BOOKS: History Of The Classical World

Ancient Olympic Games, Wrestling

Judgment is absolutely essential in a classical historian. Many historians know the facts, but few have the knowledge and the judgment of P.J. Rhodes. Rhodes is the Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at the University of Durham in Durham England. Many of his works are considered by other scholars as definitive, especially his work on the Athenian Council as published in his 1972 book, The Athenian Boule. He is a man respected for his analysis of the classical world. After all the Greek Empire was a long time ago and it is easy to misinterpret facts to rewrite or revise, or to just go down the wrong path. Making a proper analysis about the classical world takes deep learning and a thorough and accurate knowledge of ancient languages. I was excited then to see a second edition (to be released February 1st, 2010) of Rhodes’s classic textbook, A History of the Classical Greek World, 478-323 B.C. It is a full, clear and detailed account, of the Greek Classical World of the 4^th and 5^th centuries B.C., written with Rhodes customary meticulous scholarship and clarity of narrative. Every opinion Rhodes renders springs from his erudite knowledge and his sound judgement. There is no attempt to rewrite history here or to cast it into an acceptable modern mold. Obviously, classical Greek society was vastly different from our own and in an attempt to understand that society better, it is often tempting for the journalist type writer to look upon it through modern glasses. Such a view puts the writer as well as the reader immediately into a ditch. Once a historian/writer goes off the path it’s not long before many of his interpretations follow. This bad behavior is kept to a minimum in Rhodes works. In other words, he just knows what he’s talking about. A History of the Classical Greek World is the best introduction to the Greek classical world. Highly recommended.