Sailing the Wine Dark Sea

Why the Greeks Matter

By: Thomas Cahill

Narrated by: John Lee

In Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, his fourth volume to explore “the hinges of history,” Thomas Cahill escorts the reader on another entertaining—and historically unassailable—journey through the landmarks of art and bloodshed that defined Greek culture nearly three millennia ago.

In the city-states of Athens and Sparta and throughout the Greek islands, honors could be won in making love and war, and lives were rife with contradictions. By developing the alphabet, the Greeks empowered the reader, demystified experience, and opened the way for civil discussion and experimentation—yet they kept slaves. The glorious verses of the Iliad recount a conflict in which rage and outrage spur men to action and suggest that their “bellicose society of gleaming metals and rattling weapons” is not so very distant from more recent campaigns of “shock and awe.” And, centuries before Zorba, Greece was a land where music, dance, and freely flowing wine were essential to the high life. Granting equal time to the sacred and the profane, Cahill rivets our attention to the legacies of an ancient and enduring worldview.©2003 Thomas Cahill; (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc.

vocals

love john lee and his voice, well organized for the argument why the greeks matter to are western minds

If Homer and Olive Oil make you think of cartoons

....then this is probably not the book for you.

But for the serious student of any of the liberal arts( philosophy, politics, history, literature, sociology, fine arts, ect.) this is a must read. Another of his series of histories, Cahill has an encyclopedic grasp of the evolution of modern western society. Lively and at times risque, he gives a persuasive arguement for the study of the classics.

It's a good read.

Really enjoyed this Audiobook; a good model

I have read the other Cahill books (the Jews, the Irish) and I've been very pleased with this one as an audiobook. The audiobook alternates between recitations from Homer and other epic Greek poets (Sapho, Euripedes), and Cahill's explanatory and contexual material. For an audiobook, this is excellent, since the poetry of Homer really deserves to be heard. As an audiobook format, this is nearly perfect material. This is not a hard core academic treatment; Cahill is very eclectic and undiscplined, sort of the Stephen Ambrose of the ancient world. I'm looking forward to the film 'Troy' in a few months, and this book is good background for the film.

crossing the void of time

I've always wondered about the Greeks, the ancient world, the ways that humans have lived and interacted. I found this book a very credible interpretation of the distant past, well researched and thoughtfully presented.

Some parts of the book are easier listening than others but I found the listening to for the most part interesting and engaging. It seems to me to be a montage of views into the distant past, views that have enriched my understanding of the ancient world.

Greek history without tears

I chose this one to atone for all the fun I had listening to Elmore Leonard's latest, but believe it or not, I had just as much fun with this saucy update on the ancient Greeks. How do you update the ancient Greeks? Well, by considering the extent to which they were homosexual. (Quite a bit.) By Showing how Lincoln and Kennedy borrowed their best ideas, and the Bush administration their worst. And yes, I got out my old copy of Jansen and it's true--Adonis does have a tiny penis. Cahill editorializes more than he analyses, and this is a very quick romp, but he knows his stuff and puts the big picture together in a very vivid way. My only complaint is that they chose a reader who rolls every R and declaims Cahill's colloquial and modern text like old-time Shakespeare.