Greece in the Making 1200-479 BC

Routledge History of the Ancient World

by Robin Osborne

Greece in the Making 1200–479 BC is an accessible and comprehensive account of Greek history from the end of the Bronze Age to the Classical Period. The first edition of this book broke new ground by acknowledging that, barring a small number of archaic poems and inscriptions, the majority of our literary evidence for archaic Greece reported only what later writers wanted to tell, and so was subject to systematic selection and distortion. This book offers a narrative which acknowledges the later traditions, as traditions, but insists that we must primarily confront the contemporary evidence, which is in large part archaeological and art historical, and must make sense of it in its own terms.



In this second edition, as well as updating the text to take account of recent scholarship and re-ordering, Robin Osborne has addressed more explicitly the weaknesses and unsustainable interpretations which the first edition chose merely to pass over. He now spells out why this book features no ‘rise of the polis’ and no ‘colonization’, and why the treatment of Greek settlement abroad is necessarily spread over various chapters. Students and teachers alike will particularly appreciate the enhanced discussion of economic history and the more systematic treatment of issues of gender and sexuality.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Greece, Classics, Ancient History, Ancient, Historical

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 26, 1996

Reviews

[thekar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was valuable for me because it gave me an insight on how scientific history and archaeology works, specifically on the subject of Bronze or Iron Age and Archaic Greece. As a Greek I was taught in school to value the ancient Greek myths about the founding of cities, etc or the stories of Herodotus or Thucidides. Although all these are sources for historical research, historians are based more on hard evidence, ie. archaelogical findings. For example the Ancients Greeks held the myth of the Dorian Invasion as an explanation of the distribution of the Dorian dialect in Peloponnese as well as the Dorian supremacy on the peninsula. The archaeological findings however neither show any invasion that caused a major cultural break on pottery, architecture etc, nor burials show a massive depopulation or repopulation.

The whole book deals with a critical examination of what the ancient Greeks of the classical period thought of their past, and with an attempt to picture the situation of pre-classical Greece from the Bronze Age Collapse to the aftermath of the Persian Wars from the archaeological evidence. Whenever there are not enough evidence, the author makes his own hypotheses, that sometimes differ from those of the ancients. For example, Aristotle attributed the tyrants of the city-states to class conflicts. The author, however believes that this is a reflection of Aristotle's age, and that the rise of the tyrants was caused by conflicts within the elite class in the city states. The power of the "demos", the people, came later at the late stages of the Archaic Age.


The book has two major problems. First, this is a textbook at the Unversity of Oxford. That means that is no way "popular science" and makes it hard to read for non-experts, ie. archaeologists or historians. Second, I have read it on an Modern Greek translation, which was quite bad, and made things worse. If one shows some patience, this book gives some insight on what is the experts' consensus on the history of archaic Greece, which I found very different of what I learned at school or of what is in related public discussions in Modern Greece.

[Clare Carter · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read this for class and wish I DIDN'T ITS FINE. It's a shame because if this had been written in a different way I may not have enjoyed it, but I definitely would have gotten more out of it.

Honestly I'm leaving more confused than I was when I opened this thing. This book is written in such a convoluted and *fancy* way that I never knew what the HECK was happening, which is the opposite of how someone should write a textbook about confusing STUFF like ANCIENT GREEK POLITICS #immad

[Iset · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that examines a curious mix of politics, diaspora, connection, and historiography in the classical Greek world. This is definitely not a text for complete newcomers to the subject, but for those with a pre-existing knowledge and interest. That said, I would not call it a challenging text; written mainly in prose, and lacking the dryness that features in many textbooks, it is an easy read if you already have a good grasp of the topic going into it.

7 out of 10

[Sanjay Prabhakar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historiographically mature.

Judging by some other reviews it may be worth noting for the prospective reader that this is not intended as a first text on archaic Greek history. Robin Lane Fox, in his Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome, suggests using this Routledge series as a second reading, following the Fortana History of the Ancient World volumes. The relevant installment from this series is Oswyn Murray's Early Greece, which is probably an easier read, but also differs distinctly from Greece in the Making in approach; it is far more trusting of, and more built around, literary sources, whereas Osborne is (rewardingly) sceptical about literary sources, and relies more than Murray on archaeology.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robin Osborne writes a detailed history of the Greek Dark Age, Archaic Period, and transition to the Classical Era. She analyzes two distinct, yet interrelated, threads in this book. On one hand, Osborne looks extensively at the archeological record of Ancient Greece and tries to inform the reader about what plausibly happened at various junctures—the collapse of the Late Bronze Age, the rise of Sparta and Athens, and the Persian Wars. On the other hand, Osborne shows convincingly that many Ancient Greek authors (e.g. Herodotus, Hesiod, Homer) based much of their writings on tradition/story-telling and not on empirical evidence as we would currently conceptualize it. Thus, readers are presented with the history that Greeks made for themselves juxtaposed with the Greek history that archeologists and modern ancient historians agree on. While this is all interesting and complicated, it made for an extremely dense and, at many points, tedious read. Still an important work and informative about many aspects of the Ancient Greek world.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unnecessarily confusing and long-winded.

[Kārlis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Finally slogged through this mess of a textbook. Although most (or at least some) of the content was fascinating, the writing is so long-winded and so full of different sources and tangents that it's almost entirely illegible. Only the epilogue and interesting stories underneath the writing redeemed this to 1 star (though Goodreads wouldn't allow lower ratings). Greek pottery has appeared in my nightmares for weeks (months?) now, and it will continue to do so because of Osborne.

[Ailed · Rating 4 out of 5]

It offers a great study of the Iron Age period in Greece, from the fall of the Mycenean palaces to the beginning of the Persian Wars.
The introduction provides a useful overview of the climate, agriculture, and demographics of the archaic period. And the book itself offers a wealth of innovative ideas on a variety of topics. I especially admire that the author takes ancient Greek literature with a grain of salt when it comes to extrapolating it to actual history.

[Dabney · Rating 2 out of 5]

dryer than hardtack

[Robin Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, defintley some dreary chapters but well researched and executed.

[sticks_r0cks_mud · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Likely would give it 4 if I had a more thorough history background - the non-stop the slinging of sources was a bit intimidating for one without the requisite library. This seemed best suited for those who have read Herodotus, Thucydides, and the like but want a cooler and wider look at dark ages and archaic Greece.

Examinations switched between physical archaeological evidence and gleaning the realities and (often more importantly) the embellishments of literary and oral history. As others have noted it was extremely critical of established classical histories, though this wasn't explicitly brought up until the epilogue, where he compared the fluidity of Greek historical identity to Orwell and Oceania. That bit may have been better suited for the Prologue, as it pretty hugely shifts a lot of the interpretations in the rest of the book.

[Caracalla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cursory reading but this is pretty good stuff, interesting contentions. You probably want to have read widely before this because the focus is very archaeological (it's not particularly narrative history either) and because a lot of what he says is very uncharitable with the literary evidence (and possibly controversial for that reason, but obviously in a very safe way). He is very good on lawgivers and the population explosion theory (which he debunks).

[Spencer Clevenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a bit technical for most, it does give a great update on the Greek Dark and Archaic Ages. I would love to hear what he says given Peter James' claim that the Dark Age was 250 years shorter than previously thought.

[AskHistorians]

One of the definitive surveys of Dark Age and Archaic Greece.

[Sybil_Attak]

Δυστυχώς η νεοελληνική μετάφραση αποκλίνει σε ορισμένα σημεία από το πρωτότυπο.