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Very Short Introductions #001
El mundo clásico: Una breve introducción
Novelas, películas, teatro, moda, turismo dan fe del innegable atractivo que sigue ejerciendo, pasados más de dos mil años, el mundo clásico en nuestros días. A cargo de los prestigiosos especialistas Mary Beard y John Henderson, esta breve introducción nos lleva, con un original planteamiento, a captar y distinguir las variadísimas imbricaciones de la antigüedad grecolatina y los numerosos frutos que ha alumbrado a lo largo de la historia, desde Virgilio a Poussin y Evelyn Waugh, de Demócrito a Karl Marx, de las ruinas de un templo en la recóndita Arcadia a James Frazer. Un libro vivaz, de amena lectura, rebosante de anécdotas, que no sólo rompe una lanza a favor de la cultura clásica, sino que sienta su importancia insoslayable para la comprensión y construcción del mundo actual.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 15, 2000
About the author
Mary Beard
69 books4,503 followersWinifred Mary Beard (born 1 January 1955) is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and is a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "A Don's Life", which appears on The Times as a regular column. Her frequent media appearances and sometimes controversial public statements have led to her being described as "Britain's best-known classicist".
Mary Beard, an only child, was born on 1 January 1955 in Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Her father, Roy Whitbread Beard, worked as an architect in Shrewsbury. She recalled him as "a raffish public-schoolboy type and a complete wastrel, but very engaging". Her mother Joyce Emily Beard was a headmistress and an enthusiastic reader.
Mary Beard attended an all-female direct grant school. During the summer she participated in archaeological excavations; this was initially to earn money for recreational spending, but she began to find the study of antiquity unexpectedly interesting. But it was not all that interested the young Beard. She had friends in many age groups, and a number of trangressions: "Playing around with other people's husbands when you were 17 was bad news. Yes, I was a very naughty girl."
At the age of 18 she was interviewed for a place at Newnham College, Cambridge and sat the then compulsory entrance exam. She had thought of going to King's, but rejected it when she discovered the college did not offer scholarships to women. Although studying at a single-sex college, she found in her first year that some men in the University held dismissive attitudes towards women's academic potential, and this strengthened her determination to succeed. She also developed feminist views that remained "hugely important" in her later life, although she later described "modern orthodox feminism" as partly "cant". Beard received an MA at Newnham and remained in Cambridge for her PhD.
From 1979 to 1983 she lectured in Classics at King's College London. She returned to Cambridge in 1984 as a fellow of Newnham College and the only female lecturer in the Classics faculty. Rome in the Late Republic, which she co-wrote with the Cambridge ancient historian Michael Crawford, was published the same year. In 1985 Beard married Robin Sinclair Cormack. She had a daughter in 1985 and a son in 1987. Beard became Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement in 1992.
Shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, Beard was one of several authors invited to contribute articles on the topic to the London Review of Books. She opined that many people, once "the shock had faded", thought "the United States had it coming", and that "[w]orld bullies, even if their heart is in the right place, will in the end pay the price".[4] In a November 2007 interview, she stated that the hostility these comments provoked had still not subsided, although she believed it had become a standard viewpoint that terrorism was associated with American foreign policy.[1]
In 2004, Beard became the Professor of Classics at Cambridge.[3] She is also the Visiting Sather Professor of Classical Literature for 2008–2009 at the University of California, Berkeley, where she has delivered a series of lectures on "Roman Laughter".[5]
Mary Beard, an only child, was born on 1 January 1955 in Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Her father, Roy Whitbread Beard, worked as an architect in Shrewsbury. She recalled him as "a raffish public-schoolboy type and a complete wastrel, but very engaging". Her mother Joyce Emily Beard was a headmistress and an enthusiastic reader.
Mary Beard attended an all-female direct grant school. During the summer she participated in archaeological excavations; this was initially to earn money for recreational spending, but she began to find the study of antiquity unexpectedly interesting. But it was not all that interested the young Beard. She had friends in many age groups, and a number of trangressions: "Playing around with other people's husbands when you were 17 was bad news. Yes, I was a very naughty girl."
At the age of 18 she was interviewed for a place at Newnham College, Cambridge and sat the then compulsory entrance exam. She had thought of going to King's, but rejected it when she discovered the college did not offer scholarships to women. Although studying at a single-sex college, she found in her first year that some men in the University held dismissive attitudes towards women's academic potential, and this strengthened her determination to succeed. She also developed feminist views that remained "hugely important" in her later life, although she later described "modern orthodox feminism" as partly "cant". Beard received an MA at Newnham and remained in Cambridge for her PhD.
From 1979 to 1983 she lectured in Classics at King's College London. She returned to Cambridge in 1984 as a fellow of Newnham College and the only female lecturer in the Classics faculty. Rome in the Late Republic, which she co-wrote with the Cambridge ancient historian Michael Crawford, was published the same year. In 1985 Beard married Robin Sinclair Cormack. She had a daughter in 1985 and a son in 1987. Beard became Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement in 1992.
Shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, Beard was one of several authors invited to contribute articles on the topic to the London Review of Books. She opined that many people, once "the shock had faded", thought "the United States had it coming", and that "[w]orld bullies, even if their heart is in the right place, will in the end pay the price".[4] In a November 2007 interview, she stated that the hostility these comments provoked had still not subsided, although she believed it had become a standard viewpoint that terrorism was associated with American foreign policy.[1]
In 2004, Beard became the Professor of Classics at Cambridge.[3] She is also the Visiting Sather Professor of Classical Literature for 2008–2009 at the University of California, Berkeley, where she has delivered a series of lectures on "Roman Laughter".[5]
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 216 reviews
May 25, 2014
Golden Oldies – Always The Latest Craze
‘This is no potted history of Greece and Rome, but a brilliant demonstration that the continual re-excavation of our classical past is vital if the modern world is to rise to the challenge inscribed on the temple of Apollo at Delphi to “Know yourself”.’
~ Robin Osborne
This VSI, one of the best among those I have read, is an eloquent and captivating journey into the world of the Classics. Rather than running through the Peloponnesian Wars, Greeks and Persians, Athens as the birthplace of democracy, Rome as the birthplace of plumbing, the Conquest of Britain, and other landmarks of the subject as it used to be taught in the school room, Classics focuses on one particular artifact — a spectacle that is familiar, but, at the same time, puzzling and strange: dismembered fragments of an ancient Greek temple put on show in the heart of modern London (the friezes from the Temple of Apollo at Bassae in Arcadia), using them as the starting point of a wide-ranging exploration of issues that are of current concern in the professional study of the Ancient World and of changing attitudes to the classical past.
The core idea explored is that the Classics is a subject that exists in that gap between us and the world of the Greeks and Romans. The questions raised by Classics are the questions raised by our distance from ‘their’ world, and at the same time by our closeness to it, and by its familiarity to us. In our museums, in our literature, languages, culture, and ways of thinking. The aim of Classics is not only to discover or uncover the ancient world (though that is part of it, as the rediscovery of Bassae, or the excavation of the furthest outposts of the Roman empire on the Scottish borders, shows). Its aim is also to define and debate our relationship to that world, which is taken as the first step towards any such education.
The questions raised by Bassae is thus used as a model for understanding Classics in its widest sense, and the essential issues that are at stake — questions about how we are to read literature which has a history of more than 2,000 years, written in a society very distant and different from our own. We are told that we are obliged to find a way of dealing with that clash between our imaginary vision of Greece and what we actually see when we get there, or when we actually read the classics first hand, instead of going by hearsay — this is bound to always involve confronting different and competing visions of Classics and the classical world.
Always Back with a Bang
The Classics are to be always discovered anew and yet to be always known only in the light of the discovery of the past generations — which only serves to make our own discovery even more exciting, richer, deeper and stronger. It is precisely when a generation skips on the classics or on a classical education that they come back with even more of a bang. This gives me pause and makes me think of the sudden craze of classical based (at leas mythological) fiction in India. I can only hope that the next step in that craze would involve going beyond the familiar myths into the vast body of Sanskrit literature as well.
All this makes the book more about the discovery of the classical world, about the motivations that inspired that discovery, and in the end about the relation of the modern world to the classical world, and how it was all imagined into existence — each begetting the other.
March 31, 2026
A subtle, balanced treatment of the issues arising from our ‘consumption’ (my apologies for the somewhat populist term) of classical antiquity, in practice limited to Greece and Rome. Beard and Henderson provide particularly good insight into how our perception is influenced by centuries of intense engagement with that distant past, and - as a consequence - how complex our relation with antiquity has become. They do this using a very concrete site: the Temple of Apollo in Bassae, in the remote southwest of Greece. In 10 chapters, they highlight numerous aspects of the study of that temple, the cult, and the art. And in doing so, they manage to evoke that immense period of time, as well as its observance, and above all, to highlight the multifaceted aspects of our relationship to that distant past. To me, this is one of the most successful Very Short Introductions.
More in my HIstory account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
More in my HIstory account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
September 23, 2018
"The aim of Classics is not only to discover or uncover the ancient world. Its aim is also to define and debate our relationship to that world."
- Mary Beard, Classics
Using the British Museum's Bassae room and the Temple of Bassae as a framework, Mary Beard introduces us to the Classics. There are points when her Bassae-frame almost doesn't hold her subject, but her metaphor/frame largely holds together. It acts like a map, allowing Beard and Henderson an opportunity to walk around and examine the classics from several perspectives. Readers of the Classics become tourists and Beard and Henderson become our tour guides. Like all VSI, I'm always left feeling a bit snubbed and short shrifted. My whistle is barely wetted and I'm asked to leave room and exit the museum.
- Mary Beard, Classics
Using the British Museum's Bassae room and the Temple of Bassae as a framework, Mary Beard introduces us to the Classics. There are points when her Bassae-frame almost doesn't hold her subject, but her metaphor/frame largely holds together. It acts like a map, allowing Beard and Henderson an opportunity to walk around and examine the classics from several perspectives. Readers of the Classics become tourists and Beard and Henderson become our tour guides. Like all VSI, I'm always left feeling a bit snubbed and short shrifted. My whistle is barely wetted and I'm asked to leave room and exit the museum.
Read
April 11, 2026Normally, The Very Short Introductions provide a reasonably classical, knowledge-oriented approach to their subject, with substantive overviews of what we currently know. That is not the case here. This is, of course, primarily because the theme ‘Classics’ is a difficult subject to define. Moreover, the term, in the sense used here, is known only in the Anglo-Saxon world, namely as the study of ‘classical’ Antiquity—that is, Greece and Rome. In other words, the emphasis lies on the relation between us and ‘them’, rather than on the subject under investigation (although the distinction is not entirely clear). The equivalents elsewhere are Altertumswissenschaften, Etudes d’Antiquité, and related fields.
Beard and Henderson have chosen to expose a number of aspects of that study of classical antiquity, and particularly the methodological ones: how can one still approach a period that is so long past, and cultures that now seem so strange to us yet at the same time very familiar, with an open mind? Not so, for so many preceded us and viewed that antiquity in their own way from their specific context, and that legacy still plays a role, for better or for worse.
Take, for instance, the example they use to build their argument around: the friezes of the Temple of Apollo in Bassae, in Arcadia, the still fairly rugged Southwest of Greece. Those friezes are largely housed in the British Museum, and that immediately raises the issue of ‘looted art’ (even though these friezes were purchased at the time). What was the purpose of that very remote temple; who bothered to go there? Why were those friezes located in the dark part of the temple? What did the Greeks themselves think of the mythological scenes depicted on them? And what do they mean to us? And so on. Endless questions, to which a clear answer is not always possible.
However, Beard and Henderson also touch upon an aspect that takes them into delicate territory: according to them, the study of the classics also means “immersing oneself in a culture that was already engaged in thinking, debating, and asking questions about itself and about what it means to be a culture.” With this, they suggest that classical antiquity achieved something unique in human history. I just read The Theft of History by anthropologist Jack Goody, who pulls out all the stops to undermine Western uniqueness. I suspect he would have difficulty with Beard and Henderson’s statement, or at the very least would disqualify it by saying that we should not think that the ancient Greeks and Romans had a monopoly on that self-reflection. I’m with Beard and Henderson here, but it’s a thorny debate!
Incidentally, Beard and Henderson are not really looking for definitive answers to the questions they posed. They simply want to indicate how fascinating, engaging, challenging, and frustrating this engagement with classical antiquity is. As far as I am concerned: mission accomplished!
Beard and Henderson have chosen to expose a number of aspects of that study of classical antiquity, and particularly the methodological ones: how can one still approach a period that is so long past, and cultures that now seem so strange to us yet at the same time very familiar, with an open mind? Not so, for so many preceded us and viewed that antiquity in their own way from their specific context, and that legacy still plays a role, for better or for worse.
Take, for instance, the example they use to build their argument around: the friezes of the Temple of Apollo in Bassae, in Arcadia, the still fairly rugged Southwest of Greece. Those friezes are largely housed in the British Museum, and that immediately raises the issue of ‘looted art’ (even though these friezes were purchased at the time). What was the purpose of that very remote temple; who bothered to go there? Why were those friezes located in the dark part of the temple? What did the Greeks themselves think of the mythological scenes depicted on them? And what do they mean to us? And so on. Endless questions, to which a clear answer is not always possible.
However, Beard and Henderson also touch upon an aspect that takes them into delicate territory: according to them, the study of the classics also means “immersing oneself in a culture that was already engaged in thinking, debating, and asking questions about itself and about what it means to be a culture.” With this, they suggest that classical antiquity achieved something unique in human history. I just read The Theft of History by anthropologist Jack Goody, who pulls out all the stops to undermine Western uniqueness. I suspect he would have difficulty with Beard and Henderson’s statement, or at the very least would disqualify it by saying that we should not think that the ancient Greeks and Romans had a monopoly on that self-reflection. I’m with Beard and Henderson here, but it’s a thorny debate!
Incidentally, Beard and Henderson are not really looking for definitive answers to the questions they posed. They simply want to indicate how fascinating, engaging, challenging, and frustrating this engagement with classical antiquity is. As far as I am concerned: mission accomplished!
September 20, 2019
"As the saying goes, all roads lead to Rome. But Rome is also where the visit to Greece begins; it is from Rome that the mind longs to travel, away to that outpost of cultural order in the midst of wild nature, ‘high on a mountainside in a rugged and lonely part of Arcadia . . .’ Classics travels this route constantly, speculating and pondering: Which is the greatest show on earth?"
Quite enlightening, food for thought.
I felt that this was somewhat lacking for a general introduction, too focused on one aspect I guess. Although maybe that shed more light on the analytical side of it, allowing us to see deeper.
The writing was eloquent, well put together, and at times poetic.
It also did what I presume to be the goal, spark an interest and give an idea of what the study of classics is about.
I like the concept of the series, I hope to read as much very short introductions as I can.
Et in Arcadia ego
Quite enlightening, food for thought.
I felt that this was somewhat lacking for a general introduction, too focused on one aspect I guess. Although maybe that shed more light on the analytical side of it, allowing us to see deeper.
The writing was eloquent, well put together, and at times poetic.
It also did what I presume to be the goal, spark an interest and give an idea of what the study of classics is about.
I like the concept of the series, I hope to read as much very short introductions as I can.
Et in Arcadia ego
March 10, 2019
This short volume isn't about classics at all. Instead, we have an essay in aesthetics, reminding us that millennia of interpreters stand between us an our Greek and Roman heritage, modifying our experience of it. The idea is not new, having been examined in detail by John Dewey, for instance. The last chapters then go off the rails entirely, delivering a screed on the shortcomings of classics education.
What were they thinking?
What were they thinking?
October 19, 2024
I have huge admiration for Professor Mary Beard, and have seen many of her programmes. Apart from her vast knowledge, she never seems to be speaking down to the layperson, and has a gentle humour, so that we learn, but in a very accessible and enjoyable way.
I think that is why I found this audiobook slightly lacking. Maybe if Mary Beard had narrated it, this would have helped. This is just my personal feeling, and no disrespect is meant to this narrator!
I think that is why I found this audiobook slightly lacking. Maybe if Mary Beard had narrated it, this would have helped. This is just my personal feeling, and no disrespect is meant to this narrator!
December 1, 2015
In all its shortness, this Very Short Introduction takes a long time to introduce its premise. Although I admire the way that Mary Beard has approached the vast expanse that is Classics, the opening chapters of this book are extremely slow-paced. I must say that for a person who has a massive passion for Classics to be bored by a book about CLASSICS! the authors must have EFFED UP pretty badly.
This said, the book picks up speed as it moves along. In fact, it is almost distributed like the inverse of a normalised capacitor discharge (of course, totally), with interest on the y-axis and page number on the x-axis. Its apex — in the book's last chapters — is a section addressing some of what I consider the most interesting aspects of Classics: the exploration of cultural and psychological realities through classical literature. However, this book also introduced me to several other aspects of Classics that I hadn’t come into contact with, especially examples of symbols originating in Ancient Greece and Rome that have had cultural constancy over the ages.
All things considered, I wouldn’t recommended it unless you are prepared for around 70 pages of absolute, tear-wrenching boredom. In fact:
Just skip straight
To chapter eight!
This said, the book picks up speed as it moves along. In fact, it is almost distributed like the inverse of a normalised capacitor discharge (of course, totally), with interest on the y-axis and page number on the x-axis. Its apex — in the book's last chapters — is a section addressing some of what I consider the most interesting aspects of Classics: the exploration of cultural and psychological realities through classical literature. However, this book also introduced me to several other aspects of Classics that I hadn’t come into contact with, especially examples of symbols originating in Ancient Greece and Rome that have had cultural constancy over the ages.
All things considered, I wouldn’t recommended it unless you are prepared for around 70 pages of absolute, tear-wrenching boredom. In fact:
Just skip straight
To chapter eight!
October 19, 2008
When your daughter tells you that she is going to study Classics at Oxbridge, it suddenly seems like a good time to try to better understand what the field of Classics is today and what studying it might be good for. If this is your goal, then "Classics, A Very Short Introduction" is your book: I found it stimulating of thought and interest.
There are of course many things that such a short book is not and cannot be... but it does not pretend to be other than it is and those who would like it to be different are missing its most important point: Classics is as wide as our culture and as deep as our history and what Classics means must be discovered anew by each time and each person. "Et in Arcadia ego..." is up to you to complete.
There are of course many things that such a short book is not and cannot be... but it does not pretend to be other than it is and those who would like it to be different are missing its most important point: Classics is as wide as our culture and as deep as our history and what Classics means must be discovered anew by each time and each person. "Et in Arcadia ego..." is up to you to complete.
October 6, 2012
This book was not what I was looking for when I chose it. I guess I didn't read carefully -- I wanted a short introduction to the classics, but there's no "the" in this title. Instead, it intends to be an introduction to [the study of] classics.
Even for what it intends to be, I didn't like it much. It seemed very strident and polemical, as though the authors were trying to press their points against those who disagreed with them, rather than trying to inform someone new to the subject. The entire work was built around a discussion of a ruined temple at Bassae (Greece). Classic authors like Sophocles, Aeschylus, and others were mentioned only briefly. And I really don't think it added at all to my understanding of what the study of classics is.
The best I can say for it is that it mentioned a few other books that I think might in fact be worth my reading.
Even for what it intends to be, I didn't like it much. It seemed very strident and polemical, as though the authors were trying to press their points against those who disagreed with them, rather than trying to inform someone new to the subject. The entire work was built around a discussion of a ruined temple at Bassae (Greece). Classic authors like Sophocles, Aeschylus, and others were mentioned only briefly. And I really don't think it added at all to my understanding of what the study of classics is.
The best I can say for it is that it mentioned a few other books that I think might in fact be worth my reading.
February 5, 2019
My 12th Very Short, and my favorite so far. This book is truly interdisciplinary and connects the classics with art, literary, history, both ancient and modern. Brilliantly written, and makes one want to return to Greek and Roman literature once again.
September 11, 2024
" [T]he experience of Greece is not something we discover for ourselves, entirely anew; it is something that, at least in part we inherit from those earlier travellers who experienced Greece before us. "
You have to judge the Very Short Introduction moreso by what they don't know contain than by what's in them. In that, Beard and Henderson's Classics is exemplary for its kind. Fluid and polemical, like a class with your favourite teacher, an interrogation of ways of seeing. It is about (at least an argument for) the methodology of the classics as a scholarly discipline.
This could have chosen to be impossibly broad, with the enumerative expansiveness of a textbook which would have damned it to shallowness, or worse, boredom. Instead, the text chooses to start with a concrete, seemingly separate and mundane place, a constructed-for-purpose room in the British Museum, which exhibits of the 23 marble panels of the interior frieze of the temple of Apollo in Bassae, in the rocky Arcadian wilderness. The text asks us which questions we are wont to ask of them, and why do we ask them. It talks of the architects and romantic aristocrats their dug it up, and their culture, which is ours. It talks of the material culture and the hands which carved the marble, of the Hellenic rituals of worship so different from our own. And it talks about us.
" ... Is this the fate that awaits any post-imperial world? Amused to death? "
An introduction to Athenian dramatists, or the Augustan poets (though it does discuss them and their works) this is not. Nor does it claim or aim to be. Nor would it have done it any good to be. A lot of works would be better suited for it, and some of them are duly mentioned in the bibliography. Classics: A Very Short Introduction is a discussion about history, and the history of history, and the history of historiography of history, and vice versa, and conversely vers. vice.
May 29, 2014
I got this one solely because it was co-written by Mary Beard, one of the foremost classicists today, and often wryly funny. Not much time for humor here, but an interesting way of organizing things--describing a temple in Greece and then coming at it from a number of different directions in order to illuminate the history and development of classical studies itself, mythology, ancient religion, ancient travel and geography, philosophy, and literature. Apart from a quibble about what I think was a bizarre over-reading of one of Horace's Odes, I found the whole thing fascinating. I especially appreciated her dwelling on the well-known phrase "Et In Arcadia Ego." (And [or even] in Arcadia, I). I always wondered where it came from, since it sounds like Virgil but isn't. She says it was inspired by his Eclogue 5; but it was coined by Pope Clement IX in the early 17th century. I was gratified to learn that Dr. Johnson supposedly thought it was meaningless, which it is unless it is put in some context that identifies who "I" might be. Usually it accompanies a picture of a skull or skeleton representing Death. The phrase then means something like, even in the most perfect place you can imagine, death is there too. But Goethe, after he'd visited Italy for two years, used it to rejoice that now even he had been in Arcadia. It was also used as the title for the first half of Brideshead Revisited, where the young lovers try to have a perfect place in an imperfect world--they mock the phrase, but in the end it mocks them. A good Short Introduction to a very large topic.
August 20, 2009
Reading this ten-chapter book, I think, is an inspiring introduction to the term “classics” itself as regards the meaning, scope, application, etc. in which few could know and understand thoroughly. Recommended by John Godwin, it’s been praised because “The authors show us that Classics is a ‘modern’ and sexy subject.” (back cover) Some may wonder how so it would suffice in the meantime to say that we need to read it for better understanding rather than leave it as an academic myth preached by some professors.
June 28, 2017
أول كتاب لي في سلسلة مقدمة قصيرة جدا
حبيت أبدأها بالترتيب بدلا من اختيار الموضوعات التي تستهويني فقط .. ربما سأغير تلك القاعدة :D
الكتاب يقدم نبذة عن الحضارة اليونانية ووليدتها الحضارة الرومانية من خلال زيارة معبد باساي
مزود بالصور ومعلومات قيمة عن الحالة الثقافية في تلك الحضارة. . ربما شعرت بالملل في بعض الأجزاء وشعرت أنها تخصصية أكثر من مقدمة لشخص غير دارس
لكن الكتاب في المجمل جيد
حبيت أبدأها بالترتيب بدلا من اختيار الموضوعات التي تستهويني فقط .. ربما سأغير تلك القاعدة :D
الكتاب يقدم نبذة عن الحضارة اليونانية ووليدتها الحضارة الرومانية من خلال زيارة معبد باساي
مزود بالصور ومعلومات قيمة عن الحالة الثقافية في تلك الحضارة. . ربما شعرت بالملل في بعض الأجزاء وشعرت أنها تخصصية أكثر من مقدمة لشخص غير دارس
لكن الكتاب في المجمل جيد
January 1, 2021
Obra interesante que debería titularse "El estudio del mundo clásico", porque más que de la cultura clásica grecolatina, habla de cómo el estudio de la misma ha ido mutando a lo largo de la historia. Partiendo de un templo griego, va detallando cómo cada generación se acerca a la historia, el arte, la arquitectura, la lengua clásicas, cambiando y creciendo por el camino.
March 8, 2018
This book is more about the study of the classics, rather than the classics as a field of study. The authors talk about architecture, geographic regions, and people who studied classics in the 19th century. But they never tell me what classics IS as a field or WHY I should study it!
The chapters contain various paragraphs which, even if they do contain valuable info, don’t relate to each other and don’t connect to the chapter title. The authors swing from one thing to the next without tying it all together.
A disappointing first book for the Very Short Introductions series. Great idea from Oxford’s Editors, just a poorly written book from these authors. Still going to try more of these!
The chapters contain various paragraphs which, even if they do contain valuable info, don’t relate to each other and don’t connect to the chapter title. The authors swing from one thing to the next without tying it all together.
A disappointing first book for the Very Short Introductions series. Great idea from Oxford’s Editors, just a poorly written book from these authors. Still going to try more of these!
June 13, 2015
الكتابُ الثاني لي في هذه السلسلةِ بعدَ الإخفاقِ في الكتابِ الاول "القيادة"، الترجمةُ هنا جيدةٌ ومحفزةٌ للاستمرار في القراءةِ. يجعل الكاتبُ من المعبد اليوناني في باساي محورا رئيسًا للحديثِ في كيفيةِ التعاملِ مع النصوصِ الكلاسيكية التي تسعى إلى تحسين معرفتنا باليونان وروما، فهنالك مكتشفونَ دخلوه في أيام الخلافةِ التركيةِ ونقلوا خزائنه لبريطانيا، ويومياتٌ كتبها الإغريقي باوسانياس، وعبيدٌ استعملوا لبناءه "آلات ذو صوت بشري"، يتناولُ كل ذلك في الكتابِ، هو كتابٌ متخمٌ بالتساؤلاتِ الباحثةِ عن الاجوبةِ
June 23, 2026
Una deliciosa pieza de literatura divulgativa sobre los estudios del mundo clásico, escrita por la gran Mary Beard en colaboración con John Henderson.
Este libro es anterior a la fama mundial de Beard (la primera edición en inglés es de 1995), pero entre sus líneas ya se deja entrever la aguda sensibilidad y ese humor inteligente que le conocemos en obras posteriores como SPQR, El Partenón , Emperador de Roma o Doce césares .
El libro comienza con una visita al Museo Británico para ver de cerca algunos de los frisos griegos que se conservan allí. No estamos hablando, claro, de los famosos mármoles del Partenón (que, a la fecha en la que escribo esta reseña, medio mundo sigue esperando que el gobierno británico devuelva a su hogar legítimo: el Museo de la Acrópolis en Atenas). No; los frisos protagonistas de esta historia pertenecen a un templo griego menos mediático, pero, como descubrimos a lo largo del texto, igualmente fascinante. Se trata del templo de Apolo Epicúreo (Apolo auxiliador o salvador) —al menos así lo identifica Pausanias, el autor antiguo cuya obra también es central en el libro—, ubicado en la región de Basas, en la antigua Arcadia helénica del Peloponeso.
Con gran maestría, Beard y Henderson (coautor en la edición de Alianza Editorial que llegó a mis manos) van tejiendo su narrativa alrededor de la historia de estos frisos. Relatan su hallazgo por unos nobles aventureros en el siglo XIX, el posterior expolio por parte del Imperio británico, su llegada al museo nacional de aquel país y los múltiples estudios —algunos incluso pictóricos— que se realizaron sobre el templo al que pertenecieron, así como sobre las piezas arquitectónicas y escultóricas en sí. A partir de los debates sobre la autoría de las obras, las escenas mitológicas que representan (la amazonomaquia y la centaurolapitomaquia) y el papel cívico que jugaba el templo en su momento, los autores construyen una profunda reflexión sobre cómo las personas expertas han leído y decodificado el mundo clásico, desde la tardoantigüedad grecolatina hasta el siglo XX.
Como un entusiasta apasionado de los estudios clásicos —una disciplina de la que, lamentablemente, no tuve una formación ni siquiera elemental en mis años escolares—, aprendí cosas fascinantes sobre cómo se han interpretado los textos y restos materiales que conservamos de aquellos tiempos tan admirados. Quien se acerque a este libro aprenderá un poco de todo: arquitectura, literatura, filosofía y poesía, y comprenderá cómo estas expresiones humanas se entrelazaron en la Antigüedad. Pero, más importante aún, descubrirá la rigurosa manera en que todas estas manifestaciones han sido decodificadas y teorizadas por especialistas a lo largo de la historia, especialmente durante los últimos cuatro siglos en el campo académico que hoy llamamos, precisamente, «estudios del mundo clásico».
El texto es también un ejercicio de autocrítica hacia la propia labor de profesionales como Beard y Henderson. No escatiman detalles al hablar de los desencuentros académicos, de las teorías arqueológicas e historiográficas que van y vienen con el tiempo y, de manera muy pertinente, lanzan dardos certeros contra el expolio sistemático que los museos europeos perpetraron sobre los tesoros clásicos.
Aunque en la edición que leí parece un libro corto (unas 175 páginas), la realidad es que posee una densidad nada despreciable. No es que el contenido sea abrumadoramente académico, pero sí exige detenerse a leer con atención para procesar sus planteamientos más jugosos. El texto está bien ilustrado, sorprendentemente mejor que otros volúmenes de la misma línea editorial de Alianza. Por supuesto, es evidente que algunas de las imágenes acusan el paso del tiempo (no parecen haber sido actualizadas desde 1995) y carecen de alta resolución, pero cumplen su papel pedagógico a la perfección.
Fiel a mis obsesiones lectoras, los pasajes filológicos fueron los que más me cautivaron. No es que Beard y Henderson ofrezcan un tratado profundo de gramática, pero las pocas reflexiones que hacen sobre uno de los pilares centrales de la disciplina —la traducción y lectura atenta del latín romano y el griego antiguo— resultan sencillamente fascinantes.
¡A por más mundo clásico!
Este libro es anterior a la fama mundial de Beard (la primera edición en inglés es de 1995), pero entre sus líneas ya se deja entrever la aguda sensibilidad y ese humor inteligente que le conocemos en obras posteriores como SPQR, El Partenón , Emperador de Roma o Doce césares .
El libro comienza con una visita al Museo Británico para ver de cerca algunos de los frisos griegos que se conservan allí. No estamos hablando, claro, de los famosos mármoles del Partenón (que, a la fecha en la que escribo esta reseña, medio mundo sigue esperando que el gobierno británico devuelva a su hogar legítimo: el Museo de la Acrópolis en Atenas). No; los frisos protagonistas de esta historia pertenecen a un templo griego menos mediático, pero, como descubrimos a lo largo del texto, igualmente fascinante. Se trata del templo de Apolo Epicúreo (Apolo auxiliador o salvador) —al menos así lo identifica Pausanias, el autor antiguo cuya obra también es central en el libro—, ubicado en la región de Basas, en la antigua Arcadia helénica del Peloponeso.
Con gran maestría, Beard y Henderson (coautor en la edición de Alianza Editorial que llegó a mis manos) van tejiendo su narrativa alrededor de la historia de estos frisos. Relatan su hallazgo por unos nobles aventureros en el siglo XIX, el posterior expolio por parte del Imperio británico, su llegada al museo nacional de aquel país y los múltiples estudios —algunos incluso pictóricos— que se realizaron sobre el templo al que pertenecieron, así como sobre las piezas arquitectónicas y escultóricas en sí. A partir de los debates sobre la autoría de las obras, las escenas mitológicas que representan (la amazonomaquia y la centaurolapitomaquia) y el papel cívico que jugaba el templo en su momento, los autores construyen una profunda reflexión sobre cómo las personas expertas han leído y decodificado el mundo clásico, desde la tardoantigüedad grecolatina hasta el siglo XX.
Como un entusiasta apasionado de los estudios clásicos —una disciplina de la que, lamentablemente, no tuve una formación ni siquiera elemental en mis años escolares—, aprendí cosas fascinantes sobre cómo se han interpretado los textos y restos materiales que conservamos de aquellos tiempos tan admirados. Quien se acerque a este libro aprenderá un poco de todo: arquitectura, literatura, filosofía y poesía, y comprenderá cómo estas expresiones humanas se entrelazaron en la Antigüedad. Pero, más importante aún, descubrirá la rigurosa manera en que todas estas manifestaciones han sido decodificadas y teorizadas por especialistas a lo largo de la historia, especialmente durante los últimos cuatro siglos en el campo académico que hoy llamamos, precisamente, «estudios del mundo clásico».
El texto es también un ejercicio de autocrítica hacia la propia labor de profesionales como Beard y Henderson. No escatiman detalles al hablar de los desencuentros académicos, de las teorías arqueológicas e historiográficas que van y vienen con el tiempo y, de manera muy pertinente, lanzan dardos certeros contra el expolio sistemático que los museos europeos perpetraron sobre los tesoros clásicos.
Aunque en la edición que leí parece un libro corto (unas 175 páginas), la realidad es que posee una densidad nada despreciable. No es que el contenido sea abrumadoramente académico, pero sí exige detenerse a leer con atención para procesar sus planteamientos más jugosos. El texto está bien ilustrado, sorprendentemente mejor que otros volúmenes de la misma línea editorial de Alianza. Por supuesto, es evidente que algunas de las imágenes acusan el paso del tiempo (no parecen haber sido actualizadas desde 1995) y carecen de alta resolución, pero cumplen su papel pedagógico a la perfección.
Fiel a mis obsesiones lectoras, los pasajes filológicos fueron los que más me cautivaron. No es que Beard y Henderson ofrezcan un tratado profundo de gramática, pero las pocas reflexiones que hacen sobre uno de los pilares centrales de la disciplina —la traducción y lectura atenta del latín romano y el griego antiguo— resultan sencillamente fascinantes.
¡A por más mundo clásico!
July 10, 2024
Despite doing a Classical Civilisation A-Level not long after this book first came out, I'd never read this, or any Mary Beard. It's very good - especially on the importance of 'Classics' being 'the history of 'Classics''. Only flaw as a short introduction perhaps is that it doesn't get into spicier questions such as 'why only these two ancient civilisations and not the ones in North Africa and the Middle East with which they were inextricably linked'. I will read more though!
June 27, 2023
A very interesting and postmodern perspective on the history of Ancient Greece/Rome as well as classical studies. Sometimes I think that Beard loves to stir the academic pot just to add yet another layer of perspectives on top of the numerous layers already present. Layers that in a sense block us from seeing the reality of ancient Greece/Rome as we are living in the ripples of its history and our thinking has been colored by many thinkers, writers, politicians and artists over the last two millennia. A well-know example is how the classical world generally painted their sculptures yet we often know the remaining pieces as partially broken and unpainted. The bright white look of classical art is not real but rather an impression. However, this is a relatively well-known fact. Regardless, the book is crammed with similar perspectives. It is not a history book, but rather a work to make on think about the lenses of historians as we view the past. This brief book will definitely make the reader think differently about classical studies. Refreshing yet stifling, modern yet archaic. Ah, it is good brain food if one is interested in wandering the realm of classical studies at the beginning of the 21st century. The classical world has clearly influenced the present and lenses such as art, gender, theater, tourism, literature and more are useful for pondering the past. Recommended.
January 28, 2022
As a fan of Mary Beard, I especially loved this Very Short Introduction book. Some understandably disliked the fact the authors don’t really cover much historical ground in this book, but this is really an examination of a discipline or approach to the past. It’s also structured in a really interesting way. The authors look at a specific Greek temple and then see how that temple was interpreted by Romans, Victorians, and modern audiences. Very nice to see the authors reflect on their profession in such a deep but accessible way.
February 10, 2016
Although I can see, on one hand, that the temple at Bassae was used as a sort of prompt for introducing readers to the classics, I felt at times that I wasn't really learning anything about the classics at all, but rather just learning about a temple; despite being quite interesting, it wasn't what I wanted from this (very short) book. However, the later chapters I found much more intriguing and useful. Surprisingly, I greatly enjoyed chapter 7, 'The Art of Reconstruction' as, at first glance, it concerns archaeology. Which I'm not the biggest fan of. However I found that this chapter in particular helped explain things, or at least made things clearer. Chapter 8 I also found incredibly interesting, although that was expected of me, seeing as it concerned literature.
Overall, this book did a good job of explaining what 'classics' really consist/s of and why it is so important that we continue to study the subject. However the the things that were, I assume, intended to make things clearer really just got in the way of the actual points being made.
Overall, this book did a good job of explaining what 'classics' really consist/s of and why it is so important that we continue to study the subject. However the the things that were, I assume, intended to make things clearer really just got in the way of the actual points being made.
June 7, 2015
Thanks Mary Beard, I yawned myself to shit. I always thought that the classical world is a storehouse of good ideas for people to raid. And yet, Beard's dull narrative gives the impression that the classical world is essentially as mundane as her own use of the English language, which it certainly isn't. This book is so boring presumably because the scope of it is unfortunate; instead of focusing on the interesting literary side of Classics or its contemporary relevance, she offers long and uninteresting descriptions of Roman and Greek antique buildings, which were admittedly important for their culture, yet should have recieved less focus by an author that claims to have written a "comprehensive introduction" to Classics. What a waste of time.
July 25, 2016
Con este título puede parecer la enésima recopilación de cosas sabidas sobre Grecia y Roma para bachilleres pero este ensayo en una delicia. A partir de un ejemplo significativo, el tempo de Apolo en Basas, en medio de la Arcadia griega, los autores van estableciendo un diálogo entre el mundo grecolatino, la actualidad y toda la concepción y uso que de la cultura clásica ha hecho la Historia occidental. Beard responde a un montón de cuestiones pero plantea otras muchas en un juego fascinante de semejanzas y diferencias muy interesante.
February 17, 2021
This book aims to answer or give an account of:
What is the study of Classics?
What is the methodology used by Classicists?
How does Classics relate to the various time periods?
The book certainly gears toward teaching you about the questions raised and the methodology of classics rather than an account of ancient Rome and Greece. The Temple of Bassae is used as a device to which the methodology of Classics is introduced to the reader. This can be boring at times; especially if the purpose of your reading is to learn about the events, philosophy and works of classical antiquity. You get some insight into the thought process of a Classicist when approaching literature, art and politics of classical antiquity. I feel you come away with an understanding of questions to ask yourself when exploring works produced at this time.
The book also shows you the interconnected nature of Greek and Roman history, through case studies of Roman poets (Horace), Architecture (the use of the Corinthian Order, etc) and more. The effects of our preconceived notions of the period on the interpretation of material from the time too are detailed through various examples. There is quite a bit of focus on Pausanias' Guide to Ancient Greece and lots of sprinkles of information about events and works produced in the time period.
I would recommend for people interested in the brief account in the methodology of Classics.
What is the study of Classics?
What is the methodology used by Classicists?
How does Classics relate to the various time periods?
The book certainly gears toward teaching you about the questions raised and the methodology of classics rather than an account of ancient Rome and Greece. The Temple of Bassae is used as a device to which the methodology of Classics is introduced to the reader. This can be boring at times; especially if the purpose of your reading is to learn about the events, philosophy and works of classical antiquity. You get some insight into the thought process of a Classicist when approaching literature, art and politics of classical antiquity. I feel you come away with an understanding of questions to ask yourself when exploring works produced at this time.
The book also shows you the interconnected nature of Greek and Roman history, through case studies of Roman poets (Horace), Architecture (the use of the Corinthian Order, etc) and more. The effects of our preconceived notions of the period on the interpretation of material from the time too are detailed through various examples. There is quite a bit of focus on Pausanias' Guide to Ancient Greece and lots of sprinkles of information about events and works produced in the time period.
I would recommend for people interested in the brief account in the methodology of Classics.
"The aim of Classics is not only to discover or uncover the ancient world. Its aim is also to define and debate our relationship to that world. " - Mary Beard
July 28, 2024
A smorgasbord of interesting and uninteresting information but I suppose the topics covered are extremely broad.
April 9, 2023
aula de estudos clássicos :)
April 8, 2025
Ahora quiero ir al templo de Basas
July 1, 2022
Focuses less on Classics than how to study it. The main ideas are thus watery versions of ones found throughout the humanities.
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