Standing there, realizing she didn’t even know which house had belonged to her grandmother, Ava wondered just how crazy and desperate she’d been to come all this way with no hope or plan.When Ava arrives in Greece, it’s with a heart that’s shattered into a thousand pieces. But as she pulls up in a tiny village nestled on a cliff above the glittering Ionian Sea, and steps out in front of a tumbledown house that once belonged to her grandmother Sophia, everything changes.At first Ava almost wants to laugh at this bizarre inheritance—a home that has been uninhabited since the Second World War—that appears as close to collapse as she herself feels. But with nowhere left to run to, her only choice is to start putting the house together again.What Ava doesn’t expect is for pieces of her grandmother’s story to emerge, as a local survivor from the war begins to share her secrets. Ava can’t help but be drawn to Sophia’s hidden past… even though the truth could change her own life forever.Because Sophia’s story is one of devastating choices she had to make during the Nazi invasion of her beloved country. It’s a story of bravery, betrayal and tragedy. But most of all, it is a story about love…An utterly unforgettable story of two remarkable women who find the strength to persevere against all odds and find hope, courage and light in the darkness. Perfect for fans of The Nightingale, The Lilac Girls and Victoria Hislop’s The Island.

     Willa Daventry knows what she wants. She’s thirty-two, single and determined to make her singles sailing holidays a successful part of her family’s travel business. She doesn’t usually mix business with pleasure but the attentions of three handsome men under the blazing Greek sun are enough to turn any girl’s head. Should she keep things professional, or risk a little flirting and get what she wants into the bargain? She needs to negotiate a new deal with Greek hotel owner, Aristaios Nikolades. Advertising executive, Harry ‘Banner’ Bullen’s skills could prove useful, and a five-star review from award-winning, travel writer, Mark Thornton would be a dream come true. Unbeknown to Willa, the three men make a drunken wager to see which of them can get a date with her. Aristaios and Harry don’t play fair but Mark is determined to win. He’ll have to keep sex-mad Pilates instructor, Blossom Appleyard and divorcée, Suki Thane at bay though, if he is to stand a chance of sailing off into the sunset with Willa. When Willa learns of the bet will she decide to play the men at their own game and teach them a lesson they won’t forget, or … will she just feel she’s better off sailing solo?

    Despite their mortality, heroes, like the gods, were objects of cult worship. Nagy examines this distinctively religious notion of the hero in its many dimensions, in texts spanning the eighth to fourth centuries bce: the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey; tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; songs of Sappho and Pindar; and dialogues of Plato. All works are presented in English translation, with attention to the subtleties of the original Greek, and are often further illuminated by illustrations taken from Athenian vase paintings.The fifth-century bce historian Herodotus said that to read Homer is to be a civilized person. In twenty-four installments, based on the Harvard University course Nagy has taught and refined since the late 1970s, The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours offers an exploration of civilization s roots in the Homeric epics and other Classical literature, a lineage that continues to challenge and inspire us today.

    Turney, the fate of Empire hangs in the balance… Istanbul, 1481:  The once great city of Constantine, a strange mix of Christians, Turks and Jews, now forms the heart of the Ottoman empire. The conquest, still a recent memory, means emotions run high; danger is never far away. Skiouros and Lykaion, sons of a Greek farmer, are conscripted into the infamous Janissary guards and taken to Istanbul. As Skiouros escapes into the Greek quarter, Lykaion remains with the slave chain, becomes an Islamic convert and guards the Imperial palace. But one fateful day Skiouros picks the wrong pocket and begins to unravel a plot reaching to the highest peaks of Imperial power... He and his brother are left with the most difficult decision faced by a conquered Greek: is the rule of the Ottoman Sultan is worth saving? The epic and unputdownable first book in S.J.A. Turney’s Ottoman Cycle, The Thief’s Tale is perfect for readers of Simon Scarrow, Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell.

    While Thebes waits for her to perish of hunger and thirst, the city’s darkest secrets come to light: Creon’s role in the death of his sister Jocasta, Oedipus’ fate in exile, the rivalry that led to war between Oedipus’ twin sons – and the truth about their final battle.Antigone’s sister Ismene, her aunt Eurydike, and her husband Haemon find surprising allies in their effort to free the condemned woman before it is too late. Will Creon relent? The siege may be over, but the conflict continues.

    They were recorded on Jersey in 1985 and are used by kind permission of the Estate of Gerald Durrell.©2012 Crimson Cats Audio Books/Gerald Durrell Estate; (P)2012 Crimson Cats Audio Books

    The collection sees the return of some familiar members of the Robertson company, including Strindberg – heading, as usual, towards calamity – and the shape-shifter Dionysus. Four loose retellings of stories of the Greek god form pillars for the book, alongside four short Ovid versions. Threaded through these are a series of pieces about the poet’s childhood on the north-east coast, his fascination with the sea and the islands of Scotland. However, the reader will also discover a distinct new note in Robertson’s austere but ravishing poetry: towards the possibility of contentment – a house, a door, a key – finding, at last, a ‘happiness of the hand and heart’. Magisterial in its command and range, indelibly moving and memorable in its speech, Hill of Doors is Robin Robertson’s most powerful book to date. - See more at: http://www.picador.com/books/hill-of-...

    Greece, 373 BC. For three centuries, the Messenian people have been brutally subjugated by their Spartan neighbours andforced to work the land as helot slaves. Diocles, a seventeen-year-old helot, has known no other lifebut servitude. After an encounter withSpartan assassins, he is forced to flee, leaving behind his family and his love, Elpis. On Mount Ithome, the ancient sanctuary of the Messenians, he meetsAristomenes, an old rebel who still remembers the proud history of their people and clings to a prophecy that they will one daywin backtheir freedom.A forlorn hope, perhaps. But elsewhere in Greece, there are others too who believe it is timethat the power of Spartawas broken."

    Caught between these superpowers, the independent city-state of Plataea became the arena where their battle for control of all of Greece would begin.In Plataea, the young Greek warrior Nikias dreams of glory in the Olympic games as he trains for the pankration—the no-holds-barred ultimate fighting of the era—until an act of violence in defense of his beloved threatens to send him into exile. But before his trial can take place, a traitor opens the city gates to a surprise attack force.Suddenly trapped inside their own fortress, the Plataeans are fighting for their lives. As Nikias seeks to discover the identity of the man who betrayed the city, he makes a daring escape, gathers an army, and leads this ragtag band into a suicidal battle at the gates of the citadel—a battle that will decide the fates of his family, his friends, and the woman he loves.In the vein of Bernard Cornwell, Conn Iggulden, and Steven Pressfield, Sons of Zeus marks the beginning of a richly detailed new action-adventure series.

    Seven years later, Fielding returned to Crete to spend a year traveling in the island's White Mountains (the "stronghold" of the title), revisiting sites of his wartime exploits and seeking out former comrades who had returned to their peacetime lives. His sojourn resulted in this remarkable memoir, a documentary-like record of days spent among Cretan peasants blended with history and literature—a travelogue like no other. The Stronghold is a blending of "history and culture with experience, but one wedded to fidelity. Fielding never arrives; there is no great journey of self. There is just a question answered about the war and youth . . . he can't shake Crete, as no man can shake the formative experience of his youth."—from the new foreword by Robert Messenger "Xan Fielding was a gifted, many-sided, courageous and romantic figure, at the same time civilized and Bohemian, and his thoughtful cast of mind was leavened by humour, spontaneous gaiety, and a dash of recklessness. Almost any stretch of his life might be described as a picaresque interlude."—Patrick Leigh Fermor "This book of mine does not claim to be a serious sociological work; it is simply the account of a more or less carefree year spent among people who seem to fit so perfectly into their startling surroundings that at times I imagined it was not the landscape that conditioned their lives but their personalities that had conditioned the landscape."—Xan Fielding Xan Fielding (1918–1991) was a British writer and traveler, and a lifelong friend of Patrick Leigh Fermor, who served with him in Crete during World War II. (The introduction to Fermor's A Time of Gifts is written as a "Letter to Xan Fielding.") Fielding also translated many novels from French, most notably, The Bridge on the River Kwai and The Planet of the Apes. Robert Messenger is the books editor of the Wall Street Journal.

    At age seven boys were taken from their homes and enrolled in a training school called the ‘agoge’ designed to encourage discipline and physical toughness. At age twelve they were given one garment that was to last all year, went around barefoot and fed sparingly. At age 18, they roamed the countryside as members of a mysterious organization called the krypteia, murdering unsuspecting serfs called helots. If they survived, at age 20 they graduated and entered the Spartan army where they served till age 60. Though harsh, Sparta produced the best professional soldiers of the ancient Greek world.Stephen Marte has gone back to the time period prior to the Persian Wars to Sparta’s golden age to write a carefully researched novel about its people and its part in a seminal period during Greek history that saw the first clashes between East and West and creation of the world’s first democracy. His central character is based on a little known Prince of Sparta named Euryanax. The book begins, “I am called Euryanax and I am a Spartan. In the Dorian tongue ‘eury’ means wandering and ‘anax’ means king. The wandering king. From my name comes my story…”Euryanax was a grandson of the Spartan King Anaxandridas, and potential heir to one of Sparta’s two royal families. The story starts twenty-four years before the fabled Battle of Marathon, when Euryanax is twelve years old and follows him from his training in the agoge to the shores of Libya where his father Dorieus builds a colony and comes into conflict with the Persian Empire’s allies, Phoenicia and Carthage. This is only the beginning of a lifetime of wandering for Euryanax. During his adventures around the Mediterranean, this Prince of Sparta learns how to fight, how to lead men, how to think, and how to love; all of which is woven across the colorful tapestry of actual historical events.One of the author’s goals in writing this series was to introduce readers to the intriguing characters found in Herodotus’ great work ‘The History.’ Leonidas, Gorgo, Chilon, Dorieus, Cleomenes, Pausanias, Themistocles, Miltiades, Mardonius, Pythagoras—they are all here and depicted from an engaging new perspective. For example, is Euryanax’s uncle Leonidas the legendary hero glorified in books and movies who sacrificed himself at the pass of Thermopylae to save Greece, or is he a schemer, a murderer, the killer of his own brother Cleomenes, whose daughter Gorgo he married to become king? Was Euryanax’s cousin Pausanias, the strategos of the Battle of Plataea, one of the greatest generals of all time, or was he a simple-minded bully who took credit for the achievements of better men? Was Euryanax’s uncle Cleomenes the madman Herodotus reports, or was he in fact a wise ruler, misunderstood and maligned by his own countrymen and history? What motivated Euryanax’s father Dorieus to leave Sparta and build colonies in Libya and Sicily; was he working under the orders of the Spartan state or was he envious because the ephors had selected his brother Cleomenes king? The answers to these and other questions are a part of the rich fabric of ‘The Wandering King.’It is no small wonder that Euryanax is called the ‘wandering king.’ His father was a king in his own right and fought his way across Libya, Italy and Sicily. Join Euryanax as he wanders from Sparta to North Africa where he takes part in the siege of the Phoenician stronghold at Oea. Venture with him to the city of merchants, Corinth, fight pirates in the Ionian Sea, and sail with the Spartans to the Temple of Apollo where Euryanax learns his fate from the Delphic Oracle.As a job of research ‘The Wandering King’ is as sharp and solid as Spartan steel. As a historical novel, it moves as steadily as the tramp of a phalanx of hoplites moving across the sunbleached plains of the Peloponnese.

    She falls in love with Hippolytos, her husband’s son and asks the Goddess Aphrodite for help. He spurns her affections.The Trojan War, one of history’s greatest stories ever told. What if the legend as told is wrong? History is told by the victors, and facts changed to twist the truth. Is it possible Helen of Sparta never went to Troy?Hera, Queen of the Gods, is the most powerful goddess on Mount Olympos. For the first time ever in a candid interview, Hera shares what it’s like to be a goddess and wife to Zeus, the King of the Gods.Created by the gods as a gift to humanity, Pandora is the first woman on Earth. Did she know what Zeus intended when he presented an urn as a wedding dowry to her husband? Neither she nor Epimetheus knew what it contained, but they were told never to open it.All Medousa wanted was a life of love and acceptance but one fateful night it changed. While she’s alone in the Temple of Athene tending to the sacred fire, Poseidon pays a visit. No human can stop an immortal from taking what they want.

    She is one of the very few female poets from antiquity. Although her work was very popular in ancient Greece and Rome, only small fragments survive today. This book includes translations of these fragments, as well as a poem from Ovid's Heroides, "Sappho to Phaon," a fictional letter from Sappho to her assumed lover. (Summary by Libby Gohn)

    Reviewing the four-volume set in The New Yorker, George Steiner wrote, "The temptation to acclaim Kagan's four volumes as the foremost work of history produced in North America in the twentieth century is vivid. . . . Here is an achievement that not only honors the criteria of dispassion and of unstinting scruple which mark the best of modern historicism but honors its readers."All four volumes are also sold separately as both print books and ebooks.

    Euripides III contains the plays “Heracles,” translated by William Arrowsmith; “The Trojan Women,” translated by Richmond Lattimore; “Iphigenia among the Taurians,” translated by Anne Carson; and “Ion,” translated by Ronald Frederick Willetts

    Even today, the war inspires countless articles and books, extensive archaeological excavations, movies, television documentaries, even souvenirs and collectibles. Butwhile the ancients themselves believed that the Trojan War took place, scholars of the modern era have sometimes derided it as a piece of fiction.Combining archaeological data and textual analysis of ancient documents, this Very Short Introduction considers whether or not the war actually took place and whether archaeologists have really discovered the site of ancient Troy. To answer these questions, archaeologist and ancient historian EricH. Cline examines various written sources, including the works of Homer, the Epic Cycle (fragments from other, now-lost Greek epics), classical plays, and Virgil's Aeneid. Throughout, the author tests the literary claims against the best modern archaeological evidence, showing for instance thatHomer, who lived in the Iron Age, for the most part depicted Bronze Age warfare with accuracy. Cline also tells the engaging story of the archaeologists--Heinrich Schliemann and his successors Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Carl Blegen, and Manfred Korfmann--who found the long-vanished site of Troy throughexcavations at Hisarlik, Turkey.Drawing on evidence found at Hisarlik and elsewhere, Cline concludes that a war or wars in the vicinity of Troy probably did take place during the Late Bronze Age, forming the nucleus of a story that was handed down orally for centuries until put into final form by Homer. But Cline suggests that, even allowing that a Trojan War took place, it probably was not fought because of Helen's abduction, though such an incident may have provided the justification for a war actually fought for more compelling economic and political motives.About the Series: Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchantand provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, theseries will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy andaffordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.

    In the process, they have created a dystopia for themselves, splitting into three competing factions: the Capital, the Loyalists and the Democracies, all embroiled in endless intrigue and constant warfare. An uneasy truce between the three parties still holds - barely. While man turns against man, the First, Pearseus' indigenous people, wage their own war against a shadowy enemy; an ancient conflict that threatens to engulf and destroy all of humanity. Following an unspeakable crime, the men and women of Pearseus struggle to live and love as their world crumbles all around them. But can love be found in the ruins of humanity's civilization?

    Phallic imagery, sex scenes, and the lively activities of their promiscuous gods adorned many objects, buildings, and sculptures. Drinking cups, oil-lamps, and walls were decorated with scenes of seduction; statues of erect penises served as boundary-stones and signposts; and marble satyrs and nymphs grappled in gardens. Caroline Vout examines the abundance of sexual imagery in Greek and Roman culture. Were these images intended to be shocking, humorous, or exciting? Are they about sex or love? How are we to know whether our responses to them are akin to those of the ancients? The answers to these questions provide fascinating insights into ancient attitudes toward religion, politics, sex, gender, and the body. They also reveal how the ancients saw themselves and their world, and how subsequent centuries have seen them. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this lively and thought-provoking book not only addresses theories of sexual practice and social history, it is also a visual history of what it meant and still means to stare sex in the face.

    This aggression was prompted by Mussolini's desire for a quick victory to rival Hitler's rapid conquest of France and the Low Countries. On paper, Greek forces were poorly equipped and ill-prepared for the conflict but Mussolini had underestimated the skill and determination of the defenders. Within weeks the Italian invasion force was driven back over the border and Greek forces actually advanced deep into Albania. A renewed Italian offensive in March 1941 was also given short shrift, prompting Hitler to intervene to save his ally. German forces invaded Greece via Bulgaria on 6 April. The Greeks, now assisted by British forces, resisted by land, sea and air but were overwhelmed by the superior German forces and their blitzkrieg tactics. Despite a dogged rearguard action by Anzac forces at the famous pass of Thermopyale, Athens fell on the 27th April and the British evacuated 50,000 troops to Crete. This island, whose airfields and naval bases Churchill considered vital to the defense of Egypt and the Suez Canal, was invaded by German airborne troops the following month and eventually captured after a bitter thirteen-day battle. The remaining British troops were evacuated and the fall of Greece completed. John Carr's masterful account of these desperate campaigns, while not disparaging the British and Commonwealth assistance, draws heavily on Greek sources to emphasize the oft-neglected experience of the Greeks themselves and their contribution to the fight against fascism.

    Cavafy, translated by David Connolly. "Translations of Cavafy's poetry are the best possible counter to the often quoted platitude that poetry is what is lost in translation."

    They also trained in the vicious, no-holds-barred form of unarmed combat called pankration. Similar to today’s Ultimate Fighting and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), this extreme style of man-on-man battle was featured in the original Olympic games. And sometimes, those pankration techniques were used not just for glory on the battlefield or in the Olympic stadium, but in the fields outside the city gates to settle personal, deep-seated grudges between fighters. The short story The One-Armed Warrior introduces the young pankrator Nikias, the hero of Noble Smith’s forthcoming novel Sons of Zeus, a work of historical fiction that will appeal to fans of Steven Saylor, Steven Pressfield, and Simon Scarrow.

    A few months before, back in a New York suburb, she had impulsively married a Greek immigrant while working with him at a local restaurant and had agreed to travel to his village for an undefined period of time. The village is located in the poorest area of Greece and the narrator is faced with acclimating to a countryside lifestyle, a lack of running water and paralyzing culture shock.Her husband's mother, Chevi, welcomes her and though they share no common language, Chevi is able to convey the heartache and betrayal of her life as she slowly emerges as a heroine, quietly fighting against a patriarchal society that dictates her every movement.This is a true story rich in the culture, traditions and triumphs of one small valley and the events that defined generations on both sides of the Atlantic.www.truestorythenifi.blogspot.com

    It presents vases not merely as beautiful vessels to hold water and wine, but also as instruments of storytelling and bearers of meaning.The first two chapters analyze the development of different shapes of pottery and relate those shapes to function, the evolution in vase production techniques and decoration, and the roles of potters, painters, and their workshops. Subsequent chapters focus on vases as the primary source of imagery from ancient Greece, offering unique information about mythology, religion, theater, and daily life. The author discusses how to identify the figures and scenes depicted in vase paintings, what these narratives would have meant to the people who lived with them and used them, and how they therefore reflect the cultural values of their time. Also examined is the impact Greek vases had on the art, architecture, and literature of subsequent generations.Based on the rich collections of the British Museum and the J. Paul Getty Museum, the exquisite details of the works offer the reader the opportunity for an intimate interaction with the graphic beauty and narrative power of ancient vases often not available in a gallery setting.

    Instead, his rash intervention strands him in ancient Macedonia, where he is quickly captured and presumed to be a Persian spy. In the nick of time, King Philip II recognizes that Ptolemaios is strangely different from other Greeks or Persians - more educated, more "civilized," yet also a talented fighter. Philip decides to find a use for Ptolemaios at his court.But the Macedonian court is a snake pit, in every sense of the word. As newly-appointed companion to young Alexandros, presumptive heir to Philip's throne, Ptolemaios must depend on his wits to stay alive and ensure the safety of the prince.The stakes escalate as Philip II seeks to expand his power beyond Macedonia. Caught in a monumental struggle for domination and hegemony, Ptolemaois finds his loyalties tested. How can he stay true to the Macedonian royal house without violating his own, internal Prime Directive?As he travels through the captivating world of ancient Greece, Ptolemaios meets not only King Philip II but also Queen Olympias, Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Demosthenes, and a host of young men and women striving to survive and achieve their destinies. Filled with white-knuckle adventures, aching romance, vivid battle scenes, and fascinating depictions of life three centuries before the birth of Christ, this epic novel will leave you thrilled, amused, enlightened, and intrigued. And best of all, it's all (mostly) true.

    The ancient Greek historian Thucydides captured this drama with matchless insight in his classic eyewitness account of what was arguably the greatest war in the history of the world up to that time.These 36 half-hour lectures draw on Thucydides' classic account as well as other ancient sources to give you a full picture of the Greek world in uneasy peace and then all-out war in the late 5th century B.C. Professor Harl plunges you into the thick of politics, military strategy, economics, and technology.You will feel the ancient Greek world come alive as you explore the war debates at Athens and Sparta, the devastating plagues that swept through Athens, the Revolt of Mytilene, the Battle of Pylos, the disastrous Athenian and Spartan expedition to Sicily against Spartan allies. You'll experience the thick of action and consider lively scholarly debates that continue to this day.Unlike earlier great wars, the Peloponnesian War was not a conflict between kings, but between citizens from different city-states who shared the same language, gods, and festivals. Citizen assemblies decided questions of war - voting on their own fates, since they were the ones who had to do the fighting.One of the most remarkable aspects of this era is that culture flourished side-by-side with the politics of war - that, even as Athenian citizens were honoring Aristophanes' mocking antiwar play, The Acharnians, by giving it first prize in a drama competition, they were debating with equal ardor whether to continue the war, and deciding overwhelmingly to do so.

    Exquisite and playful illustrations in the style of Greek red-figure vase paintings complement the verses. Alpha is for Anthropos is a joyous introduction to Ancient Greek and the art and iconography of vase painting.Product Description:A unique introduction to Ancient Greek and Greek vase painting for all ages. The text consists of twenty-four original nursery rhymes in Ancient Greek to be sung to familiar tunes. Each poem or song aims to teach a basic Greek vocabulary word while placing it in a broader cultural and linguistic context. The illustrations amplify the meanings of the words and songs with evocative allusions to Greek mythology and the world of Greek vase painting. This book is a treasure trove for anyone, child or adult, who wants an exuberant yet erudite introduction to the riches of Ancient Greek language, art and thought.

    The study of classical languages by earlier generations of English-speaking students was greatly facilitated by the study of English grammar in the schools, a tradition now out of favor but one that emphasized precisely the concepts, terms, and constructions needed for the study of Greek and Latin.Recent classical language textbooks, while presuming little or no grammatical sophistication on the part of their students, often provide little more by way of remediation than definitions of grammatical terminology.A Student Handbook of Greek and English Grammar offers a student-friendly comparative exposition of English and ancient Greek grammatical principles that will prove a valuable supplement to a wide range of beginning Greek textbooks as well as a handy reference for those continuing on to upper-level courses.

    In this vivid introduction, Elton Barker and Joel Christensen celebrate the complexity, innovation, and sheer excitement of Homer’s two great works. Investigating the controversy surrounding the man behind the myths, they ask who Homer was and whether he even existed. Making parallels between Homeric hexameter and rap, and between his battle scenes and The Lord of the Rings, the authors highlight how his hugely influential epics deal with ageless questions that still confront us today. Perfect for new readers of the great poet and full of insights that will delight Homeric experts, this book will inspire you to discover – or rediscover – his masterpieces first-hand.

    One missing foreign student. Seven days to find her. Thalia and Petros are back in the second book of the Aegean Mystery Series. On Katafigio, the community rally round to try and find the missing Canadian girl and kind hearted Thalia leads the search. Her enquiries lead to a shocking discovery about her own home town and takes her to other islands, including Santorini. Can Thalia find the Canadian girl in time or is it already too late?

    He explores the traditions and history behind eight elements of Greek cuisine—olives, bread, fish, cheese, beans, wine, meat, and honey—and journeys through the country searching for the best examples of each. He picks olives on Thasos, bakes bread on Crete, eats thyme honey from Kythira with one of Greece’s greatest poets, and learns why Naxos is the best place for cheese in the Cyclades. Working with local cooks and artisans, he offers an intimate look at traditional village life, while honoring the conversations, friendships, and leisurely ceremonies of dining around which Hellenic culture has revolved for thousands of years. A hymn to slow food and to seasonal and sustainable cuisine, Honey, Olives, Octopus is a lyrical celebration of Greece, where such concepts have always been a simple part of living and eating well.

    He trained endlessly, only to fight for his life anytime entertainment was needed. While some gladiators became rich and famous, most were simply slaughtered. Readers can form their own opinions about the most horrible job in ancient Greece and Rome as they learn surprising information about time-consuming, smelly, and dangerous tasks. Historical images and illustrations highlight horrible laundry practices, food preparation, and living conditions of the time. No detail is too gross to include!

    This kaleidoscopic sequence of searing fragments marks the arrival of an outstanding poet." -Barry Schwabsky

    How is that possible? In Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armor, Gregory S. Aldrete, Scott Bartell, and Alicia Aldrete provide the answer.An extensive multiyear project in experimental archaeology, this pioneering study presents a thorough investigation of the linothorax, linen armor worn by the Greeks, Macedonians, and other ancient Mediterranean warriors. Because the linothorax was made of cloth, no examples of it have survived. As a result, even though there are dozens of references to the linothorax in ancient literature and nearly a thousand images of it in ancient art, this linen armor remains relatively ignored and misunderstood by scholars.Combining traditional textual and archaeological analysis with hands-on reconstruction and experimentation, the authors unravel the mysteries surrounding the linothorax. They have collected and examined all of the literary, visual, historical, and archaeological evidence for the armor and detail their efforts to replicate the armor using materials and techniques that are as close as possible to those employed in antiquity. By reconstructing actual examples using authentic materials, the authors were able to scientifically assess the true qualities of linen armor for the first time in 1,500 years. The tests reveal that the linothorax provided surprisingly effective protection for ancient warriors, that it had several advantages over bronze armor, and that it even shared qualities with modern-day Kevlar.Previously featured in documentaries on the Discovery Channel and the Canadian History Channel, as well as in U.S. News and World Report, MSNBC Online, and other international venues, this groundbreaking work will be a landmark in the study of ancient warfare.

    The Allies had it and the Germans wanted it. The Germans won. The man in charge of hanging on to it was Bernard ('Tiny') Freyberg, the New Zealand Division commander. With him was a ragtag army of New Zealand, Australian, British and Greek soldiers. They had to withstand the mightiest airborne invasion the world had seen. It was a German victory but their losses were almost as many as those of the Allies. Beaten and bedraggled, the men made their way back to Egypt; they'd fought for the first time as a New Zealand division under the overall command of a New Zealander and been beaten. Inquiries followed: was Freyberg at fault? Did he make mistakes that allowed the Germans to make advance? Were Freyberg's officers disloyal? Like the British after Dunkirk, the New Zealanders rose again. Freyberg led them through North Africa and Italy striking fear and respect into the hearts of enemies.

    Beginning with the poet's youthful travels in 1809-1811, Byron's War traces his years of fame in London and self-imposed exile in Italy, that culminated in the decision to devote himself to the cause of Greek independence. Then comes Byron's dramatic self-transformation, while in Cephalonia, from Romantic rebel to 'new statesman', subordinating himself for the first time to a defined, political cause, in order to begin laying the foundations, during his 'hundred days' at Missolonghi, for a new kind of polity in Europe - that of the nation-state as we know it today. Byron's War draws extensively on Greek historical sources and other unpublished documents, to tell an individual story that also offers a new understanding of the significance that Greece had for Byron, and of Byron's contribution to the origin of the present-day Greek state.

    Dean and Alyson are two young people who come together in a bar one evening in their home city of Bath, UK. Alyson's mother once worked with Brian, a musician who never quite "made it," but ends up playing guitar and singing in a Lindian Bar. Quite how Brian and Christine (Alyson's mother) come to have a devastating effect on their daughter's relationship with the man of her dreams will have you gripped, both with emotion and with intrigue. A real page-turner, the perfect holiday read, "The View From Kleoboulos" is Thomas Hardy for the 21st century. Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you, but occasionally it comes back to bite.

    *Discusses the Iliad's depiction of the Trojan War and the way the Iliad was used to rediscover Troy*Includes a bibliography for further reading.*Includes a table of contents. “Rage — Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles,murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies carrion,feasts for the dogs and birds,and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles. . . .” – Homer, The IliadTroy is unquestionably one of the most famous and legendary cities of antiquity, yet it is also the most mysterious. While ancient cities like Rome and Athens survived, and the destruction of others like Carthage and Pompeii were well-documented, the fame of Troy rested entirely on Homer’s epic poems, The Iliad & The Odyssey. The poems were so famous in the ancient world that Augustus had Virgil associate Rome’s foundation with the destruction of Troy and Aeneas’ own odyssey in the Aeneid. Augustus went so far as to have a new settlement, New Ilium, built in the region.While the epic poems have been read for thousands of years and are regarded among Western literature’s most important, their depiction of the Trojan War between the Greeks and Trojans clearly included fictional elements. As a result, there has been much historical debate over whether the Trojan War actually happened. Up until the 19th century, many scholars merely regarded it as an ancient myth, but when Heinrich Schliemann used Homer’s descriptions to guide his excavations, he found ruins in western Turkey of several ancient cities built atop each other, with the oldest dating to the 12th century B.C. Further excavations have found early settlements on the spot dating as far back as 3000 B.C. While that hardly means Homer’s tale is true, especially the constant divine intervention, it does suggest that there was a historical city of Troy that was destroyed in war; and the city of Troy associated with Homer’s poems was the 7th city built on that spot. Of course, the war would likely have been fought over resources, not a woman whose face could launch 1,000 ships. Since the discovery of the ancient site, further work and scholarship has helped shed light on certain aspects of Troy while also leading to other sorts of debates. For example, Egyptologists have tried to tie references in certain Hittite and Egyptian texts to famous Trojans like Paris. Ancient Cities: The History of Troy comprehensively covers the history and folklore of one of antiquity’s most famous cities. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about Troy like you never have before, in no time at all.