Name: The Classical World
ISBN: 9780465024964

Robin Lane Fox

Armies and empires, statesmen and tyrants--the acclaimed historian Robin Lane Fox vividly recounts the history of two great civilizations and one thousand years that forged the Western world

An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian

The Classical World

Gavin

Was tired of my own titanic ignorance (Where was Carthage? Were Spartans Communist? Did Greeks love their wives? What did upper class women do all day?) and mostly got ok answers. 

Bit of a story-book, though he does always tell us when he papers over something controversial. Most common phrases in this are ‘surely’ and ‘in my view’ (e.g. he just says that the Greeks probably had our kind of parental affections), which is nice. Classicists really do get a lot of room to make stuff up (cough, I mean abduction, inference to the best explanation).

The Emperor Hadrian was arguably the first classicist, captivated by a classical past and society he could already identify as something apart. In this one-volume history of the ancient world up to his death, Robin Lane Fox traces the development of classical civilisation from its origins in the 9th century BC to the height of the Roman Empire. Over this period the classical world bore witness to many dramatic changes, and this is a lively introduction to its highest points and a riveting exploration of evolving views of luxury, justice and freedom. toured his domains, as it is now for the many who share his fascination with the ancient world, its history, culture, and civilisation. Few historians are able to write about the broad sweep of ancient history with such depth of sympathetic understanding, or to communicate its appeal and significance so vividly, but with this book Lane Fox succeeds brilliantly.

The Classical World An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian

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