Search citation statements
Paper Sections
Citation Types
Year Published
Publication Types
Relationship
Authors
Journals
The use of writing in the development of Greek law was unique. In this comparative study Professor Gagarin shows the reader how Greek law developed and explains why it became so different from the legal systems with which most legal historians are familiar. While other early communities wrote codes of law for academic or propaganda purposes, the Greeks used writing extensively to make their laws available to a relatively large segment of the community. On the other hand, the Greeks made little use of writing in litigation whereas other cultures used it extensively in this area, often putting written documents at the heart of the judicial process. Greek law thereby avoided becoming excessively technical and never saw the development of a specialised legal profession. This book will be of interest to those with an interest in the history of law, as well as ancient historians.
The use of writing in the development of Greek law was unique. In this comparative study Professor Gagarin shows the reader how Greek law developed and explains why it became so different from the legal systems with which most legal historians are familiar. While other early communities wrote codes of law for academic or propaganda purposes, the Greeks used writing extensively to make their laws available to a relatively large segment of the community. On the other hand, the Greeks made little use of writing in litigation whereas other cultures used it extensively in this area, often putting written documents at the heart of the judicial process. Greek law thereby avoided becoming excessively technical and never saw the development of a specialised legal profession. This book will be of interest to those with an interest in the history of law, as well as ancient historians.
In a medieval context, it is often difficult to distinguish between a translation and an original work. Is it appropriate to call the Old Norse version of Chrétien de Troyes' Le Conte du Graal a translation? Or do we need entirely new terminology to discuss medieval adaptation, transformation, and translation of texts?
The written residue of oral tradition from the medieval Nordic world encompasses a wide variety of pan-national genres, including charms, legends, and genealogical lore, but modern scholarly attention has generally focused on two areas: (1) the prose (and often prosimetrical) Icelandic sagas and (2) traditional poetry in its two dominant forms, eddic and scaldic. Many factors play into this somewhat restricted image of what constituted oral tradition in the hyperborean Middle Ages-obviously, manuscript preservation and the issue of what materials have come down to us are key elements, but so too are, among others, the effects of early modern nation-building, nineteenth-century nationalism, and contemporary aesthetic tastes. Certainly one important aspect of the emphasis on saga literature is the broad appeal the Icelandic sagas hold for modern audiences, a fascination easily apprehended in that they are characteristically complex narratives exhibiting sophisticated literary portraiture and realistically detailed events. The topics of the sagas vary from historical, legendary, religious, and contemporary themes to the completely fantastic, and as such they offer an inclusive and panoramic view of medieval Nordic cultural life, narrative imagination, and attitudes toward the past and the heroic. Whether these marvelous medieval texts are to be seen as (1) reflections of a vibrant oral culture absorbing and codifying elements of the world around their authors, or (2) merely reflexes of written texts borrowed from abroad, or (3) some compromise between the two extremes, borrowing freely from available foreign models but also incorporating much native tradition, has historically dominated perceptions and scholarly debates about the sagas (Andersson 1964), and although occasionally new models emerge (Lönnroth 1976), it is clear that the weight of the nativist-anti-nativist arguments remains a powerful influence on academic treatments of the topic. Eddic poetry principally concerns itself with mythological and heroic themes, whereas scaldic verse tends toward praise, memorial, and occasional poetry, but it should be noted that scaldic panegyrics also take up, for example,
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.