Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The End of the Past: Ancient Rome and the Modern West

The End of the Past: Ancient Rome and the Modern West

Schneider, Margery J.
Schiavone, Aldo

Paperback

Series: Revealing Antiquity, Book 13

Ancient Rome

ISBN10: 0674009835
ISBN13: 9780674009837
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: Sep 30 2002
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.85
Height: 0.74 Width: 5.80 Depth: 9.12
Language: English
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.

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