About the Book

How do we get from the polis to the police? Or from Odysseus' sirens to an ambulance's? The legacy of ancient Greece and Rome has been imitated, resisted, misunderstood, and reworked by every culture that followed. In this volume, some five hundred articles by a wide range of scholars investigate the afterlife of this rich heritage in the fields of literature, philosophy, art, architecture, history, politics, religion, and science. Arranged alphabetically from Academy to Zoology, the essays--designed and written to serve scholars, students, and the general reader alike--show how the Classical tradition has shaped human endeavors from art to government, mathematics to medicine, drama to urban planning, legal theory to popular culture. At once authoritative and accessible, learned and entertaining, comprehensive and surprising, and accompanied by an extensive selection of illustrations, this guide illuminates the vitality of the Classical tradition that still surrounds us today.

Product Details

Media: Hardcover Book, 1067 pages

Language: English

Publisher: Belknap Press

Edition: Unknown

ISBN-10: 0674035720

Publication Date: Oct. 25th, 2010

ISBN-13: 9780674035720

Dimensions: 8.32 x 10.32 x 2.51 inches

Shipping Weight: 5.83 lbs

• Categories: Ancient Classical Medieval Literary Collections Ancient Greece History Encyclopedias