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In Down from Olympus Suzanne Marchand attempts to come to grips with German Graecophilia, not as a private passion but as an institutionally generated and preserved cultural trope. The book argues that nineteenth-century philhellenes inherited both an elitist normative aesthetics and an ascetic scholarly ethos from their Romantic predecessors; German "neohumanists" promised to reconcile these intellectual commitments, and by so doing, to revitalize education and the arts.
Focusing on the history of classical archaeology, Marchand shows how the injunction to imitate Greek art, especially sculpture, was made the basis for new, state-funded cultural institutions. Tracing interactions between scholars and policymakers that made possible grand-scale cultural feats like the acquisition of the Pergamum Altar, she underscores both the gains in specialized knowledge and the failures in social responsibility that were the distinctive products of German neohumanism.
- Most important, Marchand traces the history of the study, excavation, and exhibition of Greek art as a means to confront the social, cultural and political consequences of the specialization of scholarship in the last two centuries. Although it emphasizes the persistence of ancient models, Down from Olympus is very much a modern tale.
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Subjects
Archaeology, Art, Greek, Civilization, Classical, Classical Civilization, Enlightenment, Greek Art, History, Influence, Intellectual life, Neoclassicism (Art), Germany, intellectual life, Archaeology, history, Ancient Civilization, Archéologie, Histoire, Siècle des Lumières, Néoclassicisme (Art), Civilisation ancienne, Vie intellectuelle, HISTORY / Europe / GermanyPlaces
GermanyTimes
18th century, 19th century, 20th centuryShowing 2 featured editions. View all 2 editions?
Edition | Availability |
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1
Down from Olympus: Archaeology and Philhellenism in Germany, 1750-1970
January 6, 2003, Princeton University Press
Paperback
in English
- New Ed edition
0691114781 9780691114781
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2
Down from Olympus: archaeology and philhellenism in Germany, 1750-1970
1996, Princeton University Press
in English
0691043930 9780691043937
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Book Details
First Sentence
"ABOVE ALL, the Germans admired the Greeks because the Greeks admired, cultivated, and exemplified the beautiful."
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- Created April 29, 2008
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December 15, 2022 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
December 4, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
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August 1, 2020 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |