Description
Book SynopsisHarry Mount''s Odyssey: Ancient Greece in the Footsteps of Odysseus is a journey round Greece inspired by the heroes, locations and tales of the Odyssey and tracing ancient Greek civilization at its height.Architecture, art, sculpture, economics, mathematics, science, metaphysics, comedy, tragedy, drama and epic poetry were all devised and perfected by the Greeks. Of the four classical orders of architecture, three were invented by the Greeks and the fourth, the only one the Romans could come up with, was a combination of two of the former.The powerful ghost of ancient Greece still lingers on in the popular mind as the first great civilization and one of the most influential in the creation of modern thought. It is the starting block of Western European civilization.In his new Odyssey, eminent writer Harry Mount tells the story of ancient Greece while on the trail of its greatest son, Odysseus. In the charming, anecdotal style of his bestselling
Amo, Amas, Amat
Trade Review
The book is packed with such goodies ... As he picks his way among the ruins, brooding on the past — his own, and that of Greece — the author remains essentially English ... Equally, at times, Harry Mount has an air of being the living embodiment of the study of classics itself: noble, solitary, uneasily beleaguered, and sporting a slightly silly hat. * Spectator *
Mount is honey-tongued, and this journey is ... fantastically entertaining. * The Times *
An exploration of the diverse ways in which ancient Greek culture still runs in our veins, influences our thinking and governs our world view. -- Michael C. Scott * Times Literary Supplement *
[An] enjoyable and informative book ... fact and fiction can, as in the Bible, merge to create a heady mixture, which inspires and instructs. Cruise this book, and find the flavour of it. * The Oldie *
One of the most compelling writers of his generation. -- A.N.Wilson * Evening Standard - Books of the Year 2015 *
A minor masterpiece of self-deprecation -- Nicholas Lezard * Guardian *
Table of Contents
Introduction: from Heathrow to Troy 1 Bye-bye, Penelope 2 From Europe to Asia - by Breast Stroke 3 Greece 1 Rome 0 4 Shakespeare's Classical Education 5 My Great-Grandfather's Cenotaph at Gallipoli 6 In Search of Priam's Troy 7 In the Wake of Odysseus 8 Sex Life in Ancient Greece 9 Homer - The Early Years 10 How Homer Conquered the World 11 It was all Greek to Jesus 12 Mykonos - the Party's Only 13 Into the Marble Mountain 14 The Athenian Miracle 15 A Marathon Effort 16 The Decline and Fall of Plato's Athens 17 Greek Tiger Mothers - the Sparton Guide to Bringing Up Baby 18 Scylla and Circe Get An Italian Makeover 19 The Sicilian Cyclops 20 Going Home to Ithaca 21 Calypso's Lament Bibliography Acknowledgements
