“The central government was a despotism tempered by military rebellion and assassination and replacement of one scurvy lot of ruling dynasts by another. But the high politics of the city of Rome little affected the lives of the masses or… — 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
