The Glory That Was

by L. Sprague de Camp

Avalon Books, 1960. Hardcover with dustjacket, first edition. Science fiction novel in which an eccentric archeologist recreates ancient Greece and attempts to prevent its fatal war with Sparta.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Time Travel, Fiction, Alternate History, Science Fiction Fantasy, Historical

223 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Lyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction literature. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, both novels and works of non-fiction, including biographies of other fantasy authors. He was a major figure in science fiction in the 1930s and 1940s.

Reviews

[Craig]

This is a very good science fantasy novel from 1952. It pioneers the historical sf styling that David Drake, for example, would explore quite a few decades later. The humor doesn't hold up as well as one might wish, but I think it's a solid pick for classical history buffs. My edition includes a nice introduction by Robert A. Heinlein.

[Michael Treadway]

Fun Idea, Poor Execution

The Glory That Was ought to be right up my alley. My major was Greek, and I minored in Classical Civilizations. And I absolutely love fantasy novels.

So if I’m presented with a story where the main characters from some far future end up in Periclean Athens before the Peloponnesian War, you had better believe I’m interested.

But this book falls flat in so many ways. De Camp’s aggressive forcing of the plot allows for very little natural development of the storyline. Everything feels contrived, and none of the characters’ decisions feel like they either matter, or they are appropriate to the characters’ personalities. Only De Camp’s pacing seemed proper.

The day to day experience of life in an Ancient Greek setting, and the dispelling of some misnomers about Greek life is fun. I enjoyed those parts of the story. And seeing Socrates and Protagoras as characters was fun.

But overall, the story was underwhelming, the characters ridiculous and forgettable, and the overall execution was poor. Not worth more than a glance at the back cover.

[Alien]

In the last couple of years, I read some stuff by de Camp that made me suspect that he might become one of my favorite fantasy authors.
But alas! I really did not like this book!
There is lots and lots of dialog, and all in an artificial and stilted language. Another problem is, that I am not particularly interested in ancient Greece. The whole thing tired me and I quit.

[Carl Barlow]

A light, and light-hearted, romp through a Horrible Histories version of Classical Greece that could almost have been Greeceworld (without the hosts). No depth, little meaning, but the writing is assured and the pages keep turning.

[Mike]

Glory, glory what a helluva way to end!

[Nick]

Entertaining, but not one of de Camp's best. The introduction by Heinlein was odd, as it emphasized the humor of de Camp's work, which was largely missing from this book.
The basic premise, that a somewhat insane ruler would try to build an ideal world in isolation, has been done by other authors. The part that made this interesting was the ongoing question of whether this was the REAL ancient Greece, or just an incredible simulation. Unfortunately, this was answered well before the end of the book, making much of the rest anticlimactic, and leaving only the questions of why it was all happening, and how to get out. The latter was answered in a way that felt much too pat compared to the author's other writing.

[Rich McAllister]

Typical de Camp, which is to say very good. I did get thrown off several times by his using more phonetic names instead of the "normal" English names ("Sokrates" not "Socrates", etc.) I did love the line "if I had known, I would have packed a copy of Thucydides". Excellent ending; if you've just blown up the virtual reality, how do you know you're not stuck in a virtual reality? And that was from the '50s.

[Panagiotis G.]

Fantasy at it's best! Amazing story from a master, who creates a captivating setting, a plot weaved almost perfectly, lovely main characters and an ending that's so well fitting to the rest of the story, you can almost believe it could happen in our 'real' world. Very happy to find a story from an author that inspired some of my favourite aurhors! Now I know why they cited him in almost all their novels! :)

[Rusty]

In the 27th century, some emperor puts a force wall around Greece and recreates Periklean Athens by sending out waves to brainwash the citizens. Two guys break in to find one of their wives. It's pretty cartoonish and while the premise is mildly interesting, there's no atmosphere or creativity to go with it.

[Witek]

A completely different brand of sf, where the science-fiction part is well hidden, while Sprague tries to reenact ancient Greece. Even if the story seems a bit too unbelievable it's a very pleasant read!

[Chuck Von Nordheim]

This seems sort of a middling entry into the L. Sprague de Camp canon. Competently comic, but certainly not as funny as most of the Krishna novels, or the Novarian series, or anything he wrote with Fletcher Pratt. Incredibly low stakes compared Lest Darkness Fall, his much better vaudeville of the Late Roman World. In Darkness, the issue of concern is whether the time-marooned hero can shorten the Dark Ages. In this novel, the issue of concern is whether the a white male professor will regain his lady. Finally, the event that resolves the plot could have just as well have occurred on page 30 instead of 230. While the send-up of Socrates or Euripides are a hoot, there aren't enough to save this effort from being, at best, mediocre.

[Samuel Lubell]

Judging from the introduction, this was supposed to be humor, but it wasn't really all that funny. In a future ruled by an emperor, two friends try to sneak into Greece, which is forbidden territory, to find Flin's kidnapped wife. But they find themselves in what appears to be ancient Greece. There is some fun as they try to figure out if they are really in the past and in dealing with philosophers. But once they determine the truth (admitted by the way that makes the most sense), the rest falls too easily. The book was written in 1952 so I probably shouldn't fault it for the complete absence of female characters save for the wife who exists only to be rescued.

[odde]

The premise is interesting but it's thrown at the reader without the effort of making it work. There is a plot, apparently, but the main characters don't seem to make much of a difference, until all of a sudden you're told everything's over.
Really, you should only read this one if for some reason you're a De Camp completionist.

[Al "Tank"]

Worth one read, but I won't be re-reading it. Didn't live up to Heinlein's intro.

[Henry Kline]

A great little story that includes History, Science Fiction and Politics.

[Rog Harrison]

I think that this may have been meant to be humorous but to me it just seemed pointless.

[David Bradley]

A dud too dull to finish. Poorly drawn characters, absurd dialogue, and the story--what there was of it--was forgettable. Heinlein's over-the-top introduction did nothing to relieve the boredom of the book. DNF

[UnderseaDavis]

PG-13 Disney Channel Movie the Book

[Raj]

It's the 27th century, and the world emperor has put a force wall around Greece and kidnapped people of Greek descent and taken them there, including Wiyem Flin's wife. When he and his friend Knut Bulnes get through, they find themselves not in the 27th century, but in ancient Greece. Or do they?

Meh, this was an okay book to read over lunch but nothing particularly exciting. The characters weren't hugely interesting, nor were they developed much, and it's very much of its time (early 1960s) in its treatment of women. It's a reasonably fun action adventure though.

[Ed]

SciFi - In the 27th century, classical scholar Wiyem Flin believes his wife has been kidnapped and taken to Greece - which is isolated from the rest of the world by a force field. With magazine editor, Knut Bulnes, he manages to penetrate the force field and finds himself in the classical Greece of Pericles, Socrates and Euripedes - who has Flin's wife as his own!

[Peter]

Interesting idea - didn't really work for me

[Terry Cox]

An interesting premise on mind control. Not de Camp's best, however.

[Alexander Theofanidis]

Ψαγμενιά από τον άγνωστο στην Ελλάδα De Camp (θα εκπλαγείτε πόσοι μείζονες συγγραφείς έμειναν άγνωστοι στο ελλαδιστάν), εμένα μου άρεσε.