The Greeks and us : a comparative anthropology of Ancient Greece

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Title:

The Greeks and us : a comparative anthropology of Ancient Greece

Author:

Detienne, Marcel.

ISBN:

9780745639017

9780745639000

Personal Author:

Detienne, Marcel.

Uniform Title:

Grecs et nous. English

Publication Information:

Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA : Polity Press, c2007.

Physical Description:

xiii, 159 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 23 cm.

General Note:

"First published in French in 2005 by Éditions Perrin as Les Grecs et nous"--T.p. verso.

Contents:

Doing anthropology with the Greeks -- From myth to mythology : from Native Americans to ancient Greeks -- Transcribing mythologies : from Japan and New Caledonia to the pontiffs of Rome -- The wide-open mouth of truth -- 'Digging in' : from Oedipus of Thebes to modern national identities -- Comparabilities viewed from the vantage point of politics.

Subject Term:

Group identity -- Greece -- History -- To 1500.

Civilization, Modern -- Greek influences.

Mythology.

Added Author:

Lloyd, Janet.

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025482981	938 D481G 2007	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

The human race is all too pre-disposed to think in terms of us and them. Europeans have always laid claim to the Ancient Greeks they are our Greeks, our ancestors but their legacy reaches further than we could ever imagine. Their influence stretches from the Japanese to the Cossacks, from Ancient Rome to Indonesia.

In this path-breaking new volume, the great French historian Marcel Detienne focuses on Eurocentric approaches which have trumpeted the Greeks and their democratic practices as our ancestors and the superiority of the Western tradition to which they gave rise. He argues that such approaches can be seen as narrow-minded and often covertly nationalistic. Detienne advocates what he calls comparative anthropology which sets out to illuminate the comparisons and contrasts between the beliefs, practices and institutions of different ancient and modern societies. Detienne aims to put the Greeks in perspective among other civilisations and also to look afresh at questions of political structure, literacy, nationhood, intellect and mythology.

The work of Marcel Detienne has made an enormous impact on our thinking about the Greeks in areas such as rationality, literacy and mythology, and in this new volume he challenges once again our conception of the Greeks and their impact on the modern world.