Classics

Benjamin Thommen sheds light on the literary crafting of Vitruvius' Ten Books on Architecture. Based on Vitruvius' programmatic statements about his role and his claim and by looking at the textbooks (treatises) of the Roman rhetoricians, he analyses the form of the architect's writing and the structure of his theory.

This volume sheds light on the intellectual engagement with wealth in the various literary genres of the Hebrew Bible, Greek philosophical and Greek poetic literature, Jewish writings from the Hellenistic-Roman period, Qumran, the writings of the New Testament and the Early Church.

Paul von Otting is the first to present a comprehensive monograph on the cultural history of the (late) ancient death penalty, critically revising the prevailing conception of a regime of violence during this period. In addition, he determines the place of capital punishment within the changing society and culture of the late antique world, offering new insights into the nature of pre-modern criminal justice.

David Wyman examines documentary and literary sources to compose a detailed description of civic benefaction, including the phenomenon of benefactors who risk their lives. He then analyzes how Paul's letter to the Galatians incorporates the language, motifs, and relational dynamics of benefaction.