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Paul Cartledge
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The Greeks: A Portrait of Self and Others 2nd Edition

by Paul Cartledge (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 28 ratings
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Who were the Classical Greeks? This book provides an original and challenging answer by exploring how Greeks (adult, male, citizen) defined themselves in opposition to a whole series of others (non-Greeks, women, slaves, non-citizens, and gods) as presented by supposedly objective historians of the time such as Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon. Cartledge looks at the achievements and legacy of the Greeks - history, democracy, philosophy and theatre - and the mental and material contexts of these inventions which are often deeply alien to our own way of thinking and acting. This new edition contains an updated bibliography, a new chapter entitled "Entr'acte: Others in Images and Images of Others," and a new afterword.
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  1. ISBN-10
    9780192803887
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0192803887
  3. Edition
    2nd
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    December 5, 2002
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    7.88 x 5.02 x 0.74 inches
  8. Print length
    248 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The lively and succinct development of many ancient and modern arguments makes The Greeks a welcome and timely contribution to a number of continuing and important debates"--Times Literary Supplement

Book Description

A revised edition of Cartledge's classic introduction to the Greeks and their legacy

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0192803883
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 2nd edition (December 5, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 248 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780192803887
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0192803887
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1530L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.88 x 5.02 x 0.74 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 28 ratings

About the author

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Paul Cartledge

Paul Cartledge

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Paul Cartledge is the inaugural A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture in the Faculty of Classics at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Clare College. He is also Hellenic Parliament Global Distinguished Professor in the History and Theory of Democracy at New York University. He written and edited over 20 books, many of which have been translated into foreign languages. He is an honorary citizen of modern Sparta and holds the Gold Cross of the Order of Honor awarded by the President of Greece.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
28 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Critical Mass
5.0 out of 5 stars LITERALLY THE GREEKS
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2020
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This book is a fascinating and eminently informative introduction/survey regarding ancient Greek culture, politics, and life in general. Despite being written some 20 years ago, it is still most worthwhile and has a timeless quality about it. The author, Paul Cartledge, is a highly respected and prolific scholar specializing in the history and world of ancient Greece. After a nearly 20 page Preface "Introducing the Greeks", which is a succinct and clearly written overview of the Greek language, gods, "religion", philosophizing, sexual mores, economics, civic life, and political attitudes, Cartledge restores ancient Greece through the eyes, words, and deeds of 15 notable individuals. Each is given a separate chapter - from Homer to Alexander the Great. This book is a pleasure to read for its readability, clarity, and the knowledge that it displays. More than just recommended, it is must reading for anyone interested in the ancient Greeks. I wish I had come upon it when it first appeared.
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Mario Fantoni
5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect companion for the video
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2000
Focusing in the lifes of remarkable Greeks, this series (book and video) makes the Greek civilization accessible to us. Indispensable to anybody interested in the Greek culture.
One person found this helpful
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Marcos
4.0 out of 5 stars Otherness
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2013
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A very good analysis about the Greeks and their culture. The author explores the idea of ​​otherness, in a surprising and enlightening way. We are heirs of the values ​​of Greek culture, but not all of their values ​​because we live in another world.
One person found this helpful
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Autodidactac
3.0 out of 5 stars Written during the "oldest dead white men" phase.
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2013
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This book has as light malodor of criticizing the Greeks from a modern perspective. Cartledge's later works do not appear to have this taint of political correctness. He does do a very fine job of reminding the reader that cultures are different and that not all cultural similarities mean congruence. Had he avoided the academic fad of the era I would give it four stars.
4 people found this helpful
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Trainman95630
4.0 out of 5 stars Intereting min biographies of 15 notable classical Greeks
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2021
I enjoyed the preface and epilogue of the book a lot. Author had some cogent insights into the importance of Greek civilization. Learned valuable information on slavery in classical Greek and the role of women.
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Jillian Mary
4.0 out of 5 stars Putting the Record Straight
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2006
This book is a set text on the MA in Classical Studies I am currently doing. It is certainly not an easy book (though his writing style is invigorating) and if you are looking for a text book merely eulogizing the Greeks then this is not the book for you. Cartledge sets out to examine the Greeks in terms of their culture and legacy under a number of headings and does it by examining each heading eg. Women, Slavery etc in terms of its exact opposite and its negative aspects as well as its positive ones. The chapter on Slavery is particularly good. It must be remembered that Cartledge is an academic, writing for academics and students taking various classic courses. This is not really a book for the general public. But if you have some interest or knowledge about Ancient Greece and want to find out more, then I can thoroughly recommend this book.
12 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Cassandra
5.0 out of 5 stars For those who are struggling between Greeks and Romans
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2016
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Found this most helpful and interest! It is clear and manageable, even for me as an A-level classical civilisation student. I found this helpful for my UCAS application as well, and it furthered my interest in the Greeks rather than the Romans.
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Kath England
5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievably hard to read but -------
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 15, 2013
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Worth it because It explains in the only way I have found so far ,the underlying beliefs and principles of Greek life.You need a copy of Herodotus the Histories as well which I already had ,as it cross-references a lot.
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John Fletcher
3.0 out of 5 stars How different from them
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 6, 2014
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Given the authors basic contention (supported by evidence it must be said) that the ancient Greek world-view was built around polar opposites (man/woman, slave/free citizen) etc, it's tempting to say that the book will provoke two kinds of reactions - positive and negative!
Yet that would not really be fair to the book, and indeed the book itself, whilst maintaining this simple scheme of polar opposites throughout, is obliged to admit that it did not actually apply all the time in practice. There were different classifications of men and women, foreigners could become citizens, slaves could have all sorts of different positions. In effect, therefore, what Mr Cartledge is describing is something like the official ideology of Greece (or Athens, he never seems sure), rather than the practice. And indeed neither, on the evidence presented, actually seems very special: most societies have divided themselves into "us" and "everybody else" (the Chinese, for example), most societies had slaves (one thinks of the Arab world, obviously), and virtually every society in the world had special treatment for men and women (even ours, though recently things have become somewhat reversed).
This illustrates a larger problem with the book. It is certainly a valuable idea to demonstrate that the Greeks, for all their fundamental impact on our culture, and their invention of various key western concepts, were not "like us". The book does this very well, and makes it clear that the Greeks were a civilization different from us in almost every respect - not surprising, in fact, for a culture two and a half thousand years distant.
But there's a bit of straw-man bashing going on here. No-one has ever really supposed the Greeks (even the Athenians) were exactly like us. And moreover the book never defines who "we" are for this purpose. It's worth emphasizing that many of the Greek ideas about social organisation and gender roles described in the book (in the tones of a lecturer telling off a bad student it must be said) are very widely found in the world today, and indeed still have traces in our own society. The "us" from whom the Greeks are "different" turns out on examination to be educated, liberal western people of above average intelligence of the early 21st century, much like Mr Cartledge and his students in fact. This leads to the uncomfortable thought that perhaps it is we who are different, not them.
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Jane
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2013
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I have bought this for my MA studies and have completed a quick read of it. I found it interesting although it is not a smooth read. I am sure that it will greatly aid my studies.
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sanyata
3.0 out of 5 stars not what it sets out to be
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 17, 2011
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for a continentally-leaning philosopher and an academic researcher wrting for academics the author deserves praise for writing well and clearly and intelligebly.

he also deserves praise for "debunking" the greeks or at least not lauding them blindly

on the other hand, this also makes the book fairly weak: constructing the Greeks as merely some random ancient culture clearly misses the fact that greek culture influenced not just the eastern mediteranian, but also Persia, Afghanistan, India, Egypt, and eventually Rome, stretching all the way to Britain.

when the ottomans were at the gates of byzans in 1456 AD they were laying siege to the last remnants of a purely greek culture

clearly - the greeks must have had something unique to their cultural apparatus, and indeed they did

furthermore, I have NEVER seen any studies of "identity" in history, theatre, poetry etc. that end up going beyond the obvious. while the promise of such studies is indeed alluring (and the reason why i spent money on this book) perhaps it is simply not a premise that lends itself well to academic analysis
2 people found this helpful
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