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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17906 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

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

Customer Reviews

imaginative exploration of the classical heritage
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.

Fantastic if you want to know about what Classics does
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.

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 temple at Bassae in Arcadia, a remote corner of south-western Greece. The emphasis of the book is on encouraging us to think about the gaps in knowledge and perception between our world and theirs and between expectation, imagination and reality. What were the slaves who built the temple like? Greek literature tells us nothing about them. What is the correct order of the stones slabs that make up a large frieze from the temple on display in the British Museum in London? How would the Greeks have seen this frieze? In the museum it's clean, brightly lit, at eye level and made of the smooth white marble many associate with the classical world. In situ it would have been high above the Greeks' heads, cobwebbed, dimly lit and painted, possibly quite gaudily.

This approach is interesting, engages the reader and provides food for thought. It makes the book a worthwhile and challenging read.

The book talks about the gap between reality and expectation but is also an example of it. I was expecting the book to tell me a little about classical Greek and Roman history, and provide information on Greek and Roman authors and their literature. I came out little wiser than I started however.

An interesting read but if you want a brief introduction to Classical literature and its 'main players' look elsewhere.