Civilization Before Greece and Rome

Civilization Before Greece and Rome PDF Author: H. W. F. Saggs
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300174168
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
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.

Civilization Before Greece and Rome

Civilization Before Greece and Rome PDF Author: H. W. F. Saggs
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300174168
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.

Philosophy before the Greeks

Philosophy before the Greeks PDF Author: Marc Van De Mieroop
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691176353
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
There is a growing recognition that philosophy isn't unique to the West, that it didn't begin only with the classical Greeks, and that Greek philosophy was influenced by Near Eastern traditions. Yet even today there is a widespread assumption that what came before the Greeks was "before philosophy." In Philosophy before the Greeks, Marc Van De Mieroop, an acclaimed historian of the ancient Near East, presents a groundbreaking argument that, for three millennia before the Greeks, one Near Eastern people had a rich and sophisticated tradition of philosophy fully worthy of the name. In the first century BC, the Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily praised the Babylonians for their devotion to philosophy. Showing the justice of Diodorus's comment, this is the first book to argue that there were Babylonian philosophers and that they studied knowledge systematically using a coherent system of logic rooted in the practices of cuneiform script. Van De Mieroop uncovers Babylonian approaches to knowledge in three areas: the study of language, which in its analysis of the written word formed the basis of all logic; the art of divination, which interpreted communications between gods and humans; and the rules of law, which confirmed that royal justice was founded on truth. The result is an innovative intellectual history of the ancient Near Eastern world during the many centuries in which Babylonian philosophers inspired scholars throughout the region—until the first millennium BC, when the breakdown of this cosmopolitan system enabled others, including the Greeks, to develop alternative methods of philosophical reasoning.

Rhetoric before and beyond the Greeks

Rhetoric before and beyond the Greeks PDF Author: Carol S. Lipson
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 079148503X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Focusing on ancient rhetoric outside of the dominant Western tradition, this collection examines rhetorical practices in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Israel, and China. The book uncovers alternate ways of understanding human behavior and explores how these rhetorical practices both reflected and influenced their cultures. The essays address issues of historiography and raise questions about the application of Western rhetorical concepts to these very different ancient cultures. A chapter on suggestions for teaching each of these ancient rhetorics is included.

Writing Science before the Greeks

Writing Science before the Greeks PDF Author: Rita Watson
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004202315
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
The beginnings of written science have long been associated with classical Greece. Yet in ancient Mesopotamia, highly-sophisticated scientific works in cuneiform script were in active use while Greek civilization flourished in the West. The subject of this volume is the astronomical series MUL.APIN, which can be dated to the seventh century BCE and which represents the crowning achievement of traditional Mesopotamian observational astronomy. Writing Science before the Greeks explores this early text from the perspective of modern cognitive science in an effort to articulate the processes underlying its composition. The analysis suggests that writing itself, through the cumulative recording of observations, played a role in the evolution of scientific thought. "All in all, the authors should be congratulated for this groundbreaking study. Apart from significant new insights into MUL.APIN it has opened up a new avenue for research on ancient scientific texts that is likely to yield further interesting results, particularly if the cognitive analysis is combined with other approaches." Mathieu Ossendrijver, Humboldt University

Greece Before History

Greece Before History PDF Author: Curtis Neil Runnels
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080474050X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Presents a guide to the people and monuments of ancient Greece.

The Ancient Greeks

The Ancient Greeks PDF Author: Moses I. Finley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Greece
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description


Introducing the Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind

Introducing the Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind PDF Author: Edith Hall
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393244121
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
"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.

Egypt, Greece, and Rome

Egypt, Greece, and Rome PDF Author: Charles Freeman
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199263647
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 734

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Book Description
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Ancient Greeks

Ancient Greeks PDF Author: Rosalie F. Baker
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019802598X
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
"Outstanding individuals have the whole world as their memorial."--Pericles The influence of ancient Greek civilization has been felt throughout modern Western history. Greek ideas can be found in the laws that govern our lives, the buildings in which we live, the books we read, and the vocabulary we use every day. Because these ideas have become so much a part of our daily life, we tend to forget that they originated more than 2,500 years ago. Ancient Greeks chronicles the lives and accomplishments of Greek figures whose influence continues to be felt today. We read about Greeks from all walks of life, including one of the greatest physicians who ever lived, the father of logic, and a brilliant mathematician who once said, "Give me a lever long enough, and a fulcrum strong enough, and I will single-handedly move the world." And move the world he did, but with his ideas, not a mighty fulcrum. In 42 essays, authors Rosalie and Charles Baker explore the lives of many personalities, from the most famous Greeks to people who are usually overlooked, including: Aesop, author of timeless fables that continue to provide lessons today Lycurgus, the legendary ruler of Sparta Plato, the great philosopher who established the Academy in Athens Phidippides, a courier and long-distance runner whose run from Marathon to Athens became the basis of the modern marathon Sappho, one of the best female poets of classical antiquity Hippocrates, one of the greatest physicians who ever lived Alcibiades, a patriot-turned-traitor who was exiled from Greece Ictinus, the architect responsible for the design of the Parthenon Aristotle, the father of logic who tutored the teenage Alexander the Great Alexander the Great, who ruled Greece, defeated the great Persian empire, conquered lands bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea, including Egypt, and won control of lands stretching into India (and all that before his 33rd birthday) Zeno, founder of the philosophy known as Stoicism The biographies span the years 700 B.C. to 200 B.C., from Homer, the master of epic poetry and the author of the Iliad, to Eratosthenes, a brilliant mathematician who was the first to calculate the earth's circumference. A handy fact box that lists birth and death dates and the major accomplishments of each person profiled, abundant photographs and specially commissioned maps, a timeline, a glossary of Greek terms, an index of Greeks by profession, a pronunciation guide, and suggestions for further reading all add to the usefulness of this exceptional reference. With figures from fields as diverse as literature, mathematics, politics, the military, philosophy, and science, Ancient Greeks provides a comprehensive examination of the origins of modern civilization.

Exploring the World of the Ancient Greeks

Exploring the World of the Ancient Greeks PDF Author: John Camp
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780500288740
Category : Greece
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Tracing 3,500 years of ancient Greek culture . . . this survey reveals the myriad ways in which these people made unparalleled contributions to the rise of Western civilization."--Science News