Classical World - Böcker

The emphasis throughout this book, ideal for sixth form and early university students, is on Sophocles' tragic thinking, on the concept of the 'Sophoclean hero', and on the dramatic structure of the plays. The seven extant plays, Ajax, Women of Trachis, Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus are assessed and a brief concluding chapter draws together what has been said in the seven studies. This second edition has been revised fully, with an updated further reading list and more detailed information on the chorus and staging of the plays.The aim of the book is to help readers to understand why Sophocles is still worth reading, or going to see in the theatre, in the 21st century, and to show how far Sophoclean scholarship has moved in recent decades from the once prevalent view that he was a pious religious conformist who had nothing very profound or original to say, but who said it very beautifully.The volume is a companion to The Plays of Euripides (by James Morwood) and The Plays of Aeschylus (by Alex Garvie) also available in second editions from Bloomsbury. A further essential guide to the themes and context of ancient Greek tragedy may be found in Laura Swift's new introductory volume, Greek Tragedy.

This book takes as its starting-point the images of women in the Parthenon sculptures, in order to investigate two levels of feminine experience in Classical Athens, the human and the divine. The inter-play between women's religious prominence and their domestic obscurity is examined in relation to the young citizen women who lead the procession; while the great goddesses represented in the frieze are studies in terms of their relationships with their human worshippers and, on a symbolic level, with the mythological females, such as the Amazons, who appear in the metopes. Finally, the book turns to a third aspect of th e feminine experience, and looks at the women who do not appear in the Parthenon sculptures - the prostitutes, slaves and alien women who made a vital economic and ideological contribution to the Athenian achievement.

In the second and third quarters of the fifth century BC, when Athens became both politically and culturally dominant in the Greek world, Pericles was the leading figure in the city’s public life. At this time Athens developed an empire of a kind which no Greek city had had before, and its politics were reshaped by the new institution of democracy.These changes inspired religious developments, while the sophists revolutionised philosophy, analysed human affairs in human terms, and Athenian tragedy became the principal Greek poetic form. This volume's illustrations further show the numerous artistic and sculptural developments in Pericles’ time, as the building programmes attracted architects, builders and sculptors to Athens, and Athenian red-figure pottery reached new heights of skill in the scenes painted on it.This concise and accessible introduction guides students through the key aspects of this most-studied period of ancient Greek history, focusing on the major developments, political and cultural, that took place in Pericles’ time.

Life in ancient Greece was musical life. Soloists competed onstage for popular accolades, becoming centrepieces for cultural conversation and even leading Plato to recommend that certain forms of music be banned from his ideal society. And the music didn’t stop when the audience left the theatre: melody and rhythm were woven into the whole fabric of daily existence for the Greeks. Vocal and instrumental songs were part of religious rituals, dramatic performances, dinner parties, and even military campaigns. Like Detroit in the 1960s or Vienna in the 18th century, Athens in the 400s BC was the hotspot where celebrated artists collaborated and diverse strands of musical tradition converged. The conversations and innovations that unfolded there would lay the groundwork for musical theory and practice in Greece and Rome for centuries to come. In this perfectly pitched introduction, Spencer Klavan explores Greek music’s origins, forms, and place in society.In recent years, state-of-the-art research and digital technology have enabled us to decipher and understand Greek music with unprecedented precision. Yet many readers today cannot access the resources that would enable them to grapple with this richly rewarding subject. Arcane technical details and obscure jargon veil the subject — it is rarely known, for instance, that authentic melodies still survive from antiquity, helping us to imagine the vivid soundscapes of the Classical and Hellenistic eras. Music in Ancient Greece distills the latest discoveries into vivid prose so readers can come to grips with the basics as never before. With the tools in this book, beginners and specialists alike will learn to hear the ancient world afresh and come away with a new, musical perspective on their favourite classical texts.

Life in ancient Greece was musical life. Soloists competed onstage for popular accolades, becoming centrepieces for cultural conversation and even leading Plato to recommend that certain forms of music be banned from his ideal society. And the music didn’t stop when the audience left the theatre: melody and rhythm were woven into the whole fabric of daily existence for the Greeks. Vocal and instrumental songs were part of religious rituals, dramatic performances, dinner parties, and even military campaigns. Like Detroit in the 1960s or Vienna in the 18th century, Athens in the 400s BC was the hotspot where celebrated artists collaborated and diverse strands of musical tradition converged. The conversations and innovations that unfolded there would lay the groundwork for musical theory and practice in Greece and Rome for centuries to come. In this perfectly pitched introduction, Spencer Klavan explores Greek music’s origins, forms, and place in society.In recent years, state-of-the-art research and digital technology have enabled us to decipher and understand Greek music with unprecedented precision. Yet many readers today cannot access the resources that would enable them to grapple with this richly rewarding subject. Arcane technical details and obscure jargon veil the subject — it is rarely known, for instance, that authentic melodies still survive from antiquity, helping us to imagine the vivid soundscapes of the Classical and Hellenistic eras. Music in Ancient Greece distills the latest discoveries into vivid prose so readers can come to grips with the basics as never before. With the tools in this book, beginners and specialists alike will learn to hear the ancient world afresh and come away with a new, musical perspective on their favourite classical texts.

The Latin poet Ovid was famously exiled by the Emperor Augustus to the shores of the Black Sea for his self-confessed crimes of 'a poem and a mistake'. Throughout his poetry, he discusses his exile and embraces the themes of marginality and alterity.This core motif is explored throughout this overview of Ovid's life, the society he lived in and his innovative, perennially popular body of work. Presenting basic biographical information and the historical context of the newly Augustan Rome, the book details the contextual instabilities inherent in living at the border between republic and empire. Examining Ovid's poetic representations of 'otherness' from self-portraits to the mythological characters who populate his work, and his audacious experiments with genre, metre and poetic form, the book provides a coherent and original look at this much-studied author.An analysis of Ovid's parodic spirit alongside his more serious exposure of the workings of power reveals his focus on the powerless, the marginalized and the aberrant, as well as Ovid's treatment of the powerful and the abuses they perpetuate. Intelligible to readers with little or no experience of Ovid, all passages of Latin are translated and the work includes relevant maps, glossaries, a timeline and suggestions for further reading.

Written by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, one of the world's foremost scholars on Roman social and cultural history, this introduction to Rome in the Age of Augustus provides a fascinating insight into the social and physical contexts of Augustan politics and poetry, exploring in detail the impact of the new regime of government on society. Taking an interpretative approach, the ideas and environment manipulated by Augustus are explored, along with reactions to that manipulation. Emphasizing the role and impact of art and architecture of the time, and on Roman attitudes and values, Augustan Rome explains how the victory of Octavian at Actium transformed Rome and Roman life.The second edition features a new introductory section on literary figures under Augustus, a final chapter on the reception of Augustus in later periods, updated references to recent scholarship, new figures and an expanded list of further reading.This thought-provoking yet concise volume sets political changes in the context of their impact on Roman values, on the imaginative world of poetry, on the visual world of art, and on the fabric of the city of Rome.

This authoritative short volume introduces readers to the Roman army, its structure, tactics, duties and development. One of the most successful fighting forces that the world has seen, the Roman army was inherited by the emperor Augustus who re-organized it and established its legions in military bases, many of which survived to the end of the empire. He and subsequent emperors used it as a formidable tool for expansion. Soon, however, the army became fossilized on its frontiers and changed from a mobile fighting force to a primarily defensive body. Written by a leading authority on the Roman army and the frontiers it defended and expanded, this is an invaluable book for students at school and university level, as well as a handy guide for general readers with an interest in military history, the rise and development and fall of the Roman legions, and the ancient world.

This excellent introduction to the six extant plays of Aeschylus is fully revised and updated, with additional further reading, ideal for the student unfamiliar with these earliest of Greek tragedies. Aeschylus is the oldest of the three great Greek tragedians and lived from 525/524 to 465/455. He took part in the battle of Marathon in 490 and probably also in the battle of Salamis in 480, the subject of his Persians. Working in chronological order of their first production, this volume explores Persians, the earliest Greek tragedy that has come down to us; Seven against Thebes; Suppliants; and the three plays of the Oresteia trilogy: Agamemnon, Libation Bearers and Eumenides. The book also contains an essay on Prometheus Bound, now generally thought not to be by Aeschylus, but accepted as his in antiquity.The volume is a companion to The Plays of Euripides (by James Morwood) and The Plays of Sophocles (by Alex Garvie) also available in second editions from Bloomsbury. A further essential guide to the themes and context of ancient Greek tragedy may be found in Laura Swift's new introductory volume, Greek Tragedy.

Over the past decades there has been something of a revolution in the way we view classical drama generally and Euripides in particular. This book, updated in a second edition, reflects that revolution and aims to show how Euripides was continually reinventing himself. A truly Protean figure, he seems to set out on a new journey in each of his surviving 19 plays. Between general introduction and final summary, Morwood's chapters identify the themes that underlie the plays and concentrate, above all, on demonstrating the extraordinary diversity of this great dramatist. New to this edition, which is updated throughout, are further details on the individual plays and extra suggestions for background reading.The volume is a companion to The Plays of Sophocles and The Plays of Aeschylus (both by Alex Garvie) also available in second editions from Bloomsbury. A further essential guide to the themes and context of ancient Greek tragedy may be found in Laura Swift's new introductory volume, Greek Tragedy.

The latest volume in the Classical World series, this book offers a much-needed up-to-date introduction to Greek tragedy, and covers the most important thematic topics studied at school or university level. After a brief analysis of the genre and main figures, it focuses on the broader questions of what defines tragedy, what its particular preoccupations are, and what makes these texts so widely studied and performed more than 2,000 years after they were written. As such, the book will be of interest to students taking broad courses on Greek tragedy, while also being suitable for the general reader who wants an overview of the subject.All passages of tragedy discussed are translated by the author and supplementary information includes a chronology of all the surviving tragedies, a glossary, and guidance on further reading.

For two centuries classical Athens enjoyed almost uninterrupted democratic government. This was not a parliamentary democracy of the modern sort but a direct democracy in which all citizens were free to participate in the business of government. Throughout this period Athens was the cultural centre of Greece and one of the major Greek powers. This book traces the development and operation of the political system and explores its underlying principles. Christopher Carey assesses the ancient sources of the history of Athenian democracy and evaluates criticisms of the system, ancient and modern. He also provides a virtual tour of the political cityscape of ancient Athens, describing the main political sites and structures, including the theatre.With a new chapter covering religion in the democratic city, this second edition benefits from updates throughout that incorporate the latest research and recent archaeological findings in Athens. A clearer structure and layout make the book more accessible to students, as do extra images and maps along with a timeline of key events.

Studying Roman Law is an introductory guide aimed at sixth-formers, students and those with a general interest wishing to obtain a basic overview of Roman private law during the first three centuries of the Common Era. It is not meant to be a replacement for more comprehensive and technical manuals on Roman law, but should rather be seen as introductory reading. Written in non-specialist language, it contains a basic overview of the sources of Roman private law and a guide to their use together with a survey of the main areas of the law using primary sources in translation. It also explains the different contexts in which these rules arose and operated as well as the mechanisms by which they were enforced against the backdrop of one of the most sophisticated and influential legal systems of the ancient world.

The Roman Poetry of Love explores the formation of a key literary genre in a troubled historical and political setting. The short-lived genre of Latin love elegy produced spectacular, multi-faceted and often difficult poetry. Its proponents Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid remain to this day some of the most influential poetic voices of Western civilisation. This accessible introduction combines aesthetic analysis with socio-political context to provide a concise but comprehensive portrait of the Roman elegy, its main participants and its cultural and political milieu. Focusing on a series of specific poems, the title portrays the development of the genre in the context of the Emperor Augustus’ ascent to power, following recognizable threads through the texts to build an understanding of the relationship between this poetry and the increasingly totalising regime.Highlighting and examining the intense affectation of love in these poems, The Roman Poetry of Love explores the works not simply as an expression of a troubled male psychology, but also as a reflection of the overwhelming changes that swept through Rome and Italy in the transition from the late Republic to the Augustan Age.

Aristophanes, the Athenian comic dramatist, remains popular despite historical changes in attitude and belief. Placing the plays in their total civic, religious and dramatic context, this account explores their significance for contemporary audiences, and their continuing appeal. Separate chapters address aspects of his work and world, and attempt to outline the playwright's own opinions at a time of intense political debate. With original texts quoted in translation, this comprehensive and lively study provides students with an invaluable insight into the plays and their place in classical Athens.

Greek Architecture is a clearly structured discussion of all the major buildings constructed by the Greeks, from houses to temples, theatres to council buildings. The book describes particular architectural styles and features and sets the buildings in their context, with an evaluation of their purpose, siting and planning.From prehistoric settlements of Troy, the Minoan palaces of Crete and their counterparts in the Mycenean kingdoms, to the absorption of Hellenism into the Roman Empire, the book pays particular attention to the early period, supplying a large-scale account of the development of pre-Hellenic building. It goes on to trace the evolution of temples and other religious buildings, the history of town planning and civic building, the development of the theatre and techniques in masonry, vaulting and fortification.With over forty illustrations enhancing the text, the book provides an informed and comprehensive view of the design and function of buildings in ancient Greece.

'The dark, unrelenting Tiberius, the furious Caligula, the feeble Claudius, the profligate and cruel Nero..are condemned to everlasting Infamy', wrote Gibbon. This 'infamy' has inspired the work of historians and novelists from Roman times to the present. This book summarises political events during the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero, and the civil wars of the 'year of four emperors'. It considers too the extent to which social factors influenced the imperial household. Assuming no knowledge of Latin and drawing on material including inscriptions and coins, literary history and the latest historical interpretations, the author presents a coherent account of the often apparently erratic actions of these emperors.

This wide ranging introductory book surveys the topic of morals and values from the Minoans to the Christians. Each chapter ends with extracts from the relevant literature and comments upon them, providing a useful focus for discussion.'It is hard not to be impressed by the author's range, confidence, ease of summary and judgement ...' I. McAuslan, Greece & Rome

In the ancient world Homer was recognised as the fountainhead of culture. His poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, were universally admired as examples of great literature which could never be surpassed. In this study, Richard Jenkyns re-examines the two Homeric epics and the work that is perhaps their closest rival, the Aeneid of Virgil. A wide range of topics is covered, including chapters on heroism and tragedy in the Iliad, morality in the Odyssey and Virgil's skilful reworking of elements from the two earlier epics. Essential reading for those who are unfamiliar with the works of Homer and Virgil, the author's lively and provocative approach will also appeal to more experienced scholars of classical literature.

This is an authoritative and clearly written account of the main issues involved in the study of Greek slavery from Homeric times to the fourth century BC. It provides valuable insights into the fundamental place of slavery in the economies and social life of classical Greece, and includes penetrating analyses of the widely-held ancient ideological justifications of slavery. A wide range of topics is covered, including the development of slavery from Homer to the classical period, the peculiar form of community slaves (the helots) found in Sparta, economic functions and the treatment of slaves in Athens, and the evidence for slaves' resistance. Throughout the author shows how political and economic systems, ideas of national identity, work and gender, and indeed the fundamental nature of Greek civilisation itself, were all profoundly affected by the fact that many of the Greek city-states were slave societies. The book includes 12 illustrations.

Starting from the conviction that Latin literature gains from being viewed as performance, the author sees the creation of different characters or "masks" in Latin literature as a result of the Greco-Roman training in rhetoric. She treats the texts of Roman satire as drama and focuses on the characters whose voices are heared in these performances: the angry satirist, the mocking satirist and the smiling satirist. She goes on to explore the implications of the use of these "masks" for authors and audiences of satire.

Religion and the Romans provides a short, modern introduction to religion in the Roman world. It deals with the public and private nature of religion at Rome itself, and looks at the native cults of the empire, with special reference to Gaul, as well as considering how the exotic cults such as those of Isis and Mithras were viewed. Finally, a fresh look is taken at the conflict of Christianity with the inhabitants and authorities of the empire, from Nero to Constantine and beyond. This lively and accessible book will prove invaluable to students of the classical world providing a much needed general survey of Roman religion.

Little over one hundred years has passed since Schliemann first excavated Mycenae and revealed the riches of its ruler, burying in the Shaft graves three and a half thousand years ago. Continuing discoveries have demonstrated the achievements and connections of Mycenaean civilisation. The decipherment of their script, Linear B, an early form of Greek , has shown that the Mycenaeans were the ancestors of the Greeks of the Classical period, and has revealed the complexity of the administration of their palaces.This introduction to the Mycenaean world brings together the latest research to provide a clear account of its history and on the real Bronze Age cities that lie behind the Homeric legends. Myceanean economy and society, technology and trade, burials and buildings, warfare and religion are all explored to reveal the character and achievements of this brilliant forerunner of Classical Greece. The final chapter is devoted to the no-longer-so Dark Age, during which Greek society was transformed and the Homeric epic reached its final form.

Athens and Sparta were the two leading powers in the Classical Greek world. They represented entirely different systems of social organization: oligarchic conservatism at Sparta versus radical democracy at Athens. There was continuing ideological rivalry, culminating in the Peloponnesian War, a central event in Greek history. This text focuses on the image of rival societies, as Athens and Sparta have been perceived, by contemporaries, by later Greeks, during the Roman period and beyond. The topics covered include education, land-holding, the division of the sexes, the buildings of Athens, the development of Spartan traditional customs to meet the demands of the Roman tourist trade, and the relationship between imperialism and democracy, in antiquity and today. There is also an examination of the way in which the Peloponnesian War was constructed, if not invented, by its historian, Thucydides. The book is part of the "Classical World" series, which explores the culture and achievement of the civilizations of Rome. It is designed for students and teachers of Classical Civilization.

No areaof Greek life was wholly untouched by religion, and a basic knowledge ofthis aspect of life is essential to anyone seeking a proper understanding ofthe classical world. In this engaging survey Robert Garland brings out theunique quality of Greek religion - its practical and worldly approach toman's relationship with the divine -and shows how religious ritual was integral to the daily routine of bothpublic and private life.

This introduction to ancient medical systems asks how the experience of illness and the role of medicine were understood in the Greek and Roman worlds. Although topics such as the development of anatomical knowledge are covered, the book focuses on the place of medicine within changing types of society.

What did 'history' mean to the Greeks and the Romans? This volume traces the development of conceptions of history and its practice from Homer to the writers of the Roman Empire. It serves as an introduction to the great historians of the ancient world and contains sections on Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius, Livy, Tacitus, Suetonius and others. Each section is designed to be self-contained and may be read on its own; but links between the different historians, the ways in which they competed with and were influenced by one another, are constantly brought out. The main ancient historians are household names but Duff stresses not only the ways in which they seem familiar but also those in which they are alien to today's readers; for the ancient historian was always concerned with improving the reader as much as informing him. As well as the most familiar names, Duff also includes in his account others whose work survives only in fragments, especially Greeks of the fourth century BC and the Hellenistic era, whose entire works were known to their Roman successors.

The athletic competitions that took place during festivals like that at Olympia, or within the confines of city gymnasia, were a key feature of life in ancient Greece. From the commemoration of victorious athletes in poetry or sculpture to the archaeological remains of baths, gymnasia and stadia, surviving evidence offers plentiful testimony to the importance of athletic activity in Greek culture, and its survival well into the Roman period. This book offers an introduction to the many forms that athletics took in the ancient world, and to the sources of evidence by which we can study it. As well as looking at the role of athletics in archaic and classical Greece, it also covers the less-explored periods of the Hellenistic and Roman worlds. The many different aspects of athletics will also be considered - not only the well-known contests of athletic festivals such as the Olympic Games, but also the place of athletic training within civic education and military training, and its integration into the bathing culture of the Roman world.