Bibliography of Classical Folklore Scholarship: Myths,Legends, and Popular Beliefs of Ancient Greece and Rome

The Science of Fairy Tales : an Inquiry into Fairy Mythology. By E. Sidney Hartland, F.S.A. (W. Scott) By Joseph Jacobs.     

古希腊政治文化的生成基础

古希腊政治文化是研究现代西方政治文化的重要逻辑起点,古希腊政治文化以其对民主、法治、自由、平等等内在价值理念的追求对现代政治文化的形成和发展产生了深刻的影响。本文从自然地理、经济、社会和政治四个维度对古希腊政治文化产生的基础进行了探讨,力求从源头上对古希腊政治文化的生成环境给予全景性的呈现。     

古罗马等级制度中的显贵

早在19世纪,德国古典学大师蒙森就发现,在古罗马社会的政治生活中存在着一个特权等级——显贵(mbilis,或nobilitas),他们控制着执政官、元老院等权力机构,大权在握,地位显赫。20世纪初,另一位德国学格尔泽的研究表明,绝大多数罗马显贵都出身于执政官家族,     

Rule of Law: A Comparison between Ancient Persia and Ancient Greece

The ancient Persian empires are denoted as despotic, practicing arbitrary rule while Greece, Persia's archrival during the sixth to fourth century BC, exercised rule of law. This paper uses a contract theory framework to analyze some of the geographical and environmental underpinnings of the existence of rule of law in the city-states of ancient Greece and its absence in Persia. I discuss the role of geographical conditions of land (open plains versus mountains), population pressure, proximity to the sea and form of trade (overland versus overseas) as factors conducive to rule of law in the city-states of ancient Greece and to despotism in ancient Persia. Specifically, the role of trade via land in Persia prior to the fifth century BC is compared to the role of sea trade (alongside with piracy) in ancient Greece. I argue that in ancient Persia monarchs could tax or expropriate much of the gains from overland trade, preventing the accumulation of an independent form of wealth by merchants. In Greece, sea trade alongside the practice of piracy led to gains from trade that could not be easily expropriated by the monarchs and acted as a balancing force vis-à-vis the power of the monarchs, creating a basis for rule of law in the Greek city-states.