Narrative Literature from the Tebtunis Temple Library

Kim Ryholt — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Centuries before the Library of Alexandria, ancient Egypt was home to numerous temple libraries, but only a single large-scale one has survived: the Tebtunis Temple library. Abandoned around 200 CE—but rediscovered by archaeologists in 1900—the library’s contents include an array of scientific, religious, and narrative literature from the first centuries of the Common Era. This collection offers some of the narrative literature found there, translated into English— much for the first time. This book contains ten narratives in total—from stories of Prince Inaros to a new version of the mythological “The Contendings of Horus and Seth.”

Emergence of the Classical Style in Greek Sculpture

Richard Neer — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

In this wide-ranging study, Richard Neer offers a new way to understand the epoch-making sculpture of classical Greece. Working at the intersection of art history, archaeology, literature, and aesthetics, he reveals a people fascinated with the power of sculpture to provoke wonder in beholders. Wonder, not accuracy, realism, naturalism or truth, was the supreme objective of Greek sculptors. Neer traces this way of thinking about art from the poems of Homer to the philosophy of Plato. Then, through meticulous accounts of major sculpture from around the Greek world, he shows how the demand for wonder-inducing statues gave rise to some of the greatest masterpieces of Greek art. Rewriting the history of Greek sculpture in Greek terms and restoring wonder to a sometimes dusty subject, The Emergence of the Classical Style in Greek Sculpture is an indispensable guide for anyone interested in the art of sculpture or the history of the ancient world.

University of Chicago Press: New Titles in History: Ancient and Classical History

Narrative Literature from the Tebtunis Temple Library

Emergence of the Classical Style in Greek Sculpture