Ancient Greece

Customer Reviews

• good idea, badly written

  it was a good idea to focus upon a number of the most important cities of ancient greece. a problem was that the information hopped around to different centuries and so became choppy to read. The big criticism is that the writing style is irritating.

• A Scholarly Overview of Ancient Greece

  It's been pointed out that this book is but a very short introduction to ancient Greece. Judging from its size and title, one can certainly agree. However, the level at which the prose is pitched is much more formal than the usual plain language that is more readily accessible to a broad readership. Also, because of the specifics of the topics discussed and the professional opinions expressed, scholars of ancient history may enjoy this book more than would a general reader who simply wishes to learn a bit of ancient Greek history. Aside from this, the writing style is relatively friendly, quite authoritative, often lively and even occasionally tongue-in-cheek. The book also has a rich and elegant vocabulary - so rich in fact that I occasionally had to re-read various passages with dictionary in hand. In addition, I found several passages to be rather convoluted, usually because of very long-winded sentences. The concept of focussing each chapter on a different ancient Greek city is a good one. However, each such chapter tends to concentrate mainly on a few highlights, issues and key individuals rather than an attempt at an abbreviated and evened-out chronological history aimed at the interested general reader.
  
  In short, this book is not what I was expecting and, as a result, I was disappointed. I still gave it four stars because locked between its covers lies quite a bit of fascinating and detailed information. I intend to read it again in the future, but much more slowly.
  

• Quick City Tour

  Paul Cartledge's engaging history of Ancient Greece fills the niche of a quick guide to the places, names and events that a reader may want learn about in order to get oriented to a vast and much covered topic. He does this in a readable fashion with maps and a handful of well-chosen plates. He admirably uses the latest in archeological scholarship to fill out his work, which nonetheless remains intentionally cursory.
  
  As noted in the Product Description, his framework is 11 cities that he describes in the chronological order that they were important to the evolving history of the Ancient Greek world, enabling him to cover such topics as Ancient Mycenaean Greece, the colonization movements both east and west of mainland Greece, the conquests of Alexander and the Hellenistic world, and the rise and fall of the Byzantine civilization.
  
  The chief criticism is inherent in the project itself. Names, places speed by so quickly that one is left knowing that one has passed through the countryside but is unable to say much about it. Having read other histories, I was aware of the vast amounts of material that needed to be edited out. And in fairness Cartledge devotes many pages at the end for an annotated section of suggestions for further reading.
  
  But if you are in the market for a Cook's Tour of the Ancient World, this Baedeker will probably fit the bill until you have the leisure to come visit at greater length.