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21. Pyrrhus Makers of History
 
22. Pillar and Tinderbox: The Greek
$120.02
23. Stirring the Greek Nation
$79.15
24. Byzantium Between the Ottomans
25. A Day in Old Athens; a Picture
26. A Day in Old Athens; a Picture
 
$90.00
27. Nomodeiktes: Greek Studies in
$0.01
28. Not Out Of Africa: How "Afrocentrism"
$99.00
29. Ancient Crete: From Successful
30. A Day in Old Athens a Picture
31. THE ROMAN QUESTION
32. A Day in Old Athens a Picture
33. The Roman Question
34. A Roman Singer
35. THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT
36. Lays of Ancient Rome
$24.50
37. Herodotus and the Origins of the
$46.60
38. The Cities of Pamphylia
39. The Ancient Banner

21. Pyrrhus Makers of History
by Jacob Abbott
Kindle Edition: Pages (2009-04-19)
list price: US$3.99
Asin: B0026ZP5UM
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In respect to the heroes of ancient history, who lived in times antecedent to the period when the regular records of authentic history commence, no reliance can be placed upon the actual verity of the accounts which have come down to us of their lives and actions. In those ancient days there was, in fact, no line of demarkation between romance and history, and the stories which were told of Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, Romulus, Pyrrhus, and other personages as ancient as they, are all more or less fabulous and mythical. We learn this as well from the internal evidence furnished by the narratives themselves as from the researches of modern scholars, who have succeeded, in many cases, in disentangling the web, and separating the false from the true. It is none the less important, however, on this account, that these ancient tales, as they were originally told, and as they have come down to us through so many centuries, should be made known to readers of the [Pg vi]present age. They have been circulated among mankind in their original form for twenty or thirty centuries, and they have mingled themselves inextricably with the literature, the eloquence, and the poetry of every civilized nation on the globe. Of course, to know what the story is, whether true or false, which the ancient narrators recorded, and which has been read and commented on by every succeeding generation to the present day, is an essential attainment for every well-informed man; a far more essential attainment, in fact, for the general reader, than to discover now, at this late period, what the actual facts were which gave origin to the fable. In writing this series of histories, therefore, it has been the aim of the author not to correct the ancient story, but to repeat it as it stands, cautioning the reader, however, whenever occasion requires, not to suppose that the marvelous narratives are historically true. ... Read more


22. Pillar and Tinderbox: The Greek Press and the Dictatorship (Open Forum)
by Robert McDonald
 Hardcover: 231 Pages (1983-06)
list price: US$25.00
Isbn: 0714527815
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23. Stirring the Greek Nation
by Ioannis D. Stefanidis
Hardcover: 318 Pages (2007-10-24)
list price: US$124.95 -- used & new: US$120.02
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0754660591
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
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This work examines the background to Greek nationalist politics and its effects on public opinion towards international events and territorial claims, from the end of the Second World War to the collapse of the constitutional rule in 1967. It explains how intermittent public mobilisation on various foreign policy issues created a 'political culture' that combined elements of nationalism, religion, race and stereotypes about the national Self and the Other. The book challenges widely-held assumptions that Greek irredentism was all but dead and buried in the aftermath of the Asia Minor catastrophe of 1922, and that anti-Americanism was the product of US support for the Colonels' regime of 1967-74 and its condoning of the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus. It begins with an examination of the revival of irredentism in connection with Greek national claims after 1945 and the two campaigns for the union of Cyprus with Greece during the 1950s and 1960s.The second part of the study reveals anti-Americanism to be largely the result of failed post-war Greek expansionist territorial ambitions - particularly the frustration of the Enosis claim - rather than the actual intervention of the United States in Greek affairs. Drawing on a huge variety of sources including the Greek press, records of the Greek Parliament, the US and British National Archives, as well the archives of numerous individuals, this book provides a fascinating account of Greek political culture and national self image at a crucial time in the country's political development. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

4-0 out of 5 stars Getting to the roots of Greek
Most discussions of Greek anti-Americanism exhaust themselves in sterile discussions of the U.S. role in the Greek military coup of 1967 and the 1974 Cyprus fiasco.(Declassified documents exonerate the U.S. of active complicity, though it could have done more to prevent disaster). Dr. Stefanidis, a professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, turns the study of anti-Americanism around. He stresses how domestic political competition, particularly over the Cyprus issue, drove the mobilization of ordinary Greeks against the U.S. during the 1950s and afterwards.

Stefanidis does not take sides as an analyst, except by allowing the local nationalists to sound ridiculous through his excellent choice of quotations. He dredges up interesting material from old U.S.I.A. (public diplomacy) public opinion polling. The result is enormously educational for anyone interested in Greece or in understanding (and maybe reducing) the intensity of anti-U.S. public sentiments around the world. For more details, see

... Read more


24. Byzantium Between the Ottomans and the Latins: Politics and Society in the Late Empire
by Nevra Necipoglu
Hardcover: 372 Pages (2009-04-20)
list price: US$99.00 -- used & new: US$79.15
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0521877385
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars
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This is the first detailed analysis of Byzantine political attitudes towards the Ottomans and western Europeans during the critical last century of Byzantium. The book covers three major regions of the Byzantine Empire - Thessalonike, Constantinople, and the Morea - where the political orientations of aristocrats, merchants, the urban populace, peasants, and members of ecclesiastical and monastic circles are examined against the background of social and economic conditions. Through its particular focus on the political and religious dispositions of individuals, families and social groups, the book offers an original view of late Byzantine politics and society that is not found in conventional narratives. Drawing on a wide range of Byzantine, western and Ottoman sources, it authoritatively illustrates how late Byzantium was drawn into an Ottoman system in spite of the westward-looking orientation of the majority of its ruling elite. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

5-0 out of 5 stars Great Historical detail explained
Excellent analysis on the late Byzantine period . The book provides interesting pieces of information delving into detail abouteveryday life , trading, court life , and interactions between the Greeks, Turks, and The italian city states ie. Venice and Genoa . ... Read more


25. A Day in Old Athens; a Picture of Athenian Life
by William Stearns Davis
Kindle Edition: Pages (2010-07-21)
list price: US$3.50
Asin: B003WUY358
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This little book tries to describe what an intelligent person would see and hear in ancient Athens, if by some legerdemain he were translated to the fourth century B.C. and conducted about the city under competent guidance. Rare happenings have been omitted and sometimes, to avoid long explanations, PROBABLE matters have been stated as if they were ascertained facts; but these instances are few, and it is hoped no reader will be led into serious error.
... Read more


26. A Day in Old Athens; a Picture of Athenian Life
by William Stearns Davis
Kindle Edition: Pages (2010-05-02)
list price: US$3.40
Asin: B003L0QTK6
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Editorial Review

Product Description
This little book tries to describe what an intelligent person would see and hear in ancient Athens, if by some legerdemain he were translated to the fourth century B.C. and conducted about the city under competent guidance. Rare happenings have been omitted and sometimes, to avoid long explanations, PROBABLE matters have been stated as if they were ascertained facts; but these instances are few, and it is hoped no reader will be led into serious error. ... Read more


27. Nomodeiktes: Greek Studies in Honor of Martin Ostwald
 Hardcover: 752 Pages (1994-03-01)
list price: US$90.00 -- used & new: US$90.00
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0472102974
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Fascinating discussions of fifth-century Athens and its modern interpretation.
... Read more


28. Not Out Of Africa: How "Afrocentrism" Became An Excuse To Teach Myth As History (A New Republic Book)
by Mary Lefkowitz
Hardcover: 240 Pages (1996-01-25)
list price: US$24.00 -- used & new: US$0.01
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0465098371
Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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Expanding on a New Republic piece that generated controversy, a noted classicist offers the first full rebuttal of the myth of Afrocentrism. She demonstrates that there has been no modern conspiracy among scholars to conceal the debt of Greece to Egypt and that some of the misconceptions arise from the ancient Greeks' misunderstanding of Egyptian religions.Amazon.com Review
Wellesley classics professor Mary Lefkowitz takes aim at the basicclaims of leading proponents of Afro-centrism, in this expansion of her NewRepublic article exposing flaws in the argument that black Africans wereresponsible for the great civilizations of Egypt and Greece that broughtpraise from historians and criticism from Afrocentrists. Lefkowitz arguesthat the Greeks' African heritage touted by Senegalese scholar Cheikh AntaDiop is based upon a single dubious source and that Egyptians neverconsidered themselves black Africans, in fact, that they consciouslydisassociated themselves from blacks. She argues that the legacy of these twocultures remains so rich even foes of European civilization want to claimthat legacy for themselves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (157)

1-0 out of 5 stars If its possible i'd rate half a star
It is no shock to see that many like this book. Racism will never die, not while uneducated, unwilling to progress human inhabit the world. This book as many other people have mentioned has no proof, as much as the fans like to think just because it is a "scholarly" person writing that it is factual, it is not. White people and brainwashed minorities have been trying to debunk anything not from the elites for yrs. If you chose to waste your money on this then so be it, but, if you are someone looking to change things for the better, to make this world a livable one for all your brothers and sisters, then do everyone a favor, do the author a favor and do not purchase this book.

1-0 out of 5 stars Lefkowitz and her misuse of the ADL - Donations/Support gone Astray
Applying the Socratic Method we all should be asking ourselves a series of questions as to why Dr. Lefkowitz focused on Dr. Yosef A. A. ben-Jochannan.

Why didn't she focus on Cheikh Anta Diop or Theophile Obenga the scholars who are pillars of Afrocentrism?
(They are liguist, philosophers, historians and Egyptologist with multiple degrees and extremely documented works).

The reason may be because Dr. Yosef A. A. ben-Jochannan made a scholarly mistake as to when the Alexandrian Library was built and Aristotle's time of study, which is easily debatable and that can and was disproved by Lefkowitz.Lefkowitz received her Ph.d from Harvard in Classical Studies, where in which she would have been required to study the Greek language.That being the case why didn't she refer to the works of Greeks themselves?Why doesn't she know, or acknowledge that the following Greek thikers studied in Egypt: Thales of Miletus, Solon of Athens, Pythagoras of Samos, Xenophanes of Colophon, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, Pherecydes of Syros, Empedocles of Acragas, Democritus of Abdera, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle?

Dr. Lefkowitz should have been aware of the numerous writings by Greeks written on themselves or by their disciples.It is imperative that we as seekers of truth shout out truth and shed light on lies.

Sources:
Aristotle talks about his time in Egypt (Meteorology 352 b 20), Aristotle talks about Egyptians being the most ancient of people (Meteorology, I 14 352 b)

Phythagoras (Just read the Pythagoras Library)

Socrates (Plato, Phaedrus, 274 c-d)

Plato talks about Egypt in 42% of his work (Gorgias, Meno, Euthyphro, Phaedo, Republic, Phaedrus, Timaeus, Critias, Laws, and Philebus)

We have to search for truth ourselves we can't leave it in the hands of people like Dr. Lefkowitz because not all people are qualified even though they have Ph.d's. If we look at her previous books we see her passion and course of study truly are (which may not be well researched also): The Victory Ode : An Introduction (1976), Heroines and Hysterics (1981), The Lives of the Greek Poets (1981), Women's Life in Greece and Rome (1982) editor, with Maureen Fant, Women in Greek Myth (1986), First-person Fictions : Pindar's Poetic "I" (1991).


Martin v. Lefkowitz Libel Case

1. Lefkowitz won Round One on a motion to dismiss.

2. Martin won Round Two. Mass Court of Appeal overturned lower court -- reinstated case.

3. Lefkowitz won Round Three on a motion for summary judgment.

"Lefkowitz admitted that the offending words she wrote about Martin were untrue" but contended, successfully, that because Martin is a "public figure", as that term is understood in America's libel laws, he has to prove not merely negligence on her part in not writing the truth, but also that she was motivated by malice.

She claimed that Martin did not prove malice.

4.Martin has appealed.

3-0 out of 5 stars Blah Blah Blah
[...]
Many people in America suffer from psychological fragility. Read the article above to see what Southern Europeanswere accomplishing approximately 1500 to 2000 years before both Egypt and Greece rose to prominence.

As the Pallet of Narmer unmistakably shows, Egypt appeared as a unified power after several hundred years of tribal warfare along the Nile. In other words, the glory of Egypt was the result of savagery, not some divinely inspired civilizational impulse . I can easily imagine Narmer, perhaps wearing a pair of canvas slippers and brimming with bravado, cleaving some rival's head with a heavy, stone mace, and then absconding with his victim's latest innovation in footwear. The point is that we could just as easily pin the charge of theft on the ancient Egyptians. For example, the wheel was not native to Egypt, yet they "stole" it from the Hyksos,improved it and used it during the reign of Ramses II to extend their empire far beyond its traditional borders. Thus, before you take credit for the "genius" of other individuals, you should first consider that they were vicious and ambitious colonizers who "stole" from others just as the Greeks "stole" from them later. Many of the imperial inclinations we despise so much today sustained Egypt for millennia.
So, in order to advance beyond the dangerous stupidities of the past, we must avoid the self-serving tendency to reinterpret the complexity of ancient history through the lens of contemporary experiences and the resulting paranoias and biases.

What's undeniably true is that virtually all people alive today are descended from peasants. This is a simple historical fact, and to believe that you're not descended froma peasant is silly and laughable. Just accept the fact that your molecules are no more "royal" than mine or some other person's.

1-0 out of 5 stars Really?
The author systematically wages war on Afrocentrism all the while promoting Eurocentrism using the very same techniques she accuses her opponents of. Listening to hypocrisy is hard, sitting and reading through it is worse.

1-0 out of 5 stars Our Common African Genesis, 2nd Edition
Our Common African Genesis traces the origins of modern humans and early civilization through genetics, linguistics, archeology, history, and the Books of Moses.Despite the predominance of the ancient Africans, they are persistently slandered in the Old Testament and, in turn, dismissed from modern history.
In the finger pointing the Hebrews contrived to rationalize the Exodus and Conquest, the sins of the world were dumped on Egyptians and Canaanites making them the most maligned race in history.Desecration of Our Common African Genesis continued unbelievably into the 20th century, historians deluding Egyptians were Caucasians, ranting that Africans developed no civilization, till 1996, the dementia complete, babbling their history obscure, their Aegean influence NOT Out of Africa.This literary genocide swept an entire race of people from history, the pen a continuation of Joshua's swift sword, psychopathic denial of the Hamitic gene flow in Genesis 10.
This Pious Fraud, aggressively marketed by Christianity and Academia, brainwashed us with sick beliefs about race, religion, and history, indeed, of ourselves and each other.The fictional Mediterranean Caucasians, really Ethiopians, the genetic sons of Ham and Cush, developed civilization long before Caucasians and Semites.Tales of the glorious Mediterranean Caucasians ironically are the most Afrocentric history in existence, quite opposite the authors' intent.The people that the Hebrews, Greeks, and others called Ethiopians are the same Dark Whites Toynbee said spawned ten civilizations.
The verdict may not be unanimous but the evidence is overwhelming that Africans begat the human race and Ethiopians begat Western Civilization, the Hebrews (Semites) and Greeks (Caucasians) very late `pretenders to the throne'.Indeed, it took four tries to get Western Civilization off the ground, with three intervening Dark Ages, all four grafted onto Ethiopian rootstock including the long taproot of the hybrid Judaic, Christian, Islam, and Hindu mythologies, yes, even schooling the Levites, Brahmans, Alexander, young Jesus, and Paul in the Ethiops celestial mythos and ritual.
Only by ignoring and/or suppressing the evidence, deriding the ancient Ethiopians, even denying their birthplace, can Lefkowitz and her predecessors and her reviewers make a case.Then our `White Throne' atop the `Great Chain of Being' was secured, nothing less than God's favorites, Evolution's crowning mutation, far superior to that other "ethnic group whose history has largely remained obscure".Case closed.
This is not mistaken or defective research.Fraud doesn't even adequately describe this crime.This is `literary genocide', eradicating an entire race of people from our history books, a deception of immense proportions, that began in the Old Testament, then took a new turn around 1800 under the pseudoscience of `phrenology', the bogus study of skull shapes, and its accomplice, the decrepit `ethnology', the study of `race'.Even though these pseudosciences were discredited by anthropologists and neurologists by the turn of the 20th century, their corruption spread into history books.It is this hoax that replaced `Ethiopian' with `Mediterranean Caucasian' that was so appealing to Western historians that it became canon.
Dr. Lefkowitz, I charge you with `abandonment of scholarship', `literary genocide', and `fraud'. Add your predecessors' and reviewers' documented testimony and we also have `conspiracy'.You didn't act alone.This is not simply a question of historical right or wrong or the shades of gray in between.The issue is `intent', the difference between `defective research' and `fraud'. Our Common African Genesis, 2nd Ed. ... Read more


29. Ancient Crete: From Successful Collapse to Democracy's Alternatives, Twelfth to Fifth Centuries BC
by Saro Wallace
Hardcover: 486 Pages (2010-08-31)
list price: US$99.00 -- used & new: US$99.00
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0521112044
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'Ancient Greece' with its associations of city states, democratic governance, and iconic material culture, can no longer be envisaged as a uniform geographical or historical entity. The Classical city-states of Crete differed considerably in culture, history and governance from those of central Greece. In this book, Saro Wallace reaches back into Crete's prehistory, covering the latest Bronze Age through the Archaic periods, to find out why. It emphasizes the roles of landscape, external contacts, social identity construction and historical consciousness in producing this difference, bringing together the wealth of new archaeological evidence available from the island with a variety of ancient text sources to produce a vivid and up-to-date picture of this momentous period in Crete's history. ... Read more


30. A Day in Old Athens a Picture of Athenian Life
by William Stearns Davis
Kindle Edition: Pages (2010-10-23)
list price: US$3.85
Asin: B0048WPCNG
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"This little book tries to describe what an intelligent person would see and hear in ancient Athens, if by some legerdemain he were translated to the fourth century B.C. and conducted about the city under competent guidance. Rare happenings have been omitted and sometimes, to avoid long explanations, PROBABLE matters have been stated as if they were ascertained facts; but these instances are few, and it is hoped no reader will be led into serious error. " ... Read more


31. THE ROMAN QUESTION
by E. ABOUT
Kindle Edition: Pages (2009-08-16)
list price: US$2.99
Asin: B002LSHZ1G
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PREFACE

It was in the Papal States that I studied the Roman Question. I travelled over every part of the country; I conversed with men of all opinions, examined things very closely, and collected my information on the spot.

My first impressions, noted down from day to day without any especial object, appeared, with some necessary modifications, in the _Moniteur Universel_. These notes, truthful, somewhat unconnected, and so thoroughly impartial, that it would be easy to discover in them contradictions and inconsistencies, I was obliged to discontinue, in consequence of the violent outcry of the Pontifical Government. I did more. I threw them in the fire, and wrote a book instead. The present volume is the result of a year's reflection.

I completed my study of the subject by the perusal of the most recent works published in Italy. The learned memoir of the Marquis Pepoli, and the admirable reply of an anonymous writer to M. de Rayneval, supplied me with my best weapons. I have been further enlightened by the conversation and correspondence of some illustrious Italians, whom I would gladly name, were I not afraid of exposing them to danger. ... Read more


32. A Day in Old Athens a Picture of Athenian Life
by William Stearns Davis
Kindle Edition: Pages (2010-10-23)
list price: US$3.85
Asin: B0048ELMS8
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"This little book tries to describe what an intelligent person would see and hear in ancient Athens, if by some legerdemain he were translated to the fourth century B.C. and conducted about the city under competent guidance. Rare happenings have been omitted and sometimes, to avoid long explanations, PROBABLE matters have been stated as if they were ascertained facts; but these instances are few, and it is hoped no reader will be led into serious error. " ... Read more


33. The Roman Question
by Edmond About
Kindle Edition: Pages (2009-07-23)
list price: US$3.99
Asin: B0027CSL3M
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34. A Roman Singer
by F. Marion Crawford
Kindle Edition: Pages (2010-03-27)
list price: US$4.00
Asin: B003E7FW6I
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I, Cornelio Grandi, who tell you these things, have a story of my own, of which some of you are not ignorant. You know, for one thing, that I was not always poor, nor always a professor of philosophy, nor a scribbler of pedantic articles for a living. Many of you can remember why I was driven to sell my patrimony, the dear castello in the Sabines, with the good corn-land and the vineyards in the valley, and the olives, too. ... Read more


35. THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME
by E. M. BERENS
Kindle Edition: Pages (2010-04-03)
list price: US$3.15
Asin: B003F77D9G
Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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INTRODUCTION.

Before entering upon the many strange beliefs of the ancient Greeks, and the extraordinary number of gods they worshipped, we must first consider what kind of beings these divinities were.

In appearance, the gods were supposed to resemble mortals, whom, however, they far surpassed in beauty, grandeur, and strength; they were also more commanding in stature, height being considered by the Greeks an attribute of beauty in man or woman. They resembled human beings in their feelings and habits, intermarrying and having children, and requiring daily nourishment to recruit their strength, and refreshing sleep to restore their energies. Their blood, a bright ethereal fluid called Ichor, never engendered disease, and, when shed, had the power of producing new life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

5-0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Read
I was very happy to see newer stories and myths, instead of the same old Hercules 12 trials, Athena popping from Zeus' head, etc.....Love it and very educational.

4-0 out of 5 stars myths and legends...
This is a very good story for people who are interested in greek myths which includes an a to z details. if you do not understand the percy jackson series, this is good reference

4-0 out of 5 stars Interesting Book
This is my first review, so I'll be first telling about the content of this book. This book is a complete history of Roman gods and the myths associated with them.

The first one were Uranus and Gaea- the parents of all the gods. Later Giants and Titans came and after them Olympians. All share a common fate where son will dethrone his own father. This happened with Uranus being dethroned by his own son Titan Cronus and he also faced the same fate by his own son Zeus who later became King of Gods.

Reading this book in Kindle-PC was a different experience. Author has used many Roman phrases which is difficult to understand. Also, author has used Aides in the place of Hades (Brother of Zeus and God of Underworld).

Overall, this book has complete information about the legends and Gods of Ancient Romans and Greece.

You should buy this if you are interested in Roman and Greece culture.

2-0 out of 5 stars it was just plain awkward to read.
i am a huge lover of greek myths and it was hard to read this, even though i only got the sample. i found it hard to figure out somtimes when something ended and started. i was half way through the story of zeus beating his father before i even relized it had started!

1-0 out of 5 stars Ebook conversion poorly done
Regardless of the book's literary content, I found I couldn't get through the first few pages because the ebook formatting (at least on my kindle) turned out to be quite poor.The biggest annoyance was that the entire book was center-justified, and no amount of fiddling with the kindle justification control had any effect.I would love to read the book but found this formatting issue so distracting I gave up on trying. ... Read more


36. Lays of Ancient Rome
by Thomas Babbington Macaulay
Kindle Edition: Pages (2009-04-18)
list price: US$4.99
Asin: B002BDUNUG
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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That what is called the history of the Kings and early Consuls of Rome is to a great extent fabulous, few scholars have, since the time of Beaufort, ventured to deny. It is certain that, more than three hundred and sixty years after the date ordinarily assigned for the foundation of the city, the public records were, with scarcely an exception, destroyed by the Gauls. It is certain that the oldest annals of the commonwealth were compiled more than a century and a half after this destruction of the records. It is certain, therefore, that the great Latin writers of the Augustan age did not possess those materials, without which a trustworthy account of the infancy of the republic could not possibly be framed. Those writers own, indeed, that the chronicles to which they had access were filled with battles that were never fought, and Consuls that were never inaugurated; and we have abundant proof that, in these chronicles, events of the greatest importance, such as the issue of the war with Porsena and the issue of the war with Brennus, were grossly misrepresented. Under these circumstances a wise man will look with great suspicion on the legend which has come down to us. He will perhaps be inclined to regard the princes who are said to have founded the civil and religious institutions of Rome, the sons of Mars, and the husband of Egeria, as mere mythological personages, of the same class with Perseus and Ixion. As he draws nearer to the confines of authentic history, he will become less and less hard of belief. He will admit that the most important parts of the narrative have some foundation in truth. But he will distrust almost all the details, not only because they seldom rest on any solid evidence, but also because he will constantly detect in them, even when they are within the limits of physical possibility, that peculiar character, more easily understood than defined, which distinguishes the creations of the imagination from the realities of the world in which we live.
The early history of Rome is indeed far more poetical than anything else in Latin literature. The loves of the Vestal and the God of War, the cradle laid among the reeds of Tiber, the fig-tree, the she-wolf, the shepherd's cabin, the recognition, the fratricide, the rape of the Sabines, the death of Tarpeia, the fall of Hostus Hostilius, the struggle of Mettus Curtius through the marsh, the women rushing with torn raiment and dishevelled hair between their fathers and their husbands, the nightly meetings of Numa and the Nymph by the well in the sacred grove, the fight of the three Romans and the three Albans, the purchase of the Sibylline books, the crime of Tullia, the simulated madness of Brutus, the ambiguous reply of the Delphian oracle to the Tarquins, the wrongs of Lucretia, the heroic actions of Horatius Cocles, of Scaevola, and of Cloelia, the battle of Regillus won by the aid of Castor and Pollux, the defense of Cremera, the touching story of Coriolanus, the still more touching story of Virginia, the wild legend about the draining of the Alban lake, the combat between Valerius Corvus and the gigantic Gaul, are among the many instances which will at once suggest themselves to every reader.
In the narrative of Livy, who was a man of fine imagination, these stories retain much of their genuine character. Nor could even the tasteless Dionysius distort and mutilate them into mere prose. The poetry shines, in spite of him, through the dreary pedantry of his eleven books. It is discernible in the most tedious and in the most superficial modern works on the early times of Rome. It enlivens the dulness of the Universal History, and gives a charm to the most meagre abridgements of Goldsmith.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

3-0 out of 5 stars Minor But Interesting Victorian Verse; 3.5 Stars
Something of a pastiche, Macaulay's effort at a version of folk poetry based on early Roman history is hardly great poetry but is enjoyable and somewhat revealing.These efforts fall squarely in the mainstream of rather romanticized efforts to recover an authentic "folk" voice.At the same time, Macaulay approaches this work with a relatively sophisticated knowledge of Roman history and Medieval literature.But why Rome and not, for example, Macaulay's England?Beyond the heavy emphasis on Classical literature in Macaulay's Britain, there is also the British conception of itself as a new Rome.Some parts of these poems betray concerns also about social and class stratification of Victorian Britain.

All texts available at Project Gutenberg for free.

5-0 out of 5 stars Brave Horatius
I have not read all of the lays, but Horatius at the Bridge stirs me in ways that I cannot explain.What a deeply moving, inspirational poem.This should be required reading in every school in America.And required to be memorized in every service academy.

5-0 out of 5 stars LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME
THE GIFT THE AUTHOR HAS TELLING ME OF HORATIUS IS BEAUTIFUL.THE WORDS THAT HE USES BECOME A SCENICPICTURE THT ENTRANCES MY MIND AND CAPTURES MY SENSES.I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE LAND THAT HE SPEAKS OF AND FEEL AS IF IHAVE BEEN THERE IN MY MIND.HE IS ELOQUANT AND POETIC AND EVEN THEHORRIBLE BATTLES ARE BEAUTIFUL!

5-0 out of 5 stars LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME
THE GIFT THE AUTHOR HAS TELLING ME OF HORATIUS IS BEAUTIFUL.THE WORDS THAT HE USES BECOME A SCENICPICTURE THT ENTRANCES MY MIND AND CAPTURES MY SENSES.I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE LAND THAT HE SPEAKS OF AND FEEL AS IF IHAVE BEEN THERE IN MY MIND.HE IS ELOQUANT AND POETIC AND EVEN THEHORRIBLE BATTLES ARE BEAUTIFUL!

5-0 out of 5 stars We need this now: (forget that Pat Buchanan quoted it)
Then out spake brave Horatius,/The Captain of the Gate:/ ``To every man upon this earth/Death cometh soon or late./ And how can man die better/Than facing fearful odds,/ For the ashes of his fathers,/ And the temples of his gods/ ... Then none was for a party;/Then allwere for the state;/ Then the great man helped the poor,/And the poorman loved the great:/ Then lands were fairly portioned;/Then spoilswere fairly sold:/ The Romans were like brothers/In the brave days ofold./Now Roman is to Roman/More hateful than a foe,/ And theTribunes beard the high,/And the Fathers grind the low./ As we waxhot in faction,/In battle we wax cold:/ Wherefore men fight not asthey fought/In the brave days of old./ ... Read more


37. Herodotus and the Origins of the Political Community: Arion`s Leap
by Professor Norma Thompson
Hardcover: 208 Pages (1996-01-24)
list price: US$50.00 -- used & new: US$24.50
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0300062605
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Norma Thompson not only provides an imaginative new interpretation of Herodotus` History but also shows how it makes a major contribution to political theory. She contends that Herodotus, the "father of history," recognized the central importance of compelling stories, whether factual or fanciful, because such stories become the "facts" of a people`s past and thereby the core of the political community. ... Read more


38. The Cities of Pamphylia
by John D. Grainger
Paperback: 220 Pages (2009-07-01)
list price: US$60.00 -- used & new: US$46.60
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 1842173340
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Pamphylia, in modern Turkey, was a Greek country from the early Iron Age until the Middle Ages. In that land there were nine cities which can be described more or less as Greek, and this book is an investigation of their history. This was a land at the margins of other great empires - Hellenistic, Roman, Arab and Byzantine - and is still off the beaten track, though Aspendos, Perge and Phaselis are all visited for their archaeology. Only one ancient source, Strabo, discusses the area at any length, and John Grainger therefore has to bring together a wide variety of exiguous and fragmentary sources to tell the cities' story. His focus is not only regional - he is interested in the impact of outside forces on a particular civic culture. He considers the processes of city foundation, settlement, urbanisation and evolution, and the cities' mutual relations. Coastal piracy draw Pamphylia into the Roman empire, and finally, in the seventh century AD, the Arabs destroyed the cities in their wars with the Byzantine empire. ... Read more


39. The Ancient Banner
by Anonymous
Kindle Edition: Pages (2009-05-10)
list price: US$3.99
Asin: B0029F2F9I
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In boundless mercy, the Redeemer left, The bosom of his Father, and assumed A servant's form, though he had reigned a king, In realms of glory, ere the worlds were made, Or the creating words, ... Read more


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