Never in a single volume has the full two-thousand-year story of the ancient Greeks been told, from the Bronze Age to the triumph of Christianity. Acclaimed classics scholar Edith Hall draws on archaeological discoveries and canonical texts to offer readers an invigorating new tour of the foundations of Western culture. In Hall's view, the Greeks' habit of living by the sea was their secret weapon, the trait that made them the perfect conduit for intellectual and cultural innovations originating throughout the ancient world. Coastal villages and routine seafaring expeditions led the Greeks to cultivate early advances in energy-harnessing technologies including the water mill and the sailing ship. In exploring their curiosity, independence, and suspicion of authority, Hall evokes a startling new portrait of the ancient Greek mind. Surprisingly witty and superbly researched, Introducing the Ancient Greeks will leave readers with new insights into our most important cultural ancestors.

Publication Year: 1864