Search results for ""author stephen mitchell""

Vivid, enjoyable and comprehensible, the poet and pre-eminent translator Stephen Mitchell makes the oldest epic poem in the world accessible for the first time. Gilgamesh is a born leader, but in an attempt to control his growing arrogance, the Gods create Enkidu, a wild man, his equal in strength and courage. Enkidu is trapped by a temple prostitute, civilised through sexual experience and brought to Gilgamesh. They become best friends and battle evil together. After Enkidu's death the distraught Gilgamesh sets out on a journey to find Utnapishtim, the survivor of the Great Flood, made immortal by the Gods to ask him the secret of life and death. Gilgamesh is the first and remains one of the most important works of world literature. Written in ancient Mesopotamia in the second millennium B.C., it predates the Iliad by roughly 1,000 years. Gilgamesh is extraordinarily modern in its emotional power but also provides an insight into the values of an ancient culture and civilisation.

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Cremna, a ruined city of southern Turkey, has one of the most spectacular sites in Asia Minor, high in the Taurus mountains. For long a stronghold of hellenised Pisidians, Cremna was re-founded as a veteran colony by the emperor Augustus. From the age of Hadrian until the early third century ad the colony enjoyed a boom in public buildings, whose remains still adorn the site. Disaster struck in the late third century when Cremna became the centre for a regional insurrection against Roman rule. Roman forces staged a major siege of the city, and recaptured it in AD 278. A bishopric in Late Antiquity, Cremna was abandoned in the sixth or seventh century. This book gives a detailed reconstruction of Cremna's life and history, based on an intensive survey of the archaeological remains between 1985 and 1987. There is a lively account of the survey itself. The book also traces the story of the rediscovery of the site in 1833 and the contributions of early travellers and archaeologists. There is a full study of the public building programme of Cremna from the first century BC to the third century AD; of the aqueduct, water supply and domestic housing; and of church building in Late Antiquity. The highlight of the archaeological survey was the discovery of numerous remains of the Roman siege of AD 278. The siege of Cremna demonstrates classical techniques of Roman siege warfare, which hitherto were best known from Josephus' account of the Jewish Revolt in AD 66-73. Cremna in Pisidia is written in a style accessible to general readers as well as to specialists. It is not only a definitive account of an important city of the Roman East. It is also a case study exploring many of the common characteristics of civic life in the Roman world.

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A widely celebrated translator’s vivid, accessible, and elegantly concise rendering of an ancient English masterpieceBeowulf tells the story of a Scandinavian hero who defeats three evil creatures—a huge, cannibalistic ogre named Grendel, Grendel’s monstrous mother, and a dragon—and then dies, mortally wounded during his last encounter. If the definition of a superhero is “someone who uses his special powers to fight evil,” then Beowulf is our first English superhero story, and arguably our best. It is also a deeply pious poem, so bold in its reverence for a virtuous pagan past that it teeters on the edge of heresy. From beginning to end, we feel we are in the hands of a master storyteller. Stephen Mitchell’s marvelously clear and vivid rendering re-creates the robust masculine music of the original. It both hews closely to the meaning of the Old English and captures its wild energy and vitality, not just as a deep “work of literature” but also as a rousing entertainment that can still stir our feelings and rivet our attention today, after more than a thousand years. This new translation—spare, sinuous, vigorous in its narration, and translucent in its poetry—makes a masterpiece accessible to everyone.

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We seem to be obsessed with perfection. It's everywhere, permeating our conversations, our language, our advertising, our films and our religion. It's not only widespread across our culture; it has roots deep in the beginning of our civilization. For the sake of our well-being and our faith we need to be liberated from this pre-occupation. Past Perfect unravels some of the confusion surrounding our use of the word in many different contexts, and shapes an understanding of God that is free of this notion. 'Stephen Mitchell's lively, original and sometimes brilliant book is a sustained attack on that idea of absolute perfection. It is also part of the process by which modern Christianity is struggling to renew itself.' Don Cupitt, author of The Sea of Faith

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This book has its roots in a very traditional understanding of God. In theological jargon, it's about God's omnipresence; God being everywhere. Because God is everywhere, we are, wherever we are, in God. It shouldn't, therefore, be difficult to believe in God. We don't have to struggle to get our head around impossible questions. We are already in God; so belief isn't like taking an exam, it's like taking a bath. We need to learn to relax and let ourselves be revived in God's presence. But looking more closely at what we find ourselves to be in, (including life, luck, love and person) the implications for our understanding of God are shocking and revolutionary. Here is a radical orthodoxy to give confidence to those who have given up on the fundamentalist expressions of faith that dominate the church today. Liberals are true to the heart of orthodox Christian doctrine on God. They are here encouraged to find their voice, demonstrate the deep roots of their faith, and above all, enjoy it.

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This book presents a historical study of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity from the accession of the emperor Diocletian 284 to the death of the emperor Heraclius in 641. The only modern study to cover the western and eastern empire and the entire period from 284 to 641 in a single volume A bibliographical survey supports further study and research Includes chronological tables, maps, and charts of important information help to orient the reader Discusses the upheaval and change caused by the spread of Christianity and the barbarian invasions of the Huns, Goths and Franks Contains thematic coverage of the politics, religion, economy and society of the late Roman state Gives a full narrative of political and military events Discusses the sources for the period

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'Do you want to improve the world? I don't think it can be done. The world is sacred. It can't be improved. If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it. If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.' Stephen Mitchell's translation of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way) has sold over half a million copies worldwide. In this stunningly beautiful edition of the fundamental modern Taoist philosophy text, Mitchell's words are set against ancient Chinese paintings selected by Asian art expert, Dr Stephen Little.

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"Somebody comes into the Zen center with a lighted cigarette, walks up to the Buddha statue, blows smoke in its face, and drops ashes on its lap. You are standing there. What can you do?" This is a problem that Zen Master Seung Sahn is fond of posing to his American students who attend his Zen centers. Dropping Ashes on the Buddha is a delightful, irreverent, and often hilariously funny living record of the dialogue between Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn and his American students. Consisting of dialogues, stories, formal Zen interviews, Dharma speeches, and letters using the Zen Master's actual words in spontaneous, living interaction with his students, this book is a fresh presentation of the Zen teaching method of "instant dialogue" between Master and student which, through the use of astonishment and paradox, leads to an understanding of ultimate reality.

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The classic tale of Odysseus's return home in a stunning new translation.THE ODYSSEY, which tells of Odysseus's long voyage home after the battle of Troy, is one of the defining masterpieces of Western literature.Populated by one-eyed man-eating giants, beautiful seductive goddesses, and lavishly hospitable kings and queens, it is an extraordinary work of the imagination, the original epic voyage into the unknown that has inspired other writing down through the ages - from ancient poems to modern fiction and films. With its consummately modern hero, full of guile and wit, THE ODYSSEY is perfectly suited to our times. Thanks to the scholarship and poetic power of the highly acclaimed Stephen Mitchell, this new translation recreates the energy and simplicity, the speed, the grace, and continual thrust and pull of the original, so that THE ODYSSEY's ancient story bursts vividly into new life.

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The papers in this book result from a conference held in Istanbul in 2004, and are the product of collaboration between the British Academy Black Sea Initiative (BABSI) and the City and Regional Planning Department of Istanbul Technical University. They cover a period from the first appearance of human settlers in the Black Sea region to the present day, and all emphasize the significance of the Black Sea itself as a source of unity, linking communities and histories in a wider regional context, extending westward along the Danube basin, northward into the Ukraine and south Russia, east into the Caucasus and southward over the Anatolian hinterland. A major introductory paper re-examines the evidence for the Black Sea flood hypothesis. A group of four papers evaluate new evidence for the economic and cultural relationships between Greeks and native populations in the Black Sea region from the seventh to the fourth centuries BC. The next group of studies is concerned with the interconnectedness of the Black Sea between medieval and modern times, highlighting Seljuk and Ottoman trade, and the roles of the ports of Odessa and Trabzon. Four papers deal with the economic and social development of the Turkish Black Sea region in recent times. The final section places Black Sea history in a long perspective both from a cultural and a political viewpoint.

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‘Illuminating…on the cutting edge’ Jon Kabat-Zinn'Byron Katie has rocked my world and shaken loose my mind more thoroughly than any other spiritual teacher I've ever encountered' Elizabeth GilbertHow Asking Four Questions Can Free Your Mind, Open Your Heart and Turn Your World AroundIn A Mind At Home With Itself, bestselling author and founder of The Work, Byron Katie explains that emotions such as sadness, anger and resentment come from believing our negative thoughts. But when we learn to question those thoughts, they lose their power. And when this happens, our minds are free to turn towards others and ourselves with a spirit of generosity.Byron Katie gives hugely popular workshops every year all over the world, in places like churches, prisons, universities, schools and corporations. She speaks at organisations like Facebook and Stanford University and is also involved with a programme for cancer patients. Charismatic and compassionate, there’s good reason why The Times has called her events ‘riveting’, and Time magazine has named her ‘a spiritual innovator for the new millennium’.

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Loving What Is by bestselling author Byron Katie is a simple, straightforward antidote to the suffering we unnecessarily create for ourselves and has inspired and help millions of people transform their pain into freedom. Written in an easy-to-follow, interactive and accessible way and drawing on illustrative case studies, reading this is the first step to turning your life around and achieving inner peace and harmony...'A great blessing for our planet' -- Eckhart Tolle'Her method can cut through years of self-delusion and rationalisation' -- Los Angeles Times'A pragmatic and simple way of getting people to take responsibility for their own problems' -- Time Magazine'Mind blown - [this is the] best book I have read of this type since Power of Now. Really helped me to let go of beliefs and judgements that aren't serving me. Thanks for writing it.' -- ***** Reader review'Amazing, life changing' -- ***** Reader review'A massively inspiring book' -- ***** Reader review'Very easy to read and an absolute gem!' -- ***** Reader review'Life changing (really)' -- ***** Reader review*****************************************************************************************************A thought is harmless unless we believe itDrawing on her own experience of moving through suffering to freedom, Byron Katie developed 'The Work': a simple, four-step programme to help pinpoint the problems that are troubling you and how to tackle them effectively.A life-transforming system for discarding the stories at the source of our suffering, this is your guide to finding inner peace and happiness.

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Inspired by the Tao Te Ching, this is Byron Katie's inspiring and pragmatic approach to achieving an awakened mind and living more simply and profoundly. Using the template of the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching she talks about her own experience of living in harmony with the way things are, and the difference between what hurts and what doesn't. Katie has written two books that teach how suffering can be relieved by questioning the thoughts that create it, the thoughts that argue with reality. This questioning takes courage and, in this her third book, she gives readers profound encouragement by showing them the freedom and love that live on the other side of self-inquiry.Many people believe that although enlightenment was attainable thousands of years ago by a few great saints or ascetics, such a state is out of reach of anyone living in the modern world, let alone themselves. This richly detailed account has the ability to change that belief.Katie's comments on life, and how to live it, are profound, vibrant, funny and crystal clear and all rooted in the familiar circumstances of everyday life.

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A sweeping historical account of the Later Roman Empire incorporating the latest scholarly research In the newly revised 3rd edition of A History of the Later Roman Empire, 284-700, distinguished historians Geoffrey Greatrex and Stephen Mitchell deliver a thoroughly up-to-date discussion of the Later Roman Empire. It includes tables of information, numerous illustrations, maps, and chronological overviews. As the only single volume covering Late Antiquity and the early Islamic period, the book is designed as a comprehensive historical handbook covering the entire span between the Roman Empire to the Islamic conquests. The third edition is a significant expansion of the second edition—published in 2015—and includes two new chapters covering the seventh century. The rest of the work has been updated and revised, providing readers with a sweeping historical survey of the struggles, triumphs, and disasters of the Roman Empire, from the accession of the emperor Diocletian in AD 284 to the closing years of the seventh century. It also offers: A thorough description of the massive political and military transformations in Rome’s western and eastern empires Comprehensive explorations of the latest research on the Later Roman Empire Practical discussions of the tumultuous period ushered in by the Arab conquests Extensive updates, revisions, and corrections of the second edition Perfect for undergraduate and postgraduate students of ancient, medieval, early European, and Near Eastern history, A History of the Later Roman Empire, 284-700 will also benefit lay readers with an interest in the relevant historical period and students taking a survey course involving the late Roman Empire.

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A stunning new translation of the classic tale of the fall of Troy from one of the world's finest translators. If you enjoyed THE SONG OF ACHILLES, discover the original and the best...Man seduces another's wife then kidnaps her. The husband and his brother get a gang together to steal her back and take revenge. The woman regrets being seduced and wants to escape, whilst the man's entourage resent the position they have been placed in. Yet the battle lines have been drawn and there is no going back...Not the plot of the latest Hollywood thriller, but the basis of the ILIAD - the Greek classic that details the war between the Greeks and the Trojans after the kidnapping of Helen of Sparta. Based on the recent, superb, M.L. West edition of the Greek, this ILIAD is more readable and moving than any previous version. Thanks to the scholarship and poetic power of the highly acclaimed Stephen Mitchell, this new translation recreates the energy and simplicity, the speed, grace, and continual thrust and pull of the original, while the ILIAD's ancient story bursts vividly into life. This edition also includes book 10 as an appendix, making it indispensible for students and lay readers alike.

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Loving What Is by bestselling author Byron Katie is a simple, straightforward antidote to the suffering we unnecessarily create for ourselves and has inspired and help millions of people transform their pain into freedom. Written in an easy-to-follow, interactive and accessible way and drawing on illustrative case studies, reading this is the first step to turning your life around and achieving inner peace and harmony...'A great blessing for our planet' -- Eckhart Tolle'Her method can cut through years of self-delusion and rationalisation' -- Los Angeles Times'A pragmatic and simple way of getting people to take responsibility for their own problems' -- Time Magazine'Mind blown - [this is the] best book I have read of this type since Power of Now. Really helped me to let go of beliefs and judgements that aren't serving me. Thanks for writing it.' -- ***** Reader review'Amazing, life changing' -- ***** Reader review'A massively inspiring book' -- ***** Reader review'Very easy to read and an absolute gem!' -- ***** Reader review'Life changing (really)' -- ***** Reader review*****************************************************************************************************A thought is harmless unless we believe itDrawing on her own experience of moving through suffering to freedom, Byron Katie developed 'The Work': a simple, four-step programme to help pinpoint the problems that are troubling you and how to tackle them effectively.A life-transforming system for discarding the stories at the source of our suffering, this is your guide to finding inner peace and happiness.

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‘ What is rooted is easy to nourish What is recent is easy to correct’ Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way) is the classic manual on the art of living. In 81 short, poetic chapters, the book looks at the basic predicament of being alive and teaches how to work for the good with the effortless skill that comes from being in accord with the Tao, or the basic principle of the universe. Stephen Mitchell’ s acclaimed translation is accompanied by ancient Chinese paintings that beautifully reflect Lao Tzu’ s timeless words. An illustrated edition of one of the most widely translated texts in the world. Features the best of classical Chinese painting A modern, accessible translation which reflects the poetry of Lao Tzu's words. ‘ Beautiful and accessible; the English, as 'fluid as melting ice,' is a joy to read throughout’ The New Republic. ‘ I have read many translations of this ancient text but Mitchell’ s is by far the best.’ James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces.

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The fourth century was a major religious battleground. The rise of Christianity, and in particular its dominance from Constantine onwards, marked an important shift in the religious history of the Mediterranean. Christianity saw this change as the victory of its monotheism over the polytheism of paganism. This volume studies how similarities between paganism and Christianity were obscured in the polemic that was waged by Christianity against paganism and in the pagan responses to it. The volume includes papers on Porphyry, Augustine, Themistius, Latin verse inscriptions, as well as dealing with the different ways in which Christian and pagan thinkers conceived of monotheism. A recurring theme in the papers shows that a concrete religious issue lay at the heart of such polemic: who can one worship? Christians would restrict worship to their God, whereas pagans accepted cultic acts for the many traditional deities. The debate about monotheism was therefore not just about conceptions of the divine, but was part of the creation and defence of social, cultural and religious identities in Late Antiquity. In exploring how the notion of monotheism was shaped by Late Antique polemic and how this still influences our understanding of it, this volume also hopes to inform contemporary debates about the dangers of monotheism.

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Asia Minor under Rome was one of the wealthiest and most developed parts of the Empire, but there have been few modern studies of its economics. The twelve papers in this book, by an international team of scholars, work from literary texts, inscriptions, coinage and archaeology. They study the direct impact of Roman rule; the organisation of large agricultural estates; changing patterns of olive production; threats to rural prosperity from pests and the animal world; inter-regional trade in the Black Sea; the significance of civic market buildings; the economic role of temples and sanctuaries; the contribution of private benefactors to civic finances; and, monetization in the third century AD, and the effect of transitory populations on local economic activity.

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The classic, in-depth history of psychoanalysis, presenting over a hundred years of thought and theoriesSigmund Freud's concepts have become a part of our psychological vocabulary: unconscious thoughts and feelings, conflict, the meaning of dreams, the sensuality of childhood. But psychoanalytic thinking has undergone an enormous expansion and transformation since Freud's death in 1939. With Freud and Beyond, Stephen A. Mitchell and Margaret J. Black make the full scope of twentieth century psychoanalytic thinking-from Harry Stack Sullivan to Jacques Lacan; D.W. Winnicott to Melanie Klein-available for the first time.Richly illustrated with case examples, this lively, jargon-free introduction makes modern psychoanalytic thought accessible at last.

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The period 300-600 AD saw huge changes: the Graeco-Roman city-state was first transformed then eclipsed; much of the Roman Empire broke up and was reconfigured; new barbarian kingdoms emerged in the Roman West. Above all, religious culture moved from polytheistic to monotheistic. Here, 20 papers by international scholars explore how group identites were established against the shifting background. Separate sections treat the Latin-speaking West, the Greek East, and the age of Justinian. Themes include religious conversion, Roman law in the barbarian West, problems of Jewish identity, and what in Late Antiquity it meant to be Roman.

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Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) was Israel's most popular poet, as well as a literary figure of international reputation. In this collection, renowned translators Chana Bloch and Stephen Mitchell have selected Amichai's most beloved poems, including forty poems from his later work. A new foreword by C.K. Williams, written especially for this edition, addresses Amichai's enduring legacy and sets his poetry in the context of the new millennium.

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This new text provides readers with a comprehensive introduction to Local Authority Social Services, the main context in which UK social work is practised .

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Dan Pagis (1930-1986) spent three of his adolescent years in a Nazi camp before arriving in Palestine in 1946. He became one of the most vibrant voices in modern Israeli poetry and is considered a major world poet of his generation. A master scholar of Hebrew literature, Pagis drew fully on classical texts and infused his poetry with a centuries-old mysticism. Yet he also brought an immediacy and colloquialism to Hebrew poetry. In these superbly translated poems, Dan Pagis' voice can be heard celebrating the human spirit.

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One of the most important German poets of the nineteenth century, Heinrich Heine was a convert without conviction. He chose Christianity over Judaism as a means of securing an academic career, but when his conversion failed to yield the hoped-for job opportunities, he devoted himself to writing instead. This volume presents a new translation of Hebrew Melodies, the third cycle of poems in Heine’s late masterwork, Romanzero, which many critics have interpreted as Heine’s return to his Jewish roots.As Elisheva Carlebach explains in her foreword, Heine’s “return to God” in his final years was motivated not by faith but by a deep admiration of the Jewish people—a sentiment that is clearly reflected in the poems that make up Hebrew Melodies. This edition presents the original German alongside new English translations by Stephen Mitchell, widely known for his ability to make old classics thrillingly new, and Jack Prelutsky, the author of more than fifty poetry collections for children and adults. Mark Podwal’s illustrations beautifully portray the joyous, playful elements of Jewish tradition and hint at what Carlebach calls the “menacing edges of history’s nightmares,” echoing Heine’s position as a poet “caught between worlds.”

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