I'm not saying anything against Alexander - books about antiquity
March 24, 2018 12:31 PM Subscribe
I've just finished a collection of Mary Beard's reviews, Confronting the Classics. What else would I like?
Confronting the Classics is light and gently informative, also not too upsetting - without being false or trivializing, there is not much focus on horrible deaths, brutality, etc. It discusses both the classical world and the history of classical scholarship.
I'm looking for some pop-scholarly books about Rome, classical Greece and their interactions with the rest of Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. (Or really any other interactions with Rome and Greece - there was trade with India, for example, and I'd be interested in those kinds of contacts.) I'm more interested in books about daily life and material culture than about individual famous people, but a sufficiently interesting book about famous people would be acceptable.
Without wanting stupid books, I do want relatively light books because both global and personal times have been trying lately and I want something to take my mind off the present.
Things that particularly interest me: Roman Britain, interactions with Egypt, Numidia, anything to do with food, clothing and architecture. If there's anything fun to read about classical scholarship or classicists as individuals, I could also go for that.
Confronting the Classics is light and gently informative, also not too upsetting - without being false or trivializing, there is not much focus on horrible deaths, brutality, etc. It discusses both the classical world and the history of classical scholarship.
I'm looking for some pop-scholarly books about Rome, classical Greece and their interactions with the rest of Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. (Or really any other interactions with Rome and Greece - there was trade with India, for example, and I'd be interested in those kinds of contacts.) I'm more interested in books about daily life and material culture than about individual famous people, but a sufficiently interesting book about famous people would be acceptable.
Without wanting stupid books, I do want relatively light books because both global and personal times have been trying lately and I want something to take my mind off the present.
Things that particularly interest me: Roman Britain, interactions with Egypt, Numidia, anything to do with food, clothing and architecture. If there's anything fun to read about classical scholarship or classicists as individuals, I could also go for that.
Can you rec a translation, kevinbelt? The Herodotus I read as an undergrad was pretty dry
posted by potrzebie at 1:06 PM on March 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by potrzebie at 1:06 PM on March 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
These might lean a little too far Pop, but I enjoyed Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day and Terry Jones' (yes that one) Barbarians
posted by Caravantea at 1:44 PM on March 24, 2018
posted by Caravantea at 1:44 PM on March 24, 2018
Well Mary Beard has a couple of other books. Pompeii: life in a Roman town and SPQR. Pompeii would suit your requirements more I think. She's also got a couple of tv documentaries that you can find on Google.
If you don't mind audio books then there is the Other Side of History which is a Great Courses lecture series that covers life for ordinary people throughout history and focuses quite a bit on ancient Greece and Rome. This is available on Audible along with many others. There are a lot that focus on ancient Greece and Rome and the same lecturer has a course on the integrated history of Greece and Rome and also one called Living History: Experiencing Great Events of History which does focus more on famous people. You might also like Cities of the Ancient World.
For more of a focus on Egypt you can try Barbara Mertz's Red Land, Black Land: Daily life on ancient Egypt and Tombs, Temples and Hieroglyphs. I find her style to be similar to Mary Beard and she's not afraid to point out the flimsy evidence some people have built grand theories on.
If food interests you then I would recommend Salt and Cod by Mark Kurlansky. While they continue up to the modern age there are bits about Rome in there and both books are fascinating reading about things you don't think of too much and how they've affected history.
If you don't mind more recent history I have more recommendations that cover Tudor England onwards...
posted by poxandplague at 3:55 PM on March 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
If you don't mind audio books then there is the Other Side of History which is a Great Courses lecture series that covers life for ordinary people throughout history and focuses quite a bit on ancient Greece and Rome. This is available on Audible along with many others. There are a lot that focus on ancient Greece and Rome and the same lecturer has a course on the integrated history of Greece and Rome and also one called Living History: Experiencing Great Events of History which does focus more on famous people. You might also like Cities of the Ancient World.
For more of a focus on Egypt you can try Barbara Mertz's Red Land, Black Land: Daily life on ancient Egypt and Tombs, Temples and Hieroglyphs. I find her style to be similar to Mary Beard and she's not afraid to point out the flimsy evidence some people have built grand theories on.
If food interests you then I would recommend Salt and Cod by Mark Kurlansky. While they continue up to the modern age there are bits about Rome in there and both books are fascinating reading about things you don't think of too much and how they've affected history.
If you don't mind more recent history I have more recommendations that cover Tudor England onwards...
posted by poxandplague at 3:55 PM on March 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
Oh and all of those recommendations are available on Audible and (in my opinion) have great narrators.
posted by poxandplague at 3:56 PM on March 24, 2018
posted by poxandplague at 3:56 PM on March 24, 2018
Have you read I, Claudius? It's basically a first person retelling of Suetonius' _Twelve Caesars_. So insofar as you consider Suetonius reliable, it's historical. And very entertaining!
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:27 PM on March 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:27 PM on March 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Richard Sennett's Flesh and Stone moves from the ancient to the modern, but sounds like it's otherwise in the right vein. Anne Carson's Eros the Bittersweet also comes to mind, though is perhaps not quite as light as you're looking for.
posted by dizziest at 7:26 PM on March 24, 2018
posted by dizziest at 7:26 PM on March 24, 2018
If there's anything fun to read about classical scholarship or classicists as individuals, I could also go for that.
Richard Thomas's recent book, Why Bob Dylan Matters, is fun as long as you're somewhat interested in Bob Dylan. It is very much about Thomas and his journey as a classicist. Got a nice blurb from Mary Beard too. It has a kind of typical, quaint classicist logic-- Bob Dylan is important because he studied Latin in high school, as far as I can make out.
If you're interested in classics, you need to read Angle-Saxon Attitudes. Although you may need to have been a classics major to burst out laughing at a drunk guy talking about "Carolingian uncials."
I love, love, love Steven Saylor's novels starting with Roman Blood. Roman Blood itself is based on an actual trial and Saylor comes up with an ingenious solution to the crime.
posted by BibiRose at 7:01 AM on March 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Richard Thomas's recent book, Why Bob Dylan Matters, is fun as long as you're somewhat interested in Bob Dylan. It is very much about Thomas and his journey as a classicist. Got a nice blurb from Mary Beard too. It has a kind of typical, quaint classicist logic-- Bob Dylan is important because he studied Latin in high school, as far as I can make out.
If you're interested in classics, you need to read Angle-Saxon Attitudes. Although you may need to have been a classics major to burst out laughing at a drunk guy talking about "Carolingian uncials."
I love, love, love Steven Saylor's novels starting with Roman Blood. Roman Blood itself is based on an actual trial and Saylor comes up with an ingenious solution to the crime.
posted by BibiRose at 7:01 AM on March 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Rex Warner's books on Caesar (written autobiography style) are great.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:57 PM on March 25, 2018
posted by Sebmojo at 2:57 PM on March 25, 2018
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posted by kevinbelt at 1:00 PM on March 24, 2018