The Story of Greece and Rome

by Tony Spawforth

Overview

“This excellent survey . . . spans the rise and fall of the Greco-Roman world. This conversational yet erudite history is a treat.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

The magnificent civilization created by the ancient Greeks and Romans is the greatest legacy of the classical world. However, narratives about the “civilized” Greek and Roman empires resisting the barbarians at the gate are far from accurate. Tony Spawforth, an esteemed scholar, author, and BBC presenter, follows the thread of civilization through more than six millennia of history. His story reveals that Greek and Roman civilization, to varying degrees, was surprisingly receptive to external influences, particularly from the East.

 

From the rise of the Mycenaean world of the sixteenth century B.C., Spawforth traces a path through the ancient Aegean to the zenith of the Hellenic state and the rise of the Roman Empire, the coming of Christianity, and the consequences of the first caliphate. Deeply informed, provocative, and entirely fresh, this is the first and only accessible work that tells the extraordinary story of the classical world in its entirety.

“A welcome survey of the two greatest powers in the ancient Mediterranean world and their bound destinies.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A sweeping, beautifully written story. . . . With Spawforth as our guide, we grasp a world less of myths and superheroes than of people who really lived.”

—John Timpane, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“With great agility, Spawforth mixes literary, inscriptional, and archaeological material and offers a nuanced understanding of how civilisations evolve.” —Professor Michael Scott, author of Ancient Worlds

“Informed, informative and thoroughly enjoyable. . . . A book that brings the past back to life.” —Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300241105
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	06/24/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	455
Sales rank:	391,698
File size:	22 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Tony Spawforth is emeritus professor of ancient history at Newcastle University, presenter of eight archaeological documentaries in the “Ancient Voices” series on BBC2, and author of numerous books, including Greece and the Augustan Cultural Revolution. He lives in Brighton, UK.

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

Editorial Reviews

Winter 2018

In this ambitious, entertaining, and fleet-footed survey, Spawforth (ancient history, Newcastle Univ., UK; The Complete Greek Temples) recounts the developments of what is now called classical civilization. The author's objective is to introduce these societies to novice readers of the period, beginning with Neolithic Greece (7,000 BCE) and concluding some 8,000 years later with the rise of the first Islamic Caliphate. The work traverses this substantial period mostly successfully, visiting key figures, developments, and major archaeological discoveries while only occasionally being too oblique in references. Given this breadth, a few errors invariably creep in (e.g., referring to Pompey as younger than Julius Caesar), and parts of the narrative frenetically scamper across both centuries and regions, in litanies of rulers, wars, and reversals, particularly in the concluding chapter. Lastly, the abundant personal anecdotes about Spawforth's own academic development and archaeological experiences frequently consume too much time but do enhance the author's authority. VERDICT While the pacing might overwhelm at times, this is overall a worthy and enjoyable introduction for readers seeking a general sense of the interwoven world of ancient Greece and Rome.—Evan M. Anderson, Kirkendall P.L., Ankeny, IA

Library Journal

★ 09/24/2018
This excellent survey by British historian Spawforth (Greece and the Augustan Cultural Revolution) spans the rise and fall of the Greco-Roman world, from the Aegean city-states that became Greece to the final days of the Roman Empire in the fifth century CE, which set the stage for current Western civilization. Through an interdisciplinary approach that includes history, anthropology, and literature, Spawforth traces the growth of Rome from a small part of the Italian peninsula to the multiethnic “Roman Peace” that extended from Hadrian’s Wall in the British Isles to what is now modern Turkey, with much cultural and religious detail along the way. For example, he makes clear how receptive both Greek and Roman civilizations were to foreign (i.e., “barbarian”) influences from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Carthage. In addition to straightforward historical narrative, Spawforth makes quite unexpected but relevant connections; in the first pages of a chapter about early Christianity, he refers—among other things—to a colleague’s obscure literary theory, Jonathan Haidt’s 21st-century research on moral psychology, a 1912 Japanese passage explaining emperor worship, and Catholics being blamed for the 1666 Great Fire of London. This conversational yet erudite history is a treat. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

A welcome survey of the two greatest powers in the ancient Mediterranean world and their bound destinies. . . . In a time when education in the classics is ever scarcer, this is an attractive and learned introduction to a history that reverberates in present events.”—Kirkus Reviews

“[An] excellent survey. . . . In addition to straightforward historical narrative, Spawforth makes quite unexpected but relevant connections. . . . This conversational yet erudite history is a treat.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Highly readable and useful.”—Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution

“From time to time, people ask me, ‘What’s a good history of Greece and Rome I can read?’ From now on, I think I’ll recommend this one, a readable tour for all readers, . . . a sweeping, beautifully written story covering eight and a half millennia. . . . With Spawforth as our guide, we grasp a world less of myths and superheroes than of people who really lived. . . . What a story, one worth reading. Spawforth makes the case for its lasting value: ‘These are things which suspend despair about the shortcomings of human nature. They bring joy, and hope.’”—John Timpane, Philadelphia Inquirer

“A beautifully written account of ancient history, breathtaking in its ambition and rich in insight.”—Professor Paul Cartledge, author of The Spartans

“An incredibly engaging read, written with scholarly precision and clarity. With great agility, Spawforth mixes literary, inscriptional, and archaeological material and offers a nuanced understanding of how civilisations evolve.”—Professor Michael Scott, author of Ancient Worlds

“Informed, informative and thoroughly enjoyable. . . . A book that brings the past back to life.”—Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads

From the Publisher

An incredibly engaging read, written with scholarly precision and clarity. With great agility, Spawforth mixes literary, inscriptional, and archaeological material and offers a nuanced understanding of how civilisations evolve.”—Professor Michael Scott, author of Ancient Worlds

Michael Scott

A beautifully written account of ancient history, breathtaking in its ambition and rich in insight.”—Professor Paul Cartledge, author of The Spartans

Paul Cartledge

2018-09-02

A welcome survey of the two greatest powers in the ancient Mediterranean world and their bound destinies.

The ancient Greeks, as BBC presenter Spawforth (Emeritus, Ancient History/Newcastle Univ.; Versailles: The Biography of a Palace, 2008) observes, "were migrants and emigrants" who established far-flung colonies and told stories of wandering, not the least of them The Odyssey. The Romans, who admired the Greeks more than any of their other neighbors, were committed to the notion that they had always been at the center of the world, yet were it not for their regard for the Greeks, "the cultural legacy of Greece would not have been preserved and cultivated to anything like the extent that it was." The author digs deep into Greek and Roman history to find similarities and differences while also considering relations with other powers—e.g., Carthage, Egypt, Persia. Spawforth also considers the nature of Greek and Roman political power, real and imagined, as with Plato, of whose Republic he writes, "how serious Plato was about the achievability of this totalitarian vision is a debate among experts which we cannot go into here." The author is an uncommonly clear explainer of troublingly complex issues. Why did Julius Caesar break a promising alliance with Pompey? At least in part, he writes, because the more Caesar achieved militarily, the more a jealous Pompey was courted by the "conservative aristocrats" who had long tried to dissolve the partnership. How did Christianity overwhelm the Roman Empire and polytheistic Greece as well? At least in some small measure, via writings that wooed the literate populace in such a way as to "snag the interest of educated Greek-speaking people in the non-Jewish world" by punning, for instance, on the name of Jesus and the verb meaning "to cure."

In a time when education in the classics is ever scarcer, this is an attractive and learned introduction to a history that reverberates in present events.

Kirkus Reviews