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Title: Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter by Thomas Cahill ISBN: 0-385-49553-6 Publisher: Nan A. Talese Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.95 (20 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A thesaurus of terms and theories
Comment: A rollicking journey through time and culture. Cahill follows the taproot of Western Civilization from today through the Enlightenment to ancient Greece. The tree is comprised of branches on how to make war, what is valuable in literature, the arts, philosophy and religion. It was the Greeks, through Enlightenment thinkers, who provided the seeds of American democratic ideals. Cahill's irreverent prose, hopefully shocking to some, reads like a sophomoric rebellion against his Jesuit mentors. Sex plays a major role in nearly every aspect of Greek society [and what's novel about that?] and Cahill delves into it with gusto. Even here, the Greeks seem to have shown more restraint than Cahill.
Cahill is always a challenging and invigorating read. He holds your attention through dazzling prose and iconoclastic concepts. By dividing the book conceptually instead of simply chronologically, you are given time to pause and reflect on his ideas. For a man relating history, Cahill projects unrelaistic modern values to ancient times. He deems the Greeks "classicist, racist and sexist". Yet these modern terms would puzzle any Greek of the period. He extols their intellectual accomplishments without inquiring how the leisure time to pursue these hobbies was achieved. Slavery was the labour-saving device of the day. No-one then challenged its existence, why does Cahill do so now? Slavery and division of resources bred a social hierarchy allowing the arts to flourish and democracy to evolve. Only anarchy and pure communism can do otherwise - neither lead to arts or stable rule. To call the Greeks "sexist" while admiring their presentation of the human form, whether male or female, seems a bit thin. Given his presentation of goddesses, muses, and Sappho herself, his stance is almost false.
Cahill's title is interesting in view of how little attention he gives the Greek empire. Their forays around the Mediterranean are but sketchily noted. Greek settlement on Sicily is mentioned, but little else. There is allusion of cultural imports from Egypt, but these might have been obtained from Egyptians or Levant peoples bringing them in as much as the Greeks seeking innovation from outside. The focus here is Athens, almost to the point of exclusion of the remainder of Greece. Sparta's militarism is touched on in contrast to the more democratic and urbane Athens. 'How Greek was Macedonia?', Cahill enquires, then dismisses the question. Yet, it was Macedonia's Alexander, as Cahill himself notes, who extended the "Greek Ideal" further afield than the Athenians could envision.
If the reader can recognise that this book can only represent a small step toward understanding ancient societies, particularly that of the Greeks, then this book may be considered a good start. Although sprinkled with notes, coyly marked with Greek letters instead of numbers or asterisks, this is hardly a scholarly effort. The use and definition of Greek words that migrated into other European languages is useful, but tedious to transcribe. It's not clear why the Greek alphabet is included, but the Pronouncing Glossary is truly only a recapitulation of the "cast of characters" for which the Index could suffice. The Notes and Sources are a good reading list, focussing on recent works where possible. There is no discussion of contending ideas among scholars studying the period here or in the text. A collection of photos enhances and expands on some of the text, and the one map is useful if you don't have an atlas. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating: 5
Summary: How hairy history tales shape us... There are many more!
Comment: Yes the Greeks matter that is the least one can say. You should really read this and you'll enjoy the tale as much as your kid likes his bedtime story. Make sure you read "History: Fiction or Science?" afterwards (or before, even better!), you'll find revelations not only on the history of J.C. but on many other parts of antiquity, a controversial book but when the author/mathematician claims that J.C. was born in the 11Th century AD, he proves it with Astronomy and mathematics
Rating: 4
Summary: Another "Hinge of HIstory"
Comment: I suspect I would have liked this book better if I had not had Cahill's other "Hinges of History" books to compare it to. Of the four- How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Gifts of the Jews, and Desire of the Everlasting Hills are the others- this was the least engaging to me. Taken by itself, I enjoyed Cahill's insight and irreverent humor as he traced the rise and fall of the Greeks from the Minoans through Alexander the Great. Using historical people or literary figures he shows us the development of the civilization in How to Fight, Feel, Party, Rule, Think and See from the perspectives of the Greeks. He acknowledges their limitations and their massive and amazing contributions. It was also interesting to read the first few pages about his approach to history and the last pages linking Greeks to other groups he has described. I look forward to the other books he has planned and this is well worth reading. Unfortunately for the author, (in my opinion) he is competing with his own earlier books and, as good as this is, it is not as good as the earlier three.
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Title: Desire of the Everlasting Hills : The World Before and After Jesus by Thomas Cahill ISBN: 0385483724 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 13 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Gifts of the Jews : How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels by Thomas Cahill ISBN: 0385482493 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 17 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill ISBN: 0385418493 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 February, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Jesus' Little Instruction Book by Thomas Cahill ISBN: 0553374338 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan ISBN: 0670032115 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 08 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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