Ancient Greek sculpture seems to have a timeless quality - provoking reactions that may range from awe to alienation. Yet it was a particular product of its age: and to know how and why it was once created is to embark upon an understanding of its 'Classic' status. In this richly illustrated and carefully written survey, encompassing works from c.700 BC to the end of antiquity, Nigel Spivey expounds not only the social function of Greek sculpture but also its aesthetic and technical achievement. Fresh approaches are reconciled with traditional modes of study as the connoisseurship of this art is sympathetically unravelled, while source material and historical narratives are woven into detailed explanations, putting the art into its proper context. Greek Sculpture is the ideal textbook for students of classics, classical civilisation, art history and archaeology - and an accessible account for all interested readers.

Most of us would like to know the Greek myths better than we do, and in this book Cambridge academic and BBC presenter Nigel Spivey re-tells the Greek myths as the spellbinding stories they are. In exciting prose he tells of Jason and the Argonauts and the travels of Odysseus, of Oedipus's crime and Orpheus's excursion into the underworld among many more.

This is a collection of essays by distinguished scholars that will introduce the student or museum-goer to the study of Greek vases. Although the book is roughly chronological in arrangement--beginning with the appearance of human figures on Geometric vases, and ending with their virtual disappearance from Hellenistic pottery--it is not a history of Greek vase painting, or a handbook. It offers instead a series of suggestions on how to read the often complex images presented by Greek vases, and also explains how the vases were made and distributed. The volume is fully illustrated throughout.

'Basil needed a war. He's not meant for peace' ...

Upper-class scoundrel Basil Seal, mad, bad and dangerous to know, creates havoc wherever he goes, much to the despair of the three women in his life - his sister, mother and mistress. And when Neville Chamberlain declares war on Germany, it seems the perfect opportunity for more action and adventure. So Basil follows the call to arms and goes forth to have his finest hour - as a war hero. His instincts for self-preservation come to the fore in such spheres of opportunity as the Ministry of Information and a little-known section of Military Security. But, with Europe frozen in the 'phoney war', when will Basil's big chance to fight finally arrive?

Based on Evelyn Waugh's own time as a soldier, Put Out More Flags is a painfully funny satire on the military establishment.

The Etruscans are one of the enigmas of history. A cultured, artistic, socially adept and seemingly tolerant and pleasure-loving people, they dominated Central Italy for 800 years until their civilization was absorbed and their identity obliterated by the growing power of Rome in the fourth and third centuries BC. During the last 400 years their art has come to be appreciated and enjoyed; rich archaeological evidence survives despite a continuing history of pillage, with the emergence of richly frescoed tombs, exquisite jewelry and sculpture, metalwork and painted vases at sites such as Ceverteri, Tarquinia and Vulci paying testament to the rich artistic culture of the Etruscans. The author has also written "Understanding Greek Sculpture".

Once the pride of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Sarpedon krater is a wine-mixing bowl crafted by two Athenians, Euxitheos (who shaped it) and Euphronios (who decorated it), in the late 6thc BC. The moving image Euphronios created for the krater, depicting the stricken Trojan hero Sarpedon being lifted from the battlefield by 'Sleep' and 'Death', was to have an influence that endured well beyond Antiquity.

Nigel Spivey not only explores the particular culture that produced the vase, but also reveals how its central motif was elaborated throughout classical antiquity and then reworked as a Christian tableau. The Sarpedon Krater is both the extraordinary story of a small and occasionally scandalous object, once consigned to the obscurity of an Etruscan tomb, and a fascinating case study of the deep classical roots of the ideas and iconography of Western art.

Here is a new and imaginative approach to the era in which Western civilization was born. "Panorama of the Classical World is a thorough-and thoroughly accessible--synthesis of the Greek, Roman, and Etruscan worlds, spanning the period from Late Geometric Greece (ca. 700 B.C) to the rule of Constantine (early 4th century A.D.). In ten thematically oriented chapters, the authors incorporate the most important developments in recent scholarship, including ideas of gender, erotics, war and pacifism, imperialism and dissent, political propaganda, economy, cultural identity, racism, hygiene and diet, and the public and private uses of space. The many illustrations, selected for their geographical and chronological diversity, range from the iconic to those never before published. The book also highlights the modern relevance of classical antiquity, from its influence on contemporary politics to the representation of the female body in Western art. The final chapter chronicles, and beautifully illustrates, the posthumous history of classical civilization, and the reference section includes biographies, an introduction to classical mythology, a glossary of technical terms and vase shapes, timeline, map, bibliography, and index.