This book is the first in a series of four covering the massive confrontation that destroyed the greek world. The subject matter is Thucydides Peloponesian War which Kagan manages to give many new insights into. With his thourough analysis he looks at the archealogical evidence as well as the literature in a way that gives pause to those judging Thucydides to be the first "unbiased" historian. Thucydides used the facts for his own purposes and left out important details about the epic conflict that would leave a blemish on his side of the story.
In the series Kagan wonders at some of the details of the Peloponesian War that remain unexplained, for example, how Pericles expected Sparta to wear itself out invading the Attic country side.
Some of these questions leave inexplicable holes in Thucydides narrative.
Overall an excellent comapnion to the Peloponesian War that throws a critical light on all that is said in that tomb.

This book does an excellent job of serving as a primer for studies of the ancient Greeks.

Pandoras box is great for adults and kids. It is full of big color pictures and easy to read stories about ancient greek mythology. It has a board game, pull out books, masks, pop up pictures and much, much more. It describes the gods and goddesses of ancient greece. It is informative but not boring. I found it fun and educational. The two don't usually mix but in this book they blend very well. I would recomend it to anyone who can read no matter what age they are.

In contemporary litterature about Mount Athos, Gothoni's "Paradis within reach" is the best and only study of monasticism and pilgrimages to Mount Athos written in recent years available. The book is a part of the authors doctoral thesis and is the most thorough and overwhelming study ever made on the Holy Mountain of Christian Orthodoxy - located on the Halkidiki Peninsula in Southern Greece.

The book is a result of the author's study on this theme, which he has done over a long period of time and is also the one that can bring the contemporary reader most information about monastisicm, tradition, and spirituality both now and in the past.

If you want to know the essential facts about Mount Athos and it's more than 1000 years history, Dr. Gothoni's book is what you need. It must, though, be underlined that this book should not be read by itself. It's essential that you continue travel within the semi-republic of Mount Athos(Aghion Oros) with Dr. Gothoni's second book, an other part of his thesis, which is called "Tales and Truth". These two books will give you all. If you are not satisfied with his books there is only one thing left: Go there yourself! They made a great impression on me. Five stars without doubt.

Wonderfully, informative, true, precise and to the point. Why cant everything you read be such easy reading, this will be fantastic for adults, children, politicans, historians, artists.
A wonderful read.

It is the most famous building in Western history. Yet, in _The Parthenon_ (Harvard University Press), Mary Beard reminds us that there are great voids of mystery about it, that we don't know what large portions of it looked like when it was built, and that much of what we see when we look at the ruin now is a controversial restoration. Beard's serious, academic, but witty monograph makes us look at the ruin again, and realize the role it has played in imagination and in objective Western history. Not only is the Parthenon an amazing and influential building, but it has a few thousand years of history and controversy (starting from before it was built). Beard gives us all the details in a lively account.

Beard, a classicist, reminds us that we have to do a lot of guesswork about the Athenian government of the fifth century BCE, even though it looms large in our imagined history of democracy. There were rumors of financial and sexual scandal connected to the project, which was attacked as a colossal waste of money and "dressing up Athens like a whore." The temple was not for worship such as occurs in our churches and mosques (both of which, in time, the Parthenon became). It was a strongbox, a place to keep not only the valuable statue secure, but also plenty of other treasures. The friezes were attacked by Christians when it was turned into a church, and had milder defacement from the Turks when it afterward became a mosque. The temple was more or less intact, though, until 1687, when Christians blew up the gunpowder the Turks were storing there. The ruin we see now on the Acropolis is not the ruin that was left. We now see columns running between the pedimented ends of the building, but this is a reconstruction from the 1920s. To put it mildly, this restoration did not meet the current standards for historic preservation, although it was heartily approved at the time. It is not an accurate reconstruction but "a plausible fiction" made of materials that were to hand, and it inexcusably injured the ancient blocks. Current reconstruction will position them as well as current research methods can direct.

Of course the history of the Lord Elgin and his theft or rescue of the sculptures is recounted here in very fair detail. What happened to them in the twentieth century, however, shows how large a role they play in the world's affections and interest. The rich art dealer Joseph Duveen provided the new accommodation for the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum. He somehow had access to the sculptures being prepared for their new accommodation, and in 1938, the director of the museum was horrified to find that copper tools and carborundum were being used to clean the figures at Duveen's direction. Beard reports that "... heads did, discretely, roll, and 'remedial measures' (the phrase alone makes you shudder) were taken on the marbles." There was a flurry of press criticism at the time, but a scholar turned the story up only a few years ago, resulting in an angry and emotional international conference to try to get to the bottom of the events of 1938. Beard says this is only the most recent climax of "the longest-running cultural controversy in the world," the fate of the Elgin Marbles. The Parthenon may be only a ruin, but it plays a role in the world's cares beyond just being a beautiful spot for sightseers. Beard's biography of the building, erudite and vigorous, shows just why the Parthenon looms important among humanity's monuments.

The Parthenon and Its Impact in Modern Times is quite simply a masterpiece. Anyone interested in the history, architecture, aesthetics, and impact of this monument will find this a truly excellent book. The text and the accompanying pictures/photographs are indeed something to treasure. The book has offered me many hours of sheer intellectual pleasure. A must!

anything by james keeble rules. i rule. keeble rules!

Dr. Tatum's grasp on the political and social environment during the time of Pulcher's influence on Roman society is quite empressive. He has an uncanny ability to relate the importance of all aspects of Roman life in relation to the politics of that time, and deals with this large influx of information and viewpoints without deterring from the flow of his narrative. I'm an avid fan of both Roman history and Dr. Tatum, and recommend this book to any with interest in ancient Roman history - novice and historian alike.

A farmer by the name of Trygaeus is weary of war and despairing of relief he does want anyone would do: he rides a giant dung-beetle up to heaven to get the gods to end the war. However, the gods are sick and tired of the Greeks and their constantly little wars and have left War to do as he wants. However, the God of War (identified by the title rather than by Ares, to avoid offending religious sensibilities), has buried Peace in a pit and it is up to the Chorus of Farmers to dig her up. Of course, this greatly upsets the war profiteers. The play was performed at the Great Dionysia in 421 during the final months of the Peloponnesian War fought between Athens and Sparta. In fact, a few weaks after "Peace" was performed the Peace of Nicias was ratified and suspended hostilities between the two city-states for six years.

It is my understanding that scholars believe the text we have today of "Peace" is pieced together from two different versions, but whether this is the result of two different productions staged by Aristophanes or because of the efforts of some nameless soul recopying the ancient text at some point in history. Aristophanes appeals to me because his satire is usually based on "reductio ad absurdum," the great human impulse to take things to their logical extreme to render them ridiculous and therefore impotent. Certainly "Peace" is representative of Aristophanes as reformer, the gad-fly who wanted to persuade his audiences to change their foolish ways by ridiculing them on stage.

I have always maintained that in studying Greek plays, whether the comedies of Aristophanes or the tragedies of Euripides, it is important to understand the particular structure of these plays and the various dramatic conventions of the theater. This involves not only the distinction between episodes and stasimons (scenes and songs), but elements like the "agon" (a formal debate on the crucial issue of the play), and the "parabasis" (in which the Chorus partially abandons its dramatic role and addresses the audience directly). "Peace" is usually considered a second tier comedy by Aristophanes, below "Lysistrata" and "The Clouds," but I still consider it an above-average comedy by the only Greek who managed to have any of his plays survive.