Classical Greece

The ancient Greek poet Hesiod lived around the same time as Homer. He is considered to be an economist and also wrote works on mythology, ancient time-keeping, and farming techniques. The Hesiod Collection includes The Shield of Heracles, Theogony (the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods), and Works and Days (a farmer’s almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the art of agriculture).

Originally meant to be heard rather than read, this great epic returns to the oral form for today's listeners.

Möchten Sie die spannende und beeindruckende Geschichte des antiken Griechenlands kennenlernen? In diesem Buch werden die brillanten Menschen, die erstaunlichen Kriege und das bezaubernde Erbe der alten Griechen von der archaischen bis zur hellenistischen Epoche vorgestellt.

Jack the Ripper. Jeffrey Dahmer. John Wayne Gacy. Locusta of Gaul. If that last name doesn’t seem to fit with the others, it’s likely because our modern society largely believes that serial killers are a recent phenomenon. Not so, argues Debbie Feltonin fact, there’s ample evidence to show that serial killers stalked the ancient world just as they do the modern one.

Adrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights—glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth—embedded in myth, legends, and folklore. Combing through ancient texts and obscure sources, she has spent decades prospecting for intriguing wonders and marvels, historical mysteries, diverting anecdotes, and hidden gems from antiquity, medieval, and modern times. Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a treasury of fifty of her most amazing and amusing discoveries.

From about the ninth to fifth centuries BCE, the population of Greece grew unprecedentedly large, expanding from about 800,000 people to as many as 13 million. About a quarter million of these lived in Athens. The average size of urban households during this period grew considerably, a fact that suggests that food was suddenly available in excesses sufficient to keep larger families healthy and alive much more effectively than just a millennium earlier. Bigger families meant bigger armies and larger communities that would eventually grow into the metropolises of Classical Greece.

Epic poetry and tragic drama provide us with some of the richest ancient Greek depictions of women who are married to soldiers. In tales of the Trojan War, as told by Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, we encounter these mythical warriors' wives: Penelope, isolated but resourceful as she awaits the return of Odysseus after his lengthy absence; the war widow Andromache, enslaved and displaced from her homeland after the fall of Troy; the unfaithful and murderous Clytemnestra; and Tecmessa, a war captive who witnesses her partner's breakdown and suicide in the aftermath of battle.

Desde aproximadamente el siglo IX hasta el siglo V antes de Cristo, la población de Grecia creció sin precedentes, expandiéndose de aproximadamente 800.000 a 13 millones. Cerca de un cuarto de millón de estos vivían en Atenas. El tamaño promedio de los hogares urbanos durante este período creció considerablemente, un hecho que sugiere que los alimentos estuvieron repentinamente disponibles en excesos suficientes para mantener a las familias más grandes sanas y vivas mucho más eficazmente que solo un milenio antes. 

The center of political and commercial interaction in the Ancient Greek polis was the agora. The word essentially means a gathering place or an open space, and in all Greek city states, the agora was central to all aspects of daily life and commerce. As the agora developed as a civic space, particularly from the sixth century BCE onward in Athens, the architectural splendor of the buildings associated with it became an ever more obvious demonstration of the power and glory of Athenian democracy.

"100 Quotes by Aeschylus" unveils the musings of the originator of tragedy. With topics such as religion, life, love, and death taken to task, Aeschylus offers the 21st-century reader an insight into the thoughts and feelings of the Ancient Greeks. However, what is surprising is just how resonant many of those ideas are today. An outstanding book for those seeking bite-sized nuggets of timeless wisdom. Thought to have been born in Eleusis, Aeschylus (524BC – 456BC) is the subject of both myth and legend. According to the story, at the age of 26, he was working in a vineyard.

Perhaps the most famous epic poems ever written, the Iliad and the Odyssey have been read for nearly 3,000 years, making them the oldest written works in the Western world. The poems made characters like Paris, Helen, Odysseus, Achilles, Hector, and Ajax instantly recognizable, and they also influenced other ancient poets like Virgil, whose Aeneid is clearly modeled after them.

The Odyssey is an epic poem, written by the ancient Greek philosopher Homer, and considered to be the second oldest piece of western literature still in existence. Scholars believe it was written at the end of the eighth century BC. Still heavily used in schools because of its unique literary makeup and historical value, the poems follow Greek hero Odysseus, as he journeys home after the 10-year long Trojan War. His journey home takes another 10 years, and Odysseus encounters many obstacles.

Chi è più sapiente? Colui che dice di sapere o colui che sa di non sapere? Su questo bivio del pensiero Socrate ha fondato la sua vita e imposta ora la sua autodifesa: stringente, appassionante, inoppugnabile. La fine è nota. E tuttavia Socrate non perde la sua forza: perché anche la morte può essere un’avventura, di silenzio o di conversazione.

Modern perceptions of Classical Greece are almost invariably based on Athens and Sparta, but there are perhaps few areas as consistently undervalued as the island of Rhodes. Although solidly part of the Greek world for as long as there has been one, Rhodes, located just off the coast of Asia Minor, was also from its earliest times a port opening to the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean, and Rhodes was involved in every significant moment in ancient Greek history.  

The Iliad and The Odyssey are retold in a glorious saga of courage and magical adventure. Written in a manner that will delight both young and old, this is a great way to learn the immortal epics of Homer.

In Homer, Barbara Graziosi considers Homer's famous works and their impact on readers throughout the centuries. She shows how The Iliad and The Odyssey benefit from a tradition of reading that spans well over two millennia, stemming from ancient scholars at the library of Alexandria, in the third and second centuries BCE, who wrote some of the first commentaries on the Homeric epics. Summaries of these scholars' notes made their way into the margins of Byzantine manuscripts; from Byzantium the annotated manuscripts traveled to Italy.

Aunque los dioses y diosas griegos eran seres inmortales y poderosos, estos eran muy similares a los humanos que los adoraban. Los dioses y diosas sufren ataques de celos, se enamoran, se enfadan cuando se sienten engañados, y otorgan bendiciones cuando son honrados. De igual modo, los héroes son de proporciones épicas: su fuerza, velocidad y habilidad los separan de otros mortales; pero, como todos los humanos, sufren de dolores, enfermedades y muerte. 

Zwischen dem 9. und 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. wuchs die Bevölkerung Griechenlands in ungeahntem Ausmaß, von etwa 800.000 Menschen auf bis zu 13 Millionen. Etwa eine Viertelmillion davon lebte in Athen. Die durchschnittliche Größe der städtischen Haushalte wuchs in dieser Zeit beträchtlich, eine Tatsache, die darauf hindeutet, dass Nahrungsmittel plötzlich in ausreichendem Maße zur Verfügung standen, um größere Familien viel effektiver gesund und am Leben zu erhalten als noch ein Jahrtausend zuvor.