Literary notes about ancient (AI summary)
Writers employ the term ancient to evoke both a tangible and metaphorical sense of deep history, conveying a world steeped in lost customs, venerable traditions, and enduring legacies. The adjective not only describes relics of a bygone era, as seen in references to ancient customs or edifices ([1], [2], [3]), but also imbues characters and institutions with a timeless quality and moral authority ([4], [5], [6]). It marks the passage of time and the persistence of old ways—from the ancient practices that govern natural phenomena and human conduct ([7], [8], [9]) to the enduring textual traditions and scholarly debates that continue to shape cultural memory ([10], [11], [12]). In this way, "ancient" serves as a bridge between the distant past and the present, enriching the narrative with a sense of history and continuity.
- He observed carefully the ancient customs of his forefathers, and preserved, without appearance of affectation, the ways of his native land.
— from The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius - He ordered the drawbridge to be pulled up every night because it was the ancient custom of the old house, and he liked to keep the old ways up.
— from The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle - It is a place like a lake, and has ancient dockyards; here the Cydnus discharges itself, after flowing through the middle of Tarsus.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo - Marius’ ancient estrangement towards this man, towards this Fauchelevent who had turned into Jean Valjean, was at present mingled with horror.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - “We will not forget our ancient faith,” said her father, “the only old thing that has not left us.”
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Earl of Beaconsfield Benjamin Disraeli - "He was the grandest moral figure of ancient times."
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves - This ancient custom is even now the law for creatures born as brutes, which are free from lust and anger.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - Hence it is recorded in ancient lore that from this time were marked out the days, and nights, and seasons."
— from The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson; and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson by Sæmundur fróði - This is a nation which is more ancient than every other nation.
— from Pascal's Pensées by Blaise Pascal - Note 561 ( return ) [ Pyrgi was a town of the ancient Etruria, near Antium, on the sea-coast, but it has long been destroyed.]
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - I refer to the controversy between the ancient and modern schools, which was revived in full Academy by Christopher Perrault.
— from The Fables of La Fontaine by Jean de La Fontaine - The theory of evolution is hardly a century old as science, but it is an ancient doctrine of Religion.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway
