The Greek World

Routledge Worlds

by Anton Powell (Editor)

Studying from the Mycenean to the late Hellenistic period, this work includes new articles by twenty-seven specialists of ancient Greece, and presents an examination of the Greek cultures of mainland Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt and Italy. With the chapters sharing the theme of social history, this fascinating book focuses on women, the poor, and the slaves – all traditionally seen as beyond the margins of powerand includes the study of figures who were on the literal margins of the Greek world. Bringing to the forefront the research into areas previously thought of as marginal, Anton Powell sheds new light on vital topics and authors who are central to the study of Greek culture. Plato’s reforms are illuminated through a consideration of his impatient and revolutionary attitude to women, and Powell also examines how the most potent symbol of central Greek history – the Parthenon – can be understood as a political symbol when viewed with the knowledge of the cosmetic techniques used by classical Athenian women. The Greek World is a stimulating and enlightening interaction of social and political history, comprehensive, and unique to boot, students will undoubtedly benefit from the insight and knowledge it imparts.

Genres: History, Greece, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Cultural

636 pages, Hardcover

First published April 27, 1995

About the author

Anton Powell (born 1947) teaches Greek classics at the University of Wales. He is the author of several books and lives in the countryside of Wales.

Reviews

[Ben Mizrahi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book itself is mostly a decent, if a wee outdated collection of original articles by classicists specializing in different aspects of Archaic and Classical Greece. I have especially enjoyed the chapters about women, slaves and the chapter about law and society in Thucydides. If it depended only on the quality of the first 25 chapters (out of 27 in total), this book would have easily merited five stars.

However, I have had to lower my overall rating do to two factors:
1) The name of the book, and its part in a series of mostly general surveys, is very misleading, and leads one to think we are dealing here with a survey of ancient (or even modern) Greece. This is simply not the case, while the chapters themselves are indeed very informative, and greatly deepened my knowledge of the classical and archaic worlds, they are by no means a coherent survey.
2) The last two chapters, which deals with specific aspects of Plato's thought, fit better with an anthology dedicated specifically to Plato, or even as stand-alone journal articles.