A History of Greece, 1300 to 30 BC

Blackwell History of the Ancient World

by Victor Parker

A History of 1300‒30 BC, offers a comprehensive introduction to the foundational political history of Greece, from the late Mycenaean Age through to the death of Cleopatra VII, the last Hellenistic monarch of Egypt.

Introduces textual and archaeological evidence used by historians to reconstruct historical events during Greece’s Bronze, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods Reveals the political and social structure of the Greek world in the late Mycenaean period (thirteenth century BC) through analysis of the Linear B tablets, the oldest surviving records in Greek Features numerous references to original source materials, including various fragmentary papyri, inscriptions, coins, and other literary sources Provides extensive coverage of the Hellenistic period, and covers areas excluded from most Greek history texts, including the Greek West Features judicious use of illustrations throughout, and considers instructors’ teaching needs by structuring the later sections to facilitate teaching a parallel course in Roman History Balances scholarship with a reader-friendly approach to create an accessible introduction to the political history of one of most remarkable ancient civilizations and sophisticated periods of world history

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History

505 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 19, 2013

Reviews

[Liam Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This represents one of the most readable, yet learned, history books I've ever read, and I am in my mid 60s years old. Anyone wanting to read a history of Greece, this is it. It provides a lot of detail, dates, names, and places that can be daunting at times to keep track of. The period after Alexander the Great can be confusing because of all of these. Still Parker does a good job of keeping matters in perspective.

I started in this Spring reading a 2 vol history of the Ancient Near East. Then decided to read one volume of works of Greek (June) then Roman history (July). Followed by the Byzantines, Crusades (August), then as the leaves change read a work on the end of the Middle Ages, then a tome on the Renaissance that I will borrow from my public library 5 blocks walk.

And ending with the 7 Years War as it was fought in North America.

This departs from my plan to read histories of the Ancient Near East from 3 different publishers. I will read the remaining 2 (Oxford & Cambridge presses) over the next 2 years, God willing.

I too will a 4-volume history of Rome from Routledge. Then return to reading mythology and its theories.

I started this grand plan Fall 2022 to read about 20 books I bought 2021-2022 on mythology and its theories including Jungian stuff. One book referred to Ancient Israel a lot. I knew little of Jewish history (still don't know much). So, I read a historical atlas of Ancient Israel and that jostled from my head to stop reading myth and move to history. But, the histories of Sumer, Babylonia, the Hittites and Assyrians start with mythology - their etiologies for nearly everything in their cultures and war games are based on myths. Eventually, then, I will return to myth my favorite subject.

Knowledge for its own sake.

[Iset · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic textbook for school age students, crammed full of colour photographs, boxes, study questions, and further reading suggestions, and presenting an overview of ancient Greek history. Each chapter is pretty short and shallow, in keeping with the book’s aim to educate new students on the broader picture. That means, if you’re looking for a lot of depth on one particular topic, set this down and look elsewhere – it provides little beyond the very basics. If, on the other hand, you’re just beginning a course of study and have never tackled ancient Greek history before, give this book a read through.

[Jared Saltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid survey that focuses on sociological factors of the development of Greek history. Notable because it covers not only the prehistoric and classical worlds, but also includes the Hellenistic era. I used this as an assigned textbook for a 3000-level Greek history course and would assign it again.

[Emily Santopoulos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall a great book that gives a good glimpse of multiple events during the different periods in Ancient Greece. However, Victor Parker is not very good at forming coherent sentences here and there, and can therefore be very confusing. Neither is he very good at summing up which year the various events take place, unless it is something major. I personally did not like his way of wording this book either, and he is only topped by Freeman who wrote Egypt, Greece, and Rome in 1996.

[Allisonperkel · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the intro, the authors calls out the major shortcoming of this book: it’s too broad and too short. At times entire chapters are simply lists of names, battles, and army sizes.