Men and Gods on the Roman Nile

Fülszöveg

Jack Lindsay Drawing on the vast amount of papyri available. Jack Lindsay presents here a vivid picture of society at ease in Román Egypt. Among the many subjects covered are holidays, festivals, * ancing, athletics in all its forms, including the place of the gymnasium as a centre of social life, hunting, kteping pets and cultivating gardens and flowers. At the same time a generál outlook emerges, and we see the ideas that unify the impulses to enjoyment and selí-expression. The core is Dionysiac and centres on the idea of transforming the earth into a paradise of delight. We see the conflict inside the idea of the earthly paradise an' ) how with the breakdown of anciont civilisation the hope of such a paradise was finally cut a way from the earth. Thus the last chapters of the book deal with the manner in which Alexander the Great became in popular fantasy a conquering Dionysos, how this image invaded art and life and how it found its culmination in the work c the fifth-century... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Jack Lindsay Drawing on the vast amount of papyri available. Jack Lindsay presents here a vivid picture of society at ease in Román Egypt. Among the many subjects covered are holidays, festivals, * ancing, athletics in all its forms, including the place of the gymnasium as a centre of social life, hunting, kteping pets and cultivating gardens and flowers. At the same time a generál outlook emerges, and we see the ideas that unify the impulses to enjoyment and selí-expression. The core is Dionysiac and centres on the idea of transforming the earth into a paradise of delight. We see the conflict inside the idea of the earthly paradise an' ) how with the breakdown of anciont civilisation the hope of such a paradise was finally cut a way from the earth. Thus the last chapters of the book deal with the manner in which Alexander the Great became in popular fantasy a conquering Dionysos, how this image invaded art and life and how it found its culmination in the work c the fifth-century Greek-Egyptian poet Nonnos. A detailed analysis shows his remarkable subtlety as a versifier and the part he played in v*ecording the románcé of this fascinating segment of history. ÍC/ack Lindsay is excellent at oombining careful scholarship with a novelist's gift for picking the precise detail which brings eve/ything to life." - The Times Educational Supplement "A vivid picture of the ancients enjoying themselves." -Daily Mail . . a wonderful gift for brin^ing the dead to life." - Tribüné Vissza