The Rise of the Greeks by Michael Grant

The Rise of the Greeks Reviews

• 
  James Foster

  Before the classical era of Western civilization, say 1500 BCE to 400 BCE, the people in what would later become the Greek world were forming city-states, developing new cultures, and laying the political groudwork for the classical era itself.
  
  Before 1500 BCE major civilizations did exist, the Minoan and Phonecian in particular. These sea-going powers established far flung colonies and explored the entire known world, from the Black Sea to the Atlantic coast of Spain. But there was a major collapse in about 1500 BCE. This leaves a very important millenia to explain.
  
  The Rise of the Greeks is a very detailed survey of the cultural, architectural, linguistic, political, and military, changes that laid the groundwork for what we think of as the golden age of Greece. The material is organized geographically, because there were no coherent remaining civilizations after the great collapse. The story is one of how these civilizations, such as those of Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Miletus, Sicily, and so on, arose from such amorphous beginnings.
  
  The book contains considerable detail about the development of architectural and decorative styles. This spread of culture travelled from the east (Persia, Media, and Mesopotamia) to key central city-states such as Athens and Corinth. From there, styles and techniques spread across the Mediterranean via trade and colonization, like fireworks launching from a few missiles exploding into shining points of light.
  
  During this time, coinage was developed, making it possible for trade to replace piracy and gift exchanges as a form of commerce. This is when more sophisticated ship designs arose, to transport large shipments of goods and colonists throughout the known world. This was when the Greeks developed a sense of commonality, bound by language, trade, and tradition. And of course, this was the beginning of divisions that remained until the Hellenistic period.
  The text is supported by extensive footnotes from original and secondary sources as well as architectural finds. A set of black and white plates illustrate highlights and tie the story to the modern world by showing “recent” photographs of ancient sites.
  
  The text can become tedious, since it contains long lists of names of people and places. For this reason, it works well as a reference book. But the only way to appreciate the grand sweep of history itself is to muddle through the tedious bits. It definitely helps to know something about classical Greece, so you can have those “Ah! So THAT’S where THAT came from!” experiences.
  But be warned. The book was published in 1988. So what it describes as the “best current scholarship” is, well, pretty old. I’m sure much has been discovered in the last four decades. I would love, love, love to read a version of this history taking advantage of todays “best current scholarship”. (If you know of such a book, please let me know!)
  
  This is one of those books for which a single rating is impossible. If you are a history geek and particularly fond of Greek civilization (like me), it rates five stars. Otherwise, you probably want to skip it altogether. My rating is an average of five and zero stars, making my stars totally worthless. Sorry.
• 
  Terence

  Technically, I'm not finished with this book but I'm on a "reviewing roll" right now and I had no intention of doing an in-depth analysis of the book so I feel justified in warning potential readers:
  
  "Warning" is the wrong word - There's nothing wrong with this book. In fact, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get a basic idea about the politics and culture of Greek society before the Persian Wars, before Athens and Sparta became the Americans and the Soviets of the Ancient World and drowned out all the other voices.
  
  Michael Grant is brilliant at clearly elucidating ancient history for the general reader and I would always recommend him as a launching point for further exploration. In fact, this book has turned out to be more interesting than I could have hoped as it fills in a largely empty spot in my knowledge of Greek history. You get an idea of the contributions made to Hellenic culture by all those other city-states that dotted the Mediterranean littoral (and extending into the Black Sea), and the interactions between the Greeks and their neighbors (in a decidedly more balanced manner than e.g.
  Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization).
  
  It's also fun to read this in conjunction with Robert Grave's notes to
  The Greek Myths.
• 
  Lauren Albert

  I found this tedious. One city state after another. Grant divides the book into geographical region and then divides the regions into cities. Who founded the city? Who lived there? How did they make their living? By the end, I was skimming because it started to seem just to be a procession of names.
• 
  Andy Holdcroft

  Very detailed but the prose can be a little dense & dry
• 
  Sarah

  Full of lots of good information – if you can stay awake through it. I was surprised to read Michael Grant is considered a “popular” historian because I don't think his style would be very accessible to the casual reader (but his books were written in the 1950s-80s and I'm of a younger generation, so perhaps general expectations of focus & retention skills were higher back then). I believe this book would serve better as a reference because of how it organised. It is understandable and correct that Grant has chosen not to portray the ancient Greek peoples as a monolith. But, unfortunately, he has rendered a book which reads like a DK Travel Guide: a paragraph or page on one city and then on to another location. It's a crash course in city and regional history, a catalogue of facts with very little attempt to place them in a larger historical context. Thus, large swathes of the book are easily forgettable as the numerous locations and their individual significances begin to slide together. My own disappointment is that he blew through the Minoan and Mycenaean periods. I slipped into a coma during the many sections on pot glazing. But I did find the sections on slaves, women and the development of the Homeric hymns, theatre, religion and philosophy most interesting. And at one point he calls Pythagoras a crack pot for trying to use math to prove women were evil – which is hilarious. At the back of the book there is a helpful chronological table; the bibliography, which cites ancient writers with a little aside about their origins, serves as a useful “who's who”; and I recommend the appendices. I didn't think I'd have the stomach for them after this slog but they ended up being more interesting than most of the larger work.
• 
  Daniel Kukwa

  It's packed full of useful information, for research and scholarly purposes...but as an enjoyable read, it's dead in the water. This is the type of book to dip in and out of, when researching a project or an essay...or to read as a cure for insomnia. I've read math textbooks that were more enjoyable than this.
  
  
• 
  Jeff Clay

  Michael Grant doesn't get as much love as (perhaps arguably) he deserves here on Goodreads. That may be because one can almost see and hear him lecturing in a dry, senatorial but impeccable King's English as a don at Cambridge or Edinburgh. His writing is crisp and yes, dry, in a just-the-facts-mam way and though there are occasional asides and analytical side-tracks, generally he keeps on pace, ever moving forward, his voice dispassionate and certainly never filled with bravado or lyrical flourishes (see Strauss, Barry). This is -- or was -- his style. Perhaps not to everyone's taste, but then this is the output of an academic (witness the 45 pages of Chronology, Notes and Bibliography preceded by 30 pages of Appendices) and not the script for a Troy mini-series.
  
  This book claims to cover the period of 1000 BCE to just before the start of the Persian Wars in 490 BCE. That is a lot of history to pack into less than 300 pages and this has been one of the criticisms of Professor Grant for some time. As such, one should approach this book -- as well as his follow-up, The Classical Greeks -- with the understanding that they are surveys and not The Story of the Greeks narratives. Unlike The Classical Greeks -- which is focused on the great politicians, generals, artists and philosophers of the so-called Classical period of Greece, The Rise of the Greeks is a cultural and political survey of the various city-states that made up ancient Greece. This makes it perhaps a bit more challenging to warm-up to as rather than getting a sketch of say Pericles or Aristotle we read about Athens (the most content here), Sparta, Ionia, the Cyclades, etc. Mycenae gets a mere 34 pages. Of course there are personalities driving the politics and culture -- it wouldn't be history without people -- but Sir Grant also delves into pottery and architecture, writing and economics. There is something for everyone but depending upon your taste not everyone will come away satisfied.
  
  Though in no sense a page-turner (see Strauss, Barry), this is a book I will come back to when I again want to quickly survey Argos, Megara, Crete and other ancient Grecian poleis.
• 
  Michael P.

  I suspect this book is a bit dated and I know it is a bit dull, but it is nonetheless an excellent introduction to an importnat portion of Greek history.
• 
  Nick Barata

  The only redeeming quality about this book is that some nights it helped me fall asleep when I was feeling restless. It’s organized weird and the writing is incredibly dry. I don’t know if that’s a problem I have with the genre in general or just this particular book, but whatever the case, it made for some truly boring reading.
• 
  Thomas Jones

  In general, Grant's works are definitive. This work is a "go-to" reference for an oft overlooked pre- classical, pre-Hellenistic , archaic period when Greeks became Greeks ...
• 
  Jose

  Goes into detail about the different city states(hundreds) that existed, In other words, it's not Greeks as a whole but Greeks from different City-states, How most not all city states was governed(Dictatorships/Tyrants from the Word "Tirano"), About Women's Role in Greece, Vases, Coinage, pretty intense and intelligent read.couple of pics , but alot of good reading, Deities,gods/goddesses, beliefs, rampant homosexuality and sin, Political structures, class structures, This is a must read for a History Fan.
  
• 
  Ainsley

  Michael Grant has the gift of bringing to life events from long ago. But the dearth of written accounts from Ancient Greece in this era means a lot of archaeological speculation. And Grant is no
  Charles Pellegrino. Less boring than it could be.
• 
  Sonky

  Odd style, sweeping scope, and wonderful setup for
  A War Like No Other.
• 
  Curt Hopkins Hopkins

  Good introduction to the history that connects the Golden Age of myth and comic book with both what made Greece and how it influenced and was influenced by Thracians, Scythians, Egyptians, and Etruscans. And it's Grant. Hard to go wrong with that hip swivelling teen.
• 
  David Olmsted

  This book should not be read as an introduction to Greek history. It is more of a "fill in the gaps" type of history after you already know the basic history.
• 
  Mike Majchrzak

  pretty good
• 
  Petra

  gadna
• 
  Mandy Galileo

  Well written and informative introduction to this period. Grant is a great writer who helps provide popular access to ancient history.