‘Compendious and based on immense research … Waterfield’s fresh new history of Ancient Greece will be the go-to resource for those seeking a panoptic vision of one of the past’s most fertile cultures.’
- Paul Cartledge
In this commanding work, Robin Waterfield pays equal heed to the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic eras of Greek history. He freely shifts his focus between the political and the personal – from the Macedonian conquest of Greece and the establishment of Athenian democracy to gymnasium etiquette and the rights of women. There are lively, learned digressions into every aspect of Greek civilisation. We learn about the founding myths of the city-states, the rival schools of philosophy that fought over adherents, the contents of a typical meal, and what really happened among the elite guests at the drunken, licentious soirées known as symposia. Throughout the journey, Waterfield returns to the great paradox of Greece: why were peoples who shared a language, culture, religion and social values so often at war with each other?