Volume 50, Number 20 · December 18, 2003
It's All Greek!
By Jasper Griffin
The Peloponnesian War
by Donald Kagan
Viking, 511 pp., $29.95
The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis and Collapse
by Paul Cartledge
Overlook, 304 pp., $27.95
Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past
by Jenifer Neils and John H. Oakley
Yale University Press/Hood Museum of Art, 333 pp., $65.00; $40.00 (paper)
Greek Gods, Human Lives: What We Can Learn from Myths
by Mary Lefkowitz
Yale University Press, 288 pp., $30.00
We look into history from motives of two kinds. There is curiosity about the past, what happened, who did what, and why; and there is the hope to understand the present, how to place and interpret our own times, experiences, and hopes for the future. The world of classical antiquity is one of the best instruments we have for both purposes. There is a good deal of evidence, much of it exceptionally interesting and sophisticated, for a world that existed and developed for more than a thousand years, and produced memorable works of art and literature. It is a world, as it happens, that is connected with our own by links much closer and more pervasive than those between us and, for example, ancient China (too far away from the West, and consequently in its formative period almost unknown to it).
Review, 4239 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |