Ancient Greek history — Blog

★★★★☆.5 - more than just a coffee table book!

The Greek Vase: The Art of the Storyteller by John H.Oakley is a richly illustrated guide to everything you need to know about Ancient Greek Pottery. This book has images on every single page of pottery from Ancient Greece, beautifully photographed and well described. This book has six main sections; Fabric, Form and Function, Potters and Painters, Depicting the Divine, Meeting the Myth Makers, A Life Well-Lived and Seducing the Senses. These sections take you through the different forms of pottery and in what contexts they would be used. They explain in detail the main decorative forms including red-figure, black-figure and white-ground, and the changes in preference for each of the design types. I absolutely loved the section ‘Potters and Painters’ which takes you through how some potters and painters have been identified and how analysing drawing styles isn’t as easy as it sounds. Pottery has been traced back to the workshop in which they were manufactured, and in some instances, pottery has been inscribed with names which makes it clear it was a family skill, passed from father to son. Honestly, the detail that was put into the designs of ancient pottery, and the fact that so many have survived so well for so long absolutely blows me away. I never thought I would love ancient pottery quite this much.

One of the most fascinating points made in ‘Meeting the Myth Makers’ is the fluctuation in preference for pottery designs, with the political changes in Athens which is clear in the decline of vases decorated Herakles and his labours (which were very popular prior to 508/7 BCE), and the increase in the depiction of Theseus during democratic Athens. The detail in which Oakley analysed the depiction of gods, goddesses and other deities was fascinating, and he posed the issue multiple times that most of the divine were depicted as humans, so pottery without the names of the figures depicted can often be analysed in multiple ways. From mythology to everyday life like sports and theatre, to weddings and funerals, the greek vase was present in every aspect of Ancient Greek life, and so much of life was depicted on them. We know so much about the daily life of the Greeks, and the Athenians specifically, from the decorative designs on pottery. The detail this book went into was an unexpected surprise, but a very happy surprise nonetheless. It truly broadened my knowledge of artistic features, function, development and ways in which to analyse Ancient Greek Pottery, and the sheer number of images accompanying the text elevates it that much more. I would recommend this book to any and all lovers of Ancient Greece, pottery, or ancient art in general!

★★★★☆.5 I am only now getting into reading non-fiction books for fun, and not for uni or work so I’m still working on how I feel about rating them. With that being said, overall I really enjoyed reading this book.

What's the book about?

Venus & Aphrodite: History of a Goddess by Bettany Hughes is a light, easy read which follows the history of the goddess best known as Venus or Aphrodite, from her beginnings to the modern reception of the goddess. Using archaeological evidence with textual sources and more recent artworks and literature, Bettany traces the origins of the goddess of love, and both her movements and developments through history.

As some will know, Aphrodite is the Ancient Greek goddess of love, desire, beauty and sexuality, and Venus is the Roman counterpart to Aphrodite, and held dominion over fertility, prostitution and victory. However, as Bettany delves into in the first few chapters of her book, Aphrodite didn’t just appear in the artwork and literature of Ancient Greece suddenly, but evolved from both the Cypriot spirit of procreation and fertility, as well as the Near Eastern goddesses of war Inanna, Astarte and Ishtar. Beginning from both the mythological beginnings of Aphrodite (with the castration of Ouranos, and the goddess emerging from the sea foam caused by the god’s genitals falling into the ocean), as well as the archaeological beginnings, and moving all the way through the renaissance depictions and the morphing of her dominions and depictions through to the modern-day, Bettany has provided an accessible and easy to read guide to the goddess and her history.

“A potent idea, given a name and a face across five millennia, this deity is the incarnation of fear as well as love, of pain as well as pleasure, of the agony and ecstasy of desire”

thoughts and feelings

From the very first page, I knew this was going to be a far easier read than I was initially anticipating. Bettany has written this book as if she was just chatting to a mate, and honestly, I loved that. Although it initially caught me off guard, it made it so much more appealing, and tempted me to pick it up more often knowing that the language used was easygoing. The colloquial language, however, doesn’t take away from the importance of this goddess, and her significance throughout history, especially in ancient civilisations. What Bettany has done, is a thorough investigation on the goddess, and then turned that hard evidence into a book that is easily understood and accessible to anyone. Bettany has achieved the goal of bringing archaeological and historical facts into the world in an easy to read and enjoyable book, and I love it! Her addition of images throughout the book, both in black and white dispersed through the book, and in the middle which is full of coloured images, makes it all the more interesting, especially in the discussions around the changes in the physical depictions of the goddess.

“It [desire] is the life force that spurs us on to do, to be, to think.”

I love that it was a short, easy read. It means that there’s a far better chance that more people will pick it up (and I love the idea that the ancient world is becoming something more open and available). But, some points Bettany made, I felt like I wanted more evidence that backed up her conclusion. I am sure that she has done her research, and I don’t doubt any of the statements or conclusions she has come to in this fascinating history, but I would have loved just a bit more depth into some of the evidence (whether it be archaeological or textual), that she has used to form her conclusions. In saying that, I always want more out of my books, and I commend her for making this book so full of information, and yet so easy to read.

I definitely feel like the goddess Aphrodite/Venus has been simplified into the goddess of sex and desire with little substance, and this book is out here to remind the world that she is so much more. Bettany explores the goddesses roots in the war-goddesses of the Near East (Inanna, Ishtar and Astarte), and brings to the forefront the seemingly contradictory beginnings of this goddess through love, desire and war. This book details just how much the attitudes towards the goddess has developed throughout the millennia, and what her body and her symbols have meant throughout the years. The complexities of Aphrodite/Venus have been written and painted out of history in the last thousand years, and this book is bringing back the intricacy of this goddess, which will hopefully culminate in the respect and adoration she deserves.

Have you read Venus & Aphrodite: History of a Goddess by Bettany Hughes? What did you think of it? I would love to chat about this book, either in the comments below, or find me over on Instagram @kell_read.