Jews were among the founders of Antioch and contributed greatly to the social and material evolution of the city. How they adjusted to the imperial agendas of Late Antiquity, as well as their characterization in the textual record are the main objects of inquiry.

Sophists were active participants in ancient discussions about being or what-is at the most general level. This chapter discusses the contributions of Gorgias, Protagoras, Xeniades, and Lycophron in the context of the Eleatic philosophers Parmenides, Zeno, and Melissus. All of these figures share a serious commitment to ontological inquiry as well as a concern with the problems that arise when discussing being or what-is. They also share an approach to these problems that is at times paradoxical and self-undermining. The chapter begins with a brief discussion of Parmenides’ poem, a work that serves as an important backdrop for later ontology. It then covers Gorgias’ On Not-Being, a response to the Eleatics and a unique contribution in its own right. Gorgias’ work is then compared with that of Zeno and Melissus. Finally, the more limited evidence we have of Protagoras, Xeniades, and Lycophron’s ontological theorizing is discussed.

This chapter demonstrates that all of the available evidence indicates that the Notitia system was rapidly put into place in the 440s, likely in response to the invasions of Attila the Hun on the Danubian border. Although designed to face down the threat of the Huns, the system continued to operate as the collapse of Attila’s kingdom put increasing pressure on the eastern empire, in particular in the form of Theoderic Strabo and Theoderic the Amal, two Gothic warlords who repeatedly ravaged the Balkans and assaulted Constantinople during this period. Placed in its proper context, many central features of the Notitia system become intelligible, in particular its strong Balkan focus and the function of the praesental armies, which were used as reserve forces.

This chapter continues the earlier one's project of outlining Hegel's critique of metaphysics, and distinguishing it from Kant's own. It does so by considering Hegel's relationship to Kant's Transcnendental Dialectic and its three main divisions: paralogisms, antinomies and Ideal. It explains the distinction between finite and infinite categories in Hegel, as well as its bearing on his dispute with Kant. It also finishes the task, begun in Chapter 2, of reconstructing Hegel's ontological proof and response to Kant's critique of this form of argument.

The Romans adaptation of Greek philosophy was illustrated by the Stoics and Epicureans. The Stoics held that humanity is determined by the fates of nature, while the Epicureans believed that happiness came from seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Plato was revived by Plotinus and dominated Roman philosophy during the early years of Christianity. Both the missionary zeal of early Christians and the tranquility of Roman administration rapidly spread Christianity. The teachings of Jesus were bolstered by defenders, who gave Christianity form and content. St. Augustine successfully reinterpreted Platonic thought within Christian theology, and the consequent influence on psychology continued well beyond. With the fall of the Western empire, intellectual life came to a virtual halt, and only the monastic movement preserved remnants of Greek and Roman civilization. The papacy assumed a leading role in spiritual direction and civil administration. The power shift to the East saw the Byzantine Empire assume a distinctive Greek character. The rise of Islam threatened the survival of Christianity in the Middle East and in North Africa. But, at the same time, much of the Greek heritage of scholarship was preserved and extended in the great academic centers of medieval Islam.

In Aristotle’s Physics we find for the first time motion and speed implicitly measured in terms of time and distance covered, as the discussion of book VI, chapter 2 shows. Aristotle’s explicit account of measurement, however, which he gives in Metaphysics Iota and with which this chapter starts, understands measure not only as homogeneous with the measurand, but also as one-dimensional only. Accordingly, the explicit measure of motion is simply time in the Physics, as we see from examining Aristotle’s understanding of time as the measure and the number of motion. For a full account of motion and speed and a complete response to Zeno’s challenge, however, a complex measure is needed, one that takes account of both time taken and distance covered. The chapter shows that this is exactly what Aristotle implicitly develops in his Physics, when he compares motions of different speed and responds to Zeno’s paradoxes of motion. But it is not what he can accommodate in his theory of measurement.

This chapter examines Calcidius' position vis-à-vis and use of Stoicism, focusing on the themes of Providence and fate, the human soul, and matter, and argues that the Stoic influence is much stronger than commonly assumed, despite an overt polemic.

Borges was partial to Kafka’s short stories, reading forty one of them in the versions edited by Max Brod. On Kafka, he put forth a view that was largely biographical and religious. Borges saw the Book of Job as about the enigma of the universe, and he read Kafka’s stories as modern-day versions of Job: stories about stoicism, suffering, and the inscrutable character of God and the universe. Borges authored (or co-authored) translations of eighteen of Kafka’s texts, and the influence of Kafka is clearly visible in key stories of the 1940s - cf. ’The Library of Babel’, ’The Lottery in Babylon’, and ’The Secret Miracle’, the latter of these being about the relationship between man and God..