Greek Art and Aesthetics in the Fourth Century B.C.
Greek Art and Aesthetics in the Fourth Century B.C.

Author: William A. P. Childs

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2018-04-10

Total Pages: 517

ISBN-13: 1400890519

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Greek Art and Aesthetics in the Fourth Century B.C. analyzes the broad character of art produced during this period, providing in-depth analysis of and commentary on many of its most notable examples of sculpture and painting. Taking into consideration developments in style and subject matter, and elucidating political, religious, and intellectual context, William A. P. Childs argues that Greek art in this era was a natural outgrowth of the high classical period and focused on developing the rudiments of individual expression that became the hallmark of the classical in the fifth century. As Childs shows, in many respects the art of this period corresponds with the philosophical inquiry by Plato and his contemporaries into the nature of art and speaks to the contemporaneous sense of insecurity and renewed religious devotion. Delving into formal and iconographic developments in sculpture and painting, Childs examines how the sensitive, expressive quality of these works seamlessly links the classical and Hellenistic periods, with no appreciable rupture in the continuous exploration of the human condition. Another overarching theme concerns the nature of “style as a concept of expression,” an issue that becomes more important given the increasingly multiple styles and functions of fourth-century Greek art. Childs also shows how the color and form of works suggested the unseen and revealed the profound character of individuals and the physical world.

Fortress Attica
Fortress Attica

Author: J. Ober

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-07-17

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 900432819X

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This book analyzes the defense policy of Athens in the period after the Peloponnesian War. In order to counter new offensive strategies and to protect vital local sources of revenue, the Athenians instituted a system of territorial defense, based on massive frontier fortresses and a sophisticated signal network. Individual chapters treat Athens' postwar economic situations, the development of Greek military science, the rise of a defensive mentality among the Athenian citizens, theorectical literature on defense, and Athens' military establishment. A major section is devoted to detailed descriptions of the land routes into Attica and of all ancient fortresses, towers, and military highways in the frontier zones. Concluding chapters demonstrate how the defense system worked in practic.

Decrees of Fourth-Century Athens (403/2–322/1 BC): Volume 2, Political and Cultural Perspectives
Decrees of Fourth-Century Athens (403/2–322/1 BC): Volume 2, Political and Cultural Perspectives

Author:

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-03-05

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1316952711

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Decree-making is a defining aspect of ancient Greek political activity: it was the means by which city-state communities went about deciding to get things done. This two-volume work provides a new view of the decree as an institution within the framework of fourth-century Athenian democratic political activity. Volume 1 consists of a comprehensive account of the literary evidence for decrees of the fourth-century Athenian assembly. Volume 2 analyses how decrees and decree-making, by offering both an authoritative source for the narrative of the history of the Athenian demos and a legitimate route for political self-promotion, came to play an important role in shaping Athenian democratic politics. Peter Liddel assesses ideas about, and the reality of, the dissemination of knowledge of decrees among both Athenians and non-Athenians and explains how they became significant to the wider image and legacy of the Athenians.

The Sculpted Word
The Sculpted Word

Author: Bernard Frischer

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-11-10

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0520312139

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This study of the recruitment techniques used by the philosophical schools of Hellenistic Greece. Bernard Frischer focusses on the Epicureans, who are of special interest because their approach was at once extremely passive and extremely successful. Unlike other philosophical schools, which depended primarioly on public lectures and books, the Epicureans avoided contract with the dominant culture and attracted members by erecting statues of Epicurus and their other master in public places. These iconologically rich, "sculpted words" appealed to teh very people most likely to be attracted to Epicureanism, those most likely to accept the philosophy of materialism, sensationalism, and the repression of feeling, and those who sought a way of life sperate from teh dominant culture. This book is an innovative application of an inter-disciplinary humanistic an social-scientific approach to ancient Greek philosophy and art. It will appeal to those interested in the history of these subjects and those interested in the sociology of knowledge and communication. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1982.

The Athenian Nation
The Athenian Nation

Author: Edward Cohen

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2009-01-10

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 1400824664

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Challenging the modern assumption that ancient Athens is best understood as a polis, Edward Cohen boldly recasts our understanding of Athenian political and social life. Cohen demonstrates that ancient sources referred to Athens not only as a polis, but also as a "nation" (ethnos), and that Athens did encompass the characteristics now used to identify a "nation." He argues that in Athens economic, religious, sexual, and social dimensions were no less significant than political and juridical considerations, and accordingly rejects prevailing scholarship's equation of Athens with its male citizen body. In fact, Cohen shows that the categories of "citizen" and "noncitizen" were much more fluid than is often assumed, and that some noncitizens exercised considerable power. He explores such subjects as the economic importance of businesswomen and wealthy slaves; the authority exercised by enslaved public functionaries; the practical egalitarianism of erotic relations and the broad and meaningful protections against sexual abuse of both free persons and slaves, and especially of children; the wide involvement of all sectors of the population in significant religious and local activities. All this emerges from the use of fresh legal, economic, and archaeological evidence and analysis that reveal the social complexity of Athens, and the demographic and geographic factors giving rise to personal anonymity and limiting personal contacts--leading to the creation of an "imagined community" with a mutually conceptualized identity, a unified economy, and national "myths" set in historical fabrication.

The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece
The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece

Author: Josiah Ober

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2016-10-04

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0691173141

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A major new history of classical Greece—how it rose, how it fell, and what we can learn from it Lord Byron described Greece as great, fallen, and immortal, a characterization more apt than he knew. Through most of its long history, Greece was poor. But in the classical era, Greece was densely populated and highly urbanized. Many surprisingly healthy Greeks lived in remarkably big houses and worked for high wages at specialized occupations. Middle-class spending drove sustained economic growth and classical wealth produced a stunning cultural efflorescence lasting hundreds of years. Why did Greece reach such heights in the classical period—and why only then? And how, after "the Greek miracle" had endured for centuries, did the Macedonians defeat the Greeks, seemingly bringing an end to their glory? Drawing on a massive body of newly available data and employing novel approaches to evidence, Josiah Ober offers a major new history of classical Greece and an unprecedented account of its rise and fall. Ober argues that Greece's rise was no miracle but rather the result of political breakthroughs and economic development. The extraordinary emergence of citizen-centered city-states transformed Greece into a society that defeated the mighty Persian Empire. Yet Philip and Alexander of Macedon were able to beat the Greeks in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE, a victory made possible by the Macedonians' appropriation of Greek innovations. After Alexander's death, battle-hardened warlords fought ruthlessly over the remnants of his empire. But Greek cities remained populous and wealthy, their economy and culture surviving to be passed on to the Romans—and to us. A compelling narrative filled with uncanny modern parallels, this is a book for anyone interested in how great civilizations are born and die. This book is based on evidence available on a new interactive website. To learn more, please visit: http://polis.stanford.edu/.

Ancient Greece and Rome
Ancient Greece and Rome

Author: Keith Hopwood

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13: 9780719024016

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Sir Thomas Fairfax, not Oliver Cromwell, was creator and commander of Parliament's New Model Army from 1645 to1650. Although Fairfax emerged as England's most successful commander of the 1640s, this book challenges the orthodoxy that he was purely a military figure, showing how he was not apolitical or disinterested in politics. The book combines narrative and thematic approaches to explore the wider issues of popular allegiance, puritan religion, concepts of honour, image, reputation, memory, gender, literature, and Fairfax's relationship with Cromwell. 'Black Tom' delivers a groundbreaking examination of the transformative experience of the English revolution from the viewpoint of one of its leading, yet most neglected, participants. It is the first modern academic study of Fairfax, making it essential reading for university students as well as historians of the seventeenth century. Its accessible style will appeal to a wider audience of those interested in the civil wars and interregnum more generally.