The Mieza Book Club

The Israelites sat down by the rivers of Babylon and wept; we sat down in Mieza and discussed books. And drank wine. Lots.

Welcome to the first blog post of the Mieza Book Club. Founded on a cold night in the Greek countryside a few years ago by some travelling British students who got lost on their way to Naousa’s wine museum, the MBC is named after the village where Aristotle taught Alexander and his friends.
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The aim of the Mieza Book Club has always been to emulate the great philosopher’s love of knowledge through an in-depth discussion of a wide variety of texts from antiquity. We hope that you find our discussions in these posts both informative and entertaining, perhaps even worthy of citation in essays and at lectures.
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You will notice that in the reviews, the members’ identities remain hidden. The reason for this is that when the group of friends who would become the MBC left England, they agreed upon a policy of ‘what goes on tour, stays on tour’. Thus, the minutes of the first few meetings, carried out during the holiday, contain only pseudonyms. After the group’s return to England, the use of pseudonyms was continued, firstly for reasons of practicality, then later as a matter of tradition.
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Further to the above, I would add that originally, names were chosen from throughout Greek history - Mycenae to Cleopatra VII - before it was discovered that the Greeks (like the Romans) diluted their wine. Then, by a unanimous vote, it was decided that in future, names would be picked from known members of Alexander’s army - with the king himself being excluded out of respect for his divinity and greatness as a general.
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In concluding, I should like - on behalf of the MBC - to thank ‘Alexander’s Other Secretary’ for allowing us to present our reports on his blog. We hope that our presence here will be beneficially not only to the club but also to The Second Achilles itself.
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Peucestas
(Club Secretary)

• The above photograph comes from the Livius website
• For a list of Mieza Book Club minutes click here