John Boardman - The Oxford History of Greece & the Hellenistic World

Sir John Boardman is Professor Emeritus of Classical Archaeology and Art, Lincoln College, Oxford

Dr Oswyn Murray is Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at Balliol College, Oxford

Jasper Griffin is Professor of Classical Literature and a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford

THE fifteen contributors to The Oxford History of the Classical World: Greece and the Hellenistic World are all distinguished authorities in their field. They are:

GEORGE FORREST, New College, Oxford, Greece: The History of the Archaic Period

OLIVER TAPLIN, Magdalen College, Oxford, Homer

JASPER GRIFFIN, Balliol College, Oxford, Greek Myth and Hesiod

EWEN BOWIE, Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Lyric and Elegiac Poetry

MARTIN WEST, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, London, Early Greek Philosophy

SIMON HORNBLOWER, Oriel College, Oxford, Greece: The History of the Classical Period

PETER LEVI, St Catherines College, Oxford, Greek Drama

OSWYN MURRAY, Balliol College, Oxford, Greek Historians and Life and Society in Classical Greece

JULIA ANNAS, University of Arizona, Classical Greek Philosophy

ROBERT PARKER, Oriel College, Oxford, Greek Religion

JOHN BOARDMAN, Lincoln College, Oxford, Greek Art and Architecture

SIMON PRICE, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, The History of the Hellenistic Period

ROBIN LANE Fox, New College, Oxford, Hellenistic Culture and Literature

JONATHAN BARNES, Balliol College, Oxford, Hellenistic Philosophy and Science

ROGER LING, University of Manchester, Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman Art

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford Ox2 6DP

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.

It furthers the Universitys objective of excellence in research, scholarship,

and education by publishing worldwide in

Oxford New York

Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta

Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul

Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai

Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw

with associated companies in Berlin Ibadan

Oxford is a trade mark of Oxford University Press

in the UK and in certain other countries

Oxford University Press 1986,1988

The text of this edition first published 1986 by

Oxford University Press in The Oxford History of the Classical World

This edition first issued as an Oxford University Press

paperback 1991

Reissued 2001

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,

without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,

or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate

reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction

outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,

Oxford University Press, at the address above

You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover

and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Data available

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Data available

ISBN-13: 978-0-19-280137-1

Printed in Great Britain by

Clays Ltd, St Ives pic

Jasper Griffin

George Forrest

Oliver Taplin

Jasper Griffin

Ewen Bowie

Martin West

Simon Hornblower

Peter Levi

Oswyn Murray

Oswyn Murray

Julia Annas

Robert Parker

John Boardman

Simon Price

Robin Lane Fox

Jonathan Barnes

Roger Ling

1. Air view of the Athenian Acropolis. (Photo Father R. J. Schoder, SJ).
2. The Erechtheum. (Photo J. Allen Cash).
3. Athenian Geometric crater. Athens, National Museum 990. (Hirmer Fotoarchiv).
4. Corinthian crater. Berlin, Staatliche Museen 1655. (After Mow. dell Inst. X, pls. 4/5).
5. Athenian red-figure cup. London, British Museum E 68. (Photo Museum, courtesy of Trustees).
6. Silver coin of Syracuse. Gallatin Collection. (Hirmer Fotoarchiv). Silver coin of Elis. Berlin, Regling Collection. (Hirmer Fotoarchiv).
7. Kouros from Keos. Ht. 1.73 m. Athens, National Museum 3684.
8. Doryphorus of Polyclitus. Ht. 2.12 m. Naples, Museo Nazionale. (Hirmer Fotoarchiv).
9. Parthenon frieze, detail. Ht. 1.06 m. Athens, Acropolis Museum. (Photo Ashmolean Museum Cast Gallery).
10. Detail of Alexander Sarcophagus (marble, c.325300 BC). Ht. of frieze 69 cm. Istanbul, Archaeological Museum 68 (370). (Hirmer Fotoarchiv).
11. Alexander the Great (Roman marble copy from bronze statue of c.330320 BC). Ht. of head 25 cm. Paris, Louvre 436. (Documentation Photographique de la Runion des Muses Nationaux).
12. Venus de Milo (late 2nd century BC). Parian marble. Ht. 2.04 m. Paris, Louvre 399. (Photo W. Swaan).
13. Model of the acropolis, Pergamum (mainly 2nd century BC). (Bildarchiv Foto Marburg).
14. Athena and Alcyoneus, Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamum (c. 16659 BC). Marble. Ht. 2.30 m. Berlin, Pergamum Museum. (Photo Museum).
15. Wall painting, Vergina. Ht. 1.01 m. (Photo courtesy of Professor M. Andronikos).
16. Detail of the Alexander Mosaic, from Pompeii (2nd-century BC copy of painting of late 4th century). Ht. of king's head (including hood) approx. 30 cm. (Photo W. Swaan).

Cross-references to the companion volume to this book, The Oxford History of the Roman World, are given as (for example): Vol. 2, p. 100.

JASPER GRIFFIN

THE history of Greece and Rome can be looked at in two different ways. It can be seen as forming a single whole, all the way from the emergence of the Greek city-state (the polis) in the eighth century BC to the enormous expansion and eventual disintegration of the Roman Empire, a society which rested on Roman military and political power but whose culture, literature, and arts were truly Graeco-Roman. It can also be seen as two separate stories: first, the rise of the Greek polis from poverty and obscurity to the self-confident splendours of the classical period in the fifth century BC, its extension over great areas of Asia by the conquests of Alexander, and its eventual subjugation by the Roman legions. Then there is the second story: the small city of Rome fighting its way to supremacy, first in Italy, and then in the whole of the Mediterranean basin; losing its republican constitution and becoming an Empire; conquering and exploiting the cities and kingdoms of Greece, and ruling the world until the barbarians gradually became too strong and transformed the empire into a number of states which rested on quite different practices and beliefs. Each of these two perspectives contains some important truth.