Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens. A History of Ancient Greece
Published Feb 2018
We Greeks are one in blood and one in language; we have temples to the gods and religious rites in common, and a common way of life.
So the fifth-century historian Herodotus has some Athenians declare, in explanation of why they would never betray their fellow Greeks to the enemy, the ‘barbarian’ Persians. And he might have added other common features, such as clothing, foodways, and political institutions. But if the Greeks understood their kinship to one another, why did so many of them fight for the invading Persians, and why, more generally, is ancient Greek history so often the history of internecine wars and other, less violent forms of competition?
This extraordinary contradiction is the central theme of acclaimed author Robin Waterfield’s magisterial history of ancient Greece.
With more information, more engagingly presented, than any similar history, this is the best single-volume account of ancient Greece in more than a generation. Waterfield gives a comprehensive narrative of seven hundred years of history, from the emergence of the Greeks in the Mediterranean around 750 BCE to the Roman conquest of the last of the Greco-Macedonian kingdoms in 30 BCE. Equal weight is given to all phases of Greek history – the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods – and to the celebrated figures who shaped it, from Solon and Pericles to Alexander and Cleopatra. In addition, by incorporating the most recent scholarship in classical history and archaeology the book provides fascinating asides on Greek law, religion, philosophy, drama and the role of women and slaves in society. A brilliant, up-to date account of a remarkable civilisation, Creators, Conquerors and Citizens presents a compelling and comprehensive portrait of ancient Greece’s political disunity and underlying cultural solidarity.
