An Intelligent Person's Guide to Classics

by Peter V. Jones

Peter Jones demystifies the Classics in this personal introduction to a subject often feared by those who do not understand Greek or Latin.

Genres: Nonfiction, Classics, Classical Studies

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Peter Jones (sometimes credited as Peter V. Jones) is a former lecturer in Classics at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, a writer and journalist. Jones has regularly written on Classics for major newspapers, and was awarded the MBE in 1983. He is a Cambridge graduate.

Jones' popular work has been focused on introducing new generations to Ancient Rome and Greece, from newspaper columns to crossword collections, popular non-fiction, and charitable organisations devoted to helping keep Classics subjects in schools.

Reviews

[Yeemay]

Despite the rather pompous sounding title I was moved to reading this having heard Peter Jones recently talk on The Iliad. He was erudite, witty, entertaining and engaging. And this book did not disappoint. It covered a vast area of knowledge around the classics: language, literature, architecture, politics, philosophy, the organisation and execution of power. Endlessly fascinating. I finished it wanting to read Paradise Lost again, visit Florence again, improve my Greek and read more Greek texts (strangely enough not Latin texts though!).

[T]

It’s a wonderful overview of many things one can learn from the classics. Of course it’s a selection and with it come big absences, but I could not recommend this book enough to anyone interested in the subject matter. (I’m not sure how it would read without any prior knowledge. Part of what made it fun to read was that many sections expanded upon things I’d read before)

[Al]

Good overview of the field. When I decided to major in Classics, I had no idea that the field encompassed Latin, Greek, architecture, philosophy, history, numismatics, etc. This book provides a good general overview, and plenty of further reading. A Classics degree provides a good start point for many different fields, and Classics majors are grammar experts ;)

[Russell James]

Jones is arguably the liveliest and clearest writer in this crowded field. He is opinionated and likes a joke - and who would quarrel with that? (Some classics masters, that's who.) Here he takes us through the usually dry terrain of Greek and Latin history and the legacy of classic thinkers.

[Johanne]

Good run through the classics and their contemporary relevance. Peter Jones has an accessible and engaging style