Synopses & Reviews
Written by four leading authorities on the classical world,
Ancient Greece, Second Edition, introduces students to the history and civilization of ancient Greece in all its complexity and variety. A comprehensive history, this captivating study covers the entire period from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic Era, integrating the most recent research in archaeology, comparative anthropology, and social history with a traditional yet lively narrative of political, military, cultural, economic, and diplomatic history. Using physical evidence from archaeology, the written testimony of literary texts and inscriptions, and anthropological models based on comparative studies,
Ancient Greece, Second Edition, offers an account of the Greek world that is thoughtful and sophisticated yet accessible to students with little or no knowledge of Greece. The book is enhanced by
text boxes featuring excerpts from ancient documents, an
extensive glossary, and a
timeline and general introduction that provide a bird's-eye view of Greek history.
Revised and updated throughout, the second edition features:
* More in-depth coverage of such social and cultural topics as women and family life, material culture, religion, law, homosexuality, slavery, athletics, and life in the countryside
* A revised art program that includes a new 8-page full-color photo insert, 125 black-and-white photographs (55 of them new), 15 line drawings, and 17 new and improved custom-drawn maps
* Key terms--in boldface type when they first appear in the text and listed at the end of each chapter
* Selective, up-to-date recommendations for further reading
Review
Praise for the previous edition: "Ancient Greece is the best available survey of ancient Greek history. It presents a clear picture of the most significant developments of Greek political and military history (the traditional emphases), and at the same time incorporates the results of recent work that aims for more inclusive coverage. This is without question the finest college textbook to appear in English on the history and civilization of ancient Greece."--Rebecca H. Sinos, Amherst College
"This history uniquely captures the life of the ancient Greeks, both the intellectual grandeur of a gifted elite and the mostly forgotten farmers, soldiers, slaves, women, and workers who made their renaissance all possible. The authors have given us an accessible, reliable, and intellectually challenging history of Greece."--Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover Institute
"With its pleasing synthesis of the political, the cultural, and the social--and its many plans, maps, photographs, and quotations from ancient sources--the book offers an unusually rich and comprehensive introduction to the subject. More than any of its rivals, it conveys to readers a sense of how this story is put together, and of the problems, uncertainties, and gaps that continue to engage scholars in the field."--Greg Anderson, University of Illinois, Chicago
Review
"Ancient Greece is an excellent text. The authors' shared opinion that ancient Greece is 'one of the most improbable success stories in all of world history' unfolds in a happy combination of the traditional detail of familiar names and events along with a tale of the nameless many--even slaves, women, children, and non-Greeks." --Carol Thomas, Professor of History, University of Washington and President of the Association of Ancient Historians
"My students and I have been waiting for such a clear and fluid reconstruction of Greek history--an unusually smooth blend of political, social, and cultural history. By authors widely recognized for their commitment to teaching as well as scholarship, this work has many strengths and pedagogical virtues." --Donald G. Kyle, Professor of History, University of Texas at Arlington
Synopsis
Written by four leading authorities on the classical world, Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History introduces students to the history and civilization of ancient Greece in all its complexity and variety. The most comprehensive and balanced history of ancient Greece that covers the entire period from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic Era, it integrates the most recent research in archaeology, comparative anthropology, and social history with a traditional yet lively narrative of political, military, and diplomatic history. The authors show how the early Greeks borrowed from their neighbors but eventually developed a distinctive culture all their own, one that was marked by astonishing creativity, versatility, and resilience. The book goes on to trace the complex and surprising evolution of Greek civilization to its eventual dissolution as it merged with a variety of other cultures. Using physical evidence from archaeology, the written testimony of literary texts and inscriptions, and anthropological models based on comparative studies, the authors provide an account of the Greek world that is thoughtful and sophisticated yet accessible to students and general readers with little or no knowledge of Greece.
Featuring 19 maps, more than 80 photographs, and numerous selections that highlight a variety of primary source material, Ancient Greece is an indispensable text for courses in ancient Greek history.
Table of Contents
Maps and Battle PlansPreface
Acknowledgements
Timeline
INTRODUCTION
A Bird's-Eye View of Greek History
Sources: How We Know About the Greeks
Retrieving the Past: The Material Record
Retrieving the Past: The Written Record
Periodization
Frogs Around a Pond
City-States
Greek City-States
I. EARLY GREECE AND THE BRONZE AGE
Domestication
Sources for Early Greek History
The Land of Greece
Greece and the Near East in the "Final Neolithic" Period (c. 4000-3000 BC)
Greece in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages (c. 3000-1600 BC)
The Discovery of Aegean Civilization: Troy, Mycenae, Knossos
Minoan Civilization
Greece and the Aegean in Late Bronze Age (1600-1200 BC)
The Years of Glory (c. 1400-1200 BC)
The End of the Mycenaean Civilization
II. THE "DARK AGE" OF GREECE AND THE EIGHTH-CENTURY "RENAISSANCE" (c. 1200-700 BC)
Sources for the Dark Age
Decline and Recovery (c. 1150-900 BC)
The New Society of the Dark Age
Revival (c. 900-750 BC)
Homer and Oral Poetry
Late Dark Age (Homeric) Society
Community, Household, and Economy in the Late Dark Age
The End of the Dark Age (c. 750-700 BC)
III. ARCHAIC GREECE (c. 700-480 BC)
Sources for the Seventh and Sixth Centuries
The Formation of the City-State (Polis)
The Ethnos
Government in the Early City-States
The Colonizing Movement
Economic and Social Divisions in the Early Poleis
Hesiod: The View from Below
The Hoplite Army
The Archaic Age Tyrants
Art and Architecture
Lyric Poetry
Philosophy and Science
Relations Between States
Panhellenic Institutions
IV. SPARTA
Sources for Spartan History and Institutions
The Dark Age and the Archaic Period
The Spartan System
Demography and the Spartan Economy
Spartan Government
Sparta and Greece
Historical Change in Sparta
The Spartan Mirage in Western Thought
V. THE GROWTH OF ATHENS AND THE PERSIAN WARS
Sources for Early Athens
Athens from the Bronze Age to the Early Archaic Age
The Reforms of Solon
Pisistratus and His Sons
The Reforms of Cleisthenes
The Rise of Persia
The Wars Between Greece and Persia
The Other War: Carthage and the Greek Cities of Sicily
VI. THE RIVALRIES OF THE GREEK CITY-STATES AND THE GROWTH OF ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
Sources for the Decades After the Persian Wars
The Aftermath of the Persian Wars and the Foundation of the Delian League
The "First" (Undeclared) Peloponnesian War (460-445 BC)
Pericles and the Growth of Athenian Democracy
Literature and Art
Oikos and Polis
The Greek Economy
VII. GREECE ON THE EVE OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
Sources for Greece on the Eve of the War
Greece After the Thirty Years' Peace
The Breakdown of the Peace
Resources for War
Intellectual Life in Fifth-Century Greece
Historical and Dramatic Literature of the Fifth Century
Currents in Greek Thought and Education
The Physical Space of the Polis: Athens on the Eve of War
VIII. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
Sources for Greece During the Peloponnesian War
The Archidamian War (431-421 BC)
The Rise of Comedy
Between Peace and War
The Invasion of Sicily (415-413 BC)
The War in the Aegean and the Oligarchic Coup at Athens (413-411 BC)
Fallout from the Long War
The War in Retrospect
IX. THE CRISIS OF THE POLIS AND THE AGE OF SHIFTING HEGEMONIES
Sources for Fourth-Century Greece
Postwar Greece and the Struggle for Hegemony
Law and Democracy in Athens
The Fourth-Century Polis
Philosophy and the Polis
X. PHILLIP II AND THE RISE OF MACEDON
Sources for Macedonian History
Early Macedonia
Macedonian Society and Kingship
The Reign of Philip II
Macedonian Domination of Greece
XI. ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Sources for the Reign of Alexander
Consolidating Power
From Issus to Egypt: Conquest of the Eastern Mediterranean (332-331 BC)
From Alexandria to Persepolis: The King of Asia (331-330 BC)
The High Road to India: Alexander in Central Asia
India and the End of the Dream
Return to the West
XII. ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS AND THE COSMOPOLIS
A New World
Sources for the Hellenistic Period
The Struggle for the Succession
The Regency of Perdiccas
The Primacy of Antigonus the One-Eyed
Birth Pangs of the New Order (301-276 BC)
The Place of the Polis in the Cosmopolis
The Macedonian Kingdoms
Hellenistic Society
Alexandria and Hellenistic Culture
Social Relations in the Hellenistic World
Epilogue
Glossary
Art and Illustration Credits
Index