{"title":"Lucian","description":"Lucian (c. 125-180 CE) was one of the most popular writers in the ancient Greek-speaking world. With brilliant wit and rhetorical charm, his dialogues examined contemporary religious, philosophical, and cultural beliefs. Heather L. Reid is professor emerita at Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa. Her books include Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport and Athletics and Philosophy in the Ancient World. Phillip Mitsis is the A. S. Onassis Professor of Hellenic Culture and Civilization at New York University. His books include The Oxford Handbook of Epicurus and Epicureanism.","products":[{"product_id":"how-to-compete-an-ancient-guide-to-the-virtues-of-sports-hardcover","title":"How to Compete: An Ancient Guide to the Virtues of Sports - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn energetic new translation of the ancient Greek satirist Lucian's humorous and enlightening dialogue on the pros--and cons--of athletics, fitness, and competition\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSports and philosophy went hand in hand for the ancient Greeks and Romans, and philosophical conversation was a recognized part of gym life throughout Greco-Roman antiquity. Athens's Lyceum was a gym--and reportedly a hangout of that philosophical gym rat Socrates--before it became the site of Aristotle's school. Fittingly, that gym is the setting of the Greek satirist Lucian's \u003ci\u003eAnacharsis\u003c\/i\u003e, a witty philosophical dialogue that wrestles with questions about the purpose and value of sports--questions that we are still grappling with in our own sports- and fitness-obsessed times. \u003ci\u003eHow to Compete\u003c\/i\u003e presents a new translation of Lucian's timeless classic, inviting us into a ringside debate about the point of sports. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePitting a sports skeptic, Anacharsis, against a superfan, Solon, this delightful and thought-provoking work tries to make sense of sports. Why do so many of us care so much about them? Are sports like boxing too violent? Should we take fitness so seriously? Do athletics have educational value? And, most important of all, why did the ancient Greeks exercise naked? While Anacharsis, observing a Greek sport that sounds something like mixed martial arts, asks what kind of citizens set aside serious affairs to watch young men beat each other to a pulp, Solon counters that sports have great civic benefits and that athletes are ultimately competing for the highest prize--human excellence. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFeaturing an inviting introduction, a handy glossary, helpful notes, and the original Greek on facing pages, \u003ci\u003eHow to Compete\u003c\/i\u003e is a winning exploration of why sports are more than just a game.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51377769283807,"sku":"9780691281407","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/88-LZGCR7F9780691281407.webp?v=1789240147"},{"product_id":"selected-satires-of-lucian-paperback","title":"Selected Satires of Lucian - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eLucian, born in Syria in the second century C.E., came to Greece at an early age and mastered its language and literature. He took up law, left it for public speaking, then turned to full-time writing, producing the wide range of subject matter and literary form which is represented in this collection.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e A master of the vivid scene, Lucian used his pungent style to ridicule the tyrants, prophets, waning gods, and hypocrite philosophers of his own day and the centuries preceding him. His most typical genre is a parody of a Platonic dialogue, but he also excelled in straight narrative, as in the elaborate spoof \"A True Story\" and the old folk tale outrageously retold, \"Lucius, the Ass.\" His skeptical mind and imaginative irony have influenced generations of artists and writers, and now in Professor Casson's new translations can be freshly enjoyed today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Lucian's genial mockery, ' writes Lionel Casson, 'aimed at man's omnipresent failings, is never out of date: the jabs he gave the hypocrites, grandstanders, fakers, and boobs of the ancient world can just as appropriately be administered to their counterparts of the modern.'\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51378246189279,"sku":"9780393004434","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/GmOT4JF6hi9780393004434.webp?v=1789250853"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/lucian.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}