Classics: A Very Short Introduction and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime free trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn more
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
or
Get a £0.25 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card
Classics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
 
 
Start reading Classics: A Very Short Introduction on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Classics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) [Paperback]

Mary Beard , John Henderson
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £4.39 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £3.60 (45%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.
Want guaranteed delivery by Wednesday, May 30? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £4.17  
Paperback £4.39  
Audio, CD, Audiobook £9.09  
Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in Classics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.

Special Offers and Product Promotions


Frequently Bought Together

Classics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) + Classical Mythology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) + The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Price For All Three: £13.09

Show availability and delivery details

Buy the selected items together


Product details

  • Paperback: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; New Ed edition (24 Feb 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0192853856
  • ISBN-13: 978-0192853851
  • Product Dimensions: 17.9 x 11.3 x 1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • See Complete Table of Contents

More About the Author

Mary Beard
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Visit Amazon's Mary Beard Page

Product Description

Product Description

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.

About the Author

John Henderson is a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and Mary Beard is a Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Search inside this book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

4 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Modern classics 15 Feb 2008
By Jon Chambers TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
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.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By Mrs. K. A. Wheatley TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 

Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges