Customer Reviews

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter (Hinges of History)

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How the Irish Saved Civilization is a marvelous book. Though none of the subsequent books in what has become "The Hinges of History" series have equaled the first one, Cahill continues to write very readable accounts of the development of Western civilization. This book, subtitled "Why the Greeks Matter," is, as you might suspect, a sketch of the contributions of the ancient Greeks to our culture from Homer through the influence of Greek though on early Christianity.

I have a soft spot for Greek culture so I was easily won over by this book. Though there is some value to the trend of multiculturalism that has permeated American schools in recent decades, I believe strongly that no culture has had more impact on modern Western civilization than the Greeks and we ignore them at our peril. In examining the strengths and weaknesses of the Greeks, we can see an image of our own strengths and weaknesses.

I was a little disappointed to find very little discussion of the Greek development of mathematics (beyond a brief discussion of Pythagoras, focusing mainly on his philosophy). Greek formalization of mathematics may be their most important legacy to us, ultimately leading to modern science. Instead, Cahill focuses mainly on literature, art, philosophy and politics and, in these areas, offers a nice history.

Clearly, Cahill is knowledgeable and his prose is very readable despite his tendency to quote extensively in this book. He doesn't offer us many unique or challenging insights but he does remind us of the great contributions of Greek culture. It is a valuable thing to do.

As a Greek-American, a college professor who has taught a course on the ancient Greeks (Hellenes), and something of a fan of Thomas Cahill, I was very excited to see his latest book on the rise of the Western Liberal Tradition, "Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter." Perhaps because my expectations were so high, I was a little disappointed. It is a worthy volume in his "Hinges of History" series, but it is not without some problems. But let us be honest, Cahill is a humanist and speaks of ancient Hellas from the perspective of the humanities in general rather than history or political science and that may be the problem here. Much of his historical narrative is episodic and misses some vital points. For instance, despite his title, "Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea," he fails to emphasize the importance of the sea to Greek life or mention the battle of Salamis, "Holy Salamis," which according to many historians, including Victor Davis Hanson, saved Western culture from the Iranian (Achaemenid Persian) onslaught. Cahill devotes a chapter to "The Warrior: How to Fight," but makes no mention of this vital battle or the importance of Hellenic warfare by use of the trireme. The battle is not even included in his brief Chronology (later battles, Plataea and Mycale, are mentioned). True, some have questioned the overall impact of Salamis, but to the Hellenes it was a victory sent by the gods. It is interesting that this subject is missing but other, rather obscure cultural elements such as a somewhat odd emphasis on Greek sexual preferences, are included. Still, this is a valuable volume that will be embraced by the general public. In this context, his discussion of Christianity's debt to the Greeks is quite accurate and illuminating. And like a number of others he reminds us of the current relevance of Thucydides, in light of American imperial temptaions in the Persian Gulf. Even so, the West's debt to a people that gave us the single most defining element of the Western Liberal Tradition, "secularism" and the division of church and state, the very notion that the people who live by law should have the right to write them and govern themselves according to written constitutions, is only a passing reference here, and reduces the impact of what could have been a much better book.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Cahill prior to his publication of the first "hinges of history" book, "How the Irish Saved Civilization." I found his premise for this series of books fascinating, and have read every book in the series. I was particularly looking foward to his book on the Greeks because: (1) it was somewhat of a departure for him in that it is a "pagan" civilization, unlike the books on the Hebrews, Jesus, and Saint Patrick he wrote from his theological background; and (2) having read most of the noted Greek works from Plato, Homer, Thuycidides, Herodotus, Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, etc., I was interested to get Mr. Cahill's "take" on the importance of this civilization. Well, if you've read the Greeks, don't bother reading Cahill. He quotes liberally from these authors, without much new enlightment for those readers that have read the original works. This would be an okay introductory text for people that have not read the original works. But, even then, it's not all that illuminating. There was a fascination with Greek erotica that did not elevate the tone of the discussion. Nor was his footnote comparing the Peloponnesian War with the Iraq War of Bush & Rumsfeld appropriate in a book that does not wish to date itself for future readers outside our era. Guess Mr. Cahill suspected this book will have a short shelf-life. If you wish to read a more penetrating, poignant, and insightful study of the Greek civilzation, I recommend the hard-to-find Edith Hamilton books, "The Greek Way," and, especially, "Echo of Greece."

Thomas Cahill's primer of Classical Greece will attract a lot of interest from fans of this series, which began with his popular "How the Irish Saved Civilization." The book focuses on classical Greek culture - Homer, the theatre, philosophy, and art. The choice of topics is standard, the treatment conventional rather than inspired, the writing breezy and informal (including an annoying amount of slang.) Really there is nothing new here, but on the positive side, the book does provide a basic level of information about ancient Greece to readers who are lacking it.

Cahill's discussion of sexuality in ancient Greece is quite explicit; it includes frank translations of obscene Greek verse, explicit images of sexual activity on Greek vases, and blunt explanations of who is doing what to whom, complete with those good old Anglo-Saxon "four-letter words" in case anybody doesn't get the point.

Superficial generalizations and analogies (between Solon and Franklin D. Roosevelt, between Pericles and John F. Kennedy, between the Peloponnesian War and the Second Gulf War) detract from the exposition, and illuminate neither ancient times nor our own.

The book contains several minor lapses, and at least one "howler:" on page 189, Cahill astonishingly asserts that the battle of Thermopylae "proved the decisive turning point of the war, preventing the Persian army from descending on Greece." Of course, Thermopylae did no such thing; after several days of heroic Spartan resistance, the Persians finaly overran the position, poured into Attica, sacked Athens, and burned the Acropolis to the ground.

Other lapses include the idea that Minoan palace civilization was destroyed by the eruption of Thera (from archaeology, we now know that the Minoans rebuilt afterwards); a regrettable confusion between hetairai and Geishas (the Japanese Geishas were purely entertainers, and did not provide sexual favors to their clients); and a failure to mention the most probable reason that Socrates was put to death (namely, that he was on the losing (pro-Spartan) side of the political division that appeared in Athens following its defeat by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War.)

In summary, while Cahill is enough of a classicist to give us some of his own translations from the Greek, and although he has presented a good selection of topics for an introductory audience, there are enough lapses in the book that it seemed like a disappointment compared to others in this series.

I wanted this to be a great read, unfortunately it was not. The author spent more time on Greek sexuality, specifically homosexuality, than on any other topic. Every chapter, whether it dealt with Philosophy, Art or War, spent an inordinate amount of time delving into Greek eroticism. In the end I felt that Cahill delighted in using foul language and crass terms for shock value -- they added nothing and certainly became more than annoying towards the end. Cahill opens and closes the book by talking about America and North Korea -- dating the material and making me wonder how serious he was when he wrote it.

Thankfully it was a quick read and not too much of my time was lost. I suggest you pass on this book and look for another. You won't learn anything interesting here, unless you want to know more about the sexual habits in ancient Greece.

I suspect I would have liked this book better if I had not had Cahill's other "Hinges of History" books to compare it to. Of the four- How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Gifts of the Jews, and Desire of the Everlasting Hills are the others- this was the least engaging to me. Taken by itself, I enjoyed Cahill's insight and irreverent humor as he traced the rise and fall of the Greeks from the Minoans through Alexander the Great. Using historical people or literary figures he shows us the development of the civilization in How to Fight, Feel, Party, Rule, Think and See from the perspectives of the Greeks. He acknowledges their limitations and their massive and amazing contributions. It was also interesting to read the first few pages about his approach to history and the last pages linking Greeks to other groups he has described. I look forward to the other books he has planned and this is well worth reading. Unfortunately for the author, (in my opinion) he is competing with his own earlier books and, as good as this is, it is not as good as the earlier three.

This is a disappointing book. Its title suggests an intellectual adventure of the new, and its subtitle promises that it will be about why the Greeks are important to us -- in other words, what the ancient Greeks offered that is distinct to them and that made western civilization possible. This book does not deliver on the promises of its title.

It is a rehash of standard scholarship delivered in language of the common man (common according to Cahill). As such it presents what amounts to a laundry-list of non-essentials that does not clearly differentiate the Greeks from other cultures, nor account for western civilization. For example, this list includes the following Greek "contributions" to the West: blood-lusting militarism, vowels, the subconscious yearning for community, unfettered discourse and inquiry, homosexuality, pornography, orgiastic debauchery, slavery, democracy, political theatre, the idea of innate guilt, xenophobia, sexism, racism, imperialism, "help" inventing things like philosophy, science and history, the Socratic Method, the syllogism, transcendentalism and the divine, improvements in architecture and sculpture, pathos and yearning for an impossible ideal, pedophilia, reckless conceit, the idea of self-sacrifice for the common good. How can the reader determine what out of this hash made western civilization possible? In the spirit of cultural relativism, Cahill offers no guidance.

Cahill's list of non-essentials ignores the most fundamental Greek contribution that made western civilization possible: the discovery and use of reason. Because Cahill does not recognize this foundational, defining contribution of the Greeks, he cannot differentiate those aspects of the Greeks that are due to their discovery of reason versus those inherited from irrational, primitive cultures that in no way made the West possible.

All in all, Cahill's work is without distinction -- it is typical of a certain stream of academia still knocking around since WWII that remains fascinated with unreason. For example Cahill devotes over 20 pages to Plato and his Socrates, quoting extensively in loving detail, while he offers only a couple of pages in passing reference to Aristotle. This is a standard pattern of some academics who still find comfort in the rambling, transcendental dialogues of Plato, and chilly apprehension before the disciplines of Aristotle. On this score there is nothing new here.

The banality of this book is sealed by its failure to acknowledge that there is such a thing as human greatness, or to name what it is about western civilization that is truly great as compared with other cultures. The cultural relativism of this book, so in-line with mainstream thinking today, renders the Greeks as just another group of people that did some things that we sort of do too. The only interest offered in this alleged adventure is knowing that the Greeks were the first to do a lot of what we do. How boring.

The only originality this work offers to the great conversation about the classical world is the author's flippant "common man" style that includes four-letter words and silly footnotes about banning SUVs and Donald Rumsfeld of all things.

If readers want books that do offer a view of why the Greeks matter, they are much better off exploring Edith Hamilton's The Greek Way, or The Greek Achievement by Charles Freeman (who Cahill cattily describes in his Sailing book as an "amateur" -- a projection on Cahill's part.) For the best view to the Greeks, the Loeb Classical Library offers a true adventure over the wine-dark sea.

I was surprised by the relatively cool evaluations of this book! I have a bushel of fragments about Greek civilization beginning with Durant's Life of Greece in the eighth grade, but Cahill has sorted my fragments into a coherent mosaic which also brings it into the perspective of contemporary life. How many references I have in my "bushel" to Pericles's Funeral Oration, but why had I never read it complete, and freshly translated? Thank you, Mr. Cahill!

"Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea" is the latest installment (2003) of Thomas Cahill's hinges of history series, which began with the delightful and insightful "How the Irish Saved Civilization." In this volume, Cahill conducts a brief if highly readable survey of classical Greek civilization to highlight its subsequent impact on the culture of the West. As Cahill lays it out, classical Greek civilization had an enormous influence on how the West approaches art, philosophy, drama, and government. The Greek willingness to think, discuss, experiment, and investigate was the basis for remarkable innovation in heroic sculpture, democratic self-government, a framework for natural and individual philosophy, and the dramatic and comedic schools of theater. Along the way, Cahill provides some insightful vignettes into the Greek psyche.

Inevitably, a single volume treatment on such a complex subject as classical Greek civilization must simplify a great deal. Also perhaps inevitably, this volume lacks some of the almost intimate emotional empathy that drove "How the Irish Saved Civilization" and to a lesser extent, the "Desire of the Everlasting Hills." Finally, Cahill could not resist making a few sour remarks attempting to link the Global War on Terrorism to the Peloponnesian War that caused the downfall of the great city-state of Athens.

This volume is recommended to the reader already hooked on Cahill's hinges of history series, and those looking for a very readable survey on Greek civilization.

Thomas Cahill's Hinges of History series has illuminated several corners of history for the general reader, from medieval Ireland to the development of Judaism and Christianity. Now Cahill has turned to the ancient Greeks to demonstrate why they are important today.

In a series of several chapters written in scholarly yet accessible to the general reader style, Cahill skillfully dissects Greek history, philosophy, drama, and morality. He shows us the Greek origins of many of our ideas about government, literature, and art, and ends with a chapter that demonstrates the intersections between the Greeks and the Judeo-Christian ideas which came to dominate so much of the world. Like the other volumes in this series, Sailing the Wine Dark Sea will entertain and inform.