Why the Ancient Greeks Matter: The Problematic Miracle that was Greece - Reviel Netz

Category: History, Misc. Non-fiction
Language: English
Keywords: Ancient Greece

Written by Reviel Netz
Read by David Stifel
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
Release date: 07-07-26

The ancient Greeks were exceptional and they were consequential. This innovative, engrossingly written book addresses head-on the problematic question of the Greek Miracle. It will appeal to anyone interested in the ancient world and its modern meaning. Reviel Netz boldly argues that the traditional understanding of the Greek legacy as a store of timeless values is false to the Greek literary canon itself. The latter is in fact made up of contradictory texts, sharing no common core of beliefs. This is precisely, for the author, the canon’s significance: by presenting a system of works-in-polemic, it created a template for a culture of open debate, leading all the way down to modern civil society. The most lasting result of this practice of open discourse was in science, where Greek disputations paved the way for an autonomous scientific culture and opened the door both to the scientific revolution and the modern world.