martedì 13 dicembre 2011

Festivals, Feasts, and Gender Relations in Ancient China and Greece

Festivals, Feasts, and Gender Relations in Ancient China and Greece
Yiqun Zhou

Nell'antica Cina e la Grecia sono due civiltà classiche che hanno esercitato un'influenza di vasta portata in numerose aree dell'esperienza umana e sono spesso invocati come i paradigmi in confronto Est-Ovest. Questo libro esamina le relazioni di genere nei due società antiche che si riflette in contesti conviviali come banchetti di famiglia, feste pubbliche e feste religiose. Due modelli distinti di affinità interpersonali e conflitti emergono dalle fonti cinesi e greci che mostrano uomini e donne organizzarsi e di interagire con gli altri in occasioni sociali destinati per lo svolgimento collettivo di piacere. Attraverso l'analisi dei due diversi modelli, Yiqun Zhou illumina i diversi meccanismi socio-politici, sistemi di valori, e tessuti di legami umani nelle due tradizioni classiche. Il suo libro sarà importante per i lettori che sono interessati allo studio comparativo delle società, studi di genere, storia delle donne, e l'eredità di civiltà.

mercoledì 7 dicembre 2011

Il libro - I rotoli di seta degli artisti dal Quattrocento al Milleottocento propongono un mondo evanescente ma compatto che ha avuto grande influenza sull’arte occidentale moderna e contemporanea

L’Unità 24.11.2011
PITTURA CINESE COME SOGNI FATTI CON L’INCHIOSTRO
Il libro - I rotoli di seta degli artisti dal Quattrocento al Milleottocento propongono un mondo evanescente ma compatto che ha avuto grande influenza sull’arte occidentale moderna e contemporanea
Edizione preziosa, Restituisce al lettore le monocromie e lo sfumato continuo
Il Taoismo, Umiltà verso la natura che si manifestava con la tensione al vuoto
Gli echi Da Van Gogh a Picasso da Monet a Rothko da Matisse a Pollock
Giuseppe Montesano

Sommesso, quieto, sfumato, malinconico, felice, in ombra, in sonno, in sogno: è così che ci appare il mondo dipinto sui rotoli di seta dai pittori cinesi dal Quattrocento al Milleottocento dopo Cristo, un mondo evanescente ma compatto, divagante ma come racchiuso in se stesso alla maniera di un nocciolo in un frutto, nel quale si può entrare solo con la giusta dose di tatto e di esitante stupore: è quello che ci rivela un volume affascinante, dalla veste grafica innovativa e preziosa, pubblicato dall’Electa con un titolo essenziale: Pittura cinese dal V al XIX secolo.
QUALITÀ DELLE RIPRODUZIONI
Il libro dell’Electa è importante e nuovo per la qualità delle riproduzioni in esso contenute, che restituiscono in maniera molto soddisfacente il tono stesso di questa pittura, permettendo addirittura di leggere la grana delle sete sui cui i dipinti sono stati stesi, e lasciando intatto tutto il ton-sur-ton, le monocromie e lo sfumato continuo che la grafia-pittura cinese adoperava, quasi a indicare al primo sguardo che la pittura, come avrebbe detto poi Leonardo, era un’arte onirica che comincia a partire dalle macchie e dalle crepe su un muro e non dalla riproduzione del reale.
In questo universo cinese di quieti e solitudini senza fine le cascate scendono da monti a strapiombo con delicata e vorticosa abissalità, le foglie delle piante si animano ingrandite e vive di un’esistenza sovrannaturale, le rocce crescono simili a vegetazioni o a forme animali, acqua e pioggia e alberi si scambiano i ruoli in una placida metamorfosi, gli animali sono visti come se fossero ricostruiti attraverso la sbadata ma esatta precisione della memoria, e gli esseri umani nel paesaggio sono sempre minuscoli ed effimeri contemplatori.
Perché la natura è così animata e l’uomo scompare in essa? Forse si potrebbe contemplare uno dei capolavori dell’epoca Song, il Fiore di loto sull’acqua, dipinto da un Anonimo intorno all’anno 1100, e tutto apparirebbe chiaro: sul ventaglio di seta si apre nella sua piena fioritura un fiore rosa visto in un primo piano che abolisce ogni altra cosa, un fiore dove il rosa sfuma fino quasi al bianco e sembra respirare come una bocca che ali- ti; o da questo passare al Drago di Chen Rong, sempre in epoca Song, dipinto con il solo inchiostro nero, vertiginosamente fatto non di presenza ma di assenza, di vuoti e bianchi che danno alla figura serpentiforme una potenza e un movimento vertiginosi nella tranquillità; e poi osservare L’uccel- lo attirato dalla frutta matura di Lin Chun, non un uccello reale per quanto verissimo, ma un frammento di una felicità terrestre che è stata pensata in mezzo a guerre e distruzioni e per questo forse più teneramente rilucente.
NELLE EPOCHE CLASSICHE
Nella Cina delle epoche classiche il Taoismo spingeva gli artisti a un atteggiamento di profonda umiltà nei confronti della natura, un atteggiamento che si manifestava nell’arte di togliere: il Vuoto del Tao, che è la perfezione, non sarà mai raggiunto se non nella meditazione in cui l’uomo si trasforma: ma l’arte può fare spazio a quel Vuoto che è il vero potere della natura, allo stesso modo in cui il Non-Agire, il Wu-Wei, è il cuore di ogni crescita e di ogni moto.
In questo senso i maggiori artisti cinesi furono liberi dall’idea di imitazione delle superfici, e guadagnarono l’accesso a una realtà che non era basata sull’illusione ottica della tridimensionalità, ma sulla contemplazione che sgombra la mente e le permette di assorbire dentro di sé il mondo che appare: basterebbe confrontare la frutta dipinta da Caravaggio giovane, lussuosamente visibile e vistosamente imitata a partire dalla superficie, con la frutta di Lin Chun, archetipo fragile di una frutta spuntata nell’Eden dell’immaginazione.
LE TRACCE
Su questa via l’influenza della pittura cinese e giapponese sull’arte moderna e contemporanea, attraverso Van Gogh, Degas, Monet e fino a Wols e oltre, è stata incalcolabile. Ciò che anima la geometria dolente e illuminata di Paul Klee o le curve musicali di Kandinskij proviene in parte da lì; le tracce essenziali che Picasso imparò a fare intorno al vuoto e gli arabeschi puri di Matisse sono lontani eredi di quelle metamorfosi; e certe sospese atmosfere di Pollock e Rothko sono inspiegabili se alle spalle del loro senso afferrato sull’orlo del non-senso non si scorge lo sprezzo dell’imitazione disceso per vie extravaganti dalla grande pittura orientale, cinese e giapponese.
Ma l’artista cinese sa che la realtà del mondo naturale è inattingibile, e che a lui, come a un jazzista trascendente che faccia cadere l’in- chiostro al ritmo di una inudibile musica, resta solo il tocco di pennello ambiguamente oscillante tra scrittura e pittura, un movimento che non permette ripensamenti e vive nell’acme emotivo dell’improvvisazione, concentrato nell’attimo fragile e sognato che non torna: o torna solo in sogno.

sabato 3 dicembre 2011

Greek Science of the Hellenistic Era: A Sourcebook

Greek Science of the Hellenistic Era: A Sourcebook
(Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World)

Georgia L. Irby-Massie, Paul T. Keyser

Tutti noi vogliamo capire il mondo intorno a noi, e gli antichi greci furono i primi a cercare di farlo in un modo che possiamo chiamare propriamente scientifica. Il loro pensiero e gli scritti ha posto le basi essenziali per le riprese della scienza nella Baghdad medievale e rinascimentale in Europa. Ora il loro lavoro è accessibile a tutti, con questa introduzione inestimabile per c. 100 autori scientifica attiva da 320 aC a 230 dC. Il libro inizia con un contorno di un nuovo modello socio-politico per lo sviluppo e il declino della scienza greca, seguito da undici capitoli che coprono le principali discipline: * la scienza che i greci vedevano come fondamentali - la matematica * * astrologia astronomia e geografia * * ottica meccanica e pneumatica * la non-matematiche di alchimia, la biologia, la medicina e 'psicologia'. ogni capitolo contiene un'introduzione accessibile sulle origini e lo sviluppo del tema in questione, e tutti gli autori si trovano in contesto con brevi biografie .

contenuti:
PREFACE
Note added in proof
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FIGURE AND MAPS CREDITS
TIMELINE OF AUTHORS EXCERPTED
1 INTRODUCTION
2 MATHEMATICS
2.1 Eukleidês
Elements
1 Definitions
Postulates [1–3 assert that space is continuous and infinite]
Common notions [equality of geometrical figures means either in length or area as appropriate]
1.47 [“Pythagoras’ Theorem”]
2.11 [constructing the proportion used in the Parthenon, which we call
3.16 [the infinitesimal “horn-angle” between a circle and a tangent line]
7 Definitions [numbers are usually represented by the length of a line-segment]
9.20 [prime numbers]
9.35 [sum of geometric series]
10 Definitions [commensurable and incommensurable numbers: Fowler [1992]]
10.1 [Eudoxos’ approach to the limit bypassing infinitesimals (“exhaustion”)]
10.3 [greatest common divisor]
12.2 [“exhaustion” used to determine circular area]
12.10 [Demokritos’ theorem]
2.2 Archimedes
Area of the Circle [surviving only in a paraphrased version; see Dijksterhuis [1956/1987] 222–240]
Spirals
Definitions 1 [the figure discovered by Archimedes, based on which he built the screw and the auger; see Dijksterhuis [1956/1987] 264–285]
Sand-Reckoner
3.1–4 [expressing large numbers in base-one-hundred-million: see Dijksterhuis [1956/1987] 360–373; compare the base-ten-thousand system of Apollonios of Pergê’s lost Okutokion in which he calculated “pi”; Archimedes in this work is replying to the Greek proverb that the grains of sand are innumerable, as in Pindar, Olympians 2.98]
Method
Praeface [quadrature of the parabola: compare Dijksterhuis [1956/1987] 313–318]
2.3 Eratosthenes
Duplication of the Cube [using a mechanical calculator similar to a slide-rule]
Epigram
2.4 Apollonios
Conics
1 Preface
Proposition 8 [our “parabola”—so named by Apollonios in Proposition 11]
2.5 Combinatorics:
(in Plutarch, Dinner-table Talk 8.9)
2.6 Heron
Mensurations
1.8 [area of triangle]
2.7 Menelaus
Spherics
1 Definitions
2.8 Nikomachos
Introduction to Arithmetic
1.13 [sieve of Eratosthenes]
2.8–10 [polygonal numbers; compare Theon, Mathematics 1.19]
2.9 Ptolemy
Syntaxis
1.10.1–10 [Trigonometry: Toomer [1973]]
2.10 Diophantos
Arithmetika
1 Praeface [“Algebra”]
1.28 [quadratic equations]
2.8
2.11 Anatolios
On the Decade
About the monad [compare Theon of Smurna, Mathematics 2.40]
About the heptad [compare Theon of Smurna, Mathematics 2.46; underlined passages probably belong at the respective symbols]
About the decade
3 ASTRONOMY
3.1 Autolukos
Moving Sphere 6
Risings and Settings
2.2–4
3.2 Klearchos
(title unknown) [“Man in the moon”]
3.3 Aristarchos
Sizes and Distances
Hypotheses [sun and moon]
2
3.4 Chrusippos
Providence
Book 1 [Here he is describing the Stoic teaching that the kosmos periodically is consumed by flame and in a way reborn; compare Plato, Timaios 33cd, “the kosmos is continuously eating and excreting itself.”]
3.5 Apollonios
3.6 Hegesianax
3.7 Hupsikles
Anaphorikos
4.1–4 [rising times of zodiac signs]
3.8 Hipparchos
(various works) [length of the year]
Displacement of the Solistical and Equinoctial Points
3.9 Theodosios
Spherics
1 Definitions
1.11
1.17
1.20
2.1–2
2.6–7
3.10 Poseidonios
(title unknown)
fr. 131b E-K [origin of comets]
3.11 Alexander
3.12 Anonymous
Kosmos
2 (392a6–31) [aither: star material]
3.13 Xenarchos
Against the Fifth Element
1–8
3.14 Geminus
Phainomena
1.13–17 [solstices and equinoxes]
5.54–61, 68–69 [horizon]
3.15 Aristokles
3.16 Apollinarius
(title unknown) [length of month]
3.17 Plutarch
The Face in the Moon
8 (924d–f) [the moon could be “lunar” material in its proper place]
25 (940a–e) [life on the moon?]
3.18 Theon
Mathematics
3.33 [a quasi-heliocentric theory from ca. 90±50, known also to Vitruuius 9.1.6]
3.19 Ptolemy
Syntaxis
7.4 On the method used to record the positions of the fixed stars
7.5
9.2 [planetary theory is much more difficult]
Planetary Hypotheses
1.1.8 [model of the sun: see Murschel [1995]]
1.2.2 [arrangement of heavenly bodies]
2.3 [the stars are divine and self-willed bodies]
3.20 Sosigenes
On the Counteracting Spheres [varying distances from us of the planets]
4 ASTROLOGY
4.1 Berôsos
Babyloniaka
Book 1 (fr. 4) [the moon]
4.2 Aratos
Phainomena
19–44 [stars and constellations: the Bears]
63–70 [Herakles]
254–267 [Pleiades]
4.3 Eratosthenes
Constellations
12 [Leo: like Scorpion and Twins, a Babylonian constellation; compare Ptolemy, Syntaxis 7.5.26]
43–44 [Planets, and the “Milk”]
4.4 Petosiris
fr. 7 [signs from eclipses; compare Dorotheos 1.1.4–8]
fr. 10 [signs from comets; fr. 9 is a longer list of comet types: see Keyser [1994b]]
4.5 Hipparchos
Commentary on Aratos’ “Phainomena”
3.5.1–6 [rising times of the fixed stars: employed especially in horoscopes]
4.6 Imbrasios
Predictions about the Sick
2 [lunar effects on illness]
13 [moon in Water-Pourer]
4.7 Dorotheos
Judgments from the Stars about Nativities
1.1
2–3 [planetary rulers]
1.1.9–1.2.2 [on “upliftings” or “exaltations” and “abasements” or “humiliations” see Theon of Smurna, Mathematics 3.12 (northward position of planet) and Vettius Valens 2.19, 3.4]
1.6 The power of the seven planets [contrast Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos 1.4–5: Sun and Ares are hot and dry; Kronos cool and dry; moon moist; Zeus and Aphrodite temperate; and Hermes mutably wet and dry]
1.24 [fortune and property, horoscopes 2, 3, and 4]
4.8 Geminus
Phainomena
17.1–25 [arguments against astrology: weather signs]
4.9 Balbillos
Astrologoumena [concerning the length of life from starter and destroyer]
4.10 Thessalos
Remedies
Praeface 27–28
Book 1, chapter: Twins
Book 2, chapter: Kronos
4.11 Pitenius
4.12 Manethon
Apotelesmatika
1(2).399–445 [sun and moon signs]
2(3).399–428 [length of life; Titan and Huperíon both mean the sun]
3(6).1–34 [children]
3(6).738–750 [Manethon’s nativity]
4.13 Ptolemy
Tetrabiblos
1.1–2 [how astrology works]
2.2 [“national” characteristics—like many earlier Greeks, Ptolemy regards the Mediterranean basin as the most moderate clime]
3.1 [conception and birth as proper moments for a horoscope]
4.14 Antigonos
4.15 Vettius Valens
Anthologies
7.6 127–160 [common fate of six men in a boat]
7.4 11–15 [infant death]
5 GEOGRAPHY
5.1 Hanno
Periplous [voyage down the west coast of Africa]
5.2 Putheas
On the Ocean
(in Strabo 2.4.1) [the island of Thoulê]
(in Geminus 6.9) [“the sun’s bedroom”: one of the few verbal quotations]
5.3 Straton
On Heaven
(fr. 91W paraphrased in Strabo 1.3.4) [seas]
5.4 Eratosthenes
Measurement of the Earth
(fr. in Kleomedes 1.10) [Aristotle On Heaven 2.14 (298a16–20) reports that the “mathematicians” had determined the size of the earth as 40 myriad stades in circumference; then around 304±3 Dikaiarchos repeated the measurement, finding 30 myriads by a method similar to Eratosthenes: see Kleomedes 1.8.3; Archimedes, Sand-Reckoner 1.8; Collinder [1964]; Keyser [2001].]
Geography
Book 1 (in Strabo 1.3.4) [In the first book he rejected Homer as a geographical authority, remarking “you’ll find where Odysseus wandered when you find the cobbler who sewed up the bag of winds”; here he wonders whether the division of land and sea is eternal.]
Book 3 (paraphrased in Strabo 2.1.22) [His map employed data gathered in the aftermath of Alexander’s conquests, and his sphragidês served as a general framework to avoid privileging any local perspective; for Eratosthenes, the proper division of humanity was not racial but ethical, as he insisted at the end of book 2.]
5.5 Agatharchides
On the Red Sea
Book 5, fr. 30–34 [fisheaters]
5.6 Seleukos
(title unknown)
(fr. in Strabo 3.5.9) [lunar theory of tides]
5.7 Polubios
History
2.14.4–12 [Italy and the Po valley]
5.8 Hipparchos
Geography
Book 3 (fr. 46–52 D. from Strabo) [determining latitude]
5.9 Skumnos
Periplous
139–166 [south coast of Spain]
167–195 [south coast of Gaul]
5.10 Poseidonios
On the Ocean
(fr. 49c E-K in Strabo 2.3.4) [circumnavigation of Africa]
(fr. 217 E-K in Strabo 3.5.7–8) [theory of tides: the diagram is reconstructed]
5.11 Anonymous
Kosmos
3 (392b14–393b23) [the Earth’s oceans]
5.12 Strabo
Geography
4.5.4–5 [Ireland and “Thoulê,” islands at the western edge of the world]
5.2.7 [Corsica and Sardinia; Theophrastos, Plant Researches 5.8.1–2, describes Kurnos as thickly wooded]
5.13 Anonymous
Voyage on the Red Sea [(15–18) an accurate description of the coast of Somalia and Kenya, known as “Azania,” down to Dar es Salaam; after which “the coast bends to the west and joins the western ocean”]
5.14 Heron
Dioptra
35 [determining longitude intervals]
5.15 Plutarch
The Face in the Moon
26 (941a–c) [“Atlantis”]
5.16 Marinos
Geography
Book 3 (quoted in Ptolemy, Geography 1.7.4, 1.7.6) [navigation by the stars]
Book? (in Ptolemy, Geography 1.11–14) [the route to China]
5.17 Theon
Mathematics
3.2 [sphericity of the Earth]
3.3 [sphericity of ocean]
3.3 [heights of mountains]
5.18 Arrian
Voyage on the Black Sea
8 [Phasis River]
21 [island of Achilles]
5.19 Ptolemy
Geography
1.1 [introduction; scope of geography]
3.2 [Corsica]
6 MECHANICS
6.1 Eukleidês,
Division of the Scale
Praeface [mechanical production of sound]
6.2 Epikouros
Letter to Herodotos
38–61 [atomic theory]
6.3 Straton
Motion
(quoted by Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle’s “Physics” p. 916 Diels)
6.4 Chrusippos
(title unknown)
(paraphrase in Ioannes of Stobi, Selections 1.161)
(title unknown)
(paraphrase in Ioannes of Stobi, Selections 1.166) [structure of the kosmos]
6.5 Archimedes
Plane Equilibrium
Postulates
Proposition 6 [how the balance works]
6.6 Philon
War-machines
Praeface (pp. 49–50 Wescher) [principles]
(pp. 69–70 Wescher) [spring catapult: see Marsden [1971/1999] 175–176]
(pp. 73–74, 76–77 Wescher) [repeating catapult]
6.7 Biton
War-machines
5 (pp. 57–60 Wescher) [scaling ladder]
6.8 Hipparchos
Bodies Carried Down by Their Weight
(paraphrased by Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle’s “On Heaven” pp. 264–265 Heiberg) [acceleration]
6.9 Athenaios
Mechanics
11 (14.4–15.2 Wescher) [wall-borer]
18–23 (21.2–26.5 Wescher) [“tortoise”—material added from Vitruuius 10.15.2–7 is in italics]
6.10 Apollonios
On Hippokrates’ “joints”, Book 2 [spine]
6.11 Heron
Mechanics
1.20–21 [weights]
2.1.1 [simple machines (surviving in Greek)]
2.3 [pulley (surviving in Greek)]
3.2.1–2 [the crane (surviving in Greek): compare Vitruuius 10.2.8]
Automatic Theatre
1.1.1–8
1.2.1–12
1.4.1–13
1.14.1–2
War-machines
Praeface (pp. 71–74 Wescher) [why study artillery]
Pneumatics
1.43 [organ: here emphasizing mechanics of the device rather than properties of air; compare Chapter 8.5 (Aristokles)]
6.12 Plutarch
Platonic Puzzles
7.5 (1005) [reporting Aristotle’s doctrine of projectile motion: Physics 8.10 (266b27–267a22)]
6.13 Ailian
Commentary on the “Timaios”
Book 2 (from Porphyry, Commentary on Ptolemy’s “Harmonics”) [mechanical nature of sound]
6.14 Ptolemy
Harmonics
1.3.3 How the height and depth that relates to sounds is constituted
6.15 Galen
Motion
(from Alexander of Aphrodisias’ Refutation 62b21–63a1, 63a5–7, 63a9–17)
(from the same, 63b23–64a1)
7 OPTICS
7.1 Eukleidês,
Optics
Definitions
1 Nothing that is seen is seen all at once
2 Nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant objects of equal size
12 Of magnitudes extending forward, those on the right seem inclined toward the left, and those on the left toward the right [perspective of roads and buildings]
16 As the eye approaches objects of unequal size which rise one upon another above the eye, the shorter one appears to gain height, but as the eye recedes the taller one appears to gain [e.g., mountains]
19 To know how great is a given height when the sun is not shining [18 gives Thalês’ method; 19 gives Dikaiarchos’ method: see Chapter 5.4]
23 If a sphere is however seen by one eye, always less than a hemisphere is seen, and the part of the sphere that is seen appears as a circumference [compare Aristarchos, Sizes and Distances 2, Chapter 3.3]
51 If, when several objects move at unequal speed, the eye also moves in the same direction, the objects moving with the same speed as the eye will seem to stand still, those moving slower will seem to move in reverse, and those moving faster will seem to move ahead [racers passing]
52 When some objects are moved, and one is obviously not moved, the unmoved object will seem to move backward [a boat anchored in a river: Ptolemy, Optics 2.131–3]
54 When objects move at equal speed, the more remote seem to move slower [Ptolemy, Optics 2.1
55 If the eye remains at rest, while things seen are moved, the more remote of the things seen will seem to be left behind [moving ships]
57 When things lie at the same distance and the edges are not in line with the middle, it makes the whole figure sometimes concave, sometimes convex
7.2 Epikouros
Letter to Herodotos
46–48 [objects give off emanations]
Letter to Puthokles
91 [“The sun is peculiar in always appearing the same size from any distance”; compare below Archimedes, Agatharchides, and Poseidonios on the sun’s apparent size]
7.3 Archimedes
Sand-Reckoner
1.10–17 [the apparent size of the sun: see Dijksterhuis [1956/1987] 360–373]
7.4 Diokles,
Burning-Mirrors
1 Praeface
Prop. 1 [construction of a parabolic mirror]
7.5 Agatharchides
On the Red Sea
Book 5, fr. 107 [appearance of the sun; see Diodoros 3.48.2–4]
7.6 Poseidonios
On the Ocean (?)
fr. 119 E-K (in Strabo 3.1.5) [appearance of sun during sunsets]
7.7 Heron
Mirrors
Praeface [nature of vision, and what Heron covers]
3–4 [reflection at equal angles]
7.8 Plutarch
The Face in the Moon
17 (930a–d) [apparent exceptions to the equal-angles reflection law]
7.9 Ptolemy
Optics
2.13–14 [color]
2.28–31 [binocular vision]
2.107 [after-images, or residual coloring from mirrors and lenses]
2.133 [eyes of a painted face “following” viewer]
3.59 [illusions in depth-perception]
4.109–113 [concave mirrors magnify]
5.3–6 [experiments on angles of refraction]
7.10 Galen
Opinions of Hippokrates and Plato
7.5 [optical pneuma]
7.7
8 HYDROSTATICS AND PNEUMATICS
8.1 Theophrastos
Winds
1–12 [see Murray 1987]
16–17 [Meteorologika 2.5 (361 b14–20); pseudo-Aristotle, Problems 26.8, 21, 33–35: the sun affects winds]
20 [a standard Greek analogy, as in pseudo-Aristotle, Problems 26.48]
22–24 [air is not self-moving: compare Aristotle, Meteorologika 1.4 (342a24–27)]
26–27 [mechanical anti-Aristotelian explanation; compare pseudo-Aristotle, Problems 26.40: bays are full of variable winds]
35–36 [common features of winds]
44–46 [features of individual winds]
8.2 Straton
Void
(fr. paraphrased in Heron, Pneumatics 1 praeface [pp. 24.20–26.23 Schmidt]) [micro-voids: compare pseudo-Aristotle, Problems 11.49, 58; see Furley [1985]]
8.3 Archimedes
Floating Bodies 1
Postulate 1 [essential nature of liquids]
Proposition 1
Proposition 2
Proposition 5
Proposition 6
Proposition 7
8.4 Philon
War-machines
(pp. 77–78 Wescher) [air-spring catapult]
Pneumatics
1–2 [demonstration that air is corporeal]
4 [demonstrations that water is “attached” to air]
6 [demonstrating “attachment” of water to air using a siphon]
7 [“thermoscope,” named libas or “dripper” by Heron, Pneumatika 2.8]
8.5 Aristokles
Choruses
(fr. in Athenaios, Deipnosophists 4[174–5]) [water-organ: compare Section 6.11 (Heron)]
8.6 Heron
Dioptra
31
Pneumatics
1 Preface (pp. 2–4.13 Schmidt)
(pp. 6.23–8.22 Schmidt)
1.4 [constant-flux siphon: compare Drachmann [1976]]
1.20 [the toilet-bowl or chicken-waterer feedback device]
1.28 [the two-pistoned water-pump by Ktesibios, used as a fire-engine in Alexandria; Humphrey, Oleson and Sherwood [1998] 320]
1.42 [see also Vitruuius 10.8; the “hudraulis” water-organ by Ktesibios in a new version by Heron: Keyser [1988]]
1.43 [the windmill: see Section 6.11]
2.11 [anti-Aristotelian demonstration of rotary motion without friction and through reaction not contact; a cosmological model like 2.6 (sphere floating on stream of air) or 2.7 (sphere suspended by film of water); compare pseudo-Aristotle, kosmos 6 (398b13–20); see Keyser [1992a]]
8.7 Ptolemy
Weights
(reported by Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle’s “On Heaven” pp. 710–711 Heiberg)
9 ALCHEMY
9.1 Theophrastos
Stones [written around 312±2]
1–2 [properties]
16–17 [coal]
23–24 [“emerald”]
45–46 [touchstone, to test gold]
49 [glass]
53–54 [production of red ocher]
56 [making white lead]
57 [making verdigris]
60 [quicksilver]
65–66 [gypsum used to make plaster]
Odors
8
21–23 [use of bain-marie in making scents]
Fire
1 [troubling properties of fire]
12 [concentrated fire]
17 [paradoxical heating power of cold]
30–33 [varieties of flame]
59 [extinguishers]
9.2 Sotakos
Stones
(fr. in Apollonios, Marvels 36)
9.3 Epikouros
Letter to Herodotos
68–70 [nature of “physical attributes”]
9.4 Chrusippos
(title unknown)
(paraphrase in Ioannes of Stobi, Selections 1.129–130) [“element” defined]
(title unknown)
(paraphrase in Alexander of Aphrodisias, Mixture 3.3) [role of pneuma in mixture]
9.5 Bolos
Physical and Mystical Matters
3 [the key, revealed in a vision]
4 [making gold]
1 [purple-dye: originally from book 4, now the opening]
(title unknown) [cited as “Demokritos” in “Zosimos”; compare Theophrastos, Stones 60]
9.6 Poseidonios
(title unknown)
(fr. 235 E-K; paraphrase in Strabo 7.5.8) [asphalt]
9.7 Strabo
Geography
16.1.15 [asphalt]
9.8 Maria the Jewess
(title unknown)
(p. 171B) [theory]
(p. 182B) [copper]
(pp. 192–193B, p. 198B) [molubdochalk, leaded-copper, as quality-less metal, black lead]
(p. 146B) [the kêrotakis (Figure 9.2)]
(p. 236B) [the tribikos (
9.9 Anaxilaos
Paignia
(fr. in P.Stockholm, 2) [to make silver]
9.10 Dioskourides
Medical Materials
5.74 Kadmeia [impure zinc oxide] [P.Leyden X 105]
5.75.5–6 [sublimation of kadmeia]
5.76.1–2 [preparation of “burnt copper”]
5.84.3 [treatment of stibnite]
9.11 “Isis”
To Horus
7 [theory]
9 [whitening metal]
11 [softening metal]
13 [gold at last]
17 [arsenic vapor for silvering]
9.12 Kleopatra
9.13 Menelaus
Densities
1–2 [introduction]
4.1 [density of compounds]
5 [the Menelaus equation]
9.14 Plutarch
On the Principle of Cold
1 (945f–946a) [is “cold” a principle?]
15.2 (951c–e) [not air but water is cold]
19.1 (953d–e) [Earth’s core is icy]
21.1 (954d–f) [coldness of element earth]
9.15 Alexander
On Mixture
12.4 [how fire “mixes” with earthy materials]
15.3–4 [the separation of mixtures is not mechanical but qualitative]
9.16 Zosimos
On Sulfur (“Divine”) Water
(pp. 138–139B)
(unknown section) (pp. 129, 202–203B)
(unknown section) (p. 208B)
Final Account 1 (pp. 209, 239–240B)
(unknown section) [he asserts (10.3, p. 145B): “just as minute yeast transforms the entire loaf, so will a small bit of gold transform the whole”]
9.17 The Leyden Papyrus “X”
3 Purifying tin for mixing with asemos [“uncoined,” i.e., silver]
6 Doubling of asemos
25 Purifying silver [cupellation]
31 Recognizing whether tin is adulterated
35 Manufacture of asemos that is black like obsidian [Egyptian niello]
3 7 For giving to copper objects the appearance of gold
55 Another preparation of gold
9.18 The Stockholm Papyrus
43 (= 88) Preparation of smaragdos
61 Another recipe for whitening pearls
74 Preparation of verdigris for smaragdos from solid Cyprian copper
109 Collection of woad
110 Woad dye [familiar to Disokourides 2.185 and Pliny 20.59]
118 Another recipe for purple [a costly color often imitated: Pliny 9.125–141; “authentic” purple was derived from the murex shellfish: see Thompson [1947] 209–218]
135 (=155) Another recipe for purple
10 BIOLOGY: BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY
10.1 Theophrastos
Plant Researches
1.3.1 [categories]
2.1.1–2 [how plants start to grow]
4.4.8 [cotton]
4.7.7
4.6.1–4 [maritime plants]
6.3.1–3 [silphion, now probably extinct]
Plant Etiology
1.5 [spontaneous generation]
2.4.4–5 [soil types]
2.13.1–2 [effects of locale]
3.2.6 [best time to plant]
3.6.1 [fertilizer]
3.18.1 [plant gender]
5.17.1 [girdling]
On Fire
60 [the peculiar powers of the salamander]
10.2 Bolos
Farming
(fr. 81 paraphrased in Geoponica 15.2.21 38)
10.3 Agatharchides
On the Red Sea
Book 5, fr. 72 [the rhinoceros and its battles with elephants]
Book 5, fr. 77 [carnivorous bulls: Aristotle, Animal Researches 8(9).45 (630a18–b18), the aurochs; Ailian 17.45]
Book 5, fr. 99 [fragrant plants in Saba]
Book 5, fr. 110 [maritime olive trees and the sea fan]
10.4 Nikandros
Theriaka
157–189 [the asp (lines 159–160 excised as spurious)]
715–737 [deadly spiders]
10.5 Leonidas
Fishing
(fr. in Ailian, Animals’ Characters 2.6) [dolphins]
10.6 Poseidonios
(title unknown)
(fr. 241 E-K from Strabo 3.5.10) [unusual trees]
(title unknown)
(fr. 245 E-K from Strabo 17.3.4) [apes resemble people]
10.7 Damostratos,
Fishing
(fr. in Ailian, Animals’ Characters 13.21) [a “real” triton]
(fr. in Ailian, Animals’ Characters 15.9) [the fifteen-foot long “crane fish,” perhaps Regalecus banksi or Nemicthys scolopaceus]
10.8 Strabo
Geography
15.1.21 [amazing trees in India]
10.9 Alexander
Animals
Book 2 (fr. in Athenaios, Deipnosophists 9 [392c]) [quail]
Book? (fr. in Athenaios, Deipnosophists 5 [221b–d])
10.10 Philon
Animals
20–21 [intelligence of bees]
92 [Philon’s “refutation”]
10.11 Dioskourides
Medical Materials
1.8.1–2
1.77.1
2.106.1–2
2.159.1–2
3.5.1
3.148
3.149
4.20.1
10.12 Plutarch
Natural Questions
26 (918b–e) [animal instinct]
Animals’ Cleverness
10.3 (966e–7a) [spiders’ webs: Beavis [1988] 34–37, 40–42—and thirsty animals]
13.1 (968f–9a) [reconnoitering foxes]
16.1 (971a-d) [a clever mule: same tale in Ailian 7.42]
17.1 (972b) [smart elephants; also Philon, Animals 28 and Ailian 2.11: a literate elephant]
30.2 (980b–c) [sponges: compare Aristotle, Animal Researches 5.16 (548a10–19); same tale in Ailian 8.16]
10.13 Dionusios
Birds
1.6 [falcons and hawks]
1.32 [phoinix]
2.1 [introduction: waterfowl]
2.7 [pelican: Aristotle, Animal Researches 8(9).10 (614b27–30); Ailian 3.23 describes its piety: also in medieval Christian bestiaries, such as the “Physiologus,” which drew heavily on Greek theories of animal behavior]
10.14 Arrian
Hunting
4–5 [good dogs, and the best of the dogs]
7 [dogs’ character]
16 [hares worth hunting]
10.15 Ailian
Animals’ Characters
2.16 [Skuthian elk?]
2.17 [remora]
2.19 [bear]
3.16 [partridge]
3.41 [rhinoceros?—and possibly the origin of the unicorn fable]
9.24 [angler fish]
16.2 [marvelous birds of India]
10.16 Oppian
Fishing
5.62–108 [“guide fish”]
10.17 Anonymous
Hunting
3.20–62 [lions: compare Aristotle, Animal Researches 8(9).44 (629b5–630a8)]
11 MEDICINE
11.1 Theophrastos
Plant Etiology
6.13.1–4 [medicinal plants]
Plant Researches
9.8.2–8 [collecting botanicals]
9.16.4–5 [wolf’s bane: see Nikandros, Alexipharmaka 12–73]
9.17.1–2 [acquired resistance to drugs]
11.2 Praxagoras
Anatomy
(fr. 10S)
Associated Symptoms, Book 2
(fr. 90S) [diarrhea]
(title unknown)
(fr. 22–25S) [humours]
(title unknown)
(fr. 27S) [the pulse]
(title unknown)
(fr. 64S) [causes of diseases]
11.3 Herophilos
Anatomy
Book 2?, (fr. 60vS) [an accurate description of the human liver]
Book 3 (at outset; fr. 61vS) [ovaries]
Eyes
(fr. 260vS) [drug to improve vision]
Midwifery
(fr. 193vS, paraphrased) [uterus: compare Soranos 3.1–5]
(fr. 196vS) [difficult labor]
Pulses
(fr. 177vS, paraphrased) [rhythms of pulses]
(title unknown)
(fr. 259vS) [ointment for the anus]
11.4 Erasistratos
Fevers
Book 1 [inflamed wounds]
Book 1 [heart as pump]
General Principles
Book 2 [blood vessels]
Paralysis
Book 2 [nature of scientific research]
(title unknown) [brain]
(title unknown) [animals give off emanations]
(title unknown) [“do not feed a fever!”—compare also Fevers 3, in Brain [1986] 20]
11.5 Andreas
(fr. 45vS) [morays: compare Thompson [1947] 162–165]
Casket?
(fr. 31vS) [cream for running sores, and slow-healing or bloody wounds, to prevent inflammation]
(fr. 32vS) [“rose-compound,” good for great pain, fluxes great and small, blisters, and prolapses]
(title unknown)
(fr. 41vS) [hair loss]
11.6 Glaukias
[bandages]
11.7 Agatharchides
On the Red Sea
(fr. in Plutarch, Table-Talk 8.9 [733bc])
11.8 Demetrios
(fr. 19vS; Soranos 3.19) [inflammation of the uterus]
(fr. 17vS; Soranos 3.43) [uterine flux]
11.9 Nikandros
Alexipharmaka
186–206 [hemlock and remedy; compare opium, 433–464]
Theriaka
921–933 [snakebite remedies]
11.10 Asklepiades
1 [corpuscles]
2 [fevers]
3 [assimilation of food]
4 [bladder]
5 [pneuma]
6 [lung]
11.11 Herakleides
Exterior Therapy [reduction of dislocation of the thigh]
11.12 Apollonios
Perfumes and Unguents
(fr. 8vS: Athenaios, Deipnosophists 15.38 [688e–689b]) [good and better supplies]
Ready Remedies
Book 1 (fr. 11vS: Galen, Compound Drugs by Site 1.8) [for dandruff]
Book? (fr. 14vS: Galen, Compound Drugs by Site 2.1) [for hangover]
11.13 Dioskourides
Medical Materials
Preface. 5–9 [collecting and storing botanicals]
1.30.1–4 Olive oil
1.78 Laurel
1.113 Cherries
2.82.1–4 Honey
11.14 Aretaios
Acute and Chronic Diseases
2.1 (pp. 15–16 Hude) [respiration]
3.1.1–2 (p. 36 Hude) [treatment of chronic diseases]
4.5.1–2 (p. 71 Hude) [gonorrhea]
4.12.1–11 (pp. 82–84 Hude) [arthritis]
11.15 Xenokrates
Food from Aquatics
1.1–3 [edibility of fishes]
11.16 Plutarch
Table-Talk
8.9.1–5 (731–734) Whether it is possible for new diseases to come into being, and from what causes
11.17 Rufus
Kidney and Bladder Diseases
3.11–12 [stones: compare Aretaios 2.9]
3.30–32 [regimen to prevent stones]
9.7–12 [surgical treatment]
11.18 Soranos
Gynecology
1.7–13 [uterus]
1.36 [best time for conception: Hippokrates, Nature of the Child 15 says the same]
1.39–41 [shaping the fetus]
1.60–62 [contraception and abortion]
11.19 Galen
Sects [written 166±2: “schools” of medicine]
1–3, 6 [a “sect” was a system or worldview, such as Platonism or Stoicism;
Anatomical Procedures [written about 170]
1.2 [observation and dissection]
7.15 [vivisection of the heart]
7.16 [experiment done in about 165, repeating one by Erasistratos; an earlier account in Blood in the Arteries 8; Galen disparages various less and more absurd alternate methods; then:]
Preserving Health [written about 175]
Advice for an Epileptic Boy [written around 190]
2, 4 [diet to prevent seizures]
Anatomy of Nerves [written after 195]
1–10
Venesection [written after 200]
5 [benefits of blood-letting]
11.20 Philoumenos
Venomous Animals
17 [echidna or viper]
20 [dipsas: “thirst-inducer”]
22–23 [ammodutes “sand-burrower” and sêps “putrefier”]
12 “PSYCHOLOGY”
12.1 Theophrastos
On the Senses
1 [basic theory of perception]
49–58 [Demokritos on vision, hearing and thought: compare below Section 2 (Epikouros)]
Plant Etiology
6.1.1–3 [flavors]
On Odors
64–68 [sensing smells]
12.2 Epikouros
Letter to Herodotos
49–53 [theories of sense perception: for immediately preceding section, see Chapter 7.2]
12.3 Straton
(unknown work)
(fr. 111W paraphrased in Plutarch, Desire and Grief 4 [697b]) [origin of sensation in the hegemonikon]
12.4 Herophilos
(fr. 137, paraphrased) [hegemonikon]
(fr. 226, paraphrased) [dreams]
12.5 Chrusippos
On the Soul [arguing that the soul resides in the heart; the gaps are of unknown length]
12.6 Melampous
Divination from Birthmarks [entire]
12.7 Ptolemaïs
Introduction
(fr. in Porphurios, Commentary on Ptolemy’s “Harmonics” 23.24–24.6) [the scale]
(fr. in Porphurios, Commentary on Ptolemy’s “Harmonics” 25.3–26.5)
12.8 Thrasullos
Music
(fr.) [note is a pitch of an attuned sound]
12.9 Aretaios
Acute and Chronic Diseases
3.4.1–3 (pp. 38–39 Hude) [epilepsy]
3.5.4–7 (pp. 40–41 Hude) [melancholê]
3.6.6 (p.42 Hude) [a mad carpenter]
12.10 Antonius
Physiognomics
26 The nose [pseudo-Aristotle, Physiognomy 6 compares animal noses]
27 The forehead and brow [pseudo-Aristotle, Physiognomy 6 compares animal brows]
36 The color of the whole body [pseudo-Aristotle, Physiognomy 6 is similar]
12.11 Artemidoros
Dreams
1.1–2 [oneiros vs. enhupnion]
1.64 [bathing dreams]
1.79 [dreams about one’s mother]
2.68 [flying dreams]
12.12 Aelius Aristides
Sacred Tales
3.21–22 [dream about healing; August 148, in Pergamon]
12.13 Ptolemy
Harmonics
1.1 [reason aids the senses in making distinctions]
3.3 [the power of harmonia]
3.5 [three primary parts of the soul]
12.14 Galen
Soul’s Dependence on Body
3, 5, 8, 11 [effects on soul from body]
Differential Diagnosis of Symptoms
3 [damage to the hegemonikon]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sources of translations quoted
Texts newly translated
Works cited
Select further reading (* translation)
INDEXES
INDEX OF TERMS
INDEX OF ALL METALS, STONES, PLANTS, ANIMALS
INDEX OF PEOPLE (NOT INCLUDING EXTRACTED AUTHORS)
INDEX OF PLACES
CONCORDANCE OF PASSAGES CITED (NOT EXCERPTED)




The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals and the Truth About Global Corruption

The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals and the Truth About Global Corruption

John Perkins
Plume

Un trattato internazionale sulla corruzione e che cosa possiamo fare a questo proposito, da parte dell'autore delle Confessioni di un sicario dell'economia, che è stato un best-seller.

Nelle sue memorie mozzafiato, Confessioni di un sicario dell'economia, John Perkins dettagliato il suo precedente ruolo come un "sicario economico" in loschi traffici internazionali aziendale di un impero di fatto americano. Questo avvincente, dietro le quinte denuncia spiegato come un colossal cinematografico raccontata attraverso gli occhi di un uomo che una volta contribuito a plasmare quell'impero. Ora, in La storia segreta dell'impero americano, Perkins zeri in su i punti caldi di tutto il mondo e, sulla base di interviste con uomini colpiti altri, sciacalli, giornalisti e attivisti, esamina l'attuale crisi geopolitica. L'instabilità è la norma: è chiaro che il mondo che abbiamo creato è pericoloso e non più sostenibile. Come siamo arrivati ​​qui? Chi è responsabile? Che cosa buona abbiamo fatto ea quale costo? E cosa possiamo fare per cambiare le cose per le prossime generazioni? Affrontare queste ed altre domande, Perkins rivela la storia segreta dietro gli eventi che hanno creato l'impero americano, tra cui:

• L'attuale rivoluzione latino-americana e le sue lezioni di democrazia
• Come le "sconfitte" in Vietnam e in Iraq ha beneficiato un grande business
• Il ruolo di Israele come "fortezza America" ​​in Medio Oriente
• tragiche ripercussioni del FMI "Asian Economic Collapse"
• errori degli Stati Uniti in Tibet, Congo, Libano e Venezuela
• Jackal (agenti della CIA), incursioni di assassinare presidenti democratici

Dalle forze armate Usa in Iraq per lo sviluppo delle infrastrutture in Indonesia, dai volontari di Peace Corps in Africa, agli sciacalli in Venezuela, Perkins espone una cospirazione di corruzione che ha alimentato l'instabilità e anti-americanismo in tutto il mondo. Allarmante eppure pieno di speranza, questo libro fornisce un piano di compassione per re-immaginare il nostro mondo.