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6. Twilight in the far west
Barry Cunliffe
in Druids: A Very Short Introduction
Irish vernacular literature reveals Irish Druids, in the centuries before Christianity, as men of power, established in royal courts and serving as intermediaries between gods and men. ...
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2. The European theatre
Barry Cunliffe
in Druids: A Very Short Introduction
There has been a tendency to regard druidism as a largely western European phenomenon of the late Iron Age, partly because La Tène material culture is found in all the areas in which the ...
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3. The archaeology of religious practice at the time of the Druids
Barry Cunliffe
in Druids: A Very Short Introduction
‘The archaeology of religious practice at the time of the Druids’ considers a range of archaeological data relevant to the intellectual life and belief systems of the inhabitants of Gaul ...
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8. Two hidden treasures
Luke Timothy Johnson
in The New Testament: A Very Short Introduction
‘Two hidden treasures’ examines the anonymous composition known as the Letter to the Hebrews (or simply “Hebrews”), and the Letter of James. Hebrews highlights aspects of the symbolic world ...
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4. Ritual and transformation
Barry Stephenson
in Ritual: A Very Short Introduction
There are many rites that traffic in symbols and processes of transformation: healing rites, funerary rites, magic, sacrifice, rites of inversion, and rites of passage. Ritual theorists ...
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5. Altars steeped in human blood
Barry Cunliffe
in Druids: A Very Short Introduction
According to ‘Altars steeped in human blood’, the Posidonian tradition presents a coherent picture of the ritual and religious world of the Celts, where the Druids were wise philosophers, ...
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3. The religions of Abraham: Jewish understandings of God
John Bowker
in God: A Very Short Introduction
‘The religions of Abraham: Jewish understandings of God’ looks at Judaism in detail and the foundations in the Biblical period in order to show how the distinctive Jewish understandings of ...
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2. Assyrian places
Karen Radner
in Ancient Assyria: A Very Short Introduction
‘Assyrian places’ considers the exploration of key sites that provide insight into Assyria’s rediscovery since the mid-19th century. Firstly, it looks at the city where everything ...
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3. Assyrians at home
Karen Radner
in Ancient Assyria: A Very Short Introduction
‘Assyrians at home’ describes the great variety of living conditions and human experiences in the Assyrian Empire in the 7th century, the period when the source material is most numerous ...
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4. Assyrians abroad
Karen Radner
in Ancient Assyria: A Very Short Introduction
‘Assyrians abroad’ captures snapshots of Assyrian lives far away from the city of Aššur and Assyrian heartland through a range of primary sources from different periods. Accounts of ...
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5. Foreigners in Assyria
Karen Radner
in Ancient Assyria: A Very Short Introduction
‘Foreigners in Assyria’ looks at Assyrian interactions with the wider world by focusing on foreigners in the city of Aššur and how they got there. The first two cases explore Assyrian ...
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Ritual: A Very Short Introduction
Barry Stephenson
Ritual is part of what it means to be human. It defines and enriches culture, but what is ritual? What are the various kinds of ritual? Is ritual tradition bound and conservative or ...
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2. Ritual and the origins of culture
Barry Stephenson
in Ritual: A Very Short Introduction
From an ethological perspective, ritual must have been present at the beginnings of humanity and ritualization played an adaptive role in the course of both biological and cultural ...
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4. Herodotus as ethnographer
Jennifer T. Roberts
in Herodotus: A Very Short Introduction
‘Herodotus as ethnographer’ explains how Herodotus's natural curiosity led him to pioneer a new field that would greatly broaden his fellow Greeks' understanding of the human community and ...
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1. The Druids in time and space
Barry Cunliffe
in Druids: A Very Short Introduction
According to ‘The Druids in time and space’, the texts mentioning Druids are drawn from wide tracts of territory over long spans of time. Classical texts describe them as philosophers, ...
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4. Cosmovision and human sacrifice
Davíd Carrasco
in The Aztecs: A Very Short Introduction
‘Cosmovision and human sacrifice’ investigates the facts behind Aztec human sacrifices. Human sacrifice undoubtedly happened, but the extent to which it did was hotly disputed. Eyewitness ...
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Druids: A Very Short Introduction
Barry Cunliffe
The Druids: A Very Short Introduction sets out to answer the questions: Who were the Druids? What do we know about them? Do they still exist today? The Druids first came into ...
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7. Renaissance and rediscovery
Barry Cunliffe
in Druids: A Very Short Introduction
‘Renaissance and rediscovery’ reveals that in the 16th century, Classical texts were rediscovered and, with them, the Celts and the Druids. The French and British embraced the warrior ...
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The Aztecs: A Very Short Introduction
David Carrasco
The Aztecs: A Very Short Introduction employs the disciplines of history, religious studies, and anthropology as it illuminates the complexities of Aztec life. This VSI looks ...
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1. The city of Tenochtitlan: center of the Aztec world
Davíd Carrasco
in The Aztecs: A Very Short Introduction
‘The city of Tenochtitlan: center of the Aztec world’ describes Tenochtitlan. The Spanish expeditionary forces, led by Hernan Cortés, were amazed by Tenochtitlan. It lay at the heart of a ...
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