Robert S. Garland

How to Survive in Ancient Greece is an excellent and painless introduction to Greek culture and everyday life. I've read many books on the subject, yet I still found numerous fascinating new bits of information as well as an interesting perspective on the differences between Classical Greece and the modern world.

The focus of this imaginary travelogue is Athens in 420 BCE. This is simply because it's a time and place we know the most about and find the most interesting. We grow up learning that Greece was the birthplace of Western Democracy, but what will strike most readers is how alien a place it really was. We are accustomed to equating democracy with a belief in egalitarianism, human rights, and social mobility. Yet, as the author frequently points out, the Athenians saw no disconnect between their democratic ideals on the one hand, and brutal slavery and abject poverty on the other. And the treatment of women in classical Athens was not unlike that found in modern fundamentalist Islamic states.

The book is brief, entertaining, and written in simple, straightforward prose. I would recommend it as an introductory work on Ancient Greece, not only for adults, but for teenage readers as well, with the caveat that there is some discussion of prostitution and other sexual topics.… (more)