Greece Books

This book is clear, accurate, and fun to read. I will read it again and again.

By about 431 BC, that is, around the beginning of the Peloponnesian War chronicled by Thucydides, it is clear that Athens is a democracy and a major centre of revolutionary cultural developments, and that it is significantly influenced in its institutions and policy decisions by Pericles. Roughly 80 years earlier, it was a tyranny. How was this change in Athens accomplished in those 80 years--roughly the years from the initial "democratic reforms" of Cleisthenes to the preeminence of Pericles--and how should we interpret the significance of these changes? These are the questions that this excellent book addresses. The book stands out for the insight and rigour employed in the analysis of the historical evidence, in contrast to a method of interpretation that relies upon familiar presumptions or upon anachronistic or idealogical values. Indeed, one of the main thrusts of the book is to debunk (quite effectively) various romanticizations of "democratic" Athens and the political leaders who navigated its emergence. Overall, Fornara and Samons show that the democratic public policy within Athens was purchased only through a (ruthless) imperialist foreign policy. This is not an introduction to Greek history, but a book for a reader already fairly familiar with the basic issues; for such a reader, I recommend it highly. It would be a good complement to Mark Munn's excellent _The School of History: Athens in the Time of Socrates_.

This excellent work recounts the history of views on Athens and democracy over history, with a reminder of just how recently our good opinion of democracy, and therefore of Athens, resurfaces as an aspect of modernism. This change occurring during the rise of the modern, and not really complete til the nineteenth century,at best, is a world historical change of paradigm that reversed the crypto-Platonic authoritarianism of the long millennia after the waning of the great Classical flowering in the onset of the Hellenistic. This restoration requires close study of the still ambivalent views even of many of our great early modern thinkers, and is seen in Rousseau's preoccupation with the Spartans. This work highlights an essential understanding required to understand not only the Greeks but the rise of modern democracy.

This is a magnificient book, tribute to an incredible and meaningful project. Readers interested in the antiquities will want this; those who are involved in urban planning, cultural heritage conservation or related fields should definitely take a look. Considering that much of modern Athens is practically an archaeological treasure trove, it says something for the Athenians that they are willing to delay construction of important infrastructure so that thorough investigations of all sites affected can be made, and even change the location for a planned station so as to accomodate the preservation of a site.

The value of this book lies not in any breathtaking discoveries, but rather in the meticulous record of each site excavated and the indefatigable love of history which permeates throughout. It is a pity that in many other places with sufficient material prerequisites the preservation of historical and cultural heritage is either still in its infancy or simple sidelined.

If you are going to be in Athens before the end of this year, don't miss the exhibition.

Collaboratively edited by Konstantinos S. Staikos, Michael B. Sakellariou, Charalambos Bouras, and Evi Touloupa, and featuring contributions by sixteen diverse and knowledgeable contributors, Athens: From The Classical Period To The Present Day (5th Century BC - AD 2000) is a 521-page compilation of seventeen chapters presenting an amazing study at the evolution of a great and proud city throughout the millennia. The establishment of democratic government, achievements in art and civilization, war, rebuilding, renewal, and more, fill the pages of this informed and informative history. Filled with both black-and-white and color photographs, and enhanced for the reader with an extensive introduction and a comprehensive, fourteen-page index, Athens is a very highly recommended contribution to Hellenic Studies and Greek History academic collections -- and would make a superb "Memorial Fund" acquisition choice for community libraries as well.

(Amazon's new format now forces the reviewer to choose a numerical rating, as above; an objectionable requirement.)

Starting with the Ancient Greeks, this splended production ties art to history and the physical world, explaining trends, contexts, and movements, clearly mapping important sites, artistic exchange routes, materials sources, and more.

The reader is able to trace the development of the Western art tradition not only across time, but now across space as well.

Beautifully produced; generously illustrated with 300 illustrations and 150 excellent maps, and an exemplary index, this will be a welcome addition to the permanent reference shelf of any art lover.

This book brings to the world audience, all of the facts that are known about the ancient festivals of Demeter and Persephone of Eleusis, Greece. Facts about ancient Greek farming, as well as esoteric and religious information about the yearly festivals are compiled in an easy to understand and scholarly way. This book became one of my primary references for my book "Mysteries of Demeter," in which I flesh out the yearly celebrations of Demeter's Temple for modern practical use. From the bottom of my heart I thank Brumfield, and pray that this book will return to print. An excellent and classic resource. Bravo Brumfield! --Jennifer Reif

This book is a wonderful representation of the Greek Attic theatre, as cited numerous times in Flickinger's "The Greek Theatre and It's Drama." Using a clear and straight-forward method of writing, the author clearly states all he needsto say from every angle possible. Using a plethera of quotations from specific plays that suit the situation of which he speaks, the author creates, in my opinion, one of the greatest resources about theatre in the antiquity.

Perhaps more than any other Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus exemplified lines 1145-1154 in Book VI of Virgil's "Aeneid":

Others will cast more tenderly in bronze

Their breathing figures, I can well believe,

And bring more lifelike portraits out of marble;

Argue more eloquently, use the pointer

To trace the paths of heaven accurately

And accurately foretell the rising stars.

Roman, remember by your strength to rule

Earth's peoples - for your arts are to be these:

To pacify, to impose the rule of law,

To spare the conquered, battle down the proud.

-(Robert Fitzgerald, translator)

Scholars have largely believed that the "others" whom Anchises is referring to are the Greeks. The Greeks were simply far more artistically and scientifically inclined than were the Romans. Moreover, the educated among the Romans realized this; it is for that reason that the wealthy Roman citizens hired Greeks to be tutors to both themselves & their children.

It is surely not by chance that it was Octavion who commissioned Virgil to write his epic poem. I am compelled to believe that it was Augustus himself whom Virgil was thinking of when he was writing these lines - and not merely because the trek to the underworld was to foretell the future (including the reign of Augustus). Rather, it is because of the immense respect that Octavion had for the Greeks - that, I think, was the impetus which inspired these lines.

In this book, G.W. Bowersock does a superb job of expounding on this fact. We learn of how Caesar Augustus longed for a cultural fusion between the Greeks and the Romans, much like what Alexander of Macedon was searching for between the Macedonians and the Persians a few centuries earlier. Octavion wished to have the Romans learn the Greek language & dress in Greek clothing and he desired to have the Greeks learn latin and dress in Roman attire. The goal was to have both cultures be interchangeable with each other while still preserving their own cultural heritage and identity. To have the best of both worlds shared amongst the two peoples was the objective. This is a noble purpose in any day & time.

Augustus responded to various Greek anti-Rome revolts with a temperance and restraint which is remarkable and in those times almost unheard of. He loved classical Greek plays and admonished his fellow Romans to disinter the didactic qualities the works of art held for the Roman people.

G.W. Bowersock covers all of these motifs and more in this book. It is a must book for all classical historians and for those who admire the great Caesar Augustus so much as a hundreth as much as I.

I read the book The Avenger it was a great book for most readers. It was about an heir to the throne of Asini Alex's journeys. His journeys teach him many valuable skills and lessons. He goes for being an Olympic champion and heir to a throne to a slave in new lands. He must live out this ordeal with his enemy and prince Glaukon of Tiryns. When they are in the middle of this journey they discover a new side of life a better side of living. I liked this book because it had a lot of action from early Greece. It was kind of short and finished to fast. People that like ancient times costumes and wars should read this book.