78 of 84 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The perfect volume for any lover of history., January 29, 2005
This review is from: The Oxford History of Greece & the Hellenistic World (Paperback)
The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenisic World is a perfect primer for ancient Greek studies on history, literature, philosophy and art, but it is also a great read for the casual history and literature buff (which is the reason I read it!) Spanning from the Archaic Period, with Homer and Hesiod, through the Classical period with Aeschylus and Euripides, to the curious Hellenistic world: a world of three empires (The Antigonids of Macedon, the Seleucids of Western Turkey through to Afghanistan, and the Ptolemies of Egypt) where the Roman influence was penetrating an already crumbled empire unable to defend itself against Roman cultural and military pressures. The Greeks still adopted the slow, inflexible, easily flanked and routed phalanx - no match for the Roman Legions which would soon topple almost all of the three empires.
I must make special mention of certain essays. (This volume is a collection of essays by experts in their fields: as such, some sections are better than others.) The histories are absolutely brilliant, enlightening and fascinating. The discussion of literature is a mixed bag, however. One of my favourite essays is one on Homer's poetry. It must be read to be believed - wonderful stuff. However, the chapter on Elegaic and Lyric Poetry I found to be inaccessible. I study English, and a lot of the discussion went far too deep, far too fast, and, coupled with a piecemeal historical background to be considered, the chapter turned to dust. It is certainly worth reading, but it by far the weakest chapter. The chapters on philosophy were, in fact, my favourite - sitting right up top with Homer. These chapters were probably the only truly "riveting" moments in the book, because the themes they deal with are so large, and the evolution so fascinating. The sections on mythology and religion are solid and informative. Thankfully art and architecture are not neglected, and the chapters concerning their evolution and influence are interesting, if not a little bit too far away from my sphere of interest. The depiction of the various deities and the like, however, was great and complemented the religious chapters well.
The maps and the historical chart (detailing events both social and cultural) are the best I have ever seen in a single paperback volume. The selected readings at the end of each chapter are both comprehensive and accessible, so full marks there. It is a small pity that there isn't a glossary of useful greek terms, but that is of little consequence and does nothing to tarnish this brilliant gem.
It pains me a bit to see that this book has only one review (now two) to it's name. It deserves to be read. As is said in the introduction of this book: "To see that such things can be true of people whom in some ways we find intelligible and recognizable can help to deliver us from the tyranny of the present, from the assumption that our own habits of action and thought are really inescapable, and from the idea that there are no alternatives. That is the liberating power of the past." (Boardman, p.8)
The past liberates us from ourselves and should not be forgotten. This is something I passionately believe, and I am not even a historian.
It is needless to say but I will say it anyway: buy this book and any other Oxford history you can find - or Cambridge history for that matter - and absorb it all. The details are not important the first time through, just withhold the themes and the power that comes from reading about a culture alive only in museums and through fragmented customs and throwbacks; of a people extinct or bred out of existence; and of a history lived before our current means of measuring time existed (this was long before the advent of the Julian Calender.)
I am rambling.
Buy. Read. Enjoy.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The value of this book is high, February 6, 2007
A Kid's Review
This review is from: The Oxford History of Greece & the Hellenistic World (Paperback)
Whether you're a newcomer to Greek history or someone who has already studied diverse segments of it looking to organize your knowledge, this book will be an aid. It is essentially an overview of the main studies - aka, philosophy, literature, politics, military, eras, etc. That said, as it is a compilation of all these diverse things, it tends to become less specialist and more general (big picture). That is why people who are intensely interested in Greek history would be better off buying books specializing in different parts of it, then buying this book to clarify and put into context what you've learned from those other sources. Newcomers can make use of it too, but there will undoubtedly be parts they won't be able to make sense of due to their inexpertise. By and large, however, this book is accessible and to varrying degrees useful to professionals, amateurs, longtime students, and newcomers alike - providing they can tolerate academic language.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Preliminary review, May 14, 2011
This review is from: The Oxford History of Greece & the Hellenistic World (Paperback)
I am going to update this review, but so far the outlook is bleak. Given, this is the 1988 publication, but I have found very little grace in terms of style. Here is one example from pg. 33...
"Of Athens we can only say that Cleisthenes' legislation came in time to avoid trouble and that it was enough in accord with what was wanted to allow Athenians to do what later they did."
As an undergrad student I have written sentences far clearer and more concise than that and STILL had to re-write it. I would recommend a copy of Strunk & White's, "The Elements of Style" to whomever wrote the first chapter. This is not the only case, but a good example of cluttered writing.
Another problem I have noticed is the lack of clarity the author presents between his own opinion and the paradigm of the ancient Greeks. On top of pg. 31, the author refers to the tyrant as a "disease," and that a relative of Solon became "infected" by it. Now, if the ancient Greeks saw "tyranny" as a disease, then the author simply needs to re-write the entire paragraph to clarify that point. However, if he himself sees tyranny as a disease, he needs to stop projecting his 20th century moral preconditions into antiquity and just report facts.
Again, this is a preliminary review, but things have gotten off to a really bad start, I shall revise and edit if things shape up toward the middle.
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