Ancient Nations Research Articles

Book Review: The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient near Eastern National Theology

Book Review: The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient near Eastern National Theology

Hellenism and Jewish nationalism: ambivalence and its ancient roots

This essay sketches the ambivalent relationship of Hebraism and Hellenism from ancient times to the foundation of modern Israel. It analyses classical Greek influence on the Jewish Enlightenment (the Haskalah) and modern Jewish nationalism, particularly as reflected in Hebrew literature. Greece's successful struggle for independence from Ottoman Turkey in the 1820s showed the early Zionists that an ancient nation could be resurrected. Also, the ancient Greek ideal of physical education, revived in nineteenth-century Europe, radically transformed both Christian and Jewish attitudes to the body, giving rise to two related movements, "muscular Christianity" and "muscular Judaism". As the assimilationist attempts of the Haskalah broke down in the late nineteenth century under the burden of anti-Semitism and European racial nationalism, "muscular Judaism" was incorporated into Zionism. Jewish nationalists largely rejected rabbinic spirituality, non-belligerence and the disdain for athleticism which had dominated Jewish life after Rome destroyed the Jewish state in 70 CE.

Robert Wallace on Population and Utopian Government

The two writers whose visions of a utopian future for humanity Malthus chiefly sought to puncture through his principle of population were Godwin and Condorcet. The objection Malthus had to both was that the prosperous and egalitarian society they envisaged would be undermined by the population growth it brought about. As Malthus himself acknowledged, this was not a novel argument: in the second (1803) edition of the Essay, he listed the authors from whom he had “deduced the principle”—David Hume, Robert Wallace, Adam Smith, and Richard Price. Wallace, the closest among these four to being a Utopian thinker, explicitly saw population growth as clouding the future: unlimited increase would impair prosperity, but efforts by the society to curtail it would require “cruel and unnatural customs.”Wallace's views of Utopia are set out in his book Various Prospects of Mankind, Nature and Providence, published in 1761. There are twelve “prospects” in all. The first is titled “A general view of the imperfections of human society, and of the sources from whence they flow”; the second presents a “model of a perfect government”; the third investigates the feasibility of this model; and the fourth adduces the proposition “The preceding model of government, tho' consistent with the human passions and appetites, is upon the whole inconsistent with the circumstances of mankind upon the Earth.” The remaining prospects go further into the natural world, the nature of happiness, and the afterlife. Prospects I and IV are excerpted below.Under a perfect government, “poverty, idleness, and war [would be] banished; the earth made a paradise; universal friendship and concord established, and human society rendered flourishing in all respects.” Yet paradoxically, such a society would be overturned “not by the vices of men, or their abuse of liberty, but by the order of nature itself.” This objection is enough to defeat the “airy systems” of the Utopians. Wallace calls for a middle way for government and society, “to set just bounds to every thing according to its nature, and to adjust all things in due proportion to one another.” He writes: “it is more contrary to just proportion, to suppose that such a perfect government should be established in such circumstances, than that by permitting vice, or the abuse of liberty in the wisdom of providence, mankind should never be able to multiply so greatly as to overstock the earth.”Wallace was born in Edinburgh in 1697 and died there in 1771. He was a presbyterian minister who held various offices in the Church of Scotland. In addition to the Prospects, his other major works were Characteristics of the Present Political State of Great Britain (1758) and Dissertation on the Numbers of Mankind in Antient and Modern Times (1753). The latter included a vigorous rejoinder to Hume's argument (in his Dissertation on the Numbers of Mankind, published the preceding year) that the classical world was not more populous than the present. Wallace's argument for the populousness of ancient nations supported the view earlier put by Montesquieu—who arranged for a French translation of Wallace's book.Modern editions of Wallace's writings appear in the series Reprints of Economic Classics published by Augustus M. Kelley, New York.

An Ancient Nation Braces to Fight AIDS

An Ancient Nation Braces to Fight AIDS

An Ancient Nation Braces to Fight AIDS

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia—Nearly a decade after its national AIDS control program collapsed in the transition from a centralized, military government to regional, democratic rule, Ethiopia is attempting to rebuild its forces in the fight against HIV.

Italy and the United States: The Politics and Poetics of 'The Southern Problem'

the poor and black. In the southern regions of Italy the primary organisation for agricultural land use was a large holding, usually owned by one family, and rented to peasants: latifundia. In the southern regions of the United States the primary organization for agricultural land use was a large holding, usually owned by one family, and worked by slave labour: plantations. Southerners in the new Italy tended to view their civilisation as separate from the new nation, 'an ancient and glorious nation in its own right'.1 Southerners in the US tended to view their civilisation as separate within the nation as a whole, 'ancient' by New World standards, and 'glorious' by virtue of its traditions. Because of its rural nature, southern Italy is prone to diseases such as malaria and malnutrition, and to the ills of underdevelopment such as illiteracy.2 To the present day, most of the states of the American union that rank at or near the bottom in health care, education, and social services are states of the former

Three Hungry Women

Women and hunger are most peculiarly linked in the configuration of gender, materiality, and revolution in modern Chinese fiction. Shortages of food, with their grave implications for national politics, economics, and even eugenics, have, of course, appeared all too often in China's quest for modernization.' But when hunger is treated in literary terms, it manifests itself in a wide variety of typologies, from famines caused by nature to "hunger revolutions" dictated by ideology. For Chinese writers since the May Fourth era, "having nothing to eat" not only reflects the agricultural crisis of an ancient nation whose roots are in the countryside (yinong liguo) but

Northern Ireland and the Scottish Question

At its narrowest, the Scottish Question is the matter of the constitution the matter of the failure of successive British Governments to address adequately the needs of the ancient European nation of Scotland, and the head of steam that has built up in the last few decades for profound and far-reaching change. Northern Ireland's relationship to that question is both simple and complex: in simple terms its relationship is the same as that of any other part of the UK a bystander who can be helpful in asserting and re-asserting the democratic right of Scots to be governed in the way they wish, by whom they wish. In complex terms, the relationship would embrace our long shared history and the ties of family, religions, culture and geography that make us much closer than even we sometimes acknowledge.

The Spatial Structure of Politicial Areas during the Kofun Period

With this study I would like to clarify the range and social stratification of political territories in ancient Japan (Kofun Period). Since I think that the extent of irrigation reflects the range of the territory of a powerful clan, and that the dispersion of the ancient tombs (Kofun) shows the movement of such a clan, I decided to analyze the relation between the position of ancient tombs and irrigation area. I focused on the situation in the Yodo River Basin. In addition, I investigated the regional structure and the formative process of the Kinai-Region, which consisted of various socially stratified territories. Through my research it became clear to me that there were three different kinds of territories in the ancient Yodo Valley. The Basin of the Yodo River was divided into more than thirty fundamental units lead by local heads. Among those heads there were four powerful leaders who ruled over several uni-fied fundamental units. Their territories ranked above that of the local heads. But it seems that the Yodo River Basin, as a whole, was a unified territory ranking highest.In conclusion, I think that one can distinguish three different ranks of territory in the Yodo River Basin. Furthermore, I conclude that this Yodo Valley, together with the Yamato Valley constituted the Kinai-Region. It is said that the Kinai-Region was the territory under the direct rule of the Yamato sovereign. Indeed, originally the area under the direct supervision of Yamato rulers was only the Yamato Valley. But in 5th Century the Yodo Valley was incorporated and at this time the spatial structure of the Kinai-Region took shape. So, although one usually assumes that the Kinai-Region is the central region which surrounded the capital city of the Japanese ancient nation in 7th century, I think that the prototype of its spatial structure had already been completed in the 6th Century.

The Gods of the Nations. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology

The Gods of the Nations. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology

Al-Biruni's chronology: A source for historical climatology

The Chronology of Ancient Nations, written in the 10th Century AD by the Islamic scholar al-Biruni, provides a monthly calendar of weather and climatic information translated from ancient Greek, Egyptian and Roman sources. The descriptive citations of heat and cold, hydrometeors and wind were extracted from the calendar for interpretive analysis. Assessment of data quality requires examination of the calendar used by al-Biruni, the translations available, the sources cited, the period described, and the locations mentioned. Innumerable difficulties were encountered in analysis of the extracted data and eventually only sources relating to Egypt from c100 BC to c100 AD were considered seriously as a potential usable data set for historic climate reconstruction. Although requiring a number of assumptions, information extracted from the Chronology suggests that precipitation distribution and wind direction in the identified period differed from those of the present.

Mongolia'S Foreign Policy: New Challenges and Trends

Mongolia, one of the ancient nations of Asia, lies in between the two great nations of the world—the Soviet Union and China—in the heart of East Asia. Like many other nations of the world Mongolia has traversed a long and difficult journey to its independence; genuine independence was secured as a result of the crucial revolution of the Mongolian people in 1921. In 1924 it was proclaimed a Republic, which brought its sovereign existence among the nations of the world, although it could fully exercise its sovereign rights in international relations only after the Second World War.

Preliminary Study of the Current Structure of Social Classes and Strata in China

Since the implementation of China's open-door policy, the mechanism of a commodity economy has been injected into the socialist system and changes in the economic arena have affected all other sectors of society, resulting in a social transformation covering a wide range of positions. Growth of a commodity economy has brought about profound changes in the social structure of this ancient nation of ours, ranging from as large an arena as political structure and economic structure to as small an area as community structure and family structure. That the reform has had a profound effect can be seen in the fact that it has touched upon the complex relations between the roles of social groups, organizations, and systems that make up the essential elements of a social structure, and has directly or indirectly affected the social status of all people, entailing new differentiation and accommodation of classes and strata. Our understanding of what these changes in the social structure of classes and strata in Chi...

The Social Contract of the French: Sieyès and Rousseau

In the autumn of 1789 P. C. F. Daunou published a pamphlet in which he took a stand on questions that had stirred public opinion: What constitutional laws were necessarily common to all political societies? Had France a constitution bequeathed by its past? Or was it true that, in order to have one, before creating all must be destroyed? Did the king have the right to veto decisions of the constituent power? Daunou' s answers, those of a somewhat moderate patriot, were hardly original. The title of his pamphlet, Le contrat social des Franfais en 1789 (which I have borrowed for this article) is a clear illustration of how the patriotic mind viewed events: the nation, in an exceptional epoch, was in the process of renewing its founding contract. The political stakes of the moment heatedly debated since the convocation of the Estates General were inseparable from the problems implied by the notion of the social contract, and thus from the question of the very foundation of any legitimate political body. In order to grasp the burning questions of the day, it was necessary to return to the principles elaborated by political philosophy in that enlightened century. By the same token, however, the intellectual heritage of Montesquieu and Rousseau, of Locke and Mably, had to be reexamined in light of the new problems prompted by the regeneration of the French, by the determination of that ancient nation to make a new start and redefine the very principles of its political existence. Far from finding constitutional problems of an intricately technical nature tiresome, public opinion now found them of passionate interest.

The Northern Wars of Seti I: An Integrative Study

Nothing is more vexing for the historian trying to reconstruct the foreign policy of an ancient nation than having to rely upon one-sided accounts. All too often the participants in an international conflict gloss over their errors and inflate their victories -and if theirs is the only testimony available to the historian (as is often the case), then, no matter what he may suspect to have been the truth of the affair, the evidence on which to base his suppositions is limited Then, too, he is faced with the ever present problem of chronology, a thorn in the side of historical reconstruction that grows in importance the more nations he tries to cover. In essence, one caveat in particular must be adhered to when attempting an historical reconstruction of the international affairs of a nation: to preserve a holistic approach. The wars of Seti I provide ample testimony in favor of this position. His campaigns in the Levant, known mainly from the Karnak reliefs, have been discussed before, yet one paramount difficulty always remains to be faced: what indeed was the exact chronology of these campaigns.1 On the northeast side of the Great Hypostyle Hall, only one datethat of year one -is recorded, on the lowest register. Hence, it is necessary to analyze both the Egyptian and the non-Egyptian data for this period. The following discussion centers around Seti Fs foreign policy, his wars in particular. In Part I, the scenes and inscriptions in the Great Hypostyle Hall are discussed in conjunction with other Egyptian inscriptions referring to Seti's campaigns to the north. Part II is concerned with the topographical data from the reign of Seti, and Part III is devoted to the international aspects of his wars-i.e., the Hittite and other cuneiform data In section IV, I hope to resolve some of the chronological points raised in the earlier parts of this paper and to propose time bounds on Seti's northern wars.2.

Korea's Future-Four Perspectives: An Introduction

As THE END of the Korean War approaches its 25th anniversary, the de facto division of this proud and ancient Asian nation cuts deeply into the consciousness of its 50,000,000 people. Yet no Korean under the age of forty has known national unity or been without the sense of seemingly irreconcilable conflict between communism and capitalism. The dilemma of division is compounded by the degree to which the fate of Korea remains subject to decisions in distant capitals, or in some instances the neglect of non-decisions. The Korean peninsula contains the most intensive concentration of troops, weaponry, and political conflict of any area in the world. The three largest nuclear powers, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China are committed by treaty to defend one or the other of the two Korean regimes if it is attacked. Incidents between North and South Korea occur intermittently. In 1976 and 1977 four American soldiers died at the Demilitarized Zone from North Korean attacks, two of them clubbed with axes. Against this grim background of volatile confrontation, contrary images flicker across the international scene. In 1976 North Korean premier Kim Il-song visited Peking where his bellicose rhetoric won no support. His subsequent extensive tour failed to include Moscow. In 1977 President Carter announced his intention to withdraw all American ground troops from the South by 1982. Meanwhile Washington reverberated with unproven rumors and confirmed revelations of Seoul's past attempts to influence dozens of Congressmen with bribes, trips, and social favors. In short, neither Korea was in full harmony with its ally while the major powers showed no visible concern over the prospect of war in the peninsula. Except for unilateral statements from the various capitals, mainly demands or proposals that had no chance of immediate acceptance, little serious or systematic attention has been given to the Korean problem since the flurry of activity which followed President Nixon's 1971

Al-Bīrūnī and the political history of India

When al-Birlni wrote, history meant only political and military history of wars and battles; but it was not so with him. In his well-known book Kitab fi Tahqiq md li'l-Hind (Researches on India), he did not record the military and political history of India in any detail but wrote its cultural, scientific, social and religious history, thus showing that he had as wide a concept of history as that of a modem historian. It is difficult to discuss his contributions to all aspects of the history of India within the short space of this paper. Therefore, it will deal mainly with whatever information al-Birlni provides concerning the political history of India. But before this is undertaken, it is desirable to give some idea of his concept of history. It appears that al-Biruini has not discussed his idea of history specifically in any of his works; but glimpses into this aspect of his thought may be obtained from his introductions to the two important worksal-Athdr 1 al-Baqiya (The Chronology of the Ancient Nations) and Kitdb fi Tahqiq ma li'l-Hind 2 (Researches on India). In the former, he takes a

American Regionalism and the Harmless Drudge

OFFSPRING, in the fullness of time, have to come of age; young nations have to come of age ; so too with the language of young nations. And, as we are often slow to recognize, the experience of achieving maturity may be traumatic no less for the parent than the child. Yet time does its work, and has done it for our language; so that now not even the most jealous of the ancient nations can deny that the relatively young United States is old enough to vote—that our literature has earned the franchise, and that the language as we speak and write it today has established its individuality and identity.

The Music of the Most Ancient Nations, Particularly of the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Hebreas; With Special Reference to Recent Discoveries in Western Asia and in Egypt

The Music of the Most Ancient Nations, Particularly of the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Hebreas; With Special Reference to Recent Discoveries in Western Asia and in Egypt

The Trojan Franks and their Critics

The heroes of the Trojan war who figured so prominently in the pedigrees of ancient nations continued to perform the function of mythical sires for the new nations of medieval Europe. The Franks especially, from the time of the Merovingian kings, filled the darkest recesses of their forgotten past with elaborate fictions of ancient Trojan splendor. In a seventh-century chronicle, Priam appears as the first king of the Franks. After the fall of Troy, according to the Merovingian chronicler, some Trojans escaped the disaster and elected a man named Francio king. Francio's people, after a long and warlike exodus, eventually materialized over the Rhine as the Franks who invaded Gaul.