Download or read book Discourse on the State of the Jews written by Simone Luzzatto and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2019-07-08 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1638, a small book of no more than 92 pages in octavo was published “appresso Gioanne Calleoni” under the title “Discourse on the State of the Jews and in particular those dwelling in the illustrious city of Venice.” It was dedicated to the Doge of Venice and his counsellors, who are labelled “lovers of Truth.” The author of the book was a certain Simone (Simḥa) Luzzatto, a native of Venice, where he lived and died, serving as rabbi for over fifty years during the course of the seventeenth century. Luzzatto’s political thesis is simple and, at the same time, temerarious, if not revolutionary: Venice can put an end to its political decline, he argues, by offering the Jews a monopoly on overseas commercial activity. This plan is highly recommendable because the Jews are “wellsuited for trade,” much more so than others (such as “foreigners,” for example). The rabbi opens his argument by recalling that trade and usury are the only occupations permitted to Jews. Within the confines of their historical situation, the Venetian Jews became particularly skilled at trade with partners from the Eastern Mediterranean countries. Luzzatto’s argument is that this talent could be put at the service of the Venetian government in order to maintain – or, more accurately, recover – its political importance as an intermediary between East and West. He was the first to define the role of the Jews on the basis of their economic and social functions, disregarding the classic categorisation of Judaism’s alleged privileged religious status in world history. Nonetheless, going beyond the socio-economic arguments of the book, it is essential to point out Luzzatto’s resort to sceptical strategies in order to plead in defence of the Venetian Jews. It is precisely his philosophical and political scepticism that makes Luzzatto’s texts so unique. This edition aims to grant access to his works and thought to English-speaking readers and scholars. By approaching his texts from this point of view, the editors hope to open a new path in research into Jewish culture and philosophy that will enable other scholars to develop new directions and new perspectives, stressing the interpenetration between Jews and the surrounding Christian and secular cultures.

Download or read book Cortes written by Francisco López de Gómara and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1964 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed history of the controversial explorer and his interactions with Aztec tribes and other groups in Central America.

Download or read book A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante written by Paget Jackson Toynbee and published by . This book was released on 1898 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Renaissance Vision from Spectacles to Telescopes written by Vincent Ilardi and published by American Philosophical Society. This book was released on 2007 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deals with the history of eyeglasses from their invention in Italy ca. 1286 to the appearance of the telescope three cent. later. "By the end of the 16th cent. eyeglasses were as common in western and central Europe as desktop computers are in western developed countries today." Eyeglasses served an important technological function at both the intellectual and practical level, not only easing the textual studies of scholars but also easing the work of craftsmen/small bus. During the 15th cent. two crucial developments occurred: the ability to grind convex lenses for various levels of presbyopia and the ability to grind concave lenses for the correction of myopia. As a result, eyeglasses could be made almost to prescription by the early 17th cent. Illus.

Download or read book Astronomy Cosmology and Landscape written by Clive Ruggles and published by Ocarina Books/Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2001 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The proceedings of the 1998 Société Européenne pour l'Astronomie dans la Culture conference held in Dublin with 15 papers, all in English, covering various periods and parts of the world; Palaeolithic Europe, Minoan and Mycenaean Crete, pre-Hispanic Canary Islands, Greece and Rome and the Americas. Although the overall theme of the conference was landscape perception, many papers also addressed related issues of cosmology, symbolism, belief systems, mythology, studies of constellations, folklore and related ritual practices.

Download or read book Vertical Readings in Dante s Comedy written by George Corbett and published by Open Book Publishers. This book was released on 2016-12-12 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection – to be issued in three volumes – offers an unprecedented repertoire of vertical readings for the whole poem. As the first volume exemplifies, vertical reading not only articulates unexamined connections between the three canticles but also unlocks engaging new ways to enter into core concerns of the poem. The three volumes thereby provide an indispensable resource for scholars, students and enthusiasts of Dante. The volume has its origin in a series of thirty-three public lectures held in Trinity College, the University of Cambridge (2012-2016) which can be accessed at the Cambridge Vertical Readings in Dante’s Comedy website.

Download or read book Music of the Sirens written by Linda Austern and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2006-07-21 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether referred to as mermaid, usalka, mami wata, or by some other name, and whether considered an imaginary being or merely a person with extraordinary abilities, the siren is the remarkable creature that has inspired music and its representations from ancient Greece to present-day Africa and Latin America. This book, co-edited by a historical musicologist and an ethnomusicologist, brings together leading scholars and some talented newcomers in classics, music, media studies, literature, and cultural studies to consider the siren and her multifaceted relationships to music across human time and geography.

Download or read book Astronomies and Cultures written by Clive L. N. Ruggles and published by Ocarina Books. This book was released on 1993 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ten thematic articles illustrating the broad scope, diversity and cultural significance of contemporary studies in archaeoastronomy. Contents: The Study of Cultural Astronomy ( Clive Ruggles and Nicholas Saunders ); The Yao Dian and the Origins of Astronomy in China ( Chen Cheng-Yih and Xi Zezong ); The Riddle of Red Sirius: An Anthropological Perspective ( Roger Ceragioli ); Astronomies and Rituals at the Dawn of the Middle Ages ( Stephen McCluskey ); Folk Astronomy in the Service of Religion: The Case of Islam ( David King ); Cosmos and Kings at Vijayanagara ( John McKim Malville and John Fritz ); Medicine Wheel Astronomy ( David Vogt ); Venus-Regulated Warfare and Ritual Sacrifice in Mesoamerica ( John Carlson ); Astronomical Knowledge, Calendrics, and Sacred Geography in Ancient Mesoamerica ( Johanna Broda ); The Pleiades in Comparative Perspective: The Waiwai Shirkoimo and the Shipibo Huishmabo ( Peter G. Roe ).

Download or read book The Hundred Years War written by C. T. Allmand and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1988-02-04 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comparative study of how the societies of late medieval England and France reacted to the long period of conflict between them from political, military, social and economic perspectives.

Download or read book The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria written by Morris Jastrow (Jr.) and published by . This book was released on 1915 with total page 710 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature written by Verity Smith and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1997-03-26 with total page 962 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive, encyclopedic guide to the authors, works, and topics crucial to the literature of Central and South America and the Caribbean, the Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature includes over 400 entries written by experts in the field of Latin American studies. Most entries are of 1500 words but the encyclopedia also includes survey articles of up to 10,000 words on the literature of individual countries, of the colonial period, and of ethnic minorities, including the Hispanic communities in the United States. Besides presenting and illuminating the traditional canon, the encyclopedia also stresses the contribution made by women authors and by contemporary writers. Outstanding Reference Source Outstanding Reference Book

Download or read book Tombs Temples and Their Orientations written by Michael A. Hoskin and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study of archaeoastronomy looks at more than 2,500 communal tombs and sanctuaries from around the Mediterranean. After a brief discussion of Hoskin's aims and the methodology for his fieldwork, individual chapters focus on evidence from particular regions: Malta, Gozo, the Balearics, Iberia, southern France, Corsica and Sardinia, Sicily and Pantelleria, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. The author concludes that in most of these regions the monuments faced sunrise, or more generally the sun when it was rising or climbing in the sky. Along the Mediterranean coast of France, however, there is a reverse sunset custom; in North Africa tombs faced downhill and in a Minoan cemetery on Crete all the tombs faced moonrise and look towards a mountain on whose peak was a sanctuary probably sacred to a lunar god. 264p, b/w figs and photos throughout, tables (Ocarina Books 2001) ` adorned with dozens of beautiful photographs, technical diagrams, and an extraordinary Corpus Mensurarum.....a living masterpiece in the field of archaeoastronomy ' - Juan Antonio Belmonte, Instituto de Astroficia de Canarias `

Download or read book Nineveh and Its Remains written by Austen Henry Layard and published by . This book was released on 1849 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Long Life of Magical Objects written by Allegra Iafrate and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2020-01-17 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores a series of powerful artifacts associated with King Solomon via legendary or extracanonical textual sources. Tracing their cultural resonance throughout history, art historian Allegra Iafrate delivers exciting insights into these objects and interrogates the ways in which magic manifests itself at a material level. Each chapter focuses on a different Solomonic object: a ring used to control demons; a mysterious set of bottles that constrain evil forces; an endless knot or seal with similar properties; the shamir, known for its supernatural ability to cut through stone; and a flying carpet that can bring the sitter anywhere he desires. Taken together, these chapters constitute a study on the reception of the figure of Solomon, but they are also cultural biographies of these magical objects and their inherent aesthetic, morphological, and technical qualities. Thought-provoking and engaging, Iafrate’s study shows how ancient magic artifacts live on in our imagination, in items such as Sauron’s ring of power, Aladdin’s lamp, and the magic carpet. It will appeal to historians of art, religion, folklore, and literature.

Download or read book The Nineteenth Century German Lied written by Lorraine Gorrell and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2005-11-01 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The development of the piano, together with changes in culture and society, led to the transformation of song into a major musical genre. This study of the great lieder of 19th-century composers Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Hugo Wolf also includes lesser-known composers, such as Louis Spohr and Robert Franz, plus significant contributions from women composers and performers.

Download or read book Exploring Jesuit Distinctiveness written by Robert A. Maryks and published by Jesuit Studies. This book was released on 2016 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume theme is the distinctiveness of Jesuits and their ministries that was discussed at the first International Symposium on Jesuit Studies held at Boston College's Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies in June 2015. It explores the quidditas Jesuitica, or the specifically Jesuit way(s) of proceeding in which Jesuits and their colleagues operated from historical, geographical, social, and cultural perspectives. The collection poses a question whether there was an essential core of distinctive elements that characterized the way in which Jesuits lived their religious vocation and conducted their various works and how these ways of proceeding were lived out in the various epochs and cultures in which Jesuits worked over four and a half centuries; what changed and adapted itself to different times and situations, and what remained constant, transcending time and place, infusing the apostolic works and lives of Jesuits with the charism at the source of the Society of Jesus's foundation and development.Thanks to generous support of the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College, this volume is available in Open Access.

Download or read book Baseball Haiku The Best Haiku Ever Written about the Game written by Cor van den Heuvel and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2007-03-27 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the more unusual baseball books of the season, this remarkable new collection, which includes poems from both America and Japan, captures perfectly the thrill of the game in haiku.