Oikoumene

Information about Oikoumene

For oikoumene.org, see .

The ecumene (/iːˈkjuːməni/, also spelled œcumene or oikoumene) is, literally, the inhabited part of the earth. The term derives from the Greek οἰκουμένη (the feminine present middle participle of the verb οἰκέω "inhabit"), short for οἰκουμένη γή "inhabited world".^[1]

Reconstruction of the map of the ecumene of Herodotus, circa 450 BC

The word ecumene traditionally refers that part of the world inhabited by humans, especially that known to the Ancient Greeks. The Eastern Roman Empire, which recognized no other power as sovereign, considered its temporal authority to extend, at least in principle, over the entire ecumene. The term has also been used to describe the Afro-Eurasian "Old World" as a single system of interconnected societies. By extension, that part of the world known to any other civilization may be termed its ecumene. Various writers of science fiction have further extended this sense to refer to that part of the universe inhabited by humans.

In the Koine Greek of the Roman Empire and the New Testament, oikoumene may be understood to mean simply "world". In Hebrews 2.5, for example, oikoumenen ten mellousan is used to refer to the future kingdom of Christ (the world to come): "For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak".

A specifically Christian understanding of the ecumene leads to the use of the adjectival form ecumenical, referring to the entirety of the Christian world (i.e., Christendom). Thence are derived the term ecumenical council and the title of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. The concept of ecumenism is similarly a reference to the ecumene as the whole of the Christian world.

Ecumenes in fiction

The author J. R. R. Tolkien described his Middle-earth setting for his fiction as equivalent to the Greek ecumene, the abode of Men.
In the Demon Princes series of science fiction novels by Jack Vance, Oikumene is the term used for the human-inhabited worlds of the galaxy.
In the science fiction novel Time's Eye co-authored by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter Oikoumene is a grassroots religious unification movement bridging the divide between Catholicism and Islam.
In The Left Hand of Darkness and other fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin, the Ekumen is a loose confederation of inhabited worlds, linked by instantaneous communication, but separated by slower-than-light travel.
In the science fiction trilogy The Golden Age, by John C. Wright, a political unit called the Golden Oecumene spans part of the Solar System.

Notes

1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary. The OED, while accepting both the œ- and e- spellings, idiosyncratically prefers œ- for the basic word but e- for its derivatives. Merriam-Webster prefers e-. The unnaturalized oikoumene is nonstandard but sometimes encountered.

In linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called noun classes, are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words; every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be very few which belong to several classes at once.
..... Click the link for more information.

Present Tense
(1968) The Blue Marble
(1969)

Present Tense is the first Sagittarius album, released in 1968 by Columbia Records.
..... Click the link for more information.

In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc.). When the subject is the agent or actor of the verb, the verb is in the active voice.
..... Click the link for more information.

In linguistics, a participle is a non-finite verb form that can be used in compound tenses or voices, or as a modifier. Participles often share properties with other parts of speech, in particular adjectives and nouns.
..... Click the link for more information.

The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. 750 BC^[1] (the archaic period) to 146 BC (the Roman conquest). It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western Civilization.
..... Click the link for more information.

Byzantine Empire or Byzantium is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople.
..... Click the link for more information.

Temporal can refer to:

of or relating to time
Temporal database, a database recording aspects of time varying values

..... Click the link for more information.

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 kmÂ² (11,668,545 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area.
..... Click the link for more information.

Eurasia is an immense landmass covering about 53,990,000 kmÂ² (or about 10.6%) of the Earth's surface. Often reckoned as a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are
..... Click the link for more information.

The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans in the 15th century before the voyages of Christopher Columbus; it includes Europe, Asia, and Africa (collectively known as Africa-Eurasia), plus surrounding islands.
..... Click the link for more information.

Civilization (British English also civilisation) is a kind of human society or culture; specifically, a civilization is usually understood to be a complex society characterized by the practice of agriculture and settlement in cities.
..... Click the link for more information.

worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.

Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi
..... Click the link for more information.

Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism.
If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or .
..... Click the link for more information.

Koine Greek (kini) (Κοινὴ Ἑλληνική, "common Greek", or
..... Click the link for more information.

The Roman Empire is the name given to both the imperial domain developed by the city-state of Rome and also the corresponding phase of that civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government. This article however is about the latter.
..... Click the link for more information.

New Testament (Greek: Καινή Διαθήκη, Kainē Diathēkē) is the name given to the final portion of the Christian Bible, written after the Old Testament.
..... Click the link for more information.

The Epistle to the Hebrews (abbr. Heb for citations) is one of the books in the New Testament. Though traditionally credited to the Apostle Paul, the letter is anonymous.
..... Click the link for more information.

Christianity

Foundations
Jesus Christ
Church Theology
New Covenant Supersessionism
Dispensationalism
Apostles Kingdom Gospel
History of Christianity Timeline
Bible
Old Testament New Testament
Books Canon Apocrypha
..... Click the link for more information.

In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun (called the adjective's subject), giving more information about what the noun or pronoun refers to.
..... Click the link for more information.

Christendom, or Christenhood, in the widest sense, refers to Christianity as a territorial phenomenon: those countries where most people are Christians are part of Christendom.
..... Click the link for more information.

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (Greek: Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης
..... Click the link for more information.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Tolkien in 1972, in his study at Merton Street, Oxford. Source: J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography, by Humphrey Carpenter.
..... Click the link for more information.

Middle-earth refers to the fictional 'mortal' lands where some of the stories of author J. R. R. Tolkien take place, as opposed to Aman or 'undying' lands, where the angelic Valar live together with most of the High Elves.
..... Click the link for more information.

The Demon Princes is a five-book series of science fiction novels by Jack Vance, which cumulatively relate the story of one Kirth Gersen as he exacts his revenge on five notorious criminals, collectively known as the Demon Princes, who carried his village off into slavery
..... Click the link for more information.

worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.

Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi
..... Click the link for more information.

This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.

EnglishInfo