"A wide examination of the ways in which the Greeks constructed, de-constructed, engaged with and relied on their pasts. This book looks at Greek notions and beliefs about the past as they are revealed in areas other than historical texts. A range of experts from diverse fields examine amongst other things, epic, didactic, lyric and epinician poetry, tragedy, comedy and philosophy in an attempt to tease out how the Greeks in the archaic and classical eras thought about, imagined and constructed their pasts. But it is not only literary texts that are studied here. Material culture, cult acts, inscriptions and monumental buildings are analysed to see what each of these can tell us about the relationship between past and present and about the important role that the past played for Greeks of all social classes"--Publisher's description.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.