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Homer and His Iliad
Robin Lane Fox
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R916
R762
Discovery Miles 7 620
Save R154 (17%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Longlisted for the RUNCIMAN AWARD, 2021 Medicine is one of the
great fields of achievement of the Ancient Greeks. Hippocrates is
celebrated worldwide as the father of medicine and the Hippocratic
Oath is admired throughout the medical profession as a founding
statement of ethics and ideals. In the fifth century BC, Greeks
even wrote of medicine as a newly discovered craft they had
invented. Robin Lane Fox's remarkable book puts their invention of
medicine in a wider context, from the epic poems of Homer to the
first doctors known to have been active in the Greek world. He
examines what we do and do not know about Hippocrates and his Oath
and the many writings that survive under his name. He then focuses
on seven core texts which give the case histories of named
individuals, showing that books 1 and 3 belong far earlier than
previously recognised. Their re-dating has important consequences
for the medical awareness of the great Greek dramatists and the
historians Herodotus and Thucydides. Robin Lane Fox pieces together
the doctor's thinking from his terse observations and relates it in
a new way to the history of Greek prose and ideas. This original
and compelling book opens windows onto many other aspects of the
classical world, from women's medicine to street-life, empire, art,
sport, sex and even botany. It fills a dark decade in a new way and
carries readers along an extraordinary journey form Homer's epics
to the grateful heirs of the Greek case histories, first in the
Islamic world and then in early modern Europe.
A thrilling study of the greatest of all epic poems, by one of the
world's leading classicists Homer's Iliad is the famous epic poem
set among the tales of Troy. Its subject is the anger of the hero
Achilles and its dreadful consequences for the warring Greeks and
Trojans. It was composed more than 2,600 years ago, but still
transfixes us with its tale of loss and battle, love and revenge,
guided throughout by the active presence of the gods. Its beauty
and profound bleakness are intensely moving but great questions
remain: where, how and when it was composed and why it has such
enduring power? In this compelling book Robin Lane Fox addresses
these questions, drawing on a life-long love and engagement with
the poem. He argues for a place, a date and a method for its
composition, giving us a sense of alternative approaches and
grounding his own in discoveries about long heroic poems composed
elsewhere in the world, and the ever-growing evidence of
archaeology. Unlike other books on the Iliad, this one combines the
detailed expertise of a historian with the sensitivity of a teacher
of it as poetry. Lane Fox goes on to consider hallmarks of the
poem, its values, implicit and explicit, its characters, its women,
its gods and even its horses. He argues repeatedly for its
beautiful observation and addresses its parallel use of what is, to
us, the natural world. Thousands of readers turn to the Iliad every
year. In this superbly written and conceived tribute, Lane Fox
expresses and amplifies what old and new readers can find in it. It
is pervaded, he argues, by a poignant hardness which is not just a
poetic trick. It is a deeply held view of the world.
Kiftsgate Court, perched on the northern edge of the Cotswolds
Hills in Gloucestershire, is a garden composed of many different
scenes. Some elements - the bluebell wood, the clipped hedging and
the rose border, with its famously huge Kiftsgate rose - are
traditionally English, but there are also areas of Italianate
planting and terracing, and others where a mixture of perennials,
roses and rare and exotic shrubs thrive side by side. Equally
remarkable is the fine balance between continuity and gentle
evolution that the visitor finds at Kiftsgate. This is largely
because the garden has belonged to the same family since its
creation 100 years ago. Three women have tended Kiftsgate, each one
its driving force for a third of a century, and each building on
the legacy of the previous generation. In 1919 Heather Muir and her
husband, Jack, bought the house, which stands on a relatively
narrow plateau from which a bank plunges 100 feet. Heather gave
Kiftsgate its structure, laying out the semi-formal gardens by the
house, planting the tapestry hedge and rose garden, and terracing
the banks. In 1954 Heather was succeeded by her daughter, Diany
Binny, who extended and developed her mother's planting, made more
borders and paths, and refashioned the White Sunk Garden. Since the
late 1980s Diany's daughter, Anne Chambers, has been at the helm,
further modernizing the garden and its planting, creating new areas
of interest, and opening more often to the public. As Robin Lane
Fox, who has written the foreword, comments: `There is nowhere else
in Britain that has such a family tradition of planting and
dedication ... It is intimate but many-sided, evolving but with
roots in a remarkable past.' This beautiful new book - the first
dedicated to Kiftsgate - is structured in two main parts. For the
first, `The History', Vanessa Berridge has had exclusive access to
the Kiftsgate archive, which contains not only family photographs
but also letters from their gardening friends, helping us to
understand why and how Heather, Diany and Anne have gardened. Among
the circle of friends and acquaintances who feature are Lawrence
Johnston of Hidcote Manor (Kiftsgate's neighbour); Vita
Sackville-West, the creator of Sissinghurst Castle Garden; and the
horticulturalist Graham Stuart Thomas, gardens adviser to the
National Trust. The second part of the book takes the reader on an
extended tour of the garden, illustrated by the glorious
photography of Sabina Ruber. The tour concludes with notes on
Kiftsgate's signature plants and Anne Chambers's personal
reflections on this, one of the great gardens of England.
Tough, resolute, fearless, Alexander was a born warrior and ruler
of passionate ambition who understood the intense adventure of
conquest and of the unknown. When he died in 323 BC aged
thirty-two, his vast empire comprised more than two million square
miles, spanning from Greece to India. His achievements were
unparalleled - he had excelled as leader to his men, founded
eighteen new cities and stamped the face of Greek culture on the
ancient East. The myth he created is as potent today as it was in
the ancient world. Robin Lane Fox's superb account searches through
the mass of conflicting evidence and legend to focus on Alexander
as a man of his own time. Combining historical scholarship and
acute psychological insight, it brings this colossal figure vividly
to life.
Thoughtful Gardening is based on Robin Lane Fox's own selection
from his widely admired FT column, which he has rewritten and
amplified with new chapters to take readers on a highly enjoyable
journey through each season of the gardening year. It draws on his
lifetime of practical gardening, including his years as Garden
Master of New College, Oxford, and contains many memories of fellow
gardeners, from Christopher Lloyd to Nancy Lancaster. The book is
essential reading for anyone setting out on a new garden or taking
stock of one. It takes a critical look at fashions of the moment
and is full of advice, ranging from problems with badgers to how to
take root-cuttings or choose flowering trees, as well as examples
of gardens at home and abroad which Robin Lane Fox has visited over
many years. Thoughtful Gardening combines a principled view of the
craft of gardening with dozens of new ideas for planting and
visiting, and touching reminders of the power of literature and art
to deepen what we see and realize in gardens of our own.
How did Christianity compare and compete with the cults of the
pagan gods in the Roman Empire? This scholarly work from
award-winning historian, Robin Lane Fox, places Christians and
pagans side by side in the context of civil life and contrasts
their religious experiences, visions, cults and oracles. Leading up
to the time of the first Christian emperor, Constantine, the book
aims to enlarge and confirm the value of contemporary evidence,
some of which has only recently been discovered.
The eighth century B.C. was the formative age of the great epics of
Homer, a remote and, in some ways, mysterious era. In this
groundbreaking book, Robin Lane Fox takes us into that time before
history to explore questions ranging from the origins of the Greek
gods to the spread of classical culture in the Mediterranean world.
It is a remarkable tour de force of scholarship and creative
reasoning, written with flair and the authority gained from a
lifetime of study and personal experience of key sites.
Presented as a kind of historical detective story, "Travelling
Heroes" draws upon archaeology, ancient texts, and new discoveries
to develop a fresh and provocative thesis: that migrants from in
the Greek island of Euboea settled in specific places both in the
Near East and in Italy and that what they found there helped shape
their most distinctive myths. In fascinating detail, Lane Fox
describes the journeys of the travellers and the contacts they made
with Phoenicians, Assyrians, and the people of north Cyprus and
Syria, and he shows the way they drew themes--and even references
to particular topographic features--into what would become the
classic stories of gods and legend. He also offers new insights
into Homer himself.
Robin Lane Fox is probably the most widely read historian of the
ancient Greek world, and "Travelling Heroes" displays the same
lively originality that marked his writing about the Bible in "The
Unauthorized Version" and about the triumph of Christianity in
"Pagans and Christians. "Learned but never dry," "controversial but
soundly based, it brings a distant and nearly forgotten time
brilliantly to life again.
"From the Hardcover edition."
Robin Lane Fox's Travelling Heroes: Greeks and their Myths in the
Epic Age of Homer proposes a new way of thinking about ancient
Greeks, showing how real-life journeys shaped their mythical tales.
The tales of the ancient Greeks have inspired us for thousands of
years. But where did they originate? Esteemed classicist Robin Lane
Fox draws on a lifetime's knowledge of the ancient world, and on
his own travels, to open up the age of Homer. His acclaimed history
explores how the intrepid seafarers of eighth-century Greece sailed
around the Mediterranean, encountering strange new sights -
volcanic mountains, vaporous springs, huge prehistoric bones - and
weaving them into the myths of gods, monsters and heroes that would
become the cornerstone of Western civilization: the Odyssey and the
Iliad. 'A beautiful evocation of a tantalizing world ... Travelling
Heroes is a tour de force' Rowland Smith, Literary Review 'Lyrical,
passionate ... his great gift is to make this long-ago world a
vivid, extraordinary and sometimes frightening place ... a
wonderful story' Elizabeth Speller, Sunday Times 'Original, daring
and arguably life-enhancing ... produced with a sweeping narrative
flourish worthy of a cinematographer or screenwriter' Paul
Cartledge, Independent 'Lane Fox argues his case with tremendous
style and verve ... learned, and always lively' Mary Beard,
Financial Times Robin Lane Fox (b. 1946) is a Fellow of New
College, Oxford, and a University Reader in Ancient History. His
other books include The Classical World, Alexander the Great,
Pagans and Christians and The Unauthorized Version. He was
historical advisor to Oliver Stone on the making of Stone's film
Alexander, for which he waived all his fees on condition that he
could take part in the cavalry charge against elephants which Stone
staged in the Moroccan desert.
Robin Lane Fox's The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and
Rome is a comprehensive and enthralling introduction to Ancient
civilization. The classical civilizations of Greece and Rome
dominated the world for centuries and continue to intrigue and
enlighten us with their inventions, whether philosophy, politics,
theatre, athletics, celebrity, science or the pleasures of horse
racing. Robin Lane Fox's spellbinding history, spans almost a
thousand years of change from the foundation of the world's first
democracy in Athens to the Roman Republic and the Empire under
Hadrian. Bringing great figures such as Homer, Socrates, Cicero,
Alexander, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Augustus and the
first Christian martyrs to life, exploring freedom, justice and
luxury, this wonderfully exciting tour brings the turbulent
histories of Greece and Rome together in a masterly study. 'Epic in
the true sense' The Times Books of the Year 'He writes supremely
well ... a keen eye for the telling detail and powerful example ...
the humanity of the exercise shines through ... compulsory, and
compulsive, reading' Peter Jones, Sunday Telegraph Robin Lane Fox
is a Fellow of New College, Oxford, and a University Reader in
Ancient History. His other books include Alexander the Great,
Pagans and Christians and The Unauthorized Version. He was
historical advisor to Oliver Stone on the making of Stone's film
Alexander, for which he waived all his fees on condition that he
could take part in the cavalry charge against elephants which Stone
staged in the Moroccan desert.
A major new interpretation of how one of the great figures of
Christian history came to write the greatest of all autobiographies
Augustine is the person from the ancient world about whom we know
most. He is the author of an intimate masterpiece, the Confessions,
which continues to delight its many admirers. In it he writes about
his infancy and his schooling in the classics in late Roman North
Africa, his remarkable mother, his sexual sins ('Give me chastity,
but not yet,' he famously prayed), his time in an outlawed
heretical sect, his worldly career and friendships and his gradual
return to God. His account of his own eventual conversion is a
classic study of anguish, hesitation and what he believes to be
God's intervention. It has inspired philosophers, Christian
thinkers and monastic followers, but it still leaves readers
wondering why exactly Augustine chose to compose a work like none
before it. Robin Lane Fox follows Augustine on a brilliantly
described journey, combining the latest scholarship with recently
found letters and sermons by Augustine himself to give a portrait
of his subject which is subtly different from older biographies.
Augustine's heretical years as a Manichaean, his relation to
non-Christian philosophy, his mystical aspirations and the nature
of his conversion are among the aspects of his life which stand out
in a sharper light. For the first time Lane Fox compares him with
two contemporaries, an older pagan and a younger Christian, each of
whom also wrote about themselves and who illumine Augustine's life
and writings by their different choices. More than a decade passed
between Augustine's conversion and his beginning the Confessions.
Lane Fox argues that the Confessions and their thinking were the
results of a long gestation over these years, not a sudden change
of perspective, but that they were then written as a single swift
composition and that its final books are a coherent consummation of
its scriptural meditation and personal biography. This exceptional
study reminds us why we are so excited and so moved by Augustine's
story.
The March of the Ten Thousand is one of the most famous military
adventures in the ancient world. Its fearless army of Greek
mercenaries marched through western Asia (modern Turkey and Iraq)
in 401 BC to 399 BC, their hopes and hardships recounted by
Xenophon the Athenian, an admiring pupil of Socrates. Xenophon's
history of the Long March, or 'Anabasis', became a classic of Greek
literature. In this book, twelve leading scholars explore the
'Anabasis', a deceptively simple and profoundly rich source of
social and cultural history and a unique guide to the mentality of
the ancient Greek participants. The contributors explore a wide
range of topics, from Xenophon's values, motives and manners as a
writer, to the outlook of his companions as mercenary soldiers,
from his descriptions of religion in soldiers' lives to their
relations with women, boys and the many foreign peoples encountered
during the march. Robin Lane Fox is Reader in Ancient History at
Oxford University and a Fellow of New College. Among his books is
'Alexander the Great'.
The Bible is moving, inspirational and endlessly fascinating - but
is it true? Starting with Genesis and the implicit background to
the birth of Christ, Robin Lane Fox sets out to discover how far
biblical descriptions of people, places and events are confirmed or
contradicted by external written and archaeological evidence. He
turns a sharp historian's eye on when and where the individual
books were composed, whether the texts as originally written exist,
how the canon was assembled, and why the Gospels give varying
accounts even of the trial and condemnation of Jesus.
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