The Ancient Greek miracle

The Ancient Greeks invented philosophy, democracy, rational science, theatre and build the library of Alexandria and the Parthenon. Most Greeks does not live in what is now known as Greece, but in settlements in Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Libya, France , Italy, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia.

Edith Hall’s in depth introduction of Ancient Greeks, take you through the rise of the sixteenth century BC a journey through 2000 years of Greek legacy, Mycenaean Kingdoms to the Christianity over Paganism of AD 391.

Ancient Greeks had profound influence on the Romans who followed them, and then reshaped the world again when their works were rediscovered during the Renaissance.

According to Herodotus, the father of history, the Greeks sacrificed to the Gods, their rules of decent behavior, individualistic, inquisitive, open-minded, witty, articulate and their awesome achievements. They perfected the ships with multiple banks of oars. Edith Hall explains the Greek miracle, which made them great. Their sea faring habit brought them face-to-face contact with ethnically diverse peoples in several new settlements and their constant hunger to succeed in technological innovation provided by their intense relationship with sea.

Elegantly and proficiently narrated by Edith Hall which focuses on the shared traits that explains their enduring achievements, is an essential read to our understanding of the Greeks.

Edith’s ability to bring forward facts which you may not have come across before “the Athenians believed it was the duty of every father to teach his sons how to read and how to swim and enjoyed mass literacy. Archilochus a beautiful but potent polemic writer: after a man named Lycambes breaks his promise to the poet and Archilochus responds with an explicit verse about Lycambe’s daughter, as the humiliation begins to bite that it provokes an entire family to commit suicide.

Introducing the ancient Greeks by Edith Hall :From the bronze age of seafarers to navigators of western mind. £20.00  published by Bodley Head July 2015