Read The Classical World Online
Authors: Robin Lane Fox
E. A. Freeman,
A History of Sicily
, volume II (1891), 49–222, is still unsurpassed; Georges Vallet, in
Pindare: Huit exposés
, Entretiens Fondation Hardt XXXI (1984), 285–327, is also a tour de force, especially Pindar as ‘témoin oculaire’ of erupting Etna, Pindar in (male) love while others were at war at Marathon (page 312: ‘oui, Pindare a aimé ce jeune home sage et bon, ami des Muses’: Thrasybulus of Agrigentum) and then Pindar confronted with unpredictable democracy (pages 316–17), with the brilliant study by W. S. Barrett, in
Journal of Hellenic Studies
(1973), 23–35. On Pindar and the afterlife, Hugh Lloyd-Jones, ibid. (1984), 245–83 is also excellent. J. G. Pedley,
Paestum: Greeks and Romans in Southern Italy
(1990) is a fine survey of a fine site; J. J. Coulton,
Greek Architects at Work
(1977), 82–8 and 141–4, on temple-building; M. W. Frederiksen,
Campania
(1984), 85–133, on Greeks in Italy and Etruria; on early Rome, T. J. Cornell,
The Beginnings of Rome
(1995), chapters 3–11, although I certainly do not accept that ‘Etruscan Rome’ was a ‘myth’; Christopher J. Smith,
Early Rome and Latium
(1996), for Rome’s surrounds; A. Grandazzi,
The Foundation of Rome: Myth and History
(1997), for more of the former than the latter; Alan Watson,
Rome of the XII Tables: Persons and Property
(1975) is an enjoyable study,
with A. W. Lintott,
The Constitution of the Roman Republic
(1999), 27–146, a magisterial survey. For the Tables themselves, M. H. Crawford,
Roman Statutes
, volume II (1996), 555–722, a fine study.
P. J. Rhodes,
The Athenian Empire
(1985) gives an excellent survey; R. Meiggs,
The Athenian Empire
(1975) is classic, especially chapters 11–23 and pages 413–589; I confess to disbelieving in a ‘Delian League’, to rejecting the superfluous activities of Aristides, mythologized in Aristotle,
Athenaion Politeia
23.4–5, and therefore to accepting the lucid view of A. Giovannini and G. Gottlieb, in
Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften: Phil.-Hist. Klasse
(1980), 7–45 which torpedoes much modern debate. P. J. Stylianou,
The Age of the Kingdoms
(1989), 428–58, is a good view from Cyprus outwards; W. G. Forrest, in
Classical Quarterly
(1960), 232–41, is a classic, on the ‘two groups’ of Athenians. J. K. Davies,
Democracy and Classical Greece
(1993, 2nd edn.), chapters 4, 5 and 6, is particularly clear. S. Brenne and P. Siewert,
Ostrakismos-Testimonien
(2002 – in progress) publishes the excellent new range of ostraka, while G. E. M. de Sainte Croix,
Athenian Democratic Origins
(2004), 180–214, explains the institution; M. Ostwald,
From Popular Sovereignty to the Sovereignty of Law
(1986), 28–83, on constitutional change at Athens; G. E. M. de Sainte Croix, in
Historia
(1954–5), 1–40, is still the best study of the ‘character’ of the Empire, after decades of debate and criticism; D. M. Lewis,
Selected Papers in Greek and Near Eastern History
(1997) 9–21, on the ‘first’ war; Jeffrey M. Hurwit,
The Athenian Acropolis
(1999), 138–245, on its changing face. E. A. Freeman,
The History of Sicily
, volume II (1891), 222–429, is still unsurpassed on the West.
Deborah Boedeker and Kurt A. Raaflaub (eds.),
Democracy, Empire and the Arts in Fifth Century Athens
(1998); T. B. L. Webster,
Athenian Culture and Society
(1973) is still valuable; Martin Robertson,
A History of Greek Art
, volume I (1972), 292–362, and his
The Art of Vase Painting in Classical Athens
(1992) are classic on the classical age; James Whitley,
The Archaeology of Ancient Greece
(2001), 269–94, finds ‘defining the “classical” an elusive task’, by contrast. Terence Irwin,
Classical Thought
(1989) is very clear and E. R. Dodds,
The Greeks and the Irrational
(1951), 179–206, and
The Ancient Concept of Progress
(1973), 1–25, are unarguably classics, perhaps even for J. Whitley. R. Netz,
The Shaping of Deduction in Early Greek Mathematics
(1999) is very important. On Herodotus, John Gould,
Herodotus
(1989) with Thomas Harrison,
Divinity and History
(2000), a helpful study, Rosalind Thomas,
Herodotus in Context
(2000) from whom I differ. R. L. Fowler, in
Journal of Hellenic Studies
(1996), 62–87, inclines against a Herodotus who is ‘first’ on the historical scene. W. G. Forrest, in
Phoenix
(1984), 1–11, is very important on Herodotus’ politics. W. K. Pritchett,
The Liar School of Herodotus
(1993) is vigorous and pages 150–59 address the chariot-group at Athens and Herodotus’ visit, a reason why, perhaps too specifically, I put him in Athens in 438/7, before (on usual dating) the new Propylaea; the ancients think of a visit in 446/5, perhaps only as a synchronism with the Thirty Years Peace. Margaret C. Miller, in
American Journal of Archaeology
(1999), 223–54, memorably discusses the scenes of cross-dressing. J. Gould, in
Journal of Hellenic Studies
(1980), 38–55, is a basic study on Athenian women, with Roger Just,
Women in Ancient Law and Life
(1987), essays in Ian McAusland and Peter Walcot,
Women in Antiquity
(1996) and much else. R. Osborne, in
Past and Present
(1997), 3–33, points to a change in the representation of women, albeit in our surviving evidence; I hesitate to link it to the citizenship law, on which G. E. M. de Sainte Croix,
Athenian Democratic Origins
(2004), 233–53. On Sculpture, Andreas Scholl,
Die korenhalle Des Erechtheion
(1998), with J. B. Connelly, in
American Journal of Archaeology
(1996), 53–80, is brilliantly controversial and not yet refuted by critics; Stefano d’Ayala Valva, in
Antike Kunst
(1996), 5–13, is very important, with W. Fuchs, Torsten Mattern, ed.,
Munus… für Hans Wiegart
(2000) 111–2 identifying Erichthonios in the Frieze’s procession. A. W. Pickard-Cambridge,
The Dramatic Festivals of Athens
(1986, revised edn.), 263–78, is still basic on the audience; on tragedy and ‘political ideas’, S. Goldhill, in Christopher Rowe and Malcolm Schofield (eds.),
Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Political Thought
(2000), 60–88, for a clear survey, but see Jasper Griffin, in
Classical Quarterly
(1998), 39–61. I wrote this chapter before the publication of P. J. Rhodes, in
Journal of Hellenic Studies
(2003), 104–19, which is very important. Eric Segal (ed.),
Oxford Readings in Aristophanes
(1996) and Malcolm Heath,
Political Comedy in Aristophanes
(1987) provoke thought; W. G. Forrest, in
Klio
(1970), 107–16, is important for the context, surely, of
Knights
; Nan Dunbar,
Aristophanes’ Birds
(1994) is a brilliant commentary.
Plutarch’s
Life of Pericles
is edited by Frank J. Frost (1980); Anthony J. Podlecki,
Perikles and His Circle
(1998) and
An Age of Glory: Athens in the Time of Pericles
(1975); A. W. Gomme,
Historical Commentary on Thucydides
, volumes 1 and 2, for noble observations on Thucydides, 1.140–44, 2.35–46 and 2.60–64. Jeffrey M. Hurwit,
The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles
(2004).
D. M. Lewis, in
Cambridge Ancient History
, volume V (1992), 370–432, and A. Andrewes, ibid. (1992), 433–98, are now the best surveys; V. D. Hanson,
Why the West Has Won: Carnage and Culture from Salamis to Vietnam
(2000) is enjoyably controversial; H. van Wees,
Greek Warfare: Myths and Realities
(2004), especially chapters 12 onwards. On Thucydides, G. E. M. de Sainte Croix,
Origins of the Peloponnesian War
(1972), 5–34, is a classic, as is the rest of the book; Tim Rood,
Thucydides: Narrative and Explanation
(1998) is important; A. Andrewes and K. J. Dover,
Commentary on Thucydides
, volumes IV and V (1981), are also fundamental, although we disagree about Thucydides 8.97.2. The latest commentary in progress is S. Hornblower,
A Commentary on Thucydides
(1991–6, so far). On a Spartan’s brutality, Sherry Lee Bassett, in
Ancient History Bulletin
(2001), 1–13; compare S. Hornblower, in Hans van Wees,
War and Violence in Ancient Greece
(2000), 57–82, on their canes, and Clifford Hindley, in
Classical Quarterly
(1994), 347–66, on their sex-lives. For a memorable view of the war’s impact, Gilbert Murray, in
Journal of Hellenic Studies
(1944), 1–9; for one which is more factually based, Barry Strauss,
Athens after the Peloponnesian War: Class, Faction and Policy, 403–386
BC
(1987).
C. C. W. Taylor,
Socrates
(1998) is an excellent short guide; Gregory Vlastos,
Socrates
(1991) is a fuller, vigorous study; R. C. T. Parker,
Athenian Religion: A History
(1996), 152–218, is very important, with E. R. Dodds,
The Greeks and the Irrational
(1951), 179–206, a classic. W. G. Forrest, in
Yale Classical Studies
(1975), 37–52, is still the outstanding study of the ‘generation gap’, though composed in 1968 whose
événements
are audible in it; M. Ostwald,
From Popular Sovereignty to the Sovereignty of Law
(1986), 537–50, studies
the personnel very interestingly. Paula Gottlieb, in
Classical Quarterly
(1992), 278–9, is important on irony; Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith,
The Trial and Execution of Socrates
(2002) collects sources and discussions, including the pungent one by I. F. Stone,
The Trial of Socrates
(1997); James A. Coliasco,
Socrates against the Athenians
(2001) and Malcolm Schofield, in T. P. Wiseman (ed.),
Classics in Progress
(2002), 263–84, on Socrates and the lot. Paul Zanker,
The Mask of Socrates
(1995, English translation) is a fine study of the later portraitures.
S. Hornblower,
The Greek World, 479–323
BC
(2002, 3rd edn.), 210–60, is an excellent guide through the complex events; J. K. Davies,
Democracy and Classical Greece
(1993, 2nd edn.), 134–260, is an interpretative survey; N. G. L. Hammond,
A History of Greece to 322
BC
(1967), 466–520, and especially pages 663–5 on army-numbers in the main states; P. Carlier,
Le IVème siècle avant J.-C.: Approaches historiographiques
(1996). J. Roy, in Roger Brock and Stephen Hodkinson (eds.),
Alternative to Athens
(2000), 308–26, is important on Arcadia, with Frank W. Walbank,
Selected Papers
(1985), chapters 1 and 2, on Greek nationality and Greek ‘federalism’; Alexander Fuks,
Social Conflict in Ancient Greece
(1984), with A. W. Lintott,
Violence, Civil Strife and Revolution in the Classical City
(1982), chapters 6 and 7; M. N. Tod,
International Arbitration among the Greeks
(1913) is still valuable.
Jenifer Neils and John H. Oakley,
Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past
(2003), with excellent illustrations; Mark Golden,
Children and Childhood in Classical Athens
(1990); Mark Golden, in
Greece and Rome
(1988), 152–62, on whether the ancients cared when children died. On abortion, K. Kapparis,
Abortion in the Ancient World
(2002); D. Ogden,
Greek Bastardy
(1996); J.-M. Hannick, ‘Droit de cité et mariages mixtes’, in
L’Antiquité classique
(1976), 133–48; Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen A. Fant,
Women’s Life in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook
(1992); Ellen D. Reeder,
Pandora: Women in Classical Greece
(1995); Helen King,
Hippocrates’ Woman: Reading the Female Body in Ancient Greece
(1998) is excellent on medical fantasies; James Davidson,
Courtesans and Fishcakes
(1998), 73–212, on prostitution and sex; Sian Lewis,
The Athenian
Woman
(2002), very good on the iconography; Pierre Brulé,
Women of Ancient Greece
(2003, English translation), a thoughtful study; Debra Hamel,
Trying Neaira
(2003) is an excellent, clear read. On education, H. I. Marrou,
Histoire de L’éducation dans L’antiquité
(1965, revised edn.) is classic. Matthew Dillon,
Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion
(2002), with the excellent study of R. G. Osborne, in
Classical Quarterly
(1993), 392–405. On King Philip’s family, Kate Mortensen, in
Ancient History Bulletin
(1992), 156–71.
The evidence for Philip and his predecessors is admirably assembled by N. G. L. Hammond and G. T. Griffith,
A History of Macedonia
, volume II (1979), 113–722, with very lengthy discourse. There are short biographies by G. L. Cawkwell,
Philip of Macedon
(1978) and a remarkable construct by N. G. L. Hammond,
Philip of Macedon
(1994), a eulogy; on Macedonian Greek, M. B. Hatzopoulos, in
Atti XI Congresso Internazionale di Epigrafia Greca e Latina
, volume I (1999), 257–73, and Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum XLIX (1999) numbers 656–7; René Ginouvès,
Macedonia from Philip II to the Roman Conquest
(1993) gives a good idea of finds in Macedon, up to that date; M. B. Hatzopoulos and Louisa D. Loukopoulos (eds.),
Philip of Macedon
(1981) includes good essays by G. T. Griffith on Philip as a general and M. Andronicos (the hero of this subject) on the Royal Tombs at Aigai; M. Andronicos,
Vergina: The Royal Tombs and the Ancient City
(1989) and
Vergina II: The Tomb of Persephone
(1994) are stunning, with A. N. J. W. Prag, J. H. Musgrave and R. A. H. Neave, in
Journal of Hellenic Studies
(1984), 60–78; attempts to attribute Tomb II to Philip III continue on unconvincing grounds and are increasingly behind the evidence now available on site; O. Palagia, in E. J. Baynham and A. B. Bosworth,
Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction
(2000), 189–200, is a recent example.