Ten Ways They Shaped the Modern World

The Ancient Greeks

They gave us democracy, philosophy, poetry, rational science, the joke. They built the Parthenon and the Library of Alexandria. They wrote the timeless myths of Odysseus and Oedipus, and the histories of Leonidas’s three hundred Spartans and Alexander the Great. 
 
But who were the ancient Greeks? And what was it that enabled them to achieve so much? 
 
 Here, Edith Hall gives us a revelatory way of viewing this geographically scattered people, visiting different communities at various key moments during twenty centuries of ancient history. 
 
Identifying ten unique traits central to the widespread ancient Greeks, Hall unveils a civilization of incomparable richness and a people of astounding complexity – and explains how they made us who we are today. 
 
‘A thoroughly readable and illuminating account of this fascinating people… This excellent book makes us admire and like the ancient Greeks equally’ 
Independent 
 
‘A worthy and lively introduction to one of the two groups of ancient peoples who really formed the western world’ 
Sunday Times 
 
‘Throughout, Hall exemplifies her subjects’ spirit of inquiry, their originality and their open-mindedness’ 
Daily Telegraph 
 
‘A book that is both erudite and splendidly entertaining’ 
Financial Times

Edith Hall unpacks the mysterious and successful ancient Greek people through ten uniquely ancient Greek personality traits.

Hall examines in scholarly but very readable detail.

Hall’s superb history achieves her aim with a happy marrying of literature and archaeology.

If you’re interested in their history then it is worth reading, and I think even those with some knowledge of the Greeks would learn something from this book.

[Hall] provides a thoroughly readable and illuminating account of this fascinating people… This excellent book makes us admire and like the ancient Greeks equally

A worthy and lively introduction to one of the two groups of ancient peoples who really formed the western world

This new tome serves as a fantastic general introduction

Edith Hall has a brilliant ability to intellectually analyse the Greeks… because of deep, searching curiosity, and her sense of how this culture reflects upon our moment now. Her writing is so clear and accessible… full of complex reflections and revelations

Wide-ranging and endlessly fascinating… It is a fitting tribute to history that ought to be preserved… because it would, at the very least, enrich our conversation and range of comparison with events today

This crisp little book is also worth reading for Hall’s elegant prose

Throughout, Hall exemplifies her subjects’ spirit of inquiry, their originality and their open-mindedness… And in doing that…she reminds us of how civilizing and humanizing a study of the ancients can be

A fascinating read, delightfully illustrated with unusual and exquisite drawings

Groundbreaking ... acutely identifies and brilliantly explores ten defining qualities that together explain why we simply cannot do without the ancient Greeks

Professor Paul Cartledge, University of Cambridge

21st-century readers eager to understand the glorious contributions of the ancient Greeks have their own ideal escort in Edith Hall

An intriguing and rewarding journey through 2000 years of Greek history

A book that is both erudite and splendidly entertaining

Edith Hall is one of Britain’s foremost classicists, having held posts at the universities of Royal Holloway, Cambridge, Durham, Reading, and Oxford. In 2015 she was awarded the Erasmus Medal of the European Academy, given to a scholar whose works represent a significant contribution to European culture and scientific achievement. She is the first woman to win this award. 
 
Hall regularly writes in the Times Literary Supplement, reviews theatre productions on radio, and has written and edited more than a dozen works on the ancient world. She teaches at King’s College London and lives in Gloucestershire.

Introducing the Ancient Greeks

Edith Hall

Ten Ways Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life

‘Wonderful and timely … Hugely recommended’ STEPHEN FRY 
 
What do you and an ancient philosopher have in common? It turns out much more than you might think… 
 
 Aristotle was an extraordinary thinker yet he was preoccupied by an ordinary question: how to be happy. In this handbook to his timeless teachings, Professor Edith Hall shows how ancient thinking is precisely what we need today, even if you don’t know your Odyssey from your Iliad. In ten practical lessons you can learn how to make good decisions, how to ace an interview, how to choose a partner and how to face death. This is advice that won’t go out of fashion. 
 
‘A beguiling cross between Mary Beard and Mary Poppins’ Observer

Edith Hall

Aristotle’s Way

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