Peter Jones - Vox Populi: Everything You Wanted to Know about the Classical World but Were Afraid to Ask

VOX
POPULI

Also by Peter Jones

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Learn Latin: The Book of the Daily Telegraph QED series

Veni Vidi Vici

Eureka!

Quid Pro Quo

Memento Mori

First published in hardback in Great Britain in 2019 by Atlantic Books, an imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd.

Portions of this book first appeared in An Intelligent Persons Guide to the Classics, which was published in Great Britain in 1999 by Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.

Copyright Peter Jones, 1999, 2019

The moral right of Peter Jones to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Every effort has been made to trace or contact all copyright holders. The publishers will be pleased to make good any omissions or rectify any mistakes brought to their attention at the earliest opportunity.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Hardback ISBN: 978-1-78649-895-3

E-book ISBN: 978-1-78649-893-9

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-78649-894-6

Designed by Carrdesignstudio.com

Map artwork by Jeff Edwards

Printed in Great Britain

Atlantic Books

An Imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd

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2627 Boswell Street

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www.atlantic-books.co.uk

CONTENTS

PREFACE

T his is the only book ever published whose author may well agree with the critic who says he should have written a different one. But I probably could not have written it.

The first edition of this book was entitled An Intelligent Persons Guide to Classics (Duckworth 1999). , with some additions and adaptations, remain from it. Its aim remains the same: to explain how the literature and physical remains of the ancient world have been preserved; to provide a broad outline history of the period traditionally covered by the term Classics (roughly 700 BCAD 500); and to eludicate certain aspects of Greek and Roman life and thought that I hope will strike the reader as interesting. I am especially grateful to Jeannie Cohen for her close scrutiny of a number of the new chapters.

Those who value their families will know what I owe to Lindsay, our children and grandchildren.

Peter Jones
July 2019
Newcastle upon Tyne

Note: If you would like to see access to the languages, history and culture of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds extended across all our schools, please visit the website of the inspirational charity Classics for All: https://classicsforall.org.uk/

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