While the overall aim is to present a chronological narrative of the ancient Greeks, this comes with a twist. Matyszak states that “Classical Greece … represents only a minor portion of the overall history of the Greeks in antiquity” and that “much of the rest has been forgotten or is mentioned only when the Greeks of other times and places came into contact with different cultures” (p. 19). The author’s goal is therefore to write the history of the Greeks outside the Peloponnese and Attica, built on the premise that the Greek way of life was largely unchanged throughout the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine periods (p. 21).

Matyszak ignores the Greek mainland in the fifth and fourth centuries BC and focuses instead on other themes and periods. He takes us chronologically from early Greek colonization to the fall of Constantinople, covering periods such as the Archaic period and themes such as the Greek encounter with new cultures, Alexander’s conquest of the East and the Wars of the Diadochi, the flourishing of Greek culture throughout the Hellenistic world, and the Roman and Byzantine takeover of the eastern regions. The principal characters are generals, leaders, and intellectuals who never lived on the Greek mainland, but who nevertheless laid some of the foundations for the origin and development of Greek civilization.