{"product_id":"the-symposion-drinking-greek-style-essays-on-greek-pleasure-1983-2017-9780198814627","title":"The Symposion: Drinking Greek Style: Essays on Greek Pleasure 1983-2017","description":"\u003cem\u003eSymposion\u003c\/em\u003e is the Greek word for 'drinking together'--the social institution of reclining on couches and enjoying the pleasures of wine, sex, and song. Although the Greeks learned the rituals of communal drinking from the Near East, they turned them into a way of life entirely their own, such\u003cbr\u003ethat for the male revellers they were elevated into a conception of \u003cem\u003eeuphrosyne\u003c\/em\u003e (bliss), the highest form of pleasure. The symposion became a focal point of Greek aristocratic art and culture in the archaic age, proclaimed in poetry and the visual arts, while its structures affected the Greek\u003cbr\u003eattitude to life in all its aspects, from the perception of politics, society, philosophy, and psychology, to attitudes towards sexuality, death, and religion. Even when the symposion began to lose its dominance in the classical democratic city state, it was never abandoned, but continued throughout\u003cbr\u003ethe Hellenistic age and was transmitted through trade and cultural contact to the Etruscans, the Romans, and throughout the Mediterranean. One of the longest surviving works from antiquity is an encyclopaedia of Greek drinking customs compiled in the third century AD, and we can still trace the\u003cbr\u003eremnants of this sympotic culture today: the story of Greek pleasure thus lies both at the heart of antiquity and of the western history and conception of pleasure, and even now continues to resonate down the ages. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOswyn Murray's research on ancient Greek drinking customs, beginning in 1983, ignited a major new field of research in archaeology, art history, Greek literature, and Greek history and established him as an expert in the field. This volume consolidates his unrivalled contribution by gathering\u003cbr\u003etogether the numerous essays on sympotic subjects that he has written over a span of thirty years, and charting half a lifetime of thought on a theme on which he has had a shaping influence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Oswyn Murray\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/26\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 480\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.80lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.80h x 7.00w x 1.40d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780198814627\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/01\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOswyn Murray, \u003cem\u003eEmeritus Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOswyn Murray is an Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He studied under the great scholar Arnaldo Momigliano before taking up a research position at the Warburg Institute and becoming successively, between 1968 and 2004, Tutor, Senior Tutor, vice-Master, and Director of the Graduate Centre\u003cbr\u003eat Balliol. He is the author of \u003cem\u003eEarly Greece\u003c\/em\u003e (originally published by Fontana Press in 1980 and translated into numerous languages, including Chinese) and over a hundred articles, and has also edited, among other volumes, \u003cem\u003eThe Oxford History of the Classical World\u003c\/em\u003e (OUP, 1986), \u003cem\u003eThe Greek City\u003c\/em\u003e (OUP, \u003cbr\u003e1990), \u003cem\u003eSympotica\u003c\/em\u003e (OUP, 1990), and \u003cem\u003eIn Vino Veritas\u003c\/em\u003e (The British School at Rome, 1995). His current interests include Herodotus' \u003cem\u003eHistories\u003c\/em\u003e (on which he is overseeing the publication of a major new commentary), the history of classical scholarship from 1700 to the present day, and the history of\u003cbr\u003epleasure. In his spare time he makes his own cider. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eVanessa Cazzato trained in Milan, Dublin, and Oxford and currently holds a post-doctoral research position in the Netherlands, where she works on archaic and classical Greek poetry. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMichael Gabriel, painter, illustrator, and printmaker, has specialized in animation art direction and background painting, with work on films including \u003cem\u003eThe Snowman\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003ePink Floyd-The Wall\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Tailor of Gloucester\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003ePumpkin Moon\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eWe're Going On A Bear Hunt\u003c\/em\u003e. He is an associate artist at Oxford\u003cbr\u003ePlayhouse where he draws from live theatre.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":39932111487091,"sku":"9.78E+12","price":140.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_e99dbbce-0ff2-4623-ad1c-3cd2f2136418.jpg?v=1647790264","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/the-symposion-drinking-greek-style-essays-on-greek-pleasure-1983-2017-9780198814627","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}