Texts And Culture In Late Antiquity

Author : Dirk Rohmann
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 3110485559
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Christianity, Book-Burning and Censorship in Late Antiquity written by Dirk Rohmann and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-07-25 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is estimated that only a small fraction, less than 1 per cent, of ancient literature has survived to the present day. The role of Christian authorities in the active suppression and destruction of books in Late Antiquity has received surprisingly little sustained consideration by academics. In an approach that presents evidence for the role played by Christian institutions, writers and saints, this book analyses a broad range of literary and legal sources, some of which have hitherto been little studied. Paying special attention to the problem of which genres and book types were likely to be targeted, the author argues that in addition to heretical, magical, astrological and anti-Christian books, other less obviously subversive categories of literature were also vulnerable to destruction, censorship or suppression through prohibition of the copying of manuscripts. These include texts from materialistic philosophical traditions, texts which were to become the basis for modern philosophy and science. This book examines how Christian authorities, theologians and ideologues suppressed ancient texts and associated ideas at a time of fundamental transformation in the late classical world.

Author : J. H. D. Scourfield
Publisher : Classical Press of Wales
ISBN 13 : 1910589454
Total Pages : 357 pages
Book Rating : 4.58/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Texts and Culture in Late Antiquity written by J. H. D. Scourfield and published by Classical Press of Wales. This book was released on 2007-12-31 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Late Antiquity has increasingly been viewed as a period of transformation and dynamic change in its literature as in society and politics. In this volume, thirteen scholars focus on the intellectual and literary culture of the time, investigating complex relationships between late-Antique authors and the texts which they had inherited through the classical ('pagan') and Christian traditions. Particular emphasis is placed on works that carried special authority: Homer, Virgil, Plato, and the Bible. The volume thus contributes to the history of the reception of classical texts, and through its inclusiveness (classical and classicizing, philosophical, and patristic writing are all represented) seeks to offer a view of the textual world of late Antiquity as a unified whole. It affords a scholarly introduction to a sweep of late-Antique literature in Greek and Latin. Authors and genres discussed include Juvencus and Claudian, Plotinus and Proclus, Jerome and John Cassian, geographical and grammatical writing, and Christian cento.

Author : Geoffrey Greatrex
Publisher : Classical Press of Wales
ISBN 13 : 1914535057
Total Pages : 363 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Ethnicity and Culture in Late Antiquity written by Geoffrey Greatrex and published by Classical Press of Wales. This book was released on 2000-12-31 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The period AD 300-600 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, twenty papers by international scholars explore how group identities were established against this 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.

Author : Karel Thein
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000457419
Total Pages : 373 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Ecphrastic Shields in Graeco-Roman Literature written by Karel Thein and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-09-30 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume takes a fresh look at ekphrasis as a textual practice closely connected to our embodied imagination and its verbal dimension; it offers the first detailed study of a large family of ancient ecphrastic shields, often studied separately, but never as an ensemble with its own development. The main objective consists of establishing a theoretical and historical framework that is applied to a series of famous ecphrastic shields starting with the Homeric shield of Achilles. The latter is reinterpreted as a paradigmatic "thing" whose echoing down the centuries is reinforced by the fundamental connection between ekphrasis and artefacts as its primary objects. The book demonstrates that although the ancient sources do not limit ekphrasis to artificial creations, the latter are most efficient in bringing out the intimate affinity between artefacts and vivid mental images as two kind of entities that lack a natural scale and are rightly understood as ontologically unstable. Ecphrastic Shields in Graeco-Roman Literature: The World’s Forge should be read by those interested in ancient culture, art and philosophy, but also by those fascinated by the broader issue of imagination and by the interplay between the natural and the artificial.

Author : Sean V. Leatherbury
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000023338
Total Pages : 444 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Inscribing Faith in Late Antiquity written by Sean V. Leatherbury and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-26 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inscribing Faith in Late Antiquity considers the Greek and Latin texts inscribed in churches and chapels in the late antique Mediterranean (c. 300–800 CE), compares them to similar texts from pagan, Jewish, and Muslim spaces of worship, and explores how they functioned both textually and visually. These texts not only recorded the names and prayers of the faithful, but were powerful verbal and visual statements of cultural values and religious beliefs, conveying meaning through their words as well as through their appearances. In fact, the two were intimately connected. All of these texts – Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and pagan – acted visually, embracing their own materiality as mosaic, paint, or carved stone. Colourful and artfully arranged, the inscriptions framed human relationships with the divine, encouraged responses from readers, and made prayers material. In the first in-depth examination of the inscriptions as words and as images, the author reimagines the range of aesthetic, cultural, and religious experiences that were possible in spaces of worship. Inscribing Faith in Late Antiquity is essential reading for those interested in Roman, late antique, and Byzantine material and visual culture, inscriptions and other texts, and religious life in the ancient Mediterranean.

Author : Douglas Boin
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119076811
Total Pages : 315 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity written by Douglas Boin and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-03-20 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2019 PROSE Award finalist in the Classics category! A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity examines the social and cultural landscape of the Late Antique Mediterranean. The text offers a picture of everyday life as it was lived in the spaces around and between two of the most memorable and towering figures of the time—Constantine and Muhammad. The author captures the period using a wide-lens, including Persian material from the mid third century through Umayyad material of the mid eighth century C.E. The book offers a rich picture of Late Antique life that is not just focused on Rome, Constantinople, or Christianity. This important resource uses nuanced terms to talk about complex issues and fills a gap in the literature by surveying major themes such as power, gender, community, cities, politics, law, art and architecture, and literary culture. The book is richly illustrated and filled with maps, lists of rulers and key events. A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity is an essential guide that: Paints a rich picture of daily life in Late Antique that is not simply centered on Rome, Constantinople, or Christianity Balances a thematic approach with rigorous attention to chronology Stresses the need for appreciating both sources and methods in the study of Late Antique history Offers a sophisticated model for investigating daily life and the complexities of individual and group identity in the rapidly changing Mediterranean world Includes useful maps, city plans, timelines, and suggestions for further reading A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity offers an examination of everyday life in the era when adherents of three of the major religions of today—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—faced each other for the first time in the same environment. Learn more about A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity’s link to current social issues in Boin’s article for the History News Network.

Author : Paola Francesca Moretti
Publisher : Brepols Publishers
ISBN 13 : 9782503557359
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.5X/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Culture and Literature in Latin Late Antiquity written by Paola Francesca Moretti and published by Brepols Publishers. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent decades many valuable studies have been highlighting the cultural changes that deeply affected the Roman world between the fourth and sixth centuries AD. These changes, mostly due to Christianization as well as reactions to it, occurred in literary and cultural fields. In the past they have been explained through a well-defined pattern, namely a twofold process, adapting changing contents to unchanging formal structures. However, this pattern may not be effective today, given the new framework arising from the increasing amount of data and its close examination. The papers herein collected deal with many specific texts or issues, all included in the so-called literary area of 'secularity' (according to the definition by R. A. Markus). The aim of this case-studies gallery, ranging from the fourth to seventh centuries AD, is precisely to offer a multi-layered approach to the complex, unclear-cut interweaving of continuity and discontinuity. Indeed, this is at the heart of the transformation, process of intellectual horizons in Latin Late Antiquity. This volume consists of three sections, devoted to investigating the transformation of cultural heritage in poetry and prose respectively, and the key role of school education in shaping late ancient 'secular' culture. Book jacket.

Author : Ralph Mathisen
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 135189921X
Total Pages : 343 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Society and Culture in Late Antique Gaul written by Ralph Mathisen and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Late Roman Gaul is often seen either from a classical Roman perspective as an imperial province in decay and under constant threat from barbarian invasion or settlement, or from the medieval one, as the cradle of modern France and Germany. Standard texts and "moments" have emerged and been canonized in the scholarship on the period, be it Gaul aflame in 407 or the much-disputed baptism of Clovis in 496/508. This volume avoids such stereotypes. It brings together state-of-the-art work in archaeology, literary, social, and religious history, philology, philosophy, epigraphy, and numismatics not only to examine under-used and new sources for the period, but also critically to reexamine a few of the old standards. This will provide a fresh view of various more unusual aspects of late Roman Gaul, and also, it is hoped, serve as a model for ways of interpreting the late Roman sources for other areas, times, and contexts.

Author : David Brakke
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351900315
Total Pages : 407 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Shifting Cultural Frontiers in Late Antiquity written by David Brakke and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shifting Cultural Frontiers in Late Antiquity explores the transformation of classical culture in late antiquity by studying cultures at the borders - the borders of empires, of social classes, of public and private spaces, of literary genres, of linguistic communities, and of the modern disciplines that study antiquity. Although such canonical figures of late ancient studies as Augustine and Ammianus Marcellinus appear in its pages, this book shifts our perspective from the center to the side or the margins. The essays consider, for example, the ordinary Christians whom Augustine addressed, the border regions of Mesopotamia and Vandal Africa, 'popular' or 'legendary' literature, and athletes. Although traditional philology rightly underlies the work that these essays do, the authors, several among the most prominent in the field of late ancient studies, draw from and combine a range of disciplines and perspectives, including art history, religion, and social history. Despite their various subject matters and scholarly approaches, the essays in Shifting Cultural Frontiers coalesce around a small number of key themes in the study of late antiquity: the ambiguous effects of 'Christianization,' the creation of new literary and visual forms from earlier models, the interaction and spread of ideals between social classes, and the negotiation of ethnic and imperial identities in the contact between 'Romans' and 'barbarians.' By looking away from the core and toward the periphery, whether spatially or intellectually, the volume offers fresh insights into how ancient patterns of thinking and creating became reconfigured into the diverse cultures of the 'medieval.'

Author : Scott Fitzgerald Johnson
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317124758
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Greek Literature in Late Antiquity written by Scott Fitzgerald Johnson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Late Antiquity has attracted a significant amount of attention in recent years. As a historical period it has thus far been defined by the transformation of Roman institutions, the emergence of distinct religious cultures (Jewish, Christian, Islamic), and the transmission of ancient knowledge to medieval and early modern Europe. Despite all this, the study of late antique literary culture is still in its infancy, especially for the Greek and other eastern texts examined in this volume. The contributions here presented make new inroads into a rich literature notable above all for its flexibility and unparalleled creativity in combining multiple languages and literary traditions. The authors and texts discussed include Philostratus, Eusebius of Caesarea, Nonnos of Panopolis, the important St Polyeuktos epigram, and numerous others. The volume makes use of a variety of interdisciplinary approaches in an attempt to provoke discussion on change (Dynamism), literary education (Didacticism), and reception studies (Classicism). The result is a study which highlights the erudition and literary sophistication characteristic of the period and brings questions of contextualization, linguistic association, and artistic imagination to bear on little-known or undervalued texts, without neglecting important evidence from material culture and social practices. With contributions by both established scholars and young innovators in the field of late antique studies, there is no work of comparable authority or scope currently available. This volume will stimulate further interest in a range of untapped texts from Late Antiquity.