Greece Books

This abridged, modern English translation of Plutarch's Lives is eminently readable and satisfying. I'm not terribly familiar with which edition may be the best, but I would recommend this edition, though it dates to the 1960s. There were two editions at my local library and I checked both out, but I decided to read this one. The other book did contain the complete Lives from the Dryden translation. The abridged version does shorten the twelve lives that are contained in this particular book, but it doesn't seem to compromise the atmosphere or the infomation contained in the complete biographies; I did do some comparsion between the two editions as I went along. The twelve individuals contained in this book are Greeks: Lycurgas, Aristides, Cimon, Pericles, Alcibiades, and Alexander; the Romans: Coriolanus, Marcus Cato, Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, Cicero, Julius Caesar, and Antony

Plutarch wrote these biographies in the First Century A.D., so he was not a contemporary of the individuals he wrote about, who sometimes preceded him by several centuries. The introduction by the authors is well done in explaining why Plutarch wrote on particular individuals in Greek and Roman history and what he was trying to accomplish. He wasn't really concerned with writing pure history so much as he was trying to show the best and worst in human nature, through the lives of these very influential people. Historians would consider this as part of the "Great Man Theory". As others have stated, he was using these biographies as moral lessons. Any modern day historian or biographer may not view Plutarch as highly as they did centuries ago, but nevertheless they should not discount his contribututions. I think Plutarch understood something most modern biographers understand about their own interest in their particular subject and why people enjoy reading biographies; people like heroes or others to look up to. Conversely, biographies can reveal the less noble qualities of people. It's human nature to want to have role models or to try to emulate others. Though nearly two thousand years have passed since the time of Plutarch, human nature hasn't changed that much has it.

I personally enjoyed this particular translation, even though it was abridged and I usually don't mind reading longer books. If your interested in Plutarch and want to read a modern day translation of some of his Lives, this book should satisfy you, without compromising the essence of Plutarch's complete works. If you want the longer, more complete version I'm sure you can find many different translations.

Plutarch in his "Lives Of The Noble Grecians And Romans" written around 100 C.E., sheds new light on Greek and Roman history from their Bronze Age beginnings, shrouded in myth, down through Alexander and late Republican Rome. Plutarch is the lens that we use today to view the Greco-Roman past; his work has shaped our perceptions of that world for 2,000 years. Plutarch writes of the rise of Roman Empire while Gibbon uses his scholarship to advance the story to write about its decline. He was a proud Greek that was equally effected by Roman culture, a Delphic priest, a leading Platonist, a moralist, educator and philosopher with a deep commitment as a first rate writer. Being a Roman citizen, Plutarch was afforded the opportunity to become an intimate friend to prominent Roman citizens and a member of the literary elite in the court of Emperor Trajan.

Plutarch's influence and enormous popularity during and after the Renaissance is legendary among classicist. Plutarch's "Lives", served as the sourcebook for Shakespeare's Roman Plays "Julius Caesar", "Antony and Cleopatra" and "Coriolanus". By the way Plutarch is even the only contemporary source of all the biographical information on Cleopatra, whom he writes about in his biographies of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Octavian. Thomas Jefferson wrote to his nephew that there were three books every gentleman had to have familiarity with; Plutarch's "Lives", Livy's "History of Rome" and Virgil's Aeneid. In fact all the founding fathers of note had read Plutarch and learned much from his fifty biographies of noble men of Greece and Rome. When Hamilton, Jay and Madison write "The Federalist Papers" they use many examples of good and bad leadership traits that they read in Plutarch's work. His biographies are a great study in human character and what motivates leaders to decide and act the way they do, this masterpiece has proven to be still prescient today.

If you are truly interested in a classical education, put this book on the top of your list! I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history.

Am pleased that Kindle permits me to find the specific text I am looking for with very little difficulty.

After visiting Versailles, I had searched in vain for a "good" biography on Louis XIV, King of France. I saw this book in the public library and gave it a try, not expecting much after the several other newer biographies I had tried and yet had been so disappointed in. Amazingly, this turned out to be a top notch biography of the man who dominated European culture for the last fifty years of the seventeenth century. The author clearly demonstrates a detailed understanding of the time period and spends most of his time on Louis, the man. He develops the section on his childhood to foreshadow later events in his life, making it a clear that a lack of affection and security as a child had major reprecussions on the adult years of his life. His marriage and his affairs are chronicled well as well as his spiritual life. Most interesting is the author's knowledge of France during this time period and the horrible conditions that both the rich and the poor lived under. Sanitation was clearly not a priority and the medical practices of the time leave you horrified. The medical history of Louis XIV is presented in such a way that you believe that it would have been better never to have seen a "doctor", let alone suffer under their care. I would recommend this biography highly. Even if it is out of print, second hand copies are not difficult to find and the reader will be rewarded with an excellent study of a complicated man and his times.

I found this to be an entertaining and easy-to-read novel. Especially recommended for folks that are interested in the ancient history of the Mediterranian area. Mr. Stump uses a fair number historical nouns and place names - at first I was a bit befuddled, but then I discovered that there's a glossary in the back (for example, I had no clue what a "trireme" might be...).

This is one of the best books about ancient Macedonia , if not the best. It is probably the first time we have a book based on solid archaeological evidence. It is a fantastic reference for everyone who wishes to study the life of this ancient Greek kingdom.
Highly recommended.

Tugboat captain, sailor, and boat racer Wright Gres presents Macedonia Passage: Dangerous Cargo, an engaging modern-day adventure on the seas, mixed with Balkan politics and a touch of romance. When Captain Frank Brown signs on to join the crew of Belle Tata in a transatlantic crossing from a Caribbean island, he has no idea what he's about to get into. The schooner's former captain and cook have vanished under mysterious circumstances; a perilous cargo is stashed within the yacht's bilges; and one problem after another plagues the voyage. When Brown reaches the Mediterranean, he finds himself caught in a crossroads of authorities and conspirators. Turkish intelligence gets involved, in the person of the comely yet mysterious agent Nevser Akkaya Chase. Together, she and Brown must untangle the mystery, figure out who they can trust, and fight for their lives in this high seas blend of danger, courage, and intrigue.

The title is misspelled in Amazon's listing. It should be "Mad Feary Father." It was very positively reviewed in Philological Quarterly, Studies in Romanticism, and Genre. It was published in a very poor format but is now cited as a major essay on an important psychological thriller of the 1790s. The author draws upon an extensive knowledge of the 18th-century novel in order to show how Godwin has transformed, or deconstructed, the conventions of the genre.

Beginning with an overview of what constitutes magic and magical behavior in the Classical world, Dickie traces the evolution of the concept of magic through his chosen period (500 BCE - 700 CE). His precise field of inquiry is the "common" magic-worker, insofar as such a practitioner existed. He attempts to answer the questions "who was doing magic and why?" by examining a vast array of evidence, both primary and literary. Along the way he discards much of the dross that has accumulated on Classical scholarship in the last decade or so, deriding the postmodern and deconstructionist habits of hanging modern Freudian meanings on antique societies and social actions.

The scope of this work is breathtaking. A truly vast array of sources are brought forth, considered, and placed into the context of what is known about the societies in question. Primary material, drawn heavily from archaeological evidence such as curse tablets and amuletic inscriptions, is cited wherever appropriate. Extensive use is made of the magical papyri as well and the author makes a consistent effort to consider what role is played by the casters of such spells in their societies - the society of classical Athens, for example, is different from that of Athens in the time of Alexander, which in turn is different from Republican or Imperial Rome. Each discrete period of time is considered from its own sources, archaeological, primary or literary.

Nor are modern scholars ignored in this tour de force. Dickie makes wide-ranging use of the best that Classical scholarship has to offer - Graf, Faraone, Obbink, Johnston, all are cited where relevant. The only modern scholar that is missing from this lineup is Hans Dieter Betz; Betz' translation and collation of the PGM is abandoned in favor of the older and less complete Preisendanz editions, nor is Betz cited in the Bibliography except for two minor articles, both contained in collections with other articles which are extensively cited. (The scholar in me smells some obscure feud in this.) Nevertheless, this puzzling absence in no way detracts from the stellar quality of the book itself.

This is a must-own for any serious student of Classical magic. Buy it today!

In depth writing by the best historian we have available on Alexander the Great.