The Transformation of Athens

The Transformation of Athens
Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Total Pages : 323
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781400889938
ISBN-13 : 1400889936
Rating : 4/5 (38 Downloads)

Synopsis The Transformation of Athens by : Robin Osborne

How remarkable changes in ancient Greek pottery reveal the transformation of classical Greek culture Why did soldiers stop fighting, athletes stop competing, and lovers stop having graphic sex in classical Greek art? The scenes depicted on Athenian pottery of the mid-fifth century BC are very different from those of the late sixth century. Did Greek potters have a different world to see—or did they come to see the world differently? In this lavishly illustrated and engagingly written book, Robin Osborne argues that these remarkable changes are the best evidence for the shifting nature of classical Greek culture. Osborne examines the thousands of surviving Athenian red-figure pots painted between 520 and 440 BC and describes the changing depictions of soldiers and athletes, drinking parties and religious occasions, sexual relations, and scenes of daily life. He shows that it was not changes in each activity that determined how the world was shown, but changes in values and aesthetics. By demonstrating that changes in artistic style involve choices about what aspects of the world we decide to represent as well as how to represent them, this book rewrites the history of Greek art. By showing that Greeks came to see the world differently over the span of less than a century, it reassesses the history of classical Greece and of Athenian democracy. And by questioning whether art reflects or produces social and political change, it provokes a fresh examination of the role of images in an ever-evolving world.

The Transformation of Athens

The Transformation of Athens
Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Total Pages : 306
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780691177670
ISBN-13 : 0691177678
Rating : 4/5 (70 Downloads)

Synopsis The Transformation of Athens by : Robin Osborne

How remarkable changes in ancient Greek pottery reveal the transformation of classical Greek culture Why did soldiers stop fighting, athletes stop competing, and lovers stop having graphic sex in classical Greek art? The scenes depicted on Athenian pottery of the mid-fifth century BC are very different from those of the late sixth century. Did Greek potters have a different world to see—or did they come to see the world differently? In this lavishly illustrated and engagingly written book, Robin Osborne argues that these remarkable changes are the best evidence for the shifting nature of classical Greek culture. Osborne examines the thousands of surviving Athenian red-figure pots painted between 520 and 440 BC and describes the changing depictions of soldiers and athletes, drinking parties and religious occasions, sexual relations, and scenes of daily life. He shows that it was not changes in each activity that determined how the world was shown, but changes in values and aesthetics. By demonstrating that changes in artistic style involve choices about what aspects of the world we decide to represent as well as how to represent them, this book rewrites the history of Greek art. By showing that Greeks came to see the world differently over the span of less than a century, it reassesses the history of classical Greece and of Athenian democracy. And by questioning whether art reflects or produces social and political change, it provokes a fresh examination of the role of images in an ever-evolving world.

The Transformation of Athens

The Transformation of Athens
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 0
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0300273932
ISBN-13 : 9780300273939
Rating : 4/5 (32 Downloads)

Synopsis The Transformation of Athens by : Robin Osborne

"Why did soldiers stop fighting, athletes stop competing, and lovers stop having graphic sex in classical Greek art? The scenes depicted on Athenian pottery of the mid-fifth century BC are very different from those of the late sixth century. Did Greek potters have a different world to see-- or did they come to see the world differently? ... Robin Osborne argues that these remarkable changes are the best evidence for the shifting nature of classical Greek culture. Osborne examines the thousands of surviving Athenian red-figure pots painted between 520 and 440 BC and describes the changing depictions of soldiers and athletes, drinking parties and religious occasions, sexual relations, and scenes of daily life. He shows that it was not changes in each activity that determined how the world was shown, but changes in values and aesthetics. By demonstrating that changes in artistic style involve choices about what aspects of the world we decide to represent as well as how to represent them, this book rewrites the history of Greek art. By showing that Greeks came to see the world differently over the span of less than a century, it reassesses the history of classical Greece and of Athenian democracy. And by questioning whether art reflects or produces social and political change, it provokes a fresh examination of the role of images in an ever-evolving world"--Publisher's description.

Citadel to City-State

Citadel to City-State
Author :
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Total Pages : 252
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0253003253
ISBN-13 : 9780253003256
Rating : 4/5 (53 Downloads)

Synopsis Citadel to City-State by : Carol G. Thomas

"Citadel to City-State serves as an excellent summarization of our present knowledge of the not-so-dark Dark Age as well as an admirable prologue to the understanding of the subsequent Archaeic and Classical periods." -- David Rupp, Phoenix The Dark Age of Greece is one of the least understood periods of Greek history. A terra incognita between the Mycenaean civilization of Late Bronze Age Greece and the flowering of Classical Greece, the Dark Age was, until the last few decades, largely neglected. Now new archaeological methods and the discovery of new evidence have made it possible to develop a more comprehensive view of the entire period. Citadel to City-State explores each century from 1200 to 700 B.C.E. through an individual site -- Mycenae, Nichoria, Athens, Lefkandi, Corinth, and Ascra -- that illustrates the major features of each period. This is a remarkable account of the historical detective work that is beginning to shed light on Dark Age Greece.

Greece in the Making, 1200-479 BC

Greece in the Making, 1200-479 BC
Author :
Publisher : Psychology Press
Total Pages : 420
Release :
ISBN-10 : 041503583X
ISBN-13 : 9780415035835
Rating : 4/5 (3X Downloads)

Synopsis Greece in the Making, 1200-479 BC by : Robin Osborne

Robin Osborne's introduction to the art, archaeology and history of ancient Greece shows how we can write the history of this period, and the insights which can be gained by doing so for our understanding of later periods of history

Civic Rites

Civic Rites
Author :
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Total Pages : 294
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780520945487
ISBN-13 : 0520945484
Rating : 4/5 (87 Downloads)

Synopsis Civic Rites by : Nancy Evans

Civic Rites explores the religious origins of Western democracy by examining the government of fifth-century BCE Athens in the larger context of ancient Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. Deftly combining history, politics, and religion to weave together stories of democracy’s first leaders and critics, Nancy Evans gives readers a contemporary’s perspective on Athenian society. She vividly depicts the physical environment and the ancestral rituals that nourished the people of the earliest democratic state, demonstrating how religious concerns were embedded in Athenian governmental processes. The book’s lucid portrayals of the best-known Athenian festivals—honoring Athena, Demeter, and Dionysus—offer a balanced view of Athenian ritual and illustrate the range of such customs in fifth-century Athens.

Early Greece

Early Greece
Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 372
Release :
ISBN-10 : 067422132X
ISBN-13 : 9780674221321
Rating : 4/5 (2X Downloads)

Synopsis Early Greece by : Oswyn Murray

Murray traces the emergence of urbanisation and social and political structures from the Mycenean and legendary origins of Greece through to the Persian Wars.

The Greek Polis and the Invention of Democracy

The Greek Polis and the Invention of Democracy
Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages : 506
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781118561676
ISBN-13 : 1118561678
Rating : 4/5 (76 Downloads)

Synopsis The Greek Polis and the Invention of Democracy by : Johann P. Arnason

The Greek Polis and the Invention of Democracy presents a series of essays that trace the Greeks’ path to democracy and examine the connection between the Greek polis as a citizen state and democracy as well as the interaction between democracy and various forms of cultural expression from a comparative historical perspective and with special attention to the place of Greek democracy in political thought and debates about democracy throughout the centuries. Presents an original combination of a close synchronic and long diachronic examination of the Greek polis - city-states that gave rise to the first democratic system of government Offers a detailed study of the close interactionbetween democracy, society, and the arts in ancient Greece Places the invention of democracy in fifth-century bce Athens both in its broad social and cultural context and in the context of the re-emergence of democracy in the modern world Reveals the role Greek democracy played in the political and intellectual traditions that shaped modern democracy, and in the debates about democracy in modern social, political, and philosophical thought Written collaboratively by an international team of leading scholars in classics, ancient history, sociology, and political science

Silence and Democracy

Silence and Democracy
Author :
Publisher : Penn State Press
Total Pages : 210
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780271047423
ISBN-13 : 0271047429
Rating : 4/5 (23 Downloads)

Synopsis Silence and Democracy by : John Zumbrunnen

The role of elites vis-&à-vis the mass public in the construction and successful functioning of democracy has long been of central interest to political theorists. In Silence and Democracy, John Zumbrunnen explores this theme in Thucydides&’ famous history of the Peloponnesian War as a way of focusing our thoughts about this relationship in our own modern democracy. In Periclean Athens, according to Thucydides, &“what was in name a democracy became in actuality rule by the first man.&” This political transformation of Athenian political life raises the question of how to interpret the silence of the demos. Zumbrunnen distinguishes the &“silence of contending voices&” from the &“collective silence of the demos,&” and finds the latter the more difficult and intriguing problem. It is in the complex interplay of silence, speech, and action that Zumbrunnen teases out the meaning of democracy for Thucydides in both its domestic and international dimensions and shows how we may benefit from the Thucydidean text in thinking about the ways in which the silence of ordinary citizens can enable the domineering machinations of political elites in America and elsewhere today.

The Transformation of Greek Amulets in Roman Imperial Times

The Transformation of Greek Amulets in Roman Imperial Times
Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages : 504
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780812249354
ISBN-13 : 0812249356
Rating : 4/5 (54 Downloads)

Synopsis The Transformation of Greek Amulets in Roman Imperial Times by : Christopher A. Faraone

Featuring more than 120 illustrations, The Transformation of Greek Amulets in Roman Imperial Times is an essential reference for those interested in the religion, culture, and history of the ancient Mediterranean.