|
| 
 enlarge | Author: Tony Perrottet
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $3.67
You Save: $10.28 (74%)
New (33) Used (34) from $3.67
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 41844
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 4.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 081296991X
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.48
EAN: 9780812969917
ASIN: 081296991X
Publication Date: June 8, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 time travel for the layman August 22, 2004
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
This was a great way to learn about the ancient world; a very witty, engaging read, you hardly realize you're finding out so much! There was an extract of the first chapeter in the Smithsonian Magazine recently, which I saw and enjoyed, and was inspired to read the rest of the book. (I think you can read it online, since this site doesn't have the 'look inside' feature of the first chapter - a pity, as the first part is a great overview of the festival, which certainly upsets the romantic view being peddled in Athens these days! As the author says, the Greeks Olympics were far more interesting than the idea we often presented of buffed young men in tunics strumming the lyre in a green field!) I learned a lot more than fun material about sports. The whole festival was one big fiesta, lots of wine and budget prostitutes, palm readers and astrologers, and I'd love to have gone to the original event! Especially the year Herodotus read his work to the crowds. But since I don't have a time machine, the Naked Olympics will really have to do.
wonderful illustrations add to a unique book August 20, 2004
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
People may not realize how visually appealing this book is. There are over thirty fascinating illustrations done from ancient Greek vase paintings. These show brilliant scenes from the festival, both sports and the fun parts, victory parties, drinking and carnal antics off the field. It's a really attractive extra element to a very entertaining book. The drawings are much more exciting than the black and white photos of ruins and statues you get in most ancient history volumes! They really add a unique element to this book. The great research and detail of the writing are complemented by the art (and check out the recreation of Olympia itself, and the statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient World...)
A book that actually makes the Olymics interesting August 18, 2004
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you're like me you find the modern Olympics stultifyingly uninteresting, so all the more kudos to Tony Perrottet for writing a book that is brief, witty, and deceptively learned beneath its breezy exterior. Whether you have any interest in sports, ancient or modern, this book brings the past to life in a way that makes it seem at once as contemporary as our own lives and shockingly strange as well- a trick only the best popular history books manage to pull off. If you like this book, take a look at Perrottet's other book on ancient life, Pagan Holiday, which carries off the same succesful appproach with the ancient Romans.
the greeks had all the fun July 23, 2004
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
How come the ancient Greeks had all the fun? Sports? Obviously they were there at the Olympics. But so much else too! Great banquets with sexy flute girls, philosophers like Plato pontificating in one corner, writers like Herodotus reading in the other. Wine, rich food, fire eaters and astrologers. They knew how to party in ancient Greece. Don't worry about watching the games this year in Athens, read this book instead.
fun, fast, informative July 16, 2004
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
More than just the Olympics, also a fast tour of Hellenic society. Perrottet is good not just on the details of the games but also on the role of the games in the Hellenic world.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
