The book provides fresh insights into the Classical arts, by approaching the topic from the viewpoint of culture and environment. In fact, the book could be more appropriately titled "How the physical environment of Greece and Rome created the character and culture of their civilizations, and ultimately their art".

For example, the physical environment of Greece determined the military strategy of the Greeks. The point is then made that their emphasis on their rectangular military formation ( the phalax? )led to the Greek interest in mathematics, and conversely that the ascent of Sparta is related to the migration of mathematicians to this region. This flows over into architecture, with the form of the temple actually being a representation of this formation.

The book reads well, especially when Onians discusses Roman culture beginning with the dilema that the Greeks prouded themselves on their minds and their classical completeness as men, and yet the Romans who had none of these qualities conquered them in about 40 years. He then discusses how the Romans, who although trying to emulate Greek culture, were only really culture tourists, and therefore their Greekness was only superficial.

His explanation for the decline of the Roman empire makes fascinating reading, and explains a lot about the success of Christianity. For each idea presented, Onians provides substantial evidence, and the reasoning follows a consistent logic. The skill of writing is evident form the fact that each topic is self-contained without references to other sections of the book.

My only criticism is that a shortage of commas does make some reading a bit difficult, however despite the academic nature and content of the book, it is very easy reading.

This is a magnificent achievement. Here in a single volume, in the English language, is a definitive introduction to the origins of contemporary culture. The reader is provided with a wealth of information but also with a wealth of illustrations...all of which, explained by Onians with compelling eloquence, but also answers to questions such as "What are the foundations of western civilization?" and "What is the human fabric of those foundations?" The material is organized as follows:

Chapter One The Culture of the Greek Workshop

Chapter TwoGreek Art and the Culture of Conflict

Chapter ThreeGreek Art and the Culture of Competition

Chapter FourHellenistic Art and the Culture of Character

Chapter FiveRoman Art and the Culture of Memory

Chapter SixRome and the Culture of Imagination

Chapter SevenThe Culture of the Christian Church

According to Onians, "The power of Greek art over Rome, and then of Greek and Roman art over later generations, resided less in the multiplicity or complexity of that art than in its embodiment of a limited number of traits, traits such as the hardness, mathematical regularity, lifelikeness, uniformity, physical energy and emotional expressiveness of Greek art, or the memorability, monumentality, personality, material and formal richness, flexibility and simplicity of that of Rome." What Onians has accomplished is nothing less than a cohesive and comprehensive analysis of Classical art and of the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome.

Some (very few) books serve as a "magic carpet" which transports their reader to ancient experiences which would otherwise be inaccessible. This one of those books. Remarkably, without in any way compromising his scholarly standards, Onians functions as a congenial as well as knowledgeable companion. His seems to be an intimate as well as thoroughly familiar with everything and everyone he discusses.

Note: This book spans the 5th century BC to the 16th century AD. I read the portion from the 5th to the 15th centuries as that was all that was applicable to my research.

Onians takes on an impressive task in this book: tracing the use and meaning of the Classical orders from their still poorly understood and greatly mythologized origins, through a period in which tradition would claim that they disappeared, and into the age of their supposed revival. The topic alone is innovative, and many of Onians' interpretations are correspondingly iconoclastic. Unfortunately, these interpretations, though intriguing, often lack substantiating evidence and/or are very broad generalizations based on archetypal pairs of opposites such as male/female or structure/ornament. In his chapters regarding the ancient world, Onians tends to take a rather Vitruvian view of architecture, classifying columns as male or female despite Vitruvius post-dating much of the architecture Onians discusses. It is notable that in his discussion of the Gothic Onians addresses the continued used of ancient orders; however, he remains disappointingly blind to the possibility that this implies a continued interest in the ancient world. As for the Renaissance, I was pleased to see Onians arguing that the early stages of this movement involved not a revival of the antique but a remodeling of the medieval in ancient terms in order to rival the ancient world. Unfortunately, Onians does not present convincing evidence for this point of view--in particular, he cannot overcome the traditional argument that many of the medieval Tuscan forms found in quattrocento architecture are present as a result of the misdating of such monuments as the Baptistery of Florence to ancient Roman times. Perhaps the fatal flaw of the book, however, is Onians' relentless need to find a single theme for each period he examines. Thus, architecture in the ancient world revolved around the principles of masculine and feminine; the medieval focus was on spiritual and symbolic use of architecture in order to reconcile pagan forms with Christianity; and the quattrocento was about "cleaning up" after the middle ages. It is sometimes painful to watch Onians as he tries his best to fit exceptions to his rules, often falling back on single words in theoretical texts in order to do so. I would have preferred a bit more practicality and give in the interpretive framework of this book.

Ultimately, this book is ambitious and thought-provoking at best, but problematic and sometimes misleading at worst. I would recommend it to those who are curious about the subject and want to hear some unusual theories. I would not recommend it as the cornerstone for anyone's research or as a "good introduction."