A History of the Greek City States, 700-338 B. C.

Raphael Sealey

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780520031777
• eBook ISBN: 9780520342750
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

This book introduces the reader to the serious study of Greek history, concentrating more on problems than on narrative. The topics selected have been prominent in modern research and references to important discussions of these have been provided. Outlined are controversial issues of which differing views can be defended. Mr. Sealey's preference is for interpretations which see Greek history as the interaction of personalities, rather than for those which see it as a struggle for economic classes or of abstract ideas. Sealey assumes that the Greek cities of the archaic and classical periods did not inherit any political institutions from the Bronze Age; that the extensive invasions that brought Mycenaean civilization to an end destroyed political habits as effectively as stone palaces. Accordingly, he believes that the Greeks of the historic period were engaged in the fundamental enterprise of building organized society out of nothing. The first chapters of this work deal with the stops taken by the early tyrants, in Sparta and Athens, toward constructing stable organs of authority and of political expression. In later chapters, interest shifts to relations that developed between the states and especially to the development of lasting alliances. Attention is given to the Peloponnesian League, to the Persian Wars, to the Delian League, and to the Second Athenian Sea League of the fourth century.
This book introduces the reader to the serious study of Greek history, concentrating more on problems than on narrative. The topics selected have been prominent in modern research and references to important discussions of these have been provided. Outlin

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Maps
• Illustrations
• Abbreviations
• Preface
• I The Development of the City-State and the Persian Wars
• Note ON THE LITERARY AND EPIGRAPHIC SOURCES FOR PART I
• 1 Greece ca. 700
• 2 Tyranny in the Early Peloponnese
• 3 Early Sparta
• 4 The Beginnings of the Athenian State
• 5 Solon and the Rise of Peisistratus
• 6
• 7 Persia and Greece I: The Designs of the Persians
• 8 Persia and Greece II: The Hellenic League
• II The Era of Hegemonic Leagues
• Note ON THE LITERARY AND EPIGRAPHIC SOURCES FOR PART II
• 9 Divergence between Athens and Sparta
• 10 The First Peloponnesian War
• 11 The Athenian Empire and the Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War
• 12 The Archidamian War and the Peace of Nicias
• 13 The Middle Stage of the Peloponnesian War, 419-411
• 14 The End of the Peloponnesian War, 411—404
• 15 The Corinthian War
• III Leagues of More Equal Type
• Note ON THE LITERARY AND EPIGRAPHIC SOURCES FOR PART III
• 16 The Decline of the Spartan Hegemony, 386-371
• 17 The Theban Hegemony
• 18 The Rise of Macedon
• 19 The Final Struggle with Philip II
• Note ON THE ATHENIAN CALENDAR
• Technical Terms
• Index