Hellas - A Short History Of Ancient Greece

Contents include: PREFACE . . I. DARKNESS AND LIGHT 13 II. FARMER, TOWNSMAN AND MARINER 26 III. - BODY AND MIND 34 IV. FROM OLIGARCHY TO DEMOCRACY 45 V. UNITY OR ANNIHILATION 56 VI. THE AGE OF PERICLES 68 Vn. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR . . . . i. . 102 A GREEK WORKING BOY 126 PEDAGOGUE AND His CHARGE 127 A GREEK LADY OF THE FIFTH CENTURY 129 FIRST-AID ON THE BATTLEFIELD . . . . . . . . 172 A SURGICAL OPERATION 173 GREEK LADY OF ALEXANDRIAN TIMES 175 GOTHIC ARCH AND CLASSICAL PORCH 184 WORSHIP AT BACCHUS' SHRINE 192 MOURNERS AT A TOMB ..'..'** 193 MAP OF ANCIENT GREECE . . . . Front end-paper CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE . . . . . . . . Back end-paper. PREFACE: In Greek History, someone has said, little that happened mattered much; it was what the Greeks thought that counted. This, broadly speaking, is the truth; and here I have tried to lay the main emphasis on Greek ideas, setting them against the background of historic events. Obviously the best clue to their understanding is to be found in what the Greeks them selves wrote; and, though no English version can be an adequate substitute, I have given in translation whatever passages appear to me most revealing. With these it has been my object to convey effectively the author's meaning rather than slavishly to reproduce his phraseology; and I have taken, I confess, some liberty with the task, abbreviating by frequent omissions of words, clauses and even whole sentences, occasionally elaborating to bring out the full sense, and above all recasting the original syntactic construction in approximation to our own modern idiom. In the illustrations, similarly, I have here and there allowed myself the licence of reconstruction when details have suffered through accident or age. C. E. R. INTRODUCTION: Nothing moves in the world, it has been said, which is not Greek in origin. Yes, but, the critic replies, the lesson has been learnt long since: whatever matters in Classical Culture is by now absorbed into the life-blood of our civilization; further study of it seems superfluous. This is wholly to misconceive the function and influence of the Classical spirit. Throughout the centuries Greek thought has displayed an unfailing capacity to kindle thought in others, and there is scarcely a turning-point in Western history at which its explosive force has not been at work. First it broke through the cramping walls of the small Greek states which bred it, and diffused itself into the larger atmosphere of Alexander's Empire, transforming the whole life and outlook of the Near East. Next it penetrated the mind of Rome, shatt