Perceptions of the Ancient Greeks

The influence of a culture on later cultures, however pervasive it may be, often passes unnoticed. There is however a different kind of influence which operates at conscious level and depends on what the individual believes about the past, no matter how inadequate or distorted that belief may be. Although such perceptions may be ignorant, partial, even wildly wrong, they are often much more influential than accurate historical knowledge and judicious assessment. "Perceptions of Ancient Greece" sets out to trace not the actual influence of the ancient Greeks on the culture and arts of later ages, but the way those ages looked at ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks are renowned for their learning, their architecture and nowadays their uninhibited sexuality, and are frequently regarded as the founders of Western civilization. In this book, a team of international scholars consider how the Greeks have been perceived through the ages, and how the different myths about them took shape in different periods and places.
It traces those perceptions, often strangely selective and mistaken, from the Romans - who had direct acquaintance with the later centuries of Greek civilization - through Byzantium, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, down to the beginning of the present century. It shows how the Greek-speaking world itself changed its picture of its own ancestors in the course of time, and how ancient Greece looked through Jewish and Muslim eyes.