PERICLEAN ATHENS

by C. M. Bowra ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 22, 1970

Bowra's reputation as a classicist may make this a desirable entry in the Crosscurrents in World History series; it is an essay on the customs, art forms, ideas and spirit of ""the Periclean Age,"" not a work of new scholarship on fifth-century Athens. Indeed, Bowra makes no use of valuable secondary sources from A. H. M. Jones to Robert Bolgar. He thumps heavily on the theme of Athenian pure democracy, mentioning the slave economy chiefly in connection with its deleterious effect on mechanical progress, and bypassing Pericles' actual ruling strategies. Bracketed by detailed accounts of the pre-Periclean Persian and Greek wars and the destruction of Athens' ""essential vitality"" and ""depth of spirit"" during the Peloponnesian Wars, the self-ideal of Periclean society is discussed in terms of the goddess Athena's dignity, virginity, and victoriousness. Bowra's heart is in the ""poetry and politics"" section, where he uses selections from Aristophanes and the tragedians to demonstrate the close integration of art and public life. By contrast, the Sophists and the emergence of rhetoric receive brief perfunctory treatment. Bowra's agreeable style, love of his subject, and of course his command of primary sources animate the period and its leading figures, ""the Athenian genius"" and ""our strangely and happily assorted evidence"" of what fostered it. For students, readers in antiquity, and culture-minded browsers.

Pub Date: Feb. 22, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dial

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION