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jplatzer's review
5.0
This is the first book in the Penguin History of Europe series and I enjoyed it quite a bit. As the title suggests, it tells the history of Europe from Troy (approx. 1200 BC) to St. Augustine. I find it quite interesting that despite the attention paid to Greece and Rome, these were essentially backwaters early on compared with the great empires of the East: Egyptian, Babylonian, and Assyrian in particular. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this period.
jenn756's review
4.0
This is a solid read - it took me 3 months to finish. Its strength is it puts the whole era into perspective, so you can see how the Mycenaean world related to Classical Greece and to the Macedonians, to the Etruscans, and later to the Romans and Christianity. I knew something of these cultures individually, but not how one period related to and influenced the next. As a whole the Classical World was profoundly influenced by its own past, even when the early Christians are in the ascendency they were still trying to explain their past in terms of their position within the Classical World.
The other thing I hadn't realised was the pervasiveness of Greek culture - the whole of Turkey and North Africa was essentially Greek or Greek influenced. They spoke Greek and worshipped the pantheon of Greek Gods. However the creation of Constantinople ultimately was to separate off Europe from Asia
I found the book a little dry. The writers don't have the vividness or verve of a Tom Holland for instance, but in terms of sheer detail (for one paperback) it helped me understand the era better.
The other thing I hadn't realised was the pervasiveness of Greek culture - the whole of Turkey and North Africa was essentially Greek or Greek influenced. They spoke Greek and worshipped the pantheon of Greek Gods. However the creation of Constantinople ultimately was to separate off Europe from Asia
I found the book a little dry. The writers don't have the vividness or verve of a Tom Holland for instance, but in terms of sheer detail (for one paperback) it helped me understand the era better.
kas010's review
4.0
Excellent companion to my Ancient History course. It's clearly not exhaustive but hit the high points well enough for a casual reader like myself to understand and appreciate.
sophiaxlm's review
4.0
以中信一贯的标准来说，这本的翻译算超出平均水平了。“所有的历史都是一种记忆行为，历史学家试图将历史记录下来以保存对过去的记忆。”从米诺斯文明写到罗马帝国晚期的历史，关于身份认同的产生和变化挺有意思。
eedwards117's review
4.0
This book served well as a semi-historiographical analysis of the classical period. The theme of the book was comparing how the iron age greek and Romans viewed their bronze age history and how it shaped their own understanding of their world. The authors compared this against archeological data to get a better understanding of what happened and why the collective narrative didn't match the past events. The book also had plentiful asides to how classical history has influenced the modern day.
What this book is not is a general survey of the period. For readers who know little about the chronology of the time, or want to know more about the key events or developments, I would recommend a different volume. While I applaud the authors for their efforts in a powerful and interesting project, I feel penguin marketed this book poorly by shoehorning it into a survey series on Europe.
What this book is not is a general survey of the period. For readers who know little about the chronology of the time, or want to know more about the key events or developments, I would recommend a different volume. While I applaud the authors for their efforts in a powerful and interesting project, I feel penguin marketed this book poorly by shoehorning it into a survey series on Europe.
voldie's review
4.0
Excellent book on the political history of early Europe, especially on the changing of the meaning of the term. "Are those Syrian refugees to Gaul barbaroi?" etc. Nicely written too.
nelsta's review
3.0
The Birth of Classical Europe was surprisingly dull. It is the first book in the Penguin History of Europe. As a Europhile, I have read and enjoyed other entries in the series. I hoped the start of the series would set the stage, but The Birth of Classical Europe oscillated between interesting and thoroughly bland. It represents an inauspicious start to an otherwise notable collection of histories.
Simon Price divides the book into two major parts: a history of Greece and a history of Rome. It's an understandable beginning to the history of Europe, but I wish Mr. Price had made a stronger attempt to tell the story of other European peoples (the Celts, Gauls, Vandals, Britons, Carthaginians, and a few other peoples all get passing mentions). But even if I ignore that and focus on the history he does provide, I am still disappointed.
The beginning of the book was excruciatingly boring. I genuinely considered chucking the book entirely until about a quarter of the way in. I enjoyed Mr. Price's history of Greece and Macedonia, but I was surprised by his frequent ventures into Middle Eastern and African history. I understand that these regions represented important parts of Greek and Roman history, but I was bothered by the proportion of time he spent on them. Why spend so much time on Roman Palestine or Greek Persia and none on northern or eastern Europe? Surely there are notable events or people from those regions that could have been described.
Exasperation became a common feeling throughout the book for me. I felt like Mr. Price glossed over huge swathes of history to focus on myopic--even irrelevant--events. The Birth of Classical Europe ends abruptly with Augustine, which is a bit strange. Why not end it with the sack of Rome, the founding of Constantinople, or some other momentous event? Augustine spent much of his life in modern-day Algeria and Tunisia, which are not particularly relevant to a history of Europe. (As a side note, I would love for Africa and the Middle East to receive the Penguin History treatment. Europe is great, but a multi-volume history of Africa would be incredible.) All-in-all, I was unimpressed. If you want to read about classical Europe, there are better books out there.
Simon Price divides the book into two major parts: a history of Greece and a history of Rome. It's an understandable beginning to the history of Europe, but I wish Mr. Price had made a stronger attempt to tell the story of other European peoples (the Celts, Gauls, Vandals, Britons, Carthaginians, and a few other peoples all get passing mentions). But even if I ignore that and focus on the history he does provide, I am still disappointed.
The beginning of the book was excruciatingly boring. I genuinely considered chucking the book entirely until about a quarter of the way in. I enjoyed Mr. Price's history of Greece and Macedonia, but I was surprised by his frequent ventures into Middle Eastern and African history. I understand that these regions represented important parts of Greek and Roman history, but I was bothered by the proportion of time he spent on them. Why spend so much time on Roman Palestine or Greek Persia and none on northern or eastern Europe? Surely there are notable events or people from those regions that could have been described.
Exasperation became a common feeling throughout the book for me. I felt like Mr. Price glossed over huge swathes of history to focus on myopic--even irrelevant--events. The Birth of Classical Europe ends abruptly with Augustine, which is a bit strange. Why not end it with the sack of Rome, the founding of Constantinople, or some other momentous event? Augustine spent much of his life in modern-day Algeria and Tunisia, which are not particularly relevant to a history of Europe. (As a side note, I would love for Africa and the Middle East to receive the Penguin History treatment. Europe is great, but a multi-volume history of Africa would be incredible.) All-in-all, I was unimpressed. If you want to read about classical Europe, there are better books out there.
grauspitz's review
3.0
A good introduction to the period for beginners, but one that lacks any sort of depth for readers that are more familiar with the era. I found the descriptions to even be over-simplified at times, and some of the descriptions seemed to be an opinion of the author(s) themselves without any real evidence to back up their claims. Aside from that, it seemed to be well-researched and generally did a good job summarizing 1500 years in about 350 pages.