Ancient Greeks For Dummies

Stephen Batchelor is a lecturer in Ancient History and Classical Studies. He writes reviews for History Today and Current Archaeology.

• Introduction 1Part I: Travelling Back in Time 7Chapter 1: When, Where, What, Who? Meeting the Ancient Greeks 9Chapter 2: Encountering Prehistoric Civilisations: The Minoans and Mycenaeans 21Chapter 3: Shedding Light on Ancient Greece’s Dark Ages 33Chapter 4: Governing by Kings, Tyrants, and (Eventually) Democrats 41Chapter 5: Fighting and Warring: Greece Gets Heavy 55Chapter 6: East versus West: The Persian Wars 67Part II: Athens to Alexander: The Rise and Fall of Empires 81Chapter 7: Athens and Empire Building 83Chapter 8: Dealing with the Neighbours from Hell: The Peloponnesian War 97Chapter 9: Losing Their Way: The End of Classical Greece 113Chapter 10: Rising Quickly to the Top: Macedonia 127Chapter 11: Crowning the Undefeated Champion of the World: Alexander the Great 139Chapter 12: What Happened Next? 153Part III: Living a Greek Life 163Chapter 13: Out in the Fields: Farming, Herding, and Travelling 165Chapter 14: Home and Family 177Chapter 15: Going About Daily Life in Ancient Greece 191Chapter 16: Plays and Pugilism: Enjoying Ancient Greek Entertainment 205Chapter 17: Depicting Men, Women, and Gods in Art 221Chapter 18: Building Beautiful Greek Architecture 237Part IV: Mythology, Religion, and Belief 247Chapter 19: Going Back to the Beginning: Myths and Gods 249Chapter 20: Blending Myth and History: Troy, Homer, and Heroes 267Chapter 21: Practising Everyday Religion: ‘A God Put It in My Heart to Say’ 281Chapter 22: Trying to Figure Everything Out: Greek Philosophy 293Part V: The Part of Tens 307Chapter 23: Ten Great Greek Inventions 309Chapter 24: Ten Things to Read Next 315Chapter 25: Ten Dodgy Ancient Greek Characters 321Chapter 26: Ten Great Places to Visit 327Index 333

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