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Ancients and Moderns

How can classics and antiquity illuminate critical issues in the modern world? How does classics help us to address contemporary problems and conflict-resolution? In what ways do modern insights and theories shed new light on the interpretation of ancient texts, monuments, artefacts and cultures? The central aim of this exciting new series is to show how antiquity is relevant to life and times today. The series also points towards the ways in which the modern and classical worlds are mutually connected and interrelated. Lively, engaging, and historically informed, Ancients and Moderns examines key ideas and practices in context. It shows how societies and cultures have been shaped by ideas and debates that recur. Evincing strong appeal to beginning students and their teachers in a variety of disciplines, as well as within classics and ancient history, each book will be elegantly written for non-specialists, avoiding jargon.

In helping its readers appreciate the role played by antiquity in shaping and restructuring modern issues, ideas and debates, Ancients and Moderns shows precisely how classics can function as a truly dynamic force for change in the present day. Above all, it shows that, far from being ‘dry’, or a ‘dead’ subject, the new classics explored by a series such as this has vital practical relevance to questions and dilemmas in the 21st century.

Series Editor: Phiroze Vasunia, Reader in Classics, University of Reading

Death Antiquity and Its Legacy Cover

Mario Erasmo creatively explores the nexus between classical and contemporary approaches to dying, death and interment. From theme funerals in St Louis to Etruscan sarcophagi, he offers a rich and insightful discussion of finitude across the ages.

Drama Antiquity and Its Legacy Cover

The drama of antiquity transcends the most intransigent cultural, ethnic and national boundaries. This concise and lively overview explains why its capacity to transport endures.

Gender: Antiquity and Its Legacy

By re-examining ancient notions of sexual difference, bodies, culture, and identity, this book shows that Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Epicureans and others force us to reassess what is at stake in discussions about gender.

Luck, Fate and Fortune cover

The impulse to try to anticipate the future, and make sense of apparently random events, is irrepressible. This title explores the legacy of ancient Greek notions of luck, fate and fortune in our own era. It also explores some of the key ideas of ancient Greek culture that resonate with modern conceptions of destiny.

Medicine Antiquity and Its Legacy Cover

Discussing topics such as medical ethics, diagnostic explanations of illness and disease, matters of sex and gender, the ancient division between body and soul, interpretations of madness and melancholia, and methods of medical teaching and dissemination, the author draws fascinating parallels between the ancient, early modern and modern periods.

Medicine Antiquity and Its Legacy Cover

Discussing topics such as medical ethics, diagnostic explanations of illness and disease, matters of sex and gender, the ancient division between body and soul, interpretations of madness and melancholia, and methods of medical teaching and dissemination, the author draws fascinating parallels between the ancient, early modern and modern periods.

Politics Antiquity and Its Legacy Cover

Ancient Greece is famous as the civilization which 'gave' the world democracy. Democracy has in modern times become the rallying cry of liberation from supposed totalitarianism and dictatorship. This title shows that much can be learned about the practice of politics from a comparative discussion of the classical and the contemporary politics.

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