The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (Oxford Companions) - Softcover

Review from previous edition beautifully illustrated and intelligently reader friendly (TLS)

This is a serious book as well as an attractive one (T. P. Wiseman, TLS)

a cut above (Booklist)

magnificent (Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph (reviewing OCD))

a classic...a highly readable and browseable delight...should be in every reference collection (B. Juhl, Choice (reviewing OCD))

a delight for anyone with any curiosity about the roots of our Western culture...a browser's paradise, and I would think a researcher's quick rescuer (Arthur Miller, London Review of Books (reviewing OCD))

the third edition of The Oxford Classical Dictionary should be saluted (Nigel Spivey, Guardian (reviewing OCD))

a remarkable feat...Simon Hornblower and Tony Spawforth deserve a round of applause for the spread, exactness and range of this massive overhaul (Robin Lane Fox, Observer (reviewing OCD))

offers not only that breakfast for the mind we keep hearing about, but lunch, tea, dinner, supper and non-stop snacks...offers a cornucopia of accurate and succinct knowledge that would be hard to equal ((Peter Green, Washington Times (reviewing OCD))

the ultimate useful book (Peter Jones, Sunday Telegraph (reviewing OCD))

How did the ancient Greeks and Romans differ in their attitude towards alcoholism? What role did dance play in religious rituals? What did the ancient Greeks eat? Why was emperor Nero popular with the ordinary people but less so with the upper classes? How did ancient authors reason why Oedipus ('with swollen foot') was so called?
For over 2,000 years the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome have captivated our collective imagination and provided inspiration for so many aspects of our lives, from culture, literature, drama, cinema, and television to society, education, and politics. Many of the roots to the way life is lived in the West today can be traced to the ancient civilizations, not only in politics, law, technology, philosophy, and science, but also in social and family life, language, and art.

Beautiful illustrations, easy-to-use jargon free entries, and a useful chronology and bibliography make this Companion the perfect guide for readers interested in learning more about the Graeco-Roman world. As well as providing sound information on all aspects of classical civilization such as history, politics, ethics, morals, law, society, religion, mythology, science and technology, language, literature, art, and scholarship, the entries in the Companion reflect the changing interdisciplinary aspects of classical studies, covering broad thematic subjects, such as race, nationalism, and ecology, confirming the impact classical civilizations have had on the modern world.

HISTORY AND POLITICS
the events, achievements, and personalities of 2,000 years of history in Greece and Rome and their immediate neighbours and the underlying issues

themes: armies, banks, bribery, class struggle, democracy, economy, oligarchy, tyranny
individuals: Agrippa, Mark Antony, Augustus, Cleopatra VII, Domitian, Livia, Nero, Quintus, Pyrrhus, Trajan

ETHICS AND MORALS, LAW AND PUNISHMENT, ECONOMICS
individual philosophers and their schools, and ethical issues, attitudes to animals, to wealth, or to warfare, and intellectual or religious intolerance

themes: abortion, adoption, adultery, alcoholism, barbarian, capitalism, debt, imperialism, industry, marriage law, prison, slavery, torture
Institutions: banks, police, senate

SOCIAL AND FAMILY LIFE
the everyday lives of the ancients and broader social topics covering status, kinship and the family

themes: age, chastity, childbirth, class-struggle, cookery, dancing, dress, food and drink, games, heterosexuality, homosexuality, houses, incest, kinship, meals, suicide, tourism, women

LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, ART, AND SCHOLARSHIP
writers and poets, orators and playwrights, literacy and books, archives and education, literary genres, painting and sculpture, and the writing of history

themes: art, bilingualism, books, comedy, epic, fantastic literature, gardens, genre, maps, narrative, novel, orality, pottery, reception, satire, tragedy
individuals: Achilles, Alcaeus, Aristophanes, Cicero, Euripides, Horace, Isocrates, Odysseus, Seneca, Sophocles, Virgil, Xenophon

RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY
Greek, Roman, and Egyptian beliefs, cults, and rituals, together with their attendant deities and mythological creatures, mingle with Judaism and early Christianity

themes: cakes, dancing, games, initiation, intolerance, magic, mythology, oracles, prayer, ruler-cult, sacrifice, sin, temple
individuals: Achilles, Aphrodite, Apollo, Hector, Heracles, Oedipus, Zeus

TECHNOLOGY, SCIENCE, AND MEDICINE
the birth of the scientific method in experiment, and all manner of discovery, exploration, treatment, and theorizing on disease, geography, climate, astronomy, mineralogy, navigation, sanitation, vivisection

themes: agriculture, anatomy and physiology, anthropology, artillery, astronomy, botany, disease, ecology, famine, geography, mathematics, medicine, navigation, physics, sanitation