Best of
Greece

1995

Warfare in the Classical World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors, and Warfare in the Ancient Civilizations of Greece and Rome


John Warry - 1995
    and A.D. 800, from the rise of Mycenaean civilization to the fall of Ravenna and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. John Warry tells of an age of great military commanders such as Alexander the Great, Hannibal, and Julius Caesar - men whose feats of generalship still provide material for discussion and admiration in the military academies of the world.The text is complemented by a running chronology, 16 maps, 50 newly researched battle plans and tactical diagrams, and 125 photographs, 65 of them in color.

Ecclesiastical History: According to the Text of Hussey


Socrates of Constantinople - 1995
    This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Women in Ancient Greece


Sue Blundell - 1995
    This book, a comprehensive history of women in the Archaic and Classical Ages, completes our picture of ancient Greek society.Largely excluded from any public role, the women of ancient Greece nonetheless appear in various guises in the art and writing of the period, and in legal documents. These representations, in Sue Blundell's analysis, reveal a great deal about women's day-to-day experience as well as their legal and economic position--and how they were regarded by men. Here are women as portrayed in Homer, in Greek lyric poetry, and by the playwrights; the female nature as depicted in medical writings and by Aristotle; representations of women in sculpture and vase paintings. This is evidence filtered through a male view: Sappho is the only female writer of antiquity much of whose work survives. Yet these sources and others such as regulations and law court speeches reveal a great deal about women's lives and about their status as defined by law and by custom.By examining the roles that men assigned to women, the ideals they constructed for them, and the anxieties they expressed about them, Blundell sheds light on the cultural dynamics of a male-dominated society. Lively and richly illustrated, her work offers a fresh look at women in the ancient world.

Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece


Andrew Dalby - 1995
    Remains of honeycombs & of cheeses have been found under the volcanic ash of the Santorini eruption of 1627 BCE. Over the millennia, Greek food diversified & absorbed neighboring traditions, yet retained its own distinctive character. In Siren Feasts, Andrew Dalby provides the 1st serious social history of Greek food. He begins with the tunny fishers of the neolithic age, & traces the story thru the repertoire of classical Greece, the reputations of Lydia for luxury & of Sicily & S. Italy for sybaritism, to the Imperial synthesis of varying traditions, with a look forward to the Byzantine cuisine & the development of the modern Greek menu. The apples of the Hesperides turn out to be lemons. Great favor attaches to Byzantine biscuits. Fully documented & comprehensively illustrated, scholarly yet readable, Siren Feasts demonstrates the social construction placed upon different types of food at different periods (was fish a luxury in classical Athens, tho disdained by Homeric heroes?). It places diet in an economic & agricultural context; & provides a history of mentalities in relation to a subject which no one can ignore.

Greek Sculpture: The Late Classical Period and Sculpture in Colonies and Overseas


John Boardman - 1995
    Here, the story continues through the fourth century B.C. to the days of Alexander the Great. The innovations of the period are discussed, such as the female nude and portraiture, along with many important monuments including the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and several of the great names such as Praxiteles and Lysippus who were lionized by later generations. The volume also presents Greek sculpture made in the colonies of Italy and Sicily from the Archaic period onwards, as well as that made for eastern, non-Greek rulers. A final section considers the role of Greek sculpture in moulding western taste to the present day.

The Oxford Book of Classical Verse


Adrian Poole - 1995
    Virtually every great poet from Chaucer on has tried his or her hand at translation, with the results often rivalling or even excelling the ancient original. This unique anthology presents the best of these translations, ranging from King Alfred, Alexander Pope, and Ben Jonson, to Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ezra Pound, and Ted Hughes. The book offers a vast array of responses to the song, verse, and drama of ancient Greece and Rome, and to poets themselves as varied as Homer, Sappho, Euripides, Virgil, Ovid, and Juvenal. Organized by classical author and text, the book gathers and juxtaposes English versions, sometimes of the same passage or poem, to dramatize the endless renewal of one great poetic tradition in and through another.

How Would You Survive as an Ancient Greek? (How Would You Survive?)


Fiona MacDonald - 1995
    Each title transports the reader back in time by giving detailed information on the aspects of life during a particular historical period.

Greek Heroine Cults


Jennifer Larson - 1995
    This is the first book to show that the worship of heroines, as well as of gods and heroes, was widespread in the Greek world from the eighth through the fourth centuries B.C.  Drawing upon textual, archaeological, and iconographic evidence as diverse as ancient travel writing, ritual calendars, votive reliefs, and Euripidean drama, Jennifer Larson demonstrates the pervasiveness of heroine cults at every level of Athenian society.    Larson reveals that a broad range of heroic cults existed throughout the Greek world, encompassing not only individuals but couples (Pelops and Hippodameia, Alexandra and Agamemnon, Helen and Menelaos) and families such as those of Asklepios and the Dioskouroi.  She shows how heroic cults reinforced the Greeks' gender expectations for both women and men through ritual status, iconography, and narrative motifs.  Finally, Larson looks at the intersection of heroine cults with specific topics such as myths of maiden sacrifice, the Amazons, the role of the goddess Artemis, and folk beliefs about female "ghosts."

Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World


David Sacks - 1995
    Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World provides interdisciplinary coverage of this influential civilization.

Odyssey with the Goddess: A Spiritual Quest in Crete


Carol P. Christ - 1995
    -- Booklist"Luminous prose.... Highly recommended". -- Library Journal"Christ writes with great courage and honesty". -- Starhawk

Julian's Gods: Religion and Philosophy in the Thought and Action of Julian the Apostate


Rowland B.E. Smith - 1995
    The surviving speeches and treatises, satires and letters offer a rare insight into the personal attitudes and motivations of a remarkable Emperor. They show Julian as a highly educated man, an avid student of Greek philosophy, and a talented author in his own right. This elegant and closely-argued study will deepen understanding not only of Julian, but of the context of fourth century Neoplatonism.

Images of the Greek Theatre


Richard Green - 1995
    It survives not only in cultural traditions, but in plays which can still be read and seen and in artistic images. This book examines the history of Greek theatre as seen through representations on painted pottery, terracotta figures, sculpture, mosiacs, metalware and gems.

Marina: The Story of a Princess


Sophia Watson - 1995
    Her dark features confirmed in most people's minds her Greek origins - she and Prince Philip were cousins. Her marriage to George, Duke of Kent, the rakish younger brother to Edward VIII and George VI, ended in tragedy when her husband was killed in a World War II air crash.

Troy and the Trojans


Carl W. Blegen - 1995
    Using material gleaned from the Cincinnati Expedition & from his own scholarship, Blegen takes us through seven Troy "settlements" covering the period 3000 to 1000 B.C., analyzing the archaeological evidence (architectural ruins, pottery, weapons, etc.) to provide us with a vivid account of everyday Trojan life. Along the way we learn that the fabled wall encircling the citadel was a feature from the beginning, & that the city was ruined & rebuilt three times before its final destruction by invaders who looted it & put it to the torch. Beginning with a discussion of the Homeric Troy and concluding with a penetrating study of the 7th Troy settlement that must be viewed as the historical city, this book re-creates the enchantment of a lost civilization.

The Unwritten Places: Wanderings in the Mountains of Northern Greece


Tim Salmon - 1995
    This, along with the absence of any books or detailed maps, proved irresistible to the Rough Guide author, travel journalist, mountaineer and linguist. "Those hazy bulwarks seen against a summer sky from lowland roads and tourist routes where the black-caped winter shepherds repaired in spring. Where did they go?" For the next 40 years Tim made it his business to find out.A close friendship, ongoing to this day, with a family of Vlach mountain shepherds lies at the heart of The Unwritten Places. The Vlachs are called Arumani in their own language, which today is their principal distinguishing feature. It is a language derived from Latin and is considered to be a dialect of Romanian. Tim has watched his friends' flocks grow in size and seen the road arrive as their children grew into their sophisticated twenties. Tim's final acceptance by these proud and secretive peoples (but never quite their dogs!) is marked by his participation in the annual transhumance of the shepherds and their flocks, walking between winter and summer pastures at a time just before the roads and the lorries took over.A beautifully-written, intimate portrait of an all but vanished way of Greek mountain life, uninterrupted for thousands of years. "He describes the remote parts of Greece beautifully, and comments hauntingly on their despoliation." The Times Literary Supplement "He has a sensitive and perceptive eye for mountainscape and skyscape, an eye any landscape painter might envy." The Anglo-Hellenic Review

Siren Songs: Gender, Audiences, and Narrators in the Odyssey


Lillian E. Doherty - 1995
    Odysseus rewards supportive female characters by treating them as privileged members of the audience for his own tales. At the same time, dangerous female narrators--who threaten to disrupt or revise the hero's story--are discredited by the narrative framework in which their stories appear.Siren Songs synthesizes audience-oriented and narratological approaches, and examines the relationships among three kinds of audiences: internal, implied, and actual. The author prefaces her own reading of the Odyssey with an analysis of the issues posed by the earlier feminist readings on which she builds. Should the Odyssey be read as a "closed" text, that is, as one whose meaning is highly determined, or as an "open" text whose contradictions and ambiguities undercut its overt meanings? Siren Songs presents a feminist critique of the Odyssey in an accessible manner aimed at a more general audience. All Greek is translated, and critical terminology is clearly defined. Lillian Eileen Doherty is Associate Professor of Classics, University of Maryland, College Park.