Research Catalog

Title

Love, sex & tragedy : how the ancient world shapes our lives / Simon Goldhill.

Author

Goldhill, Simon.

Publication

London : John Murray, 2004.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

335 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

"Our debt to the ancient world can be seen all around us, from beautiful buildings to beautiful bodies. Classical columns adorn our high-street banks, and we are still as obsessed with the gym as the Greeks. But the influence of the Greeks and Romans is far greater than this. As Simon Goldhill explains in this book, almost every part of our lives - and our thought - finds its roots in classical Athens and Rome." "According to Socrates, the unexamined life is not worth living. Goldhill follows his advice to the full, examining the most basic areas of our lives today, from marriage and sex to politics and entertainment. Whether we are falling in love or waging wars in the name of democracy, Goldhill reveals how classical ideas continue to shape our behaviour and our attitudes in crucial ways."--Jacket.

Alternative Title

Love, sex, and tragedy

Subject

• Civilization, Modern > Ancient influences
• Civilization, Classical
• Civilization, Ancient
• Civilization, Ancient
• Civilization, Classical
• Civilization, Modern > Ancient influences
• Klassieke oudheid
• Receptie

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Contents

A life in ruins -- I. Who do you think you are? -- 1. The perfect body -- 2. A man's thing? -- 3. The female body -- soft and spongy, shaved and coy -- 4. His and hers -- a love story? -- 5. Greek love -- 6. A man is a man is a ... -- 7. Longing for Sappho -- 8. Doing what comes naturally? -- II. Where do you think you are going? -- 1. The empire of religion -- 2. Superstars of the flesh -- 3. Sex and the city -- 4. What's Athens to Jerusalem? -- 5. Greek is heresy! -- 6. Knowing the answer -- III. What do you think should happen? -- 1. Does politics need history? -- 2. Athenian democracy -- changing the map -- 3. The good citizen -- 4. The critics of democracy -- experts and education -- 5. A question of betrayal -- 6. The will of the people -- IV. What do you want to do? -- 1. That's entertainment! -- 2. The question of tragedy -- 3. The gladiator and the baying crowd -- 'at my command, unleash Hell' -- 4. The last supper -- V. Where do you think you come from? -- 1. A Greece of the imagination -- 2. Founding fathers -- from Keats to Hollywood and back -- 3. Finding the fatherland -- where Freud's Oedipus comes from -- 4. The mother of all stories -- the Greek Oepidus -- 5. The myth of origins -- 6. History today.

ISBN

• 0719555493
• 9780719555497

LCCN

• 2005434236
• 9780719555497

OCLC

• ocm55626580
• 55626580
• SCSB-9607894

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library