Best of
Ancient

1979

The Complete Works of Lao Tzu: Tao Teh Ching & Hua Hu Ching


Lao Tzu - 1979
    'The Complete Works of Lao Tzu' by Hua-Ching Ni is a remarkable elucidation of the famed 'Tao Teh Ching', the core of Taoist philosophy and a bridge to the subtle truth as well as a practical guideline for natural and harmonious living. Poetic and beautifully realized, this volumn contains one of the only written translations of the 'Hua Hu Ching.'

Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt


John Anthony West - 1979
    In this pioneering study West documents that: Hieroglyphs carry hermetic messages that convey the subtler realities of the Sacred Science of the Pharaohs. Egyptian science, medicine, mathematics, and astronomy were more sophisticated than most modern Egyptologists acknowledge. Egyptian knowledge of the universe was a legacy from a highly sophisticated civilization that flourished thousands of years ago. The great Sphinx represents geological proof that such a civilization existed. This revised edition includes a new introduction linking Egyptian spiritual science with the perennial wisdom tradition and an appendix updating West's work in redating the Sphinx. Illustrated with over 140 photographs and line drawings.

The Faith of the Early Fathers (Three-Volume Set)


William A. Jurgens - 1979
    Jurgens A beautiful collection studying the writings of early Church Fathers. This three book set studies the early Faith in three time periods. Volume 1: the Pre-Nicene and the Nicene eras; 450 pp. Volume 2: the Post-Nicene era through St. Jerome; 297 pp. Volume 3: St. Augustine to the end of the patristic period; 430 pp. Complete set.

The Presocratic Philosophers


Jonathan Barnes - 1979
    This volume provides a comprehensive and precise exposition of their arguments, and offers a rigorous assessment of their contribution to philosophical thought.

The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry


Gregory Nagy - 1979
    The first edition of The Best of the Achaeans bridged that gap, raising new questions about what could be known or conjectured about Greek heroes. In this revised edition, which features a new preface by the author, Gregory Nagy reconsiders his conclusions in the light of the subsequent debate and resumes his discussion of the special status of heroes in ancient Greek life and poetry. His book remains an engaging introduction both to the concept of the hero in Hellenic civilization and to the poetic forms through which the hero is defined: the Iliad and Odyssey in particular and archaic Greek poetry in general.

Metaphysics 1-9


Aristotle - 1979
    He studied under Plato at Athens and taught there (367-47); subsequently he spent three years at the court of a former pupil, Hermeias, in Asia Minor and at this time married Pythias, one of Hermeias's relations. After some time at Mitylene, in 343-2 he was appointed by King Philip of Macedon to be tutor of his teen-aged son Alexander. After Philip's death in 336, Aristotle became head of his own school (of "Peripatetics"), the Lyceum at Athens. Because of anti-Macedonian feeling there after Alexander's death in 323, he withdrew to Chalcis in Euboea, where he died in 322.Nearly all the works Aristotle prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as follows: I. Practical: Nicomachean Ethics; Great Ethics (Magna Moralia); Eudemian Ethics; Politics; Oeconomica (on the good of the family); Virtues and Vices.II. Logical: Categories; On Interpretation; Analytics (Prior and Posterior); On Sophistical Refutations; Topica.III. Physical: Twenty-six works (some suspect) including astronomy, generation and destruction, the senses, memory, sleep, dreams, life, facts about animals, etc.IV. Metaphysics: on being as being.V. On Art: Art of Rhetoric and Poetics.VI. Other works including the Athenian Constitution; more works also of doubtful authorship.VII. Fragments of various works such as dialogues on philosophy and literature; and of treatises on rhetoric, politics and metaphysics.The Loeb Classical Library(R) edition of Aristotle is in twenty-three volumes.

Roman Realities


Finley Hooper - 1979
    It's based on the major primary sources of Roman history, with illuminating parallels between ancient & modern times. As Hooper says in his introduction, "Anyone concerned about present problems will profit from reading about how the Romans went about solving theirs." Finley Hooper's history of Rome covers the usual ground from Rome's origins to the Western Empire's end. But it sparkles with lucidity, grace, insight & confident learning. Not merely a scholarly narrative, Roman Realities plays off modern scholarship against what the Romans (eg, Livy, Polybius, Cicero, Plutarch) said of themselves & their past, thereby drawing readers directly into the historical issues & drama & into disparate Roman minds. With an awareness of what evidence is reliable, he interweaves Roman reportage & philosophy, anecdotes & analyses to provide a rich version of human character, social life, politics & culture in Rome thru periods of vitality & decay, renewal & ultimate decline. We see Hannibal, unsurpassed military tactician, defeated finally by Roman resilience; Julius Caesar, brilliant, charming, confident, strong & popular, undone by lack of tact & self-discipline; Cicero, orator of genius, moralist of traditional virtues, victimized by his vanity; Augustus, austere, decisive, capable of cruelty & good sense, who set a precedent impossible to follow. Hooper's manner is well-suited to his interpretation of Rome's fall. From the late years of the Republic onward, respect for constitutional political life lessened: some citizens took the law into their own hands & finally the power of the military & the emperor & the influence of the rich subverted the strong political spirit which had sustained Rome for centuries. At the same time, the Empire also lost the allegiance of the intellectuals, who'd nourished the Roman spirit through meditations on law, history & philosophy: thinkers now became theologians & turned toward the other world. Hooper's survey (a successor to Greek Realities '67) breathes life into a subject easily made dull & thus serves as a fine introduction & synthesis.--Kirkus (edited)

Man's Conquest of the Pacific: The Prehistory of Southeast Asia and Oceania


Peter Bellwood - 1979
    Particular attention is given in the book of the history of human settlement and development of the islands of Oceania.The monograph is interdisciplinary in nature. In his study, the author draws on the latest data of archeology, anthropology, ethnography, linguistics.

Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary


Bernard of Clairvaux - 1979
    The young abbot meditates on the singular role of the virgin mother of Christ 'to satisfy my own devotion', and in doing so bequeathes his own love of Mary and of Scripture to his Order and to the Church.

Thomism and Aristotelianism: A Study of the Commentary by Thomas Aquinas on the Nicomachean Ethics


Harry V. Jaffa - 1979
    

Senefer: A Young Genius in Old Egypt


Beatrice Lumpkin - 1979
    Senefer was a carpenter's son who became a famous mathematician and engineer. The story of his adventures brings to life the rich culture of ancient Egypt and the African tradition of excellence in mathematics and science. Senefer's love of numbers shows young readers that mathematics can be fun. Other role models include, Nefert, Senefer's mother who taught him how to value work, and the female Pharaoh of Egypt, Hatshepsut.