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Os Gregos Antigos
Los griegos de la Antigüedad constituye un ordenado friso por el que discurren los aspectos más significativos de la vida en la Grecia clásica. Desde el período arcaico hasta el esplendor del período helenístico, el libro traza un panorama de imágenes a menudo desconocidas de la organización de las ciudades-Estado, la religión, la ciencia, la filosofía, la literatura o las artes visuales de aquella civilización.
El autor, Moses Finley (1912-1986), prestigioso especialista de la Universidad de Cambridge, ha unido la erudición a la claridad expositiva, logrando una obra llena de color y de vida que satisfará tanto al lector interesado como al estudiante que busque una primera aproximación al tema.
El autor, Moses Finley (1912-1986), prestigioso especialista de la Universidad de Cambridge, ha unido la erudición a la claridad expositiva, logrando una obra llena de color y de vida que satisfará tanto al lector interesado como al estudiante que busque una primera aproximación al tema.
179 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
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340 people want to read
About the author
Moses I. Finley
72 books64 followersSir Moses I. Finley was an American and English classical scholar. His most notable work is The Ancient Economy (1973), where he argued that status and civic ideology governed the economy in antiquity rather than rational economic motivations.
He was born in 1912 in New York City as Moses Israel Finkelstein to Nathan Finkelstein and Anna Katzenellenbogen; died in 1986 as a British subject. He was educated at Syracuse University and Columbia University. Although his M.A. was in public law, most of his published work was in the field of ancient history, especially the social and economic aspects of the classical world.
He taught at Columbia University and City College of New York, where he was influenced by members of the Frankfurt School who were working in exile in America. In 1952, during the Red Scare, Finley was fired from his teaching job at Rutgers University; in 1954, he was summoned by the United States Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and asked whether he had ever been a member of the Communist Party USA. He invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer.
Unable subsequently to find work in the United States, Finley moved to England, where he taught classical studies for many years at Cambridge University, first as a Reader in Ancient Social and Economic History at Jesus College (1964–1970), then as Professor of Ancient History (1970–1979) and eventually as Master of Darwin College (1976–1982). He broadened the scope of classical studies from philology to culture, economics, and society. He became a British subject in 1962 and a Fellow of the British Academy in 1971, and was knighted in 1979.
Among his works, The World of Odysseus (1954) proved seminal. In it, he applied the findings of ethnologists and anthropologists like Marcel Mauss to illuminate Homer, a radical approach that was thought by his publishers to require a reassuring introduction by an established classicist, Maurice Bowra. Paul Cartledge asserted in 1995, "... in retrospect Finley's little masterpiece can be seen as the seed of the present flowering of anthropologically-related studies of ancient Greek culture and society".[1] Finley's most influential work remains The Ancient Economy (1973), based on his Sather Lectures at Berkeley the year before. In The Ancient Economy, Finley launched an all-out attack on the modernist tradition within the discipline of ancient economic history. Following the example of Karl Polanyi, Finley argued that the ancient economy should not be analysed using the concepts of modern economic science, because ancient man had no notion of the economy as a separate sphere of society, and because economic actions in antiquity were determined not primarily by economic, but by social concerns.
He was born in 1912 in New York City as Moses Israel Finkelstein to Nathan Finkelstein and Anna Katzenellenbogen; died in 1986 as a British subject. He was educated at Syracuse University and Columbia University. Although his M.A. was in public law, most of his published work was in the field of ancient history, especially the social and economic aspects of the classical world.
He taught at Columbia University and City College of New York, where he was influenced by members of the Frankfurt School who were working in exile in America. In 1952, during the Red Scare, Finley was fired from his teaching job at Rutgers University; in 1954, he was summoned by the United States Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and asked whether he had ever been a member of the Communist Party USA. He invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer.
Unable subsequently to find work in the United States, Finley moved to England, where he taught classical studies for many years at Cambridge University, first as a Reader in Ancient Social and Economic History at Jesus College (1964–1970), then as Professor of Ancient History (1970–1979) and eventually as Master of Darwin College (1976–1982). He broadened the scope of classical studies from philology to culture, economics, and society. He became a British subject in 1962 and a Fellow of the British Academy in 1971, and was knighted in 1979.
Among his works, The World of Odysseus (1954) proved seminal. In it, he applied the findings of ethnologists and anthropologists like Marcel Mauss to illuminate Homer, a radical approach that was thought by his publishers to require a reassuring introduction by an established classicist, Maurice Bowra. Paul Cartledge asserted in 1995, "... in retrospect Finley's little masterpiece can be seen as the seed of the present flowering of anthropologically-related studies of ancient Greek culture and society".[1] Finley's most influential work remains The Ancient Economy (1973), based on his Sather Lectures at Berkeley the year before. In The Ancient Economy, Finley launched an all-out attack on the modernist tradition within the discipline of ancient economic history. Following the example of Karl Polanyi, Finley argued that the ancient economy should not be analysed using the concepts of modern economic science, because ancient man had no notion of the economy as a separate sphere of society, and because economic actions in antiquity were determined not primarily by economic, but by social concerns.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 11, 2012
I would recommend this for people who already have a decent knowledge of Ancient Greece.
The book had great organization - a nice survey of all aspects of ancient Greek life.
However, I only took one basic course in Western Civilization, about 6 years ago in college, and I had a hard time reading the sections of this book that discussed politics and warfare among Greece and other civilizations in the region. The author has a nice writing style, but he often makes casual references, without much explanation, to historical events or people or geography that I sadly cannot recall from my slim prior historical reading.
That being said, the book was a good level of reading for me in the subject areas that I had read more about previously, like theater, poetry, the visual arts, and philosophy. It offered more advanced historical analysis into those areas that I already had a basic foundation in, which I really enjoyed.
The book had great organization - a nice survey of all aspects of ancient Greek life.
However, I only took one basic course in Western Civilization, about 6 years ago in college, and I had a hard time reading the sections of this book that discussed politics and warfare among Greece and other civilizations in the region. The author has a nice writing style, but he often makes casual references, without much explanation, to historical events or people or geography that I sadly cannot recall from my slim prior historical reading.
That being said, the book was a good level of reading for me in the subject areas that I had read more about previously, like theater, poetry, the visual arts, and philosophy. It offered more advanced historical analysis into those areas that I already had a basic foundation in, which I really enjoyed.
May 26, 2017
Impressively concise but solid review of Greek history until the Macedonian conquest. For me, having read quite a bit on the subject, this was a refresher as regards the basic facts and interesting as regards Finley's informed but cautious takes on those facts. I think, however, that it would also serve as a readable introduction to the topic.
November 26, 2023
High readable and a comprehensive account of the Ancient Greeks.
Read
January 11, 2025An opinionated yet scholarly, brisk yet thorough overview of ancient Greek culture, focusing primarily on the history, politics, and intellectual culture of Athens. Maybe too focused on that one city-state, but for the space allotted, sufficient in recognizing the key distinctions of the West’s most lasting wellspring of thought.
March 18, 2025
4.1/5
Está muy interesante, breve y bien redactado, algunas cosas ya las conocía y otras no, me pareció un buen trabajo de un historiador que ha dedicado parte de su trabajo a la antigua Grecia
Está muy interesante, breve y bien redactado, algunas cosas ya las conocía y otras no, me pareció un buen trabajo de un historiador que ha dedicado parte de su trabajo a la antigua Grecia
April 13, 2015
From the absurd attitude that took ancient Greece as some kind of harmonious "ideal," some have shifted to the attitude that it was a rather worthless and uninteresting period, because of slavery, for example. Few stop to consider whether slavery of some kind isn't part of today's social system, and whether today's intellectuals aren't just as "aristocratic" as those of ancient Athens (without being on the philosophical level of a Plato or an Aristotle, obviously).
In any case, abhorrent as some of ancient Greece's institutions and values were, there's no denying it was a fascinating time and that for a brief moment the autonomous poleis, with their assemblies, councils and magistrates invented a curious way of life, one that did not quite do away with typical Greek "stasis" or civil strife between "the few" and "the many," the upper and lower classes, but did find strange, contradictory balances, and in the process produced political, cultural and intellectual forms that remain impressive.
Finley does his best to interpret the paradoxes and fill in the many gaps in knowledge. From archaic Greece to the Hellenistic period, he hits the highlights and his explanations seem mostly sound.
In any case, abhorrent as some of ancient Greece's institutions and values were, there's no denying it was a fascinating time and that for a brief moment the autonomous poleis, with their assemblies, councils and magistrates invented a curious way of life, one that did not quite do away with typical Greek "stasis" or civil strife between "the few" and "the many," the upper and lower classes, but did find strange, contradictory balances, and in the process produced political, cultural and intellectual forms that remain impressive.
Finley does his best to interpret the paradoxes and fill in the many gaps in knowledge. From archaic Greece to the Hellenistic period, he hits the highlights and his explanations seem mostly sound.
May 25, 2023
This book worked for me very very nicely and I'm grateful to the tradition of second-hand book trading which allowed me to discover this book and get it for 2 EURs.
Finley, an outstanding scholar of ancient world who introduced novel approaches in our understanding of the era, seems like to have pursued a goal in this book not only to introduce the ancient Greek world to the lay reader in the most concise sense but also doing that in an almost personal level so that he very kindly (of him) connects with the reader on variety of curiosities which may occur to the novice reader, like, the importance of religion, handling of slavery issue, progression of arts, etc. He not only knows his stuff well, which he conveys in a very intelligible manner but he's fully aware of what matters most and he extends this part of discussion.
For sure it's a dated book, especially (and naturally) missing the recent developments in ancient studies, like the sources of inspiration for the Greek civilization, which in many subjects he claims to be without precedent. However, recent studies show non-negligible influence of near East cultures on Greek ideas, which looked without precedent when Finley was authoring. Still, it's a very valuable book. Normally I would give 4 stars but due to its poor rating here, I'm giving 5 just to tip the balance a bit.
Finley, an outstanding scholar of ancient world who introduced novel approaches in our understanding of the era, seems like to have pursued a goal in this book not only to introduce the ancient Greek world to the lay reader in the most concise sense but also doing that in an almost personal level so that he very kindly (of him) connects with the reader on variety of curiosities which may occur to the novice reader, like, the importance of religion, handling of slavery issue, progression of arts, etc. He not only knows his stuff well, which he conveys in a very intelligible manner but he's fully aware of what matters most and he extends this part of discussion.
For sure it's a dated book, especially (and naturally) missing the recent developments in ancient studies, like the sources of inspiration for the Greek civilization, which in many subjects he claims to be without precedent. However, recent studies show non-negligible influence of near East cultures on Greek ideas, which looked without precedent when Finley was authoring. Still, it's a very valuable book. Normally I would give 4 stars but due to its poor rating here, I'm giving 5 just to tip the balance a bit.
June 5, 2023
Unremarkable, learned and rather dry, survey of the Ancient Greeks covering their history, arts, science, Literature and politics. Its short - about 180 pages. There are no footnotes. The 1977 edition, which I read, has a bibliography made up books mainly published from 1960 to 1973. Since Findley was a Leftist, and possible communist**, some of his pronoucements on certain subjects should be met with skepticism.
** - Findley was fired from Rutgers University in early 50s for refusing to testify before a Congressional committee. He had been identifed by others as a member of CPUSA, and admitted he had numerous CPUSA members as Friends and associates. When seeking a job at Oxford, he told Trevor-Roper he was hard-Left but not a communist, although how much stock we can put in that is open to question.
** - Findley was fired from Rutgers University in early 50s for refusing to testify before a Congressional committee. He had been identifed by others as a member of CPUSA, and admitted he had numerous CPUSA members as Friends and associates. When seeking a job at Oxford, he told Trevor-Roper he was hard-Left but not a communist, although how much stock we can put in that is open to question.
January 3, 2021
De oude Grieken, een klassieker
July 5, 2023
Conciso y cumple lo que promete en la intro pero me parece que ahonda mucho en partes irrelevantes y no enfoca en cosas necesarias. Tengo que releerlo.
February 16, 2024
A little dated, but a great survey covering a little bit of everything Ancient Greece.
April 15, 2024
Quiero aclarar que no me lei todo el libro, solo la mitad del mismo, ya que me lo pidieron para mi carrera.
June 20, 2024
Fue de mucha ayuda para una materia del instituto.
April 11, 2025
Essential synthesis from a master of Ancient Greek studies.
July 26, 2010
Picked this up in a market on a whim but glad I did. My knowledge of ancient Greece is sketchy to say the least, restricted to philosophy and plays. This is a short, punchy book, intertwining themes rather than giving linear chunks of facts. I'm pleasantly surprised that a scholar of ancient Greece is not s dry writer, but quuite pithy, witty at times, and not averse to idiomatic asides comparing ancient Greeks with modern westerners.
About half way through this short book, only reading a short section at a time. The first half ends with the decline of the polis, then goes on to look in subsequent chapters at specifics such as literature, philosophy, science, popular attitudes, concluding with an overview of the conventionally termed Hellenistic Age.
About half way through this short book, only reading a short section at a time. The first half ends with the decline of the polis, then goes on to look in subsequent chapters at specifics such as literature, philosophy, science, popular attitudes, concluding with an overview of the conventionally termed Hellenistic Age.
Read
July 26, 2012A Forced Read for a Class...it was the most hideously boring book I've have had the horror of casting my eyes upon. This book is so fucking bad, I would recommend Captain Smackass to read it for a laugh.
May 15, 2016
Finley finds a nice balance between detail and significance in this short little introduction. It really filled in a few contextual gaps for me being more familiar with Ancient Greek Philosophy than Ancient Greek History or sociology.
April 5, 2017
An excellence source for me.
February 28, 2014
An accessible and engaging introduction to ancient Greece.
September 13, 2015
A good, basic introduction to Greek culture, a nice review.
April 18, 2017
Zeer helder overzicht in een vlotte stijl.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews