Twelve Voices from Greece and Rome: Ancient Ideas for Modern Times by Christopher Pelling

Twelve Voices from Greece and Rome: Ancient Ideas for Modern Times Reviews

• 
  Sue

  Twelve Voices is an excellent exploration of twelve writers of ancient Greece and Rome, writers I had varying degrees of familiarity with before opening this book. I now wish to read more. Surely this is a sign of a well-written, enjoyable text. As the author states in his preface:
  
  
  The book...makes no claim to be a comprehensive
  guide to classical literature. It is designed to be
  suggestive; a palatable taster of what ancient
  literature and culture can do for us in the present
  day. (loc 33)
  
  Beginning with Homer, the author takes the reader through not only ancient texts but also their presence and influence in more modern times and the present day world as influences on literature, literary forms, behavior. The chapter on Sappho was actually updated to include new findings and interpretations of her writings. Also from the introduction:
  
  
  One theme, indeed, is the way that these texts
  leave so much up to their readers. Because they are
  richly textured voices they are also equivocal. Cicero
  invites you to judge between opposing arguments for the
  existence of a supreme deity. Virgil forces you to
  weigh in the balance female against male and love
  against the chaos of war. Juvenal and Lucian press you
  to choose between the satirist and the targets of their
  abuse. Sappho challenges you to comprehend her erotic
  predicament and feel the nature of her pleasure or her
  pain. These voices urge you to respond...to react...
  (loc 73)
  
  
  I was unfamiliar with Lucian prior to reading this but now I really must read more. I laughed aloud while reading some of his satire.
  
  Exactly who would enjoy this book...probably anyone with an interest in classical literature, unless you are already a totally informed scholar which I am most definitely not. Anyone else is very likely to learn or have old knowledge refreshed here. As with the latest interpretations of Sappho, even the writings of these ancients aren't stagnant. Dropping in on them, even in this overview form, can be very valuable.
  
  Supplementing the text is a detailed annotated bibliography for each chapter, a source of more reading!
  
  
  
  A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley for purpose of honest review.
• 
  GONZA

  Very nice, although from Italian and lover of literature, I had already read all of these authors and their best works. In addition, the Greek authors more than once made ​​me regret not having studied ancient greek at school, even though I was so bad in Latin,that perhaps it is better so. Anthology with the best poetry and issues by the 12 best ancient authors, that have nothing to envy to those present.
  
  Molto bello, anche se da italiana e amante della letteratura, avevo giá presenti tutti questi autori e le loro opere migliori. Inoltre gli autori greci piú di una volta mi hanno fatto rimpiangere di non aver studiato greco antico a scuola, anche se considerato quanto ero scarsa in latino, forse é stato meglio cosí. Antologia con i migliori brani e le tematiche piú belle affrontate da 12 autori antichi di capolavori, che non hanno niente da invidiare a quelli attuali.
  
  THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR THE PREVIEW!
• 
  Robert Maisey

  Enjoyable read, especially for someone not over familiar with their classics.
  
  The book avoids many of the 'big names' of ancient philosophy (e.g. Socrates, Plato etc) and takes a more literary approach, which I quite enjoyed.
  
  To be honest, I'm not really sure how well the authors really managed to relate Greek and Roman ideas to modern times. The text was accessible to a modern reader, with ancient contexts explained clearly and engagingly. Beyond that, however, there was very little that explicitly related Greco-Roman thought to modern political problems.
  
  Each chapter relates to the work specific thinker, arranged chronologically by the era that each thinker lived, starting with Homer (born ~1000BC) and ending with Lucian (died ~180AD). As such, it also serves as quite a useful overview of the political, military, and intellectual changes which took place throughout over 1000 years of human history in the Mediterranean.
  
  
• 
  Andy Todd

  The authors take 12 ancient writers and explore how their ideas may still be relevant today. It's a book to read in bites - a chapter a night at bedtime would be ideal. Targeting the educated layperson with erudition sensibly kept to a minimum.,
• 
  Meg

  Enjoyable exploration of 12 classical authors by ancient Greek and Roman specialist academics.
  The only criticism I have is that I would have liked to see a couple of different authors chosen. Pindar perhaps, or Plato.
• 
  Justine Cucchi-Dietlin

  I read half of it for class, and tried to finish it at the recommendation of my professor. It was just as bad as the parts I had read.
• 
  Juli Rahel

  I find it fascinating how certain "authors" from the past have remained with us, somehow never becoming irrelevant and always finding an audience. No matter how they have been passed down to us, through their own writing or the words of others, there are some names which have remained with us for centuries. So when I saw Twelve Voices I snapped it up immediately. Thanks to Netgalley and Oxford University Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
  
  Much of Western civilization does seem built upon Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. I say 'seem' because when we think of these two we usually have both very distinct and vague image in our heads. The Greeks wore togas and the Romans were gladiators, right? I studied Greek and Latin in high school and am currently studying as a Medievalist, so my view of both Greece and Rome continuously changes. I have come to the conclusion that since we'll never know exactly what these places and eras were like, it is more fruitful to look at what relevance they still have to us. As such, Twelve Voices from Greece and Rome is incredibly topical and useful. The list of voices up for discussion is in many ways a Who's Who of philosophy and history. Even if you've never read anything by them or about them, you will probably have heard of Homer, Plato, Caesar or Virgil. And yet there are also definitely voices amongst these twelve which aren't as widely known, such as Sappho, Thucydides and Juvenal. By bringing these together Pelling and Wyke are able to show the links between them, the things they share and how they come together to remain relevant.
  
  Pelling and Wyke both focus in on small details, words, phrases, lines, to show the direct emotional effect of the writing, as well as addressing such massive works as Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico as a whole. On the one hand this approach means that readers completely new to Classic authors get a great introduction to various aspects of these authors' works. However, at times the chapters also feel a little bit unfocused because of that. At the end of each chapter you know that you're interested and want to know more, but there's also no specific message to take away. What makes up for this is how incredibly up to date the book is, including some of Sappho's most recently discovered poems, etc.
  
  Twelve Voices from Greece and Rome was a really interesting and fun read. Pelling and Wyke are engaging writers who bring in their own experiences to show the reader that just because these voices are centuries old they aren't outdated. I'd recommend this to those with an initial interest in the Classics or those wanting to refresh their knowledge.
  
  For full review:
  http://universeinwords.blogspot.co.uk...
• 
  Hansel5

  Was looking for something to read at NYPL and stumbled upon this book. The text on the back and inside flaps made it sound interesting. However it was not.
  
  I found it a bit dry. I had the feeling it was going to be a book about how the writings of Antiquity, folks like Homer, Sappho, Herodot, Virgil, resonate in our world today. I made me think of Michel de Montaigne and how his common sense writings reflect the human condition -- the fact that it does not change -- through the ages.
  
  But this book was not that. I was disappointed. Found it poorly written.
• 
  Matt

  
  Wonderful introduction to age-old but vibrantly eloquent and contemporary voices from the past.
  
  Highly recommended if you don't know your Homer from your Hesoid, or if you do but want to give some arguably lesser-known lights a fresh look.
• 
  Mark

  COCC PA3001 .P35 2014
  
• 
  Uri Mogilevsky

  An excellent, very well-written book, enjoyed it very much. An informal, sometimes even personal introduction to infamous classic authors by two scholars.