By reconstructing it and tracing its vicissitudes, David Conway rehabilitates a time-honoured conception of philosophy, originating in Plato and Aristotle, which makes theoretical wisdom its aim. Wisdom is equated with possessing a demonstrably correct understanding of why the world exists and has the broad character it does. Adherents of this conception maintained the world to be the demonstrable creation of a divine intelligence in whose contemplation supreme human happiness resides. Their claims are defended against various latter-day scepticisms.

It is estimated that only a small fraction, less than 1 per cent, of ancient literature has survived to the present day. The role of Christian authorities in the active suppression and destruction of books in Late Antiquity has received surprisingly little sustained consideration by academics. In an approach that presents evidence for the role played by Christian institutions, writers and saints, this book analyses a broad range of literary and legal sources, some of which have hitherto been little studied. Paying special attention to the problem of which genres and book types were likely to be targeted, the author argues that in addition to heretical, magical, astrological and anti-Christian books, other less obviously subversive categories of literature were also vulnerable to destruction, censorship or suppression through prohibition of the copying of manuscripts. These include texts from materialistic philosophical traditions, texts which were to become the basis for modern philosophy and science. This book examines how Christian authorities, theologians and ideologues suppressed ancient texts and associated ideas at a time of fundamental transformation in the late classical world.

Discusses comedians and the use of comedy throughout history from ancient Greek drama through traveling shows to present day radio and television.

A revelatory account of the complex and evolving relationship of Renaissance architects to classical antiquity Focusing on the work of architects such as Brunelleschi, Bramante, Raphael, and Michelangelo, this extensively illustrated volume explores how the understanding of the antique changed over the course of the Renaissance. David Hemsoll reveals the ways in which significant differences in imitative strategy distinguished the period's leading architects from each other and argues for a more nuanced understanding of the widely accepted trope--first articulated by Giorgio Vasari in the 16th century--that Renaissance architecture evolved through a linear step-by-step assimilation of antiquity. Offering an in-depth examination of the complex, sometimes contradictory, and often contentious ways that Renaissance architects approached the antique, this meticulously researched study brings to life a cacophony of voices and opinions that have been lost in the simplified Vasarian narrative and presents a fresh and comprehensive account of Renaissance architecture in both Florence and Rome.

Glanzvolle Abbilder vergangener Zeiten Die Gemälde von Lawrence Alma-Tadema waren bei seinen Zeitgenossen sehr beliebt und leben heute noch durch das Medium Film weiter. Jeder, der einmal einen Monumentalfilm - von den italienischen Stummfilmklassikern bis zu Ridley Scotts Gladiator - gesehen hat, erkennt sofort die von Alma-Tadema inspirierten Arrangements und Kostüme. Das Buch zeigt seine üppigen und detailreichen Werke und erklärt seine Kunst über seine Vorstellung vom Heim neu: von seiner Bewunderung für die in den frühen niederländischen Gemälden dargestellten Interieurs über seine Faszination für die Ruinen von Pompeji bis zu den großen Atelierhäusern, die er selbst schuf und die an sich schon Kunstwerke sind. Aufbauend auf Alma-Tademas Beinamen "Künstlerarchäologe" zeigt dieses beeindruckende Werk, wie die von ihm geschaffenen Räume, in denen er mit seiner Familie lebte, eine ästhetische Vision dessen darstellen, was die Betrachter und anderen Künstler seit mehr als hundert Jahren fasziniert.

The transformation of the Roman world from polytheistic to Christian is one of the most sweeping ideological changes of premodern history. At the center was sex. Kyle Harper examines how Christianity changed the ethics of sexual behavior from shame to sin, and shows how the roots of modern sexuality are grounded in an ancient religious revolution.

Sheds light on the concept of late antiquity and the events of its time, showing that this was in fact a period of great transformation