Robin Lane Fox is a distinguished British historian specializing in antiquity. His work delves into the depths of ancient history, offering readers insightful perspectives on Greek and Roman culture. Lane Fox's scholarly approach, informed by his extensive tenure at Oxford University, illuminates the complexities of the ancient world with depth and nuance. His expertise extends beyond classical history to encompass early Islamic history and literature, reflecting the breadth of his academic inquiry.
Robin Lane Fox präsentiert in seinem Werk eine lebendige Schilderung von 1000 Jahren antiker Geschichte, die sowohl für Neulinge als auch für Enthusiasten spannend ist. Er folgt dem römischen Kaiser Hadrian und thematisiert Freiheit, Gerechtigkeit und Luxus, während er die bedeutendsten Ereignisse von der Antike bis zur Kaiserzeit beleuchtet.
Like its heroes Homer's Iliad has earned immortal glory. It is the sublime Greek epic poem which tells of the anger of Achilles, and its dreadful consequences for persons and events during the war at Troy. Great questions still remain for its many readers: where, how and when it was composed and why it has such exceptional power. Robin Lane Fox applies his life-long love and engagement with the poem to answer them, deepening and enhancing what we will find in it as a result. Long planned, compellingly written and conceived, it is a memorable tribute to the poem underlying many of his own books.
Eine Kulturgeschichte von Homer bis Hippokrates
Nominiert in der Shortlist zum »Besten Wissenschaftsbuch des Jahres« »Robin Lane Fox‘ neues meisterhaftes Buch kommt gerade im rechten Augenblick: eine lebendig geschriebene Geschichte der Medizin im antiken Griechenland.« Edith Hall, Literary Review. In seinem elegant geschriebenen Werk schildert Robin Lane Fox eindrucksvoll die bahnbrechenden medizinischen Leistungen der antiken Griechen und deren Einfluss auf die moderne Heilkunst. Mit packenden Schilderungen der Lebensrealität von Ärzten und Patienten entfaltet er ein umfassendes kultur- und geistesgeschichtliches Panorama. Der »Hippokratische Eid«, als Gründungsdokument für ethisches Verhalten und ärztliche Ideale, wird weltweit bewundert. Fox untersucht kritisch, was wir über den Eid des Hippokrates wissen, und stellt die faszinierenden Schriften vor, die unter seinem Namen überliefert sind. Seine spannende Darstellung führt uns in die Welt der ersten Ärzte in Griechenland und der Mittelmeerregion. Zudem beleuchtet er die Bedeutung der Medizin für griechische Geschichtsschreiber wie Herodot und Thukydides sowie für die großen Dramatiker der attischen Bühne. Dieses anschaulich und lebendig geschriebene Buch eröffnet viele unbekannte Aspekte der antiken Welt, von Frauen-Medizin, Herrschaft und Kunst bis hin zu Sport, Sex und Botanik. Eine außergewöhnliche Reise durch die antike Kultur von Homer bis zu den Erben in der islamischen Welt und der beginnenden westlichen Mode
Medicine is one of the great fields of achievement of the Ancient Greeks. Hippocrates is celebrated worldwide as the father of medicine and the Hippocratic Oath is admired throughout the medical profession as a founding statement of ethics and ideals. In the fifth century BC, Greeks even wrote of medicine as a newly discovered craft they had invented. Robin Lane Fox's remarkable book puts their invention of medicine in a wider context, from the epic poems of Homer to the first doctors known to have been active in the Greek world. He examines what we do and do not know about Hippocrates and his Oath and the many writings that survive under his name. He then focuses on seven core texts which give the case histories of named individuals, showing that books 1 and 3 belong far earlier than previously recognised. Their re-dating has important consequences for the medical awareness of the great Greek dramatists and the historians Herodotus and Thucydides. Robin Lane Fox pieces together the doctor's thinking from his terse observations and relates it in a new way to the history of Greek prose and ideas. This original and compelling book opens windows onto many other aspects of the classical world, from women's medicine to street-life, empire, art, sport, sex and even botany. It fills a dark decade in a new way and carries readers along an extraordinary journey form Homer's epics to the grateful heirs of the Greek case histories, first in the Islamic world and then in early modern Europe
Robin Lane Fox schreibt so exzellent, dass man glaubt, mitten im Geschehen zu sein. Mark Lilla, New York Times Book Review Mit großer Sprachkunst erzählt und deutet Robin Lane Fox die entscheidenden Lebensphasen des heiligen Augustinus. Einfühlsam porträtiert er den Menschen und genialen Denker, der Meisterwerke der Weltliteratur schuf. Zugleich lässt er die faszinierende geistige Welt der Spätantike lebendig werden.
"In Augustine, celebrated historian Robin Lane Fox follows Augustine of Hippo on his journey to the writing of his Confessions. Unbaptized, Augustine indulged in a life of lust before finally confessing and converting. Lane Fox recounts Augustine's sexual sins, his time in an outlawed heretical sect, and his gradual return to spirituality. Magisterial and beautifully written, Augustine is the authoritative portrait of this colossal figure at his most thoughtful, vulnerable, and profound." --Publisher
Follows Augustine on a brilliantly-described journey, combining the latest scholarship with recently-found letters and sermons by Augustine himself, to give a portrait of his subject which is subtly different from older biographies. Augustine's heretical years as a Manichaean, his relation to non-Christian philosophy, his mystical aspirations and the nature of his conversion are among the aspects of his life which stand out in a sharper light. The author compares him with two contemporaries, an older pagan and a younger Christian, each of whom also wrote about themselves, and who illumine Augustine's life and writings by their different choices. More than a decade passed between Augustine's conversion and his beginning the Confessions. The author argues that the Confessions and their thinking were the results of a long gestation over these years, not a sudden change of perspective.
An award-winning historian of antiquity, Robin Lane Fox is also one of Britain’s foremost gardening experts, and in Thoughtful Gardening he takes readers on a varied and highly enjoyable journey through each season of the gardening year. From a tender eulogy for one of his landscape design mentors to a candid consideration of global warming’s effects on his lupins or the perfect shrub to grow in shade along a path, Fox brings his trademark wit, wisdom, and charm to bear on the art and experience of gardening. Essential reading for anyone planting a new garden or taking stock of one after several years, this collection offers valuable critiques of horticultural trends and traditions, and essential insights into gardening practices and philosophies. Taken together these essays form—season by season—a rich reflection on the lessons, challenges, and absurdities of life with a green thumb.
Fox traces our ongoing struggle to maintain open societies in the face of profoundly tribal human needs that, paradoxically, hold the key to our survival. This latest book ranges from incest and arranged marriage to poetry and myth, from human rights and vengeance to pop icons such as Seinfeld.
