There is nothing more modern than antiquity

We all know that the ancient world is very present in our daily lives: our political vocabulary is Greek, our parliaments have classicist columns and friezes, our law contains old Roman institutions and the old gods and heroes continue to roam our museums.

And yet, we must also recognize more unusual heritages - such as the incorporation of the sea into politics, phenomenology or the charisma of power, the strength of women or constitutional patriotism - in the history of Greece and Rome.

Not all are clichés in our debt to the classics.

That this consists above all in a continuity makes us see the monumental book by Pedro Barceló,

, a kind of academic and personal legacy of the first order of this Spanish-German professor of ancient history.

I think that, faced with such a diverse and peculiar book, it is convenient to present the reader in parts of its method and its themes before giving a critical assessment. It is divided into eight chapters that collect, in a transversal and global way, an overview of various phenomena of the historical process of antiquity. The first chapter, in a suggestive way, takes us to the voyage of the seas in ancient history, from the mythical perspective of travel to distant countries, such as the mythical Tartessus or distant India. But also of the first navigators across the Mediterranean, Phoenicians and Greeks, or the policy of Athens and Rome in pursuit of the dominion of the seas. In a second chapter, the literary and political worlds are explored with regard to the ever-vivid intersections of myth and history, from the political background of Homer or Hesiod, in the

, until the mythical propaganda of Alexander. Next, under the heading 'Worship and Redemption, Barceló examines the crucial religious experience of ancient peoples between individual and collective, from the Olympian gods and Roman religious scruples to the emergence of Christianity from Constantine and the paradigm shift of the figure of the emperor from the Christian perspective. Of particular interest are the pages devoted to the question of the possible existence of a fundamentalism in the Roman world, traditionally tolerant, but which metamorphoses during late antiquity into a state that controls beliefs.

The Foucauldian title 'To govern and to serve', in the fourth chapter, refers to the various dynamics between vigilantes and guarded, from Pericles to Julian, passing through Pompey and Cicero, which well exemplify the dynamics of leaders and subjects, among the slave society and the most interesting - according to tradition - failed leaderships of antiquity. You could not miss a chapter dedicated to the war in the ancient world, with well-known battles that were a turning point in antiquity as case studies, from Salamis to Actium or Adrianople. Various violence, coups,

, riots and social conflict in Alexandria or Constantinople, among other examples of disturbances in ancient cities that are analyzed by drawing vivid parallels with posterity. The sixth chapter focuses on the styles and forms of government of antiquity, from the democratic experience - from Solon and Cleisthenes - to the autocratic models, from Augustus onwards: on this, the idea of ​​“perpetuation of the state of exception ”that the Principality supposes. Here Barceló's interest in analyzing aspects of ancient history from a perspective that alludes to contemporary political philosophy should be praised: I am thinking of Carl Schmitt, Giorgio Agamben or Jürgen Habermas. Special attention is also devoted to the so-called "Dominated", the late empire, which opens the door to the Middle Ages,with the deconstruction of imperial power in times of ideological change after the imposition of Christianity as a state religion with Theodosius. In logical sequence, the seventh chapter addresses the key issue for the end of the ancient world, the irruption of the great monotheisms, from the 4th to 7th centuries. Monotheism as a political problem, as a Barceló label, precipitates a new era: from the entry of Christianity into the polytheistic political context to the rise of Islam - from Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad, as Peter Brown wanted - the exciting late antiquity can be framed as anticipation of what will come next. The caesura may be found in the reign of Heraclius, the last Eastern Roman emperor worthy of the name, last to fight the Persians and first to deal with the Arabs. Finally,It is not surprising that the last chapter focuses on the iconography of power: some of the most fascinating pages of the ancient world refer to the phenomenology of power through images - Christian emperors, the saints or Christ himself - which it opens the doors to Byzantium and iconoclasm. The representation of power, between the past and the future, will be a recurring theme from the 8th century. And even today it is still present in contemporary political discussion, if we think, for example, of the very fashionable culture of cancellation.The representation of power, between the past and the future, will be a recurring theme from the 8th century. And even today it is still present in contemporary political discussion, if we think, for example, of the very fashionable culture of cancellation.The representation of power, between the past and the future, will be a recurring theme from the 8th century. And even today it is still present in contemporary political discussion, if we think, for example, of the very fashionable culture of cancellation.

In short, here is the most interesting contribution of this book, which allows us to look at antiquity through the prism of modernity.

This great work, of more than 800 pages, presents us with a very personal antiquity but with a very perspective of our time.

Far from tracing a chronological, manual or eventual history,

could be defined as a “network history” that allows us to “navigate” through ideas, phenomena and characters that weave together and update our debt with antiquity.

Far from the usual clichés, Barceló investigates that always refreshing oxymoron that confirms, not only the continuity, but the full relevance of the ancient world.

Look for it in your bookstore

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