Myths, muses and mortals : the way of life in ancient Greece / William Furley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Furley, William D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greek literature--History and criticism.

Greek literature.

Greece--Social conditions--To 146 B.C.

Greece.

Greece--Social life and customs.

Greece--Civilization--To 146 B.C.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (366 pages) : illustrations, maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London : Reaktion Books, Limited, 2024.

Summary:

A window into the human lives of classical Greece through the words they left behind.   Myths, Muses and Mortals gives new insight into a multitude of life experiences in ancient Greece. The book introduces the lives of the ancient Greeks through extracts taken from a range of sources, including poems, plays, novels, histories, lawsuits, inscriptions, and private note tablets. The voices speak for themselves in fresh translation, but in addition, William Furley gives the narratives historical context and illuminates the literary genre in which they appear. The texts are grouped around important areas of life-love relations, travel and trade, social status, divine signs, daily events, warfare, philosophies, dress code, and private and public celebration-giving voice to the variety of lives experienced by the citizens of ancient Greece and an insight into the Greek mind.

Contents:

Introduction

1. Love. Epic love ; Comic love ; Passionate love ; Wives and kept women ; Higher spheres ; Down to earth

2. Status. Gods ; Homer ; The great and the good ; New men ; Salt of the earth ; Status symbols

3. Sail and oar. For those in peril ; Gateway to Elysium

4. Signs. Birds and beasts ; Oracles ; Dreams ; A little theory ; Pseudosciences

5. The daily round. At home ; The agora ; Messaging ; Business ; Dinnertime ; Bedtime ; Street crime

6. A better world. Elysian fields ; Celibacy ; Out of the dark ; Orphic initiation

7. Warfare. Epic ; Lyric : love and war ; The heroic and the not-so-heroic ; War is the father ; Lady luck

8. Dress code. Women ; Men

9. Celebration. Myth ; History ; Private celebration

Notes on ancient authors and sources

Glossary of ancient terms

Note on metre.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Furley, William Myths, Muses and Mortals

ISBN:

9781789149807

OCLC:

1443637340