ANCIENT GREECE

by Robert Payne ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

From the inky hands of Robert Payne, (it is rumored he and his pseudonyms turn out two or three books a year), comes a spacious, sunlit study of the spirit of Ancient Greece. As far as scholarship goes there are few surprises or insights; as historical impressionism, however, it is full of illustrative grace and narrative glitter, recreating culture heroes and political passions, offering poetry and prose samplers of the period. Moreover, the author's enchantment with Attica has endearing effects, e.g. ""Those wide-eyed, daring people sometimes seem to resemble seamen hurling themselves recklessly over unknown oceans, but if we look closer we see that they are continually taking soundings, measuring the force of the winds, and calculating their distance from land"". That's from the preface but it sums up the style, and whether encompassing the Age of Myth or of Pericles, of the Philosophers or the ragedians, throughout we have those ingredients- athletic romanticism and bookish enlightenment- indispensable to a popular-minded introduction. True nothing much here said about Socrates or Plato, Sparta or the Persians, Pindar or someone Pindar might have so much admired, that one-worlder Alexander, would abash a well-educated sophomore. But most of us are not particularly well-educated. Here's the chance then to be both educated and enthralled.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1964

Categories: NONFICTION