Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-lrf7s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-28T18:34:16.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Greece, Etruria, Rome, and Conveying Traditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Daniel C. Snell
Affiliation:
University of Oklahoma
Get access

Summary

Religion was among [Napoleon's] favorite topics. It was his vague religiosity, perhaps a lingering attachment to childhood beliefs, which made him recoil from the cold materialism of Berthollet and attracted him to the more open-minded Monge. Also, religion had such obvious political usefulness!

– J. Christopher Herold, Bonaparte in Egypt, 1962, 53

They spoke in a pidgin language, so nuances were not ascertainable, but the guys kneeling on the Italian shore were captivated by what the foreigners were doing. They had bought, among other things, a sheep, and they were clearly intending to cook it, eat it, and share it with their trading partners in celebration of this so far successful voyage. The foreigners’ wooden ship was skillfully anchored to a big rock onshore, and the wine they had bought they also shared generously.

They slaughtered the sheep near the fire, but then one of them cut a gash in the sheep's belly and thrust his hand in, drawing out the liver, which he then closely studied. The Italians asked him what he was doing, and he seemed to say that he was seeking there the will of the gods. The Italians looked at each other as if he were daft, but they were silent and tried to be respectful.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×