The Greeks in the West

Description

This book has been written with three principal objects in mind. First, it aims to provide for the ever-increasing number of ‘travellers in antique lands’ a survey which, for those interested in the Greek remains of the western Mediterranean, will offer a fuller yet convenient background to what they find on the ancient sites. Its second aim is to provide the classical student with a short conspectus of the history and attainments of the western Greeks which may serve as a basis for closer study of particular details: and last, though by no means least, it seeks to break new ground in isolating the distinctive features of western Hellas and suggesting some assessment of their relationship to Hellenism as a whole. CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 7 PREFACE 12 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 14, 15 I ONE WORLD 17 II FACT AND FICTION BEFORE THE GREEK SETTLEMENTS 20 Fact 20 Fiction 24 III COLONISATION AND SETTLE/ MENT 31 Colonisation and the Greeks 31 The Earliest Colonies 34 The Sicilian Colonies 43 The Italian Colonies 56 The Farthest West 66 Dates in Early Greek History 69 IV THE STORY OF THE WESTERN GREEKS 7-2 Sicily in the Sixth Century 72 The Rise of Syracuse 76 Dionysius I of Syracuse 87 The Liberators 94 Agathocles and Pyrrhus 100 The Indian Summer of Syracuse 107 The Roman Republic 114 V THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE WESTERN GREEKS Il8 Politics and the City-State II8 Town-Planning 121 Architecture in the West 123 Warfare and Fortifications 132 Exploration in the West 135 Western Poetry and Drama 138 The Western Historians I4I Western Painting I44 Sculpture and Related Arts 149 Philosophy, Science and Rhetoric 155 ENVOI I6l GLOSSARY I63 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY I65 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 174 THE PLATES (48 pp.) 177 NOTES ON THE PLATES 22 5 INDEX 239