The Classical Tradition: Art, Literature, Thought presents an authoritative, coherent and wide-ranging guide to the afterlife of Greco-Roman antiquity in later Western cultures and a ground-breaking reinterpretation of large aspects of Western culture as a whole from a classical perspective.

• Features a unique combination of chronological range, cultural scope, coherent argument, and unified analysis
• Written in a lively, engaging, and elegant manner
• Presents an innovative overview of the afterlife of antiquity
• Crosses disciplinary boundaries to make new sense of a rich variety of material, rarely brought together
• Fully illustrated with a mix of color and black & white images

Michael Silk is Emeritus Professor of Classical and Comparative Literature at King's College London, UK, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.

Ingo Gildenhard, is Reader in Classics and the Classical Tradition at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, UK.

Rosemary Barrow (d. 2016) was Reader in Classical Art and Reception at the University of Roehampton, London, UK.

List of Figures vii

List of Plates viii

Prologue ix

Acknowledgements xiii

Part I Overview 1

§1 The Classical Tradition and the Scope of Our Book 3

§2 Mapping the Field 10

§3 Eras 15

§4 Sustaining the Tradition: Classics and Education 32

§5 Authority and Authorities 52

§6 Masters of Knowledge 61

§7 Models of Style 69

§8 Beacons of Morality 79

§9 Love Guides 87

§10 Special Relationships 98

§11 The Visual Arts: Contexts and Connections 102

§12 Popular Culture and Its Problematics 119

§13 Languages and Language 137

§14 Modes of Engagement 166

§15 Translation 173

§16 Science and Sensibility 199

§17 Looking at the Past 224

§18 The Classical Tradition – and the Rest 241

Part II Archetypes 249

§19 Preface 251

§20 The Dome 253

§21 The Hero 263

§22 Word-Genres 276

Part III The Imaginary 287

§23 Preface 289

§24 Myth 292

§25 The City: Rome 306

§26 Forms of Government 322

§27 The Order of Things 331

Part IV Making a Difference 341

§28 Preface 343

§29 Originators 346

§30 Points of Departure 358

§31 Ideas and Action 375

Part V Contrasts and Comparisons 391

§32 Preface 393

§33 Painting 394

§34 Political Thought 402

§35 Poetry 411

Epilogue 428

Bibliography 432

Index 475