51 quotes
It has been said that the Bedouin Arab is a parasite that lives on the camel, and this to a great extent is true.
Adventures in the Nearest East (1957)
If the entire aristocracy is of divine descent, Zeus (or El) cannot save the human son without upsetting the order of things.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
By examining the pottery on any given site you can tell during which periods it has been occupied.
Adventures in the Nearest East (1957)
When the characters of epic and heroic saga are on significant missions, they are led divinely.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
When a new religion supplants an old religion, the gods of the old often survive as the demons of the new.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
Our debt to the Bible and Classics is so great that this type of research will deepen our understanding of our culture and of ourselves.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
The competent archeologist can date pottery much as some of us can date cars or dresses of our own century.
Adventures in the Nearest East (1957)
The prevailing view is simply that the Judges were inspired, not hereditary leaders. But this misses the point; the Judges were normally from the ruling aristocracy, quite like the kings in Homer.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
The conquerors were the fighting and ruling stratum; the conquered natives were degraded to the labouring class.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
The [Judaic] Patriarchs are depicted as Arameans as long as they remained in their native lands.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
Traders (like the Phoenicians) carried their methods as well as their wares to Europe by ship.
Adventures in the Nearest East (1957)
The fitness (physical and moral) of kings were serious matters, for they were believed to bring on a corresponding state of land and people.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
Heroic epic and saga (Indic as well as Greek and Hebrew, etc.) combine action with genealogy. This is necessary because the action is performed by aristocrats who require genealogies.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
The ancient theory of heroic genealogy... reflects paternity at two levels: human and divine.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
Despite the polytheism of the East Mediterranean nations, monotheistic trends were always present even in such crass polytheisms such as we find in Homer and in Egyptian literature.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
I hope that the reader will not regard the contents of this book as an escape from the present world but rather as a key part of it.
Adventures in the Nearest East (1957)
Isaac was conceived through divine agency. Like the Mycenaean Greek heroes, Isaac could claim paternity at two levels; the human and the divine.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)
Solomon was a 'copper king', and all along that Araba, on both sides, we found many copper mines and smelting stations, all attributable to Solomon and his immediate successors.
Adventures in the Nearest East (1957)
The Sabbath, perhaps the most important labour legislation next to the abolition of slavery, is a Hebrew institution.
Adventures in the Nearest East (1957)
It would be foolhardy to swell the pages of this book with an exhaustive list of Greco-Hebrew differences. Everyone knows that Homer is very different from the Bible.
The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations (1965)