''The reigning Queen of Classics'' Spectator What are civilisations? At the heart of this big question is how people have depicted the human and divine, from prehistory to the present day. Britain''s most famous classicist Mary Beard asks: how have we portrayed ourselves in some of the world''s earliest art? Why have these images sometimes been so contentious? In time for the 55th anniversary airing of Kenneth Clark''s Civilisation , Beard explores gigantic stone heads carved by the Olmec in Central America, the statues and pottery of the ancient Greeks, and the first emperor of China''s terracotta army. And she explains how one ancient representation of the human body still influences (or distorts) how people in the West see their own culture, and that of others. From Angkor Wat to the Ravenna mosaics and exquisite calligraphy of Islamic mosques, all religions have wrestled with idolatry and iconoclasm. Throughout this story, Beard is concerned not only with the artists who made art, but with those who have used, viewed, or interpreted it - and asked how to look with The Eye of Faith.

Vorwort
An unmissable tour through art and time with the most renowned classicist of today, Mary Beard

Autorentext
Mary Beard is one of the most original and best-known classicists working today. She is Professor of Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge, and the Classics editor of the TLS. She is a fellow of the British Academy and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her books include the Wolfson Prize-winning Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town (2008) and the best-selling SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (2015). Her popular TLS blog has been collected in the books It's a Don's Life and All in a Don's Day. Her latest book is Women & Power: A Manifesto (2017).

Klappentext

'The reigning Queen of Classics' Spectator

'Mary Beard is the best in the business' Dan Snow

'Excellent' Guardian

**'Enthralling' Sunday Times

Britain's most famous classicist asks: what are civilisations?**

Central to this huge question are the ways in which we have depicted the human and the divine from prehistory to the present day. And across such iconic creations as Angkor Wat, the Ravenna mosaics and China's terracotta army, one ancient representation of the human body still influences (or distorts) how people in the West see not only their own culture but that of others.

From idolatry to iconoclasm, Mary Beard shines her spotlight on the artists who made art, and on those who have used, viewed, or interpreted it - and asked how to look with the eye of faith.

Zusammenfassung
Companion to the BBC series CIVILISATIONS