The Complete Idiot's Guide to Ancient Greece

Table Of Contents

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Ancient GreecePart 1: All Greek to You?
1. Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts – You Might Like Them
The Basics, including an outline of Greek history from the Bronze Age through Late Antiquity and Buzantium.

2. Classical Gas: Ancient Greek Literature and Art at a Glance
The ancient Greeks are famous for their enduring literary and artistic achievements. And there are many of them – as you’ll find out here!

3. Classical Analysis: Greek History, Philosophy, Science, and Architecture at a Glance
Besides literary and artistic works, the Greeks are famous for their fundamental contributions to philosophy and the sciences. This chapter summarizes these contributions and introduces you to the primary Greek philosophers and scholars.

4. Greek FAQs: Hot Topics in Brief
Okay, so you want some quick answers to some common questions, on topics ranging from Amazons and Atlantis to the Olympic Games. Here they are!

5. By Zeus! Ancient Greek Religion and Mythology
Find out about the religious and mythological perspectives that shaped Greek culture, literature, and thought and the ways that these perspectives have influenced our understanding of the world and of ourselves.

Part 2: The Bronze Age Through the Archaic Period
6. Where in the Hellas? Ancient Greece and Its Neighbors
Meet the neighbors! Take a quick tour of the Mediterranean world of the Greeks, so that you can find your bearings more easily.

7. Bullish on the Bronze Age: The Minoans and Mycenaeans
Discover the two Bronze Age cultures that had the most direct influence on the early developments of the Greeks: The mysterious Minoans of Crete and the Mycenaeans of Greece.

8. The Mysterious “Dorian Invasion” and Obscurities of the “Dark Age”
The sudden and mysterious end of the Mycenaean civilization (among others) brought on a “Dark Age” for the Greeks. This chapter shines a light on what we know of this important, but obscure, period.

9. The Archaic – and Aristocratic – Big Bang
In this chapter, Greek culture explodes into a new era and sees the beginning of the polis, or city-state.

10. A Cultural Explosion: Archaic Literature, Art, and Architecture
Follow the emergence of a literate and literary culture, and see the remarkable development of individual expression.

11. Go for the Gold! The Games of Ancient Greece
Get insight into competition and sports in the ancient Greek world, and free passes to the Olympic Games and other famous ancient athletic competitions.

12. Two to Tango: Athens and Sparta
The two most powerful and famous city-states of Greece were Athens and Sparta. Learn how these city-states developed and came to take on very distinctive characters.

Part 3: The Height of the Classical Period and the Polis
13. The Persian Wars
Discover how the Persian Empire’s invasion of Greece brought prominence to Greece, power to Athens, and problems to Sparta.

14. Democracy Is Coming: Athens at the Helm
The Greeks’ victory over the Persians put Athens at the helm of a confederacy, one that soon became its empire. Follow the often tumultuous development and practice of Athenian democracy, and a half-century of bitter conflict between Athens, Sparta, and their respective spheres of influence.

15. The Peloponnesian War
Follow the brutal 30-Year conflict between Athens and Sparta, and witness Sparta’s eventual victury.

16. Classical Culture
Enter the public and private lives of Greeks of the Classical perdiod, including the hidden world of women.

17. Methods from the Madness? Intellectual, Artistic, and Literary Developments of the Fifth Century B.C.E.
Discover the remarkable cultural and intellectual achievements that transcend the conflicts and chaos of this tumultuous century.

Part 4: The Breakdown of the Polis to the Death of Alexander the Great
18. Political Cutthroat: Shifting Dominance
See how the city-states were unable to come to a stable order in the aftermath of the Peloppnnesian War.

19. The Man with the Silver Spear: Philip II of Macedon and the Conquest of Greece
Read about how Philip II developed Macedon into a military power, defeated the city-states, and paved the way for the conquests of his son, Alexander the Great.

20. Life, Literature, and Culture in the Twilight of the Polis
Explore a period of tremendous intellectual maturity, depth, and synthesis that set the stage for the transformation of Greek culture into a world culture.

21. Boy Wonder: Alexander the Great and His Conquests
Alexander, his conquests, and his apparent vision for a new world order were legendary and larger than life. Follow his extraordinary, but brief, career from Greece to India and into eternity.

Part 5: The Legacy of Hellas
22. Citizens of the World: The Cosmopolis and Hellenistic Culture
Discover Hellenistic culture and the ways in which it transforms Greek culture and literature into a world heritage.

23. You Will Be Assimilated: Hellenism and the Coming of Rome
See how Roman conquests of the Hellenistic world came to infuse Rome with Greek learning, and how it led to a renaissance of Hellenic culture.

24. Trojan Horse? The Greek Legacy from Rome to the Renaissance
See how the infusion of Classical and Hellenistic traditions into Christianity, Byzantium, and Islam came back to enrich the West.

25. Radical, Romantic, and Revolutionary: Ancient Greece from the Renaissance to Today
Come back full circle to see how the ancient Greeks captured the imaginations of reformers, romantics, revolutionaries, and real people like you.

Appendixes
A. Your Own Odyssey: Reading, Surfing, and Travel Itineraries in Ancient Hellas

B. Glossary

Index