CONTENTS:Assyria ? BabyloniaThe Babylonian Account of CreationThe Chaldaean Flood StoryThe Legend of SargonIshtar?s Descent into the Nether WorldPenitential HymnsLawsEgyptThe Book of the DeadHymn to the Nile?First Hand Observations?, by HerodotusThe JewsReferencesThe BrahmansVedic HymnsHymn to the Unknown GodHymn to VataHymn to Agni and the MarutsHymn to the MarutsHymn to the MarutsHymn to RudraHymn to VayuHymn to Agni and the MarutsHymn to RudraThe Katha UpanishadTeaching of Yagnavalkya (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad)The Khandogya UpanishadLaws of ManuThe Beginnings of ThingsLaws of the CastesThe Transmigration of SoulsBuddhist IdeasFoundation of the Kingdom of RighteousnessOn Knowledge of the VedasAll the AsavasThe Last Days of BuddhaDhammapadaZarathustra (Zoroaster)Gatha AhunavaitiGatha UstavaitiK?ung-Fu-Tsze (Confucius)Sayings

The circulation of books was the motor of classical civilization. However, books were both expensive and rare, and so libraries - private and public, royal and civic - played key roles in articulating intellectual life. This collection, written by an international team of scholars, presents a fundamental reassessment of how ancient libraries came into being, how they were organized and how they were used. Drawing on papyrology and archaeology, and on accounts written by those who read and wrote in them, it presents new research on reading cultures, on book collecting and on the origins of monumental library buildings. Many of the traditional stories told about ancient libraries are challenged. Few were really enormous, none were designed as research centres, and occasional conflagrations do not explain the loss of most ancient texts. But the central place of libraries in Greco-Roman culture emerges more clearly than ever.

"Noting that privileges granted to the aged generally took the form of exemptions from duties rather than positive benefits, Tim Parkin argues that the elderly were granted no privileged status or guaranteed social role. At the same time, they were permitted - and expected - to continue to participate actively in society for as long as they were able."--BOOK JACKET.