Hans-Joachim Gehrke – författare

Distinguished historians of the ancient world analyze the earliest developments in human history and the rise of the first major civilizations, from the Middle East to India and China.In this volume of the six-part History of the World series, Hans-Joachim Gehrke, a noted scholar of ancient Greece, leads a distinguished group of historians in analyzing prehistory, the earliest human settlements, and the rise of the world’s first advanced civilizations.The Neolithic period—sometimes called the Agrarian Revolution—marked a turning point in human history. People were no longer dependent entirely on hunting animals and gathering plants but instead cultivated crops and reared livestock. This led to a more settled existence, notably along rivers such as the Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, Ganges, and Yangzi. Increased mastery of metals, together with innovations in tools and technologies, led to economic specialization, from intricate crafts to deadlier weapons, which contributed to the growth of village communities as well as trade networks. Family was the fundamental social unit, its relationships and hierarchies modeled on the evolving relationship between ruler and ruled. Religion, whether polytheist or monotheist, played a central role in shaping civilizations from the Persians to the Israelites. The world was construed in terms of a divinely ordained order: the Chinese imperial title Huangdi expressed divinity and heavenly splendor, while Indian emperor Ashoka was heralded as the embodiment of moral law.From the latest findings about the Neanderthals to the founding of imperial China to the world of Western classical antiquity, Making Civilizations offers an authoritative overview of humanity’s earliest eras.

In this concise but stimulating book on history and Greek culture, Hans-Joachim Gehrke continues to refine his work on 'intentional history', which he defines as a history in the self-understanding of social groups and communities - connected to a corresponding understanding of the other - which is important, even essential, for the collective identity, social cohesion, political behaviour and the cultural orientation of such units. In a series of four chapters Gehrke illustrates how Greeks' histories were consciously employed to help shape political and social realities. In particular, he argues that poets were initially the masters of the past and that this dominance of the aesthetic in the view of the past led to an indissoluble amalgamation of myth and history and lasting tension between poetry and truth in the genre of historiography. The book reveals a more sophisticated picture of Greek historiography, its intellectual foundations, and its wider social-political contexts.

In this concise but stimulating book on history and Greek culture, Hans-Joachim Gehrke continues to refine his work on 'intentional history', which he defines as a history in the self-understanding of social groups and communities - connected to a corresponding understanding of the other - which is important, even essential, for the collective identity, social cohesion, political behaviour and the cultural orientation of such units. In a series of four chapters Gehrke illustrates how Greeks' histories were consciously employed to help shape political and social realities. In particular, he argues that poets were initially the masters of the past and that this dominance of the aesthetic in the view of the past led to an indissoluble amalgamation of myth and history and lasting tension between poetry and truth in the genre of historiography. The book reveals a more sophisticated picture of Greek historiography, its intellectual foundations, and its wider social-political contexts.

Konkurrenzlose Quellensammlung, unverzichtbar in Studium und Unterricht. Der Begleitband zum erfolgreichen Studienbuch Geschichte der Antike : ein Lese- und Arbeitsbuch mit Quellentexten zu allen Aspekten der Antike, zur politischen Geschichte, zur Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, zur Kultur Griechenlands und Roms in deutscher Übersetzung. Historische Texte werden zu Momentaufnahmen der Antike: Wie haben die Zeitgenossen politische Ereignisse erlebt? Wie haben sie das soziale, rechtliche, wirtschaftliche und kulturelle Gefüge wahrgenommen? Einmal in die Quellentexte eingetaucht, wird die antike Geschichte lebendig!

Alles Wissenswerte zur Geschichte der Griechen und Römer. Vom Alten Orient bis zur Spätantike zeichnet das anschaulich aufbereitete Studienbuch die politischen, gesellschaftlichen, rechtlichen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Entwicklungen nach. Die Beziehungen der Griechen zum Vorderen Orient und zu Ägypten, die Rolle der Etrusker, der Phönizier und Karthagos erhalten besondere Aufmerksamkeit. Im Text sind die Nummern des ergänzenden Quellenbandes verzeichnet für eine optimale parallele Benutzung. Abgerundet wird das Werk durch den aktuellen und umfangreichen Anhang, unter anderen mit Zeittafel, Angaben zu Maßen, Geldsystemen und zum Geldwert, mit Quelleneditionen, Abkürzungen, Bibliografie, Glossar, Stammtafeln, Karten und einer Aufstellung römischer Kaiser.