Christopher Eyre
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199673896
- eISBN:
- 9780191761478
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199673896.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Classical
This chapter examines the evidence for writing, issue, and storage of documents, administrative and legal, in official bureaux: in particular the bureaux of the vizier, of the herald, and in ‘places ...
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This chapter examines the evidence for writing, issue, and storage of documents, administrative and legal, in official bureaux: in particular the bureaux of the vizier, of the herald, and in ‘places of writing’. It discusses the role of seals and sealed documents, and examines the evidence for storage of documents and reference to old texts. It argues that such reference is typically a literary motif emphasizing high cultural values, but that reference to legal or administrative archives for purposes of business was largely impractical, in the absence of clear evidence for effective and deliberate archive storage aimed at such processes of reference to file. The importance of private archive, and of the control of official documents by the scribes who wrote them, is emphasized, as is the lack of evidence that would point to any form of public record archive. The deliberate destruction of writing represents a social rejection of hierarchical authority as well as the deliberate destruction of evidence of property rights.Less
This chapter examines the evidence for writing, issue, and storage of documents, administrative and legal, in official bureaux: in particular the bureaux of the vizier, of the herald, and in ‘places of writing’. It discusses the role of seals and sealed documents, and examines the evidence for storage of documents and reference to old texts. It argues that such reference is typically a literary motif emphasizing high cultural values, but that reference to legal or administrative archives for purposes of business was largely impractical, in the absence of clear evidence for effective and deliberate archive storage aimed at such processes of reference to file. The importance of private archive, and of the control of official documents by the scribes who wrote them, is emphasized, as is the lack of evidence that would point to any form of public record archive. The deliberate destruction of writing represents a social rejection of hierarchical authority as well as the deliberate destruction of evidence of property rights.
Carol Meyers
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199734559
- eISBN:
- 9780199979332
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734559.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Developments in feminist biblical study and the sociohistorical analysis of ancient Israel have paved the way for rediscovering Eve and her Israelite sisters. This interdisciplinary project clearly ...
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Developments in feminist biblical study and the sociohistorical analysis of ancient Israel have paved the way for rediscovering Eve and her Israelite sisters. This interdisciplinary project clearly requires the integration of several kinds of materials: the Hebrew Bible and other ancient writings, archaeological information, and anthropological studies and interpretive strategies. Each kind of evidence poses difficulties, and this chapter considers their problems as well as their potential.Less
Developments in feminist biblical study and the sociohistorical analysis of ancient Israel have paved the way for rediscovering Eve and her Israelite sisters. This interdisciplinary project clearly requires the integration of several kinds of materials: the Hebrew Bible and other ancient writings, archaeological information, and anthropological studies and interpretive strategies. Each kind of evidence poses difficulties, and this chapter considers their problems as well as their potential.
D. H. Williams
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190620509
- eISBN:
- 9780190620530
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190620509.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This introductory chapter sets out the book’s purpose, which is to provide the reader with a contextualized overview of texts that fit the qualifications of an apology, instead of operating from a ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the book’s purpose, which is to provide the reader with a contextualized overview of texts that fit the qualifications of an apology, instead of operating from a master list of apologists and their works. The relatively loose definition applied to this literature makes it impossible to provide a comprehensive treatment of all such texts. While this book mentions a number of ancient writings that have been considered apologies, it also shows that they better fit the broader category of polemic that in varied ways address Christian-pagan conflicts, but are not responding to a particular threat. The remainder of the chapter discusses titles of apologies, premodern apologia, and pagans and paganism.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the book’s purpose, which is to provide the reader with a contextualized overview of texts that fit the qualifications of an apology, instead of operating from a master list of apologists and their works. The relatively loose definition applied to this literature makes it impossible to provide a comprehensive treatment of all such texts. While this book mentions a number of ancient writings that have been considered apologies, it also shows that they better fit the broader category of polemic that in varied ways address Christian-pagan conflicts, but are not responding to a particular threat. The remainder of the chapter discusses titles of apologies, premodern apologia, and pagans and paganism.
Brent Nongbri
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300154160
- eISBN:
- 9780300154177
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300154160.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
For much of the past two centuries, religion has been understood as a universal phenomenon, a part of the “natural” human experience that is essentially the same across cultures and throughout ...
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For much of the past two centuries, religion has been understood as a universal phenomenon, a part of the “natural” human experience that is essentially the same across cultures and throughout history. Individual religions may vary through time and geographically, but there is an element, religion, that is to be found in all cultures during all time periods. Taking apart this assumption, this book shows that the idea of religion as a sphere of life distinct from politics, economics, or science is a recent development in European history—a development that has been projected outward in space and backward in time with the result that religion now appears to be a natural and necessary part of our world. Examining a wide array of ancient writings, the book demonstrates that in antiquity, there was no conceptual arena that could be designated as “religious” as opposed to “secular.” Surveying representative episodes from a two-thousand-year period, while constantly attending to the concrete social, political, and colonial contexts that shaped relevant works of philosophers, legal theorists, missionaries, and others, it offers an account of the emergence of the concept of religion.Less
For much of the past two centuries, religion has been understood as a universal phenomenon, a part of the “natural” human experience that is essentially the same across cultures and throughout history. Individual religions may vary through time and geographically, but there is an element, religion, that is to be found in all cultures during all time periods. Taking apart this assumption, this book shows that the idea of religion as a sphere of life distinct from politics, economics, or science is a recent development in European history—a development that has been projected outward in space and backward in time with the result that religion now appears to be a natural and necessary part of our world. Examining a wide array of ancient writings, the book demonstrates that in antiquity, there was no conceptual arena that could be designated as “religious” as opposed to “secular.” Surveying representative episodes from a two-thousand-year period, while constantly attending to the concrete social, political, and colonial contexts that shaped relevant works of philosophers, legal theorists, missionaries, and others, it offers an account of the emergence of the concept of religion.
