Customer Reviews

The Classical Compendium: A Miscellany of Scandalous Gossip, Bawdy Jokes, Peculiar Facts, and Bad Behavior from the Ancient Greeks and Romans

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Need some light reading this holiday season? Want a good stocking stuffer to give to someone this Saturnalia? Consider The Classical Compendium by Philip Matyszak. As with all of Maty's books, it is an enjoyable yet informative read. This tome in particular seems to be geared as a "fun" event to be enjoyed by the more casual history student. The work surveys a variety of interesting trivia from the Roman and Greek worlds.

I am a firm believer that there would be a larger appreciation of classical heritage if more emphasis were placed on the humanity of the ancients in all their color and with all their quirks. Instead they seem too often treated as stuffy cardboard cutouts from a degenerate era of dead white male imperialism. My favorite authors are those who serve us a picture of the ancients as the interesting if flawed creatures that they were. Like Andrew Dalby, for instance, who knows how to (re)tell classical mythology. And then there is Maty, who has quickly become the leading author on witty surveys of various aspects of classical history.

The Classical Compendium is divided into ten chapters. They discuss such topics as incredible traveler's tales, military trivia, weird religious beliefs, odd jobs from antiquity, gossip and tales of romance. The book is presented in an easy to read format, with illustrations, primary quotes, charts and bullet points of interests scattered on virtually every page. You'll even get a recipe for brain pudding.

From peasant to emperor, from the sands of Babylon to the fields of Roman Britain, from Archaic Greece to the Fall of Rome, Maty offers a unique look at classical culture. My favorite running gag are the short tales of Elithio Phoitete, a dullard (named by the author) existing in the realm of cynical Greek humor. Poor Elithio finds himself in a variety of situations and never comes out the better for it. I can't believe I've been a classics buff for years and never read some of these laugh-out-loud jokes.

As with all of Maty's books, you couldn't ask for better prose or more captivating wit, which is what really makes for a page turning experience. Everything is solidly researched, and Maty acknowledges contributions from other established classical scholars. The book from Thames & Hudson is small and perfectly travel sized, and as a nice touch there is even a ribbon in the bottom to serve as a book mark.

My main concern is how many more books like this even a prolific writer like Maty can produce? Hopefully the field has yet to be fully mined, for books such as these are always a joy to read.

This book is great fun and filled with bits of fascinating information that one might encounter at a lively dinner party for classicists -- or perhaps even pick up if one could time-travel back to ancient Rome or Greece and get oneself invited to a lavish banquet there where the gossip flows as freely as the wine.

One can casually open this book at any page to discover some intriguing item about the ancients, although once you start you'll want to read from cover to cover.

Illustrated with information arranged in a user-friendly format of topical sections within chapters, ancient quotations, lists, and more, this lively book (like Matyszak's other guidebooks into the classical world) immerses you in the customs and beliefs of ancient times. A five star journey into the past and truly a banquet of classical lore!

This is the third book by Philip Matyszak I have bought, all hard covers, publishers take note. He's not only informative, but he's funny. If you have any interest at all in the classical world, be sure to read Matyszak. He's included some wonderful anecdotes about Augustus and Vespasian that I wasn't familiar with. Things are arranged by subject, and even better, there's an index to help you find your favorite stories. The publisher even included a ribbon bookmark. How classy can you get!

Matyszak has a great approach to history. He displays it not as staid, overworn stories of famous individuals, but as the real experience of ordinary people -- sex, violence, whiny complaints, and all. Matyszak's Rome is not a land of starched white togas and squeaky-clean marble; his is the Rome of garish dyes and roughspun tunics, of squabbling neighbours and petty disputes, of bad behaviour and its often quite public shame, and, most importantly for the reading experience, of dry wit, frank judgments, and explicit language. I've previously read Matyszak's 'Legionary', and I hope to read more of his books in the future, because I so appreciate his voice.

In the 'Classical Compendium', Matyszak has combed the annals and anecdoates for the best tidbits, juiciest gossip, and weirdest tall tales out of Greco-Roman history. And there is, no doubt, some strange stuff in there. Matyszak's scope includes travel, the military, religion, love affairs, animal lore, odd jobs, criminal records, and even the customs surrounding death in the ancient world -- and some of most notable suicides and murders. He also sprinkles the text with traditional jokes from ancient Greece, many of which could be told today without anyone having the slightest feeling of anachronism.

You'll learn about silphium, a plant worth its weight in gold for its medicinal uses, which included cough syrup and fever relief, as well as birth control and abortifacent; it went extinct sometime in the first century. You'll find aphrodisiac recipes, and love poems guaranteed to win a woman's heart -- alongside invective poetry guaranteed to drive her away, if that's your aim. Pompey had trouble with elephants, chameleons live on air, dogs got crucified once a year, and Julius Caesar had a horse with toes. Augustus Caesar imposed strict morality on his people, but couldn't govern his own family (as anyone who's watched 'I, Claudius' knows). You'll learn about some of the ancient world's most bizarrely specific jobs, like anti-elephant infantrymen, pig igniter, theatre shade operator, professional informer, and phallus manufacturer. If you have someone you desperately need to curse, the ancients have some delightfully specific recommendations. Everyone from commoners to emperors sought advice from the oracle, for questions as big as whether to go to war, as small as "Will I retrieve the mattresses and pillows I have lost?", and as universal as "What have I done to deserve this?"

What all of these tidbits bring to life is the idea of an ancient world that was full and lively, in some ways as sophisticated as our own, lacking only our technology. It's a treasure trove, the gems of which illuminate a world long gone, alien to us in some ways, but alarmingly familiar in many others. Matyszak's books are fantastically educational, but eminently readable and entertaining as well. This isn't a stuffy recitation of dates and famous names; this is people, as they were and as they still are. And that, to me, is the very best kind of history.

This book got 4 stars instead of 5 mostly because I wish there had been more things in here that I didn't already know. I would say the book is probably half-and-half information that was new to me versus information that I've picked up somewhere along the way, either in school or just in my own trawling of historical topics. I also think that, because this book relies more heavily on the primary sources, there's less of Matyszak's sense of humour coming through than there was in 'Legionary', and I missed that. 'The Classical Compendium' is, well, exactly what it says: a miscellany, bits and pieces out of the original authors or generally summarised, without a lot of connective material or commentary. Still, it's thoroughly delightful, and a wonderful historical reference book. Every lover of the ancient world should have this on her shelf.

this is fun book.... i learned two jokes that were told in ancient greece.. so i am gunno try em out at the next meeting at the lodi grange and tavern ... really it is easy to read and even has some pictures too.. i just
wish they ( schools) had not stopped teachin classices when i was almost fully groan...
now i plan to order a rome book to so i can be sofisticated... which means you know more than just california where i am from ....central valley... but that's another story