In this 2007 volume, eighteen of the world's leading scholars present original essays on various aspects of atheism: its history, both ancient and modern, defense and implications. The topic is examined in terms of its implications for a wide range of disciplines including philosophy, religion, feminism, postmodernism, sociology and psychology. In its defense, both classical and contemporary theistic arguments are criticized, and, the argument from evil, and impossibility arguments, along with a non religious basis for morality are defended. These essays give a broad understanding of atheism and a lucid introduction to this controversial topic.
The Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture is an authoritative and accessible reference work for a twenty-first-century audience. Its entries, written by eminent scholars, define the spiritual and intellectual concepts and religious movements that distinguish Judaism and the Jewish experience; they discuss central personalities and places, formative events and enduring literary and cultural contributions and they illuminate the lives of ordinary Jewish men and women. Essays explore Jewish history from ancient times to the present and consider all aspects of Judaism, including religious practices and rituals, legal teachings and legendary traditions and rationalism, mysticism and messianism. This reference work differs from many others in its broad exploration of the Jewish experience beyond Judaism. Entries discuss secular and political movements and achievements and delineate Jewish endeavors in literature, art, music, theater, dance, film, broadcasting, sports, science, m
The period described in Volume 10 of the second edition of The Cambridge Ancient History begins in the year after the death of Julius Caesar and ends in the year after the fall of Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian emperors. Its main theme is the transformation of the political configuration of the state and the establishment of the Roman Empire. Chapters 1-6 supply a political narrative history of the period. In chapters 7-12 the institutions of government are described and analysed. Chapters 13–14 offer a survey of the Roman world in this period region by region, and chapters 15–21 deal with the most important social and cultural developments of the era (the city of Rome, the structure of society, art, literature, and law). Central to the period is the achievement of the first emperor, Augustus.
This volume of the second edition of the Cambridge Ancient History traces the history of Rome from its origins to the eve of the Second Punic War. Although the period covered is essentially the same as in the undivided Volume VII of the first edition, the treatment of the material is completely fresh and is much more extensive. Account is taken of new scholarly insights and of the considerable amount of new evidence, much of it archaeological, which has become available since the first edition was published. After a survey of the sources of our information the origins of Rome are discussed, beginning with the first discernible traces of the bronze Age settlement and going on to an assessment of the regal period. The complex and often controversial history of the early Republic is examined with reference to its internal development, the evolution of its relationships with the Latins, and the remorseless, if occasionally erratic, advance of Roman power in parts of Italy less immediately
Volume XI of the second edition of The Cambridge Ancient History covers the history of the Roman empire in the period from AD 70 to 192, from Vespasian to the Antonines. The volume begins with the political and military history of the period. Developments in the structure of the empire are then examined, including the organisation and personnel of the central government and province-based institutions and practices. A series of provincial studies follows, and the society, economy and culture of the empire as a whole are reviewed in a group of thematic chapters. This edition is entirely rewritten from the 1936 edition. There is much more extensive discussion of social, economic and cultural issues, reflecting trends in modern scholarship, and the increase of archaeological evidence and development of new approaches to it. New documentary evidence, from texts on stone, wood and papyrus, has advanced knowledge in every chapter.
A new Plates Volume to accompany the four new Parts of The Cambridge Ancient History, Volumes I and II. The editors have selected many new as well as familiar subjects for illustration, and contributors to the text Volumes have made frequent references to these illustrations. The Plates Volume can also, however, stand on its own as a visual guide to the formative period of civilization in Egypt, the Middle East and the Aegean region from earliest times to about 1000 B.C.
This volume covers the history of the Roman Empire from the accession of Septimius Severus in AD 193 to the death of Constantine in AD 337. This period was one of the most critical in the history of the Mediterranean world. It begins with the establishment of the Severan dynasty as a result of civil war. From AD 235 this period of relative stability was followed by half a century of short reigns of short-lived emperors and a number of military attacks on the eastern and northern frontiers of the empire. This was followed by the First Tetrarchy (AD 284–305), a period of collegial rule in which Diocletian, with his colleague Maximian and two junior Caesars (Constantius and Galerius), restabilised the empire. The period ends with the reign of the first Christian emperor, Constantine, who defeated Licinius and established a dynasty which lasted for thirty-five years.
