Finding, inheriting or borrowing?: the construction and transfer of knowledge in antiquity and the Middle Ages

»The book will mainly appeal to intellectual historians of antiquity, who will appreciate the case studies of ancient knowledge.« T. Farmer, Choice, 57/8 (2020)

Since the dawn of humanity, people have developed concepts about themselves and the natural world in which they live. This volume aims at investigating the construction and transfer of such concepts between and within various ancient and medieval cultures. The single contributions try to answer questions concerning the sources of knowledge, the strategies of transfer and legitimation as well as the conceptual changes over time and space. After a comprehensive introduction, the volume is divided into three parts: The contributions of the first section treat various theoretical and methodological aspects. Two additional thematic sections deal with a special field of knowledge, i.e. concepts of the moon and of the end of the world in fire.

Frontmatter 1 CONTENT 5 Preface and Acknowledgements 9 The Construction and Transfer of Knowledge in the Pre-Modern Era 13 Transmitting Symbolic Concepts from the Perspective of Cultural Cognition - The Acquisition and Transfer of Folk-biological Knowledge 41 The Transfer of Knowledge from Mesopotamia to Egypt 71 Epistemology in the Biblical Tradition - Judean Knowledge-Building, Scribal Craftsmanship, and Scribal Culture 99 Bodies of Texts, Bodies of Tradition - Medical Expertise and Knowledge of the Body among Rabbinic Jews in Late Antiquity 123 The Reception and Rejection of "Foreign" Astronomical Knowledge in Byzantium 167 "He assigned Him as the Jewel of the night" - The Knowledge of the Moon in Mesopotamian Texts of the Late Second and First Millennia BCE 187 Shapeshifter - Knowledge of the Moon in Graeco-Roman Egypt 213 Concepts Concerning the Moon in Plutarch's De facie in orbe lunae - Found, Inherited, or Borrowed Ideas 253 Conclusion - Of Moon and Men: Observations about the Knowledge of the Moon in Antiquity 279 Know Your Sources Before You Argue - Minucius Felix and Augustine of Hippo on the Conflagration 289 The Idea of an Apocalyptic Fire According to the Old and Middle Iranian Sources 313 Poets, Prophets, and Philosophers - The End of the World According to Otto von Freising 343 The Ragnark Myth in Scandinavia - Finding, Inheriting, and Borrowing 365 Conclusion - The End of the World in Fire 385 About the Authors 391 Authors and Texts Cited 395 General index 403