A Brief History of Ancient Greece Politics, Society, and Culture

Revised and updated throughout, the fourth edition of A Brief History 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 ancient Greek historians, this captivating study covers Greek history from the Bronze Age into the Roman period.

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

Georgia Tsouvala is Professor of History at Illinois State University.

*=New to this Edition
List of Maps
Translations Used by Permission
Preface
Timeline
INTRODUCTION
Sources: How We Know about the Ancient Greeks
Retrieving the Past: The Material Record
Retrieving the Past: The Written Record
A Synopsis of Written Sources by Periods
The Physical Context: The Land of Greece
I. EARLY GREECE AND THE BRONZE AGE
Greece in the Stone Ages
Greece in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages (c. 3000-1600 BC)
Greece and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age (c. 1600-1200 BC)
II. THE EARLY IRON AGE (c. 1200-750/700 BC)
Decline and Recovery, Early Iron Age (c. 1200-900 BC)
Revival, Early Iron Age II (c. 900-750 BC)
Homeric Society
The End of the Early Iron Age (c. 750-700 BC)
III. ARCHAIC GREECE (c. 750/700-480 BC)
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 Archaic Poleis
Hesiod: The View from Outside
The Hoplite Army
The Archaic Age Tyrants
The Arts and Sciences
Panhellenic Institutions
Relations Among States
IV. SPARTA
The Early Iron Age and the Archaic Period
The Spartan System
Demography and the Spartan Economy
Spartan Government
The Peloponnesian League
Historical Change in Sparta
The Spartan Mirage
V. THE GROWTH OF ATHENS AND THE PERSIAN WARS
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
VI. THE RIVALRIES OF THE GREEK CITY-STATES AND THE GROWTH OF ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
The Aftermath of the Persian Invasions and the Foundation of a New League
New Developments in Athens and Sparta
The "First" (Undeclared) Peloponnesian War (460-445 BC)
Pericles and the Growth of Athenian Democracy
Literature and Art
Oikos and Polis
The Greek Economy
* The Western Greeks after the Age of Tyrants
VII. GREEK LIFE AND CULTURE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY
Greece After the Thirty Years' Peace
The Physical Space of the Polis: Athens in the Fifth Century
Intellectual Life in Fifth-Century Greece
Historical and Dramatic Literature of the Fifth Century
Currents in Greek Thought and Education
The Breakdown of the Peace
Resources for War
VIII. 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)
The Last Years of War (407-404 BC)
IX. The Fourth Century: Changing Ideas, Continuing Warfare
Oligarchy at Athens: The Thirty Tyrants
The Trial of Socrates (399 BC)
The Fourth Century: Changing Ideas, Continuing Warfare
Law and Democracy in Athens
The Fourth-Century Polis
Philosophy and the Polis
X. PHILLIP II AND MACEDONIAN SUPREMACY
Early Macedon
Macedonian Society and Kingship
The Reign of Philip II
Philip's Plans for Greece
I. ALEXANDER THE GREAT
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
The Achievements of Alexander
XII. THE NEW WORLD OF 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)
* Decline and Fall
The Polis in the Hellenistic World
The Macedonian Kingdoms
Hellenistic Society
Alexandria and Hellenistic Culture
Social Relations in the Hellenistic World
XIII. A GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD
Glossary
Art and Illustration Credits
Index