Synopses & Reviews
Selection of translated texts focusing primarily on political institutions and political activity in ancient Greece.
Review
"One of the greatest challenges for the instructor of Greek social history courses is to distill and present the disparate primary sources to the novice undergraduate student. And so a new edition of The Greek City States: A Source Book is welcome indeed. An eminent scholar of Greek social history, Rhodes has culled and organized the most pertinent sources from Greek literature and various corpora of inscriptions. This second edition of The Greek City States is superior to its predecessor. Each source is now numbered individually and Rhodes' editorial commentary has been made clearly distinct at the beginning of each passage. These changes only serve to highlight Rhodes' excellent choice of texts. Sources are presented in a clear and logical order. Indeed, the presentation is so effective that sources naturally segue into the next and the student can easily read through an entire section on a given topic (e.g. tyranny, nos. 48-62). ... The Greek City States remains an excellent resource for the Greek history instructor. Indeed, it is superior in content, form and design to the comparable sourcebooks by Crawford and Whitehead,[[2]] and the volumes by Fornara and Harding in the Translated Documents of Greece & Rome series.[[3]] It is a welcome addition to any class concerning Greek social history of the Archaic and Classical periods. --Bryn Mawr Classical Review 1/31/2008
Synopsis
Presents in translation a selection of the evidence for the cities and other states of ancient Greece, focusing primarily on political institutions and political activity but with sections also on social, economic and religious life. For this second edition the book has been thoroughly revised and three new chapters added.
About the Author
P. J. Rhodes is Honorary Professor and Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at the University of Durham. His numerous publications in the field of Greek history include A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia (1981), The Decrees of the Greek States (with D. M. Lewis, 1997), Greek Historical Inscriptions, 404-323 BC (with R. Osborne, 2003) and A History of the Classical Greek World, 478-323 BC (2005).
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. The Homeric state; 2. The archaic state; 3. Economic and political development: tyranny and after; 4. Sparta; 5. Athens; 6. Women and children; 7. Economic life; 8. Religion; 9. Other cities; 10. Beyond the single city; 11. The Hellenistic and Roman periods.