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Men of Athens
Once again, Olivia Coolidge puts flesh and blood on the bones of history. In these short stories that frame the Golden Age of Athens she spreads before the reader a dramatic, highly colored panorama of the times and men who made the glory of Athens's Golden Age.
Here is the barbaric splendor of the Persian court at Sardis; a stirring view of the battle of Salamis; here is Themistocles, the ambassador from Athens, cleverly outmaneuvering the smug and simple Spartans; Criton, the athlete, defending the honor of his city at the Olympic games; the bustle of the marketplace where even a potter strives for an excellence worthy of his city.
Finally, after the flashing brilliance of Athens at its height of power, there is a moving account of the day that Socrates is condemned to death, a verdict that seems to spell the death of Athens itself.
As with the author's Roman People, which Library Journal called "absolutely essential," the book makes excellent reading just as a collection of fine and exciting stories; at the same time it will make the Athenian century a living reality and give the reader a sense of participation in the Golden Age.
Here is the barbaric splendor of the Persian court at Sardis; a stirring view of the battle of Salamis; here is Themistocles, the ambassador from Athens, cleverly outmaneuvering the smug and simple Spartans; Criton, the athlete, defending the honor of his city at the Olympic games; the bustle of the marketplace where even a potter strives for an excellence worthy of his city.
Finally, after the flashing brilliance of Athens at its height of power, there is a moving account of the day that Socrates is condemned to death, a verdict that seems to spell the death of Athens itself.
As with the author's Roman People, which Library Journal called "absolutely essential," the book makes excellent reading just as a collection of fine and exciting stories; at the same time it will make the Athenian century a living reality and give the reader a sense of participation in the Golden Age.
244 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1962
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171 people want to read
About the author
Olivia E. Coolidge
32 books20 followersOlivia Coolidge was born in London, England, in 1908. She received her education at Somerville College, Oxford University, where her main subjects included Latin, Greek, and philosophy. These studies helped her earn her place in the pantheon of children's literature through her mythological re-tellings demonstrating careful research and the adroit capacity to bring the past to life.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 21, 2020
This book definitely went over the head of my first grader and I wouldn't generally recommend it for that age, but she really loved it so I just indulged her and read the whole book aloud anyway. For older readers, it's really a wonderful way to enter the lives of many different figures of ancient Athenian society, both real historical figures and composites representing sailors, merchants, wives, craftsmen, government officials, etc. I also enjoyed it as an adult, and I wish I had been able to study every historical period using a similar approach when I was a student.
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My review at Read-at-Home Mom:
Men of Athens, the 1963 Newbery Honor book by Olivia Coolidge, brings to life the world of Ancient Greece through a series of chapters focused on fictitious characters representing the way that real people lived during this time period. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of Athenian life, from the work of artisans, to the role of jurors, to the opportunities each man had to participate in government. Taken together, these chapters provide a colorful and engaging portrait of an interesting and important time and place in world history.
I read this book with my six-year-old, basically with the understanding that she would enjoy it, but would probably not understand more than the broad strokes. For her, this was very much an introduction not just to Ancient Greece, but also to concepts like democracy, justice, government, and philosophy. As we read, however, I recognized how valuable this book would have been for a student like me in the middle school years. I had a hard time in history class, mostly because I didn't feel a personal connection to the subject matter. Historical events and figures were always presented in a very dry, formal manner, and I couldn't make them stick in my mind. This book, though it obviously fabricates the specifics of the events it covers, really emphasizes the human aspect of history, and it uses an inviting narrative style that makes the reader want to know more. It also relies heavily on the point of view of the everyday person. Even in chapters that focus on real people, such as Sophocles or Timon, these figures are usually seen through the eyes of someone less significant who is able to give perspective on that person's contributions to Athens. As a result, the reader feels that she is observing historical events as they happen, and now just being force-fed a series of meaningless facts.
Though it can be a bit difficult to sort fact from fiction in a book like this, I'm pleased that it's available for readers who really need more of a story-based approach to understanding history. Though my six-year-old is not in the intended age range for this book, she had a much easier time connecting to its characters than she did reading about Ancient Greece from a variety of our other books. When we revisit Greece in fifth grade, I hope she will read this book again independently and get even more out of it. It's definitely one of the best books I've read in our homeschooling life so far, and I would also happily read it again myself!
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My review at Read-at-Home Mom:
Men of Athens, the 1963 Newbery Honor book by Olivia Coolidge, brings to life the world of Ancient Greece through a series of chapters focused on fictitious characters representing the way that real people lived during this time period. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of Athenian life, from the work of artisans, to the role of jurors, to the opportunities each man had to participate in government. Taken together, these chapters provide a colorful and engaging portrait of an interesting and important time and place in world history.
I read this book with my six-year-old, basically with the understanding that she would enjoy it, but would probably not understand more than the broad strokes. For her, this was very much an introduction not just to Ancient Greece, but also to concepts like democracy, justice, government, and philosophy. As we read, however, I recognized how valuable this book would have been for a student like me in the middle school years. I had a hard time in history class, mostly because I didn't feel a personal connection to the subject matter. Historical events and figures were always presented in a very dry, formal manner, and I couldn't make them stick in my mind. This book, though it obviously fabricates the specifics of the events it covers, really emphasizes the human aspect of history, and it uses an inviting narrative style that makes the reader want to know more. It also relies heavily on the point of view of the everyday person. Even in chapters that focus on real people, such as Sophocles or Timon, these figures are usually seen through the eyes of someone less significant who is able to give perspective on that person's contributions to Athens. As a result, the reader feels that she is observing historical events as they happen, and now just being force-fed a series of meaningless facts.
Though it can be a bit difficult to sort fact from fiction in a book like this, I'm pleased that it's available for readers who really need more of a story-based approach to understanding history. Though my six-year-old is not in the intended age range for this book, she had a much easier time connecting to its characters than she did reading about Ancient Greece from a variety of our other books. When we revisit Greece in fifth grade, I hope she will read this book again independently and get even more out of it. It's definitely one of the best books I've read in our homeschooling life so far, and I would also happily read it again myself!
June 30, 2019
And with this book, I decide that if I am going to actually get through the entirety of the Newbery Honors book list, I will allow myself to skim nonfiction books and still count them as read. Oi. This book is a perfect example of the odd mixture of fact and historical fiction without any citation or note of what is fact and what is nonfiction that apparently used to be considered appropriate for children. Or was it appropriate for anyone? Are these standards that have been created since this time, or standards that have existed for longer and have just been applied to children more recently? Whatever the case may be, while I have found some excellent older nonfiction books in the Caldecott list, I have yet to read nonfiction book from the early years of the Newbery that has not been redone and done much, much better in more recent years.
Men of Athens begins with excruciatingly boring explanation mixed with the author's biased viewpoints of the faults and importance of Athenian culture, then continues with mildly engaging historical fiction with great confusion about what is fact and what is not, and little to root it into history that is more familiar to the readers to provide some context.
Men of Athens begins with excruciatingly boring explanation mixed with the author's biased viewpoints of the faults and importance of Athenian culture, then continues with mildly engaging historical fiction with great confusion about what is fact and what is not, and little to root it into history that is more familiar to the readers to provide some context.
July 23, 2015
I thought that this book wasn't that good. I think it was meant to be some sort of fictionalized history of Athens between about 500 and 400 BC. However, the stories really didn't seem very Greek to me. I think the author tried to help kids relate by giving the characters in the book, who by the way are constantly changing as the book is really just a bunch of short stories, personalities common among American kids in the 1960s. Not really that great, and I believe a lot of inaccuracies come from that. For example, he makes Plato out to be some punk kid who wants to rebel against democracy. Not quite right, and it makes me wonder whether the author had ever read Plato's Rebublic. Also, it makes me doubt the accuracy of any bit of history that is there besides the big general stuff. AND, the book doesn't really give much history besides the big general stuff.Oh, and the author loves throwing in names people might recognize in casual talk here and there like 'who do you think you are, the next Aristophanes?'
Really dumb.
Really dumb.
February 1, 2016
1963 Newbery Honor Book
I did not like this book at all. At first, I was confused as to whether this book was historical fiction or nonfiction. After reading it, I still can't tell so I'm categorizing it as fiction because parts of it definitely seem to be fabricated but it rides that fiction/nonfiction line. This book talks about the rise of Athens, starting with skirmishes with the Persian empire (Darius and Xerxes which I recognize from the Bible) and extending to later wars. I normally applaud people who write history in a narrative but this was executed poorly.
I did not like this book at all. At first, I was confused as to whether this book was historical fiction or nonfiction. After reading it, I still can't tell so I'm categorizing it as fiction because parts of it definitely seem to be fabricated but it rides that fiction/nonfiction line. This book talks about the rise of Athens, starting with skirmishes with the Persian empire (Darius and Xerxes which I recognize from the Bible) and extending to later wars. I normally applaud people who write history in a narrative but this was executed poorly.
August 18, 2020
1.5 stars. It happens rarely, but I found this book totally uninteresting. The author is trying for a fictionalized history of Athens from the Persian War to the death of Socrates, the period called the Golden Age or more accurately the rise and fall of the Athenian Empire. It's a noble attempt, but I just couldn't get into the author's writing style. Her desire to cover the entire period she can't really devote enough attention to the period's historical character. That combined with the inclusion of various minor and invented characters creates an incredible mess. She'd have been better served to divide the period into thirds: defeat of the Persians, rise/fall of Pericles, and the Socratic period. I read (skimmed) this for my 2020 Reading Challenge (Reading Women "by female historian") and my Newbery Challenge (Honor 1963). I read this via Open Library/Internet Archive due to library closures amid the Covid 19 pandemic.
July 20, 2021
This is one of those weird books from the older Newbery honors list where some libraries (including the one that lent it to me) have it in the nonfiction history (913.38) when it is not nonfiction. I believe it was highly researched but it is a bunch of short stories set in Greece. Should that be held against the book, probably not, but I hate mislabeled things. Also, they were kind of boring short stories "for children" that I'm not sure even children then (1963) found thrilling.
August 22, 2019
A dramatic history of the golden years of Ancient Athens, retold for kiddos. This Newbery Honor Book from 1963 was fair-to-middlin'. Could have been more engaging (I mean honestly, the subject matter is fabulous all on its own!), if the language wasn't so stilted in places.
xx-dnf-skim-reference
January 11, 2020decided not to request... really not interested, and nobody else in group is reading
August 22, 2012
I just didn't like this one. Not a bit. One of the things I like about newer books of historical fiction/fictionalized history (or whatever you might classify this as) is that the authors tend to tell you which parts are the facts and which parts are their liberties. That definitely doesn't exist in this book and it is confusing figuring out which characters are historical and which are fictional and which events might have really happened. On top of that, I found the stories boring. So for her time, Olivia Coolidge may have done a great job, but I am confident that the intervening years have produced better books about ancient Athens. Plenty of them.
June 8, 2024
I felt like this was a term paper where the author tried to convince readers that Athenian life was the best life ever, and I wasn't buying it. Written like some of the other older historical Newbery books in which the author puts imaginative dialogue in, this just didn't strike my interest at all.
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October 22, 2014dc48882f-956e-4ad6-8d1f-96df521000ec
May 11, 2015
The golden age - 500 to 400 B.C.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews