Alumni Travel Reading Lists 2020: Ancient Greece

"Greek debt" refers to an economic condition, but also something quite different: the symbolic debt of Western culture to Greece for principles of democracy, philosophy, literature, mathematics, and fine art.

A look at the hiatus for Greek Theater under religiiously imposed restriction and its rebirth over the period of time dating from the Renaissance to the time of independence in 1830.

Each chapter looks at a period or phase of Greek Democracy--its development, waning, transformation, and adaptation: from the archaic period to present times.

The powerful and stylistically brilliant saga of a family by one of contemporary Greece's most acclaimed literary masters.

'Blow up the Acropolis' was the 1944 call to action by the surrealist circle, the Harbingers of Chaos. Sixty years later, a young man obliges. The Parthenon has been destroyed, the city orphaned. Is it still Athens? What does it mean for Greece, now deprived of its greatest symbol?

This award-winning novel takes the form of short letters looking for advice to Mrs. Mina, short news stories, and advertisements.

This newly translated novel, by a contemporary Greek novelist, tells the story of a Greek journalist who is tried and convicted of murder, shortly after the war, in 1948. When he's released 12 years later, he claims his confession was the result of torture.

Since its rediscovery in the early 20th century, Minoan Crete has inspired interest among archaeologists and the wider public. Cretomania explores modern responses to (and uses of) the Minoan past.

Karadimas, et al., look at the English-speaking pioneers who visited the citadel at Mycenae before Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890). They also review 19th century archaeological theories and practices.

This book examines the rich corpus of mosaics created in Crete during the Roman and Late Antique eras.

Author of among other books, The Alexandria Quartet, Durrell wrote this travelogue and traveler's companion in the 1970s. Durrell's perspective will be out of date, but his excellent writing and the breadth of his travels make this book worth dipping into. Durrell was inspired by Ernle Bradford's Companion Guide to the Greek Islands (1963) and J.C. Lawson's Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion (1920).

The title says it all. Philosopher, Daniel Klein, travels to Greece with a suitcase full of books, looking to the ancient thinkers to help him understand the meaning of life and old age.

Penn Classical Studies professor, Tom Tartaron presents a reassessment of the maritime world of the Mycenaean Greeks of the Late Bronze Age. Through his new approach, he recovers small worlds and their communities.

Read this book before or after your travels. It is an oversized 651 pages providing a thematic approach to the history and culture of Ancient Greece. The layout, extensive indexing, and detailed table of contents make it amenable to selecting a section of interest.

Michael Scott covers the history and nature of Delphi, from the literary and archaeological evidence surrounding the site, to its rise as a center of worship, to the constant appeal of the oracle.

Most ancient Greeks did not live in what is now Greece but in settlements scattered across Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Libya, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Russia, and Ukraine. They never formed a single unified social or political entity. Edith Hall offers a synthesis of the entire ancient Greek experience, from the rise of the Mycenaean kingdoms to the advent of Christianity.

An illustrated guide to every aspect of ancient Greek culture from disability, chronic illness, and old age to architecture to the different aspects of work including agriculture and manufacturing, the arts, the public sphere, and language and literature.

Imagining Mount Athos uncovers a set of alternative and largely unexplored perspectives, all equally important in the mapping and dissemination of Athos in popular imagination.

One can't read Homer without realizing how the ancient epics have left their mark on all aspects of our present day culture and imagination. The authors of this book set out to make the connection between Greek culture and the culture of the 21st century.

Art historians, archaeologists, and historians explore the roles of artists and craftsmen in ancient Greek society.