Ancient Greece History Recommended Reading

[JonathanP]

I am in the process of studying the rise and fall of classical civilization. Any recommendations on Greek History? I am especially interested in studying specifics of the culture and how shifts in the culture occurred due to expansion and migration, as well as the study of the economics of the day, especially related to growing state control over resources, currency debasement, etc...

In Stefan's "Rome Modern Parallels" video he referenced  "The Rise of Rome" by Anthony Everitt. This author also has a similar book on Greece. I may start there, but any other recommendations would be appreciated.

My apologies for any bad grammar. I'm doing this from my phone.

 

 

Edited July 20, 2018 by JonathanP
Correct grammar

[barn]

Supplementary, for the better grasping of the 'lay of the land'...

I did go through the origins and the myths, trying to trace the family tree back to the 'unformed' (sorry, can't remember its proper name) once in my life... now all I can wish for if J. P. B. had done some work on it.

I know it's probably not something highly useful but as a supplement I certainly recommend books such as :

Richard Buxton
The Complete World of Greek Mythology

 

ps. (Greek mythology before and above Roman... as usual.)

[ofd]

Xenophon is a good way to start. The Anabasis tells you a great story of some Greek soldiers fighting their way back to Greece from Persia. His account on Socrates is less biased than Plato's, so check these out.
Lives by Plutarch is essential reading as is The Pelopennesian War by Thucydides. Read some historical interpretation next to them, since they tell the history from a specific perspective.

[RichardY]

Audible is great for books can get 24 audiobooks for £109.00 a year(the sales are good as well), so is Scribd (though the selection is smaller and it's a subscription). Many of the voice actors could be better, and some works that you would expect to be on Audible or Scribd aren't. For example "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding." John Locke is not on Audible or Scribd. Would be better, if they had some better voice actors, for the non-fiction. I read although I'm not sure it is the case $200 per hour or Royalties for voice actors. I guess the selection might differ a bit between the USA and UK on Audible for books.

Librivox is pretty much the only free platform, but they are hard to follow, although sometimes you can get books not on the others.

You can get "The  Pelopennesian  War by Thucydides". On Scribd. I started listening to it, yesterday actually(though was not paying much attention). Basically I'm drawing up a chronological list of various Philosophers, Historians & Psychologists. Interesting to see perhaps how their thinking develops. As opposed to looking, at fragment by fragment.