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Perhaps one of the best books ever written on the subject. HIghly informative.
Interesting ideas. A great read. Intelligent, articulate, intellectual, compelling. I took Prof. Nagy's class on the Hero and Greek Civilization during college. One of my all-time favorite classes by one of my all-time favorite professors.
2.5After all the interesting books analyzing the Iliad I have read lately, this was just too dull.
I approached "The Best of the Achaeans" with a certain amount of dread. I wasn't sure what to expect and feared it might be a dull treatise on heroism. In fact, it was frequently fascinating and right up my alley. Gregory Nagy's main focus was on language and how it reveals deep traditional patterns.Though Homer's two epics take a prime place in the discussion, Nagy also draws widely on other ancient literature. After Homer, Hesiod is cited second-most, then Pindar, then Archilochus and other ar...
This treatise was my first encounter with Nagy's thinking many years ago. Nagy has found the "outgrown track to Language" and knows how to instruct the track to a modern academic reader. He changed my approach to the thinking of the ancient Indo-European man and after that moment of realization, this change has been irreversible. Humble thanks.
This world is known to us through Homer and the artifacts left behind. Nagy does an excellent job at giving us a glimpse of these heroic people - Achilles and co.