Truth And History In The Ancient World

Author : Lisa Hau,Ian Ruffell
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2016-11-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317558040

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Truth and History in the Ancient World by Lisa Hau,Ian Ruffell Pdf

This collection of essays investigates histories in the ancient world and the extent to which the producers and consumers of those histories believed them to be true. Ancient Greek historiographers repeatedly stressed the importance of truth to history; yet they also purported to believe in myth, distorted facts for nationalistic or moralizing purposes, and omitted events that modern audiences might consider crucial to a truthful account of the past. Truth and History in the Ancient World explores a pluralistic concept of truth – one in which different versions of the same historical event can all be true – or different kinds of truths and modes of belief are contingent on culture. Beginning with comparisons between historiography and aspects of belief in Greek tragedy, chapters include discussions of historiography through the works of Herodotus, Xenophon, and Ktesias, as well as Hellenistic and later historiography, material culture in Vitruvius, and Lucian’s satire. Rather than investigate whether historiography incorporates elements of poetic, rhetorical, or narrative techniques to shape historical accounts, or whether cultural memory is flexible or manipulated, this volume examines pluralities of truth and belief within the ancient world – and consequences for our understanding of culture, ancient or otherwise.

Author : Lisa Hau,Ian Ruffell
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2016-11-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317558057

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Truth and History in the Ancient World by Lisa Hau,Ian Ruffell Pdf

This collection of essays investigates histories in the ancient world and the extent to which the producers and consumers of those histories believed them to be true. Ancient Greek historiographers repeatedly stressed the importance of truth to history; yet they also purported to believe in myth, distorted facts for nationalistic or moralizing purposes, and omitted events that modern audiences might consider crucial to a truthful account of the past. Truth and History in the Ancient World explores a pluralistic concept of truth – one in which different versions of the same historical event can all be true – or different kinds of truths and modes of belief are contingent on culture. Beginning with comparisons between historiography and aspects of belief in Greek tragedy, chapters include discussions of historiography through the works of Herodotus, Xenophon, and Ktesias, as well as Hellenistic and later historiography, material culture in Vitruvius, and Lucian’s satire. Rather than investigate whether historiography incorporates elements of poetic, rhetorical, or narrative techniques to shape historical accounts, or whether cultural memory is flexible or manipulated, this volume examines pluralities of truth and belief within the ancient world – and consequences for our understanding of culture, ancient or otherwise.

Author : Matthew Fraser
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 459 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2020-03-27
Category : History
ISBN : 9781633886254

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In Truth by Matthew Fraser Pdf

From ancient Rome to the current Internet age, this sweeping history of ideas explores how different epochs wrestled with the issue of truth and lies.From the ancient Greeks and Romans to the modern era, how have people determined what is true? How have those with power and influence sought to control the narrative? Are we living in a post-truth era, or is that notion simply the latest attempt to control the narrative? The relationship between truth and power is the key theme.Moving through major historical periods, the author focuses on notable people and events, from well-known leaders like Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler to lesser-known individuals like Procopius and Savonarola. He notes distinct parallels in history to current events. Julius Caesar's publication of his Gallic Wars and Civil Wars was an early exercise in political spin not unlike what we see today. During the English Civil War and the Enlightenment, pamphleteering coupled with the new power of the printing press challenged the status quo, as online and social media does in our time. And "fake news" was already being used by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck in nineteenth-century Europe and by the "yellow journalism" of American newspaper magnates William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer near the turn of the twentieth century.The author concludes optimistically, noting that we are debating and discussing truth more fiercely today than in any previous era. The determination to arrive at the truth, despite the manipulations of the powerful, bodes well for the future of democracy.

Author : Robert Benjamin Lewis
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 414 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 1844
Category : Black race
ISBN : STANFORD:36105005124180

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Light and Truth by Robert Benjamin Lewis Pdf

Author : Christopher Gill,Timothy Peter Wiseman
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : Classical fiction
ISBN : UCSC:32106010202908

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Lies and Fiction in the Ancient World by Christopher Gill,Timothy Peter Wiseman Pdf

This collection of essays explores the key issue of the nature of the boundary between fact and fiction, an issue which has become prominent especially through the upsurge of interest in the ancient novel and recent work on the rhetorical character of ancient historiography. The collection covers early Greek poetry (E.L. Bowie), Greek and Roman historiography (John Moles and T.P. Wiseman), Plato (Christopher Gill) and the Greek and Roman novel (John Morgan and Andrew Laird), and especially considers how far 'lying' was distinguished from 'fiction' at different periods and in different genres.

Author : Page duBois
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 172 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2016-06-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9781315470870

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Torture and Truth (Routledge Revivals) by Page duBois Pdf

First published in 1991, this book — through the examination of ancient Greek literary, philosophical and legal texts — analyses how the Athenian torture of slaves emerged from and reinforced the concept of truth as something hidden in the human body. It discusses the tradition of understanding truth as something that is generally concealed and the ideas of ‘secret space’ in both the female body and the Greek temple. This philosophy and practice is related to Greek views of the ‘Other’ (women and outsiders) and considers the role of torture in distinguishing slave and free in ancient Athens. A wide range of perspectives — from Plato to Sartre — are employed to examine the subject.

Author : Matthew Fraser
Publisher : Prometheus Books
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2020
Category : History
ISBN : 1633886247

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In Truth by Matthew Fraser Pdf

From ancient Rome to the current Internet age, this sweeping history of ideas explores how different epochs wrestled with the issue of truth and lies. From the ancient Greeks and Romans to the modern era, how have people determined what is true? How have those with power and influence sought to control the narrative? Are we living in a post-truth era, or is that notion simply the latest attempt to control the narrative? The relationship between truth and power is the key theme. Moving through major historical periods, the author focuses on notable people and events, from well-known leaders like Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler to lesser-known individuals like Procopius and Savonarola. He notes distinct parallels in history to current events. Julius Caesar's publication of his Gallic Wars and Civil Wars was an early exercise in political spin not unlike what we see today. During the English Civil War and the Enlightenment, pamphleteering coupled with the new power of the printing press challenged the status quo, as online and social media does in our time. And "fake news" was already being used by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck in nineteenth-century Europe and by the "yellow journalism" of American newspaper magnates William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer near the turn of the twentieth century. The author concludes optimistically, noting that we are debating and discussing truth more fiercely today than in any previous era. The determination to arrive at the truth, despite the manipulations of the powerful, bodes well for the future of democracy.

Author : Giuliano Mori
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 262 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2024-01-22
Category : History
ISBN : 9780198885955

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Historical Truth in Fifteenth-Century Italy by Giuliano Mori Pdf

While humanists agreed on identifying the main requirement of the historical genre with truthfulness, they disagreed on their notions of historical truth. Some authors equated historical truth with verisimilitude, thus harmonizing the quest for truth with other ingredients of their histories, such as their political utility and rhetorical aptness. Others, instead, rejected the notion of verisimilitude, identifying historical truth with factuality. Accordingly, they sought to produce bare and exhaustive accounts of all the things that pertained to their historical explorations, often resorting to innovative disciplines, such as archeology, philology, and the history of institutions. The humanist historiographical debate is especially significant because the notion of verisimilitude encompassed crucial elements required for the development of methods of critical assessment. By perceiving verisimilitude and factuality as irreconcilable, Quattrocento humanists reached a critical impasse—those who were interested in factual truth mostly lacked the means to ascertain it, while those that developed embryonic notions of historical criticism were not eminently concerned with the factual account of the past. This critical weakness exposed humanists to considerable risks, including that of accepting non-verisimilar historical forgeries passed off as factual. Such forgeries eventually served as a testing ground for sixteenth- and seventeenth-century scholars, who sought to restore factual truth by means of critical criteria grounded in verisimilitude, thus overcoming the humanist impasse. Historical Truth in Fifteenth-Century Italy addresses Renaissance history, philosophy, rhetoric, and jurisprudence to shed light on how humanists conceptualized truth and, more specifically, historical truth.

Author : John Arnold,John H. (Professor of History Arnold, School of History Classics and Archaeology Professor of History School of History Classics and Archaeology Birkbeck University of London),Professor John H Arnold
Publisher : Oxford Paperbacks
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2000-02-24
Category : History
ISBN : 9780192853523

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History: A Very Short Introduction by John Arnold,John H. (Professor of History Arnold, School of History Classics and Archaeology Professor of History School of History Classics and Archaeology Birkbeck University of London),Professor John H Arnold Pdf

Starting with an examination of how historians work, this "Very Short Introduction" aims to explore history in a general, pithy, and accessible manner, rather than to delve into specific periods.

Author : Tim Whitmarsh
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 213 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2016-02-02
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780571279326

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Battling the Gods by Tim Whitmarsh Pdf

How new is atheism? In Battling the Gods, Tim Whitmarsh journeys into the ancient Mediterranean to recover the stories of those who first refused the divinities. Long before the Enlightenment sowed the seeds of disbelief in a deeply Christian Europe, atheism was a matter of serious public debate in the Greek world. But history is written by those who prevail, and the Age of Faith mostly suppressed the lively free-thinking voices of antiquity. Tim Whitmarsh brings to life the fascinating ideas of Diagoras of Melos, perhaps the first self-professed atheist; Democritus, the first materialist; and Epicurus and his followers. He shows how the early Christians came to define themselves against atheism, and so suppress the philosophy of disbelief. Battling the Gods is the first book on the origins of the secular values at the heart of the modern state. Authoritative and bold, provocative and humane, it reveals how atheism and doubt, far from being modern phenomena, have intrigued the human imagination for thousands of years.

Author : Kurt A. Raaflaub
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 542 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2013-11-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9781118413111

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Thinking, Recording, and Writing History in the Ancient World by Kurt A. Raaflaub Pdf

Thinking, Recording, and Writing History in the Ancient World presents a cross-cultural comparison of the ways in which ancient civilizations thought about the past and recorded their own histories. Written by an international group of scholars working in many disciplines Truly cross-cultural, covering historical thinking and writing in ancient or early cultures across in East, South, and West Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Americas Includes historiography shaped by religious perspectives, including Judaism, early Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism

Author : Carol Bakhos,Alyssa M. Gray
Publisher : SBL Press
Page : 491 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2024-03-29
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781951498962

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Making History by Carol Bakhos,Alyssa M. Gray Pdf

Essays in this volume honor Richard L. Kalmin, one of the leading scholars of rabbinic literature. Volume contributors explore a variety of topics related to Kalmin’s wide-ranging work from the development of the Talmud to rabbinic storytelling, from the transmission of tales across geographic and cultural boundaries to ancient Jewish and Iranian interactions. Many of the essays reflect current trends in how scholars use ancient Jewish literary sources to address questions of historical import. Contributors include Carol Bakhos, Beth A. Berkowitz, Noah Bickart, Robert Brody, Joshua Cahan, Shaye J. D. Cohen, Steven D. Fraade, Shamma Friedman, Alyssa M. Gray, Judith Hauptman, Christine Hayes, Catherine Hezser, Marc Hirshman, David Kraemer, Marjorie Lehman, Kristen Lindbeck, Jonathan S. Milgram, Chaim Milikowsky, Michael L. Satlow, Marcus Mordecai Schwartz, Seth Schwartz, Burton L. Visotzky, and Sarah Wolf.

Author : Daniel J. D. Stulac
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 331 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2020-12-10
Category : Bibles
ISBN : 9781108843744

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Life, Land, and Elijah in the Book of Kings by Daniel J. D. Stulac Pdf

Using a canonical-agrarian approach, Stulac demonstrates the rhetorical and theological contribution of the Elijah narratives to the Book of Kings.

Author : Lawrence Mitchell Wills
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0801430755

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The Jewish Novel in the Ancient World by Lawrence Mitchell Wills Pdf

Wills focuses on five novels: Greek Esther, Greek Daniel, Judith, Tobit, and Joseph and Aseneth. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical works, he delineates the techniques and motifs of the Jewish novel, shows how genre both initiated and distanced itself from nonfictional prose, such as historical and philosophical writing, discusses its relation to Greco-Roman romance, and describes the social conditions governing its emergence and reception.

Author : Gareth L. Schmeling
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 920 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2021-12-28
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9789004496439

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The Novel in the Ancient World by Gareth L. Schmeling Pdf

From classics and history to Jewish rabbinic narratives and the canonical and noncanonical gospels of earliest Christianity, the relevance of studying the novel of the later classical periods of Greek and Rome is widely endorsed. Ancient novels contain insights beyond literary theories and philosophical musings to new sources for understanding the popular culture of antiquity. Some scholars, in fact, refer to ancient novels as “alternative histories,” for they tell history implicitly rather than with the intentional biases of the historian. The Novel in the Ancient World surveys the new approaches and insights to the ancient novel and wrestles with issues such as the development, transformation, and christianization of the novel (Spirit-inspired versus inspired by the Muses). This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.