The Pauline collection for the poor in Jerusalem is the most famous example of financial support for geographically distant groups in early Christianity. Recent assessments of the Pauline collection have focused on patronage to explain the social relations between Jerusalem and the Pauline groups and the strategies adopted by Paul. Through a comparison with the Greco-Roman world and a close reading of the texts, this study challenges the recent approach and proposes that other factors shaped Paul’s stance. Paul was interested in reassuring the Corinthians about the financial outcome of the collection and dispelling doubts that he might take advantage of them. The collection was an action modeled on divine generosity and an exchange within a reciprocal relationship between Christian groups. This study also surveys intergroup support between Christian groups in the first three centuries CE. This practice involved churches from most of the Mediterranean Basin and was known even outside of Christian circles. Transfers of money were organized according to a consistent pattern modeled on local charitable practices. The Pauline collection had similar characteristics and can be seen as part of this widespread economic practice.

The papers in this volume are centered around the following topics: subordination; cases and prepositions; moods, tenses and voices of the verb; nominal forms of the verb; anaphors and pronouns; word order, theme and rheme, negation, style, morphology and word formation.

How is it possible that modern scholars have labelled Maximus of Tyre, a second-century CE performer of philosophical orations, as a sophist or a ‘half-philosopher’, while his own self-presentation is that of a genuine philosopher? If we take Maximus’ claim to philosophical authority seriously, his case can deepen our understanding of the dynamic nature of Imperial philosophy. Through a discursive analysis of twelve Imperial intellectuals alongside Maximus’ dialexeis, the author proposes an interpretative framework to assess the purpose behind the representation of philosophy, rhetoric, and sophistry in Maximus’ oeuvre. This is thus as yet the first book-length attempt at situating the historical communication process implicit in the surviving Maximean texts in the concurrent context of the Imperial intellectual world.

In Diodorus Siculus and the World of the Late Roman Republic, Charles E. Muntz offers a fresh look at one of the most neglected historians of the ancient world, and recovers Diodorus's originality and importance as a witness to a profoundly tumultuous period in antiquity. Muntz analyzes the first three books of Diodorus's Bibliotheke historike, some of the most varied and eclectic material in his work, in which Diodorus reveals through the history, myths, and customs of the "barbarians" the secrets of successful states and rulers, and contributes to the debates surrounding the transition from Republic to Empire. Muntz establishes just how linked the "barbarians" of the Bibliotheke are to the actors of the crumbling Republic, and demonstrates that through the medium of the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Indians, and others Diodorus engages with the major issues and intellectual disputes of his time, including the origins of civilization, the propriety of ruler-cult, the benefits of monarchy, and the relationship between myth and history. Diodorus has many similarities with other authors writing on these topics, including Cicero, Lucretius, Varro, Sallust, and Livy but, as Muntz argues, engaging with such controversial issues, even indirectly, could be especially dangerous for a Greek provincial such as Diodorus. Indeed, for these reasons he may never have completed or fully published the Bibliotheke in his lifetime. Through his careful and precise investigations, Muntz demonstrates Diodorus's historical context at its full size and scope.

An understanding of textiles and the role they played in the past is important for anyone interested in past societies. Textiles served and in fact still do as both functional and symbolic items. The evidence for ancient textiles in Europe is split quite definitely along a north-south divide, with an abundance of actual examples in the north, but precious little in the south, where indirect evidence comes from such things as vase painting and frescoes. This volume brings together these two schools to look in more detail at textiles in the ancient world, and is based on a conference held in Denmark and Sweden in March 2003. Section one, Production and Organisation takes a chronological look through more than four thousand years of history; from Syria in the mid-third millennium BC, to Seventeenth Century Germany. Section two, Crafts and Technology focuses on the relationship between the primary producer (the craftsman) and the secondary receiver (the archaeologist/conservator). The third section, Society, examines the symbolic nature of textiles, and their place within ancient societal groups. Throughout the book emphasis is placed on the universality of textiles, and the importance of information exchange between scholars from different disciplines. A small book on finds First Aid for the Excavation of Archaeological Textiles is included as an Appendix.

This study of six historians from the edges of the Roman world at the end of the Republic - the author of I Maccabees, Posidonius, Diodorus Siculus, Pompeius Trogus, Nicolaus of Damascus, and Memnon of Heraclea - combines discussion of their biographical details, the intellectual and elite culture in which they composed, and the methodological difficulties of interpreting fragmentary texts, with textual analysis of their representations of Rome. These authors show remarkable unity in their acceptance of Roman hegemony. Nevertheless, their interpretations of Roman rule assume political significance in the light of their intentions in writing and the audiences whom they addressed. They therefore provide a unique insight into the minds of the conquered peoples and the intellectual culture which allowed them to influence their conquerors.

Classical Greeks considered the Mycenaean civilization to be the basis of their glorious and heroic heritage, but its material existence was not confirmed until the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann in the late nineteenth century. In the ensuing years, as with the field of archaeology in general, emphasis has shifted from revealing monuments and finding treasure to dealing with less glamorous, more scientifically-oriented investigations concerning aspects such as social and political organization, economic functions and settlement patterns. With its more than 2000 entries, this reference work serves as both an introduction to and a summary of the study of ancient Mycenaean civilization. Considerably expanded from the first edition, there are 500 new entries representing materials published since 1991. The largest part of the book is made up of annotated bibliography entries arranged topically with introductory material for each section. The book also includes a general introduction to Mycenaean civilization, a glossary, and author, place and subject indexes.

Presents the study of the finds from the Mycenaean cemetery of Clauss near Patras, carried out between 1988-1992 under the direction of Prof. Thanassis Papadopoulos. During the excavation project, fifteen chamber tombs were located and researched in detail, to be added to those already known from the pre-war excavations by Nikolaos Kyparissis.

This bibliography registers all editions, translations and studies bearing on Aristotle's "Poetics" and the "Tractatus Coislinianus," a treatise partly based on "Poetics II." Among the indices, those on passages and subjects should be particularly useful. Most Greek has been transliterated.