Suchergebnisse

This article investigates 'nose books' (neusboekjes) and their social functions
in the Early Modern Low Countries. Nose books are short literary texts written
in the form of joyful ordinances that can be found in bound volumes (Sammelbände).
These volumes contain a number of separately printed works, such
as almanacs, prognostications and popular texts, which were subsequently
bound together. Unlike previous studies, which have largely considered nose
books as purely entertaining, this article demonstrates that nose books were
initially sold as a form of political satire. As such, they encouraged societal
engagement. However, over the course of the eighteenth century, the political
undertone of nose books was no longer part of people's reading experiences.
These later readers appreciated the parody of the official ordinance instead.

Lisbeth S. Fried's insightful study investigates the impact of Achaemenid rule on the political power of local priesthoods during the 6th-4th centuries B.C.E. Scholars typically assume that, as long as tribute was sent to Susa, the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, subject peoples remained autonomous. Fried's work challenges this assumption. She examines the inscriptions, coins, temple archives, and literary texts from Babylon, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Judah and concludes that there was no local autonomy. The only people with power in the Empire were Persians and their appointees, and this was true for Judah as well. The Judean priesthood achieved its longed-for independence only much later, under the Maccabees