Bernays' Lucian and the Cynics

1880 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 301-304
Author(s):  
I. Bywater
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Religious Movement ◽  
General Reader ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Greek World

Professor Bernays is among the few who possess the art of writing what can be read by men of culture as well as by professional scholars and historians; a monograph from his pen is sure to be at once a real contribution to knowledge, full of striking and original suggestions, and a work of literature, written with the attention to form and finish which we admire in some of the classic productions of a former age. The present work on Lucian and the Cynics is in every respect a worthy companion to the Theophrastus on Piety published in 1866. Though it is shorter and less elaborate in details than its predecessor, the subject is one which allows of a more consecutive mode of statement, and has perhaps in itself a more immediate interest for the general reader. Prof. Bernays now deals with an aspect of the civilization of the Roman empire, in which he demonstrates—what to many of us, I suppose, will be a sort of revelation—the existence of a popular religious movement, distinct from the established Paganism and from the philosophies of the schools. This new interpretation of Cynicism enables us to realize the fact that the Cynic of the first and second centuries was not a philosophical oddity, to be relegated to a chapter of a history of ancient philosophy, but a religious reformer at a moment when the Greek world seemed to have lost the power of religious initiative, and the spokesman of a kind of popular opposition when opposition to the existing political order of things was least to be expected.

Platypus

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Grant ◽  
Illustrations by Dominic Fanning
Keyword(s):  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Reference List ◽  
Factual Information ◽  
General Reader ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Subject ◽  
British Colonies ◽  
Comprehensive Reference

Since it first became known to European scientists and naturalists in 1798, the platypus has been the subject of controversy, interest and absolute wonder. Found only in Australia, the platypus is a mammal that lays eggs but, like other mammals, it has fur and suckles its young on milk. Many early biologists who visited the British colonies in Australia, including Charles Darwin, went out of their way to observe this remarkable animal. In Australia today the species is considered to be an icon, but one that many Australians have never seen in the wild. This book presents established factual information about the platypus and examines the most recent research findings, along with some of the colourful history of the investigation of its biology. This completely updated edition covers its anatomy, distribution and abundance, breeding, production of venom, unique senses, ecology, ancestry and conservation. It includes a 'Frequently Asked Questions' section for the general reader and, for those wishing to find out more detailed information, a comprehensive reference list.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE ‘ARIAN CONTROVERSY’ IN THE FOURTH CENTURY

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 229-263
Author(s):  
David M. Gwynn
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
The Church ◽  
Archaeological Approach ◽  
Arian Controversy

The so-called ‘Arian Controversy’ that divided the Christian Church in the 4th c. has been the subject of considerable scholarly debate in recent decades. The literary sources from which the majority of our knowledge of the controversy derives are highly polemical and distorted, written almost exclusively from the perspective of those whose positions would come to be accepted as ‘orthodox’, and this in turn has directly influenced scholarly interpretations of the material evidence from this crucial period in the history of the Church. In this paper I wish to reconsider that material evidence and ask how an archaeological approach independent of the biases of our literary sources might broaden our understanding of the controversy and its impact upon the 4th c. Roman empire.

scholarly journals Roman London

1911 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 141-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Haverfield
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
General Public ◽  
Classical System ◽  
Roman Archaeology ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

Roman London illustrates in more than one way the worst features of English archaeological study. There has been no want of interest in the subject. In England, indeed, Roman archaeology has throughout received a fuller share of general public interest than in any other country. Thanks to our classical system, nearly everyone has read a little Caesar and, it may be, some Tacitus, and though he has forgotten nine-tenths of it, he generally deems himself fitted to enquire into the history of the Roman empire. People who in every other country would give no heed to archaeology at all are in England extremely interested, and it has always been thought right and proper that they should be interested. Unfortunately, it has also been thought needless to do more than to be interested.

Noi credevamo (We Believed): Story and history of emotions

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Patat
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
History Of Emotions ◽  
Historical Film ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
The One

In the last ten years, Noi credevamo (We Believed) (Martone 2010) has been the subject of a very careful criticism interested not only in its historical-ideological implications but also in its semiotic specificities. The purpose of this article is to summarize the cardinal points of these two positions and to add to them some critical observations that have not been noted so far. On the one hand, it is a matter of highlighting how, as a historical film, the work is connected with the history of emotions, a recent historiographical trend that aims to detect the narrative devices of ideological propaganda and the diffusion of feelings since the late eighteenth century. On the other hand, the article proposes a new interpretation of Mario Martone’s film, starting with the analysis of phenomena that are not only historical but also technical and structural.

Local Cultures in the Roman Empire: Libyan, Punic and Latin in Roman Africa

1968 ◽  
Vol 58 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 126-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fergus Millar
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Local Culture ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Native Culture ◽  
Roman Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Local Cultures

No subject in the history of the Roman Empire has more significance or more pitfalls than that of the local cultures of the provinces. The evidence is in each case, with the exception of Judaea and Egypt, relatively slight, disparate and ambiguous. But, on the one hand, the subject has very real attractions, which may lead to the building of vast but fragile historical theories, attempting to bring the distinctive culture of an area into a schematic relationship with events such as political movements or the spread of Christianity. On the other, we can never escape the possibility that the denial of the survival of a significant local culture may be falsified by new evidence; even worse, a local culture may have existed in a form which left no written records or datable artefacts.Yet the problem must be faced, not only for the intrinsic interest which such cultures present, but for the light the enquiry sheds on Graeco-Roman civilization itself. We might conclude for one area that Graeco-Roman culture remained the merest façade, for another that it completely obliterated a native culture. More commonly, we will find a mixture or co-existence of cultures. In such a situation, again, the local element might have been culturally and socially insignificant, or, as it was in Egypt and in Judaea, embodied in a coherent traditional civilization with its own language, literature, customs, religion and (in Egypt) art-forms.

scholarly journals A New Interpretation of the History of the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939 or a Subjective Assessment of the Researcher?

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuriy Kuzmin
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Subjective Assessment ◽  
Diplomatic History ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
The Military

The author of the book, O.S. Smyslov, interprets the military events in the area of the Khalkhin Gol river in 1939, defines the causes of the war, the role of commanders, military casualties and participants of military actions. The battle of Khalkhin Gol becomes the subject of much attention and study of Russian and Mongolian historians, especially the most complex and controversial issues of military and diplomatic history. Most of the research is original and contributes significantly to the interpretation of the military conflict, its geopolitical nature and its role in the world history of the 20th century. A new interpretation of the role of Georgy Zhukov in the crushing defeat of the Japanese troops at Khalkhin Gol is proposed in the monograph of the military historian O.S. Smyslov. The author of the book made an attempt to downplay and misrepresent the participation of Zhukov in the historical events. The author’s approach to the cause of the military conflict is critically examined as well as the methodology of historical research. The author of the review believes that the attempt of a new interpretation of the war in the Khalkhin Gol area is controversial and historically unconvincing. The matter merits professional discussion. There is a need to make a special encyclopedia, “The Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939”, which will enable to avoid misrepresentation of the tragic and heroic military events of history of the USSR and Russia of the 20th century.

Humanism and Empire

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Lee
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Holy Roman Empire ◽  
Imperial Authority ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
City States ◽  
Renaissance Italy ◽  
Political Conviction

For more than a century, scholars have believed that Italian humanism was predominantly ‘civic’ in outlook. Often serving in communal government, fourteenth-century humanists like Albertino Mussato and Coluccio Salutati are said to have derived from their reading of the Latin classics a rhetoric of republican liberty that was opposed to the ‘tyranny’ of neighbouring signori and of the German emperors. In this groundbreaking study, Alexander Lee challenges this long-held belief. From the death of Frederick II in 1250 to the failure of Rupert of the Palatinate’s ill-fated expedition in 1402, Lee argues, the humanists nurtured a consistent and powerful affection for the Holy Roman Empire. Though this was articulated in a variety of different ways, it was nevertheless driven more by political conviction than by cultural concerns. Surrounded by endless conflict—both within and between city states—the humanists eagerly embraced the Empire as the surest guarantee of peace and liberty, and lost no opportunity to invoke its protection. Indeed, as Lee shows, the most ardent appeals to imperial authority were made not by ‘signorial’ humanists, but by humanists in the service of communal regimes. The first comprehensive, synoptic study of humanistic ideas of Empire in the period c.1250–1402, this volume offers a radically new interpretation of fourteenth-century political thought, and raises wide-ranging questions about the foundations of modern constitutional ideas. As such, it is essential reading not just for students of Renaissance Italy and the history of political thought, but for all those interested in understanding the origins of liberty.

The History of Historiography in the Merovingian Period

2020 ◽  
pp. 461-488
Author(s):  
Helmut Reimitz
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Historical Inquiry ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Roman World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Historical Writings

The writing of history played an important part in Merovingian society, a fact that is well documented in the Merovingian authors’ writing and rewriting of history. The different histories and versions of history also show that Merovingian culture was not a culture in decline after the end of the western Roman Empire. A closer look demonstrates that the transformation of historical knowledge and culture demanded a higher degree of sophistication, expertise, and originality than modern scholars have been willing to allow for the authors of Merovingian histories. The extant historical works from the Merovingian period testify to the historical sophistication and education of their authors. They also show that their authors were well aware of a variety of histories, historical interpretations, models, and genres. This chapter suggests that we might understand the work of these historians better if we take their generic choices more seriously than we usually do. They all worked with the preconception of a genre to define the subject of their historical inquiry while attempting to transform the expectations and patterns of reading and writing history in a post-Roman world. Such an approach might also help us to understand the diversity of generic choices and forms of historical writings in the Merovingian period as one of the characteristic features of a Merovingian historiography.

Contributions to the History of Southern Aeolis

1881 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 271-308
Author(s):  
W. M. Ramsay
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
The Arts ◽  
French School ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
School Of Athens

Asia Minor, interposed like a bridge between Europe and Asia, has been from time immemorial a battlefield between the Eastern and Western races. Across this bridge the arts, civilisation, and religion of the East had passed into Greece; and back over the same bridge they strove to pass beautified and elevated from Greece into Asia. The progress of the world has had its centre and motive power in the never-ceasing collision of Eastern and Western thought, which was thus produced in Asia Minor. One episode in the long conflict has been chosen by Herodotus as the subject of his prose epic: but the struggle did not stop at the point he thought. It has not yet ended, though it has long ceased to be of central importance in the world's history. For centuries after he wrote Greek influence continued to spread, unhindered, further and further into Asia: but as the Roman empire decayed, the East again became the stronger, and Asia Minor has continued under its undisputed influence almost up to the present day. Now the tide has again turned, and one can trace along the western coast the gradual extinction of the Oriental element. It does not retreat, it is not driven back by war: it simply dies out by a slow yet sure decay. It is the aim of this set of papers to throw some light on one stage in this contest, a stage probably the least known of all, the first attempts of the Greek element to establish itself in the country round the Hermus. Tradition has preserved to us little information about the first Greek settlements. The customary division into Aeolic, Ionic, and Doric colonists is not a sufficient one. Strabo clearly implies that there was a double Aeolic immigration when he says (p. 622) that Cyme founded thirty cities, and that it was not the first Aeolic settlement; in another passage (p. 582) he makes the northern colonists proceed by land through Thrace, the southern direct by sea to Cyme. I hope by an examination of the country and the situations, never as yet determined, of the minor towns, to add a little to the history of this Southern Aeolic immigration, in its first burst of prosperity, through the time when it was almost overwhelmed in the Lydian and Persian empires and was barely maintained by the strength of the Athenian confederacy, till it was finally merged in the stronger tide of Greek influence that set in with the victory of Alexander. More is known of Myrina, and still more of Cyme, than of any of the other towns: but both are omitted here, because it may be expected that considerable light will be thrown on the history of both by the excavations conducted on their sites by the French School of Athens. Till their results are published, it would be a waste of time to write of either city.

scholarly journals Women's Commensality in the Ancient Greek World

1998 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Burton
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Recent Discussion ◽  
Female Side ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Greek World ◽  
Broad Generalization ◽  
Over Time

Dining and drinking rituals in the ancient world have been the subject of much recent discussion, and the significance of these rituals, particularly for males, has been extensively studied. Scholars have often slighted the topic of women's part in the history of ancient Greek dining and drinking parties, however, and the broad generalization ‘Citizen women were never present at Greek symposia’ is not uncommon. Admittedly, women other than hetairai, slaves, hired entertainers, etc., are not conspicuous in the evidence from which we must draw our history of ancient Greek symposia. The evidence, however, both written and visual, was created and preserved predominantly by males. Also, the view that there was a fairly narrow participation of women often seems based largely on evidence taken from fifth and fourth century B.C. Athens. Yet the roles of women at Greek dining and drinking partieschanged over time and place. This paper provides a survey, with examples, of the variety of women's dining occasions from the Homeric through to the Hellenistic age. The aim of this survey is to emphasize the value of paying closer attention to the female side of wining and dining in our discussions of occasions of commensality in the ancient Greek world.

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