City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Languages

Average Rating:

.Teach Yourself Ancient Greek (TY Complete Courses)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Languages
by: Gavin Betts, Alan Henry

June 27, 2003
I bought this book, having some knowledge of contemporary Greek, and wishing to further my depth of understanding of the origins of the language. I found the use of lunate sigma (c/C) rather that the strictly correct form used during the pre-Roman Greek era (and used in contemporary Greek) really jarring.

The authors' suggestion that this was used for "reasons of convenience" (convenience for whom?) seems fairly spurious. All the other texts I've come across in ancient Greek use the standard form. Maybe it seems like a small thing, but if you're used to looking at Greek and seeing certain patterns of letters, you don't want to mentally replace some alien-looking 'c' with a sigma all the time. This just creates confusion. Ultimately, ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Teach Yourself Ancient Greek (TY Complete Courses)

Used Price: £11.48

Average Rating:

.Women in Ancient Greece and Rome (Cambridge Educational) (London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series,)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Languages
by: Michael Massey

September 29, 1988
The problem with just about anything to do with the ancient world is that the view is always from the male of the species, and that view is now more than two millenia out of date. Michael Massey does his best to sweep away thousands of years' worth of misogynistic myopia by taking a fresh, unblinkered look at the sources, which he has mostly translated himself, in an effort to interpret them for a very modern, post-feminist audience. The result is, in my view, a very even-handed treatment of one of the trickiest aspects of classical culture and society. The translations are very snappy, and the illustrations very well chosen. One big surprise is to discover that classical women did actually write about their lives for themselves, and I'm grateful ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Women in Ancient Greece and Rome (Cambridge Educational) (London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series,)

Used Price: £4.58

Average Rating:

.An Introduction to New Testament Greek: A Quick Course in the Reading of Koine Greek (Greek Language)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Languages
by: Frank Beetham

January 01, 1998
The problem with just about anything to do with the ancient world is that the view is always from the male of the species, and that view is now more than two millenia out of date. Michael Massey does his best to sweep away thousands of years' worth of misogynistic myopia by taking a fresh, unblinkered look at the sources, which he has mostly translated himself, in an effort to interpret them for a very modern, post-feminist audience. The result is, in my view, a very even-handed treatment of one of the trickiest aspects of classical culture and society. The translations are very snappy, and the illustrations very well chosen. One big surprise is to discover that classical women did actually write about their lives for themselves, and I'm grateful ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on An Introduction to New Testament Greek: A Quick Course in the Reading of Koine Greek (Greek Language)

Used Price: £10.04

Average Rating:

.Latin for Even More Occasions
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Languages
by: Henry Beard

September 07, 1992
After Beard's first book, 'Latin for All Occasions', one might say this book is a case of deja vu, or prius visum, as the Latin would have it.

Who said Latin wasn't useful? Henry Beard, in this volume and its predecessor, demonstrates that it is very useful, and not just for identifying a dish on a menu in Rome that looks suspiciously like the Latin word for 'eel'.

This volume begins on a fun note: French sounds even better in Latin:

Savoir faire = Scire facere
Nouveau riche = Novissime locupletatus
Merde! = Merda!

From there we proceed to philosophy:

Cogito, ergo sum
Sum, ergo edo.
Cogito sumere potum alterum.
(I think, therefore I am. I am, therefore I eat. ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Latin for Even More Occasions

Used Price: £0.01

Average Rating:

.A Natural History of Latin
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Languages
by: Tore Janson

January 25, 2007
This is far, far too superficial to be a genuine history of the Latin language. Everything is dealt with too briefly, if at all. Most of the discussion of the language per se is in the final third of the book, which contains a potted Latin grammar (if I wanted this I would read a Latin grammar). The first two sections, entitled "Latin and the Romans" and "Latin and Europe" respectively, focus too much on overviews of history and literary figures and precious little on the language itself apart from the odd few lines from Virgil, Ovid etc. I would have expected a work calling itself a "history" of Latin to deal with, to take a couple of examples, the relationship between Latin and Proto-Indo-European and its other descendant languages, and the development of ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on A Natural History of Latin

Used Price: £4.47

Average Rating:

.Sophocles: Antigone (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Languages
by: Sophocles

September 09, 1999
This is far, far too superficial to be a genuine history of the Latin language. Everything is dealt with too briefly, if at all. Most of the discussion of the language per se is in the final third of the book, which contains a potted Latin grammar (if I wanted this I would read a Latin grammar). The first two sections, entitled "Latin and the Romans" and "Latin and Europe" respectively, focus too much on overviews of history and literary figures and precious little on the language itself apart from the odd few lines from Virgil, Ovid etc. I would have expected a work calling itself a "history" of Latin to deal with, to take a couple of examples, the relationship between Latin and Proto-Indo-European and its other descendant languages, and the development of ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Sophocles: Antigone (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics)

Used Price: £10.78

Average Rating:

.Oxford French Dictionary and Grammar
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Languages
by: William Rowlinson

August 30, 2001
This is far, far too superficial to be a genuine history of the Latin language. Everything is dealt with too briefly, if at all. Most of the discussion of the language per se is in the final third of the book, which contains a potted Latin grammar (if I wanted this I would read a Latin grammar). The first two sections, entitled "Latin and the Romans" and "Latin and Europe" respectively, focus too much on overviews of history and literary figures and precious little on the language itself apart from the odd few lines from Virgil, Ovid etc. I would have expected a work calling itself a "history" of Latin to deal with, to take a couple of examples, the relationship between Latin and Proto-Indo-European and its other descendant languages, and the development of ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Oxford French Dictionary and Grammar

Used Price: £0.97

Average Rating:

.Oxford Latin Course: Teacher's Book Pt.3 (Oxford Latin Course)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Languages
by: Maurice Balme, James Morwood

March 27, 1997
This is far, far too superficial to be a genuine history of the Latin language. Everything is dealt with too briefly, if at all. Most of the discussion of the language per se is in the final third of the book, which contains a potted Latin grammar (if I wanted this I would read a Latin grammar). The first two sections, entitled "Latin and the Romans" and "Latin and Europe" respectively, focus too much on overviews of history and literary figures and precious little on the language itself apart from the odd few lines from Virgil, Ovid etc. I would have expected a work calling itself a "history" of Latin to deal with, to take a couple of examples, the relationship between Latin and Proto-Indo-European and its other descendant languages, and the development of ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Oxford Latin Course: Teacher's Book Pt.3 (Oxford Latin Course)

Used Price: £12.00

Average Rating:

.Introducing Cicero: A Latin Reader (Latin Texts)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Languages
by: Scottish Classics Group

July 25, 2002
Full marks to the Scottish Classics Group for this excellent introduction to the life and the many and varied works of Marcus Tullius Cicero, a contemporary of Julius Caesar, hugely influential in the transmission of Roman (and Greek) classic learning through the ages, and incidentally one of the most fascinating characters of the ancient world.

The book is composed of extracts from Cicero's speeches, letters and philosophical writings assembled in more or less chronological order so as to give a potted biography of the man. The background notes are excellent, not just with respect to the political history of the time, but dealing with many aspects of Roman culture and writing.

Cicero is the pre-eminent Latin stylist, and the extracts ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Introducing Cicero: A Latin Reader (Latin Texts)

Used Price: £8.04

Average Rating:

.The Comedies (Oxford World's Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Ancient Languages
by: Terence

January 10, 2008
Full marks to the Scottish Classics Group for this excellent introduction to the life and the many and varied works of Marcus Tullius Cicero, a contemporary of Julius Caesar, hugely influential in the transmission of Roman (and Greek) classic learning through the ages, and incidentally one of the most fascinating characters of the ancient world.

The book is composed of extracts from Cicero's speeches, letters and philosophical writings assembled in more or less chronological order so as to give a potted biography of the man. The background notes are excellent, not just with respect to the political history of the time, but dealing with many aspects of Roman culture and writing.

Cicero is the pre-eminent Latin stylist, and the extracts ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on The Comedies (Oxford World's Classics)

Used Price: £0.01