Know Thyself

Western Identity from Classical Greece to the Renaissance

By: Ingrid Rossellini

Narrated by: January LaVoy

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2018

A lively and timely introduction to the roots of self-understanding--who we are and how we should act--in the cultures of ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and Middle Ages and the Renaissance

"Know thyself"--this fundamental imperative appeared for the first time in ancient Greece, specifically in Delphi, the temple of the god Apollo, who represented the enlightened power of reason. For the Greeks, self-knowledge and identity were the basics of their civilization and their sources were to be found in where one was born and into which social group. These determined who you were and what your duties were. In this book the independent scholar Ingrid Rossellini surveys the major ideas that, from Greek and Roman antiquity through the Christian medieval era up to the dawn of modernity in the Renaissance, have guided the Western project of self-knowledge. Addressing the curious lay reader with an interdisciplinary approach that includes numerous references to the visual arts, Know Thyself will reintroduce readers to the most profound and enduring ways our civilization has framed the issues of self and society, in the process helping us rediscover the very building blocks of our personality.

Critic reviews

"Rumors of the death of Western civilization must be questioned when a work of popular history as absorbing and readable as this is published...New Western civ classes could ask for no better overview."
—Booklist, starred review

“In a thrilling story of pride and humility from the Greeks to the Renaissance, Know Thyself offers an entire education in a book. Ingrid Rossellini shows us where we have come from and who we need to be as citizens in a diverse and ever-changing world.”
—Barry Strauss, Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies at Cornell University and author of The Death of Caesar: The Story of History’s Most Famous Assassination

"Rossellini’s epic is dazzling."
—Publishers Weekly

“Polymath Rossellini shares the fruits of her broad knowledge of literature, philosophy, art, and history in this…highly rewarding work…a highly satisfying journey across centuries of culture...Rossellini gives us illuminating classes in art history, Western civilization, philosophy, and religion, all rolled into one book that must be read closely and pondered fully.”
—Kirkus, starred review


“Scholar Rossellini’s grand study, in many ways, presents a history of the Western soul…Rossellini is skilled in teasing out the metaphysical and cultural hinges that shaped the Western mind…a scholarly yet accessible tour through the history of Western civilization, pleasantly detailing the rises, declines, rediscoveries, and revolutions along the way.”
—Library Journal

Master piece!

Most succinct, sensible synopsis of western civilization up to the renaissance period.
The narrator delivered a pitch perfect reading.

I am on my way of second listening. And Javed ordered the book too.

Ideas +major proponents, filtered through the arts

This covers quite a span of time and cultural history. Heroic models and ideals (of thinkers as well as popular action heroes and artists) are a focus. I very much liked the sophisticated, yet understandable, unpacking of Christianity's ideas and ideals as it evolved. Women's roles are discussed, though sparingly. The narration is quite skillful and a good fit.

Overly concise & lacking all nuance

Rossellini is OK (& I mean OK, not good or anything past competent) when discussing anything prior to about 600AD. This is mostly due to the fact that she has no socio-political dog in the hunt when it comes to ancient Greco-Roman mores, whether social, political, or religious. It's a fairly breezy & mostly interesting, if perfunctory, survey of that era. After that, however, it becomes a slog of Christians bad/repressive/evil while everyone else is shown to be (mostly) free of all wrongdoing. There is barely any context or explanation, & vanishingly little nuance, in the book & she obviously expects the listener to take her word for what context she provides. Bernard of Clairvaux suffers an especially egregious character assassination. Christian teaching is consistently misconstrued & misrepresented, presenting even the most basic terms & concepts incorrectly. This has to be intentional, since she cites numerous sources (in text) that definitely gave superior information than does Rossellini. She dedicates a paltry 30 minutes to the Crusades (Christians bad/Muslims perfect), glossing over so much it gives you historical whiplash. This thing is an utter waste of time, even if all you want is a 20,000 foot overview of Western Civ. There are many that are far better & significantly more nuanced, without ignoring facts.
If you want fairly breezy & concise history that doesn't shirk on context, nuance, detail, or fact, I'd strongly suggest the work of Dorsey Armstrong, much of which is free here on Audible. She's significantly better than Rossellini in every way.