The Greeks

Greece in ancient times was never a nation, never unified, and never shared a common concept of what defined a proper government. The hundreds of Greek city-states were highly competitive and warfare between them was common. The Greeks were able, on occasion, to come together to defeat a common enemy like the invading Persians. But these occasions were rare. This short book, The Greeks, is the story of a people, not a conventional history text. Professor Dover describes his work as a handful of pebbles picked up from a long beach and arranged in a sequence of his choosing. His book is not a pedantic historical analysis, but rather a sympathetic effort to understand the ancient Greeks and how they viewed their world. Professor Dover described the early Greeks as "resilient, skeptical, cheeky people" whose distinctive contribution to Western history was a readiness to ask "Why? and Why not?" and to expect sane, reasoned, and clear answers. They openly challenged accepted concepts, even their own religious beliefs, although sometimes at considerable risk. The Greeks is comprised of only six chapters. Chapter one places the Greeks in the broader context of the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Hittites, and the vast Persian empire which emerged around 600 B. C. In the second chapter Dover explores the rivalry between Syracuse and Athens, thereby challenging the conventional Athenocentric view of Greek history. The last four chapters consider Greek sculpture and pottery, poetry and painting, a dramatic play (The Oresteia by Aeschylus), and lastly, philosophy, logic, and reason. I especially liked Dover's examination of The Oresteia. I have since purchased this trilogy - Agamemnon, Choephori, and Eumenides. The Greeks was originally marketed as a companion to a BBC television series by Christopher Burstall and Kenneth Dover. It has remained popular and has often been used as a supplementary college text. My copy, a fourth edition (1995) by the University of Texas Press, includes a mix of color and black and white photos. Christopher Burstall authored the short introduction.