Δοκίμιο & Πολιτισμός

Described by a later Greek historian as "a man seriously committed to raising a laugh", Lucian exulted in the exposure of absurdity and the puncturing of pretension, and was capable of finding a comic angle on almost any subject. In this selection we see him conversing with his literary enemies, railing against hypocrisy and the vanity of human wealth and power, and taking a wry look at the power of lust and the unsatisfactory nature of deviant sexual practices.

Children of Chance – An Atheist’s Journey Through the Ages takes the reader back to the 7th century BCE, narrating the thoughts and achievements of the Greek Ionian thinkers who first established western civilization’s scientific method. In the following chapters, the author narrates the abuses perpetrated by organized religion throughout the ages and the struggle of pioneer scientists to cope with dogmatic concepts. In the epilogue, the author laments the current situation on Earth perpetrated by the influence of what he calls “impostors,” religion, and nationalism.

Chios claims Homer as its native son. In this booklet Jill Dudley describes the ancient site north of the port of Chios where the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey taught and sang his epic poems. She visits the temples of pagan gods who divinely intervened in the Trojan War, and describes how Helen of Troy was worshipped as a goddess in the northwest of the island. It is as the back cover of the booklet says: all you need to know about the island's myths, legends and its gods.

Με μεγάλη χαρά ανακοινώνουμε την κυκλοφορία μιας νέας σειράς αγγλικών βιβλίων για μικρούς και μεγάλους που εισάγουν τους αναγνώστες στον κόσμο και στον πολιτισμό της αρχαίας Ελλάδας μέσα από τις εμβληματικές ηρωίδες της μυθολογίας. Είτε πρόκειται για διασκευές κλασικών τραγωδιών του Ευριπίδη, του Αισχύλου και του Σοφοκλή είτε για πρωτότυπα έργα βασισμένα σε γνωστές πηγές, τα βιβλία αυτά έχουν στόχο να παρασύρουν τους αναγνώστες σε ένα ταξίδι γεμάτο περιπέτεια, δράμα, θάνατο και έρωτα, ενώ παράλληλα εστιάζουν στις γυναίκες που έπαιξαν τόσο σημαντικό ρόλο στην ιστορία μας -και συχνά εξακολουθούν να μνημονεύονται ως απλοί θεατές. Η σειρά ξεκινά με έξι βιβλία: Μήδεια, Κίρκη, Ηλέκτρα, Ελένη, Αριάδνη και Αντιγόνη. Τα τρία πρώτα εκδίδονται τον Μάρτιο του 2024, ενώ τα επόμενα τρία το καλοκαίρι. Κάθε βιβλίο μπορεί να διαβαστεί ξεχωριστά και μπορείτε να αρχίσετε την ανάγνωση με οποιαδήποτε σειρά, όμως υπάρχει ένα βασικό νήμα που εντέλει συνδέει όλους αυτούς τους χαρακτήρες και παρέχει μια ευρύτερη άποψη για το τι ήταν να είσαι γυναίκα στον αρχαίο ελληνικό κόσμο. Τα ιδιαίτερα εξώφυλλα της σειράς έχει φιλοτεχνήσει η ταλαντούχα εικονογράφος Little Miss Grumpy. Γέννημα-θρέμμα Αθηναία, είχε όνειρο να γίνει ηθοποιός, αλλά τελικά έγινε μια από τις πιο πολλά υποσχόμενες εικονογράφους της γενιάς της. Σχεδιάζει, σκιτσάρει και ζωγραφίζει για βιβλία και εφημερίδες και δημιουργεί αντικείμενα με… προσωπικότητα.

Continuing the saga begun in I, Claudius, Robert Graves's Claudius the God is a compelling fictional autobiography of the Roman emperor, published with an introduction by Barry Unsworth in Penguin Modern Classics.

Claudius has survived the murderous intrigues of his predecessors to become, reluctantly, Emperor of Rome. Here he recounts his surprisingly successful reign: how he cultivates the loyalty of the army and the common people to repair the damage caused by Caligula; his relations with the Jewish King Herod Agrippa; and his invasion of Britain. But the growing paranoia of absolute power and the infidelity of his promiscuous young wife Messalina mean that his good fortune will not last forever. In this second part of Robert Graves's fictionalized autobiography, Claudius - wry, rueful, always inquisitive - brings to life some of the most scandalous and violent times in history.

Οι φανατικοί των colouring books έχουν τώρα την ευκαιρία να χαλαρώσουν χρωματίζοντας μερικές από τις πιο χαρακτηριστικές εικόνες της Ελλάδας. Η Ακρόπολη, τα γραφικά σοκάκια της Πλάκας, η Θεσσαλονίκη, η Σαντορίνη, οι Δελφοί και άλλα μοναδικά μνημεία, μοναστήρια, αρχαία θέατρα αλλά και παραστάσεις από αρχαιοελληνικά αγγεία είναι μερικά από τα 32 θέματα που σχεδίασε ο ζωγράφος Παναγιώτης Σταυρόπουλος ειδικά για το Colouring Greece! Κάθε παράσταση συνοδεύεται από επεξηγηματική λεζάντα στα ελληνικά και στα αγγλικά, κάνοντας το βιβλίο ιδανικό αναμνηστικό και για τους τουρίστες που επισκέπτονται τη χώρα μας.

'To create today means to create dangerously'This new collection contains some of Camus' most brilliant political writing as he reflects on moral responsibility and the role of the artist in the world. Letters to a German Friend, written and published underground during the Nazi occupation of France, was born out of Camus' experience in the Resistance and explores what it truly means to love your country. Reflections on the Guillotine, his impassioned polemic against the death penalty, became a touchstone for the movement to abolish capital punishment, while in his Nobel speeches Camus argues that the artist must engage with dangerous times. Together these powerful pieces express Camus' mistrust of rigid ideologies, and his commitment to human solidarity. 'Probably no European writer of his time left so deep a mark on the imagination' Conor Cruise O'Brien

Through a series of specific questions that cut to the core of conspiracism as a global social and cultural phenomenon this book deconstructs the logic and rhetoric of conspiracy theories and analyses the broader social and psychological factors that contribute to their persistence in modern society.

Greek Jewish cooking is the product of Jewish life in four great empires. The Jews have lived in Greece for over 2.000 years as one succeeded another: the Alexandrine, the Roman, the Byzantine, and the Ottoman. From each they took something and made it their own. Beginning in the 15th century, Jewish exiles from the expulsions of Spain and Portugal and, later, from the violence of eastern Europe, came to Ottoman ruled Greece and created one of the greatest Jewish cities in history. Salonika reigned as "Queen of Israel" for over four hundred years, until it fell victim to the Nazi Holocaust. What remains today in Greece are the memories of survivors from the last generation of Salonika's reign and of 2.000 years of Greek Jewish life. The recipes for the Cookbook of the Jews of Greece were painstakingly gathered from these survivors in retirement homes and family homes throughout Greece by the director of the Jewish Museum of Greece, Nicholas Stavroulakis. He has brought his own varied background to bear on the cookbook's creation. His family is of mixed Cretan, Jewish, and Turkish origins. He is an artist and a cook. He has exhibited widely in Europe and the United States and has illustrated numerous books. After being educated in Great Britain and the United States, he taught at Tel Aviv University before returning to Greece to become the director of the Jewish Museum in Athens.