Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times, Second Edition

Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times, Second Edition

Language: English

Pages: 328

ISBN: 0300160054

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


In this compact yet comprehensive history of ancient Greece, Thomas R. Martin brings alive Greek civilization from its Stone Age roots to the fourth century B.C. Focusing on the development of the Greek city-state and the society, culture, and architecture of Athens in its Golden Age, Martin integrates political, military, social, and cultural history in a book that will appeal to students and general readers alike. Now in its second edition, this classic work now features new maps and illustrations, a new introduction, and updates throughout.
 
“A limpidly written, highly accessible, and comprehensive history of Greece and its civilizations from prehistory through the collapse of Alexander the Great’s empire. . . . A highly readable account of ancient Greece, particularly useful as an introductory or review text for the student or the general reader.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“A polished and informative work that will be useful for general readers and students.”—Daniel Tompkins, Temple University

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direct and indirect. The support of Gregory Crane, editor in chief of Perseus, has been important from the beginning. My colleague in the Classics Department at the College of the Holy Cross, Blaise Nagy, deserves special thanks for using earlier versions of this overview in his very popular class on ancient Greek history. His many comments and suggestions helped improve the text and, most important, his enthusiasm encouraged me to produce this version. The various members of the Editorial and

excellence by one's self were beginning to be channeled into a new context appropriate for a changing society that needed ways for its developing communities to interact with one another peacefully. This assertion of communal in addition to individual interests was another important precondition for the creation of Greece's new political forms. Religion and Myth Religion provided the context for almost all communal activity throughout the history of ancient Greece. Sports, as in the Olympic Games

the fount of justice in all human affairs, a marked contrast to the portrayal of Zeus in Homeric poetry as primarily concerned only with the fate of his favorite warriors in battle. Hesiod presents justice as a divine quality that will assert itself to punish evildoers: "Zeus ordained this law for men, that fishes and wild beasts and birds should eat each other, for they have no justice; but to human beings he has given justice, which is far the best" (276-280). In the Dark Age society of

who refuses to sail. An agreement was sworn on these conditions by those who remained in Thera and those who sailed to found the colony in Cyrene, and they invoked curses against those who break the agreement or fail to keep it, whether they were those who settled in North Africa or those who stayed behind" (GHI, no. 5). It is evident that the young men of Thera were reluctant to leave their home for the new colony. This poignant document shows, then, that colo- 58 The Archaic Age nization in

camp in public areas in Athens in uncomfortable and unsanitary conditions, inevitably causing friction between them and the city dwellers. The war meant drastic changes in their way of making a living for many working men and women of Athens, both those whose incomes depended on agriculture and those who operated their own small businesses. Wealthy families that had money and valuable goods stored up could weather the crisis by using their savings, but most people had no financial cushion to fall

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