Some Firsts

2021 ◽  
pp. 17-30
Author(s):  
Graham Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Northern Africa ◽  
Julius Caesar ◽  
The Public ◽  
Pliny The Elder ◽  
History Of ◽  
Public Lives

Although the public lives and history of giraffes have been well recorded in many books, the story of giraffes told in this book would be incomplete without a brief review of how giraffes first entered into the consciousness of those humans who did not live in Africa. They did so via art and literature. The first appearance of giraffes in literature is probably in the Old Testament, but after that, many other authors wrote of them, in particular Pliny the Elder. Their appearance in art begins with rock paintings in southern and northern Africa, and artwork in Egypt over the period 6000 to 3000 BC. More modern images began appearing ~AD 500 in the first texts that dealt with the natural world. Julius Caesar brought the first living giraffe to Europe, followed by Lorenzo de Medici in the thirteenth century. By the late seventeenth century they had disappeared from public view in Europe except as a stellar constellation.

Situating Larinum

2021 ◽  
pp. 22-40
Author(s):  
Elizabeth C. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Julius Caesar ◽  
Pliny The Elder ◽  
Silius Italicus ◽  
History Of

This chapter presents the site of Larinum to the reader. It provides an initial discussion of the geography and topography of the site as well as a brief introduction to its occupation history. It then turns to the historical and literary material pertaining to Larinum (excluding Cicero’s Pro Cluentio, which is discussed in its own chapter) in order to address three key elements of the history of the site: the changing relationship between Larinum and Rome; the main elite families of Larinum; and Roman views of Larinum. This material includes works by authors such as Polybius, Cicero (in his letters to Atticus), Julius Caesar, Livy, Silius Italicus, Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, Pomponius Mela, Appian, and Stephanus Byzantinus. Although the historical contexts and situations of the authors lead to certain biases in the narratives and focuses that at times can distract from the actual historical situation, a discussion of this material is an integral part of the site biography of Larinum.

On the Applicability of Mathematics to Nature: Roger Bacon and his Predecessors

1982 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Lindberg
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Mathematical Physics ◽  
The Past ◽  
Applicability Of Mathematics ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of

Roger Bacon has often been victimized by his friends, who have exaggerated and distorted his place in the history of mathematics. He has too often been viewed as the first, or one of the first, to grasp the possibilities and promote the cause of modern mathematical physics. Even those who have noticed that Bacon was more given to the praise than to the practice of mathematics have seen in his programmatic statements an anticipation of seventeenth-century achievements. But if we judge Bacon by twentieth-century criteria and pronounce him an anticipator of modern science, we will fail totally to understand his true contributions; for Bacon was not looking to the future, but responding to the past; he was grappling with ancient traditions and attempting to apply the truth thus gained to the needs of thirteenth-century Christendom. If we wish to understand Bacon, therefore, we must take a backward, rather than a forward, look; we must view him in relation to his predecessors and contemporaries rather than his successors; we must consider not his influence, but his sources and the use to which he put them.

scholarly journals Look to Windward: The Michigan Environmental Protection Act and the Case for Atmospheric Trust Litigation in the Mitten State

2021 ◽  
pp. 275
Author(s):  
Jonathan Coumes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
The United States ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Potential Relief ◽  
The Public ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
History Of

Failure to address climate change or even slow the growth of carbon emissions has led to innovation in the methods activists are using to push decisionmakers away from disaster. In the United States, climate activists frustrated by decades of legislative and executive inaction have turned to the courts to force the hand of the state. In their most recent iteration, climate cases have focused on the public trust doctrine, the notion that governments hold their jurisdictions’ natural resources in trust for the public. Plaintiffs have argued that the atmosphere is part of the public trust and that governments have a duty to protect it. These types of lawsuits, known as Atmospheric Trust Litigation, have foundered on the shoals of courts wary of exceeding their powers, whether granted by Article III or state constitutions. The trouble in many cases, including Juliana v. United States, has been standing. Courts balk at declaring that any one actor has the power to affect climate change. Since they usually think one actor can’t fix the climate, redressability is out the window. Even if courts get past redressability, they believe the scale of any potential relief is just beyond the ability of a court to order. The number of lawsuits that have been filed suggests that that reasonable minds can differ, but most judges have found plaintiffs do not have standing before clearing the cases off their dockets. This Note contends that at least one state remains fertile ground for an atmospheric trust lawsuit. Michigan’s 1963 Constitution implies that the atmosphere is within the public trust, and the Michigan Environmental Protection Act, passed to carry out the state’s constitutional duties towards the natural world, does away with most, if not all, of the standing issues that have stymied climate cases across the nation. Motions, briefs, and equitable relief are not the only way to avoid the onset of what could be the greatest calamity in the history of humanity, but in Michigan, at least, Atmospheric Trust Litigation may well be what breaks and rolls back the carbon tide.

Arabic Philology at the Seventeenth-Century Mughal Court. Saʿd Allāh Khān’s and Shāh Jahān’s Enactments of the Sharḥ al-Radī

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-222
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Bahl
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
The Other ◽  
Treasure Trove ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Courtly Life

Abstract Persian narrative sources provide a colorful picture of Mughal courtly life, but in order to zoom in on cultural practices one has to turn to the artefacts of cultural pursuits. This article studies one specimen of the empirical treasure trove of Arabic manuscripts in South Asia in order to approach a lacuna in Mughal scholarship: the role of Arabic at the Mughal court. In the following, I will analyze the different paratextual layers of a manuscript of the thirteenth century Arabic grammar commentary Sharḥ al-Radī by Radī al-Dīn al-Astarābādhī to study its reading and transmission. The manuscript version represents a written artefact, which emerged out of a series of intellectual engagements. On the one hand, these textual engagements offer a perspective on the manuscript’s initial owner, Saʿd Allāh Khān (d. 1656), and his intellectual pursuits, as well as the scholarly framework in which he was brought up and worked in. On the other hand, the history of this manuscript’s circulation highlights the treatment of Arabic written artefacts at Shāh Jahān’s court. In an exemplary manner, the manuscript’s history of circulation demonstrates how courtly elites engaged with Arabic during the seventeenth century.

Medieval Latin Aristotle Commentaries Authors A-F

Traditio ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 313-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles H. Lohr
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Scientific Revolution ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Latin ◽  
History Of ◽  
Classical Civilization ◽  
The Middle Ages

The history of Latin Aristotelianism reaches roughly from Boethius to Galileo — from the end of classical civilization to the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. Whereas the early Middle Ages knew only a part of Aristotle's logic, the whole Aristotelian corpus became known in the period around 1200. From the middle of the thirteenth century to the end of the Middle Ages, and in some circles even beyond, the influence of these works was decisive both for the system of education and for the development of philosophy and natural science.

Chinese Communist Treatment of the Thinkers of the Hundred Schools Period

1965 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 119-140
Author(s):  
Donald J. Munro
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Class Struggle ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Warring States Period ◽  
Intensive Study ◽  
Warring States ◽  
Communist China ◽  
History Of

Although there is no detailed definitive Chinese Communist interpretation of the thinkers of the 100 Schools Period, this does not mean that one cannot isolate certain constants from which deviation is not permitted. The sayings of Marx-Engels and Mao Tse-tung which are directly relevant to the early thinkers, if not strictly about them, have obviously been the primary guidelines for the scholar in Communist China. Especially in the material produced since 1957, when relatively intensive study of the period began, one becomes aware of more specific trends in interpretation. With the basic tenets of Marx and Engels as tools for interpretation, it is axiomatic that understanding the class struggle of a given time is the key to understanding the thought of that time. The “contention” among the 100 Schools is taken to be a reflection of the intensity of class struggle in the Warring States Period. It is also axiomatic that the history of the struggle between progressive and reactionary forces is reflected in the enduring philosophical struggle between materialism and idealism. But the philosophical concepts associated with materialism and idealism are not native to China; nor are their Marxist definitions universally accepted in the history of Western philosophy. Therefore, in interpreting the thought of the 100 Schools Period, scholars most frequently cite Marx-Engels definitions as support for their own interpretations or to criticise those of others. Engels states that all those who take spirit as prior to the existence of the natural world and thus in the last analysis admit a creator (Old Testament variety or the more sophisticated Absolute Spirit of Hegel) belong in the idealist camp.

‘A colony so fertile’

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Hingley
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Roman Empire ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Public Buildings ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
The Public ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Published Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military

In A Specimen of a History of Oxfordshire, the Reverend Thomas Warton reflected on the significance of the Roman pavement at Stonesfield (Oxfordshire) and explored the two main themes which structure chapters three and four: he writes of Roman settlers who migrated with their families to Britain but suggests that wealthy and well-connected Britons might have built villas like the example uncovered at Stonesfield. From the late seventeenth century to the beginning of the twentieth, the debate about the nature of society in Roman Britain drew upon these contrasting images to explain the character of the Roman occupation of southern Britain. Certain writings of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries had developed the idea of the passing on of civility from the Romans to the British, which could be used as a source of patriotic reflection. There was less confidence in this idea during the eighteenth century, when influential works on the Walls and the northern stations promoted a primarily military interpretation of Roman sites in the south. In the introduction to his volume of 1793, Roy presented a thoughtful assessment of contemporary understanding of Roman Britain and emphasized its military nature. Following earlier examples, he divided the monuments of the Roman empire into two types: the public buildings—the temples, amphitheatres, and baths well known to British gentlemen from their visits to Italy—and the military sites. Roy emphasized that, with regard to military remains of Britain ‘perhaps no quarter of their vast empire, not even Italy itself, furnishes so great a variety; and many of them exceedingly perfect’. By contrast, in reflecting on public buildings, he states that ‘Britain affords very few vestiges of any consequence’. Indeed, it is true that, by the late eighteenth century, there was very little published evidence for public buildings to compare with the extensive evidence for the military sites of southern Scotland and northern England. Roy argued, ‘neither is it probable that the Romans ever executed many of those costly edifices in this island’. At the time Roy was writing (c.1773), little excavated evidence had been found for public buildings or ornate architecture anywhere in Britain.

scholarly journals Richard Simon and the Remaking of Seventeenth-Century Biblical Criticism

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-487
Author(s):  
T. Twining
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Biblical Criticism ◽  
Critical History ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Definition Of

This article presents a new interpretation of Richard Simon’s Histoire critique du Vieux Testament (1678). It argues that the initial prohibition of Simon’s work in 1678 has separated it from the debates and arguments that chiefly shaped its contents. It gives an account of the developments in seventeenth-century biblical criticism that preceded Simon’s work before offering a new account of the genesis and composition of the Histoire critique du Vieux Testament. Following this, it presents an examination--based in part on previously unexamined material drawn from Simon’s library--of three of the central and most innovative parts of Simon’s project: his definition of his approach as a ‘critical history’, his new history of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, and his novel use of manuscript material. The study concludes with a reconsideration of Simon’s work immediately following the Histoire critique du Vieux Testament’s prohibition, arguing that in a series of Latin works Simon attempted to use the methods and shared assumptions of seventeenth-century biblical criticism to justify his work to his contemporary scholars.

scholarly journals Jan Andrzej Sierakowski i jego „Konnotata prywatne”

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 155-168
Author(s):  
Eugeniusz Janas
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Family History ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Main Part ◽  
Short History ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Activity ◽  
History Of

Zasadniczą częścią artykułu jest edycja krótkiego dziełka pamiętnikarskiego z drugiej połowy XVII w., należącego niewątpliwie do gatunku rodzinnych raptularzy, popularnych zwłaszcza w piśmiennictwie szlacheckim XVII–XVIII w. Tekst pióra Jana Andrzeja Sierakowskiego (zm. 1698 r.) jest rzeczowym i lapidarnym zapisem wydarzeń z lat 1664–1697, przede wszystkim prywatnych i rodzinnych, dotyczących także działalności publicznej autora, również jego rozlicznych transakcji, głównie natury majątkowej. Raptularz wydaje się interesującym świadectwem szlacheckiego żywota i codzienności. Edycję poprzedza krótki wywód historii rodu Sierakowskich, w głównej mierze zaś autora owego tekstu. Jan Andrzej Sierakowski and His Private Diaries The main part of this article is the edition of a short diary from the second part of seventeenth century which undoubtedly belongs to the genre of family memoirs so popular in the nobility writings of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The text, written by Jan Andrzej Sierakowski (died in 1698), is a factual and concise history of events from 1664–1697; first of all it concerns private and family history but also pertains to the public activity of the author and his numerous mainly property) transactions. The diary seems an interesting item of evidence of the nobility’s everyday life. The edition is preceded by a short history of Sierakowski family, especially regarding the author of the text.

As Open as Possible

2019 ◽  
pp. 359-375
Author(s):  
William Storrar
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Liberal Politics ◽  
The Public ◽  
Urban Buildings ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Lay Members ◽  
History Of ◽  
Public Lives

This chapter draws on recent scholarship on the architect Alexander Thomson, and more briefly on the ecologist Patrick Geddes and the Liberal Young Scots Society, to examine the public significance of churchgoing in the modern history of Scottish theology and society. It asks whether it is possible to speak of a Presbyterian modernity during Scotland’s long nineteenth century by considering the public lives of these lay members of the dissenting Presbyterian churches in the Victorian and Edwardian era who transposed the theological ideas of their ecclesial milieu into the urban buildings, intellectual climate, and liberal politics of a modern industrial society.

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