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Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide (Cultures Of The Ancient World Ser.)
by Marian BroidaChildren can try their hand at re-creating ancient Israelite culture--along with the cultures of their neighbors, the Philistines and Phoenicians--in a way that will provide perspective on current events. The book covers a key period from the Israelites' settlement in Canaan in 1200 B.C.E. to their return from exile in Babylonia in 538 B.C.E. This part of the Middle East--no larger than modern-day Michigan--was the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. More than 35 projects include stomping grapes into juice, building a model Phoenician trading ship, making a Philistine headdress, and writing on a broken clay pot. Israelites', Phoenicians', and Philistines' writing and languages, the way they built their homes, the food they ate, the clothes they wore, and the work they did, and of course, their many interesting stories, are all explored.
Ancient Japanese Rituals
by SatowFirst published in 2002. What is Shinto? is the key question asked by all who seek to understand Japan and the Japanese, answered in this volume by Sir Ernest Satow, the great British scholar and diplomat. Shinto is the unique and little-known religious beliefs that flourished in Japan before the introduction of Buddhism and Confucianism, but there are many versions - which is the pure form? Satow begins with a detailed study of core Shinto rituals as revealed in ancient texts, which embody the deepest and oldest traditions of Shinto belief in divinity, national destiny and, above all, Japan's special favored status as 'the country of the gods', beliefs that endure today behind the facade of Japan Inc. Shinto rites, incantations, sacred objects and symbols are described meticulously, with illustrations and translations by Karl Florenz. Satow then describes how the Ancient Way of Shinto survived centuries of foreign influence to be revived during the Meiji era, when it became the driving force behind the transformation of Japan into a world power. Unrivalled for its scholarship and elegance, this is a classic in Japanese studies.
Ancient Jewish Food in Its Geographical and Cultural Contexts: What's Cooking in the Talmuds? (Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East)
by Susan WeingartenThis book is the first in-depth study of food in talmudic literature in its geographical and cultural contexts. It demonstrates the sharing of foods and foodways between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbours in the Near East in Late Antiquity.Using both ancient written sources and archaeological evidence, this book sets the foods of the Mishnah and Palestinian Talmud in their Graeco-Roman context, and the foods of the Babylonian Talmud and the ge’onim in their Persian and Arab contexts. It explores practices of food preparation and their contribution to the ancient diet, as well as analysing the relationships between food, status and culture. The rabbinical authors of talmudic literature were more concerned with everyday food than were aristocratic Classical authors; by examining both talmudic sources and archaeological finds, this book paints a new picture of the diet, lifestyle and culture of ordinary people.Ancient Jewish Food in Its Geographical and Cultural Contexts will interest Food Historians as well as students and scholars of Jewish Studies, particularly the period of the Mishnah and Talmud, as well as those dealing with the wider social and cultural history of the Ancient Near East.
Ancient Jewish Sciences and the History of Knowledge in Second Temple Literature (ISAW Monographs #3)
by Seth L. SandersUntil very recently, the idea of ancient Jewish sciences would have been considered unacceptable. Since the 1990s, Early Modern and Medieval Science in Jewish sources has been actively studied, but the consensus was that no real scientific themes could be found in earlier Judaism. This work points them out in detail and posits a new field of research: the scientific activity evident in the Dead Sea Scrolls and early Jewish pseudepigrapha. The publication of new texts and new analyses of older ones reveals crucial elements that are best illuminated by the history of science, and may have interesting consequences for it. The contributors evaluate these texts in relation to astronomy, astrology, and physiognomy, marking the first comprehensive attempt to accountfor scientific themes in Second Temple Judaism. They investigate the meaning and purpose of scientific explorations in an apocalyptic setting. An appreciation of these topics paves the way to a renewed understanding of the scientific fragments scattered throughout rabbinic literature.The book first places the Jewish material in the ancient context of the Near Eastern and Hellenistic worlds. While the Jewish texts were not on the cutting edge of scientific discovery, they find a meaningful place in the history of science, between Babylonia and Egypt, in the time period between Hipparchus and Ptolemy. Thebook uses recent advances in method to examine the contacts and networks of Jewish scholars in their ancient setting. Second, the essays here tackle the problematic concept of a national scientific tradition. Although science is nowadays often conceived as universal, the historiography of ancient Jewish sciences demonstratesthe importance of seeing the development of science in a local context. The book explores the tension between the hegemony of central scientific traditions and local scientific enterprises, showing the relevance of ancient data to contemporary postcolonial historiography of science. Finally, philosophical questions of the demarcation of science are addressed in a way that can advance the discussion of related ancient materials.Online edition available as part of the NYU Library's Ancient World Digital Library and in partnership with the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW).
Ancient Judaism
by Max WeberWeber’s classic study which deals specifically with: Types of Asceticism and the Significance of Ancient Judaism, History and Social Organization of Ancient Palestine, Political Organization and Religious Ideas in the Time of the Confederacy and the Early Kings, Political Decline, Religious Conflict and Biblical Prophecy.
Ancient Kanesh
by Mogens Trolle LarsenThe ancient Anatolian city of Kanesh (present-day Kültepe, Turkey) was a continuously inhabited site from the early Bronze Age through Roman times. The city flourished ca. 2000-1750 BCE as an Old Assyrian trade outpost and the earliest attested commercial society in world history. More than 23,000 elaborate clay tablets from private merchant houses provide a detailed description of a system of long-distance trade that reached from central Asia to the Black Sea region and the Aegean. The texts record common activities such as trade between Kanesh and the city state of Assur and between Assyrian merchants and local people. The tablets tell us about the economy as well as culture, language, religion, and private lives of individuals we can identify by name, occupation, and sometimes even personality. This book presents an in-depth account of this vibrant Bronze Age Anatolian society, revealing the daily lives of its inhabitants.
Ancient Kings of Arabia
by Andrew CrichtonThe history of Arabia naturally divides itself into three periods, the Ancient, the Military, and the Modern. The first carries us down to the age of Mohammed, and is called by the Arabs the Times of Ignorance. The second includes the wars of the Saracens, and the empire of the caliphs. The third embraces the events from the fall of the caliphate to the present day. The native writers who treat of the first period all flourished, as has been observed, posterior to the era of the Prophet. It may seem remarkable that, among an intellectual and opulent people, no historians should have appeared to commemorate the events of their own times; but the causes are to be ascribed chiefly to their national character and habits.
Ancient Landscapes of Western North America: A Geologic History with Paleogeographic Maps
by Ronald C. Blakey Wayne D. RanneyAllow yourself to be taken back into deep geologic time when strange creatures roamed the Earth and Western North America looked completely unlike the modern landscape. Volcanic islands stretched from Mexico to Alaska, most of the Pacific Rim didn’t exist yet, at least not as widespread dry land; terranes drifted from across the Pacific to dock on Western Americas’ shores creating mountains and more volcanic activity. Landscapes were transposed north or south by thousands of kilometers along huge fault systems. Follow these events through paleogeographic maps that look like satellite views of ancient Earth. Accompanying text takes the reader into the science behind these maps and the geologic history that they portray. The maps and text unfold the complex geologic history of the region as never seen before.
Ancient Landscapes of Zoara I: Surveys and Excavations at the Ghor as-Safi in Jordan, 1997–2018 (The Palestine Exploration Fund Annual)
by Konstantinos D. PolitisBiblical Zoara is located in the Ghor as-Safi, precisely at the lowest place on earth. Its environmental and cultural history is therefore unique. During two decades, an archaeological project was conducted which discovered many significant finds of human occupations spanning some 12,000 years. These have been meticulously studied and the results are now presented here in Volume I. Volume II will follow and will complete and complement Volume I.
Ancient Landscapes of Zoara II: Finds from Surveys and Excavations at the Ghor as-Safi in Jordan, 1997–2018 (The Palestine Exploration Fund Annual)
by Peter Edwell Konstantinos D. Politis Anthony D. Grey Annette M. Hansen Louise Joyner Kalliope I. Kritikakou-Nikolaropoulou Louise A. Martin Rula Nuri Shafiq Sofia Laparidou Georgios A. Papaioannou Aliza TaftAncient Landscapes of Zoara II reveals the unique set of objects discovered through the meticulous excavations at the Ghor as-Safi in Jordan. Some of them are unique works of art, but others are no less valuable for the knowledge they hold. Complementing the previous volume Ancient Landscapes of Zoara I, this book explores Ghor as-Safi’s ancient history and archaeology through the material remains found during excavations. The finds described are from historical periods and include unpublished early Christian and Aramaic inscriptions as well as Arabic writing and graffiti. Newly discovered mosaic pavements are presented along with other noteworthy finds such as glazed imported wares, local industrial pottery, fine glass, an array of coins and specialised metal work. Animal and plant remains testify to varied and rich agricultural regimes which sustained the prosperity of ancient communities. In turn, this affluence seems to have led to a fairly sophisticated and literate society in an otherwise rather desolate environment. Studies on the human remains affirm a robust population. Ancient Landscapes of Zoara II, as with the previous volume, is aimed at students and researchers of the archaeology of the Near East and the southern Levant in particular. It is also of interest to readers wishing to further their understanding of the region’s medieval cultures, with a focus on material finds from archaeological excavations belonging to the Byzantine and Islamic periods.
Ancient Law
by Dante J. Scala Sir Henry MaineBest known as a history of progress, Ancient Law is the enduring work of the 19th-century legal historian Henry Sumner Maine. Even those who have never read Ancient Law may find Maine's famous phrase "from status to contract" familiar. His narrative spans the ancient world, in which individuals were tightly bound by status to traditional groups, and the modern one, in which individuals are viewed as autonomous beings, free to make contracts and form associations with whomever they choose. Maine's dichotomy between status-based societies and contract-based societies is a variation on a theme that has absorbed the social sciences for a century: the distinction between Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft (society). This theme has been elaborated upon by such eminent scholars as Tonnies, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, and Parsons. Along with many lesser scholars, they have considered what we gained and what we lost when we left behind a social world held together by communal, primordial bonds, and adopted one based upon impersonal temporary agreements among individuals. Maine wrote Ancient Law to increase knowledge about the internal mechanics of developing societies. He felt a key objective was better understanding of how law develops over time. Failure to understand temporal processes in relation to legal development, he argues, leads to the creation of false dichotomies. The most important of these is the alleged division between the ancient and the modern, which Maine described as an "imaginary barrier" at which modern scholars feel they must stop and go no further. Maine's desire to breach this barrier led him to present this complex and richly nuanced analysis of legal evolution. This book will be of interest to historians, political philosophers, and those interested in the development of law.
Ancient Law, Ancient Society
by Dennis P. Kehoe Thomas McginnThe essays composing Ancient Law, Ancient Society examine the law in classical antiquity both as a product of the society in which it developed and as one of the most important forces shaping that society. Contributors to this volume consider the law via innovative methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives—in particular, those drawn from the new institutional economics and the intersection of law and economics. Essays cover topics such as using collective sanctions to enforce legal norms; the Greek elite’s marriage strategies for amassing financial resources essential for a public career; defenses against murder charges under Athenian criminal law, particularly in cases where the victim put his own life in peril; the interplay between Roman law and provincial institutions in regulating water rights; the Severan-age Greek author Aelian’s notions of justice and their influence on late-classical Roman jurisprudence; Roman jurists’ approach to the contract of mandate in balancing the changing needs of society against respect for upper-class concepts of duty and reciprocity; whether the Roman legal authorities developed the law exclusively to serve the Roman elite’s interests or to meet the needs of the Roman Empire’s broader population as well; and an analysis of the Senatus Consultum Claudianum in the Code of Justinian demonstrating how the late Roman government adapted classical law to address marriage between free women and men classified as coloni bound to their land. In addition to volume editors Dennis P. Kehoe and Thomas A. J. McGinn, contributors include Adriaan Lanni, Michael Leese, David Phillips, Cynthia Bannon, Lauren Caldwell, Charles Pazdernik, and Clifford Ando.
Ancient Laws and Modern Problems: The Balance Between Justice and a Legal System
by John SassoonThe author’s study of the written laws of four thousand years ago puts paid to the belief that the most ancient laws were merely arbitrary and tyrannical. On the contrary, the earliest legal systems honestly tried to get to the truth, do justice to individuals, and preserve civil order. They used the death penalty surprisingly seldom, and then more because society had been threatened than an individual killed. Some of the surviving law codes are originals, others near-contemporary copies. Together they preserve a partial but vivid picture of life in the early cites. This occupies more than half the book. Comparison of ancient with modern principles occupies the remainder and is bound to be controversial; but it is important as well as fascinating. The first act of writing laws diminished the discretion of the judges and foretold a limit on individual justice. Some political principles such as uniformity of treatment or individual freedom have, when carried to extremes, produced crises in modern legal systems world wide. But it is tempting but wrong to blame the judges or the lawyers for doing what society require of them.
Ancient Legal Thought: Equity, Justice, and Humaneness From Hammurabi and the Pharaohs to Justinian and the Talmud
by Larry MayThis is a study of what constituted legality and the role of law in ancient societies. Investigating and comparing legal codes and legal thinking of the ancient societies of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, India, the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and of the ancient Rabbis, this volume examines how people used law to create stable societies. Starting with Hammurabi's Code, this volume also analyzes the law of the pharaohs and the codes of the ancient rabbis and of the Roman Emperor Justinian. Focusing on the key concepts of justice equity and humaneness, the status of women and slaves, and the idea of criminality and of war and peace; no other book attempts to examine such diverse legal systems and legal thinking from the ancient world.
Ancient Legends Retold: A Little Book of Robin Hood (Ancient Legends Retold)
by Fiona Collins Michael DacreThis collection of five tales and one play contains the definitive Robin Hood. They are the earliest ballads and play and still the best of the bunch. ‘Robin Hood and the Monk’ is the earliest surviving manuscript, dated c.1450, and is considered the greatest of the ballads, though it was probably not sung, being described as a ‘talkyng’; ‘Robin Hood’s Death’ is one of the most satisfying tragedies in the English language; while ‘A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode’ is a comprehensive account of the famous English outlaw - complete, unified and pointing quite clearly to the reign of Edward II as a probable time for an historical Robin Hood, despite the opinions of most of the experts.
Ancient Legends Retold: The Legend of Pryderi (Ancient Legends Retold)
by Fiona CollinsThe Four Branches of the Mabinogion are a rich treasure trove of tales. These magical, quintessentially Welsh stories are confusing, but it would be hard to match their splendid strangeness. The Four Branches tell of the kings and queens of Wales in the time of’ ‘Once upon a time’. Only one character appears in all Four Branches. He is Pryderi, and the story of his life journey is told in this book. Pryderi is brave and bold: sometimes foolhardy, always fiercely loyal. The stories of two beautiful, powerful women entwine with his: Rhiannon of the Birds, his mother, and Cigfa, his wife. Both accompany him on his life path. But, at the last, Pryderi must go on alone. Here, for the first time, his tale is told from beginning to end.
Ancient Legends Retold: The Legend of Vortigern (Ancient Legends Retold)
by Fiona Collins Simon Heywood'My name is Vortigern ... ' Generations before Arthur's birth, a British warlord looks back on his life: his rise from humble roots to shake the thrones of a dying empire; his stand against chaos amid the aftermath of Rome; his struggle with the greedy, embittered princes of church and kingdom; his loves and his losses, and his last encounter with his own mysterious destiny, on a mountain where the world we know is beginning to take shape before his eyes. Vortigern's voice speaks from the heart of a forgotten darkness, telling a story of courage and cowardice, glory and crime, tragedy and treason.
Ancient Legends of Ireland
by Lady Jane WildeThis beautiful keepsake edition of Ancient Legends of Ireland is lavishly illustrated with 22 period illustrations. While Lady Jane Francesca Agnes Wilde is probably best known for being Oscar Wilde&’s mother, she was a formidable writer in her own right. The people of Ireland owe Lady Wild a great debt for collecting and persevering folk-lore that might otherwise have been lost to them. The present work deals with the mythology, or the fantastic creed of the Irish respecting the invisible world and their strange and mystical superstitions, brought thousands of years ago from their Aryan home, but which still, even in the present time, affect all the modes of thinking and acting in the daily life of the people. Told with power as well as with simplicity ... a very interesting and readable collection of folk-lore.—Graphic. Lady Wilde&’s book is delightful.... Amongst those best acquainted with Irish folk-lore, legends, and mysteries, we believe few will be found capable of adding many words to pages which could only have been filled by an Irish woman lovingly treating such a subject.—Vanity Fair.
Ancient Libraries
by Jason König Jason König Katerina Oikonomopoulou Greg Woolf Katerina OikonomopoulouThe circulation of books was the motor of classical civilization. But books were both expensive and rare, and so libraries - private and public, royal and civic - played key roles in articulating intellectual life. This collection, written by an international team of scholars, presents a fundamental reassessment of how ancient libraries came into being, how they were organized and how they were used. Drawing on papyrology and archaeology, and on accounts written by those who read and wrote in them, it presents new research on reading cultures, on book collecting and on the origins of monumental library buildings. Many of the traditional stories told about ancient libraries are challenged. Few were really enormous, none were designed as research centres, and occasional conflagrations do not explain the loss of most ancient texts. But the central place of libraries in Greco-Roman culture emerges more clearly than ever.
Ancient Lives: An Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory
by Brian M. FaganFocusing on sites of key significance and the world's first civilizations, Ancient Lives is an accessible and engaging textbook which introduces complete beginners to the fascinating worlds of archaeology and prehistory. Drawing on their impressive combined experience of the field and the classroom, the authors use a jargon-free narrative style to enliven the major developments of more than three million years of human life. First introducing the basic principles, methods and theoretical approaches of archaeology, the book then provides a summary of world prehistory from a global perspective, exploring human origins and the reality of life in the archaic world. Later chapters describe the development of agriculture and animal domestication and the emergence of cities, states, and pre-industrial civilizations in widely separated parts of the world. With this new edition updated to reflect the latest discoveries and research in the discipline, Ancient Lives continues to be a comprehensive and essential introduction to archaeology.
Ancient Lives: An Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory
by Brian M. Fagan Nadia DurraniFocusing on sites of key significance and the world’s first civilizations, Ancient Lives is an accessible and engaging textbook which introduces complete beginners to the fascinating worlds of archaeology and prehistory. Drawing on their impressive combined experience of the field and the classroom, the authors use a jargon-free narrative style to enliven the major developments of more than 3 million years of human culture. First introducing the basic principles, methods, and theoretical approaches of archaeology, the book then provides a summary of world prehistory from a global perspective. This latest edition provides an up-to-date account of human evolution and the origins of modern humans. It explores the reality of life in the prehistoric world. Later chapters describe the development of agriculture and animal domestication, and the emergence of cities, states, and preindustrial civilizations in widely separated parts of the world. Our knowledge of these is changing thanks to revolutionary developments in LIDAR (light detection and ranging) technology and other remote-sensing devices. With this new edition updated to reflect the latest discoveries and research in the discipline, Ancient Lives continues to be a comprehensive and essential introduction to archaeology. It will be ideal for students looking for an accessible guide to the subject.
Ancient Logic, Language, and Metaphysics: Selected Essays by Mario Mignucci (Issues in Ancient Philosophy)
by Andrea Falcon Pierdaniele GiarettaThe late Mario Mignucci was one of the most authoritative, original, and influential scholars in the area of ancient philosophy, especially ancient logic. Collected here for the first time are sixteen of his most important essays on Ancient Logic, Language, and Metaphysics. These essays show a perceptive historian and a skillful logician philosophically engaged with issues that are still at the very heart of history and philosophy of logic, such as the nature of predication, identity, and modality. As well as essays found in disparate publications, often not easily available online, the volume includes an article on Plato and the relatives translated into English for the first time and an unpublished paper on De interpretatione 7. Mignucci thinks rigorously and writes clearly. He brings the deep knowledge of a scholar and the precision of a logician to bear on some of the trickiest topics in ancient philosophy. This collection deserves the close attention of anyone concerned with logic, language, and metaphysics, whether in ancient or contemporary philosophy.
Ancient Loons: Stories Pingree Told Me
by Philip J. Davis"Ah, I'm Pingree. We meet again. Splendid. Won't you sit down?"I looked around David's room. Short of the library stacks, I had never seen so many books piled into a single room. Where could I sit down? Every square inch of horizontal surface was covered. Books, papers, notes, manuscripts-all congregated in random and chaotic disorder.This small en
Ancient Macedonia
by Carol J. KingThe first English-language monograph on ancient Macedonia in almost thirty years, Carol J. King's book provides a detailed narrative account of the rise and fall of Macedonian power in the Balkan Peninsula and the Aegean region during the five-hundred-year period of the Macedonian monarchy from the seventh to the second century BCE. King draws largely on ancient literary sources for her account, citing both contemporary and later classical authors. Material evidence from the fields of archaeology, epigraphy, and numismatics is also explored. Ancient Macedonia balances historical evidence with interpretations—those of the author as well as other historians—and encourages the reader to engage closely with the source material and the historical questions that material often raises. This volume will be of great interest to both under- and post-graduate students, and those looking to understand the fundamentals of the period.
Ancient Magic: A Practitioner's Guide To The Supernatural In Greece And Rome
by Philip MatyszakAn accessible historical exploration of the methods and motivations behind using magic in ancient Greece and Rome. In the ancient world, magic was everywhere. The supernatural abounded, turning flowers into fruit and caterpillars into butterflies. In a time before scientists studied weather patterns and figured out what caused the Earth’s most mysterious phenomena, it was magic that packed a cloud full of energy until it exploded with thunderbolts. It was everyday magic, but it was still magical. In Ancient Magic, author Philip Matyszak ushers readers into that world, showing how ancient Greeks and Romans concocted love potions and cast curses, how they talked to the dead and protected themselves from evil spirits. He takes readers to a world where gods interacted with humans and where people could not only talk to spirits and deities, but could themselves become divine. Ancient Magic presents us with a new understanding of the role of magic, combining a classical historiography with a practical how-to guide. Using a wide array of sources and lavish illustrations, this book offers an engaging and accessible way into the supernatural for all.