The classics "never exhaust what they have to say." Informed by this belief, with this brilliant book Piero Boitani invites the reader to discover the timeless beauty and wisdom of ancient literature, highlighting its profound and sometimes surprising connections to the present.
The themes explored in this book are as wide-ranging as they are continuously relevant. They include the Iliad's depiction of power and war - indeed of a cosmic conflict - as well as its invocation of compassion as one of the necessary foundations of society; the Odyssey as the world's first novel; Lucretius and the way he transformed Greek scientific thought into sublime poetry; Virgil's celebration of the history of Rome, from small village to world capital, as well as Tacitus' denunciation of the imperialistic nature of Roman power; and, finally, Ovid's Metamorphoses - a poem about incessant change and the first postmodern classic.