Libri di Giulio Guidorizzi
The Myths in the Stars
di Giulio Guidorizzi
editore: Raffaello Cortina Editore
Behind every constellation lies a tale in a sky alive with the images of gods and heroes.As city dwellers, it's not easy to look up to the skies and grasp that above the roofs of our houses there's a starry mantle above our heads. But for tens of thousands of years, men have been fascinated by the beauty and mystery of the universe around us, searching the skies for fixed points to guide them and signs of the divine. In all ancient cultures - of the Babylonians and the Egyptians, for example - astrologers mapped the sky to decipher its messages. However, it was the Greeks who gave us the constellations we know today. Seeking to return home, Ulysses took his bearings from the Ursa Major, Orion and the Pleiades. Gradually, Greek astronomers defined the zodiac, charted the constettations and gave them the names we still use today. Theirs was a mythical sky. Each constellation held a story, and the heavens were populated by a plethora of mythical characters.But where, for example, did the Ursa get her name? And what about Aries or Taurus?The Myths in the Stars leads us through the maze of ancient tales that still today define the skyes above us.
The Lexicon of The Greeks
A Civilization in 30 Words
di Giulio Guidorizzi
editore: Raffaello Cortina Editore
Few words to tell the story of a culture.We all know that the origins of our culture lie there, in that sunny, windswept peninsula, and in the countless islands that populate the Aegean Sea. It was there that the oldest words in living memory began to be used, and some of them continue to be spoken after more than three thousand years.Giulio Guidorizzi has chosen thirty of them to lead us to the origin of some ideas that are still essential for our culture. Democracy, beauty, violence, law, friendship. Each of these words shows a way of coming up with reality as the Greeks did it, and is intended to bring to life their extraordinary world exploring specific concepts that are still relevant today.
Gods and Heroes of the Greeks
A Civilization in 30 Myths
di Giulio Guidorizzi
editore: Raffaello Cortina Editore
Stories from a distant past that talk about us.
As Sallust wrote: “Myths are things that never happened, but always are.”
Medea’s jealousy, Antigone’s mercy, Phaedra’s destructive passion, Hector’s generosity: myths are able to recount all human emotions, collecting an endless source of symbols and tales.
By analyzing Greek mythology, we can find the fundamentals of mankind’s psychic structure and a series of examples that represent all the main challenges that humanity could face during its existence.
Despite being told for the first time thousands of years ago, these myths can still evoke strong emotions. Because no one is insensitive to a well told story.
