FALKE, Jacob von. Ελλάς, ο Βίος των Αρχαίων Ελλήνων... [Greece, The life and culture of the ancient Greeks, from the German of Jacob Falke, translated by N. G. Politis], Athens, Kaktos [Karl Wilberg], 2002 [1887].

Jakob Falke (1825-1897) was a German historian and art critic. He studied Classics and worked first as a teacher. He later became curator of the Museum of Nuremberg and in 1858 was appointed librarian and advisor of the art collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein in Vienna. During the same period, Falke contributed to several art reviews and other publications. He is among the first exponents of the Arts and Crafts movement, and one of the founders of the Vienna Museum of Arts and Crafts (today Vienna Museum for Applied Arts). In 1871 he published the first manual of interior decoration in German, and was knighted in 1874.

His best-known works are the “History of modern taste in art”(“Geschichte des modernen Geschmacks”, 1866), “Contemporary cultural industry...” (“Die Kunstindustrie der Gegenwart...”, 1868) and “Greece and Rome” (“Hellas und Rom”, 1879). The edition presented on the website is a section of the latter work, translated by Nikolaos Politis and published in 1874 as “Greece, the life of the ancient Greeks”.

The first chapter deals with history and political organization. Its sections cover mythical times, the political regimes of Greek cities down to the time of the Persian wars and finally the Macedonian era and the decline of political freedom. The second chapter describes the everyday life of the ancient Greeks, with subjects such as childhood and youth, costume, self-care, women, the household, symposiums, rural life and sports as well as religion. The last chapter is dedicated to Greek art, poetry, prose, and historians, orators and philosophers.

The edition is illustrated with wood engravings of superb quality, which depict works of ancient Greek and Roman art, and imaginary representations of the public and private life of the Greeks, including reproductions of contemporary neoclassical paintings.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou