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Life in Classical Athens
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August 20, 2022
This book felt more like a companion guide to Athenian culture and history than a life history for the average Athenian.
Once again, a title of a book is misleading—shock horror. I was lent this book by a good friend of mine, with the intention of reading a history of what life would look like for the average joe shmo of the Athenian world. Maybe some insight into their daily lives, their festivals, their beliefs and so on. I did not get this, for the most part. While Webster touches upon some of those fascets, he leans rather heavily on the already established and well-researched history of the Athenian historical 'big men'. I concede that this is an older book, being written in the 60s, and the style, therefore, may be somewhat different to what I am used to, and possibly some information and theories may not have been realised just yet; I couldn't help feeling let down by its content.
This is not to say it is a bad book. It isn't. If you want a history of Athenain theatre, art, literature and some glints of daily life in Classical Athens, then this is the book I would recommend. Webster is well researched and offers some of his own theories and analysis into certain aspects of why a particular playwright changed a certain element of the mythological history to suit their story, or what a festival would have meant to the people of Athens. But these observations come few and far between and not nearly frequently enough for me to maintain interest.
At least the book looks nice on my shelf haha.
Once again, a title of a book is misleading—shock horror. I was lent this book by a good friend of mine, with the intention of reading a history of what life would look like for the average joe shmo of the Athenian world. Maybe some insight into their daily lives, their festivals, their beliefs and so on. I did not get this, for the most part. While Webster touches upon some of those fascets, he leans rather heavily on the already established and well-researched history of the Athenian historical 'big men'. I concede that this is an older book, being written in the 60s, and the style, therefore, may be somewhat different to what I am used to, and possibly some information and theories may not have been realised just yet; I couldn't help feeling let down by its content.
This is not to say it is a bad book. It isn't. If you want a history of Athenain theatre, art, literature and some glints of daily life in Classical Athens, then this is the book I would recommend. Webster is well researched and offers some of his own theories and analysis into certain aspects of why a particular playwright changed a certain element of the mythological history to suit their story, or what a festival would have meant to the people of Athens. But these observations come few and far between and not nearly frequently enough for me to maintain interest.
At least the book looks nice on my shelf haha.
Displaying 1 of 1 review