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Know Thyself: Western Identity from Classical Greece to the Renaissance
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Kirkus Reviews
Best Book of 2018
A lively and timely introduction to the roots of self-understanding--who we are and how we should act--in the cultures of ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and Middle Ages and the Renaissance
"Know thyself"--this fundamental imperative appeared for the first time in ancient Greece, specifically in Delphi, the temple of the god Apollo, who represented the enlightened power of reason. For the Greeks, self-knowledge and identity were the basics of their civilization and their sources were to be found in where one was born and into which social group. These determined who you were and what your duties were. In this book the independent scholar Ingrid Rossellini surveys the major ideas that, from Greek and Roman antiquity through the Christian medieval era up to the dawn of modernity in the Renaissance, have guided the Western project of self-knowledge. Addressing the curious lay reader with an interdisciplinary approach that includes numerous references to the visual arts, Know Thyself will reintroduce readers to the most profound and enduring ways our civilization has framed the issues of self and society, in the process helping us rediscover the very building blocks of our personality.
A lively and timely introduction to the roots of self-understanding--who we are and how we should act--in the cultures of ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and Middle Ages and the Renaissance
"Know thyself"--this fundamental imperative appeared for the first time in ancient Greece, specifically in Delphi, the temple of the god Apollo, who represented the enlightened power of reason. For the Greeks, self-knowledge and identity were the basics of their civilization and their sources were to be found in where one was born and into which social group. These determined who you were and what your duties were. In this book the independent scholar Ingrid Rossellini surveys the major ideas that, from Greek and Roman antiquity through the Christian medieval era up to the dawn of modernity in the Renaissance, have guided the Western project of self-knowledge. Addressing the curious lay reader with an interdisciplinary approach that includes numerous references to the visual arts, Know Thyself will reintroduce readers to the most profound and enduring ways our civilization has framed the issues of self and society, in the process helping us rediscover the very building blocks of our personality.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published May 22, 2018
59 people are currently reading
1514 people want to read
About the author
Ingrid Rossellini
1 book32 followersINGRID ROSSELLINI was born in Rome and educated there, and later received a BA, master's, and Ph.D. in Italian Literature from Columbia, writing her dissertation on Petrarch. She has taught literature and Italian film at Columbia, NYU, Harvard, Princeton, and other universities. She is the daughter of the actress Ingrid Bergman and the director Roberto Rossellini; Isabella Rossellini is her sister. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
May 8, 2021
Well, I enjoyed it. Rossellini gives a grand tour of the classics, acting as an enthusiastic, exceptionally knowledgeable guide. She describes her work as history with a psychological angle, showing the evolution of humanity’s sense of self. And she does do lots of character portraits of great men (almost all men), such as Augustus Caesar or Michelangelo. But these descriptions never add up to any overview of how the psychology of Western people has changed over the centuries. She just tells the story of how one thing led to another, sprinkled with diverse fascinating insights. For example, during medieval times, artists worked mainly to convey religious teachings, and in doing this it was deemed abominable for an artist to attempt “creativity.” If the artist “created,” that would be usurping the role of the Creator. Artists were to be nothing more than craftsmen, executing images as directed by God’s appointed clerical representatives. Also, the common medieval aversion to attempting images of the divine led to a profusion of images regarding the perils of evil, so that the paintings and sculptures in churches were disproportionately populated by demons and monsters.
Rossellini puts a mainly positive spin on history. She uncritically relates some traditional assertions regarding the unique gifts of Western civilization and the relative backwardness of other cultures. But she does this more as an enthusiastic tour guide of Greece and Italy than as a deliberate advocate of Western superiority. All told, I’d rate her performance as one of the best tours around.
Rossellini puts a mainly positive spin on history. She uncritically relates some traditional assertions regarding the unique gifts of Western civilization and the relative backwardness of other cultures. But she does this more as an enthusiastic tour guide of Greece and Italy than as a deliberate advocate of Western superiority. All told, I’d rate her performance as one of the best tours around.
July 2, 2018
3.5 Stars
Rossellini begins with "...our all-too-human tendency to favor self-interest well above communal purposes has always been the most consistent obstacle to the creation of a fully harmonic and unified society" and concludes with "...the sin that since the dawn of time has been considered the greatest of all human shortcomings is hubris, which means both lack of humility and the ambition to think that one does not need the imput of others to enrich the meager finitude of the self," thus bookending this tome about history, philosophy and one's place in it all.
Know Thyself reads like part history book and part philosophical discussion with plenty of art, culture, and religion thrown in. Rossellini has plenty of one-line zingers which scratch at the heart of the matter: who we are in the midst of society. Some of my favorites were:
There were many times when I paused to reread a passage or think over some of the truths Rossellini laid out. I would love to see a complementary volume which looked at the identity of self through an Eastern lens.
Rossellini begins with "...our all-too-human tendency to favor self-interest well above communal purposes has always been the most consistent obstacle to the creation of a fully harmonic and unified society" and concludes with "...the sin that since the dawn of time has been considered the greatest of all human shortcomings is hubris, which means both lack of humility and the ambition to think that one does not need the imput of others to enrich the meager finitude of the self," thus bookending this tome about history, philosophy and one's place in it all.
Know Thyself reads like part history book and part philosophical discussion with plenty of art, culture, and religion thrown in. Rossellini has plenty of one-line zingers which scratch at the heart of the matter: who we are in the midst of society. Some of my favorites were:
"In agreement with Aristotle, Cicero in his book On Duties maintained that true humanness occurred when man developed to his utmost the social talents for which he was created. “We are not born for ourselves alone, … but our country claims for itself one part of our birth.”"
"The Stoics of these disillusioned times—to use Bertrand Russell’s words—asked not “how can men create a good State?” but rather “how can men be virtuous in a wicked world, or happy in a world of suffering?”"
"For Seneca, who, as tutor of Nero, had witnessed firsthand the atrocities of which human nature is capable, that fierce clinging to resignation might have appeared as the only possible anchor of salvation in a world full of violence and darkness."
"The prejudiced view was easily extendable to the Muslims: infidels who, by virtue of being non-Christians, were imagined by the majority of Western people (most of whom had never met a Muslim) as more akin to animals and monsters than human beings."
"Relying on prejudice to demonize and dehumanize the Other was, and still remains, the best way to incite man’s zest for hate and killing."
"We cannot expect to improve ourselves if we don’t assume the responsibility of being our brothers’ (and sisters’!) keepers. The most important lesson we can derive from history is that identity is built never on a monologue but always on the honest, respectful, and committed exchange of ideas that true dialogue represents."
There were many times when I paused to reread a passage or think over some of the truths Rossellini laid out. I would love to see a complementary volume which looked at the identity of self through an Eastern lens.
April 30, 2019
While I enjoyed the short chapters on ancient Rome, Dante, Petrarch, and The Roman Renaissance, as topics I always love to read about, the rest of the books held very little that was new information to me (except for, perhaps, the Crusades - I remember very little from school). However, that’s due to my own research and interests, and not the fault of the book. It does state that this is an introduction, so this might be a great place to start, find things that interest you, and then move forward.
I would have loved it if it had a new angle on Western Identity and the human element and not just gather major historical events frommainly secondary sources and make a summary of it all. Oh, well...
2.5 stars
I would have loved it if it had a new angle on Western Identity and the human element and not just gather major historical events from
2.5 stars
August 9, 2018
Sloterdijk said somewhere : Tens of thousands of years before the Greek oracle could write the motto “Know thyself” above the place of encounter with the truth, the great mothers, chieftains and sorcerers had applied a different one to the lives of their own kind: “Tame thyself!” This led to what would become known much later as “education” — in Greek paideia, in Latin humanitas, in Sanskrit vinaya, in Chinese wenhua and in German Bildung.
This book is the story of what tamed the space that became Europe : greeks, latins, humanism,Renaissance.Fluid and feather like written .
This book is the story of what tamed the space that became Europe : greeks, latins, humanism,Renaissance.Fluid and feather like written .
August 21, 2018
The book claims to be an exploration of the idea of what it means to be human in the Western tradition from Greece to the Renaissance.
The book proves to be primarily a discussion of the history of the Western tradition from Greece to the Renaissance, painfully dependent on secondary sources for much of the time.
The author discusses the major historical events and many of the personalities and philosophies which developed throughout this roughly two millennia of history. Many things can be gained by it, especially if one is not as familiar with the basic story of the Western tradition, which might well be true of many who have endured modern forms of education.
And yet there are many times where the author does not seem as familiar with the primary sources, or at least is allowing secondary sources too much influence. Some of her discussions of early Christianity sound plainly Gnostic. Her understanding of Egyptian sources seemed to be entirely based on secondary sources. One reads citations from Durant, which should be a no-no to the modern historian. This seems to be less pronounced toward the end, which is understandable in light of the author's stronger knowledge base in terms of the Italian Renaissance.
Furthermore the author definitely seems to be of the "great man" tradition of historiography, and seems to be a continuation of the Clarke school of history. Much is made of art and artistic expression as a means of understanding culture, especially as it relates to the medieval and Renaissance period.
I personally expected the work to be aligned with its title, putting the primary emphasis on the trajectory of the development of the concept of the individual in the Western philosophical tradition. Perhaps this was the author's desire, but it has been lost in the general telling of the historical narrative. The book as is tells the story of the Western tradition in its history, 500 BCE to 1500 CE. That's not nothing. But if the author believes she has accomplished her purpose, it's requiring a lot more "lift" by the reader to be able to draw the relevant conclusions regarding how people conceived of themselves, one another, the state, etc. through this period. Let the reader be aware of what they're getting into.
**--galley received as part of early review program
The book proves to be primarily a discussion of the history of the Western tradition from Greece to the Renaissance, painfully dependent on secondary sources for much of the time.
The author discusses the major historical events and many of the personalities and philosophies which developed throughout this roughly two millennia of history. Many things can be gained by it, especially if one is not as familiar with the basic story of the Western tradition, which might well be true of many who have endured modern forms of education.
And yet there are many times where the author does not seem as familiar with the primary sources, or at least is allowing secondary sources too much influence. Some of her discussions of early Christianity sound plainly Gnostic. Her understanding of Egyptian sources seemed to be entirely based on secondary sources. One reads citations from Durant, which should be a no-no to the modern historian. This seems to be less pronounced toward the end, which is understandable in light of the author's stronger knowledge base in terms of the Italian Renaissance.
Furthermore the author definitely seems to be of the "great man" tradition of historiography, and seems to be a continuation of the Clarke school of history. Much is made of art and artistic expression as a means of understanding culture, especially as it relates to the medieval and Renaissance period.
I personally expected the work to be aligned with its title, putting the primary emphasis on the trajectory of the development of the concept of the individual in the Western philosophical tradition. Perhaps this was the author's desire, but it has been lost in the general telling of the historical narrative. The book as is tells the story of the Western tradition in its history, 500 BCE to 1500 CE. That's not nothing. But if the author believes she has accomplished her purpose, it's requiring a lot more "lift" by the reader to be able to draw the relevant conclusions regarding how people conceived of themselves, one another, the state, etc. through this period. Let the reader be aware of what they're getting into.
**--galley received as part of early review program
August 10, 2019
Claim what you will. Title this as you must.
Regardless of your classifications this is a generalized history of Europe in the classical sense.
There are 5 sections that fit what I would box in "classical scholarship". This is the type of stuff the founding fathers would have been reflecting on.
The sections are the following:
1. Ancient Greece
2. Ancient Rome
3. Early Middle ages
4. Late Middle ages
5. Renaissance
----
Overall it's a pretty good history book, but to call it a text on the analysis of identity throughout history is simply wrong.
This of course is not the first time that I have encountered a historian who seeks to make a central argument but instead resorts to rambling within linearity. While reading this I remembered the quote "History is just one damn fact after another." Not all historians bring me to this though. Only the ones who aren't so talented at focused exposition and rhetoric .
Regardless of your classifications this is a generalized history of Europe in the classical sense.
There are 5 sections that fit what I would box in "classical scholarship". This is the type of stuff the founding fathers would have been reflecting on.
The sections are the following:
1. Ancient Greece
2. Ancient Rome
3. Early Middle ages
4. Late Middle ages
5. Renaissance
----
Overall it's a pretty good history book, but to call it a text on the analysis of identity throughout history is simply wrong.
This of course is not the first time that I have encountered a historian who seeks to make a central argument but instead resorts to rambling within linearity. While reading this I remembered the quote "History is just one damn fact after another." Not all historians bring me to this though. Only the ones who aren't so talented at focused exposition and rhetoric .
June 9, 2019
Interesting historical survey but disappointing because it didn't really deliver in regard to discussing the sociological or psychological impact of ideas on an individual of the times, which I had thought was the purpose of the book.
December 16, 2023
It is always difficult to walk the line between academic detail and broad brush, lay-reader appeal. Indeed, Ingrid Rossellini acknowledges this in her foreword. To her credit, she manages to gives us both sweep and granularity. However, there are times when we linger too long on the minutiae of specific artworks; making 'Know Thyself' more art history than the promised exploration of Western identity narratives. That said, there are many moments of genuine illumination. Rossellini is a shrewd observer, and she guides us through the various pitfalls of passive assumption and ideological disposition. Overall, this is an ambitious and rewarding attempt to coalesce the numerous strands of Western thought and to distil a lesson about the traps of 'identity' for contemporary audiences.
September 28, 2025
This book might more honestly be titled Validate Myself, as that's the lingering impression: "Thank goodness I'm not like those backward people!"
Isabella Rossellini embarks on a breathless sprint through Western civilization, name-dropping emperors, philosophers, popes, saints, villains, scoundrels, monks, artists, mercenaries, and a host of others. The sheer scope is undeniable. It’s an impressive feat to cram so much into one volume. And to her credit, I learned many new names and events I did not know anything about before I read this book.
The title and subtitle promise something like a genealogy of ideas—how Western assumptions about selfhood took root, how we arrived at our modern sense of identity. Yet this is no such exploration. Instead, as other reviewers note, this is basically Western Civ 101. This isn’t a flaw per se, but the marketing is a bit misleading.
The historical tone echoes Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: a would-be steady march toward progress, repeatedly derailed by tiresome men (nearly always men) and their inflated egos, make-up-as-we-go-along doctrines, and rigid intolerance. Christians frequently emerge as the antagonists, which is perhaps inevitable given Christendom's pervasive role in Western history—for better or worse.
Now, no one denies the Church’s checkered past, but Rossellini’s account often reduces complex history to quick caricatures. Her research betrays this: summaries lean heavily on secondary literature, often dated or slanted, with true scholarship emerging only in very narrow areas coincidentally tied to her PhD. Elsewhere, it feels like an editorialized take from r/askhistorians.
If you're inclined to read her work—it does have redeeming qualities—I urge pairing it with counterpoints. Tom Holland's Dominion offers a nuanced view of Christianity's cultural legacy, while David Bentley Hart deftly dismantles the shopworn stereotypes (Crusades, Inquisition, Galileo, etc.) that Rossellini recycles uncritically.
In the end, what truly drives Rossellini's interpretation and her sweeping conclusions isn't necessarily Gibbon so much as Rousseau. In her telling, hubris is the great enemy of progress. In every instance of tyranny or something going horribly wrong we find someone who thought too much of themselves. Along side that observation, she finds dogma, custom, and creeds as contributing factors which thrust people into hierarchies of rank and rule. It is within these artifices that people learn to measure, compare, envy, and despise. It is here that we have a “us” vs “them” mentality which so often begins the cycle and forestall progress by restraining free thought. Her parting message? If only we'd all join hands in a metaphorical Kumbaya, true progress would be within grasp. And of course, don’t be like all these other people. Just be more like Rossellini. I know myself better than to buy that.
Isabella Rossellini embarks on a breathless sprint through Western civilization, name-dropping emperors, philosophers, popes, saints, villains, scoundrels, monks, artists, mercenaries, and a host of others. The sheer scope is undeniable. It’s an impressive feat to cram so much into one volume. And to her credit, I learned many new names and events I did not know anything about before I read this book.
The title and subtitle promise something like a genealogy of ideas—how Western assumptions about selfhood took root, how we arrived at our modern sense of identity. Yet this is no such exploration. Instead, as other reviewers note, this is basically Western Civ 101. This isn’t a flaw per se, but the marketing is a bit misleading.
The historical tone echoes Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: a would-be steady march toward progress, repeatedly derailed by tiresome men (nearly always men) and their inflated egos, make-up-as-we-go-along doctrines, and rigid intolerance. Christians frequently emerge as the antagonists, which is perhaps inevitable given Christendom's pervasive role in Western history—for better or worse.
Now, no one denies the Church’s checkered past, but Rossellini’s account often reduces complex history to quick caricatures. Her research betrays this: summaries lean heavily on secondary literature, often dated or slanted, with true scholarship emerging only in very narrow areas coincidentally tied to her PhD. Elsewhere, it feels like an editorialized take from r/askhistorians.
If you're inclined to read her work—it does have redeeming qualities—I urge pairing it with counterpoints. Tom Holland's Dominion offers a nuanced view of Christianity's cultural legacy, while David Bentley Hart deftly dismantles the shopworn stereotypes (Crusades, Inquisition, Galileo, etc.) that Rossellini recycles uncritically.
In the end, what truly drives Rossellini's interpretation and her sweeping conclusions isn't necessarily Gibbon so much as Rousseau. In her telling, hubris is the great enemy of progress. In every instance of tyranny or something going horribly wrong we find someone who thought too much of themselves. Along side that observation, she finds dogma, custom, and creeds as contributing factors which thrust people into hierarchies of rank and rule. It is within these artifices that people learn to measure, compare, envy, and despise. It is here that we have a “us” vs “them” mentality which so often begins the cycle and forestall progress by restraining free thought. Her parting message? If only we'd all join hands in a metaphorical Kumbaya, true progress would be within grasp. And of course, don’t be like all these other people. Just be more like Rossellini. I know myself better than to buy that.
May 14, 2025
As a general history book, chunked into concise yet detailed chapters, this is a first-rate read, and it so helpfully models the units I teach to my grade 11 world history students. However, as an attempt to provide a grand, over-arching explanation for western "identity", this is less than the sum of its parts. It hints at this-and-that, but there is no real solid over-arching thesis to explore here. There is a big feeling of being left to your own devices to come up with an explanation for the mysterious western "identity".
June 3, 2018
{I received this book for free as part of a Goodreads Giveaway} As an avid reader of history books of all levels and topics, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to read Know Thyself in print form. The book is heavy, pages crisp, a joy to hold and read.
In short, this is an approachable, easy-to-read and densely packed dive into Western thought. Black and white images help to portray major points in history, relevant artifacts, and faces to the names we may know but have never seen.
Dividing a majority of the book between sections from Greece, Rome, to the Renaissance, the author plays with a number of important historical events, people, and places, coordinating them all together into a cohesive and frankly impressive few paragraphs. The way that information is conveyed is a true joy for a professional or even amateur historian.
Highlighting the importance of the ancient world is a personal endeavor of mine, and the author sets up the societies of Greece and Rome to a grandiose level of philosophy and intellectuality. Contrast this to the darker periods of the highly religious, artistically-taboo Middle Ages, then a resurgence in the importance of critical thinking.
Highly recommended for amateur historians and those desiring to impart historical knowledge in a different, more engaging way using art and philosophy.
In short, this is an approachable, easy-to-read and densely packed dive into Western thought. Black and white images help to portray major points in history, relevant artifacts, and faces to the names we may know but have never seen.
Dividing a majority of the book between sections from Greece, Rome, to the Renaissance, the author plays with a number of important historical events, people, and places, coordinating them all together into a cohesive and frankly impressive few paragraphs. The way that information is conveyed is a true joy for a professional or even amateur historian.
Highlighting the importance of the ancient world is a personal endeavor of mine, and the author sets up the societies of Greece and Rome to a grandiose level of philosophy and intellectuality. Contrast this to the darker periods of the highly religious, artistically-taboo Middle Ages, then a resurgence in the importance of critical thinking.
Highly recommended for amateur historians and those desiring to impart historical knowledge in a different, more engaging way using art and philosophy.
August 20, 2024
1.75/2.75 averaged to 2.
The first number is how it stacks up compared to its theoretical or titular raison d'être.
Rather than being a book about the development of the idea of the self, this is rather a Western Civ 101 book, as other reviewers have noted, sprinkled with Rossellini apparently having swallowed a lexicon of “Greek and Latin Philosophical and Theological Terms 101” and disgorging them as if it would make this really a different book.
To expand on that?
First, an issue which I accepted when I picked up the book (slow week for new nonfiction at my library)? It’s about the Western world only. So, as generalized observations on human nature? Not so much.
Second, as I get older, I push back to some degree against the claim that the Greeks “invented” philosophy. The Carvaka skeptics in India were active at about the same time as the pre-Socratics. Kung Fu’Tzu, a philosopher not a theologian, came along not too much later.
Third? Thales almost certainly did NOT predict that 585 BCE solar eclipse. First, later narratives show regnal errors that make impossible to fit that date. Second, he almost certainly didn’t have the expertise; we know that Babylonian and Egyptian astronomers of this era did not.
Fourth, this isn’t really academic, with BC/AD instead of BCE/CE. So, with all of the above, plus the help of cheating and looking at Goodreads, I figured we were in 3-star territory. And in “grokking” territory.
That said, two reviewers then dinged her for calling medieval Christianity “Gnostic.” I figured I’d eyeball that more closely, especially since one of the two reviewers is a fundagelical Christian author and might have his own motives.
Survey says? Not true.
The translation of Luke 17:21 offered by Rossellini is legit, as is the interpretation. Yes, “in the midst of you” could be Jesus referring to himself. Or, it could be “within you,” as in, to trump the fundagelical, “the indwelling of the Holy Spirit” without in any way being Gnostic.
Related? First, neither “Gnostic” nor “Gnosticism” is anywhere in the chapter on early medieval Christianity, nor in the index.
Second, Paul himself had strains of middle Platonic thought.
And, to note? I’m a secularist with a graduate theological degree.
I do know she’s all wet on early Christian art and its alleged influence from the aniconic (she doesn’t used the word, but that’s what she means) Judaism of this time. Has she never heard about the famous synagogue at Dura-Europus? Oh, and it’s a nimbus, not a halo, behind a saint’s or Jesus’ head. Theis carries over to later, when she talks about Judaism’ prohibition on graven images influencing Islam. Problem? Not only per the Dura-Europus synagogue, “graven image” isn’t the same as “representational art,” which Islam bars entirely.
Related? Her covering of the iconoclastic controversy in Orthodoxy is superficial.
That said, taken non-titularly, as Western Civ 101, errors and all, yeah, this could be 2.75. No more. I just can't excite myself enough to put it even on a history or a religion bookshelf. But, it's not total pablum (misspelled on my one shelf and I don't think you can edit them). So "meh" is the only shelf it gets.
I stopped reading after getting to the end of the early medieval chapter.
I also noted that Barry Strauss was among the blurbers. From my POV, that's a curse, not a boon. Read my reviews of the two books of his I've read.
Finally, a side note. What inspired Rossellini to write this, her first book?
The first number is how it stacks up compared to its theoretical or titular raison d'être.
Rather than being a book about the development of the idea of the self, this is rather a Western Civ 101 book, as other reviewers have noted, sprinkled with Rossellini apparently having swallowed a lexicon of “Greek and Latin Philosophical and Theological Terms 101” and disgorging them as if it would make this really a different book.
To expand on that?
First, an issue which I accepted when I picked up the book (slow week for new nonfiction at my library)? It’s about the Western world only. So, as generalized observations on human nature? Not so much.
Second, as I get older, I push back to some degree against the claim that the Greeks “invented” philosophy. The Carvaka skeptics in India were active at about the same time as the pre-Socratics. Kung Fu’Tzu, a philosopher not a theologian, came along not too much later.
Third? Thales almost certainly did NOT predict that 585 BCE solar eclipse. First, later narratives show regnal errors that make impossible to fit that date. Second, he almost certainly didn’t have the expertise; we know that Babylonian and Egyptian astronomers of this era did not.
Fourth, this isn’t really academic, with BC/AD instead of BCE/CE. So, with all of the above, plus the help of cheating and looking at Goodreads, I figured we were in 3-star territory. And in “grokking” territory.
That said, two reviewers then dinged her for calling medieval Christianity “Gnostic.” I figured I’d eyeball that more closely, especially since one of the two reviewers is a fundagelical Christian author and might have his own motives.
Survey says? Not true.
The translation of Luke 17:21 offered by Rossellini is legit, as is the interpretation. Yes, “in the midst of you” could be Jesus referring to himself. Or, it could be “within you,” as in, to trump the fundagelical, “the indwelling of the Holy Spirit” without in any way being Gnostic.
Related? First, neither “Gnostic” nor “Gnosticism” is anywhere in the chapter on early medieval Christianity, nor in the index.
Second, Paul himself had strains of middle Platonic thought.
And, to note? I’m a secularist with a graduate theological degree.
I do know she’s all wet on early Christian art and its alleged influence from the aniconic (she doesn’t used the word, but that’s what she means) Judaism of this time. Has she never heard about the famous synagogue at Dura-Europus? Oh, and it’s a nimbus, not a halo, behind a saint’s or Jesus’ head. Theis carries over to later, when she talks about Judaism’ prohibition on graven images influencing Islam. Problem? Not only per the Dura-Europus synagogue, “graven image” isn’t the same as “representational art,” which Islam bars entirely.
Related? Her covering of the iconoclastic controversy in Orthodoxy is superficial.
That said, taken non-titularly, as Western Civ 101, errors and all, yeah, this could be 2.75. No more. I just can't excite myself enough to put it even on a history or a religion bookshelf. But, it's not total pablum (misspelled on my one shelf and I don't think you can edit them). So "meh" is the only shelf it gets.
I stopped reading after getting to the end of the early medieval chapter.
I also noted that Barry Strauss was among the blurbers. From my POV, that's a curse, not a boon. Read my reviews of the two books of his I've read.
Finally, a side note. What inspired Rossellini to write this, her first book?
July 15, 2018
It's not know thyself but know how to contain hubris and individuality with doubt and guilt respectively. Unfortunately this appears to be the trivial conclusion for a time period that covers the beginning of hellenistic greece all the way to 1550. Unfortunate because I think it is plausible that morality is informed by a sense of historical awareness in profound ways. And in ways that are unique to the Western experience. Know Thyself is kind-of informative on this topic of affective historical awareness. However, Rossellini is far more prepared to reveal the extraordinary historical awareness of Renaissance artists, sculptors, architects, intellects. Her method for understanding these individual people: "A crisis, as we know, is often also a great opportunity to reflect on past experiences in order to decide what lessons are more deserving of our attention and respect." This mode of find-the-crisis is informative for a painting, or a building, or published writing and perhaps to a heightened degree during the renaissance where the historical figures involved were far more likely to be educated. But there has just never been any one crisis collectively shared by Western identity. Was Petrarch really as central to the secular pivot of Christianity? Is Machivellian fortuna epicurian? The most astonishing presumption was that cynicism harmed the Renaissance. Why wasn't epicurianism anti-ethical to the Renaissance instead of cynicism? Why was the ordered nature of renaissance figures like Leonardo and Raphael a constructive and contemporary feature rather than a departure and barrier from an irretreivable past? What does the absence of historical context imply? That history can become too consolidated? The topic is over ambitious for a 430 page book.
July 22, 2019
This was interesting but there were enough statements that were just off to make me skeptical.
The book takes you through the evolving conception of what a person is from the Greek city states to the Roman republic and empire to the Middle Ages to the Rennaisance. Along the way the book talks about evolving religious, philosophical and political ideas in the west.
And it was really interesting, going from the civic minded Greeks and Romans to the God-fearing Middle Ages to the humanistic Renaissance and gradual developments within those periods. I've certainly learned a lot.
But there were some things that really bugged me. For example, at one point the book makes a claim that makes medieval Christianity sound like Gnosticism (disparaging the physical body, salvation involves shedding an earthly shell, etc.), or another time it claims an etymological link between the English word 'evil' and Eve, the first woman. Per Wikipedia that ain't true and just on the face of it that doesn't even make sense (are you going to link French mal back to Eve too or has only English encoded misogyny in language for some reason?)
Anyway, it was interesting to read but the fact that there were so many odd statements in areas that I was familiar with that I feel like I need to take the rest of it with a grain of salt.
The book takes you through the evolving conception of what a person is from the Greek city states to the Roman republic and empire to the Middle Ages to the Rennaisance. Along the way the book talks about evolving religious, philosophical and political ideas in the west.
And it was really interesting, going from the civic minded Greeks and Romans to the God-fearing Middle Ages to the humanistic Renaissance and gradual developments within those periods. I've certainly learned a lot.
But there were some things that really bugged me. For example, at one point the book makes a claim that makes medieval Christianity sound like Gnosticism (disparaging the physical body, salvation involves shedding an earthly shell, etc.), or another time it claims an etymological link between the English word 'evil' and Eve, the first woman. Per Wikipedia that ain't true and just on the face of it that doesn't even make sense (are you going to link French mal back to Eve too or has only English encoded misogyny in language for some reason?)
Anyway, it was interesting to read but the fact that there were so many odd statements in areas that I was familiar with that I feel like I need to take the rest of it with a grain of salt.
June 16, 2018
A sweeping portrait of some influences in Western philosophical and social thought. There are gaps in the book, but how could there not be in such a sharing of this scholar’s knowledge? Since there are so many gaps in my own, the volume will become helpful as a resource for my own future edification. She offers a lengthy bibliography of works to read, as well as an invitation to explore in greater depth the historical context in which many reflective works of political theory, religious affirmation, and art occurred. Her review of the deep meaning of art is itself quite fascinating. I expect to be returning often to this work for its referential quality. Since the western tradition is not the center of the human intellectual universe, the book encourages me to explore other worlds! And, I appreciate her final sentence in this respect: “The most important lesson we can derive from history is that identity is built never on a monologue but always on the honest, respectful, and committed exchange of ideas that true dialogue represents.”
November 29, 2019
I really enjoyed this book. For me it tied together a lot of other accounts of History and Philosophy I've already studied. It Journeys through the rise of the Greeks through to the Romans and then the Christian church centered mainly on Italy/Rome up until the 1600s. As an Atheist, not that it was the exact intent of the book, how humanistic our history is and how devoid of any supernatural beings our history is. It also highlights how through reason we have slowly, imperfectly, pulled ourselves out of a pit of ignorance. It shows that the belief in the supernatural set us back some 1600 -2000 years from the initial amazing start that Plato and Aristotle gave us to reason about the world around us.
July 30, 2024
I think this is a great read. I enjoyed the structured parts very much, and the way all five flow together, with them all linking back to one another, specially with the links to ancient Greece from Plato and Aristotle. Before reading this I knew very little about the philosophy and thoughts of these times relating to religion. But I knew the history of them. I can now link them both together a little better than I would have previously been able to. Know Thyself is branded as an introduction and its certainly what it does. its a longer book than I usually read, but I read it fast for my standards and I am now reading longer books due to this. well paced, well written and well structured, the use of images was also very good for a reader. I would definitely recommend this book, it deserves its five stars and is something I could read again. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
June 11, 2025
This would have been a really interesting book if I didn’t go to college for a minor in art history. I loved the idea of the author looking more behind the scenes of history, into the psychology of it, but he really did do more of a perusal of history before making a few surface conclusions. I think he would have had to make this more focused in one period in history to really make this book profound. He could have done a series of historical eras, but it was just too many concepts for just one book in order to get any leverage.
December 28, 2021
Really shows the dynamics & complexities of eras long gone, without either condemning or romanticizing them. Really helps clear up misunderstandings, and assumptions, while further stoking my curiosity for subjects, persons, and events mentioned in this book. Given the size of the Bibliography, it supplies me a lifetime of reading. (I'm even curious about writings of early "church fathers," which I never before thought I ever would be)
December 22, 2018
Though it only goes up to the Renaissance, Rossellini's book is a worthy companion to three other philosophical histories of Western civilization: Arthur Herman's The Cave and the Light, Richard Tana's The Passion of the Western Mind, and Gregory Bassham's The Philosophy Book. Her particular angle is the development of Western identity.
October 2, 2020
This book is fine. Read it if you have a casual interest in general history. Do not bother if you have a degree in history, philosophy, religious studies, classics, or comparative studies, etc. It's just "meh" and offers no real insight about the human condition.
December 4, 2022
Ehhh close. This text strays from its thesis in the second half where it fails to tie politics versus religion back to the individual and or western identity. Instead we get to a historical overview of events bolstered by art history, and so this book gets a lesser star.
January 30, 2019
A different way at looking at the history of that time but I do think Rossellini should have made more of how the west was influenced by other cultures.
March 1, 2020
While easy to read and get, Rossellini's obvious bias is thinly separated from her facts.
February 12, 2022
Another dive into the evolution of Western identity -based on the Greeks & Romans, influenced during the Dark Ages via Christianity, and heralded by Italian art.
September 11, 2023
It is well written, but basically another rehash of western civilization, which I just completed. I honestly wish I had read this one first.
March 7, 2025
What a great overview. It was honestly a long read for me, even though the book itself isn't terribly long, but it was full of interesting information.
April 6, 2025
Good as a general history book, but not the philosophical exploration of the Western mindset like I'd hoped.
May 8, 2025
Incredibly researched and detailed, couldn't save itself from being pedantic and long-winded.
January 20, 2019
Comparable to Lord Kenneth Clark’s “Civilization,” but with a modern attitude towards the Crusades and some gender role references. Well, these things must get updated occasionally. Interesting observation re: Renaissance patrons using religious subjects for their own glorification, and the only nuanced discussion of Savonarola I have ever come across. Like Mr. Brusatte she ends her book with an incoherent moral. This one is about tolerance, I think. Nice change from Saving The World From Climate Change, thank you so much Professor Rossellini. Very well written, cites generously. Western Civ doesn’t get done much these days (see PBS “Civilization” update, which also, incidentally, is quite good). A scholarly, readable, informative achievement.
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