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Gorgias Studies in Classical and Late Antiquity

The Gorgias Classical & Late Antiquity series publishes monographs, edited volumes and translations on the Greco-Roman world and its transition into Late Antiquity, encompassing political and social structures, knowledge and educational ideals, art, architecture and literature. For more information about the series or to submit a proposal, please contact submissions@gorgiaspress.com.

Series Editorial Board

Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis (Chair) Freie Universität Berlin

Ulrike-Rebekka Nieten, Freie Universität Berlin

Adrian Pirtea, University of Vienna

Irene Schneider, University of Göttingen

Manolis Ulbricht, University of Göttingen

Series Advisory Board

Nicola Denzey Lewis, Claremount Graduate University

Stefan Esders, Freie Universität Berlin

Thomas Figueira, Rutgers University

Christian Freigang, Freie Universität Berlin

David Hernandez de la Fuente, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

Markham J. Geller, University College London

Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Brown University

AnneMarie Luijendijk, Princeton University

Roberta Mazza, University of Manchester

Arietta Papaconstantinou, University of Reading

Meron-Martin Piotrkowski, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Shabo Talay, Freie Universität Berlin

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Picture of The Archaeology of Hatra, the Sacred City

The Archaeology of Hatra, the Sacred City

ISBN: 978-1-4632-4547-4
A study of the archaeology, history, architecture, sculpture and divinities of the ancient city of Hatra.
$95.00 $76.00
Picture of The Life of One Chosen by God

The Life of One Chosen by God

A Study of the Stories of Moses in Jewish, Christian and Muslim Sources
ISBN: 978-1-4632-3913-8
Moses is an inspirational prophetic figure in Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious traditions. This book journeys through the Abrahamic faiths and illustrates their respective depictions of the Moses’ stories. In exploring the differences and similarities between the Hebrew Bible, Jewish rabbinical commentaries, Syriac Christian exegesis and the Qur’an, this book seeks for a deeper understanding of the Prophet Moses in the religious history of humanity.
$155.00
Picture of Justinian's Indecision

Justinian's Indecision

How Social Networks Shaped Imperial Policy
ISBN: 978-1-4632-4227-5
Since the time of Eduard Schwartz, scholars have tended to treat ecclesiastical policy under the influence of Justinian as inconsistent and even capricious. This book argues that such an image of Justinian, although seeming to provide a coherent narrative concerning the emperor’s character, falls apart when the details are scrutinized.
$120.00
Picture of Historiography and Hierotopy

Historiography and Hierotopy

Palestinian Hagiography in the Sixth Century A.D.
ISBN: 978-1-4632-3981-7
Judean hagiographies are unusual. Some are unexpectedly structured: a saint’s life in the form of a history text. Others offer surprising content. Expected hagiographic stylizations, for example, often depict moments in which the saint is offered money for a miracle. In such cases the saint invariably refuses. Judean saints, however, accept gratitude willingly – often with cash amounts recorded. The peculiarities of these works have regularly been examined on literary and theological grounds. The monasteries that produced these texts were utterly dominated by the environment of Christian Jerusalem. Although often commented upon, the unmined implications of this reality hold the key to understanding these hagiographies. It is only by examining these monasteries’ ties to – and embeddedness within – their peculiar context that we can perceive the mindset that produced such baffling texts.
$114.95 $91.96
Picture of From Albania to Arrān

From Albania to Arrān

The East Caucasus between the Ancient and Islamic Worlds (ca. 330 BCE–1000 CE)
Edited by Robert Hoyland
ISBN: 978-1-4632-3988-6
The first ever study in English dedicated to Albania in Late Antiquity to the Medieval period.
$114.95
Picture of Aqueducts and Urbanism in Post-Roman Hispania

Aqueducts and Urbanism in Post-Roman Hispania

ISBN: 978-1-4632-3915-2
Our current knowledge of Roman aqueducts across the Empire is patchy and uneven. Even if the development of “aqueduct studies” (where engineering, archaeology, architecture, hydraulics, and other disciplines converge) in recent years has improved this situation, one of the aspects which has been generally left aside is the chronology of their late antique phases and of their abandonment. In the Iberian peninsula, there is to date, no general overview of the Roman aqueducts, and all the available information is distributed across various publications, which as expected, hardly mention the late phases. This publication tackles this issue by analysing and reassessing the available evidence for the late phases of the Hispanic aqueducts by looking at a wide range of sources of information, many times derived from the recent interest shown by archaeologists and researchers on late antique urbanism.
$114.95
Picture of He Did Not Fear

He Did Not Fear

Xusro Parviz, King of Kings of the Sasanian Empire
ISBN: 978-1-4632-3927-5
He Did Not Fear: Xusro Parviz, King of Kings of the Sasanian Empire spotlights Xusro II, the man who almost conquered the Roman Empire in the Roman-Sasanian War of the Seventh Century CE, and examines his historical prominence.
$114.95
Picture of The Socio-economic History and Material Culture of the Roman and Byzantine Near East

The Socio-economic History and Material Culture of the Roman and Byzantine Near East

Essays in Honor of S. Thomas Parker
Edited by Walter D. Ward
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0701-4
A collection of essays written in honour of S. Thomas Parker by his former students and colleagues. The essays focus on surveys, material and written culture, the economy, and the Roman military in the Near East.
$190.00
Picture of Proclus on the transition from metaphysical being to natural becoming

Proclus on the transition from metaphysical being to natural becoming

A new reading of the Platonic theory of Forms
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0692-5
This volume examines the historical end of the Platonic tradition in relation to creation theories of the natural world through Neoplatonist philosopher Proclus (412-485) elaboration of an investigation of Plato’s theory of metaphysical archetypal Forms.
$127.00
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Essays in Global Color History

Interpreting the Ancient Spectrum
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0582-9
A collection of essays discussing historical, cultural and social aspects of color in the Ancient World and Pre-Columbian America (circa 3000 B.C.- 1000 A.D.).
$169.00
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Xenophon's Memorabilia and The Apology of Socrates translated by Sarah Fielding

Edited with Notes and Introduction by Hélène Pignot
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0614-7
Sarah Fielding (1710-1768), the younger sister of Henry Fielding, and the close friend of his literary rival Samuel Richardson, was one of the very few English women to master ancient languages like Latin and Greek. With the help of Shaftesbury's nephew, James Harris, a distinguished writer, scholar and grammarian, she embarked on the ambitious project of translating Xenophon's Memorabilia and the Apology of Socrates from the Greek. This work, titled Memoirs of Socrates, with the Defence of Socrates before his Judges, was finally released in 1762. She proved a discreet editor and a talented Hellenist, whose elegant style garnered praise from Tobias Smollett in his Critical Review. This superb translation is re-published in its entirety for the first time since the 18th century.
$141.00
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Sleep and Sleeplessness in Byzantium

ISBN: 978-1-4632-0237-8
In recent decades certain historians have intimated that Byzantine society - and monastics in particular - suffered from a lack of sleep (whether described in negative terms as sleep deprivation or sleep abstinence). Sleep-abstinence surely permeated Byzantine society: it is encountered in every age, sex and class, together with its institutions, beliefs, practices, rituals, morals and mythologies. However, sleep is a biological phenomenon as well. One cannot possibly appreciate the Byzantines' stance towards it, nor assess the veracity, aims and effectiveness of their ideas and attitudes in relation to sleep-abstinence, unless one is ready to tackle the biological aspect. Moreover, without the biological aspect, the claim that the Byzantines were sleep-deprived is impossible to substantiate. This book approaches this subject by using a bio-cultural method, which combines sleep medicine with theology, history, and critical research, in order to analyse the practice of sleep-abstinence and the attitudes towards sleep in Byzantium. Focusing on Greek documentary sources, this book investigates whether Byzantines did indeed practice sleep abstinence or sleep deprivation, and their rationales for curtailing their sleep. Chapters cover the mechanics of sleep in the modern world and in the ancient world, the place of monastic vigil, and the vigil of the laity.
$169.00
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Myth, Text, and History at Sparta

Edited by Thomas Figueira
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0595-9
Three studies that offer close readings concerning the interaction of the source material on Spartan history with the unfolding of actual historical events. These contributions take the position that not only political, but also social, policies at Sparta, as well as the historical actors giving them shape, were intensely─and to an unusual degree─influenced by myth, tradition, and popular memory about the Laconian past.
$170.00
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The Sleeper's Dream

Asclepius Ritual and Early Christian Discourse
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0256-9
This analysis probes into the nature and use of bodily healing and dreams in antiquity, examining literary and archaeological evidence in order to gain a sense of how the Greco-Roman world understood each through the Asclepius cult, and to understand references to bodily healings and dreams by early Christian cults and groups.
$145.00
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Who is afraid of the rhētōr?

An analysis and exegesis of Socrates and Gorgias' conversation in Plato's Gorgias
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0258-3
This book concentrates on the conversation between Socrates and Gorgias which takes place in the first part of Plato's Gorgias. Scholars have tended to concentrate on the following two conversations held by Socrates with Polus and, especially, with Callicles. This first, relatively short, conversation is usually taken to be a kind of preface coming before Plato's 'real' philosophy. The present study challenges this assumption, arguing that the conversation between Socrates and Gorgias actually anticipates the message of the whole dialogue, which concerns the essence of rhetoric and its implications.
$169.00
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Color-Terms in Social and Cultural Context in Ancient Rome

ISBN: 978-1-61143-914-4
Romans attached nuanced implications to color-terms which went beyond their literal meaning, using these terms as a form of cultural assessment, defining their social values and order. By analyzing the use and color words in specific contexts, we can gain greater insight into the Roman mind.
$134.00
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Cicero 'Haruspex'

Political Prognostication and the Viscera of a Deceased Body Politic
ISBN: 978-1-59333-094-1
This monograph explores Marcus Tullius Cicero's awareness and interpretation of contemporary political events as reflected in his private correspondence during the last years of both the Roman republic and his own life. Cicero's correspondence gives a detailed view of current political events in Rome and constitutes, together with Caesar's writings, our major contemporary evidence for the circumstances of the civil war of 49 BC. The theoretical input of Cicero's predecessors, their perceptions of constitutional development (in particular of Roman politics) as well as Cicero's perception of their political theories are scrutinized to determine the extent of Cicero's awareness of a larger pattern of political events.
$149.00
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Eros and Ritual in Ancient Literature

Singing of Atalanta, Daphnis, and Orpheus
ISBN: 978-1-931956-72-7
This book examines popular erotic myths with regard to their origins and literary treatment throughout antiquity. The relation of ritual to certain mythic patterns that reflect initiation rites is also considered. These myths reinforce the association between cult and mythology in literature. Initiation patterns were employed as literary metaphors for falling in love or even for holding a philosophical argument on human progress. The myths are chosen in order to form a narrative sequence, but also as an example of how mythic patterns can be variously manipulated in literature.
$233.00
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Hannibal's Odyssey

The Environmental Background to the Alpine Invasion of Italia
ISBN: 978-1-59333-951-7
Hannibal's invasion of Italia in 218 BC is depicted from the standpoint of environmental evidence elicited from ancient texts, and analyzed against present-day Earth Science databases. The conclusion is that the Punic Army followed the southern route over the Alps; a proposal first made by Sir Gavin de Beer in the 1960's.
$142.00
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Lucullus, A Life

ISBN: 978-1-60724-078-5
While Lucullus is one of the great figures of the late Roman republic, his achievements have been overshadowed by a reputation for luxurious living. This book explodes the legend and restores Lucullus to his true position as soldier, politician and aesthete.
$168.00
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The Struggle for Roman Citizenship

Romans, Allies, and the Wars of 91–77 BCE
ISBN: 978-1-61143-487-3
Between 91 and 77 BCE a series of wars were fought in Italy which left the Roman commonwealth in shambles and involved efforts on the part of Rome’s non-citizen Italian allies to obtain the rights of Roman citizenship. This is a survey of the allies' quest for citizenship in the Republic, the reasons it was sought, the often violent measures they took to acquire it, and the impact this quest had on the Roman state.
$317.00
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A Hellenistic Paradeisos in the Nabataean Capital

Results from the Petra "Lower Market" Survey and Excavation, 1998
ISBN: 978-1-59333-120-7
Excavations in the Lower Market in Petra (Jordan), capital of the ancient kingdom of Nabsataea, uncovered the remnants of a monumental pool-complex at the heart of the ancient city. It played an important role in the socio-political life of Petra during the Nabataean and Roman periods. The mere presence of a paradeidos in Petra symbolized the Nabataean king's power and helped to legitimize his place among contemporary rulers. The paradeisos is an example of a gratuitous display of conspicuous consumption, a symbol of the flourishing status of Petra during its Classical era.
$157.00
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The Small Temple

A Roman Imperial Cult Building in Petra, Jordan
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0234-7
Excavation of the Small Temple of Petra, Jordan has revealed a Roman building likely dedicated to the imperial cult. Constructed in the wake of Roman annexation of Nabataea in 106 CE, the temple would have helped to solidify Roman control. Reid systematically examines the evidence used to support the identification of the Small Temple as an imperial cult building through the discussion of its prominent use of marble, a material with Roman imperial associations and almost entirely monopolized by the bureaucracy of the Roman Empire. The analysis of architectural evidence, as well as the placement of the Small Temple within the city, also support this identification.
$146.00
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Archaeologies of Water in the Roman Near East

63 BC – AD 636
ISBN: 978-1-61143-421-7
Water is one of the most benign, and destructive, powers in the lives of all people, in particular in arid areas such as the Near East. This book provides an alternative way of thinking about the Roman Near East by exploring how its inhabitants managed and lived with their water supplies, especially in the wake of the Roman conquest. Through geographical, hydrological, and anthropological perspectives, this study aims to see how water can inform us about the nature of Roman Imperialism, the Roman economy, change and transformation in Late Antiquity.
$144.00
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The Sentences of the Syriac Menander

Introduction, Text and Translation, and Commentary
ISBN: 978-1-61143-488-0
The Sentences of the Syriac Menander appears in two Syriac manuscripts in the British Library, a full version in one codex, and a far shorter version, only a small fraction thereof, in another. This book presents a commentary on the text in its complete version focusing on parallels from both Jewish tradition and the Greco-Roman world, showing that the text is not, as it claims, the work of the Greek author Menander, but rather a work of Jewish Wisdom Literature composed in Syriac, possibly in the ancient city of Edessa itself, and preserved within Christian monastic circles.
$149.00