“It is impossible to imagine Western civilisation — and European civilisation in particular — without the “Greek miracle” coming to mind in all its perfection: sculpture, architecture, literature, philosophy and science. European culture is permeated by Judaic-Christian thought; but this influence was filtered through Graecism (and Roman Antiquity), to the point that for centuries the Bible circulated only in the Latin version.” Umberto Eco
From the origins of Minoan civilization to the end of the Hellenistic age: nearly two millennia pass from ancient Crete to the last attempt at rebellion against the Romans. A period when ideas and values, in which we can recognize, grow and flourish: from the models of behaviour of Greek mythology to the forms of reasoning and geometric proofs, from the Athenian democracy political system to the heroic vision of sport, from education putting roots in the Greek paideia to the continues research to give order to reality. Much of what we are living today brings us back to the civilization of ancient Greece.

Among the many topics covered

• The origin of Mycenaen civilization
• The kings and tyrants
• Pericles and the Athenian democracy
• The birth of Magna Grecia
• The son of Zeus
• Alexander the Great and universal empire
• Education and sexuality in ancient Greece
• Weddings, children and relationship in the Greek world
• The Law without the State
• The philosopher Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans
• The Philosopher: development and achievement of an intellectual figure
• Places, schools and characteristics of Hellenistic philosophy
• Poetry and Religion: Greek gods between invention and tradition
• The birth of the gods and the world order
• Origins and attributes of the Greek heroes
• Myths and legends
• Being born in Greece between myth and ritual
• The invention of magic in Greece
• Sacred place and the birth of the Greek temple
• The invasion of monsters
• The warriors from the sea: the Riace Bronzes
• The Venus of Milo and her avatar
• Literature, poetry and theatre
• The Hebraic Literature and the origins of Christian literature
• Astronomy and mathematics
• Pythagoras, arithmetic and geometry
• The living world: plants, animals and men
• Women’s Medicine
• War dances and dances of peace
• The Greek music between myth and cult

Contributors
Antonio Banfi • Enrico Berti • Simone Beta • Marco Bettalli • Maurizio Bettini • Maddalena Bonelli • Tommaso Braccini • Aldo Brancacci Roberto Brigati • Giuseppe Cambiano • Eva Cantarella • Carlotta Capuccino • Marcello Carastro • Daniela Castaldo • Antonio Clericuzio Gilberto Corbellini • Pietro Corsi • Lorenzo Corti • Anna Lucia D’Agata • Mariella De Simone • Stefania De Vido • Giovanni Di Pasquale Umberto Eco • Doralice Fabiano • Riccardo Fedriga • Stefano Ferrucci • Cristiana Franco • Valentina Gazzaniga • Claudia Guerrini Claudia Macerola • Loredana Mancini • Giovanni Manetti • Luca Marconi • Federico Minzoni • Massimo Nafissi • Simonetta Nannini Marella Nappi • Roberto Nicolai • Francesco Pelosi • Carlo Pernigotti • Gabriella Pironti • Giuseppe Pucci • Massimo Raffa Donatella Restani • Eleonora Rocconi • Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti • Michela Sassi • Carlo Serra • Luca Simeoni • Giorgio Strano Paolo Togni • Isabella Tondo • Mario Vegetti • James Warren