Founding Gods, Inventing Nations: Conquest and Culture Myths from Antiquity to Islam
- ISBN-10
- 0691151482
- ISBN-13
- 9780691151489
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 179
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2012
- Publisher
- Princeton University Press
- Author
- William F. McCants
Description
From the dawn of writing in Sumer to the sunset of the Islamic empire, Founding Gods, Inventing Nations traces four thousand years of speculation on the origins of civilization. Investigating a vast range of primary sources, some of which are translated here for the first time, and focusing on the dynamic influence of the Greek, Roman, and Arab conquests of the Near East, William McCants looks at the ways the conquerors and those they conquered reshaped their myths of civilization's origins in response to the social and political consequences of empire. The Greek and Roman conquests brought with them a learned culture that competed with that of native elites. The conquering Arabs, in contrast, had no learned culture, which led to three hundred years of Muslim competition over the cultural orientation of Islam, a contest reflected in the culture myths of that time. What we know today as Islamic culture is the product of this contest, whose protagonists drew heavily on the lore of non-Arab and pagan antiquity. McCants argues that authors in all three periods did not write about civilization's origins solely out of pure antiquarian interest--they also sought to address the social and political tensions of the day. The strategies they employed and the postcolonial dilemmas they confronted provide invaluable context for understanding how authors today use myth and history to locate themselves in the confusing aftermath of empire.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2011-11-07
- 192 pages
- Ebook
- Princeton University Press
Similar books
-
An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi'i Lebanon
By Lara DeebBased on two years of ethnographic research in Beirut, this book demonstrates that Islam and modernity are not merely compatible, but actually go hand-in-hand.
-
The Believer: How an Introvert with a Passion for Religion and Soccer Became Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Leader of the Islamic...
By William McCantsIn The Believer, Will McCants tells the story of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (a.k.a.
-
The Intellectual Property of Nations: Sociological and Historical Perspectives on a Modern Legal Institution
By Laura R. FordEtruscans, Romans, and their connections to the Eastern Mediterranean: Forsythe, Critical History, 9–10, 19–53; Martin Frederiksen, Campania, edited by Nicholas Purcell (Rome: British School at Rome, 1984). Greek colonies in Sicily and ...
-
Demons, Angels, and Writing in Ancient Judaism
By Annette Yoshiko ReedIn a recent study of ancient Roman sciences, Daryn Lehoux demonstrates how a focus on ancient knowledge-practices can ... and History of Science concerning the ordering of knowledge in the Roman Empire and the resultant coproduction of ...
-
Enoch from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Volume I: Sources From Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
By John Reeves, Annette Yoshiko ReedWithin 1 Enoch alone, for instance, we find evidence for intensive literary creativity. This volume provides a comprehensive set of core references for easy and accessible consultation.
-
Women and Knowledge in Early Christianity
By Outi Lehtipuu, Ismo Dunderberg, Ulla TervahautaWomen and Knowledge in Early Christianity offers a collection of essays that deal with perceptions of wisdom, femaleness, and their interconnections in a wide range of ancient sources, including papyri, Nag Hammadi documents, heresiological ...
-
Play Among Books: A Symposium on Architecture and Information Spelt in Atom-Letters
By Miro Roman, Alice _ch3n81MILLER , STEPHANIE R. & CONSAVARI , ELIZABETH CARROLL , The Early Modern Italian Domestic Interior , 1400-1700 : Objects ... The Low - Carb Fraud 1908 CAMPBELL , CHRIS , The Oberon Anthology of Contemporary French Plays 1909 CAMPBELL ...
-
Ancient Jewish Sciences and the History of Knowledge in Second Temple Literature
By Seth L. SandersFounding Gods, Inventing Nations: Conquest and Culture Myths from Antiquity to Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Melamed, Abraham 2010. The Myth of the Jewish Origins of Science and Philosophy. Jerusalem: Magnes.
-
Claiming Places: Reading Acts through the Lens of Ancient Colonization
By Eric C. MooreMcCants, William F. Founding Gods, Inventing Nations: Conquest and Culture Myths from Antiquity to Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012. McDonough, Sean M. “Saul to Paul, Again.” JBL (2006): 390–91.
-
Narrating the Beginnings
By Alberto Bernabé Pajares, Raquel Martin HernándezIt aims to provide a broad view on creation-myths from different times and areas of the world with a particular focus on how these texts contributed to the conception of the past as “universal history”, as a common origin of mankind or ...