num_pages: 184
description: This highly original introduction to ancient Greece uses the history of eleven major Greek cities to illuminate the most important and informative aspects of Greek culture. Cartledge highlights the role of such renowned cities as Athens (birthplace of democracy) and Sparta but he also examines Argos Thebes Syracuse in Sicily and Alexandria in Egypt as well as lesser known locales such as Miletus (home of the West's first intellectual Thales) and Massalia (Marseilles today) where the Greeks introduced the wine grape to the French. The author uses these cities to illuminate major themes from economics religion and social relations to gender and sexuality slavery and freedom and politics.
language: English
title: Ancient Greece: A Very Short Introduction
publisher: Oxford University Press