[EXF]⋙ [PDF] Free The Greeks Penguin History H D F Kitto 9780140135213 Books

The Greeks Penguin History H D F Kitto 9780140135213 Books

Download As PDF : The Greeks Penguin History H D F Kitto 9780140135213 Books

The Greeks Penguin History H D F Kitto 9780140135213 Books

One of the best ways to read about Greek history is by taking the tour with a classicist, not a historian. Kitto’s prose makes this book a joy to read, and is sprinkled throughout with references and quotes from classical authors. Additionally, Kitto’s enthusiasm for Greek history and culture is clearly evident in his writing. This is the type of book that fires the imagination and leads the reader to explore this area more deeply through further reading in the classics, history, and archeology. In one of the more fascinating parts of the book, Kitto engagingly explains what the polis was, as well as how the Greeks saw it and what it meant to them. He also contrasts the Greek view of the polis with a modern view of our cities. The book was first published in 1951, and Kitto makes some references to World War II, as well as some dated references to British society at that time, but this in no way detracts from the overall excellence of this work.


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The Greeks Penguin History H D F Kitto 9780140135213 Books Reviews

As children move towards middle school, there are fewer beautifully illustrated history books. The emphasis moves from teaching through images to more written word narratives. I think this is too bad. Images are powerful and help children place themsevles into historical events.

"The Greeks" by Roy Burrell is a general history of ancient Greece aimed at children ages 10-14. Burrell is a competent writer with a good command of the history of ancient Greece. However, what really makes this book are the beautiful illustrations by Peter Connolly. Until his death in 2012, Peter Connolly was the foremost illustrator of the ancient world. Connolly had a love of ancient material culture. His passion was taking archaeological finds and through illustration bringing them back to their original forms. I have spent years tracking down used Peter Connolly books. His illustrations are a great way for childrens and adults to place themselves into the past. Recommended.
On the back of my copy of Kitto's book, there is a quote from Raymond Mortimer declaring this volume to be the best introduction to Ancient Greece he had ever read. I'm not sure if I can go that far with regard to this book; perhaps in 1957, when it first came out, that accolade would have been appropriate. However, just because I can't declare this book to be the best unreservedly, I still consider it to be an excellent text, and one that I have very useful in my upper-level undergraduate course in Ancient Greek philosophy.

Kitto has relatively short chapters on a host of subjects, including origins, culture, warfare, political life, philosophy, art, and more. These are arranged according to certain major facets of Greek life that we know - for example, Homer gets a chapter to himself. However, Homer neither arose in a vacuum nor did his work only matter during his (or her) time. Kitto doesn't address too much about the academic controversy over who Homer might have been, but rather addresses the work that we have which survives. That work includes an exploration of the direct and indirect influences on later generations of Greeks, who in turn have had profound impact on our own culture.

Kitto spends a good deal of time on the political structure of Greek life, from the early settlement and migration times, to development of small polities, to larger hegemonic times and the Athenian empire, brief-lived though it was. One question I ask my class to address out of Kitto's text is this - Sparta seems to have won the war, but Athens won the peace; what does this mean? Kitto gives a lot of insight into the competition between Athens and Sparta, and to a lesser extent other polities around the Aegean and off toward Italy; there were unified times in the face of Persian aggression, but more often there were less organized times, which allowed for a kind of international relations in microcosmic form. I once had a professor who longed to teach a modern international relations course using nothing but Herodotus and Thucydides - one reading Kitto can get the sense that there are many truths in this desire, given that many of the motivations of nations and many of the principles of politics among nations remain the same as can be found in the speeches recounted in Thucydides' writing.

Kitto clearly has a deep love of the ancient Greek culture, and parallels much of his own time with this period; he is also quick to point out the differences. This is perhaps the one weakness of this text. If one lacks a familiarity with Britain and British sensibilities and learning in the first half of the twentieth century, one may lose some of the references Kitto makes - for example, he makes reference to the Sophists as being akin to those who might host a seminar, `Did You Want to be a 1000GBP Man?' - the answer would be a resounding no today; he also alludes to `our political parties' which are clearly different from those today (and for those in North America, one might have really no hook upon which to hang understanding).

On the other hand, some things haven't changed. He also says of the Sophists that `Perhaps "Professor" would be a rough modern equivalent to "Sophist".' A challenge to remember, indeed! This is certainly something my students can understand. He also uses colourful stories such as Diogenes calling to both the perfumed set and what would be the Greek grunge set, `Affectation!' He also pulls from Herodotus the disappointment of Croesus at finding out that Tellus, Cleopas and Biton led happier lives than he (but alas, that they were dead, too...). There are many pieces that stick with one upon reading, and because this text does not go overboard in information, it fits together in a more easily grasped framework, too.

One might challenge Kitto's assertion that the Greeks were as superior as they are presented - `unless our standards of civilization are comfort and contraptions, Athens from (say) 480 to 380 was clearly the most civilized society that has yet existed.' However, there is no doubt that the Greeks advanced in directions hitherto unknown and rarely exceeded in a measure-by-measure analysis. This comes through with Kitto - a worthy text for a worthy subject.
It's lively writing by a sassy Englishman. Kitto makes every aspect of Greek culture accessible and relevant. The Greeks were obsessed with the idea of natural unity and wholeness. It was the duty of every Athenian to be soldier, politician, family member, and stock holder. A Greek man was not a man at all if he neglected any aspect of his physical, mental, spiritual, or moral being. Everything he does strives for virtue and honour for the greater good of the polis. This is not to say that the Greeks celebrated excess. There is a beauty is how they focus and control their energy, as evidenced in their strong yet minimal architecture and bare bones conception of drama.

Starting with the Dorian Invasion and covering the Trojan (Homeric), Persian (All of Greece on the Defensive), and Peloponnesian Wars (Athens v. Sparta) up until the eventual conquests of Alexander, it's actually a quick read. It's more of a thematic collection of essays that roughly corresponds to the timeline of three main wars. The meat of the classical history is presented in an excellent adaption of the Greek historians in Chapters 7-9, The Fifth Century, The Greeks At War, and The Decline of the Polis, respectively. All three Chapters taken together show nearly the full arc of Athenian Democracy--its rise to a free and prosperous society of modern proportions and subsequent decay--in only one sitting.

Chapter 10 on the Greek Mind presents a fantastic picture of the rationality and passion present in all aspects of Greek life. From war, civil life, and politics, to art, science, and philosophy, the Greeks reinvented it all through careful balance. They fostered a sense of unity in themselves and evolved "a totally new conception of what human life was for". Likewise, Kitto produced a self-contained and vibrant history. The book functions as a unified whole on every level. Its very essence is Greek.
One of the best ways to read about Greek history is by taking the tour with a classicist, not a historian. Kitto’s prose makes this book a joy to read, and is sprinkled throughout with references and quotes from classical authors. Additionally, Kitto’s enthusiasm for Greek history and culture is clearly evident in his writing. This is the type of book that fires the imagination and leads the reader to explore this area more deeply through further reading in the classics, history, and archeology. In one of the more fascinating parts of the book, Kitto engagingly explains what the polis was, as well as how the Greeks saw it and what it meant to them. He also contrasts the Greek view of the polis with a modern view of our cities. The book was first published in 1951, and Kitto makes some references to World War II, as well as some dated references to British society at that time, but this in no way detracts from the overall excellence of this work.