[audiobook] This Thing Called Theory (Critiques: Critical Studies in Architectural Humanities) by From Routledge at Arts-Photography

Description

The ancient Greeks attributed great importance to the sacred during war and campaigning; as demonstrated from their earliest texts. Among the first four lines of the Iliad; for example; is a declaration that Apollo began the feud between Achilles and Agamemnon and sent a plague upon the Greek army because its leader; Agamemnon; had mistreated Apollo’s priest. In this first in-depth study of the attitude of military commanders towards holy ground; Sonya Nevin addresses the customs and conduct of these leaders in relation to sanctuaries; precincts; shrines; temples and sacral objects. Focusing on a variety of Greek kings and captains; the author shows how military leaders were expected to react to the sacred sites of their foes. She further explores how they were likely to respond; and how their responses shaped the way such generals were viewed by their communities; by their troops; by their enemies and also by those – like Herodotus; Thucydides and Xenophon – who were writing their lives. This is a groundbreaking study of the significance of the sacred in warfare and the wider culture of antiquity.