ARMCHAIR JOURNEY

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday November 27, 2010

Reviewed by Bruce Elder

Greek PilgrimageBy John CarrollScribe, 215pp, $29.95THIS unusual travel guide to Greece aspires to cover all the main bases of the country's Golden Age, including the worlds of Athens and Athena, Delphi and Homer's Troy. In addition, it outlines two detailed tours (eight and 16 days) that include the main sites associated with the glories of classical Greece.What makes this guide so distinctive is that Carroll is a sociologist and is more interested in explaining the role that philosophers such as Socrates and Plato played in the development of Western thought rather than offering a detailed tour of specific buildings and sites. Thus, the book is primarily about the importance of classical Greece and the way it has influenced everyday Western life.For example, the chapter on Delphi tells the reader more about the god Apollo and the function of the Delphic oracle than about the actual buildings. It tells the story of Oedipus's meeting with the Sphinx and his fateful and bloody journey to Thebes.For nearly three pages, it debates the meaning of "the letter 'E' that was chiselled into the front of the temple" and it explores the importance of the prophetess known as the Pythia. It helps imbue the ruins at Delphi with a sense of their original power as a place of ancient worship and mythology.There are problems with the book. Carroll sees the site of Troy and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey as central to an understanding of Greek culture, yet he does not include a trip to Troy in either of his tours.Equally, to write a book about the greatness of Greece without including Minoan Crete is like trying to write a book about Christianity without reference to the Old Testament.Crete was the birthplace of Zeus and the setting for the great myths of Icarus and Daedalus and Theseus and the Minotaur. Without it, Carroll's vision of Greek civilisation is narrow.Don't expect a genuinely comprehensive overview. Expect a very good introduction to classical Greece.

© 2010 Sydney Morning Herald

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