“According to legend, Hephaistos was so enamored of the virginal Athena
that he attempted to rape her. The goddess escaped but his seed fell upon the
earth, and Erechtheus, half-man, half-snake, was born. The child was taken by
Gaia, the earth, to the Acropolis and given to Athena to raise. She in turn
entrusted him, hidden in a basket, to the three daughters of Kekrops:
Pandrosos, Herse, and Aglauros. Herse and Aglauros were so curious that they
opened the basket, went mad when they saw the child, and jumped to their
deaths, while the dutiful Pandrosos survived. When he was fully grown,
Erechtheus became king of Athens and founded the first temple to Athena Polias.”
Being the History aficionado that I am, I’ve read several
History books along my life. I believe my Father is to be blamed on this, since
the first History book I read was offered by him when I was a kid. It was a
small book about ancient Greece (which I still have), and I recall its mesmerizing
illustrations in black, orange, and white. Two and half decades later here I
am, returning to the Greeks.
When I laid my eyes on this Ancient Greece As It Was I wasn’t so
sure with what to expect of it. It presented itself as a travel guide to Greece
as if it was written in 415 BC. Hum, this is probably just something silly for
idiots to buy. But, with a price bellow five euros at the bookstore… why not?
Besides, I love travelling, and usually buy a lot of travel guides, so I’m
widely familiar with the style.
Oh, Zeus, how I looove being
wrong. The book is far from being silly. It is one of the most creative and
intelligently assembled History books I’ve read so far. It is edited precisely
as a travel guide, presenting information about demographics and the geography
of Attica (the region of Athens), and even being so amusing as this: “If you
are coming from Athens, exit from the Diplyon Gate and walk along the two-lane
road outside the northern long wall. The distance of 50 stadia will take you
two or three hours depending on the traffic”. This is priceless! Who could have
guessed that you could ACTUALLY write a travel guide in Athens 415 BC exactly as
you do in 2015 AD? You even have a chapter named “Entertainment on a Budget”
and the always present How to Get There,
Food and Drink, and – obviously! – Shopping.
Again, I insist: it is in no
way a kitsch thing. Each of the entries is marvelously written with all the
attention to historical detail, and with all the juicy content that a traveler
in 415 BC would want to learn about life, tradition, and History. Even
architecture is widely explained, with text boxes explaining the differences,
for instance, between Doric and Ionic columns.
Our travel guide starts with a
brief highlight of the History of Greece. Needless to say that talking about
the History of Greece in 415 BC is recounting the deeds of Theseus, Herakles,
and all the praised heroes of yonder. The episodes are ingeniously inserted
amidst the chapters that present the structural wonders of Athens, such as the
Acropolis. Throughout several pages we are introduced to all the buildings that
exist in the Acropolis – not just the Parthenon – where it is explained (when
there is information available) who ordered its construction, what are the
materials used, and what rituals are performed. It is magnificent the amount of
wide spanning information that is cramped in each entry.
The sanctuary of Zeus Polieus (Zeus of the City) overlooks the north of the
Acropolis and is divided into two enclosures: the first has a small temple and
altar; while the second provides stabling for the oxen sacrificed during the
Bouphonia, or ox-killing festival, held in late summer. The altar is a bronze
table on which barley cakes are offered. Oxen are driven around the table until
one eats the cakes. The guilty ox is sacrificed with an ax by the bouphonos
(ox-killer), who immediately drops the ax and runs off. The ax is then tried,
cursed, and thrown into the sea. The ox is “resurrected”, with its hide stuffed
and displayed in the precinct.
As you didn’t have photos or Google Maps at the time, the book is enriched
by many maps and hand-drawn depicted scenes of daily life. It is so well
assembled that you can actually imagine the countless blacksmiths working the
bronze around the temple of Hephaistos. Your imagination starts buzzing when
you try to feel the pulse of the
polis of Athens, whose low fertile surrounding terrains pushed the city to
become a marvel of industrializations, with countless pottery workshops and
amphorae full of olive oil being transported along the roads, to be traded
overseas by the much needed cereals and vegetables. This isn’t just a clever
History book disguised as a travel guide; this is a jewel that makes you
understand who those people were, why they were like that, and captivatingly
helps you envision ancient Greece as it
was. In the best tradition of Homer, this book addicts you in the History
of Greece.
I am unable to enrich this
article with further information and images, because, according to the
Internet, the book doesn’t exist! You barely can find any info about the book, encountering
different versions, titles, even author names (as in the cover that is
presented below). And when you search in the publishers’ website (Lyons Press)…
you get no results! Yup, just like ancient Greece, I have a thing of myth!
I also have the remaining
collection of the series: Ancient Rome As
It Was and Ancient Egypt as It Was.
I only regret that there isn’t an Ancient
Olisippo As It Was.
Oooh, yes: now I have picked
your interest. Now you feel compelled to go to Wikipedia and find out “what the
heck is Olisippo”.
Well, I can only wish you an interesting voyage, and… send my regards to
Odysseus. Yes… that one.
Ancient Greece As It Was – Eric Chaline, 2008, Lyons Press
