1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910315227803321

Titolo

Finding, Inheriting or Borrowing? : The Construction and Transfer of Knowledge in Antiquity and the Middle Ages / Jochen Althoff, Dominik Berrens, Tanja Pommerening

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Bielefeld, : transcript Verlag, 2019

ISBN

9783837642360

3837642364

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (408)

Collana

Mainzer Historische Kulturwissenschaften

Disciplina

303.48/30902

Soggetti

Antiquity

Middle Ages

Knowledge Transfer

Universals

Cultural History

History of Astronomy

Eschatology

Ancient History

Medieval History

History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter    1 CONTENT    5 Preface and Acknowledgements    9 The Construction and Transfer of Knowledge in the Pre-Modern Era    13 Transmitting Symbolic Concepts from the Perspective of Cultural Cognition - The Acquisition and Transfer of Folk-biological Knowledge    41 The Transfer of Knowledge from Mesopotamia to Egypt    71 Epistemology in the Biblical Tradition - Judean Knowledge-Building, Scribal Craftsmanship, and Scribal Culture    99 Bodies of Texts, Bodies of Tradition - Medical Expertise and Knowledge of the Body among Rabbinic Jews in Late Antiquity    123 The Reception and Rejection of "Foreign" Astronomical Knowledge in Byzantium    167 "He assigned Him as the Jewel of the night" - The Knowledge of the Moon in



Mesopotamian Texts of the Late Second and First Millennia BCE    187 Shapeshifter - Knowledge of the Moon in Graeco-Roman Egypt    213 Concepts Concerning the Moon in Plutarch's De facie in orbe lunae - Found, Inherited, or Borrowed Ideas    253 Conclusion - Of Moon and Men: Observations about the Knowledge of the Moon in Antiquity    279 Know Your Sources Before You Argue - Minucius Felix and Augustine of Hippo on the Conflagration    289 The Idea of an Apocalyptic Fire According to the Old and Middle Iranian Sources    313 Poets, Prophets, and Philosophers - The End of the World According to Otto von Freising    343 The Ragnark Myth in Scandinavia - Finding, Inheriting, and Borrowing    365 Conclusion - The End of the World in Fire    385 About the Authors    391 Authors and Texts Cited    395 General index    403

Sommario/riassunto

Since the dawn of humanity, people have developed concepts about themselves and the natural world in which they live. This volume aims at investigating the construction and transfer of such concepts between and within various ancient and medieval cultures. The single contributions try to answer questions concerning the sources of knowledge, the strategies of transfer and legitimation as well as the conceptual changes over time and space. After a comprehensive introduction, the volume is divided into three parts: The contributions of the first section treat various theoretical and methodological aspects. Two additional thematic sections deal with a special field of knowledge, i.e. concepts of the moon and of the end of the world in fire.

»The book will mainly appeal to intellectual historians of antiquity, who will appreciate the case studies of ancient knowledge.«