This is the first general study of the earliest writers of Greek prose for students and teachers alike. Looking at history, medicine, science, philosophy and rhetoric, it asks why and how these new genres of writing came about in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE It is thus a study of the cultural and political revolution known as the Greek enlightenment, which has proved so influential and important for modern Western thought and society. Questions discussed include how and why rhetoric played such a role in democracy, how history written in prose changes a view of the past, and how science...

In Love, Sex & Tragedy Simon Goldhill lifts the veil on our inheritance of classical traditions and offers a witty, engrossing survey of the Greek and Roman roots of everything from our overwhelming mania for "hard bodies" to our political systems. Encompassing Karl Marx, Clark Gable, George W. Bush, Oscar Wilde, and Sigmund Freud, Goldhill takes great delight in tracing both follies and fundamental philosophical questions through the centuries and continents to the birthplace of Western civilization as we know it. Underlying his brisk and learned excursions through history and art is...

From the stages of Broadway and London to university campuses, Paris, and the bourgeoning theaters of Africa, Greek tragedy remains constantly in production. This global revival, in addition to delighting audiences, has highlighted both the promise and the pitfalls of staging ancient masterpieces in the modern age. Addressing the issues and challenges these performances pose, renowned classicist Simon Goldhill responds here to the growing demand for a comprehensive guide to staging Greek tragedy today.
In crisp and spirited prose, Goldhill explains how Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles...

Who Needs Greek? is an interdisciplinary study of arguments on what ancient Greece has meant to western culture from the ancient world to today. The battles between artists and literary critics, historians and journalists, politicians and scholars, are often violent, hilarious, and always passionate. This cutting-edge cultural history ranges from ancient Greece via the Renaissance to modern opera, and treats a central question of culture in a way which will intrigue academics as well as a more general audience.

These especially commissioned essays open up a fascinating and novel perspective on a crucial era of Western culture. In the second century CE the Roman empire dominated the Mediterranean, but Greek culture maintained its huge prestige. At the same time, Christianity and Judaism were vying for followers against the lures of such an elite cultural life. This book looks at how writers in Greek from all areas of Empire society responded to their political position, to intellectual authority, to religious and social pressures.

This is a study of how sex and sexuality were written about in the first centuries of this era, a central period in the history of sexuality. Writing with the same wit and verve as the ancient writers he engages with, Simon Goldhill shows how the standard accounts of sexuality in this period are distorted by ignoring the sexy, ironic and often bizarre texts of the ancient novel, erotic poetry and humorous dialogues.

Simon Goldhill focuses on the play's themes--justice, sexual politics, violence, and the role of man in ancient Greek culture--in this general introduction to Aeschylus' Oresteia, one of the most important and influential of all Greek dramas. After exploring how Aeschylus constructs a myth for the city in which he lived, a final chapter considers the influence of the Oresteia on more contemporary theater. The volume's organized structure and guide to further reading will make it an invaluable reference for students and teachers. First Edition Hb (1992): 0-521-40293-X First Edition Pb (1992):...

This book is concerned with the complexity and difficulty of reading the Oresteia. It is not a traditional commentary, although it is often concerned with problems of interpretation and language, nor is it simply what is generally understood by a literary study, although it often discusses the wider themes of the narrative. It is a close reading of the text concentrating on the developing meanings of words within the structuring of the play. In particular, Simon Goldhill focuses on the text's interests in language and its control, in sexuality and sexual difference, and in the progression and...

These new and especially commissioned essays discuss the ways in which performance is central to the practice and ideology of democracy in classical Athens. From theater to law court to gymnasium to symposium, performance is a basic part of Athenian society; how do these different areas interrelate and inform the politics and culture of the democratic city? Drama, rhetoric, philosophy, literature and art are all discussed by leading scholars in this interdisciplinary volume.

These especially commissioned essays open up a fascinating and novel perspective on a crucial era of Western culture. In the second century CE the Roman empire dominated the Mediterranean, but Greek culture maintained its huge prestige. At the same time, Christianity and Judaism were vying for followers against the lures of such an elite cultural life. This book looks at how writers in Greek from all areas of Empire society responded to their political position, to intellectual authority, to religious and social pressures.