The Greek World

Routledge Worlds

by Anton Powell

This ground-breaking new collection contains twenty-seven articles by specialists in ancient Greek history. Periods studied range from the Mycenaean to the late Hellenistic; the Greek cultures in question are not only those of mainland Greece, but also include Asia Minor, Egypt and Italy. Many of the essays in The Greek World are concerned with social history, especially the history of those who were at or beyond the margins of society such as women, the poor and slaves. In keeping with modern interests, several of the contributors look at those who were geographically at the edges of the Greek world. However, there is no disengagement here from the more traditional interests of classical scholarship. The Greek World shows how research into areas once considered peripheral can shed vital light on topics traditionally seen as central. Herodotus' work on Egypt is shown to reflect on his credibility as a source for Greek history. Plato's reforms are illuminated through a consideration of his impatient and revolutionary attitude to women. The most potent symbol of old-fashioned 'central' Greek history, the Parthenon, is shown to be understood more fully given a knowledge of the cosmetic techniques of (and gossip about) Athenian women. Social and political history interact in this volume, to the enlightenment of both.

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

93 pages, Library Binding

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The book itself is mostly a decent, if a wee outdated collection of original articles by classicists specializing in different aspects of Archaic and Classical Greece.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.