“The Fathers of the American Constitution, well-versed in the classical heritage, consciously constructed an awkward governmental system like republican Rome's: much better at blocking change than facilitating it. By the early twenty-first century, the ambiance of American urban life resembled… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share Image
“The central government was a despotism tempered by military rebellion and assassination and replacement of one scurvy lot of ruling dynasts by another. But… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“A very long time ago, some 2.5 million years B.C., the mother of human species as we know it, our ultimate ancestor, appeared in… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“Saint Paul was proud of his Roman citizenship, and his letter to various Christian communities in the empire presupposed an effective communications system that… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“In the field of medicine, Galen, the Alexandrian scientist, propounded a view that is still around, nowadays called 'alternative medicine.'It was taught in many… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“There was some kind of cultural cause for the decline of the ancient world. It was neither corruption of public spirit nor Christianity. It… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“The only clear expression of intellectual dissent from hydraulic despotism occurred in the southern half of the coastal lands of the eastern Mediterranean, called… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“The German economic historian Fanz Oertel in the 1950s points to another drastic consequence of a slave economy. A slave economy initially allowed an… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“The classical heritage as shaped by and filtered through Roman culture had two great flaws. First, it prevented the very rich oral cultures of… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“The Gnostics (also called Manichees) postulated that there were two gods -- the Christian God of goodness and light, and an evil anti-God of… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“There is no doubt that to the ancients of circa 100 A.S., games implied bloodshed; but gladiators' hand-to-hand combats to the death featured in… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“Christian legend later claimed that Peter also went to Rome and there became head of the Christian community, that is, a bishop. Both Peter… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“In response to [the Philistine] threat [in the ninth century B.C.], the Hebrews could no longer rely on the leadership of 'judges,' ad hoc… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“Because the Egyptians had no feeling that events of the moment were transitory, they viewed the present as eternal. The world was static; what… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“While many Greeks (although not Thucydides) thought that history moved in circles, repeating itself infinitely, the Jewish idea that each event was singular and… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
“The end of Egypt's isolation turned what had been only occasional and incidental contact with the rest of the Near East into a constant… — Norman F. Cantor Copy Share
