The Hellenistic Age: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles)

ISBN: 0812967402

Author: Green, Peter

Condition: New

The Hellenistic Age chronicles the years 336 to 30 BCE, a period that witnessed the overlap of two of antiquitys great civilizations, the Greek and the Roman. Peter Greens remarkably far-ranging study covers the prevalent themes and events of those centuries: the Hellenization, by Alexanders conquests, of an immense swath of the known world; the lengthy and chaotic partition of this empire by rival Macedonian bands; the decline of the city-state as the predominant political institution; and, finally, Romes moment of transition from republican to imperial rule. It is a story of war and power-politics, and of the developing fortunes of art, science, and statecraft, spun by an accomplished classicist with an uncanny knack for infusing life into the distant past, and applying fresh insights that make ancient history seem alarmingly relevant to our own times.Spectacular . . . [filled with] Mr. Greens critical acumen.-The Wall Street JournalGreen draws upon a lifetime of scholarship to brilliantly sum up the three-hundred-year Hellenistic age. . . . Happily, this books brevity-admirable in itself, and in its concision, elegance, and authority-isnt achieved at the expense of subtlety and complexity.-The Atlantic MonthlyAn interesting and well-written overview . . . Students of world history are in Greens debt.-The Philadelphia InquirerMarvelous . . . splendid . . . a brilliant introduction to this crucial transitional period.-Publishers Weekly (starred review)