A Short History of Ancient Greece

Description

Classical Greece and its legacy have long inspired a powerful and passionate fascination. The civilization that bequeathed to later ages drama and democracy, Homer and heroism, myth and Mycenae and the Delphic Oracle and the Olympic Games has, perhaps more than any other, helped shape the intellectual contours of the modern world. P J Rhodes is among the most distinguished historians of antiquity. In this elegant, zesty new survey he explores the archaic (8th–early 5th centuries BCE), classical (5th and 4th centuries BCE) and Hellenistic (late 4th–mid-2nd centuries BCE) periods up to the beginning of Roman hegemony. His scope is that of the peoples who originated on the Greek mainland and Aegean islands who later migrated to the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and then (following the conquests of Alexander) to the Near East and beyond. Exploring topics such as the epic struggle with Persia; the bitter rivalry of Athens and Sparta; slaves and ethnicity; religion and philosophy; and literature and the visual arts, this authoritative book will attract students and non-specialists in equal measure. Contents List of Maps and Illustrations Preface Words and Names; References to Sources Principal Dates 1: Prologue Archaic Greece, c.800–500 2: The Archaic Greek World 3: Sparta and Athens 4: The Greeks and the Near-Eastern Kingdoms Classical Greece, c.500–323 5: The Pentecontaetia, 478–431 6: The Peloponnesian War, [435–] 431–404 7: Life in the Greek World 8: After the Peloponnesian War, 404–c.360 9: The Rise of Macedon, c.360–323 Hellenistic Greece, 323–146 10: Alexander’s Successors, 323–272 11: Life in the Hellenistic World 12: Until the Roman Conquest, 272–146 13: Epilogue Guide to Further Reading Glossary Notes Index