Who Needs Greek?: Contests in the Cultural History of Hellenism

Does Greek matter? To whom and why? This interdisciplinary study focuses on moments when passionate conflicts about Greek and Greek-ness have erupted in both the modern and the ancient worlds. It looks at the Renaissance, when men were burned at the stake over biblical Greek, at violent Victorian rows over national culture and the schooling of a country, at the shocking performances of modernist opera - and it also examines the ancient world and its ideas of what it means to be Greek, especially in the first and second centuries CE. The book sheds light on how the ancient and modern worlds interrelate, and how fantasies and deals, struggles and conflicts have come together under the name of Greece. As a contribution to theatre studies, Renaissance and Victorian cultural history, and to the understanding of ancient writing, this book takes reception studies in an exciting alternative direction.

Simon Goldhill is Reader in Greek Literature and Culture at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of King's College. He has also held Visiting Professorships at Stanford University and the University of Michigan.