Customer Reviews
Bit of a mix... - By: Mr. N. W. Douglas, 27 Sep 2007 
This book is a collection of chapters from various historians pulled togetherin one book that covers the Heroic Age through to the Hellenistic world (a long time)! Most of the authors are easy to read & writein a way where the average reader can get a lot from them, however, some are not as good. This book is probably recommended to somebody who has read a few books on the Greeks before, since many of the terms are not explained (it is assumed the reader already knows). A good book to expand previous knowledge on the Ancient Greeks.
Terrible new version - By: , 04 Apr 2005 
This books is printed on ugly brown pulp, & has most of the rare & ancient photos of the original edition missing. The photosin this edition are a fraction of what appearin the original, they are smaller, lowin quality & contrast & all squeezed into the middle of the book instead of throughout the book. Truly aweful. Horrible.
Clear and concise - this book does what it sets out to. - By: Sophia Joyce, 05 Nov 2002 I bought this book because I did a Classics degree, & then forgot everything about it. I wanted to reacquaint myself with the Greek world through a well-written & well-regarded medium that wouldn't make my head hurt after a hard day at work.
The book itself is very well designed, arrangedin sections that follow loosely a chronological order. Rather than aiming to give the reader a dry run-through of every significant eventin Greek history, the book aims to provide its reader with an insight into, & an understanding of, the most important features of Greek history & culture. All the time, however, the chronological structure provides one with a sense of progression & development, & also prevents the reader with no prior knowledge of the period from becoming confused as to where everything fits in.
I don't honestly feel that any topic has been overlooked or neglectedin the creation of this book. Greek history is a vast & absorbing topic - this book is concise & relatively short, so inevitably the reader comes away feeling that there is a great deal more that he/she would like to find out. Each section provides details of further reading to help with this. There is also a detailed time-line of events & some good maps, which contribute to the books usefulness as a reference tool.
The contributors are eminent academics who specialisein the areas that they discussin the book. More importantly the contributors are not all the same type of academic & the different tones of their analyes are conveyed, though not over-poweringly,in their sections. Each topic is fairly treated with due consideration given to the most prevalent schools of thoughtin that area.
Allin all I would say that this is an excellent book, practically & professionally conceived & created. It will provide the intelligent reader, with or without any classical knowlege, with a lucid treatment of the Greek & Hellenistic world, & make itself useful again & again as a basic reference tool.
