Greek History: The Basics

The Basics

by Robin Osborne

Greek History: The Basics is a concise introduction to the study of Ancient Greece from the end of the Bronze Age (c. 1200BC) to the Hellenistic era. With a chapter on each key period of Greece s ancient history, the book covers all of the central topics, approaches and issues including:


The invention of politics and the rise of democracy The central role played by the Greek city The insights gleaned from cultural, political, demographic and economic history The possibilities and problems of working with different types of sources
Featuring maps, timelines, annotated guides to further reading and chapter summaries, this book is an ideal introduction for all students of Greek history.

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

198 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eight short articles on aspects of the history of ancient Greece. Robin Osborne (°1957, Cambridge University UK) mainly deals with political themes (such as the classical question of what a polis, the typical Greek city-state, is), but also goes broader, such as his first chapter on naked athletics and the question of the interaction between older men and young boys. There are no major new things to be found in this book, but it offers nice additions to a global introduction to Greek history. Rating 2.5 stars. More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Sense of History]

When it comes to the history of classical antiquity, civilized quarrels occasionally break out in the academic world between classical historians, archaeologists, linguists, literary experts and art historians. Robin Osborne (professor emeritus of Ancient History at the University of Cambridge, UK) belongs to the first category. That is why you will occasionally find references in this short book to the limited relevance of archaeology (“archaeology can provide only the thinnest of narratives”) and also art historians and literary experts get a light dressing down. Elsewhere, Osborne points out how limited our source material is on the history of ancient Greece, despite the fact that – together with Rome – it is one of the most studied periods in history. It is to the author’s credit that he points out the limitations of his (and others' profession. More people should do that. In general, this book offers some thematic considerations. I have the impression that it was mainly intended as a loose collection of articles, not a real introduction. Meritorious, nothing more, but certainly not "the basics" as the title promises.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with other introductions to Greek History, this is approached from an academic perspective. They are not gentle with the casual reader and the density of information presented undermines the introductory nature of the book. Perhaps I am approaching the field from the wong angle but I was looking for a guided, simple tour of greek history. This is not it

[Samrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read. A better primer than any I've read so far. Instead of using time or cities as a framework to rest on, Osborne uses specific institutions (athletics, war, polis-ness) as points of investigation to highlight the ways in which greek societies of the archaic and classical period were both like and unlike the projected reader. I found the section discussing Athenian substantive conceptions of freedom integral to its conception of citizenship, and how it required/was reinforced by the systemic exclusion of women, "foreigners", and required mass enslavement to function very illuminating. I look forward to reading his volume of the OHAGW.

[mageia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wouldn't recommend this book for personal reading. While I'm already familiar with the basics of the topic, I found this book unnecessarily dense for a series meant to cover 'The Basics,' even considering its publisher, Routledge. The writing style was dry and unengaging, and I couldn't stop questioning why choose this over the many other books on Greek topics available at this density. I ended up returning it while I still could.
This book tries to provide insight while being excessively dense, which feels counterproductive. It’s frustratingly impractical and, frankly, ridiculous.

No hard feelings toward Robin Osborne.

[Surachai Boonyasiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the first chapter, I felt like I was seated in a lecture hall and before me was a jovial professor--smiling, walking here and there, speaking in a confident, comfortable tone of voice-- whose breadth and depth of knowledge captivated me completely. The chapters afterwards, though, was where the real class began.

Typical of a textbook and its kins, this book does not provide you with a definitive, easy-to-swallow guide to the Ancient Greece, but rather it presents to you the archeological and literary remainders of that world and what we can possibly make out of it. Some interpretations are asserted with a degree of certainty; while the others, as readers are often reminded, remain shrouded under the veil of a 'best guess'. But this 'best guess', you will see, is beyond fascinating. The whole Chapter 3 is mindboggling. The author demonstrated how the reconstruction of Ancient Greece was done via drawing upon myriad texts and interdisciplinary theories. And when you thought 'oh we're stuck now; there's no record to possibly shed light on that matter, correct?', it turned out there are. Perhaps it's a common archaeological stuff, but the way they squeeze every tiny bit of info out of everything they have their hands on is so fascinating. Really.

Hundreds of unfamiliar names and terms will be introduced; and most of them are daunting, discouraging even. My view--which is what I told myself--is that you too have to work on them. That's the way learning new things is.

[Rowan Dymott · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[tojifushiguro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the most approachable read.

[Stephanie Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

The basics frfr

Pretty good overview though. Quick read.

[AskHistorians]

A very short, compressed primer on Greek history from the Dark Age up to the Roman conquest, written by one of the top experts.

[Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

great little book raising many thoughtful and essential questions in historiography and the methods & assumptions of greek history