Download or read book The Closing of the Western Mind written by Charles Freeman and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A radical and powerful reappraisal of the impact of Constantine’s adoption of Christianity on the later Roman world, and on the subsequent development both of Christianity and of Western civilization. When the Emperor Contstantine converted to Christianity in 368 AD, he changed the course of European history in ways that continue to have repercussions to the present day. Adopting those aspects of the religion that suited his purposes, he turned Rome on a course from the relatively open, tolerant and pluralistic civilization of the Hellenistic world, towards a culture that was based on the rule of fixed authority, whether that of the Bible, or the writings of Ptolemy in astronomy and of Galen and Hippocrates in medicine. Only a thousand years later, with the advent of the Renaissance and the emergence of modern science, did Europe begin to free itself from the effects of Constantine's decision, yet the effects of his establishment of Christianity as a state religion remain with us, in many respects, today. Brilliantly wide-ranging and ambitious, this is a major work of history.

Download or read book The Closing Of The Western Mind written by Charles Freeman and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-02-15 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The conversion of the emperor Constantine to Christianity in 368 AD brought a transformation to Christianity and to western civilization, the effects of which we still feel today. Previously, the Roman empire had absorbed and sustained the Greek intellectual tradition which, in the astronomy of Ptolemy, the medicine of Galen and the philosophy of Plotinus, reached new heights. Constantine turned Rome from the relatively open, tolerant and pluralistic civilisation of the Hellenistic world, towards a culture that was based on the rule of fixed authority. The century after Constantine's conversion saw the development of an alliance between church and state which stifled freedom of thought and the tradition of Greek rationalism which was intrinsic to it. The churches enjoyed enormous patronage and exemptions from tax, and in return allowed the emperors to take on the definition and enforcement of an increasingly narrow religious orthodoxy. This book explores how the European mind was closed by the revolution of the fourth century. It looks at the rise of the 'divine' monarch, the struggle as Christianity painfully separated itself from Judaism, the conflict between faith and reason, and the problems in finding any kind of rational basis for Christian theology. In these centuries, a turning-point for Western civilisation, we see the development of Christian anti-Semitism, the origins of the opposition of religion and science and the roots of Christianity's discomfort with sex, issues which haunt the Christian churches to this day. The Closing of the Western Mind is a major work of history. Wide-ranging and ambitious, its central theme is the relationship between the two wellsprings of our civilisation, the Judaeo-Christian and the Greco-Roman, and how the tensions between them have created the culture in which we continue to live, think and believe.

Download or read book The Achievement of Greece written by William Chase Greene and published by . This book was released on 1923 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece written by Josiah Ober and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major new history of classical Greece—how it rose, how it fell, and what we can learn from it Lord Byron described Greece as great, fallen, and immortal, a characterization more apt than he knew. Through most of its long history, Greece was poor. But in the classical era, Greece was densely populated and highly urbanized. Many surprisingly healthy Greeks lived in remarkably big houses and worked for high wages at specialized occupations. Middle-class spending drove sustained economic growth and classical wealth produced a stunning cultural efflorescence lasting hundreds of years. Why did Greece reach such heights in the classical period—and why only then? And how, after "the Greek miracle" had endured for centuries, did the Macedonians defeat the Greeks, seemingly bringing an end to their glory? Drawing on a massive body of newly available data and employing novel approaches to evidence, Josiah Ober offers a major new history of classical Greece and an unprecedented account of its rise and fall. Ober argues that Greece's rise was no miracle but rather the result of political breakthroughs and economic development. The extraordinary emergence of citizen-centered city-states transformed Greece into a society that defeated the mighty Persian Empire. Yet Philip and Alexander of Macedon were able to beat the Greeks in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE, a victory made possible by the Macedonians' appropriation of Greek innovations. After Alexander's death, battle-hardened warlords fought ruthlessly over the remnants of his empire. But Greek cities remained populous and wealthy, their economy and culture surviving to be passed on to the Romans—and to us. A compelling narrative filled with uncanny modern parallels, this is a book for anyone interested in how great civilizations are born and die. This book is based on evidence available on a new interactive website. To learn more, please visit: http://polis.stanford.edu/.

Download or read book The Achievement of Greece written by William Chase Greene and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Epinicians written by Bacchylides and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-11-26 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not much is known about the life of Bacchylides, but everyone knows how great of a poet he was, becoming one of Ancient Greece's best lyrical poets. The Greeks included him in their canonical list of nine lyric poets, and some of his works survived. His career coincided with the rise of drama, including the playwrights Aeschylus or Sophocles, and his lyrics are known for their clarity in expression and simplicity, making it easier to study the lyrical poetry of Ancient Greece. Epinicians were a genre of occasional poetry that resembled victory odes, written in prose in Ancient Greece as lyrics for a chorus. These were commissioned for and performed at the celebration of an athletic victory in the Panhellenic Games and sometimes in honor of a victory in war. Some of Bacchylides' epinicians survived and are reproduced here.

Download or read book The Achievement of Greece written by Willham Chase Geene and published by . This book was released on 1928 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Greek Achievement written by Charles Freeman and published by Penguin Books. This book was released on 2000-09 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the most recent research, Freeman provides a new generation of readers with a comprehensive account of Greek history over 2000 years. He describes the early settlements, the wars with the Persian empire, the rise of Macedonia, and more.

Download or read book The Achievement of Greece written by William C. Greene and published by . This book was released on 1978-06-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Greek Ways written by Bruce S. Thornton and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2002-10-31 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Writing with wit and erudition, Thornton discusses in fascinating detail those areas of Greek life--sexuality and sexual roles; slavery and war; philosophy and politics--that some modern critics have made into Rcontested sites.S He also reclaims the importance of those core ideas the Greeks invented, ideas about human fate and purpose that have shaped the modern world.

Download or read book The Greek Search for Wisdom written by Michael K. Kellogg and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2012-07-10 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once said that all of Western philosophy was "but a series of footnotes to Plato." By the same token, one could argue that all of Western civilization is but an extension of the ancient Greek cultural legacy. The Greeks invented tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, history, philosophy, and democracy. They also made remarkable advances in science, medicine, and mathematics. In the author’s view, what ties this wide-ranging intellectual ferment together is a restless search for wisdom. The author looks at ten outstanding examples of Greek wisdom, offering fresh and engaging portraits of the epic poets (Homer, Hesiod); dramatists (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes); historians (Herodotus, Thucydides); and philosophers (Plato, Aristotle) against the background of Greek history. In each case he asks what the author has to tell us— regardless of genre—about our place in the world and how we should live our lives. By surveying some of the highest peaks of ancient civilization, the author argues that we gain perspective on the historical terrain that lies below. This book presents an eloquent and convincing case that a study of the Greek classics, as Gustave Flaubert explained, makes us "greater, wiser, purer."

Download or read book Introducing the Ancient Greeks From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind written by Edith Hall and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2014-06-16 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Wonderful…a thoughtful discussion of what made [the Greeks] so important, in their own time and in ours." —Natalie Haynes, Independent The ancient Greeks invented democracy, theater, rational science, and philosophy. They built the Parthenon and the Library of Alexandria. Yet this accomplished people never formed a single unified social or political identity. In Introducing the Ancient Greeks, acclaimed classics scholar Edith Hall offers a bold synthesis of the full 2,000 years of Hellenic history to show how the ancient Greeks were the right people, at the right time, to take up the baton of human progress. Hall portrays a uniquely rebellious, inquisitive, individualistic people whose ideas and creations continue to enthrall thinkers centuries after the Greek world was conquered by Rome. These are the Greeks as you’ve never seen them before.

Download or read book The Achievements of Ancient Greece written by Janey Levy and published by Gareth Stevens Publishing LLLP. This book was released on 2021-12-15 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When you think of the achievements and legacy of ancient Greece, you probably think of art, architecture, and democracy. But ancient Greeks left so much more to the world, and some of their inventions will surprise modern readers. The list includes the lighthouse, the alarm clock, the shower, and trial by jury. This fascinating volume will introduce readers to this and more as they explore the myriad accomplishments of ancient Greece. Thoroughly researched content highlights important social studies concepts.

Download or read book Ancient Greece written by Britannica Educational Publishing and published by Britannica Educational Publishing. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Archaic times to the reign of Alexander the Great, Greek unity was tenuous, yet Ancient Greece was a place where culture flourished and intellectual achievement knew no bounds. Ancient Greek ideas on philosophy, politics, science, and the arts anticipate many of our own, and in some ways, remain unparalleled today. This book recounts the events that were instrumental to the development of this storied civilization and the indelible legacies it has left behind. A detailed appendix supplements the narrative with in-depth discussion on the Pre-Greek societies that fueled the imagination and gave birth to an enduring body of Greek mythology.

Download or read book Greece written by Roderick Beaton and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2021-06-04 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many, “Greece” is synonymous with “ancient Greece,” the civilization that gave us much that defines Western culture today. But, how did Greece come to be so powerfully attached to the legacy of the ancients in the first place and then define an identity for itself that is at once Greek and modern? This book reveals the remarkable achievement, during the last three hundred years, of building a modern nation on the ruins of a vanished civilization—sometimes literally so. This is the story of the Greek nation-state but also, and more fundamentally, of the collective identity that goes with it. It is not only a history of events and high politics; it is also a history of culture, of the arts, of people, and of ideas. Opening with the birth of the Greek nation-state, which emerged from encounters between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire, Roderick Beaton carries his story into the present moment and Greece’s contentious post-recession relationship with the rest of the European Union. Through close examination of how Greeks have understood their shared identity, Beaton reveals a centuries-old tension over the Greek sense of self. How does Greece illuminate the difference between a geographically bounded state and the shared history and culture that make up a nation? A magisterial look at the development of a national identity through history, Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation is singular in its approach. By treating modern Greece as a biographical subject, a living entity in its own right, Beaton encourages us to take a fresh look at a people and culture long celebrated for their past, even as they strive to build a future as part of the modern West.

Download or read book The Eye of Greece written by Donna Kurtz and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1982-09-16 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the subjects and problems in the art of Archaic and Classical Athens.

Download or read book A History of Greece 1300 to 30 BC written by Victor Parker and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-01-28 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A History of Greece: 1300‒30 BC, offers a comprehensive introduction to the foundational political history of Greece, from the late Mycenaean Age through to the death of Cleopatra VII, the last Hellenistic monarch of Egypt. Introduces textual and archaeological evidence used by historians to reconstruct historical events during Greece’s Bronze, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods Reveals the political and social structure of the Greek world in the late Mycenaean period (thirteenth century BC) through analysis of the Linear B tablets, the oldest surviving records in Greek Features numerous references to original source materials, including various fragmentary papyri, inscriptions, coins, and other literary sources Provides extensive coverage of the Hellenistic period, and covers areas excluded from most Greek history texts, including the Greek West Features judicious use of illustrations throughout, and considers instructors’ teaching needs by structuring the later sections to facilitate teaching a parallel course in Roman History Balances scholarship with a reader-friendly approach to create an accessible introduction to the political history of one of most remarkable ancient civilizations and sophisticated periods of world history