Everyday Life in Ancient Greece by Cyril Edward Robinson (Rare Book Collection)
Robinson examines the city-state, life at Sparta, recreation, women and slaves, education, trades and professions.
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive.
In his illuminating introduction, Robert Graves discusses the function of myth. He claims that in the first place, it serves to answer the type of awkward questions that children ask, like Who made the world or Who were the first people? The second function of myth is to justify an existing social system and to account for traditional customs and rites. Graves points out how myths of origin and eventual extinction vary according to the climate and that one finds a warm celestial afterworld in the north or a fresh flowered Elysian Field in Greece. He also deals with the Akan of Ghana and with Egypt and India. His conclusion is that myth is a dramatic shorthand record of stuff like invasions, migrations, dynastic changes, admission of foreign cults and social reforms. For example, when bread was first introduced in Greece, the myth of Demeter and Triptolemus sanctified its use.
The Encyclopedia investigates prehistoric mythology and that of Egypt, Assyro-Babylonia, Phoenicia, Greece, Rome, Persia, India, China, Japan, Oceania and that of the Celts, the Teutons, the Amerindians and Africans. It contains 34 colour plates and hundred of black and white illustrations and it concludes with a further reading list divided under different headings reflecting its chapter contents, plus a thorough index.
This superbly illustrated book is divided into three main sections. The first, Greece, runs from the eighth to the fourth centuries BC, a period unparalleled in history for its brilliance in literature, philosophy, and the visual arts. The second, Greece and Rome, deals with the Hellenization of the Middle East by the monarchies established in the area conquered by Alexander the Great, the growth of Rome, and the impact of the two cultures on one another. The third, Rome, covers the foundation of the Roman Empire by Augustus and its consolidation in the first two centuries AD.
