Indeed, it is probably true to say that only the Bible rivals Homer for sheer depth and scope of cultural and literary influence.Professor Vandiver makes it vividly clear why, after almost 3,000 years, the Iliad remains not only among the greatest adventure stories ever told, but also one of the most compelling meditations on the human condition ever written.12 Lectures:1. Introduction to Homeric Epic2. The Homeric Question3. Glory, Honor, and the Wrath of Achilles4. Within the Walls of Troy5. The Embassy to Achilles6. The Paradox of Glory7. The Role of the Gods8. The Longest Day9. The Death of Patroklos10. Achilles Returns to Battle11. Achilles and Hektor12. Enemies' Tears—Achilles and Priam.

    As his struggles and lifestyle of stillness unfold, readers witness his difficult trials and battles with the demons, his profound visions and spiritual guidance, his martyric endurance in illnesses and finally his holy repose.

    Scholars have also admired the text's deep political and military dimensions.Written in the fifth century B.C.E., the "History of the Peloponnesian War" has been placed alongside Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" and Carl von Clausewitz's "On War" as one of the great treatises on strategy. The perfect companion to Thucydides's impressive text, this volume details the strategic concepts at work within the "History of the Peloponnesian War" and demonstrates how, through case studies of recent conflicts in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, Thucydidean thought remains vital to the analysis of strategic operations.Some scholars have credited Thucydides with founding the discipline of international relations. Written by scholars with extensive experience in this and related fields, "Thucydides on Strategy" situates the historian solidly within the annals of classical history and within the world of modern war.

    Together, as they spent evenings in tavernas, explored the Peloponnese, and considered the meaning of Greek life and freedom and art, they seemed to be inventing paradise. This blend of memoir, criticism, and storytelling takes readers on a journey into the poetry, friendships, and politics of an extraordinary time.

    This brilliant account celebrates the incredible range of Greek achievement: the architectural marvels of the Athenian Acropolis; the birth of drama and the timeless tragedies of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles; Homer's epics; the philosophical revolutions of Plato and Aristotle; and the conquests of Alexander the Great. Lavishly illustrated with photographs and maps, The Greek Achievement paints a sweeping panorama of the ancient Greeks' world and provides a rich, contemporary overview of their enduring contribution to world civilization.

    No idea in the history of the world has been more influential than freedom. This course deals with the political, economic, social, moral and cultural dimensions of freedom.

    The sourcebook now ranges from the first lines of Greek literature to the death of Alexander the Great, covering all of the main historical periods and social phenomena of ancient Greece. The material is taken from a variety of sources: historians, inscriptions, graffiti, law codes, epitaphs, decrees, drama and poetry. It includes the major literary authors, but also covers a wide selection of writers, including many non-Athenian authors. Whilst focusing on the main cities of ancient Greece - Athens and Sparta- the sourcebook also draws on a wide range of material concerning the Greeks in Egypt, Italy, Sicily, Asia Minor and the Black Sea.Ancient Greece covers not only the chronological, political history of ancient Greece, but also explores the full spectrum of Greek life through topics such as gender, social class, race and labour. This revised edition includes:Two completely new chapters - "The Rise of Macedon" and "Alexander ′the Great′, 336-323" BCNew material in the chapters on The City-State, Religion in the Greek World, Tyrants and Tyranny, The Peloponnesian War and its Aftermath, Labour: Slaves, Serfs and Citizens, and Women, Sexuality and the FamilyIt is structured so that:Thematically arranged chapters arranged allow students to build up gradually knowledge of the ancient Greek worldIntroductory essays to each chapter give necessary background to understand topic areasLinking commentaries help students understand the source extracts and what they reveal about the ancient GreeksAncient Greece: Social and Historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Alexander the Great. Third Edition, will continue to be a definitive collection of source material on the society and culture of the Greeks.

    

    

    This collection presents two important short works from his writings in moral philosophy. They reveal Plutarch at his best--informative, sympathetic, rich in narrative--and are accompanied by an extensive commentary that situates Plutarch and his views on marriage in their historical context.

    Born in Crete in 1911 he published his first poems in 1935 and established himself as one of the leading figures in the "Generation of the Thirties" which also included Greece's other Nobel Laureate, George Seferis. In 1979, Elytis was awared the Nobel Prize for literature. His first volume of poetry "Open Book" was characterized by a polemical and often apologetic tone, the texts in "Carte Blanche" are more confessional and reflective, sometimes prophetic, yet always poetic and with the same boldness of expression.

    This book explores the remarkable rise of a Greek-ruled kingdom in ancient Bactria (modern Afghanistan) during the third century B.C. Diodotus I and II, whose dynasty emblazoned its coins with the dynamic image of Thundering Zeus, led this historic movement by breaking free of the Seleucid Empire and building a strong independent state in Central Asia. The chronology and crises that defined their reigns have been established here for the first time, and Frank Holt sets this new history into the larger context of Hellenistic studies.The best sources for understanding Hellenistic Bactria are archaeological, and they include a magnificent trove of coins. In addition to giving a history of Bactria, Thundering Zeus provides a catalog of these coins, as well as an introduction to the study of numismatics itself. Holt presents this fascinating material with the precision and acuity of a specialist and with the delight of an admirer, providing an up-to-date full catalog of known Diodotid coinage, and illustrating twenty-three coins.This succinct, energetic narrative thunders across the history of Hellenistic Bactria, exhuming coins, kingdoms, and customs as it goes. The result is a book that is both a history and a history of discovery, with much to offer those interested in ancient texts, archaeology, and coins.

    The Greek World After Alexander 323-30 BC examines social changes in the old and new cities of the Greek world and in the new post-Alexandrian kingdoms.An appraisal of the momentous military and political changes after the era of Alexander, this book considers developments in literature, religion, philosophy, and science, and establishes how far they are presented as radical departures from the culture of Classical Greece or were continuous developments from it.Graham Shipley explores the culture of the Hellenistic world in the context of the social divisions between an educated elite and a general population at once more mobile and less involved in the political life of the Greek city.

    Each book in this elementary-level multicultural series explores, in a very simple fashion, the foods, words, inventions, toys, games and sports, religions, music, and crafts that a specific country has contributed to the world.

    This text brings together for the first time two complete key works from classical antiquity on the politics of Athens: Plato's Menexenus and Pericles' funeral oration (from Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War).

    11 1/2" x 11 1/2". Color photos.

    By contrast, this pioneering book argues that for some Greeks the ethnos, a regionally based ethnic group, and the koinon, or regional confederation, were equally valid units of social and political life and that these ethnic identities were astonishingly durable. Jeremy McInerney sets his study in Phokis, a region in central Greece dominated by Mount Parnassos that shared a border with the panhellenic sanctuary at Delphi. He explores how ecological conditions, land use, and external factors such as invasion contributed to the formation of a Phokian territory. Then, drawing on numerous interdisciplinary sources, he traces the history of the region from the Archaic age down to the Roman period. McInerney shows how shared myths, hero cults, and military alliances created an ethnic identity that held the region together over centuries, despite repeated invasions. He concludes that the Phokian koinon survived because it was founded ultimately on the tenacity of the smaller communities of Greece.