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The genre of biography in the ancient world is interestingly diverse and permeable and deserves intensive study, bearing as it does on ideas of characterization and the individual. This volume considers both the form and the content of biography across the ancient world, and is particularly interested in the frontiers with other related genres, such as history. The papers range from the Old Testament to the Arab world, from the New Testament to the Lives of Saints, from the classic Greek and Roman biographers to less well known practitioners of the art.
Biography is one of the most widespread literary genres worldwide. Biographies and autobiographies of actors, politicians, Nobel Prize winners, and other famous figures have never been more prominent in book shops and publishers' catalogues. This Handbook offers a wide-ranging, multi-authored survey on biography in Antiquity from its earliest representatives to Late Antiquity. It aims to be a broad introduction and a reference tool on the one hand, and to move significantly beyond the state-of-the-art on the other. To this end, it addresses conceptual questions about this sprawling genre, offers both in-depth readings of key texts and diachronic studies, and deals with the reception of ancient biography across multiple eras up to the present day. In addition, it takes a wide approach to the concept of ancient biography by examining biographical depictions in different textual and visual media (epigraphy, sculpture, architecture) and by providing outlines of biographical developments in ancient and late antique cultures other than Graeco-Roman. Highly accessible, this book aims at a broad audience ranging from specialists to newcomers in the field. Chapters provide English translations of ancient (and modern) terminology and citations. In addition, all individual chapters are concluded by a section containing suggestions for further reading on their specific topic.
Ancient biography is now a well-established and popular field of study among classicists as well as many scholars of literature and history more generally. In particular biographies offer important insights into the dynamics underlying ancient performance of the self and social behaviour, issues currently of crucial importance in classical studies. They also raise complex issues of narrativity and fictionalization. This volume examines a range of ancient texts which are or purport to be biographical and explores how formal narrative categories such as time, space and character are constructed and how they address (highlight, question, thematize, underscore or problematize) the borderline between historicity and fictionality. In doing so, it makes a major contribution not only to the study of ancient biographical writing but also to broader narratological approaches to ancient texts.
Examines the whole spectrum of Greek and Roman biography, which explores the virtues and vices of philosophers, statesmen and poets.
For almost three thousand years, The Iliad and The Odyssey have thrilled people with tales of adventure in ancient Greece. The stories of Helen and Paris, the Greek gods, the Trojan War, Achilles, and of Odysseus’s ten year quest to return home after the war are known all over the world among all cultures. But so much about the life of the man responsible for those epic poems remains a mystery that for a while some scholars doubted he even really existed. Despite the controversies surrounding him, Homer is still honored as one of civilization’s greatest poets. He overcame childhood poverty and adult blindness to achieve fame as a legendary storyteller whose epics kept his audiences spellbound. His poems were so vivid that 19th century archeologists used descriptions in The Iliad to locate the city of Troy. Though many facts about his life remain unknown, his genius as a storyteller remains undisputed.
Archimedes was one of the greatest mathematicians and inventors of the ancient world. His native city was Syracuse on the island of Sicily. When he was a young man, Archimedes was sent to study in Alexandria, which was the great intellectual center of the Mediterranean area during the Third Century B.C. There he met other brilliant mathematicians who became his friends. Even after they parted, when Archimedes returned to Syracuse, they wrote to each other sending the problems and theorems they were working on. Thanks to these letters we have many of Archimedes' theoretical writings. Back in Syracuse, King Hiero II, a friend and kinsman, asked Archimedes to use his mathematical genius to create practical solutions and inventions. The wonderful tools and weapons that Archimedes invented made him famous throughout the ancient world, and some such as levers and pulleys are still used today. Book jacket.
Arnaldo Momigliano traces the growth of ancient biography from the fifth century to the first century B.C. He asks new questions about the origins and development of Greek biography, and makes full use of new evidence uncovered in recent decades from papyri and other sources. By clarifying the social and intellectual implication of the fact that the Greeks kept biography and autobiography distinct from historiography, he contributes to an understanding of a basic dichotomy in the Western tradition of historical writing. The Development of Greek Biography is fully annotated, and includes a bibliography designed to serve as an introduction to the study of biography in general.
For many centuries in ancient history, people believed illnesses were handed down by the gods. In the fifth century BCE, a Greek physician named Hippocrates changed that attitude. He began looking for natural causes of illnesses. Many of his treatment methods seem primitive. For example, he performed brain surgery by drilling into a patient s skull with a sharp piece of wood. There were no anesthetics. It was a very painful procedure. >In other ways his methods have held up surprisingly well. Like modern doctors, Hippocrates emphasized the value of a good diet and plenty of exercise. He also used maggots, leeches, and bees to treat his patients. All three of these creatures are still being used by doctors even in the United States. >Because of his efforts, today Hippocrates is known as the Father of Medicine.
Compares the work of the evangelists to the development of biography in the Graeco-Roman world
Alexander the Great led soldiers from his perch atop his horse, Bucephalus. He commanded the largest army the world had ever known. He ruled a kingdom that stretched across two continents. Before he was 30, he was the richest man on the planet. Alexander would know love, he'd know loss, but he'd never know an end to his ambitions. Only his death ended his conquest. Today, over 2,000 years later, generals still study Alexander's battle plans. Manuscripts preserved at libraries he founded were used by historians to give us a record of his life. Alexander was more than just a king. He embraced the culture of the countries he invaded. He spread democracy. In many ways, Alexander was more of a liberator than a conqueror. In this new book for young adults, middle grade readers can experience the life and times of Alexander the Great.