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Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Biography) A Hollywood love story, a Hollywood memoir, a dual biography of two of Hollywood’s most famous figures, whose golden lives were lived at the center of Hollywood’s golden age, written by their daughter, an acclaimed writer and producer...

The Oracle of Delphi was one of the greatest religious institutions in Ancient Greece. It played a significant role not only in the formation and collective decisions of Hellenic localities and city-states but also in the personal lives of Greeks known and unknown. The site was dedicated to the god Apollo, and the Greeks believed the god spoke his oracles through his prophetess known as the Pythia.

The siege of Troy and Odysseus’ long voyage home have inspired many of our most thrilling and radical poets . Henry Power takes us on a surprising journey through the afterlives of these mysterious epics, and the search for the poet who created them. Guiding us through the twists and turns of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Power travels to the places where Homer’s stories have taken root – from the islands of Greece to the Scottish Highlands, the Devon coast to suburban Los Angeles – to trace the footsteps of the poets, lunatics, and lovers haunted by Homer's mythical heroes and monsters.

What does it mean to be great? There have been many that have come through the sands of time proclaiming their own greatness. We see it in the news every day - leaders, heroes, tyrants, and even reality star presidential candidates claim that they are great. But what about Alexander the Great?

There are few mythological characters that require less of an introduction than Hercules. His "labours" are known and have been reimagined by cultures far beyond their Greek beginnings, and he continues to influence modern culture in more ways than any other ancient Greek hero.

The Acropolis, which literally means "a city on the heights", is a citadel whose currently surviving structures were mostly built during the fifth century BC in honor of Athena, the patron goddess of Athens. It functioned as a sacred precinct that contained the city's most important religious and municipal structures, many of which have remained relatively intact for over 2,000 years.

Theophrastus' Characters is a joyous festival of fault-finding: a collection of thirty closely observed personality portraits, defining the full spectrum of human flaws, failings, and follies. With piquant details of speech and behavior taken straight off the streets of ancient Athens, Theophrastus gives us sketches of the mean, vile, and annoying that are comically distorted yet vividly real. Enlivened by Pamela Mensch's fresh translation, Theophrastus' Characters transports us to a world populated by figures of flesh and blood, not bronze and marble.

Inside this tome, we will examine Hellenistic Greece in a way that brings the people to life and puts their decisions up for debate, even two thousand years later. If you’ve ever wondered any of the following, then this audiobook was made for you: Did Cleopatra really marry her brother? What happened to Alexander’s far-reaching empire after his death? Why would Hannibal choose elephants for battle? Where were the mighty Spartans when Rome came knocking?

When people think of ancient Greece, images of philosophers such as Plato or Socrates often come to mind, as do great warriors like Pericles and Alexander the Great. But hundreds of years before Athens became a city, a Greek culture flourished and spread its tentacles throughout the Western Mediterranean region via trade and warfare. Scholars have termed this pre-Classical Greek culture the Mycenaean culture, which existed from about 2000 to 1200 BCE, when Greece, along with much of the Eastern Mediterranean, was thrust into a centuries-long Dark Ages.

The Minoan Civilization has, since its rediscovery in the early 20th century by archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans, been a source of fascination for the modern world. Some have claimed it represents evidence of a matriarchal society given its progressive treatment of women; others believe it to be the mythical lost city of Atlantis. One area of consensus is that it’s the first advanced civilization in Europe.

The ancient Greek poet Hesiod lived around the same time as Homer. He is considered to be an economist and also wrote works on mythology, ancient time-keeping, and farming techniques. The Hesiod Collection includes The Shield of Heracles, Theogony (the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods), and Works and Days (a farmer’s almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the art of agriculture).

Arthur Schopenhauer's "The Wisdom of Life" is a compelling exploration into the nature of happiness and fulfillment. Written by a renowned 19th-century philosopher, this work delves into human desires and motivations, offering a unique perspective on finding meaning in life.

Stephen Fry angol író, színész, rendező és humorista, Britannia "nemzeti kincse", ahogy egyszer Károly, walesi herceg nevezte. Ezúttal sem fukarkodik a humorral, ebben a hangoskönyvben, az olümposzi rend létrejöttén, az emberi teremtésen keresztül Ámor és Pszükhé történetéig meséli újra a görög mitológiát.

The Peloponnesian War broke out in 431 B.C. and continued intermittently for 27 years. It pitted the all-powerful land force of Sparta and its allies against the supremely powerful naval force of Athens. Thucydides actually participated in this conflict, a war that he realized would have a greater influence on the history of Greece than any other. He vividly narrates exciting episodes and carefully describes tactical aspects of the war, and also provides illuminating character profiles.

Although it is no longer quite as well remembered as it was thousands of years ago, one of the most important cities in the ancient world was Ephesus, a city that dates back nearly 3,000 years and can lay claim to the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Moreover, while Sparta and Athens were often the centers of power in ancient Greece, Ephesus, located in present-day Turkey on the coast of Ionia, was an instrumental part of the Ionian League.

A görög mitológia történeteinek folytatása sem kevésbé szórakoztató, mint az első rész. Megtudhatjuk többek között, hogy miért kellett Sziszüphosznak bűnhődnie, vagy hogy milyen átok sújtotta Midász királyt. A szerző a maga humoros módján rávilágít, a görög istenek olyanok, mint mi. Erősebbek és bölcsebbek ugyan, de közben ugyanolyan esendőek, és ballépéseikkel, felfokozott szerelmi életükkel, veszekedéseikkel bármikor képesek felforgatni az isteni és az emberi világot.

The Amazons, a fascinating exploration of the legendary women-warriors who captured the Greek imagination. Rothery draws on classical texts, folklore, anthropology, and comparative histories to trace the myth’s evolution—and to ask: how much of the legend is rooted in fact?

In the thirteenth century BC, a quarter of a century before the Trojan War, seven Greek warrior heroes went against the Greek city of Thebes to restore one of their number to the throne of his father, the famous King Oedipus. Several children of those seven heroes would later take part in the siege of Troy. This adventure was equal in the minds of Greeks and Romans with the siege of Troy as told in Homer’s epic The Iliad, an event which it predated by a generation. 

During the Persian Wars, Sparta and Athens worked in tandem to defeat what was, in terms of relative resources and power, the greatest empire in human history. For the decade and a half that followed, they continued their collaboration until a rift opened and an intense, strategic rivalry began. In a continuation of his series on ancient Sparta, noted historian Paul Rahe examines the grounds for their alliance, the reasons for its eventual collapse, and the first stage in an enduring conflict that would wreak havoc on Greece for six decades.

The Pan-Hellenic Games is the collective term for the four major sports festivals held in ancient Greece. These include the Olympic Games, held in honor of Zeus at Olympia every four years; the Pythian Games in honor of Apollo, held at Delphi every four years; the Nemean Games, held to celebrate Zeus and Heracles at Nemea near Corinth every two years; and the Isthmian Games, honoring Poseidon at Isthmia every two years. The main events at all of the games were chariot racing, wrestling, boxing, the pankration, the stadion, various other foot races, and the pentathlon.