W. H. C. Frend
- Published in print:
- 1985
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198264088
- eISBN:
- 9780191682704
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198264088.003.0022
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History, History of Christianity
In Africa, Christianity was an episode in the religious history of the Berbers that lasted some 400 years. Its victory was associated with the rise in the latter part of the third century A.D. of ...
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In Africa, Christianity was an episode in the religious history of the Berbers that lasted some 400 years. Its victory was associated with the rise in the latter part of the third century A.D. of settled farming communities that occupied the inland plains. But within this framework two contradictory interpretations of the Christian message took root. The germs of Catholicism and Dissent, the authority of an institution as against the authority of the Bible or of personal inspiration, existed from the earliest moments of the Christian Church. In some parts of the Mediterranean, Christian dissent may have prepared the way for Islam. In the end neither the Donatists nor the Catholics prevailed, and Islam entered into the African heritage with no opposition of strength equivalent to that of the Monophysite Church in Egypt. Donatism was not merely a schism; it was part of a revolution.Less
In Africa, Christianity was an episode in the religious history of the Berbers that lasted some 400 years. Its victory was associated with the rise in the latter part of the third century A.D. of settled farming communities that occupied the inland plains. But within this framework two contradictory interpretations of the Christian message took root. The germs of Catholicism and Dissent, the authority of an institution as against the authority of the Bible or of personal inspiration, existed from the earliest moments of the Christian Church. In some parts of the Mediterranean, Christian dissent may have prepared the way for Islam. In the end neither the Donatists nor the Catholics prevailed, and Islam entered into the African heritage with no opposition of strength equivalent to that of the Monophysite Church in Egypt. Donatism was not merely a schism; it was part of a revolution.
Lucy O’Meara
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197266670
- eISBN:
- 9780191905391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266670.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Roland Barthes was a classicist by training; his work frequently alludes to the classical literary canon and the ancient art of rhetoric. This chapter argues that ancient Greco-Roman philosophy ...
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Roland Barthes was a classicist by training; his work frequently alludes to the classical literary canon and the ancient art of rhetoric. This chapter argues that ancient Greco-Roman philosophy permits insights into Barthes’s very late work, particularly when we understand ancient philosophy not as an academic discipline, but as a mode of thought which prioritises an art of living. This chapter will focus on Barthes’s posthumously published Collège de France lecture notes (1977–80) and on other posthumous diary material, arguing that this work can be seen as part of a tradition of thought which has its roots in the ethics and care of the self proposed by ancient Greco-Roman philosophical thought. The chapter uses the work of the historian of ancient philosophy, Pierre Hadot, to set Barthes’s teaching in dialogue with Stoic and Epicurean thought, and subsequently refers to Stanley Cavell’s work on ‘moral perfectionism’ to demonstrate how Barthes’s final lecture courses, and the associated Vita Nova project, can be seen as efforts by Barthes to transform his ‘intelligibility’. Barthes’s late moral perfectionism, and the individualism of his teaching, corresponds to the ancient philosophical ethical imperative to think one’s way of life differently and thereby to transform one’s self.Less
Roland Barthes was a classicist by training; his work frequently alludes to the classical literary canon and the ancient art of rhetoric. This chapter argues that ancient Greco-Roman philosophy permits insights into Barthes’s very late work, particularly when we understand ancient philosophy not as an academic discipline, but as a mode of thought which prioritises an art of living. This chapter will focus on Barthes’s posthumously published Collège de France lecture notes (1977–80) and on other posthumous diary material, arguing that this work can be seen as part of a tradition of thought which has its roots in the ethics and care of the self proposed by ancient Greco-Roman philosophical thought. The chapter uses the work of the historian of ancient philosophy, Pierre Hadot, to set Barthes’s teaching in dialogue with Stoic and Epicurean thought, and subsequently refers to Stanley Cavell’s work on ‘moral perfectionism’ to demonstrate how Barthes’s final lecture courses, and the associated Vita Nova project, can be seen as efforts by Barthes to transform his ‘intelligibility’. Barthes’s late moral perfectionism, and the individualism of his teaching, corresponds to the ancient philosophical ethical imperative to think one’s way of life differently and thereby to transform one’s self.
Ross Shepard Kraemer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199743186
- eISBN:
- 9780199894680
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199743186.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
In Unreliable Witnesses, Ross Shepard Kraemer shows how her mind has changed or remained the same since the publication of her groundbreaking study, Her Share of the Blessings (1992). Unreliable ...
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In Unreliable Witnesses, Ross Shepard Kraemer shows how her mind has changed or remained the same since the publication of her groundbreaking study, Her Share of the Blessings (1992). Unreliable Witnesses scrutinizes more closely how ancient constructions of gender undergird accounts of women’s religious practices in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean. Kraemer analyzes how gender provides the historically obfuscating substructure of diverse texts: Livy’s account of the origins of the Roman Bacchanalia; Philo of Alexandria’s envisioning of idealized, masculinized women philosophers; rabbinic debates about women studying Torah; Justin Martyr’s depiction of an elite Roman matron who adopts chaste Christian philosophical discipline; the similar representation of Paul’s fictive disciple, Thecla, in the anonymous Acts of (Paul and) Thecla; Severus of Minorca’s depiction of Jewish women as the last hold-outs against Christian pressures to convert, and more. While attentive to arguments that women are largely fictive proxies in elite male contestations over masculinity, authority, and power, Kraemer retains her focus on redescribing and explaining women’s religious practices. She argues that gender-specific or not, religious practices in the ancient Mediterranean routinely encoded and affirmed ideas about gender. As in many cultures, women’s devotion to the divine was both acceptable and encouraged only so long as it conformed to pervasive constructions of femininity as passive, embodied, emotive, insufficiently controlled, and subordinated to masculinity. Extending her findings beyond the ancient Mediterranean, Kraemer proposes that more generally, religion is among the many human social practices that are both gendered and gendering, constructing and inscribing gender on human beings and on human actions and ideas. Her study thus poses significant questions about the relationships between religions and gender in the modern world.Less
In Unreliable Witnesses, Ross Shepard Kraemer shows how her mind has changed or remained the same since the publication of her groundbreaking study, Her Share of the Blessings (1992). Unreliable Witnesses scrutinizes more closely how ancient constructions of gender undergird accounts of women’s religious practices in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean. Kraemer analyzes how gender provides the historically obfuscating substructure of diverse texts: Livy’s account of the origins of the Roman Bacchanalia; Philo of Alexandria’s envisioning of idealized, masculinized women philosophers; rabbinic debates about women studying Torah; Justin Martyr’s depiction of an elite Roman matron who adopts chaste Christian philosophical discipline; the similar representation of Paul’s fictive disciple, Thecla, in the anonymous Acts of (Paul and) Thecla; Severus of Minorca’s depiction of Jewish women as the last hold-outs against Christian pressures to convert, and more. While attentive to arguments that women are largely fictive proxies in elite male contestations over masculinity, authority, and power, Kraemer retains her focus on redescribing and explaining women’s religious practices. She argues that gender-specific or not, religious practices in the ancient Mediterranean routinely encoded and affirmed ideas about gender. As in many cultures, women’s devotion to the divine was both acceptable and encouraged only so long as it conformed to pervasive constructions of femininity as passive, embodied, emotive, insufficiently controlled, and subordinated to masculinity. Extending her findings beyond the ancient Mediterranean, Kraemer proposes that more generally, religion is among the many human social practices that are both gendered and gendering, constructing and inscribing gender on human beings and on human actions and ideas. Her study thus poses significant questions about the relationships between religions and gender in the modern world.
T. P. WISEMAN
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264010
- eISBN:
- 9780191734946
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264010.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter examines the chronological range of Greco-Roman history and the nature of the main narrative sources. The discussion begins about 1200 BCE, with the end of the Bronze Age palace culture, ...
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This chapter examines the chronological range of Greco-Roman history and the nature of the main narrative sources. The discussion begins about 1200 BCE, with the end of the Bronze Age palace culture, conventionally called Mycenaean. The destruction of the palace centres – at Knossos, Mycenae, Pylos, and Thebes – was responsible for preserving the ‘Linear B’ tablets, which form the earliest evidence for the Greek language. By the sixth century, Greek city-states were established widely round the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This is the time of what is sometimes called ‘the Greek miracle’, the origin of philosophy and science as well as historiography. The chapter draws attention to three archaeological discoveries and the way their evidential value has been assessed: a gold mask, discovered in 1876 in the first of the ‘shaft graves’ at Mycenae, the so-called tomb of Agamemnon; an artefact discovered in 1977 by the Dutch archaeological team excavating the temple of Matuta at the Latin town of Satricum; and a gold bulb, or locket, discovered in 1794.Less
This chapter examines the chronological range of Greco-Roman history and the nature of the main narrative sources. The discussion begins about 1200 BCE, with the end of the Bronze Age palace culture, conventionally called Mycenaean. The destruction of the palace centres – at Knossos, Mycenae, Pylos, and Thebes – was responsible for preserving the ‘Linear B’ tablets, which form the earliest evidence for the Greek language. By the sixth century, Greek city-states were established widely round the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This is the time of what is sometimes called ‘the Greek miracle’, the origin of philosophy and science as well as historiography. The chapter draws attention to three archaeological discoveries and the way their evidential value has been assessed: a gold mask, discovered in 1876 in the first of the ‘shaft graves’ at Mycenae, the so-called tomb of Agamemnon; an artefact discovered in 1977 by the Dutch archaeological team excavating the temple of Matuta at the Latin town of Satricum; and a gold bulb, or locket, discovered in 1794.
Peter W. Martens
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199639557
- eISBN:
- 9780191738135
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199639557.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Biblical Studies
Scriptural interpretation was an important form of scholarship for Christians in late antiquity. For no one does this claim ring more true than Origen of Alexandria (185–254), one of the most ...
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Scriptural interpretation was an important form of scholarship for Christians in late antiquity. For no one does this claim ring more true than Origen of Alexandria (185–254), one of the most prolific scholars of Scripture in early Christianity. This book examines his approach to the Bible through a biographical lens: the focus is on his account of the scriptural interpreter, the animating center of the exegetical enterprise. In pursuing this largely neglected line of inquiry, the book discloses the contours of Origen's sweeping vision of scriptural exegesis as a way of life. For him, ideal interpreters were far more than philologists steeped in the skills conveyed by Greco-Roman education. Their profile also included a commitment to Christianity from which they gathered a spectrum of loyalties, guidelines, dispositions, relationships, and doctrines that tangibly shaped how they practiced and thought about their biblical scholarship. This study explores the many ways in which Origen thought ideal scriptural interpreters (himself included) embarked upon a way of life, indeed a way of salvation, culminating in the everlasting contemplation of God. This new and integrative thesis takes seriously how the discipline of scriptural interpretation was envisioned by one of its pioneering and most influential practitioners.Less
Scriptural interpretation was an important form of scholarship for Christians in late antiquity. For no one does this claim ring more true than Origen of Alexandria (185–254), one of the most prolific scholars of Scripture in early Christianity. This book examines his approach to the Bible through a biographical lens: the focus is on his account of the scriptural interpreter, the animating center of the exegetical enterprise. In pursuing this largely neglected line of inquiry, the book discloses the contours of Origen's sweeping vision of scriptural exegesis as a way of life. For him, ideal interpreters were far more than philologists steeped in the skills conveyed by Greco-Roman education. Their profile also included a commitment to Christianity from which they gathered a spectrum of loyalties, guidelines, dispositions, relationships, and doctrines that tangibly shaped how they practiced and thought about their biblical scholarship. This study explores the many ways in which Origen thought ideal scriptural interpreters (himself included) embarked upon a way of life, indeed a way of salvation, culminating in the everlasting contemplation of God. This new and integrative thesis takes seriously how the discipline of scriptural interpretation was envisioned by one of its pioneering and most influential practitioners.
T. P. Wiseman (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263235
- eISBN:
- 9780191734328
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263235.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The study of Greco-Roman civilisation is as exciting and innovative today as it has ever been. This intriguing collection by contemporary classicists reveals new discoveries, new interpretations and ...
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The study of Greco-Roman civilisation is as exciting and innovative today as it has ever been. This intriguing collection by contemporary classicists reveals new discoveries, new interpretations and new ways of exploring the experiences of the ancient world. Through one and a half millennia of literature, politics, philosophy, law, religion and art, the classical world formed the origin of western culture and thought. This book emphasises the many ways in which it continues to engage with contemporary life. Offering a wide variety of authorial style, the chapters range in subject matter from contemporary poets' exploitation of Greek and Latin authors, via newly discovered literary texts and art works, to modern arguments about ancient democracy and slavery, and close readings of the great poets and philosophers of antiquity. This book reflects the current rejuvenation of classical studies.Less
The study of Greco-Roman civilisation is as exciting and innovative today as it has ever been. This intriguing collection by contemporary classicists reveals new discoveries, new interpretations and new ways of exploring the experiences of the ancient world. Through one and a half millennia of literature, politics, philosophy, law, religion and art, the classical world formed the origin of western culture and thought. This book emphasises the many ways in which it continues to engage with contemporary life. Offering a wide variety of authorial style, the chapters range in subject matter from contemporary poets' exploitation of Greek and Latin authors, via newly discovered literary texts and art works, to modern arguments about ancient democracy and slavery, and close readings of the great poets and philosophers of antiquity. This book reflects the current rejuvenation of classical studies.
Christine Hayes
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691165196
- eISBN:
- 9781400866410
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691165196.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter explores the rabbinic concept of divine law on the specific question of truth. It examines a wide range of rabbinic texts that shed light on a constellation of questions addressing the ...
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This chapter explores the rabbinic concept of divine law on the specific question of truth. It examines a wide range of rabbinic texts that shed light on a constellation of questions addressing the divine law's relationship to truth: Is truth in the form of a mind-independent, objective measure associated with the divine law in rabbinic texts, and if so, in what way? Is biblical divine law understood to be identical with or to conform to truth—whether an eternal, unchanging, and universal rational truth as for Philo, or empirically verifiable or divinely revealed ontological reality as for some Qumran writings, or some other standard or conception of truth? Alternatively, is divine law divorced from truth, and if so, does the divorce of truth and divine law undermine the latter's claim to authority and divinity? Finding the answers to these questions is complicated by certain structural dissimilarities between biblical divine law and Greco-Roman conceptions of divine law.Less
This chapter explores the rabbinic concept of divine law on the specific question of truth. It examines a wide range of rabbinic texts that shed light on a constellation of questions addressing the divine law's relationship to truth: Is truth in the form of a mind-independent, objective measure associated with the divine law in rabbinic texts, and if so, in what way? Is biblical divine law understood to be identical with or to conform to truth—whether an eternal, unchanging, and universal rational truth as for Philo, or empirically verifiable or divinely revealed ontological reality as for some Qumran writings, or some other standard or conception of truth? Alternatively, is divine law divorced from truth, and if so, does the divorce of truth and divine law undermine the latter's claim to authority and divinity? Finding the answers to these questions is complicated by certain structural dissimilarities between biblical divine law and Greco-Roman conceptions of divine law.
Christine Hayes
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691165196
- eISBN:
- 9781400866410
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691165196.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter continues to explore the rabbinic conception of Mosaic Law in an attempt to discern the extent to which and the manner in which that conception may have been informed by Greco-Roman ...
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This chapter continues to explore the rabbinic conception of Mosaic Law in an attempt to discern the extent to which and the manner in which that conception may have been informed by Greco-Roman discourses of natural law and positive law. Because the primary discourses of natural law in the Greco-Roman tradition underscore the rational character of the law, it takes up the question of the rationality of the Mosaic Law as represented by the rabbis. The chapter examines rabbinic sources that shed light on a constellation of questions that address the matter of the Law's essential rationality: Is the Law depicted as rational in the sense that it is not arbitrary and contains no contradiction or absurdity, no illogical or paradoxical claim, or does it defy logic and natural reason? Is it depicted as possessing intrinsic rationales or only an extrinsic utility of some kind? Is the Mosaic Law represented as rationally accessible or inaccessible? And does it derive its authority from its rational character or from a coercive sovereign will?Less
This chapter continues to explore the rabbinic conception of Mosaic Law in an attempt to discern the extent to which and the manner in which that conception may have been informed by Greco-Roman discourses of natural law and positive law. Because the primary discourses of natural law in the Greco-Roman tradition underscore the rational character of the law, it takes up the question of the rationality of the Mosaic Law as represented by the rabbis. The chapter examines rabbinic sources that shed light on a constellation of questions that address the matter of the Law's essential rationality: Is the Law depicted as rational in the sense that it is not arbitrary and contains no contradiction or absurdity, no illogical or paradoxical claim, or does it defy logic and natural reason? Is it depicted as possessing intrinsic rationales or only an extrinsic utility of some kind? Is the Mosaic Law represented as rationally accessible or inaccessible? And does it derive its authority from its rational character or from a coercive sovereign will?
John T. Hamilton
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691157528
- eISBN:
- 9781400846474
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691157528.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The infinite varieties of care and the ways to deal with them coalesce into master metaphors that organize and motivate thinking about security. Reference has already been made to some examples: the ...
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The infinite varieties of care and the ways to deal with them coalesce into master metaphors that organize and motivate thinking about security. Reference has already been made to some examples: the solicitous mother, the garden, the pasture, and so forth. This chapter considers one of the most enduring paradigms for expressing different attitudes toward security, the dichotomy between the land and the sea. Throughout Greco-Roman culture, the sea constituted a persistent source of concern. Any desire to quit the firmness of the land, where nature provided all that was needed for the sustenance of human life, would invariably be regarded as some kind of transgression. Even in the most justifiable cases, seafaring was believed to be somehow excessive, a departure from the norm.Less
The infinite varieties of care and the ways to deal with them coalesce into master metaphors that organize and motivate thinking about security. Reference has already been made to some examples: the solicitous mother, the garden, the pasture, and so forth. This chapter considers one of the most enduring paradigms for expressing different attitudes toward security, the dichotomy between the land and the sea. Throughout Greco-Roman culture, the sea constituted a persistent source of concern. Any desire to quit the firmness of the land, where nature provided all that was needed for the sustenance of human life, would invariably be regarded as some kind of transgression. Even in the most justifiable cases, seafaring was believed to be somehow excessive, a departure from the norm.
Paul U. Unschuld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257658
- eISBN:
- 9780520944701
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257658.003.0042
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
Arabian authors incorporated the knowledge of Greco-Roman antiquity, organized it, and added a few of their own thoughts. The view of the organism they found in new medicine had no counterpart in ...
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Arabian authors incorporated the knowledge of Greco-Roman antiquity, organized it, and added a few of their own thoughts. The view of the organism they found in new medicine had no counterpart in their living environment. This medicine was so foreign to the thinking and worldview of the Muslims that the guardians of the faith soon advised abandoning it and returning to the nonmedical therapeutics oriented toward the sayings of the prophet. It was individual scholars who felt attracted by the variety and the depth of thought in the innumerable writings of ancient authors. But they still remained mere individual scholars, who would never be able to convince their native culture, especially those scholars who represented the original, religious Muslim worldview of this culture. The clinical practice was simply too primitive compared to the procedures they already knew themselves. Arabs again disappeared from the stage of European medicine.Less
Arabian authors incorporated the knowledge of Greco-Roman antiquity, organized it, and added a few of their own thoughts. The view of the organism they found in new medicine had no counterpart in their living environment. This medicine was so foreign to the thinking and worldview of the Muslims that the guardians of the faith soon advised abandoning it and returning to the nonmedical therapeutics oriented toward the sayings of the prophet. It was individual scholars who felt attracted by the variety and the depth of thought in the innumerable writings of ancient authors. But they still remained mere individual scholars, who would never be able to convince their native culture, especially those scholars who represented the original, religious Muslim worldview of this culture. The clinical practice was simply too primitive compared to the procedures they already knew themselves. Arabs again disappeared from the stage of European medicine.
Emma Dench
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198150510
- eISBN:
- 9780191710018
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198150510.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Key passages of the De Oratore and the Brutus, in which Cicero sets up models of ‘correct’ Latin particularly by reference to what he claims to be in some sense ‘inferior’ Latin, are interesting for ...
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Key passages of the De Oratore and the Brutus, in which Cicero sets up models of ‘correct’ Latin particularly by reference to what he claims to be in some sense ‘inferior’ Latin, are interesting for the study of the language and literature of the ancients. Cicero acknowledges both a plurality of Latins and, variously, the learning and eloquence of some non-Roman speakers in a catalogue much mined by modern scholars of ancient Italy that takes us among the Marsi, to Sora, Bononia, Asculum, and Fregellae, moving between past and present time. Cicero's suggestion that ‘Brutus’ is about to experience the lack of ‘urbane colouring’ at first hand in his governorship of Cisalpine Gaul is an acknowledgement of a large and expanding educated Latin elite that was potentially part of the community of Roman society. In the late Republican context within which these works were written, Cicero's hierarchical formulation and restrictive definition of ‘good’ Latin represents one approach to an increasingly destabilized and potentially decentralized Roman political and social world.Less
Key passages of the De Oratore and the Brutus, in which Cicero sets up models of ‘correct’ Latin particularly by reference to what he claims to be in some sense ‘inferior’ Latin, are interesting for the study of the language and literature of the ancients. Cicero acknowledges both a plurality of Latins and, variously, the learning and eloquence of some non-Roman speakers in a catalogue much mined by modern scholars of ancient Italy that takes us among the Marsi, to Sora, Bononia, Asculum, and Fregellae, moving between past and present time. Cicero's suggestion that ‘Brutus’ is about to experience the lack of ‘urbane colouring’ at first hand in his governorship of Cisalpine Gaul is an acknowledgement of a large and expanding educated Latin elite that was potentially part of the community of Roman society. In the late Republican context within which these works were written, Cicero's hierarchical formulation and restrictive definition of ‘good’ Latin represents one approach to an increasingly destabilized and potentially decentralized Roman political and social world.
Martin S. Jaffee
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195140675
- eISBN:
- 9780199834334
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195140672.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Explores the connection between the presence of written versions of rabbinic tradition and the emergence among Galilean sages of the third century c.e. of an explicit ideological claim that the ...
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Explores the connection between the presence of written versions of rabbinic tradition and the emergence among Galilean sages of the third century c.e. of an explicit ideological claim that the entire rabbinic tradition originated in Sinaitic revelation to Moses as unwritten Torah in the Mouth. Of great comparative interest is the Greco‐Roman tradition of rhetorical education, represented in the tradition of rhetorical textbooks (Progymnasmata), which prized memorization of written texts for exclusively oral performances that included rule‐governed transformations and revisions of texts in the performative setting. The chapter examines Amoraic traditions of Byzantine Galilee (the Palestinian Talmud, Midrash Tanhuma, Midrash Pesiqta Rabbati) for evidence that they were mastered from written versions and intentionally revised in performative settings. From this comparative perspective, the chapter concludes that the rabbinic conception of Torah in the Mouth is designed to legitimate the authority of the sage in the setting of discipleship training.Less
Explores the connection between the presence of written versions of rabbinic tradition and the emergence among Galilean sages of the third century c.e. of an explicit ideological claim that the entire rabbinic tradition originated in Sinaitic revelation to Moses as unwritten Torah in the Mouth. Of great comparative interest is the Greco‐Roman tradition of rhetorical education, represented in the tradition of rhetorical textbooks (Progymnasmata), which prized memorization of written texts for exclusively oral performances that included rule‐governed transformations and revisions of texts in the performative setting. The chapter examines Amoraic traditions of Byzantine Galilee (the Palestinian Talmud, Midrash Tanhuma, Midrash Pesiqta Rabbati) for evidence that they were mastered from written versions and intentionally revised in performative settings. From this comparative perspective, the chapter concludes that the rabbinic conception of Torah in the Mouth is designed to legitimate the authority of the sage in the setting of discipleship training.
Giovanni R. Ruffini
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199891634
- eISBN:
- 9780199980048
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199891634.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, African History: BCE to 500CE, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter explores the history of medieval Nubia’s documentary legal tradition. It argues that the most logical origin for that tradition is earlier roots in Greco-Roman and Coptic traditions in ...
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This chapter explores the history of medieval Nubia’s documentary legal tradition. It argues that the most logical origin for that tradition is earlier roots in Greco-Roman and Coptic traditions in Egypt. Several other aspects of the Nubian documentary tradition?particularly its letter-writing practices?show close affinities to antecedents in Greco-Roman Egypt. Land sales written in Old Nubian bear a number of similarities to earlier sales written in Greek and Coptic. Coptic sales are found in both Egypt and Nubia and represent a historical bridge in Nubia’s adoption of legal forms inherited from late antique Egypt. Although the bulk of our evidence comes from Qasr Ibrim, fragmentary texts from other Nubian sites demonstrate that the legal forms found at Qasr Ibrim were widespread throughout medieval Nubia. An examination of Old Nubian legal vocabulary highlights a number of apparent Greek and Latin loanwords, reinforcing the connection between Nubian law and Mediterranean antiquity. This legal tradition died out in the Ottoman period, when property rights and sales in Nubia show features of Islamization and discontinuity with the past.Less
This chapter explores the history of medieval Nubia’s documentary legal tradition. It argues that the most logical origin for that tradition is earlier roots in Greco-Roman and Coptic traditions in Egypt. Several other aspects of the Nubian documentary tradition?particularly its letter-writing practices?show close affinities to antecedents in Greco-Roman Egypt. Land sales written in Old Nubian bear a number of similarities to earlier sales written in Greek and Coptic. Coptic sales are found in both Egypt and Nubia and represent a historical bridge in Nubia’s adoption of legal forms inherited from late antique Egypt. Although the bulk of our evidence comes from Qasr Ibrim, fragmentary texts from other Nubian sites demonstrate that the legal forms found at Qasr Ibrim were widespread throughout medieval Nubia. An examination of Old Nubian legal vocabulary highlights a number of apparent Greek and Latin loanwords, reinforcing the connection between Nubian law and Mediterranean antiquity. This legal tradition died out in the Ottoman period, when property rights and sales in Nubia show features of Islamization and discontinuity with the past.
Christopher Bryan
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199752096
- eISBN:
- 9780199895076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199752096.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter surveys Greco-Roman beliefs about death and life after death. In the world that saw the rise of Christianity, beyond Israel as within it, there were various views regarding the fate of ...
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This chapter surveys Greco-Roman beliefs about death and life after death. In the world that saw the rise of Christianity, beyond Israel as within it, there were various views regarding the fate of the dead. Death might be seen as friend or as enemy; as prelude to oblivion or as the beginning of new life; as leading to immortality for the rational soul or to an eternity of hunting and feasting; to ignorance or to wisdom; to a renewed life that has been described by some as “resurrection” or to an eternity of punishment.Less
This chapter surveys Greco-Roman beliefs about death and life after death. In the world that saw the rise of Christianity, beyond Israel as within it, there were various views regarding the fate of the dead. Death might be seen as friend or as enemy; as prelude to oblivion or as the beginning of new life; as leading to immortality for the rational soul or to an eternity of hunting and feasting; to ignorance or to wisdom; to a renewed life that has been described by some as “resurrection” or to an eternity of punishment.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320992
- eISBN:
- 9780199852062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter examines the influence of the theosophy works of Helena Blavatsky on the revival of Western esotericism in the modern era. The Theosophical Society founded in New York in 1875 by ...
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This chapter examines the influence of the theosophy works of Helena Blavatsky on the revival of Western esotericism in the modern era. The Theosophical Society founded in New York in 1875 by Blavatsky played a vital role in propagating esotericism in the modern era. Theosophy was a major factor in the revival of the indigenous Western esoteric tradition and Blavatsky's writings presented the idea of an ancient wisdom handed down from prehistoric times by combining Neoplatonism, Renaissance magic, Kabbalah, Freemasonry, Greco-Roman mythology, religion, and Eastern religious doctrines.Less
This chapter examines the influence of the theosophy works of Helena Blavatsky on the revival of Western esotericism in the modern era. The Theosophical Society founded in New York in 1875 by Blavatsky played a vital role in propagating esotericism in the modern era. Theosophy was a major factor in the revival of the indigenous Western esoteric tradition and Blavatsky's writings presented the idea of an ancient wisdom handed down from prehistoric times by combining Neoplatonism, Renaissance magic, Kabbalah, Freemasonry, Greco-Roman mythology, religion, and Eastern religious doctrines.
Margaret Malamud
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199595006
- eISBN:
- 9780191731464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199595006.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, African History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter investigates the rhetorical use black and white abolitionists made of antiquity in arguments against slavery. Egypt, they argued, was the source of Greco‐Roman civilizations and American ...
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This chapter investigates the rhetorical use black and white abolitionists made of antiquity in arguments against slavery. Egypt, they argued, was the source of Greco‐Roman civilizations and American black people were the descendants of the ancient Egyptians. Black and white abolitionists pointed to the glories of ancient Egypt, Ethiopia and Carthage and their influences on Greek and Roman culture as proof that black people were not racially inferior to white people and therefore, contrary to common views, neither were they incapable of emulating and adopting white civilization. The underlying argument in all of these works, I suggest, was that if the venerable ancient civilizations of Africa were the achievement of the black race, as Frederick Douglass and others argued, it followed that African Americans were not inferior by nature to white people.Less
This chapter investigates the rhetorical use black and white abolitionists made of antiquity in arguments against slavery. Egypt, they argued, was the source of Greco‐Roman civilizations and American black people were the descendants of the ancient Egyptians. Black and white abolitionists pointed to the glories of ancient Egypt, Ethiopia and Carthage and their influences on Greek and Roman culture as proof that black people were not racially inferior to white people and therefore, contrary to common views, neither were they incapable of emulating and adopting white civilization. The underlying argument in all of these works, I suggest, was that if the venerable ancient civilizations of Africa were the achievement of the black race, as Frederick Douglass and others argued, it followed that African Americans were not inferior by nature to white people.
J. Rasmus Brandt and Jon W. Iddeng (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199696093
- eISBN:
- 9780191745744
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199696093.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions, Archaeology: Classical
Festivals were the heartbeat of Greek and Roman society, its social and political organization, and its institutions. They set the rhythm of the year, as laid down in a calendar, and through them ...
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Festivals were the heartbeat of Greek and Roman society, its social and political organization, and its institutions. They set the rhythm of the year, as laid down in a calendar, and through them divine protection of the public and private spheres was ensured and the populace was joined together in common acts centred on common symbols. The present book contains twelve chapters on Greek and Roman festivals from an interdisciplinary field of Classical scholarship: archaeology, history, history of religions, and philology. The book addresses the key question of what a Greco-Roman festival was, and show that the answer is many-faceted and complex. The very concept of ‘festival’ is examined; the origin, content, practice of different festivals, with their implicit features and historical significance, are discussed. The social, political, and ritual function of ancient festivals is illuminated by examples and theoretical reflections. The book accordingly contributes to a more nuanced and finely delineated picture of the close connections between festivals as religious and social phenomena and processes, and the historical dynamics that shaped them in the times of the Greeks and Romans.Less
Festivals were the heartbeat of Greek and Roman society, its social and political organization, and its institutions. They set the rhythm of the year, as laid down in a calendar, and through them divine protection of the public and private spheres was ensured and the populace was joined together in common acts centred on common symbols. The present book contains twelve chapters on Greek and Roman festivals from an interdisciplinary field of Classical scholarship: archaeology, history, history of religions, and philology. The book addresses the key question of what a Greco-Roman festival was, and show that the answer is many-faceted and complex. The very concept of ‘festival’ is examined; the origin, content, practice of different festivals, with their implicit features and historical significance, are discussed. The social, political, and ritual function of ancient festivals is illuminated by examples and theoretical reflections. The book accordingly contributes to a more nuanced and finely delineated picture of the close connections between festivals as religious and social phenomena and processes, and the historical dynamics that shaped them in the times of the Greeks and Romans.
Stanley Finger and Marco Piccolino
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195366723
- eISBN:
- 9780199897087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195366723.003.0004
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, History of Neuroscience
This chapter shows how torpedo shocks began to be used in medicine as a form of “electrotherapy” ante litteram. It discusses what the ancients speculated about the nature of the discharge and its ...
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This chapter shows how torpedo shocks began to be used in medicine as a form of “electrotherapy” ante litteram. It discusses what the ancients speculated about the nature of the discharge and its transmission in the absence of any idea at all about the force now known as electricity. In addition, it comments on how these numbing fishes appeared in the arts during Greco-Roman times. With regard to the fine arts, the chapter examines some of the pottery and mosaics depicting torpedoes, and relates what is illustrated to dietary ideas and significant events. It considers how the torpedo is featured in the poetry of the epoch. It shows how verses describing the “chilling” effects of their discharges mirrored the science and theories of the day. Thus, the chapter continues to show how these unusual fish entered into multiple aspects of the culture of the epoch (e.g., medicine, physiology, physics, food, and poetry). It also shows how the ancients could only speculate about their powers, based largely on analogies and the physics of the day. The benumbing powers of live torpedoes were paradigmatic of a class of physiological and physical phenomena that were both extremely challenging and of immense importance to philosophers and physicians interested in science.Less
This chapter shows how torpedo shocks began to be used in medicine as a form of “electrotherapy” ante litteram. It discusses what the ancients speculated about the nature of the discharge and its transmission in the absence of any idea at all about the force now known as electricity. In addition, it comments on how these numbing fishes appeared in the arts during Greco-Roman times. With regard to the fine arts, the chapter examines some of the pottery and mosaics depicting torpedoes, and relates what is illustrated to dietary ideas and significant events. It considers how the torpedo is featured in the poetry of the epoch. It shows how verses describing the “chilling” effects of their discharges mirrored the science and theories of the day. Thus, the chapter continues to show how these unusual fish entered into multiple aspects of the culture of the epoch (e.g., medicine, physiology, physics, food, and poetry). It also shows how the ancients could only speculate about their powers, based largely on analogies and the physics of the day. The benumbing powers of live torpedoes were paradigmatic of a class of physiological and physical phenomena that were both extremely challenging and of immense importance to philosophers and physicians interested in science.
Jeffrey Siker
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- August 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190465735
- eISBN:
- 9780190465773
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190465735.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Theology
This book examines what the different New Testament writings have to say about sin within the broader historical and theological contexts of first-century Christianity. These contexts include both ...
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This book examines what the different New Testament writings have to say about sin within the broader historical and theological contexts of first-century Christianity. These contexts include both the immediate world of Judaism out of which early Christianity emerged, as well as the larger Greco-Roman world into which Christianity quickly spread as an increasingly Gentile religious movement. The Jewish sacrificial system associated with the Jerusalem Temple was important for dealing with human sin, and early Christians appropriated the language and imagery of sacrifice in describing the salvific importance of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Greco-Roman understandings of sin as error or ignorance played an important role in the spreading of the Christian message to the Gentile world. The book details the distinctive portraits of sin in each of the canonical Gospels in relation to the life and ministry of Jesus. Beyond the Gospels the book develops how the letters of Paul and other early Christian writers address the reality of sin, again primarily in relation to the revelatory ministry of Jesus.Less
This book examines what the different New Testament writings have to say about sin within the broader historical and theological contexts of first-century Christianity. These contexts include both the immediate world of Judaism out of which early Christianity emerged, as well as the larger Greco-Roman world into which Christianity quickly spread as an increasingly Gentile religious movement. The Jewish sacrificial system associated with the Jerusalem Temple was important for dealing with human sin, and early Christians appropriated the language and imagery of sacrifice in describing the salvific importance of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Greco-Roman understandings of sin as error or ignorance played an important role in the spreading of the Christian message to the Gentile world. The book details the distinctive portraits of sin in each of the canonical Gospels in relation to the life and ministry of Jesus. Beyond the Gospels the book develops how the letters of Paul and other early Christian writers address the reality of sin, again primarily in relation to the revelatory ministry of Jesus.
Guy Maclean Rogers
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300178630
- eISBN:
- 9780300182705
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300178630.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
Artemis of Ephesos was one of the most widely worshiped deities of the Greco-Roman world. Her temple, the Artemision, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and for more than half a ...
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Artemis of Ephesos was one of the most widely worshiped deities of the Greco-Roman world. Her temple, the Artemision, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and for more than half a millennium people flocked to Ephesos to learn the great secret of the mysteries and sacrifices that were celebrated every year on her birthday. This book sets out the evidence for the celebration of Artemis's mysteries against the background of the remarkable urban development of the city during the Roman Empire and then proposes an entirely new theory about the great secret that was revealed to initiates into Artemis's mysteries. The revelation of that secret helps to explain not only the success of Artemis's cult and polytheism itself but also, more surprisingly, the demise of both and the success of Christianity. Contrary to many anthropological and scientific theories, the history of polytheism, including the celebration of Artemis's mysteries, is best understood as a Darwinian tale of adaptation, competition, and change.Less
Artemis of Ephesos was one of the most widely worshiped deities of the Greco-Roman world. Her temple, the Artemision, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and for more than half a millennium people flocked to Ephesos to learn the great secret of the mysteries and sacrifices that were celebrated every year on her birthday. This book sets out the evidence for the celebration of Artemis's mysteries against the background of the remarkable urban development of the city during the Roman Empire and then proposes an entirely new theory about the great secret that was revealed to initiates into Artemis's mysteries. The revelation of that secret helps to explain not only the success of Artemis's cult and polytheism itself but also, more surprisingly, the demise of both and the success of Christianity. Contrary to many anthropological and scientific theories, the history of polytheism, including the celebration of Artemis's mysteries, is best understood as a Darwinian tale of adaptation, competition, and change.
