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The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World'
From the epic poems of Homer through the glittering art and architecture of Greece's Golden Age to the influential Roman systems of law and leadership, the classical world established the foundations of our culture as well as many of its most enduring achievements. Now available in a smaller, more convenient format, the astonishingly in-depth and widely praised Oxford History of the Classical World offers the general reader the definitive companion to the Graeco-Roman world.
The first volume, Classical Greece and the Hellenistic World, covers the period from the eighth to the first centuries B.C., a period unparalleled in history for its brilliance in literature, philosophy, and the visual arts. It also treats the Hellenization of the Middle East by the monarchies established in the area conquested by Alexander the Great.
The second volume, Classical Rome, covers early Rome and Italy, the expansion of the Roman republic, the foundation of the Roman Empire by Augustus, its consolidation in the first two centuries A.D., and the later Empire and its influence on Western civilization.
The editors, John Boardman, Jasper Griffen, and Oswyn Murrayall eminent classicistsintersperse chapters on political and social history with sections on literature, philosophy, and the arts, and reinforce the historical framework with maps and historical charts. The two volumes also offer bibliographies and a full index, as well as black and white photographs integrated into the text.
The contributorsthirty of the world's leading scholarspresent the latest in modern scholarship through masterpieces of wit, brevity, and style. While concentrating on the aspects essential to the understanding of each period, they also focus on those elements of the classical world that remain of lasting importance and interest to readers today. Together, these volumes provide both a provocative and entertaining window into our classical heritage.
The first volume, Classical Greece and the Hellenistic World, covers the period from the eighth to the first centuries B.C., a period unparalleled in history for its brilliance in literature, philosophy, and the visual arts. It also treats the Hellenization of the Middle East by the monarchies established in the area conquested by Alexander the Great.
The second volume, Classical Rome, covers early Rome and Italy, the expansion of the Roman republic, the foundation of the Roman Empire by Augustus, its consolidation in the first two centuries A.D., and the later Empire and its influence on Western civilization.
The editors, John Boardman, Jasper Griffen, and Oswyn Murrayall eminent classicistsintersperse chapters on political and social history with sections on literature, philosophy, and the arts, and reinforce the historical framework with maps and historical charts. The two volumes also offer bibliographies and a full index, as well as black and white photographs integrated into the text.
The contributorsthirty of the world's leading scholarspresent the latest in modern scholarship through masterpieces of wit, brevity, and style. While concentrating on the aspects essential to the understanding of each period, they also focus on those elements of the classical world that remain of lasting importance and interest to readers today. Together, these volumes provide both a provocative and entertaining window into our classical heritage.
536 pages, Paperback
First published November 10, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
September 12, 2014
I read every page of this long book so I could write this review in earnest. It's a passable introduction in the guise of an unfocused collection of essays. Look elsewhere (see below).
Each essay falls short of covering its subject at any depth to satisfy someone who is already knowledgeable. There are 16 of these essays. Taken as a whole, the length would make it unbearable to the uninitiated while, at the same time, the shallowness offers little to those actually interested in Greece.
The individual essays are largely hit or miss. The best are 2-3 on Homer, Hesoid, and Myth; 7-10 on the creative, historical, and philosophical products of the Classical period in Athens; and likewise with 13-15 in regard to the Hellenistic period. Everything else is extremely dry or poorly written, suffering from the above problems.
Overally I learned from and enjoyed about half of the essays. However, even if these few essays are worthwhile, there are far better ways to spend your time.
For history and culture:
The Greeks by Kitto
For philosophy and science:
A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, or
Early Greek Science by G.E.R. Llyod
And of course, reading the Illiad, Thyucidides, Sophocles, Plato, and Aristotle (especially Poetics and Nichomachean Ethics) firsthand will continue to be one of the best ways one can learn--about Greece or himself.
Each essay falls short of covering its subject at any depth to satisfy someone who is already knowledgeable. There are 16 of these essays. Taken as a whole, the length would make it unbearable to the uninitiated while, at the same time, the shallowness offers little to those actually interested in Greece.
The individual essays are largely hit or miss. The best are 2-3 on Homer, Hesoid, and Myth; 7-10 on the creative, historical, and philosophical products of the Classical period in Athens; and likewise with 13-15 in regard to the Hellenistic period. Everything else is extremely dry or poorly written, suffering from the above problems.
Overally I learned from and enjoyed about half of the essays. However, even if these few essays are worthwhile, there are far better ways to spend your time.
For history and culture:
The Greeks by Kitto
For philosophy and science:
A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, or
Early Greek Science by G.E.R. Llyod
And of course, reading the Illiad, Thyucidides, Sophocles, Plato, and Aristotle (especially Poetics and Nichomachean Ethics) firsthand will continue to be one of the best ways one can learn--about Greece or himself.
July 17, 2018
It's good book on Classical Archeology. If you're interested in Anciet Greece amateurishly, this book would give satisfying information. I brushed up only. I love John Bordman books and strongly recommend.
August 4, 2022
Good, sometimes very specialized introductions and reviews on different aspects of ancient Greece.
May 7, 2026
Mission 2026: Binge reviewing (and rereading on occasion) all previous Reads, I was too slothful to review, back when I read them.
My journey into serious academic study truly began upon my promotion to the eleventh grade. From that formative stage onwards, both throughout my years as a student and later in my professional life, I have engaged with an extensive range of texts, returning frequently to the discipline of sustained reading and reflection. Over the years, this engagement has amounted to the careful study of hundreds of volumes across diverse fields of thought and inquiry.
This section brings together a curated collection of reflections on those readings—part memoir, part critical appraisal. It encompasses works that have profoundly influenced my intellectual development, those that have offered enduring pleasure, and others that have invited disagreement or critique.
Taken together, these pieces represent an ongoing dialogue between the reader and the written word, shaped by the evolving perspectives of both a student and a professional.
I remember first approaching this book during a period when I was reading history obsessively and indiscriminately—moving from Roman political thought to Greek tragedy, from Renaissance historiography to Indian civilisation studies, and trying to understand how cultures imagine themselves across centuries.
I was primarily into Greek Political Thought. And hence the interest in Greek history. Ancient Greece, at that time, seemed almost unreal in its density of achievement.
Philosophy, drama, political theory, mathematics, sculpture, historiography—so much of what we now call “Western civilisation” appeared to emerge from this relatively small geographical world of city-states, islands, wars, and restless intellectual energy.
This monumental volume, edited by John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, and Oswyn Murray, became for me not merely a history book but an entryway into an entire mental universe. It felt a tad heavy back then.
What struck me proximately was the sheer richness of perspective within the volume. Unlike simplified survey histories that flatten Greece into a sequence of famous names and dates, this work reconstructs the complexity of Greek civilisation in all its contradictions.
The Greece that emerges here is brilliant yet violent, rational yet deeply mythic, democratic yet profoundly unequal.
That tension fascinated me endlessly.
The chapters on the Archaic and Classical periods especially stayed with me. One begins to understand how extraordinary the Greek experiment truly was. Independent city-states like Athens and Sparta developed radically different political and social systems while sharing language, religion, and cultural memory.
Competition shaped everything—politics, athletics, philosophy, warfare, drama. Greece often appears less like a unified civilisation and more like a continuous argument conducted across centuries.
And perhaps that is precisely why it produced so much intellectual vitality.
Reading the sections on Athens, I was repeatedly struck by how fragile democracy originally was. We often speak of Athenian democracy reverentially, forgetting that it existed amidst slavery, exclusion, imperial ambition, factional conflict, and military insecurity. The brilliance of Athens lay not in perfection, but in the intensity with which it interrogated itself.
That self-questioning impulse would later produce Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle—figures who continue haunting global intellectual history even now.
The literary sections of the volume were particularly rewarding for someone immersed in English literature.
Greek tragedy suddenly became inseparable from civic ritual and political anxiety. Sophocles and Euripides no longer appeared merely as “great writers" but as participants in a society wrestling with fate, war, law, masculinity, divine order, and human limitation.
That historical contextualisation deepened my reading of Greek drama enormously.
The book also excels in its treatment of the Hellenistic world—a period often overshadowed by Classical Athens in popular imagination.
After the conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek culture expanded outward into Egypt, Persia, and parts of India, creating a vast interconnected world of exchange and hybridisation.
Those chapters fascinated me perhaps most of all.
The Hellenistic age feels strangely modern—cosmopolitan cities, cultural mixing, intellectual migration, shifting identities, massive political empires, and philosophical schools attempting to provide personal stability amidst global uncertainty.
Reading about Alexandria, Antioch, and Pergamon, one senses civilisation becoming transnational long before the modern era.
It also reminded me repeatedly of India’s own encounters with Hellenistic influence after Alexander’s campaigns and through later Indo-Greek exchanges.
One begins to realise that ancient civilisations were never as isolated as nationalist histories often suggest. Cultures travelled, collided, borrowed, and adapted.
That recognition becomes intellectually liberating.
What makes The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World particularly valuable is its balance between accessibility and scholarly depth.
Despite being an academic collaborative work, it retains readability. The prose remains measured and elegant rather than suffocated by theoretical jargon.
Of course, no single volume can entirely contain Greek civilisation. At times, the density of information can feel overwhelming. Certain sections demand patience rather than emotional engagement.
Yet perhaps that too reflects the nature of Greece itself—a civilisation too immense intellectually to be reduced into simple narrative comfort.
Revisiting this book now, years after my first reading, I realise that what stayed with me most was not merely factual knowledge, but atmosphere. The sense of standing before the origins of so many enduring human questions:
1. What is justice?
2. What is citizenship?
3. What is tragedy?
4. Can reason govern desire?
5. How should power be restrained?
6. What gives meaning to mortality?
The Greeks asked these questions with terrifying seriousness.
And that seriousness still feels alive within these pages.
Reading this book once again, today, reminds me why civilisational history remains endlessly compelling. One does not read such books simply to learn about the past.
One reads them to understand the unfinished arguments of humanity itself.
The Greeks began many of those arguments.
We are still living inside them.
My journey into serious academic study truly began upon my promotion to the eleventh grade. From that formative stage onwards, both throughout my years as a student and later in my professional life, I have engaged with an extensive range of texts, returning frequently to the discipline of sustained reading and reflection. Over the years, this engagement has amounted to the careful study of hundreds of volumes across diverse fields of thought and inquiry.
This section brings together a curated collection of reflections on those readings—part memoir, part critical appraisal. It encompasses works that have profoundly influenced my intellectual development, those that have offered enduring pleasure, and others that have invited disagreement or critique.
Taken together, these pieces represent an ongoing dialogue between the reader and the written word, shaped by the evolving perspectives of both a student and a professional.
I remember first approaching this book during a period when I was reading history obsessively and indiscriminately—moving from Roman political thought to Greek tragedy, from Renaissance historiography to Indian civilisation studies, and trying to understand how cultures imagine themselves across centuries.
I was primarily into Greek Political Thought. And hence the interest in Greek history. Ancient Greece, at that time, seemed almost unreal in its density of achievement.
Philosophy, drama, political theory, mathematics, sculpture, historiography—so much of what we now call “Western civilisation” appeared to emerge from this relatively small geographical world of city-states, islands, wars, and restless intellectual energy.
This monumental volume, edited by John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, and Oswyn Murray, became for me not merely a history book but an entryway into an entire mental universe. It felt a tad heavy back then.
What struck me proximately was the sheer richness of perspective within the volume. Unlike simplified survey histories that flatten Greece into a sequence of famous names and dates, this work reconstructs the complexity of Greek civilisation in all its contradictions.
The Greece that emerges here is brilliant yet violent, rational yet deeply mythic, democratic yet profoundly unequal.
That tension fascinated me endlessly.
The chapters on the Archaic and Classical periods especially stayed with me. One begins to understand how extraordinary the Greek experiment truly was. Independent city-states like Athens and Sparta developed radically different political and social systems while sharing language, religion, and cultural memory.
Competition shaped everything—politics, athletics, philosophy, warfare, drama. Greece often appears less like a unified civilisation and more like a continuous argument conducted across centuries.
And perhaps that is precisely why it produced so much intellectual vitality.
Reading the sections on Athens, I was repeatedly struck by how fragile democracy originally was. We often speak of Athenian democracy reverentially, forgetting that it existed amidst slavery, exclusion, imperial ambition, factional conflict, and military insecurity. The brilliance of Athens lay not in perfection, but in the intensity with which it interrogated itself.
That self-questioning impulse would later produce Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle—figures who continue haunting global intellectual history even now.
The literary sections of the volume were particularly rewarding for someone immersed in English literature.
Greek tragedy suddenly became inseparable from civic ritual and political anxiety. Sophocles and Euripides no longer appeared merely as “great writers" but as participants in a society wrestling with fate, war, law, masculinity, divine order, and human limitation.
That historical contextualisation deepened my reading of Greek drama enormously.
The book also excels in its treatment of the Hellenistic world—a period often overshadowed by Classical Athens in popular imagination.
After the conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek culture expanded outward into Egypt, Persia, and parts of India, creating a vast interconnected world of exchange and hybridisation.
Those chapters fascinated me perhaps most of all.
The Hellenistic age feels strangely modern—cosmopolitan cities, cultural mixing, intellectual migration, shifting identities, massive political empires, and philosophical schools attempting to provide personal stability amidst global uncertainty.
Reading about Alexandria, Antioch, and Pergamon, one senses civilisation becoming transnational long before the modern era.
It also reminded me repeatedly of India’s own encounters with Hellenistic influence after Alexander’s campaigns and through later Indo-Greek exchanges.
One begins to realise that ancient civilisations were never as isolated as nationalist histories often suggest. Cultures travelled, collided, borrowed, and adapted.
That recognition becomes intellectually liberating.
What makes The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World particularly valuable is its balance between accessibility and scholarly depth.
Despite being an academic collaborative work, it retains readability. The prose remains measured and elegant rather than suffocated by theoretical jargon.
Of course, no single volume can entirely contain Greek civilisation. At times, the density of information can feel overwhelming. Certain sections demand patience rather than emotional engagement.
Yet perhaps that too reflects the nature of Greece itself—a civilisation too immense intellectually to be reduced into simple narrative comfort.
Revisiting this book now, years after my first reading, I realise that what stayed with me most was not merely factual knowledge, but atmosphere. The sense of standing before the origins of so many enduring human questions:
1. What is justice?
2. What is citizenship?
3. What is tragedy?
4. Can reason govern desire?
5. How should power be restrained?
6. What gives meaning to mortality?
The Greeks asked these questions with terrifying seriousness.
And that seriousness still feels alive within these pages.
Reading this book once again, today, reminds me why civilisational history remains endlessly compelling. One does not read such books simply to learn about the past.
One reads them to understand the unfinished arguments of humanity itself.
The Greeks began many of those arguments.
We are still living inside them.
April 30, 2022
Excellent book! Highly recommend!!!
November 19, 2011
This book was not really well titled, since history, strictly speaking, makes up very little of this book. Of the sixteen chapters of this book, only three are historical in the sense of dealing with major events, politics and chronologies, and one on Greek historiography. The rest of the book focuses on culture, and, with the expectation of one chapter dealing with ‘life and society’, it is about elite culture (arts, philosophy, poetry and the like). I would have liked to have seen more social classes other then the educated wealth and more than passing mention of Greek women would have been welcome. That said, the topics covered are covered very well. It does require some familiarity with Greek culture to get through this book, and in some sections (Lyric and Elegiac poetry for example) I was a bit lost. All in all, it is a good, conservative, semi-detailed coverage of the parts of Greek culture of interest to modern people.
July 26, 2021
how did the nerd writers of this book make ancient greece sound boring i just know that if i hooked up with the authors i’d ruin them
July 14, 2024
Solid collection of essays on aspects of the Archaic and Classical Greek periods as well as the later Hellenistic Kingdoms : Greece: The History of thew Archaic Period, Homer, Greek Myth and Hesiod, Lyric and Elegiac Poetry, Early Greek Philosophy, Greece: The History of the Classical Period, Greek Drama, Greek Historians, Life and Society in Classical Greece, Classical Greek Philosophy, Greek Religion, Greek Art and Architecture, The History of the Hellenistic Period, Hellenistic Culture and Literature, Hellenistic Philosophy and Science, Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman Art. Not ridiculously in-depth, but this book does give the reader a solid grounding in the period as well as lists of source material and additional reading at the end of each chapter. Slightly dated (originally published in 1986), but not unduly so. A number of reviews panned this as either "too dry" or "not in-depth enough", but I fell that both are missing the point of this book. It's a decent introduction to the period and no more, but I feel like that's what it's intended to be, and for that, it gets the job done. 3.5 stars.
November 24, 2017
At first this compendium disappointed me as I was set on finding something more chronological. This, while there is some chronology present as it divides the Greek eras into archaic, classical and the Hellenistic times, it is also divided by subject with chapters devoted to Homer, Greek historians and Hellenistic philosophy and science for example. This turns out to be useful as the subjects have so much content to cover. An entire chapter on Homer really helps to underscore the importance the Iliad and Odyssey had for Greek society continuously through the centuries; down to Alexander the Great's obsession with being just like Achilles. The writing from a variety of authors was very readable and interesting.
The Greeks themselves were extremely interesting as their little culture managed to be the seed that has grown into so many institutions and arts that we consider as being definitive of the very concept of civilization. Everything seems to have been influenced by them. Philosophy, science, history, medicine, theater, poetry, democracy and the freedoms we hold dear. I can imagine re-reading this either in part of total because it was so fascinating. Highly recommended
The Greeks themselves were extremely interesting as their little culture managed to be the seed that has grown into so many institutions and arts that we consider as being definitive of the very concept of civilization. Everything seems to have been influenced by them. Philosophy, science, history, medicine, theater, poetry, democracy and the freedoms we hold dear. I can imagine re-reading this either in part of total because it was so fascinating. Highly recommended
April 15, 2018
I love the Oxford History series. This is the fourth one I've read. Published by one of the top universities in the world, they have impeccable academic credentials, but are also very accessible. They are intended as introductions - and at 450+ pages, thorough ones – and have annotated bibliographies for further reading. They are sometimes used as college textbooks, but unlike typical history textbooks, which suffer greatly by their written-by-committee style, they are written by individuals. This makes them much more lively and entertaining. However, they are in no way idiosyncratic.
The series is somewhat lengthy, and includes an ongoing history of the United States and the New Oxford History of England. Those interested in Ancient Greece may be interested in knowing that there is also an Oxford History of the Roman World.
I would highly recommend the whole series for anyone.
The series is somewhat lengthy, and includes an ongoing history of the United States and the New Oxford History of England. Those interested in Ancient Greece may be interested in knowing that there is also an Oxford History of the Roman World.
I would highly recommend the whole series for anyone.
January 25, 2023
I was hoping for this to be a slightly in depth look into ancient Greece and all aspects of its culture, society and philosophy, but i was disappointed. This is a 500+ page long, highly detailed, and very, VERY dense book. I wouldn't recommend it unless you are a historian or REALLY want to know everything about Greece. So many dates and names, it felt boring. I quit at page 360, since it wasn't worth my time and i wasn't being focused while reading it. I must admit that some chapters were better than others, perhaps because of my own interests (i found the historical ones boring, but the philosophical or societal ones more interesting), but overall hard to read.
September 9, 2017
I didn't bother finishing this one. I made it through the first thirteen chapters, but wasn't interested enough to finish. Some of the authors of the various essays managed to provide new details and write compelling essays (such as the chapter on history), but most of them fell into opining and sharing their personal viewpoints rather than providing facts. Such is the trouble with textbooks I suppose. Ad fontes.
July 19, 2018
This book is a series of essays on topics related to the Ancient Greek world arranged in roughly chronological order from the Archaic to the Hellenistic Period. The sixteen essays are generally of high quality and treat topics such as myth and religion, politics, warfare, and art. The text is complemented by numerous illustrations, including some color plates and a half dozen maps. Overall, the essays are well-written and engaging.
January 2, 2018
I'm giving this 4 stars because it was one of the easiest textbooks I've ever read, and perhaps the only textbook I've deliberately read all the way through. It's incredibly interesting, but very basic and introductory. I finished this before my course started, so we'll see how it suffices.
January 26, 2021
A very dense, slow read. But a good survey of greek history
October 4, 2023
Amazing introduction, perfect for not knowers of this period.
May 11, 2025
It’s a decent introduction but I defo skipped some of the last interesting parts like the sculpture stuff. The peleponnesian war isn’t well told as well.
April 23, 2012
Fairly solid account of ancient Greek history, society, and culture. Each of the essays in this collection tackles a separate aspect of Greek life -- politics, warfare, drama, art, epic poetry, religion, philosophy, and so forth. As expected, the chapters are of varying quality, depending on the author. The studies focusing on Homer (by Oliver Taplin), Greek "historians" like Herodotus and Thucydides (by Oswyn Murray), and Greek plays (Peter Levi) were particularly engaging.
While some material in other sections was less remarkable, the only true disappointment was my own: The final four essays focused on the "post-classical" Hellenistic period, from Alexander's conquests until the rise of Rome. The literature, art, and (with notably exceptions) philosophy of this era is much dimmer than what came before, and despite well-argued attempts by the authors of those sections to speak to this era's validity, I found myself finishing this book a bit let-down.
Even so, setting personal bias aside, this is a better-than-serviceable overview of of the Greeks.
While some material in other sections was less remarkable, the only true disappointment was my own: The final four essays focused on the "post-classical" Hellenistic period, from Alexander's conquests until the rise of Rome. The literature, art, and (with notably exceptions) philosophy of this era is much dimmer than what came before, and despite well-argued attempts by the authors of those sections to speak to this era's validity, I found myself finishing this book a bit let-down.
Even so, setting personal bias aside, this is a better-than-serviceable overview of of the Greeks.
January 23, 2015
Failed to live up to its promise. Too academic to be an easy or relaxing read but not well enough referenced to be academically useful. Aain the level of information fell badly between two levels, too superficial for anyone looking to extend their knowledge but too chewy for anyone coming to the subject with little or no previous knowledge. Essays were varied in quality and some could do with updating; they contradicted material I knew from recent study.
December 24, 2015
A collection of essays written by different authors. Something for everyone, but I liked some more than others. Particularly interesting for this reader was a look at events like the Maccabean Revolt in Jerusalem from a different perspective than the traditional Judeo-Christian view.
All in all well worth reading, particularly in preparation for travel to Greece.
All in all well worth reading, particularly in preparation for travel to Greece.
March 31, 2016
Although this book was really good, I think it is important to note that it is a collection of essays...NOT a chronological history of ancient Greece.
But...if you read it, at least you can say, "Ahem! I read the 'Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World', and what you are saying about Metroid is completely incorrect."
But...if you read it, at least you can say, "Ahem! I read the 'Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World', and what you are saying about Metroid is completely incorrect."
November 4, 2013
Too much information, too scattered without a strong narrative thread. The "highbrowness" of the articles also ensure that it is not a tome that you can pick up and dip into as you please. Slightly disappointing.
September 21, 2008
Insightful reviews by different scholars of the history of Ancient Greece and separate aspects of the lives and accomplishments of Ancient Greeks.
April 10, 2009
Leí sólo un par de capítulos, pero me pareció bastante completa, y los temas están tratados con profundidad, pero sin ser inaccesibles para alguien no experto.
October 11, 2011
I don't have to read all of this for class but so far the chapters I have read are interesting!
February 17, 2012
Good primer. Liked the different authors each with their own perspective. Robin Lane Fox is always fun.
May 26, 2013
A good introduction to the various subjects in the ancient Greek world.
June 8, 2014
I had to fight through the chapters about the art, so I realized there are certain aspects of ancient culture that just don't interest me as much. Still, a very enjoyable read.
Read
April 7, 2016Well we didn't read every chapter, but we've read all the professor said we were going to. Still other books to read for this class. Eh. It was alright I guess.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews