The Journey of Theophanes
The Journey of Theophanes

Author: John Matthews

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2006-01-01

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 0300135246

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At the outset of the twentieth century, malaria was Italy's major public health problem. It was the cause of low productivity, poverty, and economic backwardness, while it also stunted literacy, limited political participation and undermined the army. In this book Frank Snowden recounts how Italy became the world centre for the development of malariology as a medical discipline and launched the first national campaign to eradicate the disease. Snowden traces the early advances, the setbacks of world wars and Fascist dictatorship and the final victory against malaria after World War II. He shows how the medical and teaching professions helped educate people in their own self-defence and in the process expanded trade unionism, women's consciousness and civil liberties. He also discusses the antimalarial effort under Mussolini's regime and reveals the shocking details of the German army's intentional release of malaria among Italian civilians - the first and only known example of bioterror in twentieth-century Europe. Comprehensive and enlightening, this history offers important lessons for today's global malaria emergency.

The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Fall of the Roman Empire

Author: Peter Heather

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2007-06-11

Total Pages: 605

ISBN-13: 0195325419

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Shows how Europe's barbarians, strengthened by centuries of contact with Rome on many levels, turned into an enemy capable of overturning and dismantling the mighty Empire.

From the Tetrarchs to the Theodosians
From the Tetrarchs to the Theodosians

Author: Scott McGill

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-04-01

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1139489690

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An integrated collection of essays examining the politics, social networks, law, historiography, and literature of the later Roman world. The volume treats three central themes: the first section looks at political and social developments across the period and argues that, in spite of the stress placed upon traditional social structures, many elements of Roman life remained only slightly changed. The second section focuses upon biographical texts and shows how late-antique authors adapted traditional modes of discourse to new conditions. The final section explores the first years of the reign of Theodosius I and shows how he built upon historical foundations while unfurling new methods for utilising, presenting, and commemorating imperial power. These papers analyse specific events and local developments to highlight examples of both change and continuity in the Roman world from 284–450.

Two Romes
Two Romes

Author: Lucy Grig

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 482

ISBN-13: 019024108X

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An integrated collection of essays by leading scholars, Two Romes explores the changing roles and perceptions of Rome and Constantinople in Late Antiquity. This important examination of the "two Romes" in comparative perspective illuminates our understanding not just of both cities but of the whole late Roman world.

Mirage of the Saracen
Mirage of the Saracen

Author: Walter D. Ward

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2014-12-17

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 0520959523

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Mirage of the Saracen analyzes the growth of monasticism and Christian settlements in the Sinai Peninsula through the early seventh century C.E. Walter D. Ward examines the ways in which Christian monks justified occupying the Sinai through creating associations between Biblical narratives and Sinai sites while assigning uncivilized, negative, and oppositional traits to the indigenous nomadic population, whom the Christians pejoratively called "Saracens." By writing edifying tales of hostile nomads and the ensuing martyrdom of the monks, Christians not only reinforced their claims to the spiritual benefits of asceticism but also provoked the Roman authorities to enhance defense of pilgrimage routes to the Sinai. When Muslim armies later began conquering the Middle East, Christians also labeled these new conquerors as Saracens, connecting Muslims to these pre-Islamic representations. This timely and relevant work builds a historical account of interreligious encounters in the ancient world, showing the Sinai as a crucible for forging long-lasting images of both Christians and Muslims, some of which endure today.

The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus
The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus

Author: Christian H. Bull

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-09-24

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13: 9004370846

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In The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus, Christian H. Bull argues that the treatises attributed to Hermes Trismegistus reflect the spiritual exercises and ritual practices of loosely organized brotherhoods in Egypt. These small groups were directed by Egyptian priests educated in the traditional lore of the temples, but also conversant with Greek philosophy. Such priests, who were increasingly dispossessed with the gradual demise of the Egyptian temples, could find eager adherents among a Greek-speaking audience seeking for the wisdom of the Egyptian Hermes, who was widely considered to be an important source for the philosophies of Pythagoras and Plato. The volume contains a comprehensive analysis of the myths of Hermes Trismegistus, a reevaluation of the Way of Hermes, and a contextualization of this ritual tradition.

Jewish Travel in Antiquity
Jewish Travel in Antiquity

Author: Catherine Hezser

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 552

ISBN-13: 9783161508899

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This book provides the first comprehensive study of Jewish travel and mobility in Hellenistic and Roman times, based on a critical analysis of Jewish, Graeco-Roman, and early Christian literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources and a social-historical evaluation of the material. Catherine Hezser shows that certain segments of ancient Jewish society were quite mobile. Mobility seems to have increased in the later Roman period, when an extensive road system facilitated travel within the province of Syria-Palestine and the neighbouring Middle Eastern regions. Second Temple Judaism was centralized, with Jerusalem as its central space and seat of priestly authority. In post-70 rabbinic Judaism, on the other hand, connections between rabbis could be established through mutual visits and second- and third-degree contacts only. Mobility formed the basis of the establishment of a decentralized rabbinic network in Palestine and Babylonia in late antiquity. Numerous narrative and halakhic traditions indicate the importance of mobility for communication and the exchange of knowledge amongst rabbis. It is argued that the rabbis who were most mobile sat at the nodal points of the rabbinic network and elicited the largest amount of influence. They would have combined business travel with scholarly exchange. Scholars' journeys between Palestine and Babylonia are viewed within the wider context of Rome and Persia's economic and cultural exchange in which Jews, just like Christians, may have played the role of intermediaries.

Travel and Geography in the Roman Empire
Travel and Geography in the Roman Empire

Author: Colin Adams

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1134581807

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The remains of Roman roads are a powerful reminder of the travel and communications system that was needed to rule a vast and diverse empire. Yet few people have questioned just how the Romans - both military and civilians - travelled, or examined their geographical understanding in an era which offered a greatly increased potential for moving around, and a much bigger choice of destinations. This volume provides new perspectives on these issues, and some controversial arguments; for instance, that travel was not limited to the elite, and that maps as we know them did not exist in the empire. The military importance of transport and communication networks is also a focus, as is the imperial post system (cursus publicus), and the logistics and significance of transport in both conquest and administration. With more than forty photographs, maps and illustrations, this collection provides a new understanding of the role and importance of travel, and of the nature of geographical knowledge, in the Roman world,

Studies in the Archaeology of the Medieval Mediterranean
Studies in the Archaeology of the Medieval Mediterranean

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2010-09-24

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 9004187243

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The medieval Mediterranean world has inspired a rich variety of archaeological studies aimed at trying to piece together its past. This volume presents seven case studies that reveal the complexities of and possible solutions for exploring various areas of the Mediterranean basin. Individually, they offer models of interdisciplinary study that move beyond the disciplinary boundaries of archaeology to integrate evidence from other fields ranging from history to town planning. As a whole, they provide the only collection of studies of their kind for the medieval Mediterraean. They thus provide readers with a view of a field that is vibrant, nuanced, and utilizes a methodological approach that is capable of greatly increasing our knowledge of the medieval Mediterranean world. Contributors are Tasha Vorderstrasse, Jon van Leuven, Cédric Devais, Michelle Hobart, Giulia Annalinda Neglia, Johnny De Meulemeester, and Sauro Gelichi.

Food, Virtue, and the Shaping of Early Christianity
Food, Virtue, and the Shaping of Early Christianity

Author: Dana Robinson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-08-13

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1108802095

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In this book, Dana Robinson examines the role that food played in the Christianization of daily life in the fourth century CE. Early Christians used the food culture of the Hellenized Mediterranean world to create and debate compelling models of Christian virtue, and to project Christian ideology onto common domestic practices. Combining theoretical approaches from cognitive linguistics and space/place theory, Robinson shows how metaphors for piety, such as health, fruit, and sacrifice, relied on food-related domains of common knowledge (medicine, agriculture, votive ritual), which in turn generated sophisticated and accessible models of lay discipline and moral formation. She also demonstrates that Christian places and landscapes of piety were socially constructed through meals and food production networks that extended far beyond the Eucharist. Food culture, thus, provided a network of metaphorical concepts and spatial practices that allowed the lay faithful to participate in important debates over Christian living and community formation.