Love, Sex & Tragedy: How the Ancient World Shapes Our Lives

by Simon Goldhill

In Love, Sex & Tragedy Simon Goldhill lifts the veil on our inheritance of classical traditions and offers a witty, engrossing survey of the Greek and Roman roots of everything from our overwhelming mania for "hard bodies" to our political systems. Encompassing Karl Marx, Clark Gable, George W. Bush, Oscar Wilde, and Sigmund Freud, Goldhill takes great delight in tracing both follies and fundamental philosophical questions through the centuries and continents to the birthplace of Western civilization as we know it. Underlying his brisk and learned excursions through history and art is the foundational belief, following Cicero, that learning about the classics makes a critical difference to our self-understanding. Whether we are considering the role of religion in contemporary society, our expectations about the boundaries between public and private life, or even how we spend our free time, recognizing the role of the classics is integral to our comprehension of modern life and our place in it.

"Confident, intelligent and assertive; [ Love, Sex & Tragedy ] stands up for 'classics' without apology, without snobbishness and without conservatism."—Oliver Taplin, Guardian

"Goldhill . . . takes us through the looking glass into antiquity and shows us some of the sights that he thinks most interesting and informative. . . . Anyone who goes on the journey will be amused, surprised, and enlightened."—Mary K. Lefkowitz, New York Sun

"A passionate, witty, and broad-ranging exploration of the ancient foundations of our world. . . . There is a widening gap between our perceptions and the ancient sources. Goldhill closes that gap with this lively and multi-layered challenge to assumptions embedded in modern life."—Lizzie Speller, Observer

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Classics, Ancient History, Sexuality, Philosophy, Literature

345 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Simon David Goldhil is Professor in Greek literature and culture and fellow and Director of Studies in Classics at King's College, Cambridge. He was previously Director of Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge, succeeding Mary Jacobus in October 2011. He is best known for his work on Greek tragedy.
In 2009, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2010, he was appointed as the John Harvard Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences at Cambridge, a research position held concurrently with his chair in Greek.
In 2016, he became a fellow of the British Academy. He is a member of the Council of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Board of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, and is President of the European Institutes for Advanced Study (NetIAS).
Goldhill is a well-known lecturer and broadcaster and has appeared on television and radio in England, Australia, the United States and Canada. His books have been translated into ten languages, and he has been profiled by newspapers in Brazil, Australia and the Netherlands.

Reviews

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked about Simon Goldhill’s Love, Sex & Tragedy was that he (mostly) avoids sounding like a curmudgeonly stick-in-the-mud who can’t handle the loss of the classical curriculum in education and the knowledge of Western civilization’s origins. He laments it not because he wants to hear people quoting Homer from memory (in the original Greek) or see glowing comparisons of politicians to Cincinnatus but because he sees little evidence that what’s replaced it is tackling the same issues in as deep a manner. He doesn’t see any counterparts today to Homer, Herodotus and Thucydides, or to Sophocles and Euripides, among others. And this dumbing down of our public discourse infects all aspects of culture – politics, entertainment, social relationships, literature, the arts, etc.

Why study the classics?

I’m going to be lazy and simply quote the author from the last pages of the book, where he concludes:

For thinking hard about the past reveals the buried life of the present, its potential for change, for being different. Looking back critically at where we come from is a revelatory education about the present.

The simplest point that emerges from looking back at how the myths of Greece and Rome have functioned in the history of European culture is this: the past matters. It matters because in psychological, social, intellectual, artistic and political terms the past is formative of the present. It is the person’s or culture’s deep grounding. It matters how the past is understood or told. Stories change lives. They make foundations, they build hopes and they can kill. A self-aware appreciation of the past requires reflecting on the myths and the histories, the story-telling and the critical analysis, which makes sense of the past – and thus the present....

Understanding the past also requires that we understand how previous generations thought of the past, were stimulated and inspired by it, rebelled against it, denied it. Classical antiquity has constantly been reinvented as the privileged model of the past, and it has been thus a force for comprehending – and changing – the present....

If we do not recognize how classical antiquity furnished the imagination, stimulated and structured thought and acted as a banner of artistic and political revolution, our view of our own cultural tradition will be necessarily distorted. (pp. 319-20)

Aside from the general conclusion above, I found several of the specifics the author focuses on interesting. One in particular stood out because of personal interests, and I’ll mention it here so you can get an idea of the issues Goldhill deals with. He spends a great deal of time (two chapters – 26 pages) discussing the Oedipus myth (as transmitted by Sophocles; there were other versions) and how it became and remains a profound analysis of the human condition, helped by Freud making it the basis for his psychology.

Oedipus is the archetypal hero figure trying to discover where he comes from: “Oedipus’ search for himself, his journey to discover where he comes from, is the paradigmatic example of how we must look back for self-knowledge, but also of how disturbing and painful that necessary process can be” (p. 298) and “Most shocking is the play’s insistent and disturbing claim that is it exactly at the moment you think you know where you come from and who you are that you are most open to a tragedy of self-deception” (p. 306). Goldhill sees Oedipus as particularly important in the 21st century when Western civilization struggles ever more desperately to know and to control but only seems to discover ever more uncertainty and ever less control.

I would recommend the book. Even if you don’t agree with the author’s conclusions in parts of the book, it’s still an interesting look at the influence Greece and Rome had and continues to have over our lives.

[Ethan · Rating 2 out of 5]

als ik het woord fallus nog één keer zie he.

[Kyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars

Goldhill has an easy writing style which is nice to read and he covers a wide range of topics; from homosexuality in ancient society, to Christianity, to ancient plays and modern writers. He does sometimes claim certain things without really backing his argument up (I get that it's 'popular science' book so there is not a lot of citing going on, but he could still argue his case more clearly) and he is pretty picky and selective in using either Greek or Roman customs (or both) whichever suits his argument best which was pretty annoying at times.

Anyway, it is an interesting read, so I'd recommend it if you're interested in the ancient world or how western culture is influenced by antiquity!

[Matt McCormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading his Reading Greek Tragedy, I was surprised by how conversational this book felt. Goldhill covers a good group of topics and works hard to trace them from ancient to modern. My only criticism is that there was any striking insight that seemed new or novel.

[steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book reads like a high school or college persuasive essay, which is kind of ironic for a book that's trying to get you back in touch with our greek / roman roots / standards / ideals.

i like the examples the author draws upon to prove his points, but, i don't know, i wasn't intrigued or impressed by anything. don't think i'd recommend this to a friend. maybe would use it if i taught a 100 level backgrounds in lit class or something.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on exactly how the Classics created the modern Western world. Goldhill drives home the point that most of the asumptions taken for granted by his readers about the liberties they enjoy in life stem directly from the legacies of Greece and Rome.

[Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows❈ · Rating 3 out of 5]

G is for Goldhill


3.5 stars. Review to come.

[Chimene Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book by my very impressive undergraduate Classics tutor, who pushed me to think harder when I was 19 and when I, well, needed to think harder! It's a very engaging if eclectic book. I don't think it needs to push the message that 'Classics matters' quite so hard, but that's partly because I already believe that studying the past is invaluable when thinking about our identity in the present -- I don't need to be convinced. The chapters on Erasmus and Greek in the Renaissance were particularly good. Also, interesting stuff on Greek gay intercourse, which was intracrural apparently.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took a few breaks reading this book, which I inherited from my grandmother. This is definitely a book for non-classicists who want to learn more about the use of classics in the modern world. I found parts of the book fun and useful, and other parts a little boring. I would recommend for a newcomer interested in the effect of the ancient Mediterranean world on the modern western world.

[annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

certain parts of this book are so, so fascinating. i especially enjoyed the sections about romance, sex, and democracy

it was difficult to get through however because there was so much fluff. he says the same thing a million times in a row. it read like a persuasive essay that was trying to get the word count up. could have been cut down 50%

[Tomas Riklius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intelligent and assertive. Goldhill's idea is candidly expressed on page 156: "He [T.S. Eliot] knew how much classics matters to understanding Western tradition."

[Macie Mohler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a school project and it was pretty interesting overall!

[Ryan Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

how does our history influence our present? surprise: in many ways and quite extensively!

[Haley Wall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this for school. It was good but not amazing. I liked some chapters more than others and did learn some interesting facts about Ancient Greece!

[Buveur d'encre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Πολύ εισαγωγικό

[Donna Kirk]

my sister had a copy of this at her house and so i grabbed it for something to read on the plane. and read it, i did. there are some erotic paragraphs which make for a stilted and intriguing flight considering it's five hours long, there is the dull, lifeless wind of the airplane, the sound of the guy snoring behind me and the problem of my sister and i suffering sibling angst when we are sitting near one another for too long ("stop pinching me," "i'm not pinching you," "will you order me a coke, i'll pay you in philly," "no, i already bought you a sandwhich," "i'm not a freeloader, i just need a coke," "sigh,").

That all aside, i needed to pick up this book because i am about as graceful and nuanced when it comes to matters of the heart and matters of the eros as a person tripping over their pants in a half-lit room in the morning because they are late for work and their alarm is still beeping fiercly. sexy.

what do i pun about? probably a broken heart, but, let me save that for a short story so i can hide the actual facts of my own heart and instead create a universal story out of fictional characters so that many can relate to it and that i might be spared embarrassment for my personal failings.

what this book offers, aside for some juicy bits about ancient history? it makes you feel like norms about sex and love are socially constructed. that we admire, arrange and create our lives based on what we were given, the stories we generate and that our emotions all come down to an evolving history of our human identity passed along to us by those who came before. if there is hope in here, it's that we are able to sift through the stories and find routes and people along the way that can connect with us.

but, this book also makes you realize that greek guys really didn't have a thing for women, very much, especially being that no female writing or historcial records made it out in tact, save for some eros-reputured poems by sappho. they considered the female body to be soft and weak. that men should strive never to look or act as a woman. it was actually kind of thought of as gross to be a woman. haha. the male physique was dominantly displayed and revered.

now, look. this is an intresting way into a theory of mine. in our culture, the male body is not so often displayed or revered. women's bodies are. a reversal of greecian times, yes, perhaps. but, it makes me remember an argument (spirited) that i had at a bar one time with a mate or two about how male bodies should be revered just the same, otherwise there is a kind of social and political imbalance going on. women are constantly reminded that there is this ideal that they should look like, meanwhile, dudes are kind of off the hook.

away from this shallow stuff. why do we fall in love with the people that we do? i think it goes beyond what we see, though, gulp, sometimes what we see can be pretty niiice (borat). i think love feelings actually comes from and flows to that human intangible stuff that we emote to one another or what we feel is emoted. unless a person is looking to simply get laid, i think humans want emotional connection; when you watch the show Millionaire Matchmaker, for example (wait you haven't seeen it?) you are mostly kind of there to watch a circus of put-on dewey eyed millionaires searching for love. and you kind of feel for them but you know that the means that they are approaching the issue is kind of, well, sorry guys and gals, bankrupt. people in LA have the greecian ideal of a perfect body but how many of their hearts are adrift and how many of the double d's have spent time working on their mental and emotional lives?

don't get me wrong, my favorite characters are often ones who have a kind of innocence to their own being; boy meets girl, girl meets boy, they are average intelligence, weight, attractiveness, and they just love one another. you can just kind of see it. they cuddle, they fear, they kiss away worry, they brush hair off forehead, they are over weight and they know it and they don't care so fuck you, they are kind, and they don't need to know who soren kierkegaard is so fuck you and they are basically just good. and they need one another. i will have this couple in my book. i encourage other writers to work out this story in their own way; along with some greecian body stories and some plane rides with sisters.

[sidana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bilgilendirici bir kitap olmuş..Atina dan başlayıp günümüze kadar ki gündelik yaşamdaki yaşam tarzlarını ve o zaman ki değerlerini anlatmış..Seks'ten Felsefe'ye,Demokrasi'den Romalılara,Gladyatörlerden savaşlara kadar enine boyuna ele almış tarihi..İdeal kadın ve erkek tarifleri detaylı şekilde yapılmış ve ilginç olan şey ise;Antik Yunanlılardaki tarif bugün dahi geçerliliğini hala koruyor modern dünyada.Kadın için; yumuşak ve gevşek,tüysüz ve cilveli.Her nekadar "demokrasi"nin doğduğu topraklar isede Kadın'a hiçbir hak verilmemiştir.

Platon ve Aristotales'in homoseksüelliğin aileye zarar verdiğini gösterdiğini ve bunu desteklemenin devletin işi olmadığını iddia etmişlerdir..
"Erkeklerin,kendlerine "Atina Vatandaşı" denmesinden gurur duyarken,kadınlar genellikle "Attica Kadını"olarak adlandırılır..Atina ismine dahi sahip değildiler..
Yunan aşkı'nı tanımlamak-erkeğin erkeğeduyduğu arzu,bunun gelenekleri ve uygulamaları...
Nietzche'nin de önceden sorduğu gibi,modern dünyadaki en şiddetli ve yıkıcı çatışmalar "fikirler arasındaki savaşlardır"
...yasalar,vatandaşın anası ve babasıdır..

"Romalılar döneminde,erkeğe ve kadına tecavüz bir nevi cezalandırma biçimi olarak algılanıyordu..
"Ereksiyon görmüş bir penis hiç şüphesiz Yunanlılarda bir bereket sembolü görülebilir....Penis sembol olarak kamu anıtları yapmak için kullanılırdı,kapı girişlerine ve kavşaklara konulurdu,kapı zili ve lamba olarak kullanılırdı antik çağda..Eros'un hernekadar "aşk tanrı"sı olanarak biliniyorsada aslında "arzu tanrı"sıymış..
Cicero"Eğer nereden geldiğinizi bilmiyorsanız,her zaman bir çocuk olarak kalacaksınız"
Seneca; "eşle bir aşık gibi sevişmek,zina kadar iğrençtir"

[GeschiedenisBeleven · Rating 4 out of 5]

De democratie hebben we van de oude Grieken, net als het theater en terwijl bij ons de mannenliefde pas sinds enige tientallen jaren (enigszins) is geacepteerd, was die bij hen al heel gewoon. In Liefde, Seks en Tragedie, hoe de oudheid ons heeft gevormd, met op de Nederlandse omslag een wat misleidende blote mannentorso, laat Simon Goldhill zien hoe kennis van de klassieke wereld ons begrip van de moderne westerse mens verbreedt en verdiept.

Vier thema’s pikt Goldhill uit om zijn betoog te illustreren. Liefde, religie, politiek en vertier zijn volgens hem de belangrijkste bouwstenen van de moderne mens. Zonder te kijken naar de klassieken zijn deze moderne pijlers niet te begrijpen.

Binnen deze centrale thema’s komt een scala aan onderwerpen voorbij. Daarbij kiest Goldhill vooral voor de aantrekkelijke, bekende onderwerpen zoals de mannenliefde, waarover hij heel gedetailleerd vertelt. Het betoog vertoont hierdoor niet altijd even veel samenhang. Toch blijft Liefde, Sekse en Tragedie boeien. Goldhill overtuigt in zijn betoog dat om het moderne leven te begrijpen we de klassieken moeten doorgronden. De veelvoud aan soms op het oog lukrake onderwerpen die hij behandelt blijken allemaal terug te voeren op één vraag: ‘waar denk je dat je vandaan komt.’ Cicero’s (106-43 v. Chr.) uitspraak: ‘‘Als je niet weet waar je vandaan komt, blijf je altijd een kind,’ wordt zo met recht tot leidraad van Goldhills boek, dat veel meer bevat dan enkel liefde, seks en tragedie.

Lees de recensie van Elsbeth Littink op http://bit.ly/11AfltG

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simon Goldhill is Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge and my one criticism of this book is that it places so much emphasis on the legacy of Ancient Greece that there is little space left to explore the complex and enduring contribution of the Romans.

That aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Goldhill's breezy polemic. He makes a strong case for redressing the neglect of the ancient world by contemporary educationalists, pointing out that almost everything we understand by Western culture today has its origins in the classical world and that, as Cicero said, If you do not know where you come from, you will always be a child.'

[Peter D. McLoughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Idea that Western Culture has a continuity tracing back to the ancient world is seriously challenged by reading the classics. Ideas of the individual, sexual mores and common sense of the ancient Greeks and Romans seem utterly alien to the modern Post-Christian Westerner. Yet we supposedly trace our cultures origins to such people. I've always had an interest in the ancients but this book only increased my curiousity.

[Seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although Goldhill is not a remarkable stylist, he nonetheless accomplishes the feat of showing how ancient Greek culture impacts contemporary culture in a few hundred pages.

Packed with historical facts and insightful connections, this book is widely recommendable for its presentation of high subject matter in easily readable prose.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is based on the first two sections of the book, which were the only parts I was required to read for class. I intend to go back and read the rest at some point, though, as it's a lively and entertaining book, and one I could see reading outside an academic environment.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the book to read if you want to know what Greek love is really all about!

[Jeffry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take on things. I love the ancient world for itself so linking the modern to the ancient isn't my cup of tea per se. But it was worth the read.

[Effie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent essay for all Europeans who want to really know who we are, what we bealive or not, helps you think from where you start until your destination.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially like the first chapters and the description of male-dominated ancient Greek culture.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for part of my senior thesis on sex in the ancient world.