Richard Woff

The Ancient Greek World (Pocket Explorer) Richard Woff Har / Map Re edition

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato said that the Greeks lived around the Mediterranean Sea "like frogs around a pond." We must not think of the Ancient Greeks as living just in Greece. They traveled and settled all over the Mediterranean and Black Sea, had contacts with the great civilizations of Egypt and Phoenicia and traded with peoples even further afield in northern Europe and Asia. This book will introduce you to the wider world of the ancient Greeks.

Explore the world of the ancient Greeks, from Greece itself to the borders of Pakistan, the deserts of Ethiopia and the plains of southern Russia. This book shows how the history and culture of the ancient Greeks have always been closely linked with those of their neighbors. Greek culture was very influential, but in turn the Greeks themselves were influenced by their contacts with other great civilizations such as Egypt and Persia.

Discover how the ancient Greeks traded with peoples all around the Mediterranean Sea and beyond, and founded new cities which became great centers of culture in the ancient world.

Visit the Mycenaean and Minoan sites where the heroes of the Bronze Age had their citadels and palaces. Explore two contrasting city-states of Classical Greece-Athens (the birthplace of theater, philosophy and democracy) and Sparta (the ultimate military super state). Look inside the temples, theaters, schools, sports stadia and gymnasia, houses and palaces. Examine the objects that the Greeks left behind, and what they have to tell us about life in those ancient times.