Taking Ancient Mythology Economically

Taking Ancient Mythology Economically PDF Author: Morris Silver
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004097063
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
The primary objective of this study is to decipher the 'codes' or polysemous signs of many prominent myths of the Graeco-Roman and Near Eastern worlds and thereby to expose their hidden economic meaning. The study is highlighted by analyses of the following themes: Birth of Athena from Zeus' Head, Perseus and the Gorgon, and Gilgamesh in the Cedar Forest; Oedipus of Thebes and the biblical myth of the Five Golden Tumors; Semele the daughter of Kadmos; Heroic Twins; Labors of Herakles; Cain, Janus, and the Rainbow; Dogs as Merchants and Male Prostitutes; Virgin Priestesses in Treasuries; Danae and the Birth of Perseus and the biblical myth of the 'House of Rahab'; Circuiting Gods; Contest Between Athena and Poseidon for Supremacy in Athens; and Hermes versus Apollo, David and his Lyre at King Saul's Court, and Gilgamesh the Infernal Musician. A striking result of these studies is the extent to which ancient myths are saturated by economic content, especially commercial idioms and the standardized gestures required of contractors. It becomes quite clear that the ancients were far more aware of and interested in the economy than many contemporary scholars give them credit for.

Taking Ancient Mythology Economically

Taking Ancient Mythology Economically PDF Author: Morris Silver
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004097063
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360

Get Book Here

Book Description
The primary objective of this study is to decipher the 'codes' or polysemous signs of many prominent myths of the Graeco-Roman and Near Eastern worlds and thereby to expose their hidden economic meaning. The study is highlighted by analyses of the following themes: Birth of Athena from Zeus' Head, Perseus and the Gorgon, and Gilgamesh in the Cedar Forest; Oedipus of Thebes and the biblical myth of the Five Golden Tumors; Semele the daughter of Kadmos; Heroic Twins; Labors of Herakles; Cain, Janus, and the Rainbow; Dogs as Merchants and Male Prostitutes; Virgin Priestesses in Treasuries; Danae and the Birth of Perseus and the biblical myth of the 'House of Rahab'; Circuiting Gods; Contest Between Athena and Poseidon for Supremacy in Athens; and Hermes versus Apollo, David and his Lyre at King Saul's Court, and Gilgamesh the Infernal Musician. A striking result of these studies is the extent to which ancient myths are saturated by economic content, especially commercial idioms and the standardized gestures required of contractors. It becomes quite clear that the ancients were far more aware of and interested in the economy than many contemporary scholars give them credit for.

Taking Ancient Mythology Economically

Taking Ancient Mythology Economically PDF Author: Silver
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004674330
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
The primary objective of this study is to decipher the 'codes' or polysemous signs of many prominent myths of the Graeco-Roman and Near Eastern worlds and thereby to expose their hidden economic meaning. The study is highlighted by analyses of the following themes: Birth of Athena from Zeus' Head, Perseus and the Gorgon, and Gilgamesh in the Cedar Forest; Oedipus of Thebes and the biblical myth of the Five Golden Tumors; Semele the daughter of Kadmos; Heroic Twins; Labors of Herakles; Cain, Janus, and the Rainbow; Dogs as Merchants and Male Prostitutes; Virgin Priestesses in Treasuries; Danae and the Birth of Perseus and the biblical myth of the 'House of Rahab'; Circuiting Gods; Contest Between Athena and Poseidon for Supremacy in Athens; and Hermes versus Apollo, David and his Lyre at King Saul's Court, and Gilgamesh the Infernal Musician. A striking result of these studies is the extent to which ancient myths are saturated by economic content, especially commercial idioms and the standardized gestures required of contractors. It becomes quite clear that the ancients were far more aware of and interested in the economy than many contemporary scholars give them credit for.

Ancient Economy in Mythology

Ancient Economy in Mythology PDF Author: Morris Silver
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Ancient mythology and its striking themes have always fascinated scholars and the general populace alike. Mythological interpretations have proven valuable to historians and theologians for centuries, and more recently, structuralist and Freudian interpretations have dominated the field. Ancient Economy In Mythology is the first to explore the economic component in mythology. Original articles by scholars from diverse fields--ancient languages and history, philosophy, anthropology, and economics--uncover and utilize evidence in myths to throw light on ancient economies and reveal the role played by myths in shaping and justifying economic policies in ancient societies. The book's articles fall into four major economic themes: Primary Production and Distribution in Myth; Dynamics and Statics of Socioeconomic Roles in Myth; Resource Extraction and Royal Myths; and International Trade in Myth. These fresh and sometimes controversial papers will be of interest to ancient historians, economic historians, anthropologists, religious and Biblical scholars, Assyriologists, Classicists, Indo-Europeanists, and the general educated public.

Myth as Argument

Myth as Argument PDF Author: Laurie L. Patton
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110812754
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 580

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Book Description
RGVV (History of Religion: Essays and Preliminary Studies) brings together the mutually constitutive aspects of the study of religion(s)—contextualized data, theory, and disciplinary positioning—and engages them from a critical historical perspective. The series publishes monographs and thematically focused edited volumes on specific topics and cases as well as comparative work across historical periods from the ancient world to the modern era.

Ancient and Medieval Economic Ideas and Concepts of Social Justice

Ancient and Medieval Economic Ideas and Concepts of Social Justice PDF Author: Barry Gordon
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004450319
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 621

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Book Description
On March 17, 2015, Brill was informed that the article by Francisco Gómez Camacho S. J., "Later Scholastics: Spanish Economic Thought in the XVIth and XVIIth Centuries," in Ancient and Medieval Economic Ideas and Concepts of Social Justice, ed. S. Todd Lowry and Barry Gordon (Leiden: Brill, 1998), pp. 503-561 suffers from serious citation problems and that in some cases the original sources are never mentioned at all. It goes without saying that Brill strongly disapproves of such practices, which represent a serious breach of publication integrity. Brill condemns any violation of the authors' rights and the copyrights of the publishers, and distances itself from these practices. As a result Brill cannot stand behind the noted material as originally contained in this volume and for these reasons formally retracts the article by Francisco Gómez Camacho and also the volume. The volume will no longer be available in its current form. (Blurb: 13 scholars contribute to this survey of past discussions of the workings of economic structures and of justice in interpersonal relations, cultural institutions and the social order. They investigate the sources in each historic period from the world of the Old Testament and the ancient Greeks through to Spanish scholasticism and its offshoots in the Spanish Americas of the 18th century and relate the ideas of writers from the past to modern discussions.)

The Ancient Economy

The Ancient Economy PDF Author: Moses I. Finley
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520024366
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
"The Ancient Economy holds pride of place among the handful of genuinely influential works of ancient history. This is Finley at the height of his remarkable powers and in his finest role as historical iconoclast and intellectual provocateur. It should be required reading for every student of pre-modern modes of production, exchange, and consumption."--Josiah Ober, author of Political Dissent in Democratic Athens

The Ancient Economy

The Ancient Economy PDF Author: Walter Scheidel
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136069461
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
The Ancient Economy introduces readers to the nature of economic life in the ancient world, and provides a valuable guide to scholarly debates on the subject. The book describes and examines the economic processes and fluctuations of the ancient world, and shows how these relate to political and social change and conditions. Leading experts address the central issues, from agricultural production to the uses of money and the creation of markets. Taken as a whole the book exemplifies the range of interdisciplinary perspectives on the ancient economy, and illustrates the methodological approaches scholars have deployed to understand it. In doing so it draws on literary, ecological and archaeological evidence.

Economic Persuasions

Economic Persuasions PDF Author: Stephen Gudeman
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1845459261
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
As the transition from socialism to a market economy gathered speed in the early 1990s, many people proclaimed the final success of capitalism as a practice and neoliberal economics as its accompanying science. But with the uneven achievements of the “transition”—the deepening problems of “development,” persistent unemployment, the widening of the wealth gap, and expressions of resistance—the discipline of economics is no longer seen as a mirror of reality or as a unified science. How should we understand economics and, more broadly, the organization and disorganization of material life? In this book, international scholars from anthropology and economics adopt a rhetorical perspective in order to make sense of material life and the theories about it. Re-examining central problems in the two fields and using ethnographic and historical examples, they explore the intersections between these disciplines, contrast their methods and epistemologies, and show how a rhetorical approach offers a new mode of analysis while drawing on established contributions.

The Cattle of the Sun

The Cattle of the Sun PDF Author: Jeremy McInerney
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400834872
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
Though Greece is traditionally seen as an agrarian society, cattle were essential to Greek communal life, through religious sacrifice and dietary consumption. Cattle were also pivotal in mythology: gods and heroes stole cattle, expected sacrifices of cattle, and punished those who failed to provide them. The Cattle of the Sun ranges over a wealth of sources, both textual and archaeological, to explore why these animals mattered to the Greeks, how they came to be a key element in Greek thought and behavior, and how the Greeks exploited the symbolic value of cattle as a way of structuring social and economic relations. Jeremy McInerney explains that cattle's importance began with domestication and pastoralism: cattle were nurtured, bred, killed, and eaten. Practically useful and symbolically potent, cattle became social capital to be exchanged, offered to the gods, or consumed collectively. This circulation of cattle wealth structured Greek society, since dedication to the gods, sacrifice, and feasting constituted the most basic institutions of Greek life. McInerney shows that cattle contributed to the growth of sanctuaries in the Greek city-states, as well as to changes in the economic practices of the Greeks, from the Iron Age through the classical period, as a monetized, market economy developed from an earlier economy of barter and exchange. Combining a broad theoretical approach with a careful reading of sources, The Cattle of the Sun illustrates the significant position that cattle held in the culture and experiences of the Greeks. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Money, Labour and Land

Money, Labour and Land PDF Author: Paul Cartledge
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134644035
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
The cultural wealth of the classical Greek world was matched by its material wealth, and there is abundant textual and archaeological evidence for both. However, radically different theoretical and methodological approaches have been used to interpret this evidence, and conflicts continue to rage as these different starting points produce clashing views on the significance and distribution of money, labour and land. Money, Labour and Land reflects the current explosion in ideas and research by assembling case-studies from an international selection of renowned US, British and European scholars. Drawing on comparative historical and anthropological approaches, sociological, economic and cultural theory, and developments in epigraphy, legal history, numismatics and spatial archaeology, this volume will be of interest to all students and scholars of ancient economies.