A Classic Study of Greece in the Golden Age

“The period of Greek history from the end of the Persian Wars to the death of Alexander the Great can claim to be in some of its aspects unique in the history of the world. Where else could one find crowded into the brief space of five generations such a galaxy of great poets, artists, and thinkers: in short, of men whose creative achievement directly or indirectly has exerted an unparalleled influence on Western civilization for two thousand years…?” [p. xiii]

Originally published in 1936, and updated in 1957, this is a new reprint of a classic textbook on ancient Greek history. Although the author had a profound mastery of the ancient sources, he was a product of his era and class, reflecting its values and prejudices. And he was, of course, unaware of what modern scholarship, especially the discoveries of recent archaeology, has revealed about the ancient Greeks.

This book is by no means a glorification of the ancients. In his Introduction the author notes:

“The treatment of large sections of the slave population, the butchery and enslavement often attendant upon the capture of cities in time of war, and the practice of infanticide…bear eloquent testimony to a repulsive side of Hellenic history.” [p. xiv]

The book consists of 19 chapters:

1. Greece and Persia, 479 to 448 B.C.
2. The Greek Homeland, 479 to 423 B.C.
3. The Greeks of the West
4. The Great Peloponnesian War: First Stage, 431 to 421 B.C.
5. The Peloponnesian War: Second and Third Stages, 420 to 404 B.C.
6. Sparta as an Imperial State
7. The Hegemony of Thebes
8. The Rise of Philip of Macedon
9. The Triumph of Philip
10. The Greeks in the West During the Fourth Century
11. The Conquests of Alexander
12. The Empire of Alexander
13. Greek Warfare
14. The Government of the City-States
15. Greek Economic Life
16. Greek Art
17. Greek Language and Literature
18. Greek Science and Philosophy
19. Greek Religion

The text is supplemented by four clear maps, but there are no illustrations. Written in a dense academic style, sprinkled with Greek terms that are not translated, this would be a challenging read for today’s undergraduates. The book is particularly strong on military history, since that is very largely what ancient Greek historians wrote about. although our understanding of how ancient Greeks actually fought on land and at sea is still evolving.

Born in England, and educated at Cambridge, Max Ludwig Wolfram Laistner (1890-1959) was a leading authority of his day in ancient and medieval history, though he wrote on virtually every field of Western history from archaeology to ancient literature to medieval education. He taught for many year at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Colleagues recalled that "as a person, he drew admiration for his high-mindedness, integrity, warm-heartedness, and capacity for friendship" and "the quality of mind that made his scholarship purposeful and exact shone out in his judgments on matters of principle." He retained his British citizenship and “seemed ill-suited to the 20th century.”

---///---

Our Reviewer: Mike Markowitz is an historian and wargame designer. He writes a monthly column for CoinWeek.Com and is a member of the ADBC (Association of Dedicated Byzantine Collectors). His previous reviews include At the Gates of Rome: The Battle for a Dying Empire, Roman Emperors in Context, After 1177 B.C., Cyrus the Great, Barbarians and Romans: The Birth Struggle of Europe, A.D. 400–700, Crescent Dawn: The Rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern Age, The Missing Thread: A New History of the Ancient World Through the Women Who Shaped It, The Roman Provinces, 300 BCE–300 CE: Using Coins as Sources, The Cambridge Companion to Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, Archaic Greece, Amazons: The History Behind the Legend, The Byzantine World, Classical Controversies, Reassessing the Peloponnesian War, War and Masculinity in Roman and Medieval Culture, Nemesis: Medieval England's Greatest Enemy, The Wars of the Roses: A Medieval Civil War, The Emperor and the Elephant, Tiberius, The Roman Empire and World History, and Leadership in the Ancient World: Concepts, Models, Theories.

---///---

Note: A History of the Greek World from 479 to 323 B.C is also available in hard cover & e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium

www.nymas.org