Histoires Grecques: Snapshots from Antiquity

by Maurice Sartre

In a series of brilliant snapshots, each a distinct bit of a larger story, Maurice Sartre’s Histoires Grecques spans the grand narrative of Greek culture over a thousand years and a vast expanse of land and sea. From Homer to Damascius, from recent discoveries in Kandahar to an account of the murder of Hypatia in 415 CE, each snapshot captures a moment in the history of Greek civilization. Together they offer a fresh perspective on an ancient culture whose wealth and depth of thought, variety and multiplicity of accomplishments, and astonishing continuity through time and space have made it the Western world’s culture of reference. A textual fragment, a coin, an each artifact and image launches Sartre―and his readers―on a journey into the practical mysteries of Greek civilization. Ranging from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean world, these excursions―step by step, moment by moment―finally amount to a panoramic vision of one of the most important civilizations of all time. Histoires Grecques shows the newcomer and the seasoned scholar alike how history itself is written―and imparts the experience, and the pleasure, of discovering history as discrete stories seen through the eyes of one of the most eminent historians of ancient Greece.

Genres: History

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a significant book. Another reviewer described it as pointillism. Signac, Seurat, Sartre.

Sartre's Histoires Grecques marks him, in my opinion, as a master of the aforementioned style, at least as it pertains to Mediterranean civilization. I unequivocally and enthusiastically recommend Histoires to anyone who wants a "feel" for Greek History; its variety, depth, geographic and temporal expanse, adventure, tragedy, heights and even humbleness in some instances. His book is not a history of Pericles, Alcibiades, or Alexander. Its about the milieu that the great names moved across, influencing and being shaped by in turn.

The book is broken down into 43 chapters that are roughly chronological. Chapters 1 - 8 are vignettes of life and changes during what we call the Archaic period of Greece. The topics range from colonization and tyranny, to the experience of mercenaries with chapter 8 setting the stage for the Ionian revolt and the fireworks of the decade 490-79.

Chapters 9 - 17 are concerned with the particulars (in the most literal sense) of the Classical age of Greece; women, metics, imperialism, slavery, trade, what it means to be a citizen and who is excluded from that. In the decades after the Kings Peace, before Alexander marched East, what role did commerce and "Greekness" play in Syria, the Levant and Arabia?

18 - 33 The corpse of Alexander's empire is partitioned. Its skin is a veneer over much older civilizations. Poleis still exist, and new ones come into being, but as time progresses the relationship between the individual and state changes.

Chapters 34-43 address the coming of Rome and the eventual rise of Christianity.

Sartre is an expert on the Greco-Roman East. This book, beyond the first chapters is very East facing. There are a couple chapters that deal with Jewishness in a Hellenistic context. I found these to be fascinating. The final chapter "on remaining Pagan in a Christian world" is a good foot to end on.

Again, you owe it to yourself to read this book if you profess interest in the Greeks.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An overview of a thousand years of Greek history in little touches - Greek ancient colonisation of the Mediterranean, the position of women and slaves in Classic Greece, how Jews and the early Christians reacted to Greek culture, and culmination in the murder of Hypathia in 415. This book is full of the latest discoveries of archeology and what they mean for our increasing understanding of the Greek civilization - highly recommend!

[Priscilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un livre très intéressant et très détaillé sur de nombreux aspects méconnus de la Grèce antique. Je regrette l'absence d'une frise chronologique ; mais sinon, une œuvre admirable.

[Yiannis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent livre qui entre vraiment dans le détail tout en se lisant très facilement et avec un grand plaisir.