Read the Bldg Blog interview with Mary Beard about the Wonders of the World series(Part I and Part II) Mycenae, the fabled city of Homer's King Agamemnon, still stands in a remote corner of mainland Greece. Revered in antiquity as the pagan world's most tangible connection to the heroes of the Trojan War, Mycenae leapt into the headlines in the late nineteenth century when Heinrich Schliemann announced that he had opened the Tomb of Agamemnon and found the body of the hero smothered in gold treasure. Now Mycenae is one of the most haunting and impressive archaeological sites in Europe, visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. From Homer to Himmler, from Thucydides to Freud, Mycenae has occupied a singular place in the western imagination. As the backdrop to one of the most famous military campaigns of all time, Agamemnon's city has served for generation after generation as a symbol of the human appetite for war. As an archaeological site, it has given its name to the splendors of one of Europe's earliest civilizations: the Mycenaean Age. In this book, historian of science Cathy Gere tells the story of these extraordinary ruins--from the Cult of the Hero that sprung up in the shadow of the great burned walls in the eighth century bc, to the time after Schliemann's excavations when the Homeric warriors were resurrected to play their part in the political tragedies of the twentieth century.

"The importance of Juliusz Slowacki (1809-1849) as Poland's second greatest Romantic poet, after Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1856), is a platitude. Yet, in the English-speaking world, Slowacki receives little more than honorable mention even among students of Slavic literature. The intention of the authors of Agamemnon's Tomb: A Polish Oresteia is to focus on Slowacki's use of Antiquity in his most famous lyric, Agamemnon's Tomb, written in 1839 Since Antiquity is an essential part of the fabric of Romantic poetry, of all works of Polish Romanticism, Agamemnon's Tomb fits best into the larger framework of European Romanticism. It is grounded in the ancient and therefore universal language of the epoch probably more than any other European Romantic poem. "If I am a poet, the air of Greece has made me one," Lord Byron once remarked. What is true of Byron is equally true of Slowacki and his literary output, where antique themes and elements flow like a torrent through virtually all his works. What makes Agamemnon's Tomb unique, however, even when compared to the British or German Romantic literature, so saturated with ancient themes, is that it harnesses Antiquity as an interpretative mirror for Slowacki's understanding of the history of Poland and the Polish national character. This is the first book in English that offers the American reader a chance to encounter one of Poland's greatest poets and a work of European Romanticism at its best. It provides the Polish text with the first new full translation of the text and a stanza-by-stanza commentary that emphasizes Slowacki's debt to Greek and Roman authors"--

Take an extraordinary journey through more than 5,000 years of Greek culture, from the Neolithic Era to the age of Alexander the Great. Featuring a selection of exquisite artifacts -- many that have never been exhibited outside Greece -- this is a souvenir of the most comprehensive exhibition on Ancient Greece to tour North America in a generation. Explore unparalleled archeological discoveries that reveal the epic stories of ancient Greek heroes, from Agamemnon's siege of Troy to Alexander the Great's conquest of most of the known world. From informative text and iconic images, gain an in-depth understanding of how the ancient Greeks viewed their world and themselves, in life and in death. Enter the passionate world of the Greek gods, including Aphrodite, Athena, Zeus and Poseidon, and be a witness to the birth of Western philosophy, democracy, poetry and theatre.

Although many books focus on the fascinating story of Heinrich Schliemann, little has been written on Mycenae before his excavations. This book, therefore, fills this gap. It looks at the English-speaking pioneers who visited the citadel at Mycenae before Schliemann, providing additional biographic references in the footnotes (and bibliography and associated sources). The book’s primary purpose is to bring back to life the thoughts of these pioneers on Mycenae. It is also a reflection on dating theories of the site during the nineteenth century. At that time, the general consensus concerning the beginning of the ‘Greek world’ was the classical civilisation of the fifth century BC. This was not the view of many of these travellers. The ancients too had a fascination with Mycenae. The Homeric tales of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, led to popular sixth and fifth century BC plays from the likes of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. But what did these ancient writers and later travellers, such as Pausanias, actually see? Finally, there is a need to be reminded of some of the ‘pioneer’ travellers to Mycenae and their descriptions of the Lion Gate citadel and the ‘Treasury of Atreus’, as they are of particular historical interest. Not only that, but some of these observations are pure poetry and a delight to read.

This book explores the visual narratives of a group of decorated tombs from Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt (c.300 BCE-250 CE). The author contextualizes the tombs within their social, political, and religious context and considers how the multicultural population of Graeco-Roman Egypt chose to negotiate death and the afterlife.