This Very Short Introduction to Classics links a haunting temple on a lonely mountainside to the glory of ancient Greece and the grandeur of Rome, and to Classics within modern culture-from Jefferson and Byron to Asterix and Ben-Hur. We are all Classicists - we come into touch with the Classics daily: in our culture, politics, medicine, architecture, language, and literature. What are the true roots of these influences, however, and how do our interpretations of these aspects of the Classics differ from their original reception? This introduction to the Classics begins with a visit to the British Museum to view the frieze which once decorated the Apollo Temple at Bassae. Through these sculptures, John Henderson and Mary Beard prompt us to consider the significance of Classics as a means of discovery and enquiry, its value in terms of literature, philposophy, and culture, and its importance as a source of imagery.
Classics: A Very Short Introduction
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A novel take on 'the Classics' in a volume that avoids the usual emphasis on history and the arts. Instead, it focuses on such intangibles as identity in the ancient world. The authors take the Greek writer Pausanias as a starting point. Although he was was writing his 'Guidebook to Greece' more than two centuries after Greece had become a Roman colony, he chooses to write about Greek civilisation, architecture and history as though it were still independent of Roman influence. His silence on matters Roman speaks volumes and reminds us that reading between the lines is sometimes more revealing than reading the lines themselves.
Beard and Henderson suggest that Classics is not the study of a dead culture but a live, interactive process informed by the 'vast community of readers across the millennia'. Their book dwells on the friezes from the Temple of Apollo at Bassae - initially, at what seems too great a length, but actually for very good reason. The temple friezes, now on exhibit at the British Museum, are independent blocks of marble that can be reassembled in many different ways. Bassae is therefore a metaphor for discovery and re-evaluation. Furthermore, the temple is set in Arcadia - a region of huge importance for literature, religion and philosophy, giving it yet more symbolic significance. As the authors suggest, the notion of Arcadia - sometimes paradise, sometimes brutish wilderness - is itself capable of multiple interpretation, like so many aspects of the ancient world. Each new generation's interpretations and insights shed extra light on, and themselves become part of, the classical heritage.
The book's unexpected emphasis on the historic reception of classics constitutes, perhaps, its major strength. It is an emphasis reflected in the concluding Timeline, two pages of which record events from 800 BCE to the Renaissance and the other two and a half pages to events such as the election of Dr Johnson to a Professorship at the RA (1770) and the publication of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (1980).
Probably not everyone's idea of a classical initiation, but this is a fresh and stimulating introduction to what can still seem a dauntingly élitist and exclusive area of study.
Beard and Henderson suggest that Classics is not the study of a dead culture but a live, interactive process informed by the 'vast community of readers across the millennia'. Their book dwells on the friezes from the Temple of Apollo at Bassae - initially, at what seems too great a length, but actually for very good reason. The temple friezes, now on exhibit at the British Museum, are independent blocks of marble that can be reassembled in many different ways. Bassae is therefore a metaphor for discovery and re-evaluation. Furthermore, the temple is set in Arcadia - a region of huge importance for literature, religion and philosophy, giving it yet more symbolic significance. As the authors suggest, the notion of Arcadia - sometimes paradise, sometimes brutish wilderness - is itself capable of multiple interpretation, like so many aspects of the ancient world. Each new generation's interpretations and insights shed extra light on, and themselves become part of, the classical heritage.
The book's unexpected emphasis on the historic reception of classics constitutes, perhaps, its major strength. It is an emphasis reflected in the concluding Timeline, two pages of which record events from 800 BCE to the Renaissance and the other two and a half pages to events such as the election of Dr Johnson to a Professorship at the RA (1770) and the publication of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (1980).
Probably not everyone's idea of a classical initiation, but this is a fresh and stimulating introduction to what can still seem a dauntingly élitist and exclusive area of study.
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is really well written, entertaining and extremely thought provoking. It provides a whistlestop tour through the classical world in terms of how we study it, not the classical world itself. If you want lists and dates and what is taught at school as 'history', this is not the book for you.
The premise of the OUP Very Short Introduction To books is to take an expert who has something really interesting to say on a particular subject, whether it be bananas or the classical world and then get them to talk about their interest in the subject in an easy to digest 150 short pages. This is not clearly explained, and these books are often picked up by total novices expecting something like 'a dummies guide to'. Well, there are already 'dummies guides to' which do their job very well. These, in my opinion can be much more rewarding and thought provoking.
In this book, Beard and Henderson use the example of a classical temple site in Greek Arcadia and what we know about it to explore how we approach the study of classics. It roams through archaeology, sociology, religion, politics, study of language, poetry and literature and makes a compelling case for why classics are still relevant today and what they mean to us in modern times.
The premise of the OUP Very Short Introduction To books is to take an expert who has something really interesting to say on a particular subject, whether it be bananas or the classical world and then get them to talk about their interest in the subject in an easy to digest 150 short pages. This is not clearly explained, and these books are often picked up by total novices expecting something like 'a dummies guide to'. Well, there are already 'dummies guides to' which do their job very well. These, in my opinion can be much more rewarding and thought provoking.
In this book, Beard and Henderson use the example of a classical temple site in Greek Arcadia and what we know about it to explore how we approach the study of classics. It roams through archaeology, sociology, religion, politics, study of language, poetry and literature and makes a compelling case for why classics are still relevant today and what they mean to us in modern times.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is no quick synopsis for last minute swotting for exams. This small book gives a sense of how classics works-how people think about the ancient past, more than how ancient communities thought about themselves.
Relax, go with it and it is a wondrfully thought-provoking journey-assembling fragments and impressions to re-create the magic of antiquity.
Relax, go with it and it is a wondrfully thought-provoking journey-assembling fragments and impressions to re-create the magic of antiquity.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding!
Very well written (though in rather small type) this book is a succinct summary of the classical world. Thoroughly recommended!
Published 1 month ago by Colin F. King
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very short introduction to classics
"BM Bassae frieze in context" - a very short review.
In fact, this is a Very Short Introduction to Classics mediated by discussion of the Bassae frieze (A temple frieze... Read more
In fact, this is a Very Short Introduction to Classics mediated by discussion of the Bassae frieze (A temple frieze... Read more
Published 2 months ago by amacater
3.0 out of 5 stars
Classics novel.
A short review of the classics.
Not quite what I expected. Had hoped for something a bit more in depth.
Good delivery.
Not quite what I expected. Had hoped for something a bit more in depth.
Good delivery.
Published 2 months ago by Mrs. Joanne Vogiatzis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rich and rewarding
I loved Mary Beard's work after seeing her on TV. Got this out of curiosity and thoroughly enjoyed reading it...and, will enjoy revisiting it as well. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Keyboard Gnome
3.0 out of 5 stars
A book on Classics as a field of study
This book deals with "Classics" as a field of study. The authors show how the successive generations of historians, travellers, archaeologists, writers or artists have influenced... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Sbo
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classical education
The timeline at the end of this book gives a clue to the authors' approach. It starts at c800-500 BCE ("Early Greece"), ends at 1995 with the publication of this book, and... Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2010 by Peter Reeve
3.0 out of 5 stars
Print too small by far...
I bought this book for myself and my son on the strength of the good reviews and name Mary Beard. What a real disappointment when it arrived - tiny format, very tiny print, which... Read more
Published on 2 Sep 2009 by Pete Howcroft
3.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting light read - sadly nothing more
This book is a nice, easy read, suitable for introducing classics as a subject. It is not, however, and academic introduction to classics or an introduction to classical... Read more
Published on 5 Mar 2005
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating Failure
A book that manages to be a fascinating thought-provoking read and yet fail in its basic aim.
The book discusses our views of the classical world largely through the example of a... Read more
Published on 4 July 2004
3.0 out of 5 stars
A useful scene-setter
This book wasn't really what I was expecting - or what I was after, which was an introduction to the writers of The Classics, their lives, and their works. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2001
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