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Athens: A Portrait of the City in Its Golden Age
A lively and accessible history of Athens's rise to greatness, from one of the foremost classical historians.
The definitive account of Athens in the age of Pericles, Christian Meier's gripping study begins with the Greek triumph over Persia at the Battle of Salamis, one of the most significant military victories in history. Meier shows how that victory decisively established Athens's military dominance in the Mediterranean and made possible its rise to preeminence in almost every field of human eavor--commerce, science, philosophy, art, architecture, and literature. Within seventy-five years, Athens had become the most original and innovative civilization the ancient world ever produced.
With elegant narrative style, Meier traces the birth of democracy and the flourishing of Greek culture in the fifth century B.C., as well as Athens' slow decline and defeat in the Peloponnesian War. The great figures--from politicians and generals like Themistocles and Alcibiades to the philosophers Socrates and Plato--emerge as flesh-and-blood human beings, firmly rooted in their times and places. This is history in the tradition of Simon Schama and Barbara Tuchman--learned, accessible, and beautifully written.
The definitive account of Athens in the age of Pericles, Christian Meier's gripping study begins with the Greek triumph over Persia at the Battle of Salamis, one of the most significant military victories in history. Meier shows how that victory decisively established Athens's military dominance in the Mediterranean and made possible its rise to preeminence in almost every field of human eavor--commerce, science, philosophy, art, architecture, and literature. Within seventy-five years, Athens had become the most original and innovative civilization the ancient world ever produced.
With elegant narrative style, Meier traces the birth of democracy and the flourishing of Greek culture in the fifth century B.C., as well as Athens' slow decline and defeat in the Peloponnesian War. The great figures--from politicians and generals like Themistocles and Alcibiades to the philosophers Socrates and Plato--emerge as flesh-and-blood human beings, firmly rooted in their times and places. This is history in the tradition of Simon Schama and Barbara Tuchman--learned, accessible, and beautifully written.
642 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1993
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266 people want to read
About the author
Christian Meier
82 books16 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Christian Meier is a German historian and professor emeritus of ancient history at the University of Munich.
Christian Meier is a German historian and professor emeritus of ancient history at the University of Munich.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 26, 2015
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 24, 2020
A solid four stars, but I was mildly disappointed in spots, especially having already read Meier's biographies of Caesar and Augustus.
Meier does a great job of explaining the rise of Athens within context. He describes what the typical Greek city-state was like in terms of size, population, citizen vs non-citizen population, degree of aristocracy, concept of "Greekness" at the dawn of the Persian era, and all of this with a brief backgrounder from the Sea Peoples through the entry of the Dorians and the dispersal of the Ionians to the present day.
He then situates Athens within that, noting its larger size versus other Greek city-states, along with other factors that may have led it to be the founding city for Greek democracy. He also notes its relations with Sparta and other factors, including how, for its relatively large size and other things, it seemed content to be largely in Sparta's shadow before Salamis.
From there, we get the first Persian wars, Salamis (including a possible bribe of the Delphic oracle for the famous "wooden walls" statement; it may originally have said "flee you fools" or similar) and its success, and the rise of Athenian power, followed by the rise of Athenian democracy.
In this, Meier notes that Athenian democracy was such that perhaps using that term — even though it is, of course, Greek — may hide differences with modern Western democracy as much as anything. Linguistically, he puts it within the rise of several Greek "-cracy" terms and fading of "-nomy" ones.
That said, this is Meier's first small misstep, in my opinion. While he later, as the democracy flourishes (and then founders a bit) pulls in the Sophists, Socrates and other thinkers, as well as the known and lesser-known playwrights and their influences on the democracy, he doesn't talk much about how much, or maybe how little, influence the Ionian philosophers may have had on the rise of the democracy. After all, they stimulated critical thinking in Greece even as the Aegean lands faced off with Persia.
Then we get to Solon, and after that, the Peloponnesian War. Meier narrates Athenians becoming addicted to the benefits of their new empire yet feeling trapped by it at the same time and how, as the war approached then commenced, this made their democracy that much more volatile.
This, of course, peaks with Alcibides. We have a good vignette of his mercurial personality and multiple flip-flops to advance his career.
And, we have Meier's bigger misstep.
He pretty much paints by Platonic numbers in his description of Socrates. He ignores Xenophon's less idealistic brief comments on him, and totally passes by Aristophanes saying that Socrates was a Sophist. Rather, he takes the Platonic line that he was so much wiser, and more pristine, than the Sophists, and even that he was saving Athens from them.
Several problems.
First, since Socrates' parents were from the third class of citizenry, they weren't rich. At some point, Socrates became rich enough he could focus just on being a thinker. Maybe he didn't openly charge for his wares, but weren't aristocratic patrons likely paying him something? Undiscussed by Meier.
Second, Alcibiades was Socrates' most famous pederastic lover. So, what went wrong?
Or, maybe nothing went wrong. Maybe Alcibiades mercenary utilitarianism was something Socrates consciously imparted.
In any case, none of this is discussed by Meier.
And, Socrates' trial gets the similar Platonic treatment.
As for the three charges against him?
The second, on the introduction of new gods? Athens, contra his statement, may not ALWAYS have smiled on such introductions. We have a clear counterexample from Rome, which was often open to new divinities, but where the import of Cybele, for example, caused great consternation.
The corruption of the youth? See "Alcibiades."
So, this adds up to cost Meier a star.
Meier does a great job of explaining the rise of Athens within context. He describes what the typical Greek city-state was like in terms of size, population, citizen vs non-citizen population, degree of aristocracy, concept of "Greekness" at the dawn of the Persian era, and all of this with a brief backgrounder from the Sea Peoples through the entry of the Dorians and the dispersal of the Ionians to the present day.
He then situates Athens within that, noting its larger size versus other Greek city-states, along with other factors that may have led it to be the founding city for Greek democracy. He also notes its relations with Sparta and other factors, including how, for its relatively large size and other things, it seemed content to be largely in Sparta's shadow before Salamis.
From there, we get the first Persian wars, Salamis (including a possible bribe of the Delphic oracle for the famous "wooden walls" statement; it may originally have said "flee you fools" or similar) and its success, and the rise of Athenian power, followed by the rise of Athenian democracy.
In this, Meier notes that Athenian democracy was such that perhaps using that term — even though it is, of course, Greek — may hide differences with modern Western democracy as much as anything. Linguistically, he puts it within the rise of several Greek "-cracy" terms and fading of "-nomy" ones.
That said, this is Meier's first small misstep, in my opinion. While he later, as the democracy flourishes (and then founders a bit) pulls in the Sophists, Socrates and other thinkers, as well as the known and lesser-known playwrights and their influences on the democracy, he doesn't talk much about how much, or maybe how little, influence the Ionian philosophers may have had on the rise of the democracy. After all, they stimulated critical thinking in Greece even as the Aegean lands faced off with Persia.
Then we get to Solon, and after that, the Peloponnesian War. Meier narrates Athenians becoming addicted to the benefits of their new empire yet feeling trapped by it at the same time and how, as the war approached then commenced, this made their democracy that much more volatile.
This, of course, peaks with Alcibides. We have a good vignette of his mercurial personality and multiple flip-flops to advance his career.
And, we have Meier's bigger misstep.
He pretty much paints by Platonic numbers in his description of Socrates. He ignores Xenophon's less idealistic brief comments on him, and totally passes by Aristophanes saying that Socrates was a Sophist. Rather, he takes the Platonic line that he was so much wiser, and more pristine, than the Sophists, and even that he was saving Athens from them.
Several problems.
First, since Socrates' parents were from the third class of citizenry, they weren't rich. At some point, Socrates became rich enough he could focus just on being a thinker. Maybe he didn't openly charge for his wares, but weren't aristocratic patrons likely paying him something? Undiscussed by Meier.
Second, Alcibiades was Socrates' most famous pederastic lover. So, what went wrong?
Or, maybe nothing went wrong. Maybe Alcibiades mercenary utilitarianism was something Socrates consciously imparted.
In any case, none of this is discussed by Meier.
And, Socrates' trial gets the similar Platonic treatment.
As for the three charges against him?
The second, on the introduction of new gods? Athens, contra his statement, may not ALWAYS have smiled on such introductions. We have a clear counterexample from Rome, which was often open to new divinities, but where the import of Cybele, for example, caused great consternation.
The corruption of the youth? See "Alcibiades."
So, this adds up to cost Meier a star.
April 15, 2010
After having read Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War last month, this month I turned to a very scholarly history of Athens in its Golden Age, roughly between the Battle of Marathon (490 BC) and the execution of Socrates (399 BC): Christian Meier's Athens: A Portrait of the City in Its Golden Age. Where Meier excelled was in his detailed descriptions of subtle changes in the political structure of Athenian rule, together with his astute comparisons between the history of the times and its reflection in the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes.
The sections on the Peloponnesian War, which Athens lost, were particularly tragic. Over and over again, I saw parallels between the power politics of Classical Athens and recent events in the United States. In the end, Meier writes:
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a strong history of Ancient Greece. It bridges the divide between popularizers like Durant and Kagan and more scholarly, but less accessible works by academic historians.
The sections on the Peloponnesian War, which Athens lost, were particularly tragic. Over and over again, I saw parallels between the power politics of Classical Athens and recent events in the United States. In the end, Meier writes:
The war had consumed vast resources; the Athenians had lived prodigally and, toward the end, they drifted from crisis to crisis as if intoxicated. They had plundered and destroyed on a massive scale, but they also had achieved things that would transform the history of human civilization. The great century of Athens was over, but the city lived on and indeed remained the most important city of the Greeks. It had simply ceased to be a major political power.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a strong history of Ancient Greece. It bridges the divide between popularizers like Durant and Kagan and more scholarly, but less accessible works by academic historians.
March 19, 2017
I had a hard time with this book. The first few chapters threw me, and then I never got into it after that.
The opening chapter serves as a hook. It tells maybe the most dramatic story of Athens - at the Battle of Salamis - to get us interested. OK, but it does a really lousy job as a hook, I thought. The point of a hook is to get the reader interested and also link the story itself to larger themes. Well.... it was just a story. I didn't see any real point to throwing it in here. Also, it goes on for far too long. You start off with a 30-ish page story from the middle of Athenian history that just ... does nothing to advance any themes and just confuses the narrative. Then you get a big, extensive chapter on Athens's rise up to the eve of the Persian Wars. OK, now we're in a regular narrative. Nope. The next two chapters drop the narrative for thematic stuff. This just got me frustrated. I couldn't get in the rhythm with it at all. Oh, I finished still - sort of. After those early parts, I basically found myself skimming a lot more than reading.
Some basic notes from the book. Athens, while a big city, was a late bloomer politically. It wasn't a colonizer and until the late 7th century was mostly a group of villages. Then came a big marketplace and public buildings and water pipes. Now it was a singular hole. Sparta and Argos had been the biggest towns. (I was under the impression Sparta wasn't that big of a city. Shows what I know). Solon the Reformer caused Athens to undergo its first major fundamnetal reform. He cancelled mortgage debts and ended debt slavery. He also allowed the public to bring charges against someone (previously it had just been the victim) and prohibited the export of most foodstuffs. He rejected tyranny but then Athens entered the age of tyrants anyway. Athens was liberated from a tyrant by Sparta in 510 BC. Athens became a democracy and gained a strong army.
Three key factors helped ancient Greece's rise: 1) it was in contact with established powers, 2) the established political powers weren't interested in the Aegean, and 3) trade with places in the Black Sea and Mediterranean helped Greece grow. They got an alphabet from Phoenicia, and spread out. Greeks related to each other as equals.
Athens began ostracisim around 500/501 BC. Persia took their first island closer to Greece than Asia around that same time, Naxus. Ionia overthrew Persian-backed tyrants. Themistocles was nearly ostracized in 486 BC, but survived. Persia offered Athens an alliance after Salamis, but was rejected. Athens quickly builds up their city walls after Salamis. Themistocles finally was ostracized in the 470s. He fled to Persian. Cimon became the leading figure, and he was more copmlacent. A new generation of political leaders emerged around 463/462. They were more antagonistic to Sparta than Cimon. Athens became more democratic with a new class, thetes, emerging. They were lower class workers. Cimon was ostracized. Most Greek city-states accept Athens's primacy, especially the smaller polises. Athens gets more ambitious and even sends troops to Egypt to mess with Persia. They build roads to the port town nearby. They dominate the Delian League. Pericles builds up the Partheonon. Athens enslaves the people of Baeotia in 446 BC. The Deliean League is now an Athenian Empire.
The big war with Sparta breaks out. Athens slaughters the men of Mytilene, not just that rebelled against them. It's to make a statement. But later the play The Trojan Women will criticize Athens for it. Thucydides says that reckless became seen as courage, prudent hesitation was cowardice, and moderation unmanly. Extremists became trustworthy. Athens won big at Pylos but opted not to push for peace (424 BC). Cleon died. The war was lost. The Sophists got big in the 430s, and discover relativity and subjectivity. They use it to seek absolute truth in nature and turn to practical aspects of their teachings.
There is knowledge in here, but it didn't do much for me.
The opening chapter serves as a hook. It tells maybe the most dramatic story of Athens - at the Battle of Salamis - to get us interested. OK, but it does a really lousy job as a hook, I thought. The point of a hook is to get the reader interested and also link the story itself to larger themes. Well.... it was just a story. I didn't see any real point to throwing it in here. Also, it goes on for far too long. You start off with a 30-ish page story from the middle of Athenian history that just ... does nothing to advance any themes and just confuses the narrative. Then you get a big, extensive chapter on Athens's rise up to the eve of the Persian Wars. OK, now we're in a regular narrative. Nope. The next two chapters drop the narrative for thematic stuff. This just got me frustrated. I couldn't get in the rhythm with it at all. Oh, I finished still - sort of. After those early parts, I basically found myself skimming a lot more than reading.
Some basic notes from the book. Athens, while a big city, was a late bloomer politically. It wasn't a colonizer and until the late 7th century was mostly a group of villages. Then came a big marketplace and public buildings and water pipes. Now it was a singular hole. Sparta and Argos had been the biggest towns. (I was under the impression Sparta wasn't that big of a city. Shows what I know). Solon the Reformer caused Athens to undergo its first major fundamnetal reform. He cancelled mortgage debts and ended debt slavery. He also allowed the public to bring charges against someone (previously it had just been the victim) and prohibited the export of most foodstuffs. He rejected tyranny but then Athens entered the age of tyrants anyway. Athens was liberated from a tyrant by Sparta in 510 BC. Athens became a democracy and gained a strong army.
Three key factors helped ancient Greece's rise: 1) it was in contact with established powers, 2) the established political powers weren't interested in the Aegean, and 3) trade with places in the Black Sea and Mediterranean helped Greece grow. They got an alphabet from Phoenicia, and spread out. Greeks related to each other as equals.
Athens began ostracisim around 500/501 BC. Persia took their first island closer to Greece than Asia around that same time, Naxus. Ionia overthrew Persian-backed tyrants. Themistocles was nearly ostracized in 486 BC, but survived. Persia offered Athens an alliance after Salamis, but was rejected. Athens quickly builds up their city walls after Salamis. Themistocles finally was ostracized in the 470s. He fled to Persian. Cimon became the leading figure, and he was more copmlacent. A new generation of political leaders emerged around 463/462. They were more antagonistic to Sparta than Cimon. Athens became more democratic with a new class, thetes, emerging. They were lower class workers. Cimon was ostracized. Most Greek city-states accept Athens's primacy, especially the smaller polises. Athens gets more ambitious and even sends troops to Egypt to mess with Persia. They build roads to the port town nearby. They dominate the Delian League. Pericles builds up the Partheonon. Athens enslaves the people of Baeotia in 446 BC. The Deliean League is now an Athenian Empire.
The big war with Sparta breaks out. Athens slaughters the men of Mytilene, not just that rebelled against them. It's to make a statement. But later the play The Trojan Women will criticize Athens for it. Thucydides says that reckless became seen as courage, prudent hesitation was cowardice, and moderation unmanly. Extremists became trustworthy. Athens won big at Pylos but opted not to push for peace (424 BC). Cleon died. The war was lost. The Sophists got big in the 430s, and discover relativity and subjectivity. They use it to seek absolute truth in nature and turn to practical aspects of their teachings.
There is knowledge in here, but it didn't do much for me.
September 6, 2025
What is history? For a German idealist, like Meier (btw the world's leading living historian) the difference between those who were formerly alive and those now alive is not absolute. History is a form of reminiscence(s) that are the the mental processes of those who were once alive. The activities of the same Mind that is past, present, and yet to come, abiding in eternity.
At every stage, the Athenians faced a crisis without an alternative.
They, almost, succeeded in transforming conflict into a competitive game.
Solon cancelled debts and said, this is the law. The law is to be free of debt. Don't you ever forget it, said Solon - and promptly plastered these laws everywhere throughout Athens.
The victory at Salamis was a code breaker, a world first, a Copernican revolution, in thought.
Magnificent advances in noumena followed.
The electrifying drama, the darkness, rage, the spell-binding characters. More crises without an alternative.
But the never-ending search to locate the will in the reason never stopped.
It only failed when, unable to restrain passion, Athenian reason collapsed in Sicily.
Meier is the historian's historian.
And this is a profoundly important work because we see history in the process of being made, proving that we live forever in that stream.
At every stage, the Athenians faced a crisis without an alternative.
They, almost, succeeded in transforming conflict into a competitive game.
Solon cancelled debts and said, this is the law. The law is to be free of debt. Don't you ever forget it, said Solon - and promptly plastered these laws everywhere throughout Athens.
The victory at Salamis was a code breaker, a world first, a Copernican revolution, in thought.
Magnificent advances in noumena followed.
The electrifying drama, the darkness, rage, the spell-binding characters. More crises without an alternative.
But the never-ending search to locate the will in the reason never stopped.
It only failed when, unable to restrain passion, Athenian reason collapsed in Sicily.
Meier is the historian's historian.
And this is a profoundly important work because we see history in the process of being made, proving that we live forever in that stream.
August 24, 2024
Amazing history of Athens during the 5th century BCE, from 490 to 404 or thereabouts. It was a time of democracy and Pericles, when the Delian League went to war with Persia, then Sparta. It was a dynamic era explored in depth here. My first reaction was this is kind of challenging. But after a few chapters it clicked and I am glad I stuck with it. For hardcore fans of ancient history.
April 11, 2023
Originally published on my blog here in August 2000.
The Golden Age of Athens (approximately the fifth century BC) is one of the most amazing times in human history. Western culture owes a great deal to ancient Greece, and much of what formed us can be traced to this one city over the three or four generations during which it was a major power. The role call of great names includes Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Socrates, Plato, Demosthenes, Pericles, Thucydides and Xenophon; and reverence for "the cradle of democracy" ensures it a vast symbolic importance in the world today. Christian Meier's book seeks to show how a city of under 200,000 - even when virtually disregarded slaves, women and inhabitants of foreign extraction are included - rose to such a position; what it was like and how it changed during its Golden Age; and what brought about its downfall.
Given the paucity of Athenian resources when compared to the city's ambitions (even given the discovery of rich silver mines on their territory), the eventual fall of Athens is hardly surprising; once a major expedition failed (the attack on Sicily) it was just a matter of time. The rise is more interesting. Meier writes about the foundation of democracy and why it might have overcome the aristocratic oligarchy which preceded it; and why Athens was for a long time one of the biggest and richest Greek cities without the political power which might be expected to go with this position. Given the small number of literary sources, even from the Golden Age, these are issues which can form the basis for endless argument, and Meier concentrates on saying enough to fit in with his theme, the unique quality of Athenian civilization.
The democracy which developed in Athens was radically different from the system that we give that name to today. It was participatory, rather than representative, and vast sections of the population were excluded, either by law or because they were too poor to be greatly involved. The wealthy tended to dominate, especially those who came from the old aristocratic families. After the downfall of Pericles, who dominated Athens for a generation, demagogues took over (including Aristophanes' butt Cleon) and their policy of appealing to the lowest common denominator quickly led to ruin - which could be seen as a warning to many of today's politicians.
Meier does not mention the problems inherent in taking the ancient accounts at face value, but he has little choice but to do so. (It is also hardly feasible to preface every second statement with a warning about its accuracy. In one or two places the danger is spelled out - for example, in deriving a picture of the teachings of the Sophists from the writings of Plato.)
It seems to me that Meier has done a really good job, and has produced a book which is interesting to the layman - and probably contains just about everything they might want to know about its subject.
The Golden Age of Athens (approximately the fifth century BC) is one of the most amazing times in human history. Western culture owes a great deal to ancient Greece, and much of what formed us can be traced to this one city over the three or four generations during which it was a major power. The role call of great names includes Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Socrates, Plato, Demosthenes, Pericles, Thucydides and Xenophon; and reverence for "the cradle of democracy" ensures it a vast symbolic importance in the world today. Christian Meier's book seeks to show how a city of under 200,000 - even when virtually disregarded slaves, women and inhabitants of foreign extraction are included - rose to such a position; what it was like and how it changed during its Golden Age; and what brought about its downfall.
Given the paucity of Athenian resources when compared to the city's ambitions (even given the discovery of rich silver mines on their territory), the eventual fall of Athens is hardly surprising; once a major expedition failed (the attack on Sicily) it was just a matter of time. The rise is more interesting. Meier writes about the foundation of democracy and why it might have overcome the aristocratic oligarchy which preceded it; and why Athens was for a long time one of the biggest and richest Greek cities without the political power which might be expected to go with this position. Given the small number of literary sources, even from the Golden Age, these are issues which can form the basis for endless argument, and Meier concentrates on saying enough to fit in with his theme, the unique quality of Athenian civilization.
The democracy which developed in Athens was radically different from the system that we give that name to today. It was participatory, rather than representative, and vast sections of the population were excluded, either by law or because they were too poor to be greatly involved. The wealthy tended to dominate, especially those who came from the old aristocratic families. After the downfall of Pericles, who dominated Athens for a generation, demagogues took over (including Aristophanes' butt Cleon) and their policy of appealing to the lowest common denominator quickly led to ruin - which could be seen as a warning to many of today's politicians.
Meier does not mention the problems inherent in taking the ancient accounts at face value, but he has little choice but to do so. (It is also hardly feasible to preface every second statement with a warning about its accuracy. In one or two places the danger is spelled out - for example, in deriving a picture of the teachings of the Sophists from the writings of Plato.)
It seems to me that Meier has done a really good job, and has produced a book which is interesting to the layman - and probably contains just about everything they might want to know about its subject.
August 4, 2014
Highly readable, though I would have liked it less had I not read it shortly after covering a fair amount of Socrates-specific material. Good history, and even for those who don't care for politics, the psychology behind democracy is fascinating. Another pleasant chapter in my love affair with ancient Athens.
December 28, 2009
Lots of information about the history of Athens. Not the most interesting read ever, but a decent summary of events and the culture of Athens.
April 28, 2013
This is a decent introduction to the history of the Athenian polis from the Persian wars through the Peloponnesian, its "Golden Age".
February 20, 2013
A great study in the foundation of the city that served as the cradle for modern democratic thought. Fascinating.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews