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The Wisdom of the Ancients
- Author
- H.A. Drake
- Narrator
- Kent Klineman
- Publisher
- Highbridge Company
- Publish Date
- 13 May 2025
- Run Time
- 4 hours 43 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Ancient history
What to expect
The four ideas, as author H. A. Drake proposes, are monotheism, the idea that there is only one god, not many; individual rights, the idea that there is a limit to what the state can order us to do; naturalized citizenship, the idea that the full rights and privileges of citizenship can be extended to people who have no birthright to them; and creation of a standard by which to judge the performance of states. It is easy, now, to take these ideas for granted. By discussing these ideas in their historical context with clarity and wit, The Wisdom of the Ancients reminds listeners how preposterous they were originally and how different our world would be if they had not taken hold.
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Details
- Author
- H.A. Drake
- Narrator
- Kent Klineman
- Duration
- 4 hours 43 minutes
- Release Date
- 13 May 2025
- ISBN
- 9781696695015
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Highbridge Company
- Genre
- Ancient history
Synopsis
This book is about four cornerstones of modern thought that were put in place by people living in the ancient Mediterranean world. It covers approximately 2,000 years in time (from ca. 1000 BCE to 1000 CE) and spatially moves from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia (roughly, modern Iraq), through Greece and Rome, to the new Germanic states growing in what is now western Europe.The four ideas, as author H. A. Drake proposes, are monotheism, the idea that there is only one god, not many; individual rights, the idea that there is a limit to what the state can order us to do; naturalized citizenship, the idea that the full rights and privileges of citizenship can be extended to people who have no birthright to them; and creation of a standard by which to judge the performance of states. It is easy, now, to take these ideas for granted. By discussing these ideas in their historical context with clarity and wit, The Wisdom of the Ancients reminds listeners how preposterous they were originally and how different our world would be if they had not taken hold.
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