Civilization Before Greece and Rome

Civilization Before Greece and Rome

Author: H. W. F. Saggs

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published:

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780300174168

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For many centuries it was accepted that civilization began with the Greeks and Romans. During the last two hundred years, however, archaeological discoveries in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete, Syria, Anatolia, Iran, and the Indus Valley have revealed that rich cultures existed in these regions some two thousand years before the Greco-Roman era. In this fascinating work, H.W.F Saggs presents a wide-ranging survey of the more notable achievements of these societies, showing how much the ancient peoples of the Near and Middle East have influenced the patterns of our daily lives. Saggs discussesthe the invention of writing, tracing it from the earliest pictograms (designed for account-keeping) to the Phoenician alphabet, the source of the Greek and all European alphabets. He investigates teh curricula, teaching methods, and values of the schools from which scribes graduated. Analyzing the provisions of some of the law codes, he illustrates the operation of international law and the international trade that it made possible. Saggs highlights the creative ways that these ancient peoples used their natural resources, describing the vast works in stone created by the Egyptians, the development of technology in bronze and iron, and the introduction of useful plants into regions outside their natural habitat. In chapters on mathematics, astronomy, and medicine, he offers interesting explanations about how modern calculations of time derive from the ancient world, how the Egyptians practiced scientific surgery, and how the Babylonians used algebra. The book concludes with a discussion of ancient religion, showing its evolution from the most primitive forms toward monotheism.


The Story of Greece and Rome

The Story of Greece and Rome

Author: Antony Spawforth

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2018-01-01

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 0300217110

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The extraordinary story of the intermingled civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome, spanning more than six millennia from the late Bronze Age to the seventh century The magnificent civilization created by the ancient Greeks and Romans is the greatest legacy of the classical world. However, narratives about the "civilized" Greek and Roman empires resisting the barbarians at the gate are far from accurate. Tony Spawforth, an esteemed scholar, author, and media contributor, follows the thread of civilization through more than six millennia of history. His story reveals that Greek and Roman civilization, to varying degrees, was supremely and surprisingly receptive to external influences, particularly from the East. From the rise of the Mycenaean world of the sixteenth century B.C., Spawforth traces a path through the ancient Aegean to the zenith of the Hellenic state and the rise of the Roman empire, the coming of Christianity and the consequences of the first caliphate. Deeply informed, provocative, and entirely fresh, this is the first and only accessible work that tells the extraordinary story of the classical world in its entirety.


When Blacks Ruled Greece and Rome

When Blacks Ruled Greece and Rome

Author: Rufus O Jimerson

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2019-04-08

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 9781093196696

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The purpose of this book is to resurrect the truth regarding the original black founders and developers of Greek and Roman Civilizations from being buries by whitewashing which falsely accredited Indo-Europeans. The book, in doing so, examines the extent of the Global African Civilization which was plagiarized by Aryan Greeks and Romans. It dispels the myth that these foundations of Western Civilization were homogenous and white. They were multiracial and multicultural societies until their identities were transformed by the hordes of white barbarians who became a majority in Rome and Athens by the 4th century of the Christian Era (CE) or After the Death of Christ (AD). Black migrants from Africa brought Kemetian civilization from the Nile Valley out of Kush and Nubia (Modern day Sudan, Ethiopia, Somali, and Egypt) to establish Athens, other Greek city-states, and Rome on the Italian peninsula. The focal point of the growth of civilization in the Mediterrean region that would reach all continents was trade, commerce, and ensuing acquisition of wealth accrued by African maritime empires and that of Kemet (Early Egypt), both of which grew from colonies established by Kush. The latter empire mined gold used to finance ship building, exploration, building cities, employing mercenaries, and promoting reading and writing to cultivate invention, as well as record and codify business transactions and laws. The pattern for growth and spread of civilization began with trade between trading posts and empires with the latter their becoming colonies. These colonies would become independent city-states and grow into empires themselves by establishing markets for trade and turning them into colonies. The cyclical pattern of development was ruled by Black Africans and their direct descendants for more than 3,000 years before the onset of the Aryan-dominated Christian Era. The focus of this book is antiquity prior to the Aryan invasion of civilization which initiated the Middle Ages or Dark Ages and setbacks in the West that lasted a millennium until the Renaissance was built on rediscovery of the African Mystery System.The research unveiled demonstrates that Greece and Rome were multiracial societies. Their identity was stolen by Eurasian barbarians who flooded the empire during the era when Serapis was transformed from Horus to Jesus Christ and Christianity became the state religion of the Roman empire. This transformation at the end of this book began with the Council of Nicaea. This book focuses on antiquity beginning about 3,000 B.C., when Ancient African Empires ruled civilization on all continents building markets, trading goods, accruing wealth, spreading literacy, and building pyramids.


Ancient Perspectives

Ancient Perspectives

Author: Richard J. A. Talbert

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2012-11-14

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 0226789373

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Ancient Perspectives encompasses a vast arc of space and time—Western Asia to North Africa and Europe from the third millennium BCE to the fifth century CE—to explore mapmaking and worldviews in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In each society, maps served as critical economic, political, and personal tools, but there was little consistency in how and why they were made. Much like today, maps in antiquity meant very different things to different people. Ancient Perspectives presents an ambitious, fresh overview of cartography and its uses. The seven chapters range from broad-based analyses of mapping in Mesopotamia and Egypt to a close focus on Ptolemy’s ideas for drawing a world map based on the theories of his Greek predecessors at Alexandria. The remarkable accuracy of Mesopotamian city-plans is revealed, as is the creation of maps by Romans to support the proud claim that their emperor’s rule was global in its reach. By probing the instruments and techniques of both Greek and Roman surveyors, one chapter seeks to uncover how their extraordinary planning of roads, aqueducts, and tunnels was achieved. Even though none of these civilizations devised the means to measure time or distance with precision, they still conceptualized their surroundings, natural and man-made, near and far, and felt the urge to record them by inventive means that this absorbing volume reinterprets and compares.


The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization

The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization

Author: Simon Hornblower

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 907

ISBN-13: 0198706774

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This Oxford Companion to the ancient classical world is aimed at the general reader interested in learning more about the very bedrock of Western culture, covering such topics as history, morals, mythology, medicine and social life.


Ancient Civilizations

Ancient Civilizations

Author: Hourly History

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-11-15

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 9781978298019

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Ancient Civilizations Three Books in One ] Free Bonus - Ancient Rome: A History From Beginning to End - Ancient Greece: A History From Beginning to End - Ancient Egypt: A History From Beginning to End - FREE BONUS! Ancient Rome Rome is a city of myth and legend. The Eternal City, the city of the seven hills, the sacred city, the caput mundi, the center of the world, Roma, Rome, by any of her many names is a city built of history and blood, marble and water, war and conquest. Inside you will read about... - Legendary Beginnings - The Senate and the People - Ave Caesar - Empire - Rulers of the World - The Fall - Legacy From legendary beginnings, a city rose from the swamp surrounded by the seven hills and split by the Tiber River. Built and rebuilt, a sacred republic and a divine empire, blessed by a thousand gods and by One, the story of her rise and fall has been told and retold for a thousand years and is still relevant in today's world, as echoes of her ancient glory have shaped our culture, laws, lifestyle and beliefs in subtle and pervasive ways. Ancient Greece Ancient Greece was the birthplace of advances in government, art, philosophy, science, and architecture-all of which continue to influence the world today. Warriors and diplomats, scientists, artists, and the first comedians; the achievements of this ancient society have formed a strong foundation to be built upon by later cultures. Inside you will read about... - Mount Olympus - Polis - Athens and Sparta - Literature - Philosophy - Art and Architecture - Science From the ancient origins of the Olympic Games through to art, architecture, language, and even the very way we view and investigate the world around us, the legacy of the culture and civilization of ancient Greece still burns brightly in the modern world. Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was a highly developed civilization that lasted for thousands of years and left behind fascinating clues in the form of impressive structures and monuments. It was a culture balanced between the lush fertility of the Nile Valley and the barrenness of the surrounding vast deserts. The same balance holds true for our knowledge of the history of Egypt. In spite of the evidence we have, so much remains hidden and yet to be fully understood. Inside you will read about... - The Nile - The Gods and Goddesses - The Book and the Dead - The Pyramids - Magic, Plagues and Curses - Famous Pharaohs - Immortality New methods of scientific investigation reveal new ways of interpreting the ancient evidence. As the shifting desert sands overflowed and then disclosed the Great Sphinx, after thousands of years of study ancient Egypt still holds much that has yet to be revealed.


Athens After Empire

Athens After Empire

Author: Ian Worthington

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 0190633980

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"When we think of ancient Athens, the image invariably coming to mind is of the Classical city, with monuments beautifying everywhere; the Agora swarming with people conducting business and discussing political affairs; and a flourishing intellectual, artistic, and literary life, with life anchored in the ideals of freedom, autonomy, and democracy. But in 338 that forever changed when Philip II of Macedonia defeated a Greek army at Chaeronea to impose Macedonian hegemony over Greece. The Greeks then remained under Macedonian rule until the new power of the Mediterranean world, Rome, annexed Macedonia and Greece into its empire. How did Athens fare in the Hellenistic and Roman periods? What was going on in the city, and how different was it from its Classical predecessor? There is a tendency to think of Athens remaining in decline in these eras, as its democracy was curtailed, the people were forced to suffer periods of autocratic rule, and especially under the Romans enforced building activity turned the city into a provincial one than the "School of Hellas" that Pericles had proudly proclaimed it to be, and the Athenians were forced to adopt the imperial cult and watch Athena share her home, the sacred Acropolis, with the goddess Roma. But this dreary picture of decline and fall belies reality, as my book argues. It helps us appreciate Hellenistic and Roman Athens and to show it was still a vibrant and influential city. A lot was still happening in the city, and its people were always resilient: they fought their Macedonian masters when they could, and later sided with foreign kings against Rome, always in the hope of regaining that most cherished ideal, freedom. Hellenistic Athens is far from being a postscript to its Classical predecessor, as is usually thought. It was simply different. Its rich and varied history continued, albeit in an altered political and military form, and its Classical self lived on in literature and thought. In fact, it was its status as a cultural and intellectual juggernaut that enticed Romans to the city, some to visit, others to study. The Romans might have been the ones doing the conquering, but in adapting aspects of Hellenism for their own cultural and political needs, they were the ones, as the poet Horace claimned, who ended up being captured"--


Homosexuality and Civilization

Homosexuality and Civilization

Author: Louis Crompton

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-07

Total Pages: 652

ISBN-13: 9780674030060

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How have major civilizations of the last two millennia treated people who were attracted to their own sex? In a narrative tour de force, Louis Crompton chronicles the lives and achievements of homosexual men and women alongside a darker history of persecution, as he compares the Christian West with the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, Arab Spain, imperial China, and pre-Meiji Japan. Ancient Greek culture celebrated same-sex love in history, literature, and art, making high claims for its moral influence. By contrast, Jewish religious leaders in the sixth century B.C.E. branded male homosexuality as a capital offense and, later, blamed it for the destruction of the biblical city of Sodom. When these two traditions collided in Christian Rome during the late empire, the tragic repercussions were felt throughout Europe and the New World. Louis Crompton traces Church-inspired mutilation, torture, and burning of sodomites in sixth-century Byzantium, medieval France, Renaissance Italy, and in Spain under the Inquisition. But Protestant authorities were equally committed to the execution of homosexuals in the Netherlands, Calvin's Geneva, and Georgian England. The root cause was religious superstition, abetted by political ambition and sheer greed. Yet from this cauldron of fears and desires, homoerotic themes surfaced in the art of the Renaissance masters--Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Sodoma, Cellini, and Caravaggio--often intertwined with Christian motifs. Homosexuality also flourished in the court intrigues of Henry III of France, Queen Christina of Sweden, James I and William III of England, Queen Anne, and Frederick the Great. Anti-homosexual atrocities committed in the West contrast starkly with the more tolerant traditions of pre-modern China and Japan, as revealed in poetry, fiction, and art and in the lives of emperors, shoguns, Buddhist priests, scholars, and actors. In the samurai tradition of Japan, Crompton makes clear, the celebration of same-sex love rivaled that of ancient Greece. Sweeping in scope, elegantly crafted, and lavishly illustrated, Homosexuality and Civilization is a stunning exploration of a rich and terrible past.