Civilisations: How Do We Look / The Eye of Faith

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'The reigning Queen of Classics' Spectator

What are civilisations

At the heart of this big question is how people have depicted the human and divine, from prehistory to the present day. Britain's most famous classicist Mary Beard asks: how have we portrayed ourselves in some of the world's earliest art Why have these images sometimes been so contentious

Beard explores gigantic stone heads carved by the Olmec in Central America, the statues and pottery of the ancient Greeks, and the first emperor of China's terracotta army. And she explains how one ancient representation of the human body still influences (or distorts) how people in the West see their own culture, and that of others.

From Angkor Wat to the Ravenna mosaics and exquisite calligraphy of Islamic mosques, all religions have wrestled with idolatry and iconoclasm. Throughout this story, Beard is concerned not only with the artists who made art, but with those who have used, viewed, or interpreted it - and asked how to look with The Eye of Faith.

Reviews

'[Mary Beard is] the best in the business' - Dan Snow

'Excellent ... an invigorating guide' - Kathryn Hughes

'Beautifully produced and elegantly written ... utterly compelling' - Linda Hogan

'Enthralling' - John Carey

'[Beard] has always had the sharpest eyes for telling detail and colourful anecdote' - Sunday Times

Author Bio

Mary Beard is Professor Emerita of Classics at Cambridge, and the classics editor of the TLS. She has worldwide academic acclaim. Her previous books include the bestselling, Wolfson Prize-winning Pompeii, Confronting the Classics, SPQR, Women & Power and most recently, Emperor of Rome. She has made numerous television series and her books have been published in over thirty languages.