| Title | : | Ancient Greece: A Very Short Introduction |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0199601348 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780199601349 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 184 |
| Publication | : | First published November 1, 2009 |
Ancient Greece: A Very Short Introduction Reviews
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Designed for a non-expert audience, but again by a top expert, this book uses a series of microhistories to tell a story of Greece's history from the Dark Age to the Byzantine Empire.
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Paul Anthony Cartledge made a noble attempt at the difficult task of creating a short history of Ancient Greece, by telling that story through the history of select Ancient Greek Cities at certain times respectively. It was a great idea and approach, but Cartledge's attempt fell short. The book is a tiresome and slow read, and the cut up and brief structure made it confusing and difficult to follow. The Very Short Introduction was so densely written, it failed to have a purpose, as it was too dense for beginners to the subject and too brief for those with a background in the subject. He bounced around through history too much and would often mention important historical events and pieces of literature without elaborating on them (the intro format and small size was partially to blame for this). He also failed to make the use of cities a convincing way to tall the story. It was a good try, but it failed.
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It's not a bad book, it's just not a great introduction. Cartledge fully admits the challenge of writing a short introduction to a complex area of study, and the book actually does shine as a geographic introduction to the classical Greek world. The book's chief shortcoming is actually in its chief purpose -- it's peppered with references to people, things and places that the author never fully explains, making it a tough pill for a newbie to swallow in terms of overall understanding.
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A survey of eleven ancient Greek cities. Prehistory: Cnossos and Mycenae. Early History to 500 BCE: Argos, Miletus, Massalia, and Sparta. Classical from 500 to 330 BCE: Athens, Syracuse, and Thebes. Hellenistic: Alexandria and Byzantion. Most of it I already either knew or forgotten, but still fun to read.
The Spartans are considered "the patron saints of brachylogy." They were considered "masters of the snappy repartee." The word "laconic" describes such an utterance in their honor for they were the "Lakones" in ancient Greek.
One example of a laconic story from Sparta in Herodotus was the request by the Samians for aid. Their speech put the Spartans to sleep. So the Samians returned and pointed at an empty sack with the line, "The sack lacks barley-meal." The Spartans complained that the word "sack" was unnecessary but provided food aid anyway.
Spartan males exercised stark naked. The Greek word for "nude" is gumnos, the basis of the Greek gumnasion, our "gym." The men would scrub down with a bronze scraper called a strigil and then cover themselves with olive oil. This gave rise to a type of Greek statue called a kouros, an adolescent youth in bronze or stone. The statues were also used as a cultural marker of superiority over non-Greek barbarians who Greeks liked to believe were ashamed to show their flabby bodies in public.
In Athens, the regime of the 400 did lasting damage. For example, they condemned to death all of the generals in command at the VICTORIOUS battle of Arginusae. The reason given was for failing to rescue the crews of the twenty five Athenian warships lost during the battle.
The hetaera were ancient Greek courtesans or concubines, especially ones who were highly educated or refined. Though they were generally foreigners, slaves, or freedwomen, their freedom was greater than that of the married woman, who was bound to seclusion. That their homes were frequented by married men was not censured by society. They were often hired as entertainers for symposia and family sacrifices. The hetaera of Corinth and Athens were especially noted for their outstanding physical and cultural accomplishments. Phryne and Lais are historical representatives.
The Sacred Band was a crack Theban infantry force of 300, consisting of 150 homosexual pairs, founded in 378 BCE.
Phryne, (Greek: “Toad”), byname of Mnesarete, (flourished 4th century BCE), was a famous Greek courtesan. Because of her sallow complexion she was called by the Greek name for “toad.” She was also (according to Athenaeus) the model for the statue of the Cnidian Aphrodite by Praxiteles, whose mistress she was; copies of the statue survive in the Vatican and elsewhere. When accused of blasphemy (a capital charge), she was defended by the orator Hyperides. When it seemed as if the verdict would be unfavourable, he tore her dress and displayed her bosom, which so moved the jury that they acquitted her; another version has Phryne tear her own dress and plead with each individual juror.
The year 322 BCE was about the end of Greek democracy with the suicide of Demosthenes who was avoiding torture and death at the hand of his pro-Macedonian enemies. -
Ancient Greece
A good book to pair with this reading might be – The Cambridge Illustrated History Of Ancient Greece, Paul Cartledge
While the author provides an erudite representation of eleven prolific city-states that influenced and shaped the course of ancient Greece, unfortunately it translates as a shortcoming for a small book that is supposed to be a broad-script introduction of a new topic, and the reader may disengage with the text at times over the constant variety of city-states, people, situations and battles mentioned. These eleven city-states are also used as the headlines for the Chapters. The author admits the problem in the Preface, that with such a long and complex subject-matter it is a difficult task to condense the information in a style appropriate for readers with no prior knowledge and understanding. -
Ignore the naysayers. This is one of the best VSI volumes going, right up there with Colin Ward’s introduction to anarchism. Prof. Cartledge is an imminently informative and congenial guide to all things pertaining to Ancient Hellas and Hellenes, in all of their variety.
I loved the city by city, cross section approach to Greek civilisation. Anything with a more linear structure would have offered nothing new. So much is packed into this volume, so much so, in fact, that this edition is probably one of the most transformative histories I’ve ever read. A real masterstroke. -
If you enjoy Greek history generally or Paul Cartledge specifically this is worth the quick read. The book suffers from occasional poor editing but appreciating a culture as important as that of ancient Greece through the lens of its cities makes it worth the effort.
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Condensed too much. I found this to be very difficult to read. The writing style plus having no previous knowledge of the topic made it difficult for me to piece together any coherent story.
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Paul Cartledge, a prolific Greek historian from Cambridge especially known for his extensive work on Spartan social and political history, takes a somewhat unconventional approach toward briefly sketching the history of such a wide-ranging and slightly ambiguous topic as ‘Ancient Greece.’ Originally published as Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities, Cartledge tackles what he hopes will be a ‘fairly painless’ overview of Greek history from c.1400 BCE to c.330 CE, around the time when Constantine the Great established Constantinople, formerly Byzantion, as the new capital of the Roman Empire, by focusing in on the stories of eleven of the most politically and culturally noteworthy poleis of the Greek world. Cartledge cleverly orders his discussion of these influential cities in such a way as to tell a roughly chronological narrative, starting with the Minoan palace-center of Cnossos during the Bronze Age and ending with the so-called Greek ‘colony’ of Byzantion, which flourished as a city-state at the dawn of the Hellenistic period and later as the aforementioned capital of the Roman Empire. As he himself notes, Cartledge covers a diverse selection of cities, including those with mythological roots, those that were founded as colonies beginning in the eighth century BCE, and the one city, Alexandria, which was founded at the behest of the King Alexander the Great of Macedon. While presenting an introduction to Greek history in such a creative way does, unfortunately, make it sometimes hard to follow the narrative thread Cartledge does his best to maintain throughout each chapter, it nevertheless allows Cartledge to delve into far greater detail about, say, the viticultural tendencies of the Massaliotes than any broad, sweeping outline of Greek history would permit. In this sense, this very short introduction is a massive success.
Above all, Cartledge magnificently maneuvers the baffling tendency of the Greek states to habitually shift their allegiances depending on who was the premiere power in the Mediterranean at the time. Despite this cursory sketch, he nevertheless touches upon the major alliances of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, including those led by Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and the Kingdom of Macedon, if not the Achaean and Aetolian Leagues of the late Hellenistic era when the Roman Republic had finally stumbled onto the Greek political scene. Furthermore, Cartledge gives proper treatment as to why and how these coalitions were shattered and reborn, citing the consequential support the Achaemenid Empire showed Sparta toward the end of the Peloponnesian War, the unscrupulous behavior of Athens toward its so-called ‘allies’ in the Delian League, and the refusal of the Greek city-states to allow any one of their neighbors unchecked hegemony for more than a couple of decades. Perhaps one of his most satisfying chapters is that on Thebes, so often overlooked not only by tourists today–the modern town lies almost directly on top of the ancient polis, as Cartledge notes–but also by popular histories focused more on the great states of Athens and Sparta. Cartledge appropriately points out how Pindar hailed from Boeotia, Theban superiority over the Greek mainland under the leadership of Epaminondas in the middle of the fourth century, and the unique nature of the Theban Sacred Band, the city’s crack troops made up of homosexual couples. Finally, Cartledge makes an effort to salvage the reputation of the former medizers, making a point to note how democratic Thebes stood by democratic Athens at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 against Philip II of Macedon, whose son Alexander would, sadly, destroy the fabled city after a revolt in 335. Altogether, Cartledge offers a refreshing narrative and, in addition to a chapter on Thebes, also throws in chapters dedicated to the likes of Massalia, Miletus, and Byzantion, all cities underserved in popular literature on Ancient Greece.
Despite the polished quality of this brief synopsis and the skill with which Cartledge eloquently introduces readers to the fascinating political, social, and cultural history of the ancient Greek city-states, the decorated professor nevertheless lets what seems to be a streak of anti-Christian sentiment slip into his discussion. While praising the female mathematician, Hypatia of Alexandria, as a martyr slaughtered at the hands of Christian fanatics by no means constitutes Christophobia–I very much commend Cartledge for mentioning, if only fleetingly, her captivating biography and role as a female intellectual in what was by and far a man’s world–Cartledge goes to great lengths to contrast the open-mindedness dominant in the cultural life of many Greek poleis with the parochial, implicitly backward nature of Christianity. Cartledge calls the ‘old pagan establishment’ ‘relatively tolerant’ and ‘inclusive’ as opposed to ‘exclusive, dogmatic’ Christian beliefs that ‘could countenance such acts as the murder of Hypatia in Alexandria’ (131). While he acknowledges that the civil wars that continuously plagued the Greek cities could often be particularly brutal, more brutal, perhaps, than violence propagated by Christians, he still seems to ignore the very real persecution of Christians at the hands of pagan Roman emperors like Nero and, to a more serious degree, during the reign of Diocletian. These pagans were not, it seems, as open-minded as Cartledge suggests most pagans were throughout antiquity. While this is a short introduction to Ancient Greece and not Rome, Cartledge nonetheless paints Christian attitudes at the time with a remarkably broad brush that extends beyond the historical period he primarily focuses on so that I feel justified in mentioning the Roman emperors above. In any event, the ideological dichotomy made by Cartledge feels forced and unnecessary. One can praise open discourse in the political life of cities like Athens without defaming one of the most popular religions of antiquity. Still, this constitutes a minor misstep, for Cartledge brilliantly familiarizes up and coming classicists and historians, and refreshes the minds of those already entrenched in those disciplines, with his very short introduction to a civilization that deserves our ‘concentrated attention’ (133). -
It was a good book, with a good insight into ancient Greece and a lovely timeline and glossary at the end. However, it was a bit difficult for those who know simple things. I did not like the way of presenting the entire civilization according to 11 cities.
Quotes:
Herodotus, Greece’s and the world’s first historian properly so-called, placed the following definition of ‘Greekness’ in the mouths of his Athenian speakers, addressing the Spartans, their allies, at a crucial moment of the decisive conflict between Greeks and ‘barbarian’ (non-Greek) Persians during the winter of 480/479 BCE: …it would not be fitting for the Athenians to prove traitors to the Greek people, with whom we are united in sharing the same kinship and language, with whom we have established shrines and conduct sacrifices to the gods together, and with whom we also share the same way of life. (Histories, Book 8, chapter 144, in the translation of Andrea Purvis)
For, whatever language ‘Linear A’ script may record, it is certainly not Greek—and possibly belongs, not to the Indo-European language family of which Greek is a member, but to the Semitic language family. Most later Greeks of the historical period— Herodotus being a major exception—were convinced that the legendary eponym Minos was as real and as Greek as could be; indeed, he was thought to have functioned in the emblematic manner of early rulers, as a lawgiver.
Moreover, though Greek in language, the civilization of Mycenaean Greece was in most other, basic respects a provincial outpost of a Middle Eastern culture whose epicentres lay in Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. The imposing Lion Gate entrance to the citadel (Plate 3) recalls Hattusas of the Hittites or even Babylon; and the beehive, corbelled, drystone tombs known as the Treasury of Atreus (Agamemnon’s father) and the Tomb of Aegisthus (lover of Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra) betray an almost Egyptian lust for imposing posthumous longevity. Palacefrescoes suggest that the buildings rang to the chants of courtmusicians, and so, conceivably, there may have been Mycenaean court-poets or at any rate courtlyricists.
the Phoenicians had proceeded on to Spain, to found such cities as Malaga and Cadiz, as they founded a string of settlements on the western Mediterranean’s southern shore, chiefly Utica and Carthage, which were in direct and regular contact with their cluster of permanent outposts (such as Motya and Panormus, later Palermo) at the western end of the island of Sicily.
It was also the target residence of choice for famous immigrant Cadmus from Phoenicia, who was credited anachronistically with bringing with him from Tyre the art of alphabetic writing; the Greeks with rather surprising humility referred to their alphabet as either ‘Phoenician’ or ‘Cadmean’ letters. Were the modern town of Thebes not plonked directly on top of the ancient prehistoric and historic cities, we would know an awful lot more about the prehistoric city built upon the Cadmea acropolis, with its Mycenaean palace that has yielded the most recent sizeable haul of Linear B texts—including use of a word that looks something like ‘Lacedaemon’, the name of the region of the southeast Peloponnese that Sparta came to dominate.
By no means the most original, but probably the most tart, expression of this negative point of view is to be found in Edward Gibbon’s magnificently comprehensive Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (chapter 48, first published in 1788): the subjects of the Byzantine empire, who assume and dishonour the names both of Greeks and Romans, present a dead uniformity of abject vices, which are neither softened by the weakness of humanity, nor animated by the vigour of memorable crimes. -
This book aims “to provide a fairly painless and highly stimulating introduction to the complex, diverse, and challenging subject of the history of ancient Greece.” It begins with the Minoans, particularly as regards the Mycenaean take-over around 1450 and ends with the foundation of Constantinople in the fourth Christian century. Focusing on poleis representative of the varieties of Greek culture, it ranges from Massalia in the northwest to Alexandria in the southeast, treating of the aforementioned as well as of Mycenae, Argos, Miletus, Sparta, Athens, Syracuse, Thebes and Byzantion, the outlines of each in this order roughly describing the history of the almost two millennia covered from Minoan Cnossos to Byzantine Constantinople.
Painless this book is, having the character of a series of extemporaneous lectures delivered off the cuff by an enthusiastically learned professor to a group of undergraduates fulfilling a core requirement. The author, informal always, self-consciously witty sometimes, certainly succeeds in making the topic accessible and does give a fair series of impressions which should broaden most notions of what “ancient Greece” might have been. But, as in all such lectures spanning days, there are redundancies, omissions, over- and under-emphases which strike the reader as they wouldn't an auditor. Not well edited, suggestive and impressionistic rather than definitive, this work, although entertaining, falls short of Cartledge's usual writing. -
Needless to say, one cannot hope to get even a tiny fraction of the enormous range of things one could say about Ancient Greece into such a tiny book. Indeed, the subject is so large and so vague that I was intrigued, before starting, as to how the writer would attempt to approach it and divide it up. His solution is more elegant, charming and imaginative, both in conception and execution, than anything I would ever have thought of.
Observing that the fundamental unit of ancient Greek life was the polis, or city-state, he takes a limited selection of some of the more famous or representative ones and, by telling each of their stories in turn, gradually narrates the history of Greece from the late bronze age until the last Olympics, taking many sidesteps to explore aspects of Greek culture and literature.
Having sung this book's praises, I'm afraid I must also note that this book is too colloquial. There are too many... ellipses... which sometimes makes it feel like you're reading a Facebook comment thread rather than, say, something published by OUP.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Cnossos
Chapter 3: Mycenae
Chapter 4: Argos
Chapter 5: Miletus
Chapter 6: Massalia
Chapter 7: Sparta
Chapter 8: Athens
Chapter 9: Syracuse
Chapter 10: Thebes
Chapter 11: Alexandria
Chapter 12: Byzantion
Chapter 13: Epilogue
Appendix: The Panhellenic Sanctuaries -
I’ve read several of Oxford’s AVSI now, and this ranks low on my list. The entire purpose of these Introductions is for the lay reader to get an impression of what is truly important and general about an era or topic. In other words, someone with little prior knowledge can access the work and take something meaningful away from it. This volume reads like the abridged version of a 2,000 page work wherein the author could not possibly cut anything for fear of losing some sophisticated point. The chapters are loosely organized around different Greek city-states that follow a thematic, if not alway chronological, order. Yet, within each chapter, there are numerous examples of the author writing with an assumption that the reader brings a a wealth of knowledge to the topic. I don’t mean to imply that someone wouldn’t immediately recognize Alexander the Great, Athens, Sparta, or some other common-knowledge item. It is more than this author name drops countless tangential and obscure figures, places, ideas, and Greek words with little to no context. This makes for an incredibly frustrating read at points.
That being said, I still managed some take-always and to create a mental framework of the chronological periodization of “Ancient Greece” into the Minoan, Mycenaean, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic Periods. -
Unreadable.
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The choice to simply not follow a standard timeline, but to navigate Greek history through the major city-states and their respective golden ages was extremely clever and quite interesting.
This choice makes everything much clearer, although it does take away a bit from the less splendorous eras of each polis.
The reading, as simple as it is, is quite enjoyable, although a little slow in very few moments.
I highly recommend it as an introductory read
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A escolha de simplesmente não seguir uma linha do tempo padrão, mas navegar pela história grega através das principais cidades-estados e suas respectivas eras de ouro foi extremamente inteligente e bastante interessante.
Essa escolha torna tudo muito mais claro, apesar de tirar um pouco das eras menos esplendorosas de cada polis.
A leitura, por mais simples que seja, é bastante gostosa, apesar de meio travada em pouquíssimos momentos.
Recomendo bastante como uma leitura introdutória. -
3.5/5 I am really enamored with the concept of the “A very short introduction” series, and likely will read on. As a book in its own right it was sort of difficult read, a lot of it felt a bit disjointed as it’s written an almost train of thought style. I did really enjoy lots of what I learned and I found the organization of telling a history through the cities that form a society really cool.
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DNF
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I am not a historian of Ancient Greece, but I am an amateur enthusiast looking to expand what little knowledge I can be rightfully said to have. Paul Cartledge's Ancient Greece offered an intriguing way to expand that knowledge within a neat framework: explore Greece over time and place "through in-depth portraits of its most important institution: the city." It begins well enough, with enough dry pretentious British humor to make me excited to dive in. The chapters about each city are very short, almost perfectly designed for reading before bed.
Unfortunately, there's a quick turn in the quality of the text - stemming, paradoxically, from being simultaneously too ambitious and too poorly conceived. The framework of cities is fascinating, as is exploring what the archeaological record does and doesn't tell us. But Professor Cartledge's attempt to include historiography, critiques of major figures in the study of Greece, and odd granular details feels haphazard. Perhaps my reading of the book was belabored by the prose. Here is a sample sentence from the chapter on Argos that, while egregious, shows the disappointing territory the writer stakes out: "The establishment of this dominion sometimes involved the defeat and even expulsion of lesser neighbours, such as those of Asine on the coast, and their replacement by settlers from the metropolis; this was a form of internal colinzation that obviated the need for very much in the way of overseas colonization by Argos." The sentence after the semicolon took me several reads to understand emphasis and meaning, at which point I gave up.
Who would benefit from this book? Someone with a better working knowledge of Greek geography, perhaps - the map at the front of the book helps only nominally, as the text will casually jump between places all around the Mediterranean. If you are looking for a specific city that you'd like to know more about, perhaps you'll find one of the chapters enlightening or enriching, either in its profile of the polis itself or in geographical or temporal similarities between the poleis covered and the ones sought by the reader. Otherwise, it is not a good introduction. Sarah Pomeroy's Ancient Greece, a much larger textbook, is much more readable and gives much more useful information regarding not only the pre-Greek and Greek peoples but also the landscape, historical methodology, and everyday life in the Greek world. -
Ancient Greece is one of the most fascinating and intriguing historical polities. The very notion of Greece as a single political and cultural entity is a relatively modern designation. The ancient Greeks had organized their life within a polis, a self-containing “city state,” of which there had been hundreds throughout the ancient history, spanning almost all of northern Mediterranean. So when we talk about ancient Greece what we really have in mind is the history of these poleis – their origin, development, and eventual decline and disappearance in the late antiquity. A book that would cover all of the poleis would be a gargantuan project, and would surpass in length all the volumes in the very short introduction series. Instead, Paul Cartledge, the author of this short introduction, focuses on just eleven poleis, picking some that are the most representative of the ancient Greek history as a whole.
Overall, this book is a good introduction to ancient Greece, and all hellenophiles will find a lot of interesting information in it. Through the general introduction and the individual chapters for each polis, we learn about the development of ancient Greek society, through its golden years and the epic wars that it engaged in, to the later not-too-illustrious years. The choice of topics is fairly representative, and Cartledge exhibits an impressive range of knowledge and understanding of this subject.
One big issue that I have with this book concerns its structure and organization. The choice of presenting the history of ancient Greece in a “parallel” fashion, by focusing on each polis in its own right, leads to a very disjoined overall narrative. It can be had to follow various developments as they recur in different chapters, with all the variations that this entails. Furthermore, the style of writing also leaves a lot to be desired. Sentences are often highly convoluted, with frequent allusions, digressions, parenthetical asides, parentheses proper, and even parentheses within parentheses! Cartledge is never the one to use a simple statement when a more complex one would suffice. He also strives a bit too hard to exhibit his own wit and erudition whenever possible. The result is a bit contorted narrative that doesn’t flow very smoothly. Overall, however, this is a pretty good book and I feel I got a lot of interesting insights from it. -
This is how I like my history to be written. Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities is short and concise whilst also containing all of the information it needs to. It shares this trait with another book I recently read Caligula: A Biography by Aloys Winterling. As I'm writing this, I haven't reviewed that on Goodreads - but I still may well do. It's great.
Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities does exactly what it says on the tin. It traces a history of the Ancient Greek civilization from the earliest records through to its absorption into the Roman Empire. It also touches very briefly on the Byzantine Empire. It tells this narrative through the story of eleven cities - emphasizing centrality of the polis as an institution in Ancient Greek culture and identity.
Paul Cartledge is an expert in his field and it shows. The information is distilled to a maximum degree - making this text brief and accessible. Every chapter shows a wide breadth of knowledge and research - however there's one that particularly sticks out. The chapter on Sparta is unusually lucid and it should come as no surprise either - Cartledge is a world leading expert on the topic. His descriptions of the place and its culture are the highlight of the book.
(Another book by Cartledge is entitled The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece. I haven't read it - but I'm going to keep an eye out for it from now on.)
Reading some of the other reviews, it seems like Goodreads as a whole can be pretty harsh on Paul Cartledge. After reading this, I don't really see why. Sure, his sentences are sometimes meandering, and he sometimes does introduce a great deal of information rather rapidly, but I never found this hard to follow. When things got complex (this book covers a complex area of history), I slowed down my reading speed little - and gave myself more time to take things in. Perhaps this isn't the best text for a complete newcomer to the topic of Ancient Greece - but for those with some basic foundational knowledge (having a read a handful of Wikipedia articles would probably be enough) this text should make for an entertaining and educational read. -
This is not an easy read. It’s a break-neck-speed overview of all Ancient Greek political and military history. It is hardly an ‘introduction’ however in the sense of a beginner’s guide because it assumes too much prior knowledge. The author also seems to have a compulsion to use obscure complicated vocabulary when plain English would have served just as well.
All the wars and states ended up blurring and it was hard, most of the time, to stay focussed. The great exception to that was the chapter on Sparta, and it was the descriptions of the social set-up which made that chapter stand out. I would have liked more social history, more of an insight into day-to-day life, and less military details. -
This book recollects the story of Ancient Greece in a very novel way. One of the author's central themes is that there is no entity called 'Ancient Greece', rather what we would term 'Ancient Greece' is actually a collection of city-states each with its own history, political structure and economy. As such, this book is organized where the author has chosen to recount in each chapter the story of a specific city-state. Unbelievably detailed (for such a short work), this book serves to introduce readers to this fascinating civilization which is undeniably vital to the development of western civilization.
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Of course, a book of only slightly more than 200 pages is not really going to give you a "complete" history of ancient Greece. But if you're looking for a readable general overview, this is a good one; clear, concise, and entertaining. Organizing the book around 11 cities means that it is not exactly chronological (though it comes as close as it can), but at this length it is a good limiting device.
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Good introduction. The dedicated chapters on Argos, Syracuse, Massalia and Miletus are worth the price of the book. Of the 1000+ poleis to choose from, the 11 presented here provide a good overview. I really like Cartledge.
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Just too damned hard to follow for this old soldier. The author seems to be building on knowledge he presumes we already know. If you don't.....
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Accessible, for the most part readable, and short. I believe that this book set out what it intended to do. I had not studied Ancient Greece since high school, so this was a refreshing read. I started reading the author’s book on Thermopylae first, but decided I needed to read an overview before I continued.
This book goes through a list of Greek city states, from Minos and Mycenae, to Athens, Sparta, and Thebes, and finally to Alexandria and Byzantiom (Byzantium). In between are chapters on Syracuse, Miletus, Marsalis and several other cities of interest. However, though this book covers major cities, there were hundreds of Greek poleis, which ranged from modern day Spain to the Crimea.
The author presents a fair overview of history, culture, religion, and politics in Ancient Greece. Though the names of cities, people, etc. can be very confusing at times (this is of course par for the course when studying the ancients).
The only downside I felt that this book had was the author’s writing style. He tried to use a bit too much flourish, which led to confusion and many run on sentences.
Overall, this was a great introduction and overview to the Ancient Greeks. -
A series of essay/chapters on chosen Greek cities. On the whole, I enjoyed this different perspective, although the author has a tendency to use words even I (with 4 degrees) end up looking up meanings in the dictionary. I don't mind a challenging read, but it sometimes interrupts the flow of the reading. For instance, "his offer of assistance was rejected with contumely." Huh? Not a word I meet every day, sad to say (though that's a comment on my life as well). But why not just say "disdain?" Half your readers have buggered off to find a dictionary!
I might have included a Black Sea colonial city and a Hellenised asiatic city as well as those the author chose.
Otherwise, the book could use a few more maps. The author talks about the colonisation of Sicily, for example, with no maps of the island, and there's a whole chapter on Corinth which I had to go and find a wider scale map of, to understand.
And why is there a list of very short introductions books at the front, which is duplicated in a different order in the back? Those 4 pages would have been better as an atlas section! -
Since I have a B.A. and an M.A. in classical archaeology, I thought this brief, concise overview of Ancient Greece would be a refreshing return to the world of my college days, but I found its organization to be a bit discombobulated. In this "short introduction," the author seeks to introduce the reader to the world of ancient Greece: from the Minoans, to the Myceneans, to the Archaic and Classical Greeks, and, finally, ending with the Greeks of the Hellenistic Age. Instead of writing strictly chronologically, he organizes his book around various city-states, which make up each chapter. Though he chooses the city-state that best represents a particular time period, he begins that chapter by giving some of the city's background. This makes it harder to keep a timeline in one's mind, especially to someone not familiar with the various events of Greek history. He is, however, successful in covering the major aspects of Greek history, which makes this book a better refresher than an introduction. Therefore, I recommend it to those who want a quick review of ancient Greece.
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This book is dense, in a sense that there is a lot of information in a relatively short span of text. The choice of writing this book in 11 chapters, city by city, was a welcome surprise. It would be really hard to understand everything as somebody who does not have the background necessary for this book. Furthermore, a lot of things are fun to read, and I would recommend this book if you are interested in ancient Greece, even though I would recommend that you have at least some basic knowledge on the Greek history, but keep in mind that for me (a non-native English speaker) it was a bit hard read, since there are quite few instances of not so known synonyms of some words. All in all, a great book, with a lot of great info, and if you have a map it is even easier to track the "story" down.
