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5 books match the query 'Hellenism'

cover of A Student Commentary on Pausanias Book 1

A Student Commentary on Pausanias Book 1

Patrick Paul Hogan

University of Michigan Press, 2014

Patrick Paul Hogan’s A Student Commentary on Pausanias Book 1 introduces the first book of Pausanias’ “Description of Greece” to students of Classical Greek. Pausanias’ second century CE work is the only surviving ancient description of the monuments and artwork of mainland Greece. Book 1 of the “Description” covers Athens, its demes, and Megara—that is, Attica, the heart of the ancient Greek world. It offers not only a walking description of buildings, statues, and artwork by an ancient traveler but also insight into the mindset of an educated Greek of the Roman imperial age: his reaction to Roman domination and Classical Greek history and culture, his deeply felt religious beliefs, and his ideas regarding Hellenism and Hellenic identity.

This textbook, the first on Pausanias aimed at students in almost a century, brings Pausanias back into the classroom for a new generation of readers. It is based on the Greek text edited by M. H. Rocha-Pereira and includes philological and historical commentary by Hogan. This volume elucidates difficult syntax and helps the reader with the immense number of names and places Pausanias mentions. It is suitable for students of Classical Greek at the graduate and undergraduate levels, whether Classical philologists or Classical archaeologists and art historians. Professors of archaeology will find this textbook an excellent starting point for any course on Pausanias and easily supplemented by their own knowledge of material remains and modern finds.
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cover of A Student Commentary on Pausanias Book 2

A Student Commentary on Pausanias Book 2

Patrick Paul Hogan

University of Michigan Press, 2018

Patrick Paul Hogan guides students through Pausanias’ description of the strategic and rich city of Corinth and its neighbors
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cover of Comparing Roman Hellenisms in Italy

Comparing Roman Hellenisms in Italy

Edited by Basil Dufallo and Riemer A. Faber

University of Michigan Press, 2023

The story of Roman Hellenism—defined as the imitation or adoption of something Greek by those subject to or operating under Roman power—begins not with Roman incursions into the Greek mainland, but in Italy, where our most plentiful and spectacular surviving evidence is concentrated. Think of the architecture of the Roman capital, the Campanian towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum buried by Vesuvius, and the Hellenic culture of the Etruscans. Perhaps “everybody knows” that Rome adapted Greek culture in a steadily more “sophisticated” way as its prosperity and might increased. This volume, however, argues that the assumption of smooth continuity, let alone steady “improvement,” in any aspect of Roman Hellenism can blind us to important aspects of what Roman Hellenism really is and how it functions in a given context.

As the first book to focus on the comparison of Roman Hellenisms per se, Comparing Roman Hellenisms in Italy shows that such comparison is especially valuable in revealing how any singular instance of the phenomenon is situated and specific, and has its own life, trajectory, circumstances, and afterlife. Roman Hellenism is always a work in progress, is often strategic, often falls prey to being forgotten, decontextualized, or reread in later periods, and thus is in important senses contingent. Further, what we may broadly identify as a Roman Hellenism need not imply Rome as the only center of influence. Roman Hellenism is often decentralized, and depends strongly on local agents, aesthetics, and materials. With this in mind, the essays concentrate geographically on Italy to lend both focus and breadth to our topic, as well as to emphasize the complex interrelation of Hellenism at Rome with Rome’s surroundings. Because Hellenism, whether as practiced by Romans or Rome’s subjects, is in fact widely diffused across far-flung geographical regions, the final part of the collection gestures to this broader context.
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cover of Hellenism in Late Antiquity

Hellenism in Late Antiquity

G.W. Bowersock

University of Michigan Press, 1996

The extraordinary adaptability and durability of Greek culture in times of momentous change is revealed in this book, as G. W. Bowersock seeks to interpret Hellenism in a predominantly Christian world. In this effort he sheds new light on a late paganism that has often been seen as moribund and shows it to have been unexpectedly vigorous. Hellenism, comprising the language, thought, mythology, and images of the Greeks, contributed fundamentally to the evolution of early Christianity. It had spread across the lands of the Eastern Mediterranean for many centuries before Constantine established Christianity as the official religion of the Byzantine government. But Hellenism served no less to disseminate and strengthen paganism--a role that has hitherto been little appreciated or studied. The local traditions of Asia Minor, Egypt, and the Near East survived in most cases by sharing common forms of expression with the Christians. Hellenism clearly allowed late pagans of widely differing traditions to communicate with each other. At the same time it gave to both Christianity and Islam a pagan context that enjoyed much greater public recognition then than now. And so the author shows that Hellenism illuminates the wholeness of the late antique world in the East, the interaction of its paganism and its Christianity. Dionysus and Christ flourished together. ". . . Bowersock has given us a new unifying perspective for the turbulent religious history of four centuries--the idea of a common cultural medium within (and against) which differing religious traditions evolved and inter-penetrated." --New York Times Book Review ". . . a formidable achievement . . . [an] elegant and powerfully original book." --Times Literary Supplement G. W. Bowersock is Professor of Ancient History in the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey.
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cover of Hellenistic Aesthetic

Hellenistic Aesthetic

Barbara Hughes Fowler

University of Wisconsin Press, 1989

“Fowler’s . . . own insights are apparent throughout, and they seem to distill the personal appreciation and understanding of a scholar who has devoted much of her career to both contemplating and enjoying Hellenistic poetry. . . . [This book] would make an excellent background text for courses in later Greek and Roman art, and it can be read with profit by anyone interested in exploring the character of Hellenistic culture.”—J. J. Pollitt, American Journal of Archaeology

“Outstanding is the range of examples discussed both in poetry and art. Theocritus, Callimachus, Appolonius, the epigrammatists, and others—that is, the major figures of the time—are considered at length and in several different contexts. Passages are quoted in the original Greek, translated, and analyzed. Fowler’s sensitivity to poetic forms, evident in her other published writings, is again evident here. In addition, however, the philosophical context is not overlooked. . . . Also highly commendable are the liberal references to works of art. Sculpture in the round and in relief, portraits, terracotta figurines, original paintings (grave stelai) and Campanian murals, mosaics, gold and silver vessels, and jewelry are introduced at various points. Every work of art discussed is illustrated in astonishingly clear photographs, which are interspersed in the body of the text.”—Christine Mitchell Havelock

“The Hellenistic Aesthetic provides classicists with their first thorough discussion of the aesthetic unity found in Hellenistic art and literature. . . . Fowler examines parallels both in subject matter and in artistic approach among a diverse group of literary genres and artistic forms. In twelve chapters, The Hellenistic Aesthetic surveys Alexandrian epigrams, pastorals, epics, sculptural groups, mosaics, paintings, and jewelry to supply a convincing, and frequently unexpected, picture of a unified aesthetic vision.”—Jeffrey Buller, Classical Outlook

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