“The availability of irrigation systems to water the land and produce grain and other food crops was the material foundation for these two great river-valley societies, Egypt and Iraq. They were hydraulic despotisms, in which a small ruling class, with… — 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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
![“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 military leaders (some of them, peculiarly, women; perhaps reflecting as feminists claim, and earlier matriarchal society).” quote by Norman F. Cantor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9be/norman-f-cantor-15048_feminisim_in-response-to-the-philistine-threat-in_626699.jpg)