The Old Testament book of Daniel will be the focus of our attention in this chapter, and thus we will consider the literary genre of apocalyptic writing. In general, there are two subcategories of apocalyptic writing: historical and otherworldly. The latter is characterized by the transcendence of space and a celestial setting.

We have many apocalyptic compositions dating from the mid second century bcethrough the second century ce. As we examine the style and characteristics of this unique form of communication, we will observe that the concept of apocalyptic writing manifests a marked distinction between the spiritual and the physical worlds. Reading such literature appropriately, we will observe its primary purpose of encouraging the reader in faithful endurance and patience, assured that God will ultimately triumph and care for his righteous followers. Although monotheism is not explicitly stated in Daniel’s apocalypse, we will note that his God is the sole deity of the universe.

In Extra Help we will see how nouns and adjectives are formed when their stems do not end in α or ο (consonant stems, or 3rd declension). The Extra Material in this chapter is a just a trivial pointer about accents.

In Extra Help we will see how nouns and adjectives are formed when their consonant stems end in a contract vowel. In the Extra Material you will meet the very few contexts for the nominative, and use them to think about when sense overrules strict grammar.

In this final chapter, we will summarize the Old Testament and explore its lasting contributions to world history, society in general, and the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Specifically, we will explore four particular aspects of the Old Testament and examine how each functions to create a cohesive and living whole.

This overview in turn will remind us that the Old Testament’s central message communicates, in a host of ways, what it perceives as Israel’s life in covenant relationship with God, obeying God’s Torah, and living morally and ethically in right relationship with other human beings. Within this overarching concern of the Old Testament, we have already observed the continual thread of a monotheistic worldview in process. The development toward the Old Testament’s conviction of the singularity of God is indeed among the most enduring contributions to human history.

Similarly, the Old Testament’s contribution to civil society cannot be underestimated. Thus, in conclusion, we will explore three core values in particular that are rooted, not in secularization as often is assumed, but in the rich and enduring legacy of the Old Testament.

In Extra Help you will find some optional notes to help you with the final topics of ENTG. As we have reached the end of ENTG, we offer an extended passage from an early Christian text, completely unedited.

In Extra Help, you will meet different Greek verb ‘moods’. In the Extra Material we’ll examine the contexts for the aorist tense.

This chapter takes the conversation to Andalusia. Over time, an effort intended to highlight and boost the significant contributions of Andalusians to philosophy, science, and cultural and literary studies had grown into books, treatises, and compendiums. The effort was bound to minimize the presence of theft or its neighboring terms. Even their commentaries on the poetry of Abū Tammām, al-Buḥturī, and al-Mutanabbī tend to water down such issues, in line with a general cultural preference for discursive refinement and elegance. Nevertheless, Ibn Bassām – and despite his strong advocacy of Andalusian contributions – provides some terms in his rich compilation or treasury al-Dhakhīrah that center on akhdh, not only from poets of the Eastern flank, but also from other Andalusians. His treasury, al-Dhakhīrah, provides significant contributions to the study of poetry and culture in general, and his approach to thievery shows a departure from al-Ḥātimī and his like and an affinity with Ibn Rashīq. In poetic production, the muwashshaḥāt embedded verses from Eastern poets that explode the issue of thievery, inviting instead other elegant terms.

In the Extra Help, you will see how relative clauses are similar to the ‘branches’ we have met, and find some help with morphology. In the Extra Material you will meet other ways of expressing indirect speech and some patterns that help us to learn a lot of these ‘little words’.

The significance of the Old Testament for human history and culture is undeniable. Whatever our personal convictions regarding its content, the Old Testament contains the origins of nearly everything we think about God. Variously labeled as the Hebrew Bible, the Tanak, the First Testament, and the Old Testament, among others, this library of texts from ancient Israel has been preserved for more than two thousand years.

Emerging from the polytheistic context of the ancient world, the enduring significance of the Old Testament is to be found in the concept of monotheism. Indeed, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share in this unique religious legacy. We will discover in this chapter what lies behind the terminology we use when we speak of monotheism, and how the Old Testament perceives and develops the understanding of a singular God. Known to ancient Israel as Yahweh, Israel’s God came to be understood as Creator, source of all, and sovereign over all. Only in time would Israel come to believe that Yahweh was not only its God, and the God Israelites were called to worship, but the one and only God.

The Ptolemaic state did not pursue a policy of ‘state monopolies’ in industry and trade. Although state intervention was extensive in some sectors, markets played an important role in others. Fiscal contracts leased out to entrepreneurs shared certain procedures and terminology, but the reality of state control was different in every industry, determined by strategic concerns and practical considerations. Together, these institutions show a pragmatic state concerned primarily with securing revenues from economic activities. While the papyri also highlight the limits of state control and the possibilities to evade regulations, they do not show a general decline of state capacity in the second century. The impact of the regulations on economic performance varied. While the ‘oil monopoly’ caused significant inefficiencies, the same was not necessarily true in other sectors. The regulations stimulated the circulation of coinage, leading to increased market performance, to an extent supported also by state enforcement of agreements and property rights. Finally, the analysis underscores the significant fiscal and economic role of temples and professional associations.

At this point, the discussion turns to the calendar’s role in regulating the internal operations of the polity. The year was an essential administrative and legal unit. From the end of the fourth century, one can detect a persistent tendency to subordinate crucial operations to the calendar itself, which often had a shifting relationship to the solar cycle and the cycle of the seasons, and to construct cycles of years which were to operate with great regularity. The chapter examines in greatest detail the consular year, the census, and the saeculum or century. The same tension between ideal and practice can also be detected here. The third and early-second centuries represented the high point of this effort, although it would long remain an ideal.