The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World
Why is ancient Greece important? Because, along with the Roman Empire, it is considered the bedrock of Western civilization. It is hard even to begin to comprehend when and where Greek culture penetrated both East and West in terms of philosophy, science, art, architecture, language and even religion. But Greece wasn’t at the dawn of civilization in the Old World. That honor is bestowed upon ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. However, it was during the classical age of Greece (around the fifth century BC) that civilization flourished due to (apparent) political stability in the form of democracy especially in Athens.
Greek culture then spread out in the Near East, Persia and Egypt during the campaigns of Alexander the Great. Those (approximately) 300 years before the advent of Christianity were known as the “Hellenistic” period.
This book contains a broad survey of Greece during the centuries it thrived, from politics, art, myth, drama, philosophy, literature and architecture. The broad scope, as a result, lead to a very dense and long read. Everything seems to get covered, but not to my entire satisfaction. I was always left at the end of the chapter wanting more. And perhaps one could say that this kind of book is a good springboard to further reading and research into ancient Greece.
As a student of literature, I found the chapters on myth and drama absolutely fascinating. You may not find anyone in the modern world worshipping at the temples of Dionysus, Athena or Zeus, but their legacy has survived through the poetry of Homer and the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. It is mainly the Greeks who inspired and taught playwrights how to write tragedy and comedy.
In looking back at the past, we are looking at ourselves, or ourselves in relationship to others. As a reader, I found this book dry due to its academic language, but full of interesting information for a novice in the realm of history. The journey through world history has just begun!
