For courses in Greek History or Greek Civilization.
Organised chronologically, this text presents a complete picture of Greek civilization as a history. It features sections on the art, architecture, literature, and thought of each period. This text presents students with the history of Greece from the prehistoric through the Mycenaean Period, the Dark Ages, the Classical Period, the Hellenistic, and the absorption of Greek culture by Rome.
Contents
Maps
Preface
About the Authors
Credits
1. A Small, Far-Off Land
Historical Sketch
Why Study the Greeks?
Who Were the Greeks?
The Structure of This Book: History, Culture, and Society
Key Terms
Further Reading
2. Country and People
Greek Geography, Climate, and Agriculture
Demography
Migration
Health and Disease
Nutrition
Economic Growth in Ancient Greece
Key Terms
Further Reading
3. The Greeks at Home
Gender Relationships: Ideals and Realities
Sexuality
Adults and Children
Key Terms
Further Reading
4. The Greeks Before History, 12,000-1200 B.C.
The End of the Last Ice Age, 12,000-11,000 B.C.
The Origins of Agriculture, 11,000-5000 B.C.
Greeks and Indo-Europeans
Neolithic Society and Economy, 5000-3000 B.C.
The Early Bronze Age, 3000-2300 B.C.
The Middle Bronze Age, 2300-800 B.C.
The Age of Minoan Palaces, 2000-600 B.C.
The Rise of Mycenaean Greece, 1750-500 B.C.
The End of Minoan Civilization, 1600-1400 B.C.
Mycenaean Greece: Archaeology, Linear B, and Homer
The End of the Bronze Age, circa 200 B.C.
Key Terms
Further Reading
5. The Dark Age, 1200-800 B.C.
The Collapse of the Old States
Life Among the Ruins
Dark Age Heroes
Art and Trade in the Dark Age
The Eighth-Century Renaissance: Economy
The Eighth-Century Renaissance: Society
The Eighth-Century Renaissance: Culture
Conclusion
Key Terms
Further Reading
6. Homer
The Homeric Question
Milman Parry and Oral Poetry
The Oral Poet in Homer
Heinrich Schliemann and the Trojan War
The Tragic Iliad
Homer and the Invention of Plot
The Comic Odyssey
Odysseus and Homer
Key Terms
Further Reading
7. Religion and Myth
Definitions of Religion and Myth
Hesiod’s Myth of the Origin of the Gods
Greek Religion in History
Forms of Greek Religious Practice
Hesiod’s Myth of Sacrifice
Gods and Other Mysterious Beings
Chthonic Religion
The Ungrateful Dead and the Laying of the Ghost
Ecstatic and Mystical Religion
Conclusion
Key Terms
Further Reading
8. Ancient Greece, 800-480 B.C.: Economy, Society, Politics
Government by Oligarchy
Elite Culture
The Tyrants
The Structure of Archaic States
Conclusion
- Comprehensive, balanced treatment of ancient Greece Examines the culture and the people as a whole.
- Generous quotations from major and minor authors. Allows students to hear the voices of the Greeks.
- In-depth examination of literary, artistic, and philosophical traditions. Allows students to thoroughly study the important contributions made in these fields.
- Chronological organisation provides names and the dates, arranges events sequentially, and carefully examines cultural achievements and social transformations that accompanied the cascade of historical events.
- Superior art program—Features numerous illustrations of landscapes, objects, buildings, and maps. Shows students how the Greeks saw things and what they saw.
- Student-friendly writing style—Makes use of modern prose and offers students a well-structured and clear presentation that is easy to comprehend.
- All extracts have now been translated by the authors to insure stylistic unformity and textual coherence
- Coverage of Macedon, Alexander and Hellenism have been reorganized to provide better narrative flow.
- Each chapter has been updated with revised scholarship.
- Maps have been re-drawn to insure accuracy and to improve clarity.