollen Interaktionen aller kosmischen Wirkkräfte personhafter sowie unpersönlicher Art.

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Book Synopsis

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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