The Life of Greece; The Story of Civilization, Volume 2 (original 1957; edition 1966)

I have to give Durant credit for attempting to write an overview of Greece. This is one of those periods that screams “specialty”. Not helping matters, Greece wasn't unified making political history tricky and boring to the average person. Durant rectifies this by focusing on social history and culture, rather than, a strict political history. Again he weaves politics through thematic topics with impeccable organizational skill, and in the end, I believe he achieve his goal “to record and contemplate the origin, growth, maturity, and decline of Greek civilization from the oldest remains of Crete and Troy to the conquest of Greece by Rome”. Wow, that was a long sentence for me.



[Queen Megaron in Knossos - one of several fun places to visit in the book]


Anyway … I read this book in transit, so I didn’t get to make as many updates as I wished. That is a regret, considering all the tiny nuggets of unusual facts not found in modern history books. This reason alone is why this series is worth reading, even if one is familiar with a particular period. Unfortunately one has to read an insane number of pages to find the nuggets; but, this may be trivial for those not familiar with this period.

Having just read a book on the Persian Wars, I was relieved Durant didn't spend too much time on this and the Peloponnesian War. At first I thought this would be a problem but it wasn't. However, Durant reminded me how I still haven’t read Herodotus’ The Histories, Thucydides, and Xenophon - just what I need more door-stopper books. At least, Sophocles is not too long. But this is what is so great about the series; it is a great launching pad for other areas of interest.

Next Stop is Rome. ( )

It took me more than a year to slog through it. I'm astonished that a human being could actually write a tome chock full with information about such a great and fascinating time and culture. Admittedly there were times that I thought I would give up in some of the less interesting parts, but I feel I am a better man and reader for not doing so. Almost want to read it again, but I'll wait until I turn 70. ( )

Durant discusses and analyzes the contributions of Greece to art, poetry, drama, philosophy, mathematics, science etc. Along the way, Greek political and military history enter into the equation. While not exhaustive, the work is a fine coverage of the field. ( )