The Life of Greece

I have yet to find an author on ancient history who writes any better than Will Durant. And if your opinion differs, please let me know as I’d be forever grateful. One of the enjoyable things about Durant’s writing is his books are truly ‘readable’. He keeps things interesting, is thorough, and he goes out of his way to explain the big picture… that is, tying together the sequence of events within a country with what is happening at the same moment elsewhere around the globe.

In reading Greek history there is a lot to absorb. Covering approximately 1000 years- give or take a hundred- Durant schools the reader on the empire’s rise and fall. He patiently takes you from the glorious days at the pinnacle of power to the show more devastating destruction caused by war, internal strife and political disorder, a corrupted government, depletion of natural resources, and the decay of moral values and waning patriotism.

There are valuable lessons to be learned by studying the history of any great empire, though it is somewhat frightening in knowing that history has often repeated itself.

Will Durant offers a wide variety of information in this 700 page tome:

-the sequence of events in Greece’s rise and decline including distinct ages and eras, wars, power struggles, boundary disputes, government leaders, and evolving philosophies from 1400 BC to 30 BC

-in-depth analysis of Greek’s three famous philosophers: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

-the evolution of Greek mythology and other religions- legends, shrines, festivals, and patron saints- and how the Greek myths and Jewish beliefs influenced the evolution of Christianity

-facts about Greek literature- comedy and drama, poetry and prose: Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey, Pindar and Thucydides

-cultural development and social interests from sports and the Olympics to dance and music, the arts of sculpture and painting, architecture, clothing and jewelry

-economic growth and failures, natural resources and trade with other countries

-scientific discoveries in medicine, astronomy, and mathematics

-personal interest stories about the philosophers, the great leader Pericles, Alexander the Great, and King Ptolemy the ancestor of Cleopatra

-marriage and family

-education and jobs

-morals and ethics

-the legal system, slavery, and women’s rights

This book has it all!

I would like to leave you with several quotes:

“Greek civilization was at it’s best when democracy had grown sufficiently to give it variety and vigor, and aristocracy survived sufficiently to give it order and taste.”

“The Athenians are too brilliant to be good, and scorn stupidity more than they abominate vice... endlessly curious and perpetually mobile. No people ever had a livelier fancy, or a readier tongue. Clear thought and clear expression seem divine things to the Athenian; he has no patience with learned obfuscation, and looks upon informed and intelligent conversation as the highest sport of civilization.”

“The life of thought endangers every civilization that it adorns. In the early stages of a nation’s history there is little thought; action flourishes; men are direct, uninhibited, frankly pugnacious and sexual. As civilization develops, as customs, institutions, laws, and morals more and more restrict the operation of natural impulses, action gives way to thought, achievement to imagination, directness to subtlety, expression to concealment, cruelty to sympathy, belief to doubt; the unity of character common to animals and primitive men passes away; behavior becomes fragmentary and hesitant, conscious and calculating; the willingness to fight subsides into a disposition of infinite argument.”

This quote was finished with a statement explaining that by the time a nation reaches this level of progression, it’s wealth presents an irresistible temptation to barbarians of surrounding nations… thus the inevitable downfall. show less

Durant says that he writes synthetic history, a portrait of all aspects of a society across time. This cannot be written without the plodding happy work of analytic history of course, and contains inevitable errors of detail for one mind cannot hold all the facts. But it takes one mind, a sympathetic mind, to assemble those details into a picture of successes and failures that at once tell an exiting tale and illuminate our own times. And since our civilization is so deeply and widely influenced by Greece, both directly and through Rome (and by the Egyptian and Mesopotamian and civilizations from which Greece borrowed) if we are wise we can see in the Greek example some our strengths and many of our failings.

The foundations of European and thus “Western civilization” were founded on the shores of the Aegean Seas among the Hellenes on the western coast of Anatolia before returning to their brethren in the ‘old country.’ The Life of Greece is the second volume of Will Durant’s The Story of Civilization series in which the focus of the series turns to the western peninsula of the Eurasia landmass.

From the rise of the Minoans on Crete to the Roman conquest, Durant follows the ups and downs of Grecian civilization and culture. Covering a millennium and a half of time over an ever increasing amount of area were Greek-influence spread, Durant divided the book into five “eras” that he gave an overview of the history then how those show more events affect the development of government, art, religion, philosophy, science, and everything else connected with culture. Highlight throughout the volume was Durant’s explanation of various schools of philosophy that developed and their relation to religion over that time as well. If there is a negative, it would be the fact that the book is over 80 years old and some of Durant’s information in the Minoan and Mycenean areas has been contradicted by new finds.

The Life of Greece tells the rise and fall of the “foundational” European culture before it was eclipsed and built upon by a rising power from the West. show less

Classic Durant. Exhaustively detailed, delightfully opinionated.

The Life of Greece was on my April TBR, but I started it at the end of March because it is a longer book. (Which probably wasn't necessary, but whatever.) This was a fun read. Learning about Greece is always fun for me, and this definitely added to my interest in the country's history. This book was hefty, and it felt like some parts took forever, but that isn't a huge deal for me. Will Durant has an interesting writing style, which has so far worked for The Story of Civilization series - both for its length and the contents of each specific book.

Our Greek Heritage
Volume two of Will Durant's History of Civilization exposes in rich details the Greek empire, its birth, development and fall. The books gives great atention to greek arts, literature, philosophy and politics. The story is well written and Durant often gave his interpretation of the events (for some readers too often, a point they identified as a fault). The way Durant exposes centuries of history in regard to greek civilization and the relations he sees about each one of the events make this book worth reading and an useful tool for a better understanding of our age and culture.

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.