A History of Greece, 1300 to 30 BC

A History of Greece: 1300 ‒ 30 BC , offers a comprehensive introduction to the foundational political history that shaped the Ancient Greek world, covering the period from the late Mycenaean Age through to the death of Cleopatra VII, the last Hellenistic monarch of Egypt. Structured chronologically, the book introduces readers to some of the textual and archaeological evidence utilized by historians to reconstruct the historical events that occurred during Greece’s Bronze, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods. For example, the political and social structure of the Greek world in the late Mycenaean period is revealed through analyses of the Linear B tablets, the oldest surviving records in Greek. It also explores various fragmentary papyri, inscriptions, coins, and other literary sources in reconstructing historical events. It provides a richly textured, but concise political narrative of events after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., including the destruction of Corinth by the Romans in 146 B.C., up until the end of the Hellenistic Period in 30 B.C. Balancing scholarly precision with a reader–friendly approach, A History of Greece offers an accessible introduction to the political history of one of most remarkable ancient civilizations and sophisticated periods of world history.

List of illustrations List of maps List of Boxes List of Abbreviations Preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1.  The Geography of Greece Part I: Bronze and “Dark” Age: ca. 1300–800 B.C. 2.  The Mycenaean Age 3.  The End of the Bronze Age and the Great Migrations 4.  Greece in the Later “Dark Age” Part II: The Archaic Period: ca. 800–479 B.C 5.  Colonization 6.  Sparta from the Messenian Wars to the Creation of the Peloponnesian League 7.  Tyranny 8.  Athens from Cylon to Cleisthenes 9.  Persia and the Ionian Revolt 10.  The Persian Wars Part III: The Classical Period: 479–323 B.C 11.  The Athenian Empire 12.  Sparta and Athens during the Pentecontaetia 13.  From the Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War to the Peace of Nicias 14.  From the Peace of Nicias to the Surrender of Athens 15.  The Lacedaemonian Ascendancy in Greece 16.  The Boeotian Ascendancy in Greece and the Second Athenian League 17.  The West from the Sicilian Expedition to the Campaigns of Timoleon 18.  Philip of Macedon and the Conquest of Greece 19.  Alexander the Great Part IV: The Hellenistic Period: 323–30 B.C 20.  The Wars of the Diadochi 21.  The Creation of the Hellenistic States 22.  Sicily and the West from Agathocles to the First Punic War 23.  The Hellenistic World in Equilibrium 24.  The Coming of Rome 25.  Twilight of the Hellenistic World Tables of Rulers Glossary Index

Victor Parker is Associate Professor of Classics in the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He has published some fifty specialized articles in Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern history as well as a commentary on the historian Ephorus.