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Chargement... Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greecepar Debra Hamel
![]() Reading list (53) Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. Trying Neaira is just what one would NOT expect an historical nonfiction book to be: witty and easy to read, with little bizarre bits that one just MUST read out loud! Furthermore, her writing style is light and makes a normal dry subject (the ancient Athenian judicial system) interesting and comprehensible. Neaira was a prostitute in the 4th century, who grew up in Corinth and eventually found herself in a stable relationship as the long-time mistress of an influential Athenian, Stephanos. Unfortunately, Stephanos had an equally influential enemy (or at least rival) Apollodoros. They battled back and forth in the courts, and eventually Apollodoros hit on a different way to attack Stephanos--through Neaira. Athenian laws were quite strict about foreigners and allowed no intermarriage. Apollodoros set out to prove that Neaira was living with Stephanos as his wife, instead of as his mistress, and that their children were being given the rights of Athenian citizens--which, as Neaira's children, they never could be. Using Apollodoros speech to the jury, Hamel recreates Neaira's life, while using other sources to fill out the story with interesting details about prostitution, jury duty, social customs and Athenian law.* Hamel approaches Neaira's life (via the speech) as a detective would, piecing together bits, shifting out obvious falsehoods, and in the end presenting a surprising full picture of one woman's life. This is an excellent book for anyone who is, or who is NOT, interested in ancient Athenian law. I, myself, had not the least curiosity in said subject and yet found myself fascinated, all the while being constantly entertained by her sly wit and bizarre trivia. I learned enough from this book to become quite interested in Athenian history and I feel it will have the same effect on any other casual historian. *to qoute from the Preface: Apollodoros'speech, inevitably hostile to Neaira, must be the principal source for her biography, though we will need very often to question and reject the information he provides. Where what he tells us is not inherently unlikely, however, or contradicted by other sources, and when lying about the issue under discussion would not have furthered the prosecution's case, we can feel reasonably confident about accepting Apollodoros' testimony. Fleshing out Neaira's story, too, will require frequent dips into other source material.
"...under its thin veneer of toga-and-sandal skin-flick is a work of first-rate scholarship." "...Hamel can write, she can think, and she is, accordingly, published by Yale. She turns one of antiquity's more fibrous epochs into a lively and witty slice of history, and gives us a story of cupidity, greed and obduracy, spiced with sexual morsels." A "gripping story of politics, sex and sleaze in ancient Athens...." "It is an extraordinary tale, with more than an echo of Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, and Hamel, unusually for a classicist, is not afraid of a good narrative. Nor of racy detail: from street-walkers imprinting come-hither messages in the dust with their sandals, to outraged cuckolds shoving radishes up adulterers' bottoms, there is plenty here to delight the most prurient reader." "Hamel's treatment of this complicated story is outstanding not only for its comprehensive (yet remarkably concise) presentation of the social and historical context of fourth-century Athens, but also, perhaps supremely, for its tact. By presenting sex and the ancient Greek sex trade forthrightly, she puts to shame the ponderous cuteness and leering euphemism that writing about Neaira's case has aroused in many classicists over the centuries. She brings out both the sordid exploitation of Neaira's circumstances and the genuine strength of the bond that linked this former prostitute with Stephanos and his family, piecing together a plausible account from what is often minimal evidence, managing to explore her human characters without idealizing them, and judiciously staying just shy of a historical novel."
Neaira grew up in a Corinthian brothel in the fourth century B.C., became a high-priced courtesan and a sex slave, then settled into a thirty-year relationship with Stephanos of Athens. But next she found herself in court, charged with transgressing Athens's marriage laws. This book reconstructs the amazing facts of Neaira's life and trial, illuminating the social, legal, and cultural worlds of ancient Greece. "Hamel's treatment of this complicated story is outstanding . . . for its comprehensive [yet remarkably concise] presentation of the social and historical context of fourth-century Athens."--Ingrid D. Rowland, New Republic "[Trying Neaira] is an extraordinary tale, with more than an echo of Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha."--Tom Holland, Daily Telegraph00 "A marvelous account of a fascinating series of events in the life of a Greek woman of the fourth century B.C. Hamel tells the tale with clarity and verve and, along the way, she teaches the reader a vast amount about Athenian society in the most interesting and entertaining way."--Donald Kagan, Yale University "Charmingly written (and) nicely illustrated. . . . Hamel's account is engaging, accessible to nonexperts, and useful for courses on Athenian society."--Choice "As told by Debra Hamel, this true-life story offers an extraordinary window on a civilization that wasn't half so rarefied in its interests or affections as we tend to assume."--The Scotsman Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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![]() GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)364.153409385Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Criminology Crimes and Offenses Offenses against persons "Sexual" crimes ProstitutionClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:![]()
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Debra Hamel looks at what the prosecution speech tells us and the questions it raises about the position of women and foreigners in Athens, prostitution, legal procedures, and a whole lot more. (