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11. The Discursive Mapping of Sectarianism in Iraq The “Sunni Triangle” in the Pages of The New York Times, Sahar Bazzaz

11. The Discursive Mapping of Sectarianism in Iraq: The “Sunni Triangle” in the Pages of The New York Times Sahar Bazzaz On March 19, 2003, the United States and a small group of supporting nations known as the “Coalition of the Willing” launched “Operation Iraqi Freedom” with the expressed intent of removing the authoritarian regime of then President Saddam Hussein and establishing a democratic government in… Read more

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Contributors

Contributors Antonis Anastasopoulos is Assistant Professor of Ottoman History at the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Crete, and a research associate of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (IMS/FORTH). Dimiter Angelov is Professor of Byzantine History at the University of Birmingham. Yota Batsaki is the Executive Director of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington,… Read more

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Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments Of those who have helped me in my research, the most important is my wife, Colette, who allowed me to work undisturbed, and whose curiosity about my topic provided many stimulating conversations. Robin Darling Young was the first to suggest that the topic would be fertile; her intuition was correct, probably far more than she knew. Early drafts of chapters were read by Kevin Corrigan, Andrew… Read more

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Abbreviations

Abbreviations ANF = Roberts, A., J. Donaldson, and A. C. Coxe, eds. 1885–1896. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Buffalo. BCNH.É = Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi. Section “Études.” BCNH.T = Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi. Section “Textes.” CAG = Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca CSEL = Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum … Read more

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1. Introduction

1. Introduction In ancient Judaism and Christianity, the fascination with numbers and number symbolism was widespread. Just think of the 12 tribes and 12 apostles, Enoch’s 365 years on earth, and 40-day periods of fasting or mourning. In such patterns, Jews and Christians shared a common vocabulary with all ancient societies, which used numbers to adorn their lore, order their calendars, and frame their cosmology. In the… Read more

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2. Generating the World of Numbers: Pythagorean and Platonist Number Symbolism in the First Century

2. Generating the World of Numbers: Pythagorean and Platonist Number Symbolism in the First Century Two intellectual traditions from classical antiquity laid the foundation for the early Christian theology of arithmetic. The first, and most easily identified, was the rich tradition of number symbolism in the ancient Mediterranean. Numbers had been used symbolically from very early times and in many cultures, as attested by cuneiform tablets and… Read more

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3. The Rise of the Early Christian Theology of Arithmetic: The Valentinians

3. The Rise of the Early Christian Theology of Arithmetic: The Valentinians The New Testament shows that the earliest Christians were attuned to the number symbolism of their day. Christ itemized his followers symbolically, choosing 12 disciples and 70 apostles. The Book of Revelation is adorned with numerous sevens and twelves, and a single, infamous 666. That impulse continued after the apostolic period. In the so-called Epistle… Read more

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Chapter 16. The Web of Athenaeus: The Art of Weaving Links

Chapter 16. The Web of Athenaeus: The Art of Weaving Links “Every time we meet, my friend Timocrates, you repeatedly ask me what was said at the meetings of the deipnosophists, thinking that we discover new things…” That is the opening to Book 6 (222a). In Book 14, Athenaeus once again mentions the ever new speeches that took place within Larensius’ circles (613c–d), and at the beginning… Read more

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Chapter 17. The Epitome of the World

Chapter 17. The Epitome of the World The Deipnosophists crystallizes a fluid chain of texts, fragments, and words, connected by the memory threads of a circle of literati and, ultimately, by the memory of Athenaeus himself. A double logic can be recognized in this, namely a centrifugal and a centripetal logic. By bringing together a vast complex of reading notes, the Deipnosophists condenses the library until it… Read more

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Chapter 18. When a Culture Reflects on Itself

Chapter 18. When a Culture Reflects on Itself The work of Athenaeus would thus be a periodos tēs bibliothēkēs, a “tour of the library”, perhaps the library of Larensius, but certainly also that of memory, and also the ideal library whose reconstruction is enabled by textual tradition, direct and indirect. That trip does not link the books between them but creates a multiplicity of links between the… Read more