Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Magic in the Ancient World (Revealing Antiquity)

Magic in the Ancient World (Revealing Antiquity)

by Fritz Graf

Ancient Greeks and Romans often turned to magic to achieve personal goals. Magical rites were seen as a route for direct access to the gods, for material gains as well as spiritual satisfaction. In this fascinating survey of magical beliefs and practices from the sixth century B.C.E. through late antiquity, Fritz Graf sheds new light on ancient religion. Evidence of widespread belief in the efficacy ... (more)

Good Morning Corfu: Living Abroad Against All Odds

Good Morning Corfu: Living Abroad Against All Odds

by David A. Ross

Sexual Life in Ancient Greece (Kegan Paul Library of Sexual Life)LICHT, Hans Licht

Sexual Life in Ancient Greece (Kegan Paul Library of Sexual Life)

by Hans Licht

From Ancient Greece, modern Western civilisation has derived many of its artistic philosophical and political ideals. But, in certain areas of sexual tolerance and inventiveness, we still have much to learn from the land and age which produced the most flourishing and creative culture of the ancient world. Professor Hans Licht, in this erudite and fascinating book, discusses in full every aspect of the Ancient... (more)

Zorba the Greek

by Nikos Kazantzakis

A fiftieth anniversary edition of the famous novel that inspired the film tells the story of Zorba, a philosophizing, larger-than-life mine owner who confronts life with exuberance and wit. Reprint. 10,000 first printing. NYT.

My Brother Michael

by Mary Stewart

Nothing ever happened to Camilla Haven -- until a stranger approached her in a crowded Athens café, handed her the keys to a black car parked by the curb,and whispered, "A matter of life and death." The ride was Camilla's first mistake...

The Road To Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries

The Road To Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries

by Robert Gordon Wasson, Carl A. P. Ruck, Albert Hofmann

The secretive Mysteries conducted at Eleusis in Greece for nearly two millennia have long puzzled scholars with strange accounts of initiates experiencing otherworldly journeys. In this groundbreaking work, three experts—a mycologist, a chemist, and a historian—argue persuasively that the sacred potion given to participants in the course of the ritual contained a psychoactive entheogen. The authors then expand the... (more)

Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Collection of Ancient Texts

Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Collection of Ancient Texts

by Professor Georg Luck

Magic, miracles, daemonology, divination, astrology, and alchemy were the arcana mundi, the "secrets of the universe," of the ancient Greeks and Romans. In this path-breaking collection of Greek and Roman writings on magic and the occult, Georg Luck provides a comprehensive sourcebook and introduction to magic as it was practiced by witches and sorcerers, magi and astrologers, in the Greek and Roman worlds. In... (more)

Broken Greek -- a language to belong

by Adrianne Kalfopoulou

An American poet, repatriated in the land of her ancestors, Adrianne Kalfopoulou is a consummate storyteller. Lucid, precise, and unflinching, Broken Greek stands up to comparison with previous accounts of the Greek experience, with great style. It's a lively and poignant journey to the gods and demons of present-time Greece. Stratis Haviaras, author of When the Tree Sings and The Heroic Age Unlike other... (more)

Athens on Trial

by Jennifer Tolbert Roberts

The classical Athenians were the first to articulate and implement the notion that ordinary citizens of no particular affluence or education could make responsible political decisions. For this reason, reactions to Athenian democracy have long provided a prime testing ground for political thought. Whether praising Athens's government as the legitimate ancestor of modern democracies or condemning it as mob rule,... (more)

News and Society in the Greek Polis (Studies in the History of Greece and Rome)

News and Society in the Greek Polis (Studies in the History of Greece and Rome)

by Sian Lewis

Sian Lewis explores the role of news and information in shaping Greek society from the sixth to the fourth centuries, b.c. Applying ideas from the study of modern media to her analysis of the functions of gossip, travel, messengers, inscriptions, and institutions in the polis, she demonstrates that news was a vital concern for the ancient Greeks. Specifically, the acquisition and exchange of information played a... (more)

Courtesans & Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens

by Raphael Sealey

Art Tells a Story: Greek and Roman MythsPenelope Proddow

Art Tells a Story: Greek and Roman Myths

by Penelope Proddow

Tells the stories behind 12 classical myths and discusses the representation of these myths in 12 art forms from many periods, including a Greek vase, Maiolica pottery, pen and ink, and oils.

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Tags: greek culture