The Biographies of the Severi emperors are part of a Roman Emperor biography collection known as SCRIPTORES HISTORIAE AUGUSTAE, and in short - 'History Augusta'. Introduced, translated and annotated by David Golan

Giving gifts for its merits and expression in the different periods can create friendship and closeness, or alternatively lead to quarrels and discord. The gift is sometimes a voluntary action and sometimes fulfilling an obligation. Some of it is in terms of giving a bribe and some of it is an expression of gratitude. Many times, it paves the way for social advancement or political engagement. The giving of the gifts was accompanied by significant etiquette and created special patterns. How can we differentiate between a gift and a bribe? What is the place of gifts in alliances and conflicts in society and in the family? How do they affect economic relations, politics and religion? These questions are important for understanding past and present social relations, and they are at the heart of this book. The Gift in Sixteenth-Century France offers a new way of understanding the subject of gifts, which took a permanent place in social relations throughout the various periods. The book examines the ways and meanings of gift exchange in French society in the sixteenth century, from the generosity of kings to the beggar's contribution. This fascinating book proves that examining the meaning of gifts can help us understand not only the social relationships in the past but also how to behave pleasantly with others nowadays.

Epigraphy deals with ancient inscriptions and manuscripts revealed by archaeology; it is an auxiliary study to that of history. It studies the texts, languages and scripts from diachronic and synchronic points of view, and thus yields additional data on the cultural background of the people who produced the written sources. This book contains a selection of articles by the author on West-Semitic scripts and inscriptions published during almost forty years. Joseph Naveh is professor emeritus of Ancient West Semitic Epigraphy and Palaeography at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

History of Jewish War Against the Romans is a description of Jewish history from the capture of Jerusalem by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 164 BC to the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in the First Jewish-Roman War in AD 70. The book was written in about 75, originally in Josephus's "paternal tongue", probably Aramaic, though this version has not survived. It was later translated into Greek, probably under the supervision of Josephus himself. Josephus' account of a war marked by treachery and atrocity is a superbly detailed and evocative record of the Jewish rebellion against Rome between AD 66 and 70. Originally a rebel leader, Josephus changed sides after he was captured to become a Rome-appointed negotiator, and so was uniquely placed to observe these turbulent events, from the siege of Jerusalem to the final heroic resistance and mass suicides at Masada . His account provides much of what we know about the history of the Jews under Roman rule, with vivid portraits of such key figures as the Emperor Vespasian and Herod the Great. Often self-justifying and divided in its loyalties, " History of Jewish War Against the Romans " nevertheless remains one of the most immediate accounts of war, its heroism and its horrors, ever written. This publication is a new translation, and includes an extensive introduction about Josephus and his historical writings, notes, appendices, maps, and illustrations, Family trees and sketches.

The history of the Jewish communities of these lands-where most of the Jews of Europe and America originated-is often the subject of woolly thinking and stereotypes. Antony Polonsky recreates this lost world in a way that avoids both sentimentalism and the simplification of the east European Jewish experience into a story of persecution and martyrdom. This is an important story whose relevance extends beyond the Jewish world or the bounds of east-central Europe. Antony Polonsky provides a comprehensive survey of the history - socio-political, economic, and religious - of the Jewish communities of eastern Europe from 1750, when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the dominant political unit, to the present. Until the Second World War, this area was the heartland of the Jewish world: almost all the major movements which have characterized that world in recent times had their origins here, and it was home to the majority of the world's Jews. Nearly three and a half million lived in Poland alone, while nearly three million more lived in the Soviet Union. Although the majority of the Jews of Europe and the United States, and most of the Jews of Israel, originated from these lands, the history of their Jewish communities is not well known. Rather, it is the subject of mythologizing and stereotypes that fail both to bring out the specific features of the Jewish civilization which emerged here and to illustrate what was lost in the passage across the Channel and the Atlantic. Jewish life in these parts, though often poor materially, was marked by a high degree of spiritual and ideological intensity and creativity. Antony Polonsky recreates this lost world—brutally cut down by the Holocaust and less brutally but still seriously damaged by the Soviet attempt to destroy Jewish culture—in a way that avoids both sentimentalism and the simplification of the the east European Jewish experience into a story of persecution and martyrdom. Wherever possible, the unfolding of history is illustrated by contemporary Jewish writings to show how Jews felt and reacted to the complex and difficult situations in which they found themselves. It is an important story whose relevance reaches far beyond the Jewish world or the bounds of east-central Europe. Polonsky establishes the context with a review of Jewish life in Poland and Lithuania down to the mid-eighteenth century, describing the towns and shtetls where the Jews lived, the institutions they developed, and their participation in the economy. He also considers their religious and intellectual life, including the emergence of hasidism, and the growth of opposition to it. He then describes government attempts to integrate and transform the Jews in the period from 1764 to 1881 and the Jewish response to these efforts. He considers the impact of modernization and the beginnings of the Haskalah movement, and looks at developments in each area in turn: the problems of emancipation, acculturation, and assimilation in Prussian and Austrian Poland; the politics of integration in the Kingdom of Poland; and the failure of forced integration in the tsarist empire. The third part of the book considers the deterioration of the position of the Jews in the period from 1881 to 1914 and the new Jewish politics that led to the development of new movements: Zionism, socialism, autonomism, the emergence of modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature, Jewish urbanization, and the rise of Jewish mass culture. Galicia, Prussian Poland, the Kingdom of Poland, and the tsarist empire are all treated individually, as are the main towns. The final part deals with the twentieth century. Starting from the First World War and the establishment of the Soviet Union, it deals in turn with Poland, Lithuania, and the Soviet Union up to the Second World War. It then reviews Polish—Jewish relations during the Second World War and examines the Soviet record and the Holocaust. The final chapters deal with the Jews in the Soviet Union and in Poland since 1945, concluding with an epilogue on the Jews in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia since the collapse of communism.

The history of the Jewish communities of these lands-where most of the Jews of Europe and America originated-is often the subject of woolly thinking and stereotypes. Antony Polonsky recreates this lost world in a way that avoids both sentimentalism and the simplification of the east European Jewish experience into a story of persecution and martyrdom. This is an important story whose relevance extends beyond the Jewish world or the bounds of east-central Europe. Antony Polonsky provides a comprehensive survey of the history - socio-political, economic, and religious - of the Jewish communities of eastern Europe from 1750, when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the dominant political unit, to the present. Until the Second World War, this area was the heartland of the Jewish world: almost all the major movements which have characterized that world in recent times had their origins here, and it was home to the majority of the world's Jews. Nearly three and a half million lived in Poland alone, while nearly three million more lived in the Soviet Union. Although the majority of the Jews of Europe and the United States, and most of the Jews of Israel, originated from these lands, the history of their Jewish communities is not well known. Rather, it is the subject of mythologizing and stereotypes that fail both to bring out the specific features of the Jewish civilization which emerged here and to illustrate what was lost in the passage across the Channel and the Atlantic. Jewish life in these parts, though often poor materially, was marked by a high degree of spiritual and ideological intensity and creativity. Antony Polonsky recreates this lost world—brutally cut down by the Holocaust and less brutally but still seriously damaged by the Soviet attempt to destroy Jewish culture—in a way that avoids both sentimentalism and the simplification of the the east European Jewish experience into a story of persecution and martyrdom. Wherever possible, the unfolding of history is illustrated by contemporary Jewish writings to show how Jews felt and reacted to the complex and difficult situations in which they found themselves. It is an important story whose relevance reaches far beyond the Jewish world or the bounds of east-central Europe. Polonsky establishes the context with a review of Jewish life in Poland and Lithuania down to the mid-eighteenth century, describing the towns and shtetls where the Jews lived, the institutions they developed, and their participation in the economy. He also considers their religious and intellectual life, including the emergence of hasidism, and the growth of opposition to it. He then describes government attempts to integrate and transform the Jews in the period from 1764 to 1881 and the Jewish response to these efforts. He considers the impact of modernization and the beginnings of the Haskalah movement, and looks at developments in each area in turn: the problems of emancipation, acculturation, and assimilation in Prussian and Austrian Poland; the politics of integration in the Kingdom of Poland; and the failure of forced integration in the tsarist empire. The third part of the book considers the deterioration of the position of the Jews in the period from 1881 to 1914 and the new Jewish politics that led to the development of new movements: Zionism, socialism, autonomism, the emergence of modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature, Jewish urbanization, and the rise of Jewish mass culture. Galicia, Prussian Poland, the Kingdom of Poland, and the tsarist empire are all treated individually, as are the main towns. The final part deals with the twentieth century. Starting from the First World War and the establishment of the Soviet Union, it deals in turn with Poland, Lithuania, and the Soviet Union up to the Second World War. It then reviews Polish—Jewish relations during the Second World War and examines the Soviet record and the Holocaust. The final chapters deal with the Jews in the Soviet Union and in Poland since 1945, concluding with an epilogue on the Jews in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia since the collapse of communism.

Boundaries—physical, political, social, religious, and cultural—were a key feature of life in medieval and early modern Poland, and this volume focuses on the ways in which these boundaries were respected, crossed, or otherwise negotiated. It throws new light on the contacts between Jews and Poles, including the vexed question of conversion and the tensions it aroused. The collected articles also discuss relations between the various elements of Jewish society—the wealthy and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, and the religious and the lay elites, considering too contacts between Jews in Poland and those in Germany and elsewhere. Classic studies by such eminent scholars as Meir Bałaban, Jacob Goldberg, and Moshe Rosman provide a foil for new research by Hanna Zaremska and David Frick, as well as Adam Teller, Magda Teter, Elisheva Carlebach, Jürgen Heyde, and Adam Kaźmierczyk. Taken together, the contributions on this central theme help redefine the Jewish history of pre-modern Poland. As ever, the New Views section examines a wide variety of other topics. These include accusations of ritual murder in nineteenth-century Poland; the Russian Jewish integrationist politician Mikhail Morgulis; the attitude of Bolesław Prus towards Jewish assimilation and his relationship with the Jewish journalist Nahum Sokolow; women in the Mizrahi movement in Poland; Polish patriotism among Jews; the impact of the first Soviet occupation of 1939–41 on Polish–Jewish relations; how the war affected the views of Julian Tuwim and Antoni Słonimski; the shtetl in the work of American Jewish writers Allen Hoffman and Jonathan Safran Foer; and the initial Polish response to Jan Gross's Fear.

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The present volume charts ways that may allow a larger number of historians to experiment with the comparative method. It contains articles that deal with the history and problems of comparative history as well as studies that demonstrate the potential of symmetrical, asymmetrical, parallel and cross comparisons. The studies include comparisons of the Roman and Inca empires, of Muslim networks of renewal of the eighteenth century, of serfdom in Russia and slavery in the American South, of early modern European expansion and present-day globalization, of modern welfare states, and of multiple modernities. Comparative studies of feudalism exemplify some of the method’s pitfalls. The volume concludes with a report by three faculty members on the problems encountered while teaching a course in comparative history. Contributors: Peter Baldwin, Elisheva Baumgarten, Esther Cohen, Michael Confino, S.N. Eisenstadt, Tamar Herzog, Benjamin Kedar, Jürgen Kocka, Sabine MacCormack, Diego Olstein, Susan Reynolds and Ruth Roded.

« Le Retour de la question juive ? » D’entrée de jeu, un problème. S’agit-il de la « question » juive ou du « fait » juif ? Au fil des textes qui compoent ce volume de Perspectives, la réflexion oscille entre ces options et relance l’interrogation. Mais pour ce qui est du « retour », autre élément de notre titre, aucun doute, le sujet revient, redevient d’actualité. Mais sous quelles formes ? Des penseurs venus des horizons intellectuels les plus divers (philosophes, historiens, politologues ou psychanalystes) se sont penchés sur ce retour de la question juive. Question “éternelle”, comme le dit la carte postale qui orne la couverture de ce nouveau numéro de Perspectives, mais aussi, hélas, contemporaine.

The Definitive History of Postwar Europe for Our Time Tony Judt's Postwar is cause for celebration. The product of a decade's labor, it is sweeping narrative history in the grand tradition, a deeply learned and absorbing chronicle of Europe since the fall of Berlin, weaving East and West, North and South, into a Majestic sixty-year tapestry studded with brilliant new insight.

This second volume in Judaism of the Second Temple Period considers why the Book of Daniel was the only apocalyptic work incorporated in the biblical canon. It further addresses the fact that while it is the only apocalyptic book composed before the destruction of the Second Temple, it nonetheless describes events subsequent to the revelation at Sinai.