The Rise and Fall of Ancient Athens

Catalog description

Comprehensive coverage of the cultural and historical world of the ancient Greek civilization from the end of the Greco-Persian wars in 479 BCE through the rise and decline of Athens (including the Peloponnesian War with Sparta) to the final defeat of the Greek cities by Philip of Macedon in 338 BCE. This holistic study addresses not only the history of this period but also its literature, art and philosophy, with an emphasis on how these phenomena relate to one another. This period advanced to the state that was regarded by later civilizations as their peak, and which inspired Rome and Europe in the Renaissance. Athens, as the cultural center of Greece at this time, boasted the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the comedies of Aristophanes, the history of Thucydides, the philosophy of Plato, and the artistic achievement of the Parthenon.