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The Discovery of Greek Civilization
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13639 |
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BOOK WORLD
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| Issue
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8 / 1988 |
3,233 Words |
| Author
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Charles D. Hamilton
Charles D. Hamilton, author of Sparta's Bitter Victories, is
professor of ancient history and classics and chairman of the
Classic Department at San Diego State University. |
THE RISE OF THE GREEKS
Michael Grant
New York: Atheneum
391 pp., $27.50
The goddess Athena, in Greek mythology, sprang mature and fully formed from the head of her father, Zeus, but Greek civilization itself experienced no such dramatic birth. Rather, Classical Greece was the product of gradual evolution, in many different locations, over several centuries. With its roots in Mycenaean civilization of the Bronze Age, it developed through various invasions, migrations, and colonization movements and was stimulated by numerous influences from the ancient Near East. In the end, a unique, brilliantly creative civilization emerged. The burden of The Rise of the Greeks is to describe and discuss this development, and in particular its origins and early phases. Who were the Greeks? What did they achieve? And how did they accomplish their achievements? These are the questions this book asks. The author, Michael Grant, is probably today's most prolific interpreter of ancient civilizations, with literally dozens of books to his credit, including A History of Rome, The Etruscans, The History of Ancient Israel, The Army of the Caesars, The Roman Emperors, and similar works. Now he has done it again. Turning his attention to the Greeks, Grant brings to this volume vast learning, control of factual detail, and a vigorous style that has made so many of his works book club selections and standard college textbooks. Those who are familiar with his work will not be disappointed, and those who read him for the first time are in for a challenging and exciting odyssey across half a millennium and throughout a large portion of the ancient Mediterranean world, all in pursuit of "the
... (1987 of 19580 Characters)
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