Tim Whitmarsh offers new readings of some of the best known and most
influential authors of Greek antiquity, including Sophocles, Euripides,
Herodotus, Aristophanes and Plato, as well as many lesser known figures.In this book, Tim Whitmarsh offers an innovative new introduction to
ancient Greek literature. The volume integrates cutting-edge cultural theory
with the latest research in classical scholarship, providing a comprehensive,
sophisticated and accessible account of literature from Homer to late
antiquity. Whitmarsh offers new readings of some of the best-known and most
influential authors of Greek antiquity, including Sophocles, Euripides,
Herodotus, Aristophanes and Plato, as well as introducing many lesser-known
figures. Unlike conventional narrative histories, this volume focuses on the
profound effects of literature within Greek society. Whitmarsh shows that
literature, distributed via a range of social institutions, such as festivals,
theatres, symposia and book production, played an important role in the
legitimization - and challenging - of ideologies of gender, class and cultural
identity. The volume also addresses the legacy of Greek literature: how the
Victorian cult of Hellenism and its successors have structured the reception of
ancient texts, and how and why the modern West has adopted the Greeks as its
ancestors.; This book will be important reading for undergraduates, in their first year
and above, of ancient Greek literature and culture. All texts in the volume are
translated, and no knowledge of ancient Greek literature is assumed.
