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National Geographic The Greeks: An Illustrated History
On the culture that brought us democracy, the Olympics, Socrates, and Alexander the Great, this lavishly illustrated reference about ancient Greece presents the amazing history through gripping stories; the rise and fall of the phenomenal empire; the powerful legacy left by ancient Greece for the modern world; and the new discoveries shedding light on these ancient people that are still so much with us. Even today, Greek art and architecture dominate our cities; modern military strategists still study and employ Hellenic war tactics; Greek poetry, plays, and philosophy are widely read and enjoyed; and science, mathematics, medicine, and astronomy all build on the fundamentals of early Greek thinking. Included are fascinating insights into Greek island living, ancient social networking, and the extreme priority Greeks placed on athletic competition (warring city-states declared truces during the Olympic games). Learn of spectacular discoveries such as the Uluburun shipwreck, the earliest writing ever found in Europe, and buried palaces. A stunning treasure, this lushly-illustrated, uniquely comprehensive and accessible history of Ancient Greece is perfect for anyone interested in the origins of our modern world.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2016
17 people are currently reading
217 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
March 11, 2020
"To my academic colleagues in classics, this book isn't written for you."
The Greeks is a handsome, two-hundred-page, picture-filled coffee table book covering over a thousand years of greek history. It looks nice inside. The large pictures are eye catching. The content is easily understandable and written at a 9th grade reading level. Historical factoids and tidbits abound.
If you are looking to go deeper than surface level on any subject, this book is probably not for you.
That said, I picked this book up to get a refresher on Greek history before an upcoming vacation to Greece. It served that purpose well and I enjoyed my reading. Later, when visiting museums or archaeological sites in Athens, Delphi, and elsewhere, I felt like I had some sense of their historical significance already, so I didn't have to worry about learning everything on the spot. I got to focus more on taking in the sites and and enjoying the moment.
TLDR: Read this book for a pleasant, easy overview of ancient Greece. Leave it on the shelf if you're looking for a deep dive into any subject or if you're hoping for a challenging or academic read.
The Greeks is a handsome, two-hundred-page, picture-filled coffee table book covering over a thousand years of greek history. It looks nice inside. The large pictures are eye catching. The content is easily understandable and written at a 9th grade reading level. Historical factoids and tidbits abound.
If you are looking to go deeper than surface level on any subject, this book is probably not for you.
That said, I picked this book up to get a refresher on Greek history before an upcoming vacation to Greece. It served that purpose well and I enjoyed my reading. Later, when visiting museums or archaeological sites in Athens, Delphi, and elsewhere, I felt like I had some sense of their historical significance already, so I didn't have to worry about learning everything on the spot. I got to focus more on taking in the sites and and enjoying the moment.
TLDR: Read this book for a pleasant, easy overview of ancient Greece. Leave it on the shelf if you're looking for a deep dive into any subject or if you're hoping for a challenging or academic read.
January 12, 2021
Very accessible but superficial journey through the history of Ancient Greece from the Bronze Age until the death of Alexander the Great. Given that this book condenses several millenia into little more than 200 pages, it's hardly surprising that it lacks depth, but what information there is is quite interesting. This would certainly be a good introduction to the period for those unfamiliar with it.
February 15, 2021
Enjoyable coffee table style book encompassing about 2000 years of Greek (and pre-Greek) history in easily understood & memorable prose with many beautiful photos & illustrations. The end of the Bronze Age, for example, is all of 2 pages, one of which is mainly illustrations. But the text is brisk and understandable to a Greek history novice, the photos are gorgeous (and I really learned a lot!) Even if you aren’t actually all that interested in Greek history you will still get something out of this book!
Took a star away for 2 reasons
1) while recognizing the goal is NOT an exhaustive history book, every now and then the narrative just stops where an extra 3 or 4 lines to reach the conclusion of the battle/ war/ school of thought is necessary.
2) includes a number of salacious rumors in these “text box asides” that are easily discounted w further reading. Again not a research work, so probably added by the editors for shock value.
Took a star away for 2 reasons
1) while recognizing the goal is NOT an exhaustive history book, every now and then the narrative just stops where an extra 3 or 4 lines to reach the conclusion of the battle/ war/ school of thought is necessary.
2) includes a number of salacious rumors in these “text box asides” that are easily discounted w further reading. Again not a research work, so probably added by the editors for shock value.
March 3, 2017
This book has good pictures but the depth is lacking. The author, as stated in the book, is also a speaker on cruise ships in Greece. And I think the author sought to use in this book, the same style that she uses in narrating history for tourists on cruise ships. I say this because the book reads very much like a tourist guide brochure. There was even a portion on the book where she teaches the reader how to make origami. The discussion of history of ancient Greece is also very shallow, which is apt for kids and someone who doesn't have any background at all on ancient Greece. However, one who has already some knowledge on Ancient Greece should go for other books instead.
May 9, 2021
Very good for winding down lol
July 15, 2022
Very dull for a history book.
September 15, 2024
The illustrations and maps are lovely, but the text is atrocious and shockingly full of errors. Here is my round-up of mistakes (admittedly some are nit-picky, but I only stuck with this book so I could fact-check it). In order of appearance:
- "In 'The Odyssey' Book 5.... Odysseus is blown overboard, and gasping for breath, makes it back to the surface and clambers onto his overturned ship, only to find that all his comrades were lost" (p. 14). The shipwreck in Book 5 happens after Odysseus leaves Calypso, alone. His crew has been dead for years at that point- they died in the shipwreck told in the Book 12 flashback.
- Refers to Iphigenia as Agammenon's "youngest daughter" (p. 58). The birth order isn't clear, but she was almost certainly the *oldest,* as she was old enough to marry, and was marrying first of her sisters.
- "The town was in mourning because their king had passed away. Curiously, Oedipus never asked how he died" (p. 81). Yes, he did, and was told the king had been killed by bandits. Quote from the play, "I've heard that he was killed by robbers, not by a single man's hand, but by many."
- Refers to Atalanta as a goddess, page 109. (An egregious mistake!!!)
- Chapter title on Sparta is "The Socialist Experiment" and uses the term "socialism" again in text without any attempt to defend the anachronism. Yes, Spartan society was communal, but it also used a vast slave class to do all agricultural production so the ruling elite could devote themselves entirely to the military, not a feature of socialism. (This one is arguable, I suppose, but I'll happily keep arguing the point. Spartans were not socialists.)
- Claims that the Spartans invented hoplite warfare (p. 120). Usually the credit for that goes to Argos, though Herodotus says it came to Greece from the Carians. Though the 'exact' inventor is hard to pin down, no one says Sparta.
- I would debate the book's interpretation of how the Peloponnesian War began. It focuses almost entirely on the proxy conflicts of Athenian democracy and Spartan aristocracy. Athenian imperialism and the Delian League are covered a little later, but the extent of Athenian overreach is severely underplayed, and it isn't tied back to the previous mini-chapter on the causes of the Peloponnesian War. It ends up sounding just like a war for democracy (and really reminded me of Dubya saying that 9/11 happened because 'the terrorists hate our freedoms.' Instead it's 'the Spartans hate our limited dabbles with democracy.')
- "Plato studied with Socrates and wrote many dialogues based on the conversations he heard. Plato also expressed his own views in works like 'The Republic' and 'The Laws'" (p. 158) Socrates is the main speaker in 'Republic' too, and 'Laws' is a "trialogue." The first thing to know about Plato is that he *never* 'expresses his own views' or writes as Plato.
- "Apollo was the most cerebral of the gods." I know I'm just nitpicking at this point, but surely that would be Metis or Athena, who was, you know, the wisdom goddess literally born from Zeus's cerebellum.
- Gives an extended, lurid description (p. 212-3) of Muslim armies burning the books in the Library of Alexandria for six months because "If those books are in agreement with the Koran, we have no need of them; and if these are opposed to the Koran, destroy them." This account is *widely* recognized to be a 12th century Christian fabrication. The Romans burned and sacked parts of Alexandria three separate times, and although it isn't entirely clear when the burns burned, it was centuries before Caliph Omar.
- "When the Romans took over Greece in 168 BC, then all of Alexander's empire by 32 BC..." (p. 213). A ludicrous sentence! "ALL of Alexander's empire" included modern Pakistan, while the eastern 'high water mark' of the Romans was Trajan in Mesopotamia, and that was a brief victory in a centuries-long tug-of-war with the Parthians over large parts of Alexander's empire.
So.... in conclusion, this is an embarrassment to NatGeo.
- "In 'The Odyssey' Book 5.... Odysseus is blown overboard, and gasping for breath, makes it back to the surface and clambers onto his overturned ship, only to find that all his comrades were lost" (p. 14). The shipwreck in Book 5 happens after Odysseus leaves Calypso, alone. His crew has been dead for years at that point- they died in the shipwreck told in the Book 12 flashback.
- Refers to Iphigenia as Agammenon's "youngest daughter" (p. 58). The birth order isn't clear, but she was almost certainly the *oldest,* as she was old enough to marry, and was marrying first of her sisters.
- "The town was in mourning because their king had passed away. Curiously, Oedipus never asked how he died" (p. 81). Yes, he did, and was told the king had been killed by bandits. Quote from the play, "I've heard that he was killed by robbers, not by a single man's hand, but by many."
- Refers to Atalanta as a goddess, page 109. (An egregious mistake!!!)
- Chapter title on Sparta is "The Socialist Experiment" and uses the term "socialism" again in text without any attempt to defend the anachronism. Yes, Spartan society was communal, but it also used a vast slave class to do all agricultural production so the ruling elite could devote themselves entirely to the military, not a feature of socialism. (This one is arguable, I suppose, but I'll happily keep arguing the point. Spartans were not socialists.)
- Claims that the Spartans invented hoplite warfare (p. 120). Usually the credit for that goes to Argos, though Herodotus says it came to Greece from the Carians. Though the 'exact' inventor is hard to pin down, no one says Sparta.
- I would debate the book's interpretation of how the Peloponnesian War began. It focuses almost entirely on the proxy conflicts of Athenian democracy and Spartan aristocracy. Athenian imperialism and the Delian League are covered a little later, but the extent of Athenian overreach is severely underplayed, and it isn't tied back to the previous mini-chapter on the causes of the Peloponnesian War. It ends up sounding just like a war for democracy (and really reminded me of Dubya saying that 9/11 happened because 'the terrorists hate our freedoms.' Instead it's 'the Spartans hate our limited dabbles with democracy.')
- "Plato studied with Socrates and wrote many dialogues based on the conversations he heard. Plato also expressed his own views in works like 'The Republic' and 'The Laws'" (p. 158) Socrates is the main speaker in 'Republic' too, and 'Laws' is a "trialogue." The first thing to know about Plato is that he *never* 'expresses his own views' or writes as Plato.
- "Apollo was the most cerebral of the gods." I know I'm just nitpicking at this point, but surely that would be Metis or Athena, who was, you know, the wisdom goddess literally born from Zeus's cerebellum.
- Gives an extended, lurid description (p. 212-3) of Muslim armies burning the books in the Library of Alexandria for six months because "If those books are in agreement with the Koran, we have no need of them; and if these are opposed to the Koran, destroy them." This account is *widely* recognized to be a 12th century Christian fabrication. The Romans burned and sacked parts of Alexandria three separate times, and although it isn't entirely clear when the burns burned, it was centuries before Caliph Omar.
- "When the Romans took over Greece in 168 BC, then all of Alexander's empire by 32 BC..." (p. 213). A ludicrous sentence! "ALL of Alexander's empire" included modern Pakistan, while the eastern 'high water mark' of the Romans was Trajan in Mesopotamia, and that was a brief victory in a centuries-long tug-of-war with the Parthians over large parts of Alexander's empire.
So.... in conclusion, this is an embarrassment to NatGeo.
February 1, 2025
If you're looking for a very light introduction to the immense body of history attached to ancient Greece, then The Greeks by Diane Harris Cline will be a good introduction. This audiobook is a companion to an illustrated book and a series, which I'm sure would have enhanced the experience for me, but since I traditionally listen to audiobooks while doing arb stuff like housework or driving, I wasn't in a position to look at any images.
I'd peg this as a general overview and a crash course into a highly complex culture, at best. And at the time I was looking for a bit of a refresher, so in that regard, it did its job. It also didn't hurt that at the time the book was included in my Audible subscription. I'd likely not have purchased it otherwise. I'd definitely want more meat on the bones, so to speak, otherwise.
I really don't have much more to say about this title that I've not summarised. It's easy enough to understand for folks who're not of a historical bent, so I'd recommend it for complete noobs, but as someone who's studied ancient Greek art and mythology at a tertiary level, it left me wanting.
I'd peg this as a general overview and a crash course into a highly complex culture, at best. And at the time I was looking for a bit of a refresher, so in that regard, it did its job. It also didn't hurt that at the time the book was included in my Audible subscription. I'd likely not have purchased it otherwise. I'd definitely want more meat on the bones, so to speak, otherwise.
I really don't have much more to say about this title that I've not summarised. It's easy enough to understand for folks who're not of a historical bent, so I'd recommend it for complete noobs, but as someone who's studied ancient Greek art and mythology at a tertiary level, it left me wanting.
February 24, 2021
The Greeks is about what you would expect from a companion book to a PBS series, i.e., a somewhat high-level overview with some interesting facts scattered about like jewels.
Taken in that light, the book does not disappoint… which is amazing given that in 210 pages it covers three millennia of history from the Bronze Age to the death of Alexander the Great. Ms. Cline succeeds in this task by breaking the history down into easily digested sections covering a variety of topics from the Minoan, Mycenaean, Classical, and Macedonian Greek eras.
This is is a great read for someone who does not know much about the history of Greece and who wants a good point of introduction. This would also be a satisfying read for someone who wants to brush up their knowledge or who would like a framework for better organizing what they have read elsewhere. And then there are those jewels of information, which are so important to someone like me who wants to learn new things even while re-covering familiar ground.
All-in-all, a worthwhile read.
Taken in that light, the book does not disappoint… which is amazing given that in 210 pages it covers three millennia of history from the Bronze Age to the death of Alexander the Great. Ms. Cline succeeds in this task by breaking the history down into easily digested sections covering a variety of topics from the Minoan, Mycenaean, Classical, and Macedonian Greek eras.
This is is a great read for someone who does not know much about the history of Greece and who wants a good point of introduction. This would also be a satisfying read for someone who wants to brush up their knowledge or who would like a framework for better organizing what they have read elsewhere. And then there are those jewels of information, which are so important to someone like me who wants to learn new things even while re-covering familiar ground.
All-in-all, a worthwhile read.
April 27, 2025
It's rare that I give a nonfiction book 5 stars, because it takes me so long to get through them all. I loved reading about the ancient greeks and am so glad that I decided to pick it up, as I really enjoyed what I had read, page by page. I learned a ton about Greek history and culture, and furthered my interest in the Greek life, and decided I want to visit Greece more than anything. It was really cool to see the physical, humanistic side of Greek life and culture, because most of my experience with the Greek life comes in the form of Mythology and Theatre, so it was cool to look at some of the other things, and eras prior to the classical Greek period, which is where a lot of what I know of Greek culture comes from.
September 18, 2019
As might be expected from National Geographic, this is a beautiful book, lavish with colour photographs throughout, with an easy to read history of the ancient Greeks, produced as a companion to the PBS series ' The Greeks ' available on DVD.
The two work together very well, with perhaps the DVD providing more intense detail, regarding both ancient and modern Greece.
If a person has any interest in the early Greek history, social makeup,influences, warfare and so on, this makes a fine addition to the library, but it is only a light touch, a deeper understanding together with cultural information for the period should be sought elsewhere
Terrific though-really !
The two work together very well, with perhaps the DVD providing more intense detail, regarding both ancient and modern Greece.
If a person has any interest in the early Greek history, social makeup,influences, warfare and so on, this makes a fine addition to the library, but it is only a light touch, a deeper understanding together with cultural information for the period should be sought elsewhere
Terrific though-really !
December 6, 2016
A well done book. It has to be since it is published by National Geographic and is a companion to the PBS series. Well, it doesn't have to be but it better be with that lineage. Nicely done with pictures of artifacts, ruins, illustrations of Greek culture and history wrapped around historical narrative that doesn't get bogged down but covers a lot of ground why Greece is important to who we are as western civilization today. The author, an associate professor of history and classical studies, did a nice job of putting it together.
October 24, 2018
Overall, this book was interesting enough, but it is a very, very surface level look at Greek history. I was looking for a short primer to Greek history, but this is probably more suited for middle-school or high-schoolers looking to learn a little more about ancient Greece. It probably has a Wikipedia-level of detail, so if you're looking to dive more into certain topics, then definitely go elsewhere. Also, the author has strange humor that shes tries to throw in now and then, pretty lame most of the time haha
February 15, 2021
The images were great and really helpful with research, a lot of good information. However, it was a bit 'the tale of two cities-ish' as the writer seemed mainly concerned by Sparta and Athens. Other Greek states seemed like a byline any time they were mentioned. Also, although it's an adult book, at times I felt it was almost belittling to the readers.
March 4, 2022
The book is a good starting point for people who are just starting to explore the Greek civilization. The story telling ability of author is good. The book consists of the pictures of actual sites and monuments.Alsi, the reader with learn about the popular references for example, Trozen horse . Overall it's a good read
April 9, 2022
3.5 stars. I thought this book was a good mix of common knowledge and new information for me. It includes factual historical events as well as legends and lore. I wouldn’t call it comprehensive, but it’s a solid first read if you are just getting into Greek history. The delivery could be a little dry at times, but there were also moments that were engaging.
Read
May 17, 2022Woman played ball, swam, hunted, rode horses, drove chariots - Olympics
150 graves of woman buried with armour not jewellery and perfume bottles
Athena courage and inspiration - creation
Achilles duel with Amazon Queen, their eyes meet. Her eyes do not ask for mercy. They say I have fallen inlove with you.
But it is too late
150 graves of woman buried with armour not jewellery and perfume bottles
Athena courage and inspiration - creation
Achilles duel with Amazon Queen, their eyes meet. Her eyes do not ask for mercy. They say I have fallen inlove with you.
But it is too late
June 18, 2024
I read this book to get a general overview of ancient Greece before diving into a few more intricate reads. It served that purpose beautifully! The pictures, maps, and quick summaries of key events and cultures were just what I needed as a base for further reading. I would not recommend this book to someone familiar with ancient Greek history but if you are new to it like me maybe start here.
January 17, 2022
A beautiful, clear, and concise overview of the Greeks. Loved all the images in this book, and the straightforward yet engaging text to walk readers through this amazing culture and foundational time in history.
January 14, 2022
Beautiful and informative volume.
May 4, 2022
A good introductory book on the topic. Sometimes I wish it was a bit more in-depth, but that is not the intent of the book. Beautiful pictures! I enjoyed showing them to my kids.
October 1, 2022
Good, readable overview of ancient Greeks. It was a good companion to Cahill's Sailing the Wine Dark Sea. Lots of beautiful photos.
November 22, 2022
Interesting
April 25, 2024
A history of Ancient Greece.
August 30, 2024
This is a wonderful book, full of detailed maps, and beautiful images of various scenes and artifacts from ancient Greece.
Read
May 31, 2025Very cursory history of the Greeks; a great book for a high schooler wanting to learn more about this culture
January 31, 2024
A solid read. A strength and weakness of this book is that it aims to inform a "modern" (American) reader, which means it can be absurdly judgmental at times.
June 29, 2016
I like how the book was layout out and designed!
October 6, 2019
Apparently this is an illustrated book that National Geographic decided to turn into an audiobook. Regardless, it's a decent dime tour of Greek history from the Bronze Age to Alexander.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews