---
product_id: 48006847
title: "Classics: A Very Short Introduction"
price: "€ 15.00"
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reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.pt/products/48006847-classics-a-very-short-introduction
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---

# Classics: A Very Short Introduction

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Buy Classics: A Very Short Introduction by (8601404271625) from desertcart UK’s Books Shop. Free delivery on eligible orders.

Review: Modern classics - A novel take on 'the Classics' in a volume that avoids the usual emphasis on history and the arts. Instead, it focuses on such intangibles as identity in the ancient world. The authors take the Greek writer Pausanias as a starting point. Although he was was writing his 'Guidebook to Greece' more than two centuries after Greece had become a Roman colony, he chooses to write about Greek civilisation, architecture and history as though it were still independent of Roman influence. His silence on matters Roman speaks volumes and reminds us that reading between the lines is sometimes more revealing than reading the lines themselves. Beard and Henderson suggest that Classics is not the study of a dead culture but a live, interactive process informed by the 'vast community of readers across the millennia'. Their book dwells on the friezes from the Temple of Apollo at Bassae - initially, at what seems too great a length, but actually for very good reason. The temple friezes, now on exhibit at the British Museum, are independent blocks of marble that can be reassembled in many different ways. Bassae is therefore a metaphor for discovery and re-evaluation. Furthermore, the temple is set in Arcadia - a region of huge importance for literature, religion and philosophy, giving it yet more symbolic significance. As the authors suggest, the notion of Arcadia - sometimes paradise, sometimes brutish wilderness - is itself capable of multiple interpretation, like so many aspects of the ancient world. Each new generation's interpretations and insights shed extra light on, and themselves become part of, the classical heritage. The book's unexpected emphasis on the historic reception of classics constitutes, perhaps, its major strength. It is an emphasis reflected in the concluding Timeline, two pages of which record events from 800 BCE to the Renaissance and the other two and a half pages to events such as the election of Dr Johnson to a Professorship at the RA (1770) and the publication of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (1980). Probably not everyone's idea of a classical initiation, but this is a fresh and stimulating introduction to what can still seem a dauntingly élitist and exclusive area of study.
Review: "Classics is always the same and is always different" - This is the first in the "Very Short Introduction" series and perhaps a very good place to start. Is the book very short? Yes, it is something you can accomplish in a few hours of uninterrupted reading (or two days of mildly interrupted reading in my case). And does it introduce the subject matter? Yes, through one useful example. The book lost its way to detail around the 61% mark (accuracy attributed to my kindle) and I felt I would need to start taking notes but eventually the book regained its macro approach in a way that is appropriate for an introductory text. I'm always explaining to people that economics (my degree at university) is the study of choice and not just about money and markets. In the same way, Classics has been explained to me to be not just about temples and friezes. If you scratch the surface of the scientific method both disciplines are sociological and anthropological. Whilst classics incorporates Greek and Roman products (art, language, philosophy, archaeology, etc.) it is explained that Greece is to be seen through Roman eyes; and so begins the transition of culture down the ages. This is a study just not of the static state of such products just mentioned but of their constant state of flux. The subjectivity of the interpretation develops our understanding of the past whilst also revealing nuances about the present context from which our opinions have come from. Historical inquiry is in a jostle between technological advancement that may reveal and 'Chinese Whispers' that may reconstruct. Eventually the subject boils down to philosophy, that, without providing an answer that is concrete (or maybe I should say marble), provides a journey that is informative and enjoyable in itself. To know where you are going, it helps to know where you are coming from.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | 37,291 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 508 in Poetry & Drama Criticism 1,244 in Secondary School Textbooks 3,656 in History (Books) |
| Customer reviews | 4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars (276) |
| Dimensions  | 17.86 x 0.97 x 11.25 cm |
| Edition  | Revised ed. |
| ISBN-10  | 0192853856 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0192853851 |
| Item weight  | 1.05 kg |
| Language  | English |
| Part of series  | Very Short Introductions |
| Print length  | 160 pages |
| Publication date  | 24 Feb. 2000 |
| Publisher  | Oxford University Press |
| Reading age  | 10 years and up |

## Images

![Classics: A Very Short Introduction - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71TqkYP-1+L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Modern classics
*by J***S on 15 February 2008*

A novel take on 'the Classics' in a volume that avoids the usual emphasis on history and the arts. Instead, it focuses on such intangibles as identity in the ancient world. The authors take the Greek writer Pausanias as a starting point. Although he was was writing his 'Guidebook to Greece' more than two centuries after Greece had become a Roman colony, he chooses to write about Greek civilisation, architecture and history as though it were still independent of Roman influence. His silence on matters Roman speaks volumes and reminds us that reading between the lines is sometimes more revealing than reading the lines themselves. Beard and Henderson suggest that Classics is not the study of a dead culture but a live, interactive process informed by the 'vast community of readers across the millennia'. Their book dwells on the friezes from the Temple of Apollo at Bassae - initially, at what seems too great a length, but actually for very good reason. The temple friezes, now on exhibit at the British Museum, are independent blocks of marble that can be reassembled in many different ways. Bassae is therefore a metaphor for discovery and re-evaluation. Furthermore, the temple is set in Arcadia - a region of huge importance for literature, religion and philosophy, giving it yet more symbolic significance. As the authors suggest, the notion of Arcadia - sometimes paradise, sometimes brutish wilderness - is itself capable of multiple interpretation, like so many aspects of the ancient world. Each new generation's interpretations and insights shed extra light on, and themselves become part of, the classical heritage. The book's unexpected emphasis on the historic reception of classics constitutes, perhaps, its major strength. It is an emphasis reflected in the concluding Timeline, two pages of which record events from 800 BCE to the Renaissance and the other two and a half pages to events such as the election of Dr Johnson to a Professorship at the RA (1770) and the publication of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (1980). Probably not everyone's idea of a classical initiation, but this is a fresh and stimulating introduction to what can still seem a dauntingly élitist and exclusive area of study.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Classics is always the same and is always different"
*by A***R on 26 June 2013*

This is the first in the "Very Short Introduction" series and perhaps a very good place to start. Is the book very short? Yes, it is something you can accomplish in a few hours of uninterrupted reading (or two days of mildly interrupted reading in my case). And does it introduce the subject matter? Yes, through one useful example. The book lost its way to detail around the 61% mark (accuracy attributed to my kindle) and I felt I would need to start taking notes but eventually the book regained its macro approach in a way that is appropriate for an introductory text. I'm always explaining to people that economics (my degree at university) is the study of choice and not just about money and markets. In the same way, Classics has been explained to me to be not just about temples and friezes. If you scratch the surface of the scientific method both disciplines are sociological and anthropological. Whilst classics incorporates Greek and Roman products (art, language, philosophy, archaeology, etc.) it is explained that Greece is to be seen through Roman eyes; and so begins the transition of culture down the ages. This is a study just not of the static state of such products just mentioned but of their constant state of flux. The subjectivity of the interpretation develops our understanding of the past whilst also revealing nuances about the present context from which our opinions have come from. Historical inquiry is in a jostle between technological advancement that may reveal and 'Chinese Whispers' that may reconstruct. Eventually the subject boils down to philosophy, that, without providing an answer that is concrete (or maybe I should say marble), provides a journey that is informative and enjoyable in itself. To know where you are going, it helps to know where you are coming from.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Well worth reading
*by E***N on 14 June 2017*

This is an interesting and quite a clever little book. I initially wanted (and expected) a potted overview of the Classics texts: Homer, Plato, Virgil etc, how they fitted together, what their development was etc. What I actually got was a book about relationships: our relationship to the Classical Period, the relationship of the 19th Century to the same period and our relationship to the 19th Century etc. Through this, it shows the Classical Period has formed the backbone to Western civilisation and to understand our history, art and way of thinking requires a grounding in the Classical Period. The central device is the temple at Bassae, the remains of which you can see at the British Museum today. Through this questions about Empire, cultural appropriation, art and the ancient world are explored. Several times the authors surprise the reader and use this effect to show that the Classical Period challenges our pre-conceptions, can be used as a mirror to reflect on our own pre-occupations and that the interaction between us and the Classics is a vital part of what makes Classics. In keeping with this, our modern obsession with gender and sexuality are given their full allotment. I wonder if future generations will one day find this as quaint as we find the Victorians. In summary, I'm more motivated to explore the Classics having read this book than if the authors had given me my expectation, which ironically, is their point about Classics. Well worth reading.

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*Last updated: 2026-05-17*