A reissue of a class work on Greece before the “Golden Age”

The remarkable achievements in art, architecture, science, philosophy, and drama that make up the “Glory that was Greece” mostly took place after the decisive defeat of the Persian invasion in 480 BCE. For the period before the fifth century BCE, our written sources on Ancient Greek history are largely legends and fanciful accounts recorded by later historians, such as Herodotus, the “Father of History,” who lived c. 484 - 425 BCE. But two centuries of diligent excavation by archaeologists of many nations have filled in some of the gaps.

Under the imprint “Routledge Revivals” the academic publisher Routledge is reissuing some classic works of scholarship that have been long out of print and hard to find. With small print runs, these books are so expensive, they are likely to only find a place in the most generously funded university libraries.

Archaic Greece is organized geographically, by region:

Part 1. Introduction

  1. The Background

  2. Ancient Sources for Greek History 3. The Archaic City-State and its Government

  4. Colonisation

Part 2. Central and Northern Greece

  5. Euboia and the Lelantine War

  6. Thessaly, Phokis, the Lokrides, Boiotia: the First Sacred War and its Aftermath

  7. Athens and Attica

Part 3. The Peloponnese

  8. Sparta: the Messenian Wars, and the Peloponnesian League

  9. Argos: the Heritage of Temenos

  10. Corinth, Epidauros and Aigina: Megara

  11. Sikyon: Elis, Arkadia, Achaia

Part 4. The Aegean Islands

  12. The Islands

Part 5. The Eastern Greeks

  13. The Ionic Greeks

  14. the Aiolic Greeks

I found the chapters on the rival powers of Athens (2.7) and Sparta (3.8) of particular value for increasing my understanding of the background to the Classical era that followed. But readers with a primary interest in ancient military history will find little on the warfare of this period, which is poorly documented.

The book has two clearly drawn maps, and 46 well-chosen monochrome illustrations, mostly sculptures and vase paintings. There is an excellent Glossary of Greek terms, and several appendices that translate historic documents.

The author, Lilian Hamilton Jeffery (1915-1986) was a British classicist and archaeologist. An expert in Greek inscriptions, she was a tutor in Greek history and archaeology and a lecturer in ancient history in the University of Oxford. In 1965 she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

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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 The Last Viking: The True Story of King Harald Hardrada, Ancient Rome: Infographics, Byzantium and the Crusades, A Short History of the Byzantine Empire, Theoderic the Great, The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium, Battle for the Island Kingdom, Vandal Heaven, The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome, Herod the Great: Jewish King in a Roman World, Caesar Rules: The Emperor in the Changing Roman World, Ancient Rome on the Silver Screen, Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint, Persians: The Age of the Great Kings, Polis: A New History of the Ancient Greek City-State, 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, and The Cambridge Companion to Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations.

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Note: Archaic Greece is also available in e-editions.

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