From Alexander to Cleopatra

Readable, in-depth and broad in scope, this history covers the rise of Rome and the Successor states following the death of Alexander. The second half of the book examines the social changes and the cultural richness of the period: Hellenistic women, changes in art & architecture as well as city design and scholarship. I will definitely read more books by Grant, a well-versed scholar with a penchant for good writing and a lack of verbosity.

This book was really an eye opener for me. I have a great love for classical History(especially Roman History) and the Hellenistic period is seldom given the attention I feel it deserves. Grant solves this problem by providing an intense and thorough introduction to the Hellenistic World. I learned a lot from reading this. Nevertheless it must be said that Grant's highly intellectual and thorough style may bore the casual reader. I confess I even found parts of it a bit dull myself(in some cases this was probably due to Grant going over my head, he is a very intelligent person), and I've read lots of history books(though admittedly I only have an associates degree in History so I'm far from a professional historian). So if you think your man(or woman) enough to take on a Hellenistic History book as intellectually intense as this by all means go for it, but if your just looking for a light enjoyable read(that's easy for beginners to understand) you may wish to try something else.

Some readers are apprehensive about Michael Grant because the adjective "prolific" so often precedes his name. Whether or not you've read his other 70 books, this is a great work which, in little over 300 pages, takes us into the heart of the Hellenistic world. The period "Alexander to Cleopatra" is often treated as bookends marking the ending and resumption respectively of interesting periods; the interregnum punctuated only by obscure wars between Ptolemites and Selucids. But, as Grant recalls, the Hellenstic period saw Greek culture spread from Egypt to Central Asia and marked new heights in art, mathematics sculpture and literature. Moreover, without understanding the Hellenistic world, it is well nigh impossible to understand the history behind the New Testament - much of which was written in Greek. Maybe it is the very success of the Alexandrian conquests in spreading Greek culture which leads historians to look down their noses at this period - as if the popularization of Hellenic thinking somehow represents a debasement of the coinage. Well illustrated, too.