In fact, some texts came close to inclusion in the New Testament canon. These translations by Rick Brannan are perfect for use by students, scholars, and everyday Christians interested in these treasures of the early church.Lexham Classics are beautifully typeset new editions of classic works. Each book has been carefully transcribed or translated from the original texts, ensuring an accurate representation of the writing as the author intended it to be read.This volume includes: The First Letter of Clement to the Corinthians The Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians Ignatius to the Ephesians Ignatius to the Magnesians Ignatius to the Trallians Ignatius to the Romans Ignatius to the Philadelphians Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans Ignatius to Polycarp Polycarp to the Philippians The Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) Epistle of Barnabas The Shepherd of Hermas The Martyrdom of Saint Polycarp (by the Bishop of Smyrna) Epistle to Diognetus

    

    What transformed a humble city into the preeminent power of the region? In The Rise of Rome, the historian and archaeologist Kathryn Lomas reconstructs the diplomatic ploys, political stratagems, and cultural exchanges whereby Rome established itself as a dominant player in a region already brimming with competitors. The Latin world, she argues, was not so much subjugated by Rome as unified by it. This new type of society that emerged from Rome’s conquest and unification of Italy would serve as a political model for centuries to come.Archaic Italy was home to a vast range of ethnic communities, each with its own language and customs. Some such as the Etruscans, and later the Samnites, were major rivals of Rome. From the late Iron Age onward, these groups interacted in increasingly dynamic ways within Italy and beyond, expanding trade and influencing religion, dress, architecture, weaponry, and government throughout the region. Rome manipulated preexisting social and political structures in the conquered territories with great care, extending strategic invitations to citizenship and thereby allowing a degree of local independence while also fostering a sense of imperial belonging.In the story of Rome’s rise, Lomas identifies nascent political structures that unified the empire’s diverse populations, and finds the beginnings of Italian peoplehood.

    Spanning the dawn of human civilization through the present, it provides a tour of every site of key archaeological importance. From the prehistoric cave paintings of Lascaux to Tutankhamun's tomb, from the buried city of Pompeii to China's Terracotta Army, all of the world's most iconic sites and discoveries are here. So too are the lesser-known yet equally important finds, such as the recent discoveries of our oldest known human ancestors and of the world's oldest-known temple, Gobekli Tepe in Turkey. A masterful combination of succinct analysis and driving narrative, this book also addresses the questions that inevitably arise as we gradually learn more about the history of our species. Written by an international team of archaeological experts and richly illustrated throughout, Archaeology: A Comprehensive Guide to Our Human Past offers an unparalleled insight into the origins of humankind.

    Ever moving and ever changing in mood, it is a place without time, in contrast to the land which is fixed and scarred by human activity giving it a visible history. While the land is familiar, even reassuring, the sea is unknown and threatening. By taking to the sea humans put themselves at its mercy. It has often been perceived to be an alien power teasing and cajoling. The sea may give but it takes.Why, then, did humans become seafarers? Part of the answer is that we are conditioned by our genetics to be acquisitive animals: we like to acquire rare materials and we are eager for esoteric knowledge, and society rewards us well for both. Looking out to sea most will be curious as to what is out there--a mysterious island perhaps but what lies beyond? Our innate inquisitiveness drives us to explore.Barry Cunliffe looks at the development of seafaring on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, two contrasting seas-- the Mediterranean without a significant tide, enclosed and soon to become familiar, the Atlantic with its frightening tidal ranges, an ocean without end. We begin with the Middle Palaeolithic hunter gatherers in the eastern Mediterranean building simple vessels to make their remarkable crossing to Crete and we end in the early years of the sixteenth century with sailors from Spain, Portugal and England establishing the limits of the ocean from Labrador to Patagonia. The message is that the contest between humans and the sea has been a driving force, perhaps the driving force, in human history.

    Two million visitors annually now walk the paved streets which re-emerged, miraculously preserved, from their layers of volcanic ash. Yet for all the fame and unique importance of the site, there is a surprising lack of a handy archaeological guide in English to reveal and explain its public spaces and private residences. This compact and user-friendly handbook, written by an expert in the field, helpfully fills that gap. Illustrated throughout with maps, plans, diagrams and other images, Pompeii: An Archaeological Guide offers a general introduction to the doomed city followed by an authoritative summary and survey of the buildings, artefacts and paintings themselves. The result is an unrivalled picture, derived from an intimate knowledge of Roman archaeology around the Bay of Naples, of the forum, temples, brothels, bath-houses, bakeries, gymnasia, amphitheatre, necropolis and other site buildings-including perennial favourites like the House of the Faun, named after its celebrated dancing satyr.

    Scholars, pastors, and students (and their teachers) will find this tobe a useful resource for biblical study, exegesis, and sermonpreparation."

    The poems made characters like Paris, Helen, Odysseus, Achilles, Hector, and Ajax instantly recognizable, and they also influenced other ancient poets like Virgil, whose Aeneid is clearly modeled after them. The epic poems also literally put Troy on the map, motivating Heinrich Schliemann to search for and ultimately find the city of Troy in the 19th century. Believed to be penned around the 8th century BCE or 7th century BCE, the Iliad and the Odyssey served as both entertainment and a moral guidebook of sorts for the ancient Greeks, as well as the foundation for Western literature. Although there is some scholarly debate regarding the epic’s authorship, it is generally attributed to Homer. Given that he lived nearly 2800 years ago, not much is actually known about Homer; even his birthplace is debated, but due to the dialect of Greek in which the works attributed to him were written, it is generally believed that he lived in Iona. The only other aspect of Homer’s life that is generally agreed upon is that he was a blind poet, possibly also a bard. That naturally raises the question of how he wrote his epic poetry, but scholars assume he probably dictated them to a scribe, as the format suggests they were comprised from various shorter forms of oral poetry. Even people who don’t know much about ancient Greek mythology can probably still name Achilles, the Trojan Horse, and a number of other gods that play a part in the story of the Trojan War. The enduring nature of this story led to many great people claiming descent from one of the characters found within it; for example, Alexander the Great was said to have slept with a copy of Homer’s Iliad every night during his campaigns, a description of the legendary war that describes the epitome of pre-hoplite warfare and is still taught at military academies around the world today. The entire story, from its fickle beginnings to its catastrophic end, has made its way to modern readers via surviving sources which, when combined, form a biopsy of ancient Greek myth and many of its finest elements. Most people could be forgiven for mistakenly believing that the Iliad encompasses the entire story of the Trojan War, but the Iliad tells the story of just four days in the ninth year of the war. In many ways, the Iliad is the story of “Achilles’s wrath,” which actually serves as a subtitle in some editions, but in order to gain an idea of the full story of what occurred at Troy between ancient heroes Achilles, Hector, Menelaus, and Paris, among others, readers must collate sources (often fragmentary) stretching from the 8th century BCE to Roman sources in the 1st century CE. Indeed, piecing the story together is one of the intentions of this epic poem. Another intention of the Iliad is to highlight the nature of the story as a work of mythology — not history. Although there are certainly historical elements in the story, as well as certain seminal moments that affected cult activity in ancient Greece, emphasis is placed on the narrative methods that make it an enduring and iconic mixture of myth, legend, and folklore.