Quotes About Ancient

Worship took place at temples, but temples were not designed primarily to provide a place for worship.[1] They were designed to be residences for deities and, as such, places for the performance of cultic rituals. The implications of this distinction are far-reaching and affect our understanding of deity and the role of the temple in the cosmos. Temples

Language itself is a cultural convention, and since the Bible and other ancient documents use language to communicate, they are bound to a culture.

we cannot translate their cosmology to our cosmology, nor should we. If we accept Genesis 1 as ancient cosmology, then we need to interpret it as ancient cosmology rather than translate it into modern cosmology. If we try to turn it into modern cosmology, we are making the text say something that it never said.

there is no concept of a "natural" world in ancient Near Eastern thinking. The dichotomy between natural and supernatural is a relatively recent one.

As we begin our study of Genesis 1 then, we must be aware of the danger that lurks when we impose our own cultural ideas on the text without thinking. The Bible's message must not be subjected to cultural imperialism. Its message transcends the culture in which it originated, but the form in which the message was imbedded was fully permeated by the ancient culture. This was God's design and we ignore it at our peril.

A modern empiricist historian's response to ancient (especially Israelite) transcendent historiography might be: "It has not provided information that is reliable since it is so full of deity." The ancient historian's response to modern empiricist historiography might be: "It has not provided information that is worthwhile since it is so empty of deity.

The idea that people think with their hearts describes physiology in ancient terms for the communication of other matters; it is not revelation concerning physiology. Consequently we need not try to come up with a physiology for our times that would explain how people think with their entrails. But a serious concordist would have to do so to save the reputation of the Bible. Concordists believe the Bible must agree—be in concord with—all the findings of contemporary science.

The most respectful reading we can give to the text, the reading most faithful to the face value of the text—and the most "literal" understanding, if you will—is the one that comes from their world not ours. Consequently

There is a wisdom in the body that is older and more reliable than clocks and calendars.

Sounding frank, honest, and sincere is, of course, a rhetorical strategy in itself, known from ancient literature as parrhesia. It's often employed by liars.

Asleep in lap of legends old.

the ancient Persians had indeed used their arya word in an ethnic sense; they called themselves the 'Ariana' (whence derives the modern 'Iran').

The ancient Maya were superb stargazers. Their calendar synchronized not just the Sun and Moon, byt also Venus and Mars. They worked out that 81 (or 3X3X3X3) full moons occur exactly every 2,392 (or 8X13X23) days, an astonishingly accurate gearing.

I wasn't interested in society, or ancient people's money troubles. I wanted to know what books really meant.

She has seen the mystery hid Under Egypt's pyramid: By those eyelids pale and close Now she knows what Rhamses knows.

I've no soul to love with, mistress, nor kindness to give. I am of the Fae so old we blur into things that are ancienter still, and I will tell you that there is nothing in me that cares for you.

In the long run, he thought, the new, fey Perceval with so many ancient souls behind her eyes might even be a match for Cynric the Sorceress, in wisdom if not in craft.

It felt-it felt like the Ativahikas had, when they spoke to me. As if something were inside me, vast and ancient and yet somehow still a part of me, or containing me, speaking from the halls of my own being. Speaking in a language deeper than any I had ever had to learn.

Murchaud moved slowly along the wall, trailing his hands over the stones nearest the dripping ceiling as if they might whisper something in his ear if properly coaxed.

The teeth had roots the length of a human hand, and each one weighed nearly ten pounds.

Five of these ancient events were catastrophic enough that they're put in their own category: the so-called Big Five.

This is the Mona Lisa of paleontology.

He called it a ptero-dactyle, meaning 'wing-fingered.

it was at Pompeii, nonetheless, that archaeology was born. It was to come of age in Egypt. Once