Also by Peter Jones Vote for Caeser Learn Latin: The Book of the Daily Telegraph QED series Veni Vidi Vici First published in hardback in Great Britain in 2014 by Atlantic Books, an imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd. Copyright © Peter Jones, 2014. The moral right of Peter Jones to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. Every effort has been made to trace or contact all copyright holders. The publishers will be pleased to make good any omissions or rectify any mistakes brought to their attention at the earliest opportunity. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Hardback ISBN: 978-1-78239-514-0 E-book ISBN: 978-1-78239-515-7 Paperback ISBN: 978-1-78239-516-4 Designed by Carrdesignstudio.com Printed in Great Britain. Atlantic Books An Imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd Ormond House 26–27 Boswell Street London WC1N 3JZ www.atlantic-books.co.uk CONTENTS Maps Introduction I 2000–800 BC From Bronze Age to Dark Age II 800–725 BC Competing for glory Olympics and the Olympian gods III 725–700 BC From Homeric hero to Hesiod’s peasants IV c. 700–593 BC Tyranny, poetry and speculation V 593–493 BC Athens: from tyranny to democracy VI 493–450 BC From Persian empire to Athenian – tyranny? VII 450–421 BC Athens v. Sparta: the Peloponnesian War VIII 421–399 BC Athens capitulates: the execution of Socrates IX 399–362 BC City-states at war in Greece X 360–336 BC The rise of Macedon: Philip II takes over Greece XI 336–322 BC Alexander the Great and the end of democracy XII 322–229 BC After Alexander: the empire divided XIII 229–146 BC Macedon falls to Rome XIV 146–27 BC The end of Alexander’s empire Epilogue: the survival of Greek literature Reading list Index A note on the author MAPS