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Cover

Ancient Greece

A Political, Social, and Cultural History

Fourth Edition

Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, Jennifer Tolbert Roberts, David Tandy, and Georgia Tsouvala

Publication Date - 03 July 2017

ISBN: 9780190686918

608 pages
Paperback
7-1/2 x 9-1/4 inches

In Stock

The most balanced coverage available of ancient Greek political, social, cultural, and economic history

Description

Revised and updated throughout, the fourth edition of Ancient Greece presents the political, social, cultural, and economic history and civilization of ancient Greece in all its complexity and variety. Written by six leading authorities on the classical world, this captivating study covers the entire period from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic Era.

FEATURES

* Uniquely in-depth coverage of social and cultural topics including women and family life, material culture, religion, law, homosexuality, slavery, athletics, and life in the countryside

* Excerpts from ancient documents, selective recommendations for further reading, and a timeline and general introduction that provide a bird's-eye view of Greek history

* Two sets of color plates that provide ample evidence from material culture

* Key terms (boldfaced at their first appearance) and an extensive glossary

New to this Edition

  • Substantially increased coverage of Roman Greece, in Chapter 12 and the Epilogue, by new coauthor Georgia Tsouvala
  • An extensively revised art program featuring forty new photos
  • Revised captions for all figures
  • A revised and updated Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/pomeroy

About the Author(s)

Sarah B. Pomeroy is Distinguished Professor of Classics and History Emerita at Hunter College and The City University of New York Graduate Center.

Stanley M. Burstein is Professor of History Emeritus at California State University, Los Angeles.

The late Walter Donlan was Professor of Classics Emeritus at the University of California, Irvine.

Jennifer Tolbert Roberts is Professor of Classics and History at City College and The City University of New York Graduate Center.

David Tandy is Visiting Research Fellow in Classics at the University of Leeds, UK.

Georgia Tsouvala is Associate Professor of History at Illinois State University.

Reviews

"Ancient Greece is a sweeping, accessible historical narrative, punctuated by social and economic insights of one of the most complex and intriguing cultures of antiquity."--David Graf, University of Miami

"This text is an excellent choice for those seeking a comprehensive treatment of ancient Greek history. Its chronological reach is long, and it devotes a great deal of attention to social and cultural topics along with the standard political and military ones."--Eric Wild Robinson, Indiana University

"Ancient Greece is a very clear, comprehensive overview of Greek history, in its political, social, cultural, and intellectual dimensions, with particularly good coverage of the Archaic and Classical Periods, written by some of the top scholars in the field."--Philip Kaplan, University of North Florida

Table of Contents

    Maps and Battle Plans
    Preface
    New to the Fourth Edition
    Translations Used by Permission
    Timeline
    INTRODUCTION
    A Bird's-Eye View of Greek History
    Sources: How We Know About the Greeks
    Retrieving the Past: The Material Record
    Retrieving the Past: The Written Record
    Periodization
    Frogs Around a Pond
    City-States
    Greek City-States
    I. EARLY GREECE AND THE BRONZE AGE
    Domestication
    Sources for Early Greek History
    The Land of Greece
    Greece in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages (c. 3000-1600 BC)
    Minoan Civilization
    Greece and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age (1600-1200 BC)
    The Years of Glory (c. 1400-1200 BC)
    The End of the Mycenaean Civilization
    II. THE EARLY IRON AGE (C. 1200-750/700 BC)
    Sources for the Early Iron Age
    Decline and Recovery, Early Iron Age I (c. 1200-900 BC)
    The New Society of Early Iron Age II (900-750/700 BC)
    Revival (c. 900-750 BC)
    Homer and Oral Poetry
    Homeric Society
    Community, Household, and Economy in the Early Iron Age II
    * The End of Early Iron Age II (c. 750-700 BC)
    III. ARCHAIC GREECE (750/700-480 BC)
    Sources for the Seventh and Sixth Centuries
    The Formation of the City-State (Polis)
    Government in the Early City-States
    Emigration and Expansion: The Colonizing Movement
    Economic and Social Divisions in the Early Poleis
    Hesiod: The View from Outside
    The Hoplite Army
    The Archaic Age Tyrants
    Art and Architecture
    Lyric Poetry
    Philosophy and Science
    Panhellenic Religious Institutions
    Relations Among States
    IV. SPARTA
    Sources for Spartan History and Institutions
    The Early Iron Age and the Archaic Period
    The Spartan System
    Demography and the Spartan Economy
    Spartan Government
    Sparta and Greece
    Historical Change in Sparta
    The Spartan Mirage in Western Thought
    V. THE GROWTH OF ATHENS AND THE PERSIAN WARS
    Sources for Early Athens
    Athens from the Bronze Age to the Early Archaic Age
    The Reforms of Solon
    Pisistratus and His Sons
    The Reforms of Cleisthenes
    The Rise of Persia
    The Wars Between Greece and Persia
    The Other War: Carthage and the Greek Cities of Sicily
    VI. THE RIVALRIES OF THE GREEK CITY-STATES AND THE GROWTH OF ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
    Sources for the Decades After the Persian Wars
    The Aftermath of the Persian Wars and the Foundation of the Delian League
    The "First" (Undeclared) Peloponnesian War (460-445 BC)
    Pericles and the Growth of Athenian Democracy
    Literature and Art
    Oikos and Polis
    The Greek Economy
    VII. GREECE ON THE EVE OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
    Sources for Greece on the Eve of the War
    Greece After the Thirty Years' Peace
    The Breakdown of the Peace
    Resources for War
    Intellectual Life in Fifth-Century Greece
    Historical and Dramatic Literature of the Fifth Century
    Currents in Greek Thought and Education
    The Physical Space of the Polis: Athens on the Eve of War
    VIII. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
    Sources for Greece During the Peloponnesian War
    The Archidamian War (431-421 BC)
    The Rise of Comedy
    Between Peace and War
    The Invasion of Sicily (415-413 BC)
    The War in the Aegean and the Oligarchic Coup at Athens (413-411 BC)
    Fallout from the Long War
    The War in Retrospect
    IX. THE GREEK WORLD OF THE EARLY FOURTH CENTURY
    Sources for Fourth-Century Greece
    Social and Economic Strains in Postwar Greece
    Law and Democracy in Athens
    The Fourth-Century Polis
    Philosophy and the Polis
    X. PHILIP II AND MACEDONIAN SUPREMACY
    Sources for Macedonian History
    Early Macedonia
    Macedonian Society and Kingship
    The Reign of Philip II
    Macedonian Domination of Greece
    XI. ALEXANDER THE GREAT
    Sources for the Reign of Alexander
    Consolidating Power
    From Issus to Egypt: Conquest of the Eastern Mediterranean (332-331 BC)
    From Alexandria to Persepolis: The King of Asia (331-330 BC)
    The High Road to India: Alexander in Central Asia
    India and the End of the Dream
    Return to the West
    XII. ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS AND THE COSMOPOLIS
    A New World
    Sources for the Hellenistic Period
    The Struggle for the Succession
    The Regency of Perdiccas
    The Primacy of Antigonus the One-Eyed
    Birth Pangs of the New Order (301-276 BC)
    The Place of the Polis in the Cosmopolis
    The Macedonian Kingdoms
    Hellenistic Society
    Alexandria and Hellenistic Culture
    Social Relations in the Hellenistic World
    EPILOGUE
    The Arrival of the Romans
    A Greco-Roman World
    Glossary
    Art and Illustration Credits
    Index