This anthology of readings related to Western art history explains specific works of art illustrated in Janson's History of Art and De la Croix and Tansey's Gardner's Art Through the Ages in terms of the ideas, beliefs, and concerns of the people and cultures who created the art. It brings a new understanding of art because it shows the social and cultural basis of major works of art through history. The ten sections are Ancient Near East; Egyptian; Aegean; Greek; Etruscan; Roman; early Christian, Byzantine, and Islamic; early Medieval; Romanesque; and Gothic. The readings have been drawn from many areas of intellectual and social history, including religion, philosophy, literature, science, economics, and law. Each selection is preceded by an introductory note, which discusses the readings in terms of its subject and theme, its source and usage, and its relevance to the study of the work of art.

Supporting the current trends toward document-based teaching, this book introduces the reader to the multifaceted world of ancient Egypt through revealing excerpts from 51 texts written by Egyptians themselves. A wealth of evidence survives to tell the stories of ancient Egypt, including monuments, artifacts, paintings, sculptures, human remains, and literature. But there is yet another way to access this fascinating culture—through original writings that span the period from circa 3100 BCE to 400 CE. This book's 51 documents include schoolboys' letters and exercises, prayers, hymns, love poems, narratives, historical inscriptions, medical and mathematical texts, and religious and funerary inscriptions. Most of the texts are penned by Egyptians, but another perspective is added through the inclusion of commentary about Egypt by the Greek historian Herodotus. The documents are divided into sections to shed light on numerous aspects of Egyptian life including domestic values and household provision, economics, intellectual concerns, government and warfare, recreational life, and religious beliefs and practices. Each section provides historical context and discusses the meaning and significance of the individual excerpt. The work highlights related themes and ideas to encourage students to explore the legacy of ancient Egypt in an essay, paper, drama production, or class presentation.

The power of theatrical performance is universal, but the style and concerns of theatre are specific to individual cultures. This volume in the Global Theatre Perspectives series presents a reconstructed ancient performance text, four one-act indigenous African plays and five modern dramas from various regions of Africa and the Caribbean Diaspora. Because these plays span centuries and are the work of artists from diverse cultures, readers can see elements that occur across time and space. Physicalized ritual, direct interaction with spectators, improvisation, music, drumming, and metaphorical animal characters help create the theatrical forms in multiple plays. Recurring themes include the establishment or challenging of political authority, the oppression or corruption of government, societal expectations based on gender, the complex and transformational nature of identity, and the power of dreams. Though each play is its own unique entity, reading them together allows readers to explore what theatrical elements and cultural concerns are perhaps essentially African. The Caribbean plays add further perspective to the questions of what values, theatrical and societal, are part of African drama, how these have influenced the Caribbean aesthetic, and what the relationships are between the old and new world. Among the creators of the pieces are two Nobel Laureates, those who have been exiled or jailed for the political nature of their work, and the author of his country's first constitution. The volume can serve as the primary text for an intensive semester-long investigation of African drama and culture. But it is also possible to use this volume along with others in the series as texts for a single course on drama from around the world. The global perspectives approach, letting works from ancient, indigenous, and modern times resonate with each other, encourages thinking across boundaries and connective human understanding.

First English-language edition, with revisions and additions by the author.This classic work by one of the world's most distinguished Egyptologists was first published in German in 1984. The Search for God in Ancient Egypt offers a distillation of Jan Assmann's views on ancient Egyptian religion, with special emphasis on theology and piety. Deeply rooted in the texts of ancient Egypt and thoroughly informed by comparative religion, theology, anthropology, and semiotic analysis, Assmann's interpretations reveal the complexity of Egyptian thought in a new way.Assmann takes special care to distinguish between the "implicit" theology of Egyptian polytheism and the "explicit" theology that is concerned with exploring the problem of the divine. His discussion of polytheism and mythology addresses aspects of ritual, the universe, and myth; his consideration of explicit theology deals with theodicy and the specifics of Amarna religion.

Links the star Canopus in the constellation Orion with the god Osiris, the Grail legend, and alchemy. Proposes that Canopus enabled men to communicate with gods and enter other dimensions, and shows how this connection is part of both Egyptian mythology and modern physics and describes the structure of the universe.

The new novel from the internatinal bestselling author of Roma, is set against the background of Caesar's stupendous quadruple triumphs in Rome in 46 BC, full of colour and spectacle. Having obliterated the opposition, Caesar is now dictator for life. In the upcoming celebrations, Vercingetorix the Gaul is scheduled to be executed, as is Arsinoë, the sister of Cleopatra...and Cleopatra herself is in Rome on a state visit, trying to convince Caesar to acknowledge their son as his heir. Marc Antony and Caesar are at odds; Cicero is making a fool of himself with a new teenage bride; and Caesar's wife Calpurnia, having fallen under the spell of an Etruscan soothsayer, is convinced of a plot on her husband's life. Murder and intrigue again draw Gordianus into the vortex of history. Praise for Stephen Saylor 'Saylor is on top form with the latest in his extraordinarily vivid series of crime novels set in ancient Rome.' Sunday Times 'Saylor's gifts include authentic historical and topographical backgrounds and... sombre themes set off the brilliant scenery and clever plotting.' Times Literary Supplement 'Saylor's scholarship is breathtaking and his writing enthrals.' Ruth Rendell 'Readers will find his work wonderfully (and gracefully) researched... this is entertainment of the first order.' Washington Post 'Saylor has acquired the information of a historian but he enjoys the gifts of a born novelist.' Boston Globe

Illustrated in colour, this is an introduction for the general reader to Egyptian mythology and its mysteries. It includes a concise introduction to general aspects of Egyptian religion, followed by specific sections devoted to the most important of the gods. With sections on personal religion and temple ceremony, there are also accounts of mythological stories associated with the gods, and a map of the principle cult centres.

Despite the prominence of ancient temples in the landscape of Egypt, books about them are surprisingly rare; this new and essential publication from a prominent Czech scholar answers the need for a study that goes beyond temple architecture to examine the spiritual, economic and political aspects of these specific institutions and the dominant roles they played. Miroslav Verner presents a deeper and more complex study of major ancient Egyptian religious centers, their principal temples, their rise and decline, their religious doctrines, cults, rituals, feasts, and mysteries. Also discussed are the various categories of priests, the organization of the priesthood, and its daily services and customs. Each chapter offers the reader essential and up-to-date information about temple complexes and the history of their archaeological exploration, in the context of the spiritual dimension and cultural legacy of ancient Egypt.

The intertextuality research of antique texts and their reception in Medieval and modern times is the subject of this volume: (1) What is a text and what is an intertext? This concerns the various different forms of text and how they present themselves in architecture, iconography, lexicography, the study of lists, etc. (2) Forms of intertextuality – on the relationship between writtenness and oralness, how oral texts are objectified during textualisation and become fixed acts of speech (K. Ehlich), how especially antique texts were shaped by the continual interconnectedness of oral and written traditions. (3) What is understood in ancient Oriental and antique literature by "tradition" and "transmission"? To this end, the research includes languages, historical reality and antique thought structures, making clear that the transferral of tradition occurs not only within a close cultural circle, but in the exchange with neighbouring cultures over large distances and geographic boundaries. (4) On the relationship between intertextuality and canon. A number of contributions study this aspect of ongoing historical debate as it often found for culturally definitive and canonised texts – a necessary part of the their rejuvination process. Contributions by M. Bauks, A. Lange / Z. Plese, Ph. Alexandre, S. Aufrère, M. Oeming, K. Davidowicz, A. Wagner, G. Selz, M.F. Meyer, L. Roig Lanzillotta, M. Dimitrova, F. Waldman, W. Horowitz, M. Risch, J. van Ruiten, L. Bormann, A. Miltenova, J. Taschner, G. Brooke, G. Dorival, A. Harder and S. Alkier.