Fabrications of the Greek past : religion, tradition, and modern identities /
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Taking seriously critiques of historiography produced in recent decades, Vaia Touna advocates for an alternative approach to the way the past is studied. From Euripides' tragedy Hippolytus , to the notion of voluntary associations in the Greco-Roman world, to the authenticity of traditional villages in Greece, Fabrications of the Greek Past argues that meanings (and thus identities) do not transcend time and space, and neither do they hide deep in the core of material artifacts, awaiting to be discovered by the careful interpreter. Instead, this book demonstrates that meanings are always relative to their present-day context; they are historical products created by social actors through their ever-contemporary acts of identification. ---- "By disturbing the notion of an easily knowable Greek past, Touna makes an invaluable contribution to critical scholarship regarding ancient cultures and to contemporary theory about ideological uses of history." - Naomi Goldenberg, University of Ottawa "From an insider to Greek tradition, expert in its modern appropriations and translations, Fabrications is an important stimulus to metatheory and self-reflexivity in the study of religion, ancient and contemporary." - Gerhard van den Heever, University of South Africa "Vaia Touna expertly dissects modern discourses on the past, arguing that our contemporary interests don't just color our accounts of the past, they constitute them. A fantastic book." - Brent Nongbri, author of Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004348615 :
2214-3270 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Enlightening Europe on Islam and the Ottomans : Mouradgea d'Ohsson and His Masterpiece /
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Mouradgea d'Ohsson's Tableau général de l'Empire othoman offered the Enlightenment Republic of Letters its most authoritative work on Islam and the Ottomans, also a practical reference work for kings and statesmen. Profusely illustrated and opening deep insights into illustrated book production in this period, this is also the richest collection of visual documentation on the Ottomans in a hundred years. Shaped by the author's personal struggles, the work yet commands recognition in its own totality as a monument to inter-cultural understanding. In form one of the great taxonomic works of Enlightenment thought, this is a work of advocacy in the cause of reform and amity among France, Sweden, and the Ottoman Empire.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004377257 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religion in Livy /
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This book examines the use that Livy made of religious topics, and shows how this fits in with other aspects of his narrative. The author shows how 'Livy's views of religion' depend less on personal belief than on the refinement of his narrative technique. He looks at the history decade by decade, and demonstrates that there are radical differences between different sections: in some Livy uses large-scale religious themes, but in others he deliberately avoids them. By a systematic analysis of Livy's narrative patterns and comparison with other ancient versions, it is proved that this is not simply due to subject-matter, but reflects a development in Livy's handling of his material. This profound difference between decades throws doubt on much of the standard picture of Livy: it also points to a need to revise notions of 'Augustan religious ideology'.
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1 online resource (x, 257 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-254) and index. :
9789004329232 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.