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Scale, Space and Canon in Ancient Literary Culture

Reviel Netz1
20 Feb 2020-
TL;DR: In this article, the authors retell the history of ancient literary culture through the lenses of canon, space and scale, with about a thousand authors active at any given moment in the Hellenistic era.
Abstract: Greek culture matters because its unique pluralistic debate shaped modern discourses. This ground-breaking book explains this feature by retelling the history of ancient literary culture through the lenses of canon, space and scale. It proceeds from the invention of the performative 'author' in the archaic symposium through the 'polis of letters' enabled by Athenian democracy and into the Hellenistic era, where one's space mattered and culture became bifurcated between Athens and Alexandria. This duality was reconfigured into an eclectic variety consumed by Roman patrons and predicated on scale, with about a thousand authors active at any given moment. As patronage dried up in the third century CE, scale collapsed and literary culture was reduced to the teaching of a narrower field of authors, paving the way for the Middle Ages. The result is a new history of ancient culture which is sociological, quantitative, and all-encompassing, cutting through eras and genres.
Citations
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01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: The authors explored the intersections between rhetoric and religion in Graeco-Roman antiquity, both pagan and Christian, and found that discourse can have supernatural effectiveness, and the orator can be invested with religious powers.
Abstract: The paper explores the intersections between rhetoric and religion in Graeco-Roman antiquity, both pagan and Christian. Rhetorical forms of religious expression include discourse about the gods (narrative, eulogy, preaching, naming) and discourse addressed to the gods, especially prayers and hymns. Rhetoric itself possesses a religious dimension in the power of words, the effectiveness of speech, and the magic of persuasion. Discourse can have supernatural effectiveness, and the orator can be invested with religious powers. Aelius Aristides (2nd c. CE) displays these different aspects; his Sacred Tales illustrate the cross-fertilization of rhetoric and religion.

157 citations

01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied the relationship between the production litteraire and the economy of a society. But their focus was on the relation between le champ de la production litteraires and the society.
Abstract: Etude de la production litteraire en termes relationnels, en construisant le champ litteraire, c'est-a-dire l'espace des prises de position litteraires qui sont possibles dans une periode donnee et dans une societe donnee. Les prises de position naissent de la rencontre entre les habitus d'agents particuliers et leur position, dans un champ de positions, defini par la distribution d'une forme specifique de capital. Ce capital litteraire (ou artistique, ou philosophique) fonctionne a l'interieur d'une "economie" dont la logique est inverse de l'economie plus large de la societe. L'"interet dans le desinteret" se comprend dans l'examen des relations structurales entre le champ de la production litteraire et celui des rapports de classes. De nombreux effets, a l'interieur du champ litteraire, naissent des homologies entre les positions a l'interieur des deux champs. Analyse du cas particulier du champ litteraire a la fin du XIX s. en France.

123 citations

DissertationDOI
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a map of Egypt and a list of tables with a focus on the Egyptian roots of Hellenistic education and the index of papyri in school-hands.
Abstract: List of tables Preface Map of Egypt 1. Introduction: setting the scene 2. Structures of enkyklios paideia 3. Literature I: the writing on the wall, and elsewhere 4. Literature II: maxims and morals 5. Grammar and the power of language 6. Rhetoric: art and articulation 7. All in the mind: images of cognitive development Conclusion Appendix I: Egyptian roots of Hellenistic education Appendix II: index of papyri in school-hands Tables Bibliography Index of names General index.

120 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The earliest history of paper can be traced to 2,000 years ago, when it was invented in China as mentioned in this paper, and it entered the Islamic lands of West Asia and North Africa, and how it spread to northern Europe, and the impact of paper on the development of writing, books, mathematics, music, art, architecture, and even cooking.
Abstract: Like the printing press, typewriter, and computer, paper has been a crucial agent for the dissemination of information. This engaging book presents an important new chapter in paper's history: how its use in Islamic lands during the Middle Ages influenced almost every aspect of medieval life. Focusing on the spread of paper from the early eighth century, when Muslims in West Asia acquired Chinese knowledge of paper and papermaking, to five centuries later, when they transmitted this knowledge to Christians in Spain and Sicily, the book reveals how paper utterly transformed the passing of knowledge and served as a bridge between cultures. Jonathan Bloom traces the earliest history of paper - how it was invented in China over 2,000 years ago, how it entered the Islamic lands of West Asia and North Africa, and how it spread to northern Europe. He explores the impact of paper on the development of writing, books, mathematics, music, art, architecture, and even cooking. And he discusses why Europe was so quick to adopt paper from the Islamic lands and why the Islamic lands were so slow to accept printing in return. Together the beautifully written text and delightful illustrations of papermaking techniques and the many uses to which paper was put give new lustre and importance to a now-humble material.

106 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1890
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a survey of the general relations of demand, supply, and value in terms of land, labour, capital, and industrial organization, with an emphasis on the fertility of land.
Abstract: BOOK I: PRELIMINARY SURVEY 1. Introduction 2. The Substance of Economics 3. Economic Generalizations or Laws 4. The Order and Aims of Economic Studies BOOK II: SOME FUNDAMENTAL NOTIONS 1. Introductory 2. Wealth 3. Production, Consumption, Labour, Necessaries 4. Income. Capital. BOOK III: ON WANTS AND THEIR SATISFACTION 1. Introductory 2. Wants in Relation to Activities 3. Gradations of consumers' demand 4. The elasticity of wants 5. Choice between different uses of the same thing. Immediate and deferred uses. 6. Value and utility BOOK IV: THE AGENTS OF PRODUCTION. LAND, LABOUR, CAPITAL AND ORGANIZATION T 1. Introductory 2. The Fertility of Land 3. The Fertility of Land, continued. The Tendency to Diminishing Return. 4. The Growth of Population 5. The Health and Strength of the Population 6. Industrial Training. 7. The Growth of Wealth 8. Industrial Organization 9. Industrial Organization, continued. Division of Labour. The Influence of Machinery 10. Industrial Organization, continued. The Concentration of the Specialized Industries in Particular Localities. 11. Industrial Organization, continued. Production on a Large Scale 12. Industrial Organization, continued. Business Management. 13. Conclusion. Correlation of the Tendencies to Increasing and to Diminishing Return BOOK V: GENERAL RELATIONS OF DEMAND, SUPPLY, AND VALUE 1. Introductory. On Markets. 2. Temporary Equilibrium of Demand and Supply 3. Equilibrium of Normal Demand and Supply 4. The Investment and Distribution of Resources 5. Equilibrium of Normal Demand and Supply, continued, with reference to long and short periods 6. Joint and Composite Demand. Joint and Composite Supply 7. Prime and total cost in relation to joint products. Cost of marketing. Insurance against risk. Cost of Reproduction. 8. Marginal costs in relation to values. General Principles. 9. Marginal costs in relation to values. General Principles, continued 10. Marginal costs in relation to agricultural values 11. Marginal costs in relation to urban values 12. Equilibrium of normal demand and supply, continued, with reference to the law of increasing return 13. Theory of changes of normal demand and supply, in relation to the doctrine of maximum satisfaction 14. The theory of monopolies 15. Summary of the general theory of equilibrium of demand and supply BOOK VI: THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE NATIONAL INCOME 1. Preliminary survey of distribution 2. Preliminary survey of distribution, continued 3. Earnings of labour 4. Earnings of labour, continued 5. Earnings of labour, continued 6. Interest of capital 7. Profits of capital and business power 8. Profits of capital and business power, continued 9. Rent of land 10. Land tenure 11. General view of distribution 12. General influences of progress on value 13. Progress in relation to standards of life

11,519 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present three key facts about income and wealth inequality in the long run emerging from my book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, and seek to sharpen and refocus the discussion about those trends.
Abstract: In this article, I present three key facts about income and wealth inequality in the long run emerging from my book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, and seek to sharpen and refocus the discussion about those trends. In particular, I clarify the role played by r > g in my analysis of wealth inequality. I also discuss some of the implications for optimal taxation, and the relation between capital-income ratios and capital shares.

7,011 citations

Book ChapterDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the economy and the Arena of Normative and De Facto Powers in the context of social norms and economic action in the social sciences, and propose several categories of economic action.
Abstract: List of Abbreviations Volume 1 Preface to the 1978 Re-issue Preface Introduction Part One: Conceptual Exposition I. Basic Sociological Terms II. Sociological Categories of Economic Action III. The Types of Legitimate Domination IV. Status Groups and Classes Part Two: The Economy and the Arena of Normative and De Facto Powers I. The Economy and Social Norms II. The Economic Relationships of Organized Groups III. Household, Neighborhood and Kin Group IV. Household, Enterprise and Oikos V. Ethnic Groups VI. Religious Groups (The Sociology of Religion) VII. The Market: Its Impersonality and Ethic (Fragment) Volume 2 VII. Economy and Law (The Sociology of Law) IX. Political Communities X. Domination and Legitimacy XI. Bureaucracy XII. Patriarchalism and Patrimonialism XIII. Feudalism, Standestaat and Patrimonialism XIV. Charisma and Its Transformation XV. Political and Hierocratic Domination XVI. The City (Non-Legitimate Domination) Appendices Index

6,034 citations

Book
01 Jan 1977

3,315 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Theoretical and empirical literature on mechanisms that confer advantages and disadvantages on first-mover firms are surveyed and recommendations are given for future research.
Abstract: The use of a fairly standard vehicle width of a little under 2 meters originates from the design of prehistoric carts and sleds as evidenced by rutting in ancient roads which aided in steering Despite dramatic advances in vehicular and infrastructural technologies, the standard has changed little over the millennia The gauges of railroad track, for instance, are now standardized at 4 feet 8 and half inches (1435 mm) across Europe and North America, the same as the first steam railway, and a mere half-inch wider than the typical pre-steam tracks in the mining districts near Newcastle, consistent in size with the wheel gauge used in Roman Britain This standard gauge lasted since it was first used on the Stockton and Darlington railway in 1825, and were adopted by most subsequent lines (Puffert, 2002), despite some railways trying alternatives (eg the Great Western Railway was originally built at 5 feet 6 inches, or 1676 mm) Alternative gauges would have accommodated wider, taller, and faster trains more easily, but the standard gauge that was adopted first acquired advantages as other railways sought compatibility with the standard to obtain access to the uses of earlier lines, and helped lock-in that standard

3,144 citations