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

Schiavone

ISBN 10: 0674009835 / ISBN 13: 9780674009837

Published by Harvard University Press, 2002

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The End of the Past: Ancient Rome and the Modern West (Revealing Antiquity)
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674009835
• ISBN 13: 9780674009837
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

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 the Author

Aldo Schiavone founded the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane, where he was Professor of Roman Law. He is the principal investigator of a European Research Council Project on Roman legal thought, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the author of books including The End of the Past, The Invention of Law in the West, Spartacus, What Is Progress, and Pontius Pilate.