Athens Great Cities Series

by William Wyatt Davenport

Published 1978 by Time-Life Books.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

William Wyatt Davenport, April 26, 1916 – June 26, 2000 was an American writer living in Provence, France. The artist, Roselle Davenport, was his wife. The Davenports also lived in Hawaii for some time following the Second World War.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A groovy Time-Life book about Athens circa 1978; lots of photos of shaggy haired Greek dudes hanging out at the local taverna. However dated some of the material, Davenport's homage to Athens included lots of maps of the Acropolis, a solid general history of the city, and a nice overview of larger cultural elements of Greek society (e.g. the importance of the Greek Orthodox Church, political disunity, the connection to a classical past). I enjoyed the section on the history of the Parthenon from Temple of Athena, to Christian church, to Sunni mosque, to target of Venetian cannon fire, to tourist curiosity.