The Ancient Guide to Modern Life

About this book

This revelatory book explores modern society while journeying back to the Greeks and Romans -- "will have readers grabbing for the classics" (Kirkus). In this thoroughly engaging book Natalie Haynes brings her scholarship and wit to the most fascinating true stories of the ancient world. The Ancient Guide to Modern Life not only reveals the origins of our culture in areas including philosophy politics language and art it also draws illuminating connections between antiquity and our present time to demonstrate that the Greeks and Romans were not so different from ourselves: is Bart Simpson the successor to Aristophanes? Do the Beckhams have parallel lives with The Satiricons Trimalchio? Along the way Haynes debunks myths (gladiators didnt salute the emperor before their deaths and the last words of Julius Caesar werent "et tu brute?") from Athens to Zenos paradox this irresistible guide shows how the history and wisdom of the ancient world can inform and enrich our lives today.