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Morality and Custom in Ancient Greece
Athenian society is brought vividly to life in John M. Dillon's exploration of how the ancient Greeks behaved toward each other. How did husbands treat their wives, and parents their children? What were the rights enjoyed, and the perils faced, by a courtesan? What were the obligations of love and friendship between men and men, men and women, and men and boys? Morality and Custom in Ancient Greece shows how slaves were to be treated and what it was like to be a slave or a slave's child; and asks how, when, and why duties to the gods were fulfilled. The problems of inheritance and the position of widows, daughters, and sons are also examined. In each chapter, two or more stories drawn from ancient sources give contrasting perspectives on the Greeks' attitudes and beliefs, and lead to discussions of the works of literature, history, and philosophy they used to guide their lives. This is a thoughtful and entertaining book that shows the practical outcomes of ancient Greek thought and literature and how the strange and familiar are mixed in the customs and habits of people living two and half thousand years ago.
- GenresHistoryGreecePhilosophy
217 pages, Paperback
First published July 25, 2004
About the author
John M. Dillon
46 books13 followersJohn Myles Dillon (/ˈdɪlən/; born 15 September 1939) is an Irish classicist and philosopher who was Regius Professor of Greek in Trinity College, Dublin between 1980 and 2006. Prior to that he taught at the University of California, Berkeley. He was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Athens on 15 June 2010. Dillon's area of research lies in the history of Platonism from the Old Academy to the Renaissance, and also Early Christianity.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 15, 2015
Final review. It is undoubtedly true that ancient Greece attempted to be as repressive as Saudi Arabia is now - veiled women, separate quarters, no mixing with male guests, buying and selling of young girls in "marriage" and all women who are out in the world are fair game. However, unlike Saudi Arabia there were ways around these extremely repressive rules. Women were not forbidden from attending religious ceremonies and they could freely go to worship various gods. It was quite possible, given the number of gods, for the woman to have to go to various temples, shrines and altars every single day (and meet her friends for coffee).
The author does mention this, but essentially his viewpoint is that of a male celebrating ancient male culture. It was sad for the women, poor things, but never mind eh, we're men and it was great for us! He never attempts to interpret the times from a female point of view, uses words that are meant to influence the reader but are his alone, like girls are "skittish", without any references to back that up.
In fact the author quotes often from Greek drama when he wants to further his agenda, but ignores other sources and very famous plays such as Lysistrata when it doesn't fit in with his annoyingly sexist rendering of the material. When history becomes His Story, then really it is just a story, nothing else. This is one reason we need to preserve all written material and always to put anything of importance on paper, otherwise one day when original sources are all digitised and everything is electronic, there will be no sure source we can view that we can be sure is as was written originally.
Although the book was exceedingly dry, it was also interesting. It was very relateable. The court systems, fines, bail, all the legal shenanigans all are familiar, as is of course the drama. It does show how we are truly children of the Greeks. Not of the Bible, not of Africa, nor Asia, nor any of these distant cultures no matter our personal heritage. The West is Greek. The Grecian empire extends through time, more lasting than by geography.
I removed all the Updates I wrote because on the final analysis when I had read the whole book, I didn't agree with hardly anything I wrote.
The author does mention this, but essentially his viewpoint is that of a male celebrating ancient male culture. It was sad for the women, poor things, but never mind eh, we're men and it was great for us! He never attempts to interpret the times from a female point of view, uses words that are meant to influence the reader but are his alone, like girls are "skittish", without any references to back that up.
In fact the author quotes often from Greek drama when he wants to further his agenda, but ignores other sources and very famous plays such as Lysistrata when it doesn't fit in with his annoyingly sexist rendering of the material. When history becomes His Story, then really it is just a story, nothing else. This is one reason we need to preserve all written material and always to put anything of importance on paper, otherwise one day when original sources are all digitised and everything is electronic, there will be no sure source we can view that we can be sure is as was written originally.
Although the book was exceedingly dry, it was also interesting. It was very relateable. The court systems, fines, bail, all the legal shenanigans all are familiar, as is of course the drama. It does show how we are truly children of the Greeks. Not of the Bible, not of Africa, nor Asia, nor any of these distant cultures no matter our personal heritage. The West is Greek. The Grecian empire extends through time, more lasting than by geography.
I removed all the Updates I wrote because on the final analysis when I had read the whole book, I didn't agree with hardly anything I wrote.
May 25, 2015
This seemed like it would be very interesting when I started, and while it was easily readable, in the end I'm wondering how much of this is the true customs of ancient Greece, and how much is this author's own interpretation and conjecture, based on scant sources. The author seemed to inject a lot of his own opinion into the book.
Chapters include "The Family" with the low regard of Athenian women stressed; "Problems of Non-Citizen Women" where we are told of the legal troubles faced by slaves and whores; "Preserving the Oikos" with legal cases involving inheritance; "Friendship and Enmity" with more legal discussion; "The Etiquette of Homosexual Relationships" mainly dealing with pederasty; "Slaves and Slave Masters" telling how slaves should not come from the same country or speak the same language so they can't band together against the owner; "Dealing with the Gods",a chapter that was full of contradictory conclusions on the author; and "Anecdotes" which was an entire chapter devoted to things which 'might' have been said.
In the end, it seems that the Ancient Greeks were not all that different from many people alive today. The more times change, the more things stay the same.
Chapters include "The Family" with the low regard of Athenian women stressed; "Problems of Non-Citizen Women" where we are told of the legal troubles faced by slaves and whores; "Preserving the Oikos" with legal cases involving inheritance; "Friendship and Enmity" with more legal discussion; "The Etiquette of Homosexual Relationships" mainly dealing with pederasty; "Slaves and Slave Masters" telling how slaves should not come from the same country or speak the same language so they can't band together against the owner; "Dealing with the Gods",a chapter that was full of contradictory conclusions on the author; and "Anecdotes" which was an entire chapter devoted to things which 'might' have been said.
In the end, it seems that the Ancient Greeks were not all that different from many people alive today. The more times change, the more things stay the same.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews