What did citizenship really mean in classical Athens? It is conventionally understood as characterised by holding political office. Since only men could do so, only they were considered to be ...citizens, and the community (polis) has appeared primarily as the scene of men's political actions. However, Athenian law defined citizens not by political office, but by descent. Religion was central to the polis and in this domain, women played prominent public roles. Both men and women were called 'citizens'. On a new reading of the evidence, Josine Blok argues that for the Athenians, their polis was founded on an enduring bond with the gods. Laws anchored the polis' commitments to humans and gods in this bond, transmitted over time to male and female Athenians as equal heirs. All public offices, in various ways and as befitting gender and age, served both the human community and the divine powers protecting Athens.
Housing is shaped by culturally-specific expectations about the kinds of architecture and furnishings that are appropriate; about how and where different activities should be carried out; and by and ...with whom. It is those expectations, and the wider social and cultural systems of which they are a part, that are explored in this volume. At the same time, the book as a whole argues two larger points: first, that while houses, households and families have in recent years become increasingly important as objects of inquiry in Greek and Roman contexts, their potential as sources of information about broader social-historical issues has yet to be fully realised; and second, that greater weight and independence should be given to material culture as a source for studying ancient history. The book will be invaluable for upper-level undergraduates, graduate students and scholars.
A radical rethinking of the Anglo-Saxon world that draws on the latest archaeological discoveries This beautifully illustrated book draws on the latest archaeological discoveries to present a radical ...reappraisal of the Anglo-Saxon built environment and its inhabitants. John Blair, one of the world's leading experts on this transformative era in England's early history, explains the origins of towns, manor houses, and castles in a completely new way, and sheds new light on the important functions of buildings and settlements in shaping people's lives during the age of the Venerable Bede and King Alfred. Building Anglo-Saxon England demonstrates how hundreds of recent excavations enable us to grasp for the first time how regionally diverse the built environment of the Anglo-Saxons truly was. Blair identifies a zone of eastern England with access to the North Sea whose economy, prosperity, and timber buildings had more in common with the Low Countries and Scandinavia than the rest of England. The origins of villages and their field systems emerge with a new clarity, as does the royal administrative organization of the kingdom of Mercia, which dominated central England for two centuries. Featuring a wealth of color illustrations throughout, Building Anglo-Saxon England explores how the natural landscape was modified to accommodate human activity, and how many settlements--secular and religious—were laid out with geometrical precision by specialist surveyors. The book also shows how the Anglo-Saxon love of elegant and intricate decoration is reflected in the construction of the living environment, which in some ways was more sophisticated than it would become after the Norman Conquest.
The rise of China could be the most important political development of the twenty-first century. What will China look like in the future? What should it look like? And what will China's rise mean for ...the rest of world? This book, written by China's most influential foreign policy thinker, sets out a vision for the coming decades from China's point of view.
Ancient China and Greece are two classical civilisations that have exerted far-reaching influence in numerous areas of human experience and are often invoked as the paradigms in East-West comparison. ...This book examines gender relations in the two ancient societies as reflected in convivial contexts such as family banquets, public festivals, and religious feasts. Two distinct patterns of interpersonal affinity and conflict emerge from the Chinese and Greek sources that show men and women organising themselves and interacting with each other in social occasions intended for collective pursuit of pleasure. Through an analysis of the two different patterns, Yiqun Zhou illuminates the different socio-political mechanisms, value systems, and fabrics of human bonds in the two classical traditions. Her book will be important for readers who are interested in the comparative study of societies, gender studies, women's history, and the legacy of civilisations.
Using the idea of “performative essentialism,” meaning that gender in the Middle Ages was both a product of and a reaction to biology, social roles, and personal actions, Gender in Medieval Culture ...explores the roles men and women fulfilled in medieval Europe, while also suggesting that these functions were often surprisingly flexible. Although most facets of medieval life, including the law, literature, science, and religion, worked together to ensure that the natural state of woman was a fundamentally lesser being than man, there were exceptional situations where gender became fluid or malleable. For instance, when a woman chose a life of vowed virginity, rejecting the traditional female role of motherhood, she transcended the confines of her flesh, and performed in a rational masculine manner instead. Similarly, Christ was equally constructed as the ideal man and spouse, yet was also the ultimate model of perpetual virginity and was deemed maternal for his suffering for and nurturing of humanity. Ultimately, this volume examines the medieval world through the lens of gender and sexuality in order to create a fuller understanding of the gendered expectations we still live with today.
Science in Medieval Jewish Cultures provides the first comprehensive overview by world-renowned experts of what we know today of medieval Jews' engagement with the sciences. Many medieval Jews, ...whether living in Islamic or Christian civilizations, joined Maimonides in accepting the rationalist philosophical-scientific tradition and appropriated extensive bodies of scientific knowledge in various disciplines: astronomy, astrology, mathematics, logic, physics, meteorology, biology, psychology, science of language and medicine. The appropriated texts – in the original or in Hebrew translation – were the starting points for Jews' own contributions to medieval science and also informed other literary genres: religious-philosophical works, biblical commentaries and even Halakhic (legal) discussions. This volume's essays will provide readers with background knowledge of medieval scientific thought necessary to properly understand canonical Jewish scientific texts. Its breadth reflects the number and diversity of Jewish cultures in the Middle Ages and the necessity of considering the fortunes of science in each within its specific context.
Die Autoren verorten aus unterschiedlichen kulturwissenschaftlichen Perspektiven heraus die soziale Figur des Experten in der Vormoderne. Experten versprechen, maßgeschneidertes Wissen zur ...Problemlösung bereitzustellen oder zu vermitteln. Doch so sehr Akteure den Experten vertrauen, wächst andererseits auch das Empfinden, die eigene Handlungsautonomie aufzugeben und fremdbestimmt zu werden. Experten sind deswegen die geborenen Sündenböcke: Man verlangt von ihnen, die Welt einfach zu machen und weist ihnen dafür einflussreiche soziale Sonderrollen zu. Der Band zeigt die unterschiedlichen Momente dieser sozialen Dynamik. Er trägt damit neue Sichtweisen in die Erforschung von Expertenkulturen hinein, die bislang von feuilletonistischen Debatten dominiert wird.
A spirited history of the changes that transformed Europe during the 1, 000-year span of the Middle Ages: "A dazzling race through a complex millennium."— Publishers Weekly The millennium between the ...breakup of the western Roman Empire and the Reformation was a long and hugely transformative period—one not easily chronicled within the scope of a few hundred pages. Yet distinguished historian Chris Wickham has taken up the challenge in this landmark book, and he succeeds in producing the most riveting account of medieval Europe in a generation. Tracking the entire sweep of the Middle Ages across Europe, Wickham focuses on important changes century by century, including such pivotal crises and moments as the fall of the western Roman Empire, Charlemagne's reforms, the feudal revolution, the challenge of heresy, the destruction of the Byzantine Empire, the rebuilding of late medieval states, and the appalling devastation of the Black Death. He provides illuminating vignettes that underscore how shifting social, economic, and political circumstances affected individual lives and international events—and offers both a new conception of Europe's medieval period and a provocative revision of exactly how and why the Middle Ages matter. "Far-ranging, fluent, and thoughtful—of considerable interest to students of history writ large, and not just of Europe."— Kirkus Reviews, (starred review) Includes maps and illustrations
This book is open access under a CC-BY 4.0 license. This book examines social and medical responses to the disfigured face in early medieval Europe, arguing that the study of head and facial injuries ...can offer a new contribution to the history of early medieval medicine and culture, as well as exploring the language of violence and social interactions. Despite the prevalence of warfare and conflict in early medieval society, and a veritable industry of medieval historians studying it, there has in fact been very little attention paid to the subject of head wounds and facial damage in the course of war and/or punitive justice. The impact of acquired disfigurement —for the individual, and for her or his family and community—is barely registered, and only recently has there been any attempt to explore the question of how damaged tissue and bone might be treated medically or surgically. In the wake of new work on disability and the emotions in the medieval period, this study documents how acquired disfigurement is recorded across different geographical and chronological contexts in the period.
