Greece Hotels Travel - Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past
|
List Price: $45.00
greece-hotels-travel.com Price: $33.22
Your Save: $ 11.78 ( 26% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 704.942509380747468
EAN: 9780300099607
ISBN: 0300099606
Label: Yale University Press
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: 2003-09-01
Publisher: Yale University Press
Studio: Yale University Press
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
What was childhood like in ancient Greece? What activities and games did Greek children embrace? How were they schooled and what religious and ceremonial rites of passage were key to their development? These fascinating questions and many more are answered in this groundbreaking book-the first English-language study to feature and discuss imagery and artifacts relating to childhood in ancient Greece. Coming of Age in Ancient Greece shows that the Greeks were the first culture to represent children and their activities naturalistically in their art. Here we learn about depictions of children in myth as well as life, from infancy to adolescence. This beautifully illustrated book features such archaeological artifacts as toys and gaming pieces alongside images of them in use by children on ancient vases, coins, terracotta figurines, bronze and stone sculpture, and marble grave monuments. Essays by eminent scholars in the fields of Greek social history, literature, archaeology, anthropology, and art history discuss a wide range of topics, including the burgeoning role of childhood studies in interdisciplinary studies; the status of children in Greek culture; the evolution of attitudes toward children from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period as documented by literature and art; the relationships of fathers and sons and mothers and daughters; and the roles of cult practice and death in a child's existence. This delightful book illuminates what is most universal and specific about childhood in ancient Greece and examines childhood's effects on Greek life and culture, the foundation on which Western civilization has been based.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Intelligent, readable, and fascinating
Comment: This is one of the rare books that genuinely helps to make a real connection to a very different place and time. There are some aspects of childhood that we all remember; we can find those aspects in the images and artifacts presented in this book. There are also elements of childhood that are unique to a particular culture; again, we can discover and learn to understand the aspects of childhood in ancient Greece that provide a wonderful window into their society.
Another great strength of this book is the way it focuses on what is visual. You'll spend your time with the authors poring over dozens of intriguing, sometimes amazing, sometimes very moving images created by the ancient Greeks themselves. For most of us, there is a great language barrier between their world and ours, but the visual evidence presented here, along with the very skillful and insightful guidance provided by the authors, goes a long way toward solving that problem.
I think my favorite image in the book, and one that demonstrates the approach the authors take, is the beautiful photograph of a small terracotta sculpture of a mother teaching her daughter how to cook. On the one hand, the image conveyed by the sculpture itself is immediate. On the other, as soon as you start to take a closer look, with the help of the text, question after question after fascinating question comes into your mind. The book doesn't have all the answers--no one does!-- but it has the insights necessary to orient you to the sculpture and set your mind racing.
By and large, the book avoids academic-ese. Sometimes it doesn't; referring to a woman giving birth as a "parturient" instead of "a woman giving birth" is one example. Sometimes the logic slips; one essay says that "all the texts" were written by men, and then proceeds to examine several texts written by women. Oh, well.... Can't win 'em all, can we?
The book is beautifully produced and printed. It's a pleasure to handle. In particular, the photography is excellent almost everywhere. If you admire fine craftsmanship, it's a pleasure just to study so many examples of fine pottery, even without thinking about the meanings the pots convey.
You'll read other books for an intellectual appreciation of Greek history, politics, art, and so forth. This book wil give you a wonderful gut feel for how they really lived, felt and experienced the world.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A Good Overview
Comment: The book provides a complete discussion of childhood images from the Classical Period with ample illustrations. The discussion of the significance of childhood images is also covered in detail.
Alan Safani
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Greece Trips Books
Greece Trips DVD
Greece Trips Softwares
Greece Trips Magazines
Greece Posters
Greece Art Prints
Greece Travel 2007 Calendars
2007 Monthly Calendars
Greece Hotels Travel Special Resources
Greece Arts
Greece Entertainment
Greece Government
Greece Business
Greece Culture
Greece Education
Greece Health
Greece Map
Greece Beach
Greece Festivals
Greece Hotels
Greece Museums
Greece Theme Parks
Greece Transportation
Food and Recipes
Sports & Recreation
Travel & Tourism
Greece Destinations
Athens
Kefalonia
Peloponnese
Chios
Kos Island
Rhodes Islands
Corfu
Larissa
Santorini
Crete
Meteora
Sterea Hellas
Epirus
Mykonos Island
Thessaloniki
Halkidiki
Paros
Zakinthos
|
Greece Hotels Travel
Maintained by: Marketer Solutions | Link Building
