Theophrastus' Characters cover art

Theophrastus' Characters

An Ancient Take on Bad Behavior

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Theophrastus' Characters

By: James Romm
Narrated by: Billy Crudup
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Summary

When Aristotle wrote that that "comedy is about people worse than ourselves," he may have been recalling a hard-edged gem of a treatise written by his favorite student, Theophrastus.

Theophrastus' Characters is a joyous festival of fault-finding: a collection of thirty closely observed personality portraits, defining the full spectrum of human flaws, failings, and follies. With piquant details of speech and behavior taken straight off the streets of ancient Athens, Theophrastus gives us sketches of the mean, vile, and annoying that are comically distorted yet vividly real.

Enlivened by Pamela Mensch's fresh translation―the first widely available English version in over half a century―Theophrastus' Characters transports us to a world populated by figures of flesh and blood, not bronze and marble. The wry, inventive drawings help envoke the cankered wit of this most modern of ancient texts. Lightly but helpfully annotated by classicist James Romm, these thirty thumbnail portraits are startlingly recognizable twenty-three centuries later. The characters of Theophrastus are archetypes of human nature that remain insightful, caustic, and relevant.

©2022 James Romm (P)2022 Callaway Arts & Entertainment Ancient Europe Greece Greek & Roman History Literary History & Criticism Philosophy Ancient Greece
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Critic Reviews

"These Characters are people we know—they're our quirky neighbors, our creepy bosses, our blind dates from hell. Sharp-tongued Theophrastus, made sharper than ever in this fresh new edition, reminds us that Athenian weirdness is as ageless as Athenian wisdom."—Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge University, presenter of BBC's Civilisations

All stars
Most relevant
A wonderfully playful account of different types of people in ancient Athens, which highlights how little human nature has changed in over 2,000 years.
The introduction was helpful and the translation was modern and easy to follow.
While I’m grateful to anyone who helps to bring ancient texts to a modern audience, I feel as though the narration would’ve benefited from the voice of an experienced actor, who could’ve brought each of the 30 characters to life in a more theatrical manner.
Nonetheless, I thank this narrator for giving it his best shot.
Worth listening to. Enjoy!

Enjoyable introduction to Theophrastus

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