Table of Contents
List of Maps and Plates vii
Acknowledgements ix
Prologue: The Wild and the Tamed: Ancient Views of Civilization 1
Part I The Greeks
1 The Dawn of Greek Civilization 15
2 The Rise of the Hellenes 32
3 New Things: The First Greek City-States 45
4 As Rich as Croesus: Early Greeks and the East 60
5 Great Greeks: The Greek Settlement of the West 75
6 Meet the (Western) Neighbours 90
7 'Lord of All Men? The Threat of Persia 105
8 The Same but Different: Athens and Sparta 119
9 'Unprecedented Suffering? The Peloponnesian War 134
10 Examined Lives and Golden Mouths 148
11 'A Brilliant Flash of Lightning': Alexander of Macedon 163
12 Game of Thrones, or the World after Alexander 177
Part II The Romans
13 'Senatus Populusque Romanus' 195
14 Boots on the Ground: Building the Roman Empire 210
15 Hail Caesar! The Advent of the Autocrats 225
16 'Fierce Rome, Captive'? The Lure of Greece 241
17 What Did the Romans Do for Their Empire? 257
18 'Barbarians' at the Gate 271
19 The 'Jesus Movement' 286
20 United We Stand: The Final Century 301
21 Divided We Fall: A Tale of Two Empires 316
Epilogue 330
Timeline 334
Notes 340
Further Reading 354
Index 356