|
Showing 1 - 21 of
21 matches in All Departments
Accompanying the first ever exhibition on the storytelling around
Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, this book charts the
evolution of a legend that continues to captivate audiences today.
Alexander the Great acceded to the throne at the age of 20, as king
of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. By his death in 323 BC, he
had created one of the largest empires in the world – but myth
proved more powerful than historical truth, and Alexander’s life
remains lost in legend. These stories permeate western and eastern
cultures and religions, and have endured for more than 2,000 years.
Even now, Alexander continues to appeal to new generations and his
image persists today in film, theatre, literature and even video
games. This book explores the stories that began shortly after
Alexander’s mysterious death, and that by the Middle Ages had
developed into a narrative of Alexander as the all-conquering hero
who fought mythical beasts and explored the unknown using
submarines and flying chariots. These incredible legends are
brought to life here with exquisite original illustrations in books
and manuscripts from around the globe.
This book provides a new translation of all the surviving portions
of the description of India written by Megasthenes in about 310
BCE, the fullest account of Indian geography, history and customs
available to the classical world. The Indica was a pioneering work
of ethnography that exemplified a new direction in Hellenistic
writing; India was little-known to the Greeks before the expedition
of Alexander the Great in 326-325 BCE, and Megasthenes, who resided
as an ambassador in the Maurya capital Pataliputra for some time,
provided the classical world with most of what it knew about India.
Megasthenes' book, which became a classic in antiquity, now
survives only in fragments preserved in other Greek and Latin
authors. Stoneman's work offers a reliable and accessible version
of all the writings that can plausibly be ascribed to Megasthenes.
His subject ranges from detailed accounts of social structure and
the royal household, to descriptions of elephant hunting and Indian
philosophical ideas. His book is the only written source
contemporary with the Maurya kingdom of Candragupta, since writing
was not in use in India at this date. This translation provides a
path to clearer understanding of Greek ethnography and a valuable
resource on Indian history. The book will be of value not only to
classical scholars with an interest in Hellenistic history and
cultural attitudes, and to their students, but also to scholars
working on the early history of India, who have had to rely (unless
they are also Greek scholars) on scattered and dated collections of
evidence.
Accompanying the first ever exhibition on the storytelling around
Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, this book charts the
evolution of a legend that continues to captivate audiences today.
Alexander the Great acceded to the throne at the age of 20, as king
of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. By his death in 323 BC, he
had created one of the largest empires in the world – but myth
proved more powerful than historical truth, and Alexander’s life
remains lost in legend. These stories permeate western and eastern
cultures and religions, and have endured for more than 2,000 years.
Even now, Alexander continues to appeal to new generations and his
image persists today in film, theatre, literature and even video
games. This book explores the stories that began shortly after
Alexander’s mysterious death, and that by the Middle Ages had
developed into a narrative of Alexander as the all-conquering hero
who fought mythical beasts and explored the unknown using
submarines and flying chariots. These incredible legends are
brought to life here with exquisite original illustrations in books
and manuscripts from around the globe.
Throughout the millennia Turkey formed the core of several Empires
- Persia, Rome, Byzantium - before becoming the center of the
Ottoman Empire. All these civilizations have left their marks on
the landscape, architecture and art of Turkey - a place of
fascinating overlapping cultures. "Traveller's History of Turkey"
offers a concise and readable account of the region from prehistory
right up to the present day. It covers everything from the
legendary Flood of Noah, the early civilization of Catal Huyuk
seven thousand years before Christ, through the treasures of Troy,
Alexander the Great, the Romans, Seljuks, Byzantines and the Golden
Age of the Sultans, to the twentieth century's great changes
wrought by Kemal Ataturk and the strong position Turkey now holds
in the world community.
First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor &
Francis, an informa company.
In his brief life, Alexander the Great gained fame as the military
genius who conquered the known world. After death, his legend only
increased. Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) precipitated immense
historical change in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. But
the resonance his legend achieved over the next two millennia
stretched even farther-across foreign cultures, religious
traditions, and distant nations. This engaging and handsomely
illustrated book for the first time gathers together hundreds of
the colorful Alexander legends that have been told and retold
around the globe. Richard Stoneman, a foremost expert on the
Alexander myths, introduces us first to the historical Alexander
and then to the Alexander of legend, an unparalleled mythic icon
who came to represent the heroic ideal in cultures from Egypt to
Iceland, from Britain to Malaya. Alexander came to embody the
concerns of Hellenistic man; he fueled Roman ideas on tyranny and
kingship; he was a talisman for fourth-century pagans and a hero of
chivalry in the early Middle Ages. He appears in Jewish, Christian,
and Islamic writings, frequently as a prophet of God. Whether
battling winged foxes or meeting with the Amazons, descending to
the underworld or inventing the world's first diving bell,
Alexander inspired as a hero, even a god. Stoneman traces
Alexander's influence in ancient literature and folklore and in
later literatures of east and west. His book provides the
definitive account of the legends of Alexander the Great-a powerful
leader in life and an even more powerful figure in the history of
literature and ideas.
From a respected author in the field, this second edition has been
updated throughout and provides the only concise introduction to
the career and impact of this great Macedonian conqueror and the
main themes of his reign. Using primary and modern sources, along
with archaeological and numismatic evidence, Richard Stoneman takes
recent research and the current state of research on the Persian
Empire into consideration, and sheds new light on this influential
figure. Key topics discussed include: * the Macedonian background *
Alexander's education and belief * Alexander's conquests overseas *
how far Alexander's aims differed from his achievements *
Alexander's influence in antiquity. With an expanded bibliography,
a new index and illustrations, this excellent book will not only
fascinate students, it will prove to be an invaluable resource as
well.
"Alexander the Great "provides a concise introduction to the career
and impact of the great Macedonian conqueror and the main themes of
his reign. Richard Stoneman uses primary and modern sources,
together with archaeological and numismatic evidence to shed light
on this influential figure. Key topics discussed include:
*The Macedonian background
*Alexander's education and beliefs
*Alexander's conquests overseas
*How far Alexander's aims differed from his achievements
*Alexander's influence in antiquity
The second edition has been updated throughout to take into
consideration recent research and the current state of research on
the Persian Empire. Also included is an expanded bibliography and a
new new Index.
An exploration of how the Greeks reacted to and interacted with
India from the third to first centuries BCE When the Greeks and
Macedonians in Alexander's army reached India in 326 BCE, they
entered a new world. The plants were unrecognizable, the customs of
the people various and puzzling. Alexander's conquest ended with
his death in 323 BCE, but the Greeks would settle in the Indian
region for the next two centuries. From observations about botany
and mythology to social customs, The Greek Experience of India
explores how the Greeks reacted to and constructed life in India
during this period. Richard Stoneman offers a valuable look at
Megasthenes, ambassador of the King Seleucus to Chandragupta
Maurya, and provides a discussion of Megasthenes' now-fragmentary
book Indica. Stoneman considers the art, literature, and philosophy
of the Indo-Greek kingdom and how cultural influences crossed in
both directions. The Greek Experience of India is a masterful
account of the encounters between two remarkable civilizations.
In the last decade, Greek fiction has gained increasing attention
as a result of new theoretical approaches to the subject--gender
studies, narrative theory and the social analysis of ancient
literature among them. This volume aims to broaden the terms of the
study of Greek fiction while providing the beginner with a synoptic
treatment of the most important works.
Greeks began writing prose fiction in the 4th century BC and the
tradition continued for a millennium and a half. Fictional modes
were used not only for entertaining romances but as a framework for
Christian and Jewish religious literature and for quasi-historical
works or "historical novels."
The contributors to this volume, rather than focusing on the usual
roster of Greek fiction writers--Xenophon of Ephesus, Heliodorus,
Longus, Chariton and Achilles Tatius among them--instead widen the
terms of this debate and set new parameters for the study of Greek
fiction, enabling the reader to view the spectrum of Greek
fictional writing.
An exploration of how the Greeks reacted to and interacted with
India from the third to first centuries BCE When the Greeks and
Macedonians in Alexander’s army reached India in 326 BCE, they
entered a new and strange world. They knew a few legends and
travelers’ tales, but their categories of thought were inadequate
to encompass what they witnessed. The plants were unrecognizable,
their properties unknown. The customs of the people were various
and puzzling. While Alexander’s conquest was brief, ending with
his death in 323 BCE, the Greeks would settle in the Indian region
for the next two centuries, forging an era of productive
interactions between the two cultures. The Greek Experience of
India explores the various ways that the Greeks reacted to and
constructed life in India during this fruitful period. From
observations about botany and mythology to social customs, Richard
Stoneman examines the surviving evidence of those who traveled to
India. Most particularly, he offers a full and valuable look at
Megasthenes, ambassador of the King Seleucus to Chandragupta
Maurya, and provides a detailed discussion of Megasthenes’
now-fragmentary book Indica. Stoneman considers the art,
literature, and philosophy of the Indo-Greek kingdom and how
cultural influences crossed in both directions, with the Greeks
introducing their writing, coinage, and sculptural and
architectural forms, while Greek craftsmen learned to work with new
materials such as ivory and stucco and to probe the ideas of
Buddhists and other ascetics. Relying on an impressively wide
variety of sources from the Indian subcontinent, The Greek
Experience of India is a masterful account of the encounters
between two remarkable civilizations.
All thirteen episodes of the drama series starring Derek Jacobi as
the medieval sleuth. In the opening episode 'One Corpse Too Many',
Cadfael, once a man of the world, has become a man of the cloth.
However, this by no means qualifies him as a saint. He discovers a
murder, and sets out in pursuit of the perpertrator, assisted by a
lovely young fugitive. 'The Sanctuary Sparrow' sees Brother Cadfael
investigating the murder of the local goldsmith. In 'The Leper of
St Giles' a great wedding is to take place in the Abbey of
Shrewsbury between Baron Huon (Norman Eshley) and Iveta De Massard
(Tara Fitzgerald). Iveta is a beautiful, kind soul and on the day
she and her betrothed ride into the town she throws money to the
lepers, but her brutish Baron beats them. On the eve of the wedding
he rides off into the night never to return. Cadfael sets out to
find out what is going on. In 'Monk's Hood', a landowner cuts his
son-in-law out of his will, leaving his inheritance to the church.
However, before the transaction is finished, Gervase Gurney
(Bernard Gallagher) is poisoned whilst staying at the Abbey of
Shrewsbury. Cadfael finds someone from his past as he looks into
the poisoning. In 'The Virgin in the Ice' Cadfael has to prove the
innocence of his novice, Oswin (Mark Charnock), who is accused of
murdering a nun after he is found wandering deliriously. In 'The
Devil's Novice', Cadfael is suspicious when a young man, Meriet
(Christien Anholt), arrives at Shrewsbury Abbey wishing to become a
Novice. Canon Eluard (Ian McNeice) shares Cadfael's doubts as to
Meriet's intentions, and when the half-burned body of a colleague
is discovered, Meriet is accused of murder. In 'A Morbid Taste For
Bones', Cadfael reluctantly accompanies an expedition to dig up the
grave of St Winifred, after one of the Shrewsbury monks has a
vision. He soon finds himself investigating a murder, when Lord
Rhysart (John Hallam) is found dead on a forest track with an arrow
in his chest. Robert (Michael Culver) believes the culprit to be
Godwin, who was having an affair with Rhysart's daughter, Sioned
(Anna Friel). However, Cadfael has other ideas. In 'The Rose Rent',
the recently-widowed of a rich merchant becomes an attraction for
the men of Shrewsbury, until one of her suitors and a monk are
murdered. In 'St Peter's Fair', conflict arises between the
townspeople of Shrewsbury and visitors to the annual fair. In 'The
Raven in the Foregate', Cadfael has a double murder to solve when a
pregnant girl and a priest who refused to hear her confession are
both killed. In 'The Holy Thief', Cadfael is on the hunt for a
beautiful slave girl and the bones of St Winifred, both of which
have mysteriously disappeared from the Abbey. In 'The Potter's
Field', Cadfael uncovers a terrible web of jealousy, adultery and
suicide pacts when he examines the past of a potter who has entered
the monastery under suspicious circumstances. Finally, in 'The
Pilgrim of Hate', an old man's corpse is found in a sack in the
Abbey, and Cadfael must find his killer.
The first full-scale account of a Persian king vilified by history
Xerxes, Great King of the Persian Empire from 486-465 B.C., has
gone down in history as an angry tyrant full of insane ambition.
The stand of Leonidas and the 300 against his army at Thermopylae
is a byword for courage, while the failure of Xerxes' expedition
has overshadowed all the other achievements of his twenty-two-year
reign. In this lively and comprehensive new biography, Richard
Stoneman shows how Xerxes, despite sympathetic treatment by the
contemporary Greek writers Aeschylus and Herodotus, had his
reputation destroyed by later Greek writers and by the propaganda
of Alexander the Great. Stoneman draws on the latest research in
Achaemenid studies and archaeology to present the ruler from the
Persian perspective. This illuminating volume does not whitewash
Xerxes' failings but sets against them such triumphs as the
architectural splendor of Persepolis and a consideration of Xerxes'
religious commitments. What emerges is a nuanced portrait of a man
who ruled a vast and multicultural empire which the Greek
communities of the West saw as the antithesis of their own values.
All ten episodes from the second season of the popular Channel 4
drama series set in the fictional Summerdown Comprehensive, where
the teachers are just as juvenile (if not more so) than the
teenagers they are supposed to be educating. In Episode 1, Simon
(Andrew Lincoln) breezes into school after getting back late from a
holiday in Tenerife with Brian (Adrian Bower) and Kurt (Navin
Chowdhry). In Episode 2, Simon is so jealous of popular new
languages tutor JP (Shaun Evans) that he refuses to go out for a
drink with the usual crowd. Episode 3 finds Simon getting
increasingly sexually frustrated after nine weeks without sex. In
Episode 4, JP comes out to his new flatmates, and Kurt and Simon
try to convince Brian that he is gay, too. Episode 5 finds Susan
(Raquel Cassidy) being driven crazy by Alec (Damien Goodwin), who
walks around the flat with nothing on in between his very noisy sex
sessions with her flatmate, Jenny (Nina Sosanya). In Episode 6,
head of department Bob (Lloyd McGuire) is doing all he can to catch
Penny's (Tamzin Malleson) eye. Episode 7 sees Susan getting broody
after holding the baby of a schoolgirl mum - but when she meets the
single mother of another problem pupil, she soon changes her mind.
In Episode 8, Simon is feeling bored and dissatisfied with his
life, and decides to take a drastic step to change things. In
Episode 9, Simon has taken off for South America, leaving his
colleagues to cover his classes. Finally, in Episode 10, Christmas
is just around the corner, and Simon's replacement, Matt (James
Lance) arrives to step into his shoes.
In the ancient Greek-speaking world, writing about the past meant
balancing the reporting of facts with shaping and guiding the
political interests and behaviours of the present. Ancient
Historiography on War and Empire shows the ways in which the
literary genre of writing history developed to guide empires
through their wars. Taking key events from the Achaemenid Persian,
Athenian, Macedonian and Roman 'empires', the 17 essays collected
here analyse the way events and the accounts of those events
interact. Subjects include: how Greek historians assign nearly
divine honours to the Persian King; the role of the tomb cult of
Cyrus the Founder in historical narratives of conquest and empire
from Herodotus to the Alexander historians; warfare and financial
innovation in the age of Philip II and his son, Alexander the
Great; the murders of Philip II, his last and seventh wife
Kleopatra, and her guardian, Attalos; Alexander the Great's combat
use of eagle symbolism and divination; Plutarch's juxtaposition of
character in the Alexander-Caesar pairing as a commentary on
political legitimacy and military prowess, and Roman Imperial
historians using historical examples of good and bad rule to make
meaningful challenges to current Roman authority. In some cases,
the balance shifts more towards the 'literary' and in others more
towards the 'historical', but what all of the essays have in common
is both a critical attention to the genre and context of
history-writing in the ancient world and its focus on war and
empire.
|
Pindar (Paperback)
Richard Stoneman
|
R823
Discovery Miles 8 230
|
Ships in 12 - 17 working days
|
The 6th/5th century BCE Greek melic (or songwriting) poet Pindar
was one of the most celebrated lyricists of antiquity. His famous
victory odes offer a paean to the heroic athlete, and collectively
are an attempt to encapsulate, through choral songs of exaltation,
the glory of the sportsman's moment of victory - whether in
athletics or horse-racing - at a variety of Panhellenic festivals
and Olympian games. Yet Pindar, though still respected, is now
considered a difficult poet, and is sometimes dismissed as a
reactionary, celebrating an aristocratic world that was passing and
that deserved to pass. In this first work on the subject for many
years, Richard Stoneman shows that Pindar's works, while at first
seeming obscure and fragmentary, reward further study. An unmatched
craftsman with words, and witness to a profoundly religious
sensibility, he is a poet who takes modern readers to the heart of
Greek ideas about the gods, fleeting human achievement and
fallibility. The author examines questions of performance and
genre; patronage; imagery; and reception, beginning with Horace.
'How can a man become a god?' So enquired Alexander the Great of
the Brahmin sages of India. And how did they reply? 'By doing what
it is impossible for a man to do.' And that answer set a keynote
for the Conqueror's entire career, which was characterized
throughout by Alexander's attempts to achieve the unachievable: to
scale the fresh heights and make the incredible real and tangible
on earth. He wrestled an Indian monster larger than an elephant,
fought ants the size of foxes and contested bats with human teeth.
He became a Jewish convert, sailed up the Ganges and visited the
Earthly Paradise. Already a legend in his own lifetime, the
glittering figure of Alexander preoccupied European, Jewish and
Arabic folklore until the 15th century. Richard Stoneman, who is
one of his leading modern interpreters, here presents a range of
Greek and Latin texts which recount the Conqueror's adventures in
the east. Essential reading for students of late antique and
medieval literature, these stories are still unsurpassed for sheer
entertainment, opening a window onto a rumbustious world of legend
as rich as that of the Arabian Nights. This revised edition offers
a substantial new introduction by the editor.
The Book of Alexander the Great - or the Phyllada - has for three
centuries been the most popular account of Alexander's career in
modern Greece. After circulating in manuscript form, it was first
published in 1680 in Venice, and has been continuously in print in
Greek ever since. The Phyllada broadly follows the structure of the
ancient Alexander Romance, but is much better organised and is a
work of popular literature reflecting the immense interest that the
Conqueror has generated since earliest times. Numerous folktales
and local legends kept his story alive, and many works about
Alexander circulated in manuscript during the Byzantine period. The
Phyllada is the culmination of this tradition. Yet it has never
been translated into English: a surprising neglect which Richard
Stoneman - an acknowledged expert on Alexander - makes good in this
elegant rendering supplemented by a full introduction. As a piece
of literature the Phyllada is among the best treatments of the
Alexander legend, being full of colour and human interest.
Alexander not only encounters the heroes of Troy on his adventures
but wears the crown and robe of Solomon. His descent into the 'Cave
of the Gods' (Greek and Egyptian gods in the Romance) becomes a
visit to a hell described in Christian terms. The pagan Alexander
is thus filtered through a modern lens and becomes an emblem of the
good king. The sophisticated narrative structure and world view of
the Phyllada account for its lasting influence. This new
translation does it full justice.
|
Pindar (Hardcover)
Richard Stoneman
|
R2,337
Discovery Miles 23 370
|
Ships in 12 - 17 working days
|
The 6th/5th century bce Greek melic (or songwriting) poet Pindar
was the most celebrated lyricist of antiquity. His famous victory
odes offer a paean to the heroic athlete, and are an attempt to
encapsulate, through choral songs of acclamation, the glory of the
sportsman's moment of triumph at a variety of Panhellenic festivals
including the Olympic Games. His other poems, collected in thirteen
books, are largely lost or fragmentary - except for the Paeans -
but were devoted to the praise of gods and heroes. Yet Pindar,
though still respected, is now considered a difficult poet, and is
sometimes dismissed as a reactionary. In this wideranging
introduction, Richard Stoneman shows that Pindar's works, even
where they seem obscure, follow a logic of their own and reward
further study. An unmatched craftsman with words, and witness to a
profoundly religious sensibility, he is a poet who takes modern
readers to the heart of Greek ideas about the gods, fleeting human
achievement and mortality. Theauthor examines questions of
performance and genre; patronage; imagery; and reception, from
Horace to the twentieth century.
The Alexander Romance is a difficult text to define and to assess
justly. From its earliest days it was an open text, which was
adapted into a variety of cultures with meanings that themselves
vary, and yet seem to carry a strong undercurrent of homogeneity:
Alexander is the hero who cannot become a god, and who encapsulates
the desires and strivings of the host cultures. The papers
assembled in this volume, which were originally presented at a
conference at the University of Wroclaw, Poland, in October 2015,
all face the challenge of defining the Alexander Romance. Some
focus on quite specific topics while others address more
overarching themes. They form a cohesive set of approaches to the
delicate positioning of the text between history and literature.
From its earliest elements in Hellenistic Egypt, to its latest
reworkings in the Byzantine and Islamic Middle East, the Alexander
Romance shows itself to be a work that steadily engages with such
questions as kingship, the limits of human (and Greek) nature, and
the purpose of history. The Romance began as a history, but only by
becoming literature could it achieve such a deep penetration of
east and west.
Alexander the Great of Macedon was no stranger to controversy in
his own time. Conqueror of the Greek states, of Egypt and of the
Persian Empire as well as many of the principalities of the Indus
Valley, he nevertheless became revered as well as vilified. Was he
a simply a destroyer of the ancient civilizations and religions of
these regions, or was he a hero of the Persian dynasties and of
Islam? The conflicting views that were taken of him in the Middle
East in his own time and the centuries that followed are still
reflected in the tensions that exist between east and west today.
The story of Alexander became the subject of legend in the medieval
west, but was perhaps even more pervasive in the east. The
Alexander Romance was translated into Syriac in the sixth century
and may have become current in Persia as early as the third century
AD. From these beginnings it reached into the Persian national
epic, the Shahnameh, into Jewish traditions, and into the Quran and
subsequent Arab romance. The papers in this volume all have the aim
of deepening our understanding of this complex development. If we
can understand better why Alexander is such an important figure in
both east and west, we shall be a little closer to understanding
what unites two often antipathetic worlds. This volume collects the
papers delivered at the conference of the same title held at the
University of Exeter from July 26-29 2010. More than half the
papers were by invited speakers and were designed to provide a
systematic view of the subject; the remainder were selected for
their ability to carry research forward in an integrated way.
|
You may like...
Barbie
Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling
Blu-ray disc
R266
Discovery Miles 2 660
|