Netradičný pohľad na históriu Grécka cez súbor životopisov gréckych osobností
Politickí vodcovia, spisovatelia, umelci a filozofi starovekého Grécka premenili malú skupinu mestských štátov na panstredomorskú civilizáciu, ktorej odkaz dnes možno nájsť všade. Kto však boli títo ľudia a čo vieme o ich životoch?
V tomto originálnom prístupe k dejinám starovekého Grécka autor utkal pôsobivé rozprávanie zo životov päťdesiatich najpozoruhodnejších a najvplyvnejších postáv gréckeho sveta – od raných tyranov Peisistrata a Polykrata zo Samu cez počiatky demokracie za Kleisthena a vzostup Macedónie za Filipa II. Macedónskeho a Alexandra III. Veľkého až po konečný úpadok gréckeho sveta v čase, keď sa k moci dostal Rím. Okrem osobností ako Herodotos či Alexander Veľký, ktoré poznajú už žiaci základnej školy, sa stretávame aj s menej známymi, ako napríklad Demetrios a Alelles. Zaujímavé a čitateľsky príťažlivé je zvýraznené meno osobnosti, s ktorou sa daná osoba stretla a ktorej je v publikácii venovaný životopis. Vďaka tomu lepšie pochopíme dejinné súvislosti.
Kniha je určená pre milovníkov antiky a mala by byť súčasťou každej školskej knižnice od základných škôl až po vysoké školy humanitného zamerania. Kompletnému prehľadu a novému netradičnému prepojeniu dejín sa poteší aj odborník na problematiku antického Grécka.
Autor je známy popularizátor antickej kultúry, histórie a literatúry. Začína prehľadom vývoja a významu gréckej historiografie prostredníctvom biografií, pričom v jednotlivých životopisoch sú uvedené nielen fakty, ale aj zaujímavosti zo života alebo z obdobia danej osobnosti. Každý životopis je doplnený zaujímavým faktom, súčasťou knihy je aj 25 farebných fotografií a 4 mapy.
David Stuttard is a British theatre director, classical scholar, translator, lecturer on classical literature and history, and author, primarily of historical works on the ancient world.
İllustraayonlarla zenginleştirilmiş, baskısıyle göz dolduran ama içeriği az biraz karışık olan güzel bir çalışma. Özellikle karakterleein yaşamlarını işleyişi, özet olarak yaptıklarını vermesi güzel. Kaba hatlarıyla bile olsa, oldukça iyi bilgi alabileceğiniz bir kitap. Dönemin sanat yapıtlarını da görme şansınız olduğundan, olayları ve karakterleri görmenizi sağlıyor. Tüm bunlara ek olarak, Yapı Kredi Yayınları hem baskı hem cilt hem de özenli baskısıyla güzel bir iş çıkartmış. Tavsiye ederim.
Very much Great Man History by definition but look it’s got short chapters and I’m a simpleton.
Edit: It’s been bothering me that I’ve misused the term Great Man History above – the book makes it clear that its players were shaped by their world as much as they shaped it. Even in the case of Alexander III, one of the archetypal “Great Men”, the author points out the historical and social factors that put him in a place to have the effect that he did. Not to say that this is a work of social history, but that’s fine. The biographical structure provides some big names to hang events on, which is a helpful learning tool for beginners i.e. me, and there are sufficient historical-materialist bona fides on show that I didn’t feel like I was sitting in a Victorian classroom. Anyway, I’ve now thought too much about a book that isn’t that deep, thank you and goodnight.
wasn't really that fun to finish; didn't flow too nicely and struggled to keep my interest even though I love Greek Mythology and Ancient Greece in general.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Stuttard has a style of writing that is educational and enlightening without being dry and dull. I wonder if he has another book in the works on famous Romans …
If you’re like me ( a Greek girly) and looking to expand your knowledge on Ancient Greece and Grecian history, this is the book for you. Stuttard commits to enlightening us about the Hellenistic period and Greece’s influential cast of characters who shaped the ancient Mediterranean. There’s a hell of a lot of history and territory to cover, making the book quite wordy. Many battles were fought on Greece’s soil, many myths and legends were born. I loved learning about Greece’s lesser talked about figures like artist Zeuxis who painted legendary heroes/ realism and Aspasia with her intellect, influence and charm. So many forgotten faces with equally as interesting stories ✨
XXX I found this book - a gift from a Goodreads Giveaway - fascinating. Greek history has always intrigued me, but I usually find it difficult to keep the personalities set in the right time frame. This book brought it all into line, presented generation by generation. The photographs are exquisite, on heavy stock, and the view though time = from 800 BC to the eventual decline of the Greek world as Rome rose, is easily followed and tied by facts from one biography to the next. This is an excellent book, and one I will keep around to refer to and reread. Thank you, Goodreads for bringing this world alive for me.
I didn't think Stuttard's approach was working very well at first, but once I got a few lives in, and they started overlapping with each other more, I changed my mind. It's a good, engaging way to tell the history of ancient Greece. And with only two or three pages per person, he doesn't have room for anything boring.
Before this my knowledge of Greek history and figures was pretty patchy and a bit disjointed so I would say this book is quite a good starting point for trying to get into ancient Greece. However it is worth noting that sometimes this books is a little dry and very matter of fact which is completely fine but just worth being aware of.
The concept deserves 5 starts but god how do you make some of the most interesting characters from ancient histort boring? Just a rather dry summary of facts. No thank you, will go back to Goldsworthy and Bears
A sweeping account of the big names but also an excellent catalogue of names joined together by a compelling historical narrative. I fully expect to use this as an excellent future reference for translations taken from Xenophon, Thucydides, Polybius or even Caesar himself.
A good overview of the 50 personalities explained in this book. Sometimes I get confused about who's who. But it shows us tha Greece ancient history was not peaceful at all...
„Pre verejný život niet lepšieho vzdelávania ako história a to, ako statočne znášať prelietavosť Šťasteny, nás najľahšie naučí záznam o nešťastiach iných.“
Istotne to všetci poznáte. Staroveké Grécko, Olymp, bohovia, hrdinovia umierajúci v obrovských vojnách a rozpínajúce sa územie zaberajúce až tri svetadiely.
Vždycky ma na starovekých civilizáciách fascinovalo, ako sa dokázali vyvíjať, s čím novým prišli a aké technológie, ktoré dnes využívame, vynašli už oni. Myslím, že takého Pytagora nemusím ani predstavovať a všetci vieme, že jeho učenie využívame dodnes. Že, ty krásne Pytagorova veta? Ale to nie je všetko, čo tento človek (matematik, filozof, mystik) za svoj život dokázal. Je toho omnoho viac a v tejto knihe máte možnosť nazrieť pod povrch a dozvedieť sa, ako jeho učenie ovplyvnilo ďalších mysliteľov ako napríklad Sofokla či Artistotela.
Aj napriek tomu, že kniha ponúka skvelý prehľad rozkvetu a pádu starovekého Grécka, niektoré kapitoly (najmä v druhej polovici, kde sa odohrala väčšina vojen) mi pripadali ako čisté vymenovanie udalostí a faktov, takže to šlo trošku pomalšie. Každopádne som si aj v nich našla to svoje a konečne som si ako tak utriedila časové úseky, kedy sa čo odohralo.
Musím pochváliť grafiku knihy, ktorá je naozaj nádherná. Obsahuje ako mapy, tak aj obrázky a skoro v každej kapitole pár zaujímavostí naviac, ktoré človeku poskytnú komplexnejší náhľad do tohto impéria.
This is the book for everyone that wants to start with ancient greek history but also for everyone that already has knowledge in the subject. It has everything. It is very well written, in chronological order from around 650 bc to Rome's conquest of Egypt in 31 bc. Combining good writing skills with beautiful coloured photos reading this book will truly become joyfull. After this book you have:
1. A good understanding of ancient greek history( archaic, classical, hellenistic). 2 You know the most important figures from all the periods I mentioned above. You can place figures like Socrates, Plato, Alcibiades, Pericles and Pythagoras in their world. 3 You will have a good cultural knowledge about Greek religion/festivals/rituals/mysteries 4 You will have basic knowledge on Greek mythology( for greek mythology I advice you the book by Lucas Russo) 5 You will have knowledge about Greek warfare, greatest greek military leaders. 6 After this book you can easily start reading the source books( Herodotus, Thucycides,Xenophon)
This was an awesome read. So much so that I had it on loan from the library, and ended up buying my own copy to keep on the shelf.
The amount of research that went into this book is staggering - this author knows their stuff. I don't know how he managed to pare down the lives of these incredible historical figures down to just a few pages each, but he did, and it was masterfully done. I will say - because of this, there were many moments where I felt confused, like I had missed something. I had to reread certain passages multiple times, and even look things up more than once to understand what I was reading. Having a solid, basic understanding of ancient Greece would be helpful going in (it's not a beginner-level read, imo) or be ready to look things up to get the full picture. This is not a criticism - part of the reason I bought the book is for the reference pages at the back and the many, many, many delightful breadcrumbs for further research trails that the author sprinkles in. The book is dense, but short.
The author's personality comes through quite a bit, too, and it is super humorous and refreshing. Ninety percent of the book has the tone of a standard history book, but then, all of a sudden, it will shift to snarky or playful - and you really feel how much this subject, and these figures, mean to the author.
There are some scenes in this book that literally read like a movie - they were so visually striking that I was inwardly screaming for someone to make a movie out of it (specifically the story of Pyrrhus' mad dash through the Mediterranean on a completely unhinged conquering spree, but so many others too). His profile of Alcibiades was so riveting, I ended up ordering "Nemesis", another of the author's works that profiles him directly.
There is so, so, so much more information brimming behind the words on these pages that it is almost maddening - I've bookmarked many a wild anecdote or one-line lore drop to deep-dive in the future. In fact, the book ends on what can only be described as a cliffhanger - or at least, it felt that way to me. I wrote, "Where's Part 2?!", which is perhaps the first time a nonfiction book has ever left me feeling like that.
The pictures, maps, and references in the back are top-notch. The whole book is ace. Thanks for your efforts, Mr. Stuttard - they are much appreciated.
„Dajte mi miesto, kam sa môžem postaviť, a pohnem svetom.“
Po niekoľko týždňovom ťažení voči „náročnosti“ tejto knihy som sa nakoniec prebil až na záver.
Publikáciu som dostal na narodeniny k dvadsiatke a ako milovník histórie a kedysi aj pravidelný základoškolský účastník dejepisných olympiád (kde staroveké Grécko samozrejme skoro vždy nejako figurovalo), ma Stuttardovo dielo na prvý pohľad zaujalo.
Pekné grafické spracovanie, „nový“ koncept uchopenia dejín – cez päťdesiat životopisov najznámejších osobností – sprievodné ilustrácie a vôbec moje nadšenie k histórii hrali dôležitú úlohu v tom, ako som k tomu pristúpil.
Zo začiatku ma hlavne oslovil prístup pána autora k tomu, čo a odkiaľ mi vlastne o tých starovekých Grékoch vieme. Cením, že sa tu poukazuje na to, že častokrát ide o rôzne pozliepané fragmenty, odpisy, či rôzne mytologicky poprepájané príbehy. Taký, na dnešnú dobu „akademicko prijateľný“ revizionizmus dejepisnej témy, o ktorej sa samozrejme zapochybovať môže ;-)
Hneď poučenia na úvod: všetky tieto životné profily brať s rezervou, tak som teda aspoň ja pochopil autorov odkaz k tomu, čo o gréckej antike vlastne vieme (vzhľadom na nerozlučné prepojenie bájneho a „faktografického“). Sranda však spočíva v tom, že sa definitívnu pravdu možno nikdy nedozvieme a budeme musieť uznať, že pre starovekého človeka rovina mytologická a historická splývali do jednej.
Úprimne je mi však ľúto, že som si tento exkurz viac neužil. Nejde o popularizačnú knihu pre širokú čitateľskú obec. Pohltilo ma šialené množstvo mien, dátumov, miest, konfliktov, rodinných zväzkov a kadejakých cudzích slov, z ktorých si snáď aspoň niečo užitočné do ďalších čítaní zapamätám. Žiaľ, záverečné prepojenie chronológie s príchodom kresťanstva ako akejsi aktualizácie starogréckych mýtov pozitívnemu zážitku veľmi nepomohlo.
David Stuttard spísal pomerne suchú, no jasnú a „čistú“ zbierku tých najvýznamnejších tvorcov západných, starogréckych dejín, z ktorých ako Európania všetci čerpáme. Písané je to však s predpokladom, že čitateľ už o téme niečo vie a tak sa treba poriadne pripraviť na dejepisnú čítanku pre náročných.
Veľmi zaujímavá, podnetná a poučná kniha, ktorú som si vychutnával cestou do a z práce, v autobuse. Je na to ideálna, krátke kapitoly, viete sa zastaviť, zahľadíte sa z okna a sledujete ako ubieha život... Výborne popísané osobnosti starovekého Grécka, tie slávne a známe mená ako Pytagoras, Aristoteles, Alexander Veľký, Sokrates, Sofokles, Prolemaios, Epikuros, Archimedes... Čriepky z ich života, zasadenie do spoločenskej situácie, prepojenie s ďalšími osobnosťami...
Aby sa dala ľahšie sledovať história a ilustrovať obrovská pestrosť kultúry starovekého Grécka, životy sú usporiadané približne podľa generácií. Každá kapitola sa začína hlavnou biografiou, ktorá obsahuje väčšinu historických informácií potrebných na pochopenie kontextu ďalších, vedľajších životopisov. Hlavné biografie poskytujú prehľad gréckych dejín od roku 700 do roku 100 a ostatné životopisy dopĺňajú podrobnosti. Dobré je, že biografie možno čítať aj samostatne a bez ohľadu na poradie. Teda vyberať si povedzme tých známych, o ktorých chcete viac a potom sa vraciate k ostatným.
A History of Ancient Greece in 50 Lives by David Stuttard - Good
I mentioned in a previous review that I'm going on a trip to Greece later this year. I will be travelling around various archaeological sites and thought I ought to try and remind myself of some Ancient Greek history beforehand - especially as it's 53 years since I last studied it!
I have to admit that I think I picked the wrong book here. I really enjoyed reading about all 50 lives detailed. Some I had a vague recollection of, some I didn't know at all, some I knew a reasonable amount about and one is the subject of my hero worship. Great to place them in their context. What it didn't do is clear up my hazy memory of Greek History. I suspect I'll need to do a bit more background reading via other means and books.
There was a great quote from Lysias (445-380 BCE) an Orator and Speech-Writer that is still pertinent now:
"We must remember that no one is born a democrat or an oligarch; rather he favours the constitution which will benefit him most."
I am very glad that I pushed myself to read some non-fiction, especially about a topic that I love. This book was very informative, I was amazed by all the tidbits of historical figures and the ones I didn't know of, and I seriously enjoyed learning about them.
I am also reading up on topics, like the Lycaeum.
Thank you for this wonderful book, I truly felt like we were walking through the ages with these 50 lives
An interesting way of telling the history of Greece although it suffers from being limited to the actions and immediate circumstances surrounding each individual so there's no big picture of the country. Also it suffers from the barrage , even assault (if that's not a tautology), of names of people in each chapter. However, it is a very handy reference point for an introduction to/summary of Aristotle, Plato etc
Başka her yerde olduğu gibi, antik Yunan tarihine de güç sahibi kişiler yön vermiştir. Bunlardan bazıları kendileri ya da şehirleri için ün kazanma peşinde koşarken, bazıları dünya hakkındaki bilgi ve kavrayışın sınırlarını genişletme, bazıları da fikirleri kayda geçirip bunları "sonsuza dek baki kalacak bir edinim"e dönüştürme çabası içindeydi...
تاریخ یونان باستان در پنجاه زندگینامه نویسنده دیوید استاندارد مترجم شهربانو صارمی انتشارات ققنوس شابک ۹۷۸-۶۰۰-۲۷۸-۴۳۰-۸ تاریخ نشر ۱۳۹۷۰۹۰۵ قابل توجه کتابداران گودریدز لطفا ورژن ترجمه فارسی را اضافه کنید
کتاب فوقالعاده ای است که از طریق پنجاه شخصیت و کاوش در زندگی آنان مروری بر تاریخ یونان باستان دارد
I’ve had a hard time enjoying it even though i truly wanted to like it. But it felt so much like going through linked Wikipedia pages… Guess it serves better as ad hoc look up of particular person rather than a read from start to the end.
I hate to be harsh but I did not enjoy this. I'm not sure who this is for, it is too surface level for anyone who knows anything about the topic (I don't) but being able to dedicate such little space to each person means it struggles to tell a coherent story that hangs together.