A History of Greece
To the Death of Alexander the Great
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A History of Greece
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Narrated by:
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Charlton Griffin
About this listen
At the time of his death in 1927, John Bagnell Bury was easily the most honored English historian of his era. The plaudits for his intellectual ability were well deserved. Bury, an esteemed Cambridge scholar, wrote what is considered the finest one-volume history of ancient Greece in the English language. His beautifully crafted survey of Greek civilization begins with the description of Bronze Age settlements which appeared on the Greek mainland and on the island of Crete. The story takes us on a strange and exciting series of adventures which result in the development of independent city-states constantly embroiled in division and war. As this millennial-long arc of history moved across the face of Greek society, the searing changes that occurred in various regions were profound and world changing. Militant Sparta and democratic Athens developed opposing civil societies, while despotic Persia awaited her opportunity to strike. In the end, it was both the warring Greeks and Persian Empire that succumbed to the Macedonian phalanx of Alexander the Great, ending a thousand years of independence for Greek city states. But in that space of time allotted them, these Greeks bequeathed to the world the most sublime philosophy, poetry, art, and architecture humanity has ever seen. Ancient Greece taught the world not what to think, but HOW to think.
Listeners are encouraged to refer to the accompanying PDF file of maps and chronological tables. This recording utilizes ancient Greek pronunciation where presumably known (e.g., Alcibiades); in questionable cases, modern Greek (e.g., Delphi); and in cases where it is commonly understood primarily by English speakers (e.g., Thucydides).
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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What listeners say about A History of Greece
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ApollonianTadzio
- 11-07-24
Superb, if slightly dated, one-volume overview
First, a comment on the reader. Mr. Griffin has a certain slow theatrical style that most listeners will find rather polarising. His reading is always clear and easy to understand, but I can see why many listeners find it monotonous. Personally, I appreciate the clarity, and find that his style is very well suited to listening to audiobooks at higher than normal speed. If you are looking for a highly emotive performance, he probably isn't the reader for you.
As for the text itself, this appears to be the 1913 edition, which is in the public domain. or the 1931 edition. It's a masterfully written history, held back in a few places by the understandable inability of the author to incorporate subsequent scholarship. The modern reader may find some of the vocabulary and attitudes jarring depending on their political persuasion and general sensitivty, but I would encourage people to set this work in the context of its time and overlook those relatively minor flaws, be they considered flaws.
J.B. Bury was a truly exemplary historian, and this work is one of the best single-volume histories of the classical Greek world I've had the fortune to read. It ties events across the Greek world and throughout the centuries together in a manner that enables Bury to present the reader with a coherent and interconnected picture of Greek civilisation through the ages. If you have any serious interest in Greece or the antique world, I would highly recommend this book.
Another quick comment on the narration: I tend to listen to Griffin, and listened to most of this book, at somewhere between 2.3-2.5x speed. Griffin has done a tremendous deal of good work producing clear audiobook versions of western classics, and personally his style suits my listening preferences, but I would encourage potential buyers to listen to all of the sample and understand that any audiobook read by Griffin will maintain that pace and style for the entirety of its "runtime".
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