The End of the Past: Ancient Rome and the Modern West (Revealing Antiquity) - Softcover

Schiavone, Aldo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674009835 ISBN 13: 9780674009837

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2002

Synopsis

This searching interpretation of past and present addresses fundamental questions about the fall of the Roman Empire. Why did ancient culture, once so strong and rich, come to an end? Was it destroyed by weaknesses inherent in its nature? Or were mistakes made that could have been avoided―was there a point at which Greco-Roman society took a wrong turn? And in what ways is modern society different?
Western history is split into two discontinuous eras, Aldo Schiavone tells us: the ancient world was fundamentally different from the modern one. He locates the essential difference in a series of economic factors: a slave-based economy, relative lack of mechanization and technology, the dominance of agriculture over urban industry. Also crucial are aspects of the ancient mentality: disdain for manual work, a preference for transcending (rather than transforming) nature, a basic belief in the permanence of limits.
Schiavone’s lively and provocative examination of the ancient world, “the eternal theater of history and power,” offers a stimulating opportunity to view modern society in light of the experience of antiquity.

About this title

About the Author:

Aldo Schiavone is Full Professor in Roman Law at the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane, of which he was the founder, and the Director from 2006 until 2010.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/pdf/SCHEND_excerpt.pdf

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0674009835
• ISBN 13: 9780674009837
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 287