Myths, Muses and Mortals - by William Furley (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A window into the human lives of classical Greece through the words they left behind. Myths, Muses and Mortals gives new insight into a multitude of life experiences in ancient Greece. The book introduces the lives of the ancient Greeks through extracts taken from a range of sources, including poems, plays, novels, histories, lawsuits, inscriptions, and private note tablets. The voices speak for themselves in fresh translation, but in addition, William Furley gives the narratives historical context and illuminates the literary genre in which they appear. The texts are grouped around important areas of life -- love relations, travel and trade, social status, divine signs, daily events, warfare, philosophies, dress code, and private and public celebration -- giving voice to the variety of lives experienced by the citizens of ancient Greece and an insight into the Greek mind."--

Book Synopsis

A window into the human lives of classical Greece through the words they left behind.

Myths, Muses and Mortals gives new insight into a multitude of life experiences in ancient Greece. The book introduces the lives of the ancient Greeks through extracts taken from a range of sources, including poems, plays, novels, histories, lawsuits, inscriptions, and private note tablets. The voices speak for themselves in fresh translation, but in addition, William Furley gives the narratives historical context and illuminates the literary genre in which they appear. The texts are grouped around important areas of life--love relations, travel and trade, social status, divine signs, daily events, warfare, philosophies, dress code, and private and public celebration--giving voice to the variety of lives experienced by the citizens of ancient Greece and an insight into the Greek mind.

Review Quotes

"Say the words 'Ancient Greece' and you might think of the poet Homer but not, perhaps, its everyday people. Now their inner lives are uncovered in a new book. . . . Here [Furley] tells . . . what made the Ancient Greeks tick."-- "Sunday Post, Scotland"

"In his new thematic overview of ancient Greek culture, the classicist Furley notes that his subjects never 'thought of writing just for themselves, as a meditation or perhaps a kind of self-expression or therapy.' Since so many scholars today write only for themselves, Myths, Muses and Mortals comes as a double delight: free of academic jargon, to be sure, but also underpinned by frequent and ample citations from major poems, plays, philosophical tracts, and other writings of the ancient Greek world. Divided into chapters on love, social status, sailing, warfare, and more, the volume is an ideal primer for the fledgling Hellenophile."-- "New Criterion"

"Myths, Muses and Mortals is a unique book. It explores all aspects of life in ancient Greece through a wide range of Greek texts from Homer and Herodotus to curse tablets and political inscriptions. Furley writes masterfully and brings the past to life again."--Jonas Grethlein, professor of classics, Heidelberg University

"Furley writes with the authority of the distinguished scholar that he is but also with the irresistible enthusiasm of a writer completely in love with his subject. I challenge anyone to read this book without being totally won over to Furley's view that the ancient Greeks are curious, unique and utterly fascinating."--Anthony A. Barrett, emeritus professor of classics, University of British Columbia

"An engaging book which approaches the ancient Greek world from an interesting and fresh point of view."--Jan Haywood, University of Leicester, coauthor of "Homer's 'Iliad' and the Trojan War"

About the Author

William Furley is emeritus professor of Greek at Heidelberg University and research fellow at the Institute of Classical Studies, London. His publications include Greek Hymns and three editions of plays by Menander: Epitrepontes, Perikeiromene, and Misoumenos.