Alumnus Oswyn Murray publishes The Muse of History

Western society has been preoccupied with the classics since the Renaissance. Exeter alumnus Oswyn Murray’s (1957, Literae Humaniores) latest book, The Muse of History: The Ancient Greeks from the Enlightenment to the Present, explores this preoccupation through the generations, focusing on the Greeks. Reviewed favourably, including by famous historian Mary Beard, The Muse of History is a must-read for anyone interested in the classical world.

‘It is rare that one wants to ascribe beauty to a book by an academic’, writes Daniel Johnson in The Critic, however, ‘this is no academic book’. Instead, Beard clarifies that The Muse of History is ‘part autobiographical memoir, part analysis of how the subject has changed (or not) since the eighteenth century, and part manifesto for classical history and the study of history more generally’. 

That’s not to say, as Johnson puts it, that The Muse of History isn’t a result of ‘deep scholarship’. Murray is now a fellow at Balliol, where he’s been for the majority of his career. He’s a joint editor of the Oxford History of the Classical World, a text that ‘brings together the works of 30 authorities’ on the subject, and the author of Early Greece and The Symposium: Drinking Greek Style. ‘It is largely thanks to him’, writes Beard, ‘that the symposium, or male drinking party, has been recognised as such a central institution in Classical Greek culture’. 

‘Both elegant and outspoken’, a trait Murray is known for, The Muse of History is a vastly broad yet incisive read, foregrounding a few ‘villains and failures’ as well as analysing the contemporary importance of the ancient Greeks. 

The Muse of History can be purchased at Blackwell’s and other bookstores. 

Read Mary Beard’s review of The Muse of History. Read Daniel Johnson’s review.