EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
Letters of the Apostle Paul
Laura Nasrallah, Harvard University
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E How Ancient People Wrote about Their Place in History: Polybius and Daniel Notes taken on January 31, 2014 by Edward Tanguay |
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strategies of talking about their place in history
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often ancient histories gave reasons for the succession of empires
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Polybius (200BC-118BC)
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Greek historian
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noted for his work: The Histories, which covered 264 BC to 146 BC
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the rise of the Roman Republic to world power
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separation of powers in government
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a time of ethnic ferment
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talks about a succession of empires
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Persians
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Lacadaemonians (Spartans)
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Macedonians (Philip and Alexander the Great)
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says nothing compares with Roman rule
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describes Roman rule as an inevitability
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was taken to Rome as a hostage of the Roman forces
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he taught in elite Roman households, including that of Scipio the Younger, who captured Carthage in 146 BCE
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Scipio the Younger (185–129 BC)
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commanded at the final siege and destruction of Carthage in 146 BC
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Polybius went with Scipio to North Africa to see the campaigns there
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says the study of history is necessary for education in politics
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saw the Romans subjecting "the whole inhabited world to their sole government" as a thing unique in history
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teaches how Fortune, in the Roman period both a concept and a goddess, allowed the Roman Empire to succeed
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Book of Daniel
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set in Babylonia in sixth century BCE
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story of Daniel, Jewish exile and prophet
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thought through events of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a Seleucid king who desecrated the temple in Jerusalem in 167 BCE.
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attempted to Hellenize Jews to make them more Greek
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Daniel's role as a prophet, as a great dream interpreter
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in the day, dreams were treated as prophecy if it could be interpreted properly
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explains the dream
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huge statue before king
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head was of gold
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statue breaks
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stone becomes a great mountain
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not a great story for kings
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kingdom of iron, and kingdom of iron and clay
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King Nebuchadnezzar (634 BC - 562 BC)
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created Neo-Babylonian Empire
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created Hanging Gardens of Babylon
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the story of the succession of empires focuses on the area of Judea, and long-time contested territory
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long before Paul conceded to go up to Jerusalem to meet James and the other "pillars"
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God's empire will end the succession of empires
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both Daniel's history and Polybius' history talk about the reasons certain empires have come to power over others