أثينا في عهد بركليس

Centers of Civilization

by Charles Alexander Robinson Jr., تشارلز ألكسندر روبنسون, أنيس فريحة (Translator)

This book suggests to modern readers the supreme importance of decision in all of man's affairs, and the frightful consequences of wrong decision, once it is made.

Genres: History

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 1971

About the author

The son of a Princeton classics professor, Charles A. Robinson Jr. graduated from Princeton in 1922. He spent post-graduate years at the American Academy in Rome, and later became a professor at Brown University.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contrary to the title, Charles Alexander Robinson Jr.’s short study is not as much an account of Athens in the late 5th century BCE as it is a more general examination of its history in the classical era. This he does in three parts. The first of these, spanning the first three chapters of the book, provides a broad chronological overview of events from the rule of Solon down to the end of the Peloponnesian War, with an emphasis on the development of Athenian institutions and their empire. Throughout it Robinson demonstrates an easy command of the period, and it serves as a good short summary of the history of Greece’s most famous city state.

In the two chapters that comprise the second part of the book, Robinson shifts his focus on Athenian society and culture. As with the preceding chapters it’s written in an almost conversational style that makes for easy reading, and it compliments nicely the overview presented in the first part. This makes his use of extended quotes to fill out the chapters feel like something of a cheat, as they take away from any sort of more detailed description of the city. Robinson relies heavily on quotes in his final section as well, which draws upon Thucydides to summarize the Peloponnesian War before providing a lengthy passage from Plato’s Republic in the final chapter when summarizing Athens’s postwar history. Such an approach may not satisfy readers seeking a thorough account that takes into consideration the extensive studies of the city-state’s history, but anyone seeking a brief yet engaging introduction to the history of classical Athens will be well satisfied with this book.

[Valdon Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

(This was not accually the book I read. I read "Sophocles: The Theban Saga" by the same author. I coldn't find that book on the site, this review is on that book)

The authors purpose for writeing this book was to both entertain and teach readers. It entertains with a dramatic performance of greek lore and teaches with a moral to the entire story. The author wanted to share a drama writen by the Greek philosopher Sophocles. Sophocles wrote this to teach morals to greek men and women of good human nature and to entertain because back in the time of ancient grece dramatic performances were highly regarded as entertainment, much similar to a movie theater today.

The theme of this book was to teach good moral values and human nature to anyone who might read it. It preaches things like helping other people and not being greedy or self-centered, it also tells people to work together to reach a common goal.

This book was writen as a drama to be performed to people on a stage so people could also see the events rather than just read or hear them. A drama is ment to be performed by actors and usually requires the story to be played out rather than read.

As for my opinion on this book, I though it was ok. I'll be honest though, I picked this book up thinking it would be about Sophocles himself and made the stupid mistake of not looking through it first. I would not recomend this book to people who can't read shakespearean english like me. If you can, however, it would be a very good book for you.

[Sonia]

Another one for tutoring, a good resource on Pericles and Athens. This site is going to be an excellent tool for documenting everything I read. great if I ever need it again! yay!