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Informationen zum Autor Carl J. Richard is the author of several Rowman & Littlefield books including The Battle for the American Mind: A Brief History of a Nation’s Thought (2006), Greeks and Romans Bearing Gifts: How the Ancients Inspired the Founding Fathers (2008), Why We’re All Romans: The Roman Contribution to the Western World (2010), and The Founders and the Bible (2016). He is professor of history at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. Klappentext This engaging yet deeply informed work not only examines Roman history and the multitude of Roman achievements in rich and colorful detail but also delineates their crucial and lasting impact on Western civilization. Noted historian Carl J. Richard argues that although we Westerners are "all Greeks" in politics, science, philosophy, and literature and "all Hebrews" in morality and spirituality, it was the Romans who made us Greeks and Hebrews. As the author convincingly shows, from the Middle Ages on, most Westerners received Greek ideas from Roman sources. Similarly, when the Western world adopted the ethical monotheism of the Hebrews, it did so at the instigation of a Roman citizen named Paul, who took advantage of the peace, unity, stability, and roads of the empire to proselytize the previously pagan Gentiles, who quickly became a majority of the religion's adherents. Although the Roman government of the first century crucified Christ and persecuted Christians, Rome's fourth- and fifth-century leaders encouraged the spread of Christianity throughout the Western world. In addition to making original contributions to administration, law, engineering, and architecture, the Romans modified and often improved the ideas they assimilated. Without the Roman sense of social responsibility to temper the individualism of Hellenistic Greece, classical culture might have perished, and without the Roman masses to proselytize and the social and material conditions necessary to this evangelism, Christianity itself might not have survived. Inhaltsverzeichnis Chapter 1: Roman History in Brief Chapter 2: Administration and Law Chapter 3: Engineering and Architecture Chapter 4: Epic and Lyric Poetry Chapter 5: Speeches, Letters, and Agricultural Manuals Chapter 6: Philosophy Chapter 7: Historical Writing Chapter 8: Comedy and Satire Chapter 9: Greek and Jewish Contributions in the Roman Era Chapter 10: The Rise and Romanization of Christianity Epilogue Suggestions for Further Reading ...
