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Off-mint.

Inspired by Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation television series of the 1960s, the 2018 BBC series explored the role of art and the creative imagination in the formation and development of civilizations. These two illustrated studies accompanied four programmes in the series, offering deeper explorations of their themes. The two titles included in this set are: How do we Look, The Eye of Faith (Read more...) First Contact, Cult of Progress (Read more...)

In How Do We Look, Mary Beard explores how the human body was portrayed in the earliest art, including the colossal Olmec heads of Central America, Egyptian pharaohs, Chinese warriors and Praxiteles’ Aphrodite in ancient Greece. In Part Two, The Eye of Faith she visits Buddhist temples, Christian art and architecture, and Islamic mosques and calligraphy to explore the relationship between art and religion and the endeavour to make the divine visible.

Comprising updated versions of 31 essays published over the past two decades, this volume takes the reader on 'a provocative tour of what is happening now in Classics'. Professor Beard reassesses old answers in scholarly debates concerning Greco-Roman antiquity; offers fresh interpretations of heroes and antiheroes, from the Greek poet Sappho to the emperor Hadrian; explores the evidence for ordinary Romans' worries and ambitions; and asks what our modern responses to the ancient world say about us.