Love, sex & tragedy : how the ancient world shapes our lives /

Love, sex & tragedy : how the ancient world shapes our lives /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Goldhill, Simon.
Imprint:	Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c2004.
Description:	335 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Language:	English
Subject:	Civilization, Modern -- Ancient influences. Civilization, Classical. Civilization, Classical. Civilization, Modern -- Ancient influences.
Format:	Print Book
Local Note:	University of Chicago Library's copy 1 in UCPress has original dust-jacket.
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/7795335

Hidden Bibliographic Details
Varying Form of Title:	Love, sex, and tragedy
ISBN:	0226301176 (cloth : alk. paper) 9780226301174 (cloth : alk. paper)
Notes:	Originally published: London : John Murray, 2004. Bibliography, p. 329-333.
Summary:	"Our debt to the ancient world can be seen all around us, from beautiful buildings to beautiful bodies. Classical columns adorn our high-street banks, and we are still as obsessed with the gym as the Greeks. But the influence of the Greeks and Romans is far greater than this. As Simon Goldhill explains in this book, almost every part of our lives - and our thought - finds its roots in classical Athens and Rome." "According to Socrates, the unexamined life is not worth living. Goldhill follows his advice to the full, examining the most basic areas of our lives today, from marriage and sex to politics and entertainment. Whether we are falling in love or waging wars in the name of democracy, Goldhill reveals how classical ideas continue to shape our behaviour and our attitudes in crucial ways."--BOOK JACKET.

Description
Summary:	"If you do not know where you come from, you will always be a child." Cicero wasn't talking about being a child in the sense of enjoying life in a state of ignorant bliss. He was, rather, adamant that those who don't understand their origins are consigned to a life without power or authority, without the ability to act fully in the world. Love, Sex & Tragedy is acclaimed classicist Simon Goldhill's corrective to our state of ignorance. Lifting the veil on our inheritance of classical traditions, Goldhill offers a witty, engrossing survey of the Greek and Roman roots of everything from our overwhelming mania for "hard bodies" to our political systems.<br> <br> Marx, Clark Gable, George W. Bush, Oscar Wilde, and Freud--Goldhill's range here is enormous, and he takes great delight in tracing both follies and fundamental philosophical questions through the centuries and continents to the birthplace of Western civilization as we know it. Underlying his brisk and learned excursions through history and art is the foundational belief, following Cicero, that learning about the classics makes a critical difference to our self-understanding. Whether we are considering the role of religion in contemporary society, our expectations about the boundaries between public and private life, or even how we spend our free time, recognizing the role of the classics is integral to our comprehension of modern life and our place in it.<br> <br> When Goldhill asks "Who do you think you are?" he presents us with the rarest of opportunities: the chance to let him lead us, firmly but with a wink, back two thousand years to where we are.
Item Description:	Originally published: London : John Murray, 2004.
Physical Description:	335 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Bibliography:	Bibliography, p. 329-333.
ISBN:	0226301176 9780226301174