Introducing the Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind

by Edith Hall

"Wonderful…a thoughtful discussion of what made [the Greeks] so important, in their own time and in ours." —Natalie Haynes, Independent

The ancient Greeks invented democracy, theater, rational science, and philosophy. They built the Parthenon and the Library of Alexandria. Yet this accomplished people never formed a single unified social or political identity. In Introducing the Ancient Greeks, acclaimed classics scholar Edith Hall offers a bold synthesis of the full 2,000 years of Hellenic history to show how the ancient Greeks were the right people, at the right time, to take up the baton of human progress. Hall portrays a uniquely rebellious, inquisitive, individualistic people whose ideas and creations continue to enthrall thinkers centuries after the Greek world was conquered by Rome. These are the Greeks as you’ve never seen them before.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Greece, Ancient History, Philosophy, Classics, Mythology

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 9, 2014

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

At first I felt that this book was ok, but it grew on me so that now, I think it is quite nice and eminently recommendable as a non-threatening introduction to the Ancient Greeks.

Hall has a double approach which structures the book, one broadly chronological, the other ten key characteristics which she thinks typical of the Ancient Greeks (apart from the Spartans who don't have all of them) I can't remember what the ten were nor can I be bothered to check, it's not that important and in my opinion even less serious and as for the seven deadly sins, phffgh, don't try and tell me anything about sloth , suffice it to say they were all positive amusingly, towards the end of the book we learn that this idea is not only not original not much is original when it gets looked into and the few things that are, we'd probably prefer not to have but has itself a long pedigree back to Isocrates who said that Greeks "were not united by blood but by a frame of mind" (p.233) . We might view this book as an attempt to educate the reader and not so much introduce them, but actually to make them part of the ancient Greek community - you too can be an ancient Greek, particularly if you like Dolphins, triangles, and psychological honesty Hall dismisses a mention of two Spartan women as pythagorians as too late to be trustworthy, yet in truth that presumably means that they were known vegetarians, unless either reincarnation or drawing triangles were what the source had in mind.

And who doesn't like Dolphins, apart from tuna fishermen and fish, according to Hall in the region of 40 cities used a dolphin motive on their coinage at one time or another, Olbia on the black sea went further than most: one of the peculiarities of Olbia was its coins, which did not just depict dolphins, as did the coins of many cities, but were actually minted in the three-dimensional shape of dolphins, with curving backs (p.97), I suppose at least their coins would have been distinctive.

Hall suggests there are two broad approaches to the Ancient Greeks. One that the Greeks were exceptional, a pure spring of self-created invention, the other that the Greeks were primarily translators, transferers and combiners of ideas and technologies from other people. Hall in classic Goldilocks fashion wants to find a middle ground which is neither too racist, yet which also gives some individual credit to the Greeks (pp xiii-xv), the odd thing to my mind is that she portrays the second approach as the more recent one a result of the greater understanding of the ancient Mediterranean realm and the near -East that has developed over the last couple of hundred years - yet oddly it is one of the oldest ideas there is - Herodotus quite plainly tells us of customs which the Greeks 'borrowed' from their neighbours - hoplite warfare for one, it is the idea of attributing ancient Greek culture to their racial characteristics which itself is a relatively new idea mind you, compared to Herodotus, most ideas are new.

The borrowings are quite wide ranging; some at least of the adventures of Hercules apparently were originally the Phoenician adventures of Melquart, the gods Apollo and Artemis came from modern day Turkey - while amusingly Dionysius who was regarded as a new incoming God in the classical period seems to have already been around in Mycenaean times. Best of all the word 'barbarian' turns out to have been an imported loan word from the barbarous heart of the Persian empire.

Reading Hall's account of the story of Archilos's seduction poem in which rejected by one of Lycambes' daughters he sweet talked another one and he reports that he achieved some kind of intimacy with his new lover; by staying within her "grassy green plot", he ejaculated white semen on her golden hair. This is the most explicit discussion of sexual activity in archaic literature. The ancient Greeks said that Lycambes's whole family, as a result of Archilochus's vituperation, committed suicide (p.89) I had the feeling that the ancient Greeks invented revenge porn, thus strengthening my belief that young people would be best served if all syllabuses and curricula in educational establishments only dealt with material from between the years 400 BC to 400 AD with the possible exception of modern languages as there is more than enough in the classical world to help them deal with the modern one.

Hall takes what to my mind is an unusual approach, beginning with the Mycenaeans and ending in the Christian period. Generally books about the ancient Greeks have an evident hunger for sicking to the world of classical Athens - though of course, the Athenians get their chapter in the Sun too. The chapter about the Ptolemies I particularly enjoyed with a speech of Demosthenes's put in the mouth of a transvestite brothel keeper suggesting that Ptolemaic Egypt had a lively theatre scene.

I was curious that in Mycenaean times Poseidon was the chief God, while in later times Zeus had supplanted him as supreme being, strange to imagine how that occurs, one day you are on top of creation, the next, just one of the gods, not even first among equals but in second place to your own younger brother. Some odd revolution occurred in the minds of believers, but one which is silent to us.

Although I preferred the richness of Early Greece and this book has annoyingly no pictures apart from reproductions of mainly Victorian etchings, it is a very nice introduction with fairly full descriptions of Greek literature, short easy chapters and an engaging tone, it's not a perfect book - and other reviews have pointed out various errors, but I feel the good outweighs the bad.

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally a history of Ancient Greece that can rightly be called a decent introduction. Edith Hall is a renowned English classicist (now at King's College London). She follows a more or less chronological order (even up to the year CE 400), but she has structured her narrative around 10 different aspects (unique qualities) of the ancient Greeks. The book is very informative, yet written for a wide audience. It's not perfect (some remarkable errors in the last chapters), but it does what it has to do: give you a feel of what Ancient Greece made so exceptional, with all the caveats that come with things called 'exceptional'. More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Sense of History]

Historiography goes in swings, and the historiography of Ancient Greece is no exception. In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, ancient Greece was considered one of the pinnacles of human civilization, specifically the Golden Age of Athens (5th century BCE), the so-called cradle of democracy. In the second half of the 20th century, a backlash against this "Hellenophilia" emerged: the Greek miracle owed a debt to much older cultures in the Near East, was far less exceptional than traditionally portrayed, and the focus on the development of the democratic form of government was not only an excessive distortion of reality but also an expression of arrogant Eurocentrism ("the Oldest Dead White European Males"). From the 1970s to the 2000s, numerous eminent studies underscored these assertions.

And then the pendulum swung back, but perhaps not all the way. This book by Edith Hall highlights this. Hall certainly doesn't dismiss the criticism of Hellenophilia: all the arguments presented are certainly relevant to her. But she believes the baby shouldn't be thrown out with the bathwater. And that's why she emphasizes the special merits of the Ancient Greeks. "My constant engagement with the ancient Greeks and their culture has made me more, rather than less, convinced that they evinced a cluster of brilliant qualities that are difficult to identify in combination and in such concentration elsewhere in Mediterranean or ancient Near Eastern antiquity."

Hall identifies 10 characteristics that make the Greeks unique, and she elaborates on them in several chronologically organized chapters: "Most ancient Greeks shared ten particular qualities most of the time. Of these, the first four—that they were seagoing, suspicious of authority, individualistic, and inquiring—are tightly interconnected and the most important. They were also open to new ideas, witty, and competitive. They admired excellence in talented people, as well as being wildly articulate and addicted to pleasure." I won't judge Hall's specific choice here (I'm only at the beginning of my Greek antiquity reading program), but I suspect no one will detract from her 10 qualities. The execution is a different matter: Hall tries to fit her characteristics into the chronological line (from 1500 BCE to AD 400), but that feels a bit forced. Also, the later chapters focus almost exclusively on culture, giving them an unbalanced flavour. And okay, other reviewers have hinted on some remarkable errors and distortions in her story (the Athenian focus, for instance, a classic flaw). However, that doesn't stop me from finding this a highly readable introduction to Greek history.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book looked interesting on the shelves; I thought that, if nothing else, I might learn one or two things, at least, about post-Mycenean, pre-classical Greece, and, since the author is a philosophy prof, get her particular take on the ground zero of western philosophy.

Unfortunately, whopper errors at the start and end of the book mar any good content in the middle.

First, near the start, Hall talks about how small Greece is, at 25,000 square miles, smaller than Portugal or Scotland.

Er, WRONG! It's 50,000 square miles and bigger than both. With that error occurring in the first dozen pages, my skeptical antennae were up for the rest of the book.

It's much worse at the end, where a mix of errors and unsupported presuppositions are horrendous.

First, she claims that there were 110,000 Christians in the year 200 CE. First, we don't know the exact number of Xns. Second, to the degree we have guesstimates, we don't know how many of them were inside the Roman empire.

Next, she claims the gospel of Mark was written @ 61 CE. Uhh, most New Testament scholars would date it about 5 years later. I think it could have been written as late as 70-71, depending on the provenance of its origin.

Finally, she repeats the old secularist canard, as did Carl Sagan, that the death of Hypatia at the hands of Christians was what led to the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.

Actually, the library was first sacked, if not necessarily destroyed, during the reign of Emperor Aurelian a century earlier, in battle that had nothing to do with Christians. Its final destruction may not have happened until the Muslim invasion of Egypt nearly two centuries after Hypatia.

Besides the errors of fact, some of Hall's interpretations of classical Greece are spotty. Yes, the Greeks were great seafarers, by and large. But did every city-state focus on the sea that much? No. Sparta didn't, certainly. North of Athens, on the mainland, areas like Thessaly certainly didn't.

Also, on the central conundrum of (some parts of) ancient Greece, that of personal liberty and in (yet smaller) places, that of democracy, vs. the ubiquity of slavery, Hall simply doesn't wrestle with the conundrum that much. Without expecting classical Attica to abhor slavery as much as us, and with Stoics like Epictetus even detaching from their own slavery, nonetheless, it was a conundrum of sorts even back then. The Epicurean brotherhood of man attests to that.

Beyond that, classical-era Greece seems too much filtered through the lens of Athens/Ionia on one hand, and Sparta on the other. I mentioned Thessaly above. What about Corinth? Or the borderlands of the northwest? The lens should have a wider angle.

So, look for some other relatively new book for an introductory overview of ancient Greece.

[Jason Furman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic one volume history of Ancient Greece, exactly what I was looking for. It covers the Mycenean period through the height of Periclean Athens and then Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic period, the relationship of the Greeks to the Romans and the relationship of the Greeks to the Christians. Edith Hall passionately argues for the uniqueness and importance of Ancient Greek civilization in helping to create what we have today, rebutting claims that this is somehow arbitrarily Eurocentric or an excuse for white supremacy. At the same time, she pays particular attention to women, slavery, Greek atrocities, and so does not herself use Ancient Greece in the way some conservative scholars do. The book itself traverses political history, cultural history, intellectual history, and more, with particularly sensitive and nuanced discussions of the development of ideas. At the center of all of this is her argument that a combination ten characteristics made the Greeks unique including seafaring, skepticism of authority, openness to ideas, love of pleasure, and more. These traits, she argues, lasted more than a thousand years and each of her chapters illustrates one of them in the context of a particular time and place.

Note, I did a combination of listening to the Audible recording and reading the book.

[Mariafrancesca di natura viperesca sta con gli ultimi della terra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Egregia Maria Grazia Carta in Turrisi
Avresti mai immaginato che una tua alunna delle elementari, del biennio ‘58 – ‘60, di quella scuola di semiperiferia morta di fame per ataviche brutte abitudini, a cui aveva dato il colpo di grazia un dopoguerra lunghissimo, un pantano usato da alibi; avresti mai immaginato – dicevo- che quella bambina, piagnona e rompiballe senza il senso della disciplina, avrebbe dovuto riconoscere, alla sua veneranda età, di averle plasmato la sua immagine mentale’ per sempre?

Difficile mi è stato anche scegliere un aggettivo da affiancare al tuo nome in questo sfogo in forma di lettera dall’aulico linguaggio come si deve a una formazione passata di moda (unica eccezione il poco aulico ‘tu’). Ho scartato con cipiglio ‘ carissima’: mai lo fosti. Anzi, per dirla papale papale, ti ho odiata di odio profondo. Tu mi ignoravi. Al massimo un gesto di fastidio.

Ma date a Cesare quel che è di Cesare: amavi la storia, specialmente i miti greci con i cui racconti mi affascinavi e quelli fondanti siciliani (il tuo idolo era Federico II); e poi le scienze (in particolare il corpo umano : dicevi di avere frequentato il biennio di medicina interrotto dalla guerra).

Vestivi di nero con maglioni a collo alto e avevi un figliolo bruttissimo, Adolfo, che pronunciavi con un certo non so che. Solo due anni più tardi appresi dalla radio, a processo Eichmann finito, che il mandante della carneficina di sei milioni di ebrei fosse stato un certo Adolfo Hitler; e molto tempo dopo della devozione dei tedeschi per Federico II, sulla cui tomba non manca mai un mazzo di fiori (io sono di Palermo per chi non lo sapesse).
Ma la frittata era fatta, altro che Freud e complesso di Edipo: ho studiato medicina, ho chiamato un mio figlio Federico, ho la casa piena di libri sui miti greci, di letteratura greca e di storia greca che per me sono la stessa cosa. Solo di Adolfo non ho subito il fascino. Forse grazie alla Storia che di lì a poco avrebbe fatto un bel giro di boa con me a bordo.

E, egregia maestra, anche l’acquisto di questo ennesimo libro sui greci è, diciamo, opera tua. Niente di nuovo, logicamente. Forse solo un tentativo di dimostrare come quella civiltà sia il vero fondamento della nostra e come queste fondamenta risiedano nella struttura della lingua con cui plasmavano e arricchivano, contemporaneamente, il sapere.

E benché a volte mi sia sembrato noioso o semplicistico, non l’ho potuto lasciare fino all’ultima riga.
Posso abbandonare un libro di cui conosco ‘dati, cause e pretesti’ e, perché no, ‘ le attuali conclusioni’, ma non uno che ha titolo: ‘i greci’ o similare.
Fui un’ochetta e tu il mio Lorenz (madonna, quanti simpatizzanti nazisti nel mio passato!).

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Professor Hall’s work does not appear to be so much a history as an intellectual history, an important subdivision of the more general enterprise of history. While this is a competent history of the Greeks, through to the conquest of Christianity, it does not offer any new insights.

There is an acknowledgement of the traditional and revisionist approaches to the ancient Greeks in this work. Professor Hall does her best to navigate through these rocky shoals—this they succeed at quiet well. However, I was expecting more of a history based upon textual and archaeological evidence and less on literary sources. Although literary sources are textual, I was hoping for texts that were factual in nature; historical in nature. What this reader got was another, obvious, reading of the Homeric epics; the Theogony; Works and Days, etc. Again, as an introduction this is to be expected, but there are many introductions to the Greeks out there that takes this tack…does this one add anything startlingly new to this? For this reader the answer is no, but that is only a personal opinion.

In the end, ‘Introducing the Ancient Greeks’ is a competent introduction to the Greeks but not much more than this.

Recommendation: A good/competent book for neophytes, but seasoned Greek enthusiasts will find nothing shocking/compelling here.

3 out of 5 stars

[Lucas Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tejer la Grecia antigua con un hilo de agua (Reseña, 2021)

(También disponible en: https://cuadernosdeunbibliofago.wordp... )

Pensar es establecer conexiones. Si el pensamiento es claro, esas conexiones son claras. Si el pensamiento es claro, expresar esas conexiones es un proceso claro, como observar el río que de lento deshielo arma su cauce y fluye atravesando los campos donde se refrescan los perros luego de correr tras sus amas en medio de la jornada de la tarde. Edith Hall tiene un pensamiento claro, y lo expresa claramente, e incluso si por momentos sentimos que al arroyo le falta profundidad, que sus aguas podrían ser mayores, comprendemos que esto se debe, quizás, a que en ese punto la corriente es ligera. Pero que más arriba, cerca de la fuente, o más abajo, cerca del mar, podría revelar su caudal verdadero y arrollar con potencia rugiente a los bañistas.

Procuro en metáfora acuática (de agua dulce, además) introducir este comentario sobre Los griegos antiguos, el ensayo expositivo donde Hall se esmera en revelar diez gestos de los griegos de la antigüedad (desde los minoicos hasta los alejandrinos) que dieron forma al presente occidental del mundo. Diez gestos que son, a la vez, diez capítulos. Diez capítulos donde se presentan diez momentos históricos. Diez momentos históricos entretejidos como diez anécdotas donde el personaje principal es un pueblo, un reino, un tirano, que sirve como alegoría a todo lo que Grecia (todo lo que la idea de Grecia) ofreció a su presente inmediato y al futuro desconocido del que nosotres, lectores, hacemos parte. El trabajo de Hall, amparado en años de trabajo, funciona como una introducción sólida, fresca, para que quienes desean excavar en las lecciones de Troya, de Argos, de Micenas; de ciclopes, sirenas, quimeras y centauros; de héroes, tragedias y perros, puedan hacerlo con un esfuerzo moderado y la sensación de grandes hallazgos.

Digo moderado porque en este ensayo, como en tantos libros de divulgación, se aluden, pero se eluden las grandes controversias, lo que permite que su disfrute alcance tanto para conocedores como para diletantes. Digo sensación de grandes hallazgos porque acude aquí la dicha de captar con la mirada lo evidente que no habíamos captado antes, el gozo (al que todes tenemos inalienable derecho) de descubrir el agua tibia. ¡Y qué bien nos sienta sorprendernos por volver a aprender que eran los griegos, ante todo, un pueblo de mar! ¡Y qué atinada la referencia a los diecisiete días que Ulises pasa en el mar, a nado limpio, antes de llegar a las cosas de los feacios!

Ahora, no desmerece en absoluto Hall por elegir las dos características anteriores, no, al menos, según mi opinión y mucho menos cuando revela en el prólogo el objetivo verdadero de su obra: no alimentar y ahondar en los diálogos filohelénicos que cuentan, en cualquier rincón de la geografía terrestre (y si las Voyager lograron su cometido, también de alguna otra), con un puñado de entusiastas de largo empeño para quienes la información aquí tejida resultará redundante, carente de novedad o estéril en términos de discusión; sino más bien presentar un argumento a favor de encender de nuevo, sin descartarlo por las objeciones de los estudios contemporáneos para quienes la sospecha ha teñido de insustancial cualquier referencia a Grecia como cuna occidental, el misterio que envolvió a un pueblo que supo aprender, absorber y reinterpretar los aprendizajes de su tiempo a lo largo de los siglos.

Es esta Grecia y estos griegos de quienes Hall habla, confiando en que su hilvanado de características, anécdotas e historia servirá para compartir su amor. Amor que por otra parte se tradujo en una vida entera de trabajo, y cuyo resultado, aquí, destaca por su factura, alienta por su honestidad, y consigue su cometido: uno renueva sus ganas de saber más mientras atraviesa las páginas y al final, como Ulises, comprende que será destino nuestro, si deseamos conocer mejor, aventurarnos en las tierras donde se cocina el pan, se madura el vino, y se ofrece al forastero acogida y presentes, de los cuales, quizás el mayor, sea contarle historias.

[Iset · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was both pleasantly surprised by this book and slightly disappointed. The subtitle of my copy of the book is “Ten ways they shaped the modern world”. I expected a very simplistic book based on that subtitle, school age stuff really, because that kind of title is typical of very basic history non-fiction for children. These children’s histories cannot fit in anything close to a comprehensive work, obviously, and operate on the assumption that their readers know nothing about the subject nor have yet learned complex ways to analyse and critique what they study, so their aim is often to simply engage the interest by taking a shortlist of popular myths that have filtered into common consciousness through sheer osmosis, and say a little something about each. But that isn’t what this book is at all. It is actually written by a bona fide academic, and is aimed at the adult hobbyist with appropriate degree of complexity and a pleasingly engaging writing style. In short, it turned out to be a lot more than I was expecting. That said however, it is still a broad overview book, with all the summarisation and skimming over the history that one can expect from such books. I spotted a howler of an error in the chapter on Alexander – no, Alexander certainly did not pay Bessus to murder Darius III – and it made me wonder what other horrible mistakes were in the other chapters that I am not as familiar with. So I’d warn readers of the caveat to fact-check before they rely on any of the information contained herein.

5 out of 10

[Ryan Tyrrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book written by a superb author (although her comments on christianity made me feel like she was yelling at me through the pages). My only complaint is the lack of maps/illustrations, as it was extremely difficult to picture so many military campaigns in my head! Her ancient literary commentary was absolutely fantastic.

[Shane Ver Meer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book served as a good intro to the ancient Greek world. I am going to read some Herodotus and Thucydides soon.

[Ihes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los griegos antiguos es un libro cuyo valor y atractivo es preso del perfil de quien lo lee. Todos lo son de algún modo pero después de su lectura considero casi indispensable que aquel que se adentre en sus páginas tenga un gran interés por la cultura griega, entendiendo el término cultura en la extensión más amplia posible. Este ensayo exige un lector con apetito, pues su mayor mérito es el éxito al saciar ese hambre.

Entiendo el libro como una obra de acogida para aquellos que quieran introducirse en la Antigua Grecia, pilar de la civilización occidental moderna, pues dividiendo en diez componentes que Hall considera esenciales para comprender el carácter y la cultura griega antigua, se nos narra en orden cronológico gran parte de toda su historia.

2000 años en 400 páginas exige mucho trabajo de concisión, de ahí mi insistencia en remarcar el carácter introductorio de la obra. Hall abarca desde los minoicos y micénicos de la Edad de Bronce hasta los tiempos en los que su cultura dio paso a la civilización cristiana en Occidente.

Por filias personales, las páginas dedicadas a la literatura y filosofía son las que más he disfrutado, pero Hall logra que mi interés por la obra no mermase, me hablase de Ulises, el carácter abierto de la sociedad de Atenas, Tucídides o el militarismo espartano.

Es por ello que Los griegos antiguos es un libro que recomiendo a aquellos que deseen una guía muy ilustrativa, didáctica y por momentos divertida sobre un periodo trascendental de nuestra civilización; pues para quien no mira atrás, todo es nuevo.

[Hayley Wittenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fascinating to read, and I loved how she picked 10 characteristics that take us through history to define and analyze Ancient Greek history and culture. It was very insightful, and her talking points all seemed highly informed and backed up by decades of research and clear understanding of the ancient world.
I also really enjoyed seeing the religious perspective, as it’s something I haven’t looked too far into before. It was interesting to see how the different Greek cities worshipped so differently yet so similarly, and how the gods that were picked as chief deities informed their identity and way of life. Also, the fact that so much of the book focuses on language and how the Greeks used their intellectual pursuits to drive progress was great, I loved the linguistic aspect that runs throughout the book.
Very fun read!!

[Jude Burrows · Rating 3 out of 5]

a valuable insight to the development of the ancient greeks and their identity as a people, as well as discussions on how they affected the cultures that followed them. the thorough levels of detail in each chapter made this a slow read but the author expertly summarised crucial points as well to ensure nothing was lost in the volume of information you have consumed over the course of the book.

[Taylor Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A delightful introduction to the glory that is Greece. Brisk, as introductory surveys must be. The passion and enthusiasm on the writer’s part for this magnificent culture are palpable.

[David P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un gran libro para cualquier amante de la cultura griega clásica. De forma original, o al menos diferente a otros libros que antes haya leído sobre historia griega (más centrados en batallitas, que está genial, pero no es el tema de este ensayo), la autora relaciona cada período de esta historia (expuestos de forma cronológica, por supuesto) con una característica de la personalidad de esos griegos, tales como su pasión por el mar, su humor, su competitividad, su expresividad poética, su apertura mental hacia otras culturas, etc. Bastante recomendable.

[Joe Schenk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A summary on Ancient Greece, made especially enjoyable by my recent trip to the country. This provided a linear description of the Greek civilization, but in a unique and effective way. Each chapter represented a specific time period and expounded upon and provided proof of one of her 10 traits that perfectly positioned the Greek people to develop into a great civilization. Recommend for anyone interested in history and a way to dip your toes into this subject.
“His friends asked [Alexander The Great],
‘To whom do you bequeath the kingdom?’
He answered,
‘To the strongest.’”

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastically useful research & teaching tool on Ancient Greece that is also immensely readable...and these two characteristics don't always work in tandem. I thoroughly enjoyed the concise chapters, the categories of analysis, and the smooth flowing prose style.

[Adolfo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un texto que tiene como su título lo indica, dar una visión general de lo que fue la Grecia antigua, y que por cierto excede con creces los límites geográficos. Es un árbol que en su ramificación permite observar distintas ventanas de lo que fue el mundo griego. Queda en manos del lector con posterioridad seguir profundizando.

[Jacob Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to the world of Ancient Greece, which has always been a blind spot in my historical knowledge—Percy Jackson notwithstanding.

[Gilles Demaneuf · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book but could be better written. Some odd error (Augustus for Octavian at the battle of Actium).

[Regina Beard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introducing the Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind by Edith Hall is an exceptional review of the impact of the ancient Greeks and clearly describes how these innovators gained their knowledge and scattered their culture abroad to what ultimately becomes known as the Roman Empire. Hall uses ten characteristics unique to the ancient Greeks and how each of these characteristics manifest themselves, especially in literature and archaeology. Hall begins the tale with the Mycenaeans who inhabited the island of Crete during the late Bronze Age and continues the narrative through the colonization of Asia Minor, the Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian War, and the conquests of Macedonian and Rome. With each time period, she brilliantly connects the characteristics and shows how they evolve and developed over the centuries. The evidence does become rather slim after the conquests of Macedonia under Alexander the Great - almost as if the characteristics become diluted, as if the characteristics became a shadowy reflection of what the ancient Greeks ultimately become.

 

The most interesting aspects of Introducing the Ancient Greeks were the archaeology commentary. The ancient Greeks left a wealth of information in their pottery, palaces, and temples, giving scholars the foundation in which to understand how the ancient Greeks lived, which only highlighted the evidence of Hall’s thesis that many of the skills and ideas commonly associated with the ancient Greeks have roots in cultures that predate them.

 

My only complaint about the book is that there is no new information or new theory being presented. It is an ideal book for anyone who is new to the study of the ancient Greeks but those who have studied the culture would find that the book has nothing new to add to the history. If you are really into the ancient Greeks, you will enjoy the book just to reread the philosophy and mythology (who can really get tired of reading those?).

[Emre Sevinç · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ancient Greece culture is one of the pillars of modern Western civilization, and this book is a great introduction to almost two thousand years of history that still shapes our culture.

The author lays out in the very beginning of the book what she considers as the essential components of ancient Greek culture and character, and then proceeds in chronological fashion to show us how parts of ancient Greek history relates to those components. It is not easy to summarize such a long segment of history in only a few hundred pages, but within these constraints, this book does a splendid job, becoming almost a page-turner.

I found some parts of the book not detailed enough, for example the period and events surrounding Hypatia deserve more details, but that's the mathematician in me speaking. There are so many fascinating periods, events, characters in this history, it is indeed very difficult to be fair to all of them. All in all, this book helped me fill in many blanks for me, because before this book, my knowledge of ancient Greece were limited to my readings on history of philosophy, mathematics and medicine; that is somewhat patchy and fragmentary.

I can easily recommend this book to the curious readers who want a very easy to follow introduction to ancient Greek culture and history, a coherent guide to this important period of our civilization. A few laughs and smiles are almost guaranteed and some of the characters you will find so alive as if ready to jump from those pages to you, lecturing on their current events. Finally, suggested reading and notes section are also very valuable for guiding the readers so that they can satisfy their appetite for more history.

[Kristin Herzog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Die alten Griechen sind in der Geschichte mehr als bedeutend. Doch was wissen wir eigentlich über die Erfinder der Demokratie? Edith Halls Roman „Die alten Griechen“ soll alle Fragen beantworten, die wie je über die alten Griechen hatten…

Edith Hall schildert in zehn Kapiteln, wie das griechische Volk geformt wurde und sich weiterentwickelt hat. Dabei wird dem Leser ein Einblick in die historischen Zahlen und Fakten gewährt, wie auch in die Literatur der damaligen Zeit. Hier muss ich anmerken, dass der Leser ein Interesse an Fachwissen mitbringen sollte, da der Roman primär nicht der Unterhaltung, sondern dazu dient, über ein Volk Aufschluss zu erlangen.

Ich bin Geschichtsstudentin und war deshalb besonders an dem Roman der Professorin für Altertumswissenschaften interessiert und ich muss sagen, dass ich nicht enttäuscht wurde. Nun kann ich mir nicht nur ein Bild der Gesellschaft machen, sondern auch unsere heutige durch damalige Erkenntnisse kritisch reflektieren. Schnell merkt der Leser, was sich seit damals verändert hat und was eben nicht, da der Entwicklungsgrad der alten Griechen schlichtweg phänomenal war.

Was mich besonders fasziniert hat, war der Fokus auf Literatur und Kultur, von welchen die alten Griechen geprägt waren, wie wohl kaum ein vergleichbares Volk. Somit zeigt Edith Hall, dass sie dieses bedeutende Volk nicht nur bewertet, sondern auf begeisternde Weise versteht.

Fazit

Für Geschichtsliebhaber ist „Die alten Griechen“ von Edith Hall ein absolutes Muss!

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

While an interesting listen as an audiobook the title is quite misleading. The author assumes the reader is already very familiar with the major figures. If you are not, this is not a good first introduction.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't say that I knew much of anything about the ancient Greeks before reading this book (other than mythology) - so I was coming into this as a blank slate. Hall does an incredible job of covering thousands of years of history, across dozens of regions, including a multitude of people, and yet manages through it all to keep a brisk and engaging pace. I was worried this would be an academic slog to suffer through and it was NOT. Hall creatively set up each chapter to focus on one time period, one region, and one key concept. This focused approach made the enormity of Greek history much more accessible and personal. As an introductory book, I think it does a phenomenal job - a cursory review that sparks the reader's interest in finding new books to learn more.

[Simon Dobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history and effect of Greece told through ten claimed characteristics of the Greek mind and civilisation. It's a strong claim and, while it makes for a reasonable read, doesn't quite pull off the effect that the author intended. It's hard say why, as the writing is clear and as erudite as one would expect from a classics professor at a leading university. Perhaps it's the lack of any clear necessity in choosing these particular traits, which leaves the whole assemblage feeling perhaps a little cherry-picked to make scholarly points.

[Brooke H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep this next to my bed

This is what I imagine a PhD thesis about greek history might read like. Nonstop facts that somehow even read in a monotone.

It's fascinating from a purely intellectual standpoint. And I don't regreat reading it at all, though this review might come off liks I do.

Over the course of several months I read this book until it put me to sleep (and only before bed because that was 100% the purpose of it). I intend to start it all over again just to continue using it as a sleep aid.

If you're into very dry historical reads, this is the book for you.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb one volume introduction to the world of all the famous Greeks we've all at least gained a slight familiarity with, plus an overview of archaeological discoveries over the ages. This book barely scratches the surface but gives a lot of directions on where to go next. Whether your interest lies in Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Herodotus, Alexander the Great, science, philosophy, drama or history, this fine book will whet your appetite for further exploration.

[Lockett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent intellectual history of the Greeks and the Hellenic world...the subtitle: From Bronze Age seafarers to Navigators of the Mind says a lot. The last two chapters: Greek Minds and Roman Power, and Pagan Greeks and Christians I found particularly interesting - how the change in world thinking came about and how Greek thought still resonates in today's world. A very pleasant and thoughtful read for vacation time.