From Democrats to Kings: The Brutal Dawn of a New World from the Downfall of Athens to the Rise of Alexander the Great

265 Pages·2010·4.07 MB·English

by  Michael Scott

Copyright
This edition first published in hardcover in the United States in 2010 by The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer
Publishers, Inc.
141 Wooster Street
New York, NY 10012
www.overlookpress.com
For bulk and special sales, please contact [email protected]
Copyright © 2009 by Dr. Michael Scott
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a
reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a
magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.
ISBN 978-1-46830-280-6
Contents
Copyright
About the author
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Maps
Introduction: One Man’s Dream
1 Flute Players and Pick Axes
2 The City of (Crass) Long-Haired Warriors
3 Dancing with the Persian King
4 ‘Serious Business for Tomorrow’
5 The Vegetarian Philosopher and the Body-Building Philanthropist
6 The Slippery Fish
7 The Clash of Philosopher and Tyrant
8 The Implosion of Greece
9 The Cow’s Bladder, the Love Curse and the Caricature
10 Ten Years That Changed the Ancient World: 362–352 BC
11 Survival Strategies
12 Saviour or Tyrant?
13 The Final Showdown
14 From Father to Son
15 Ruling the Ancient World
16 You’ve Never Had it So Good
17 A New World
Epilogue: From Democrats to Kings
Select Bibliography
Timeline
Index
About the author
MICHAEL SCOTT is currently a Moses and Mary Finley Fellow in Ancient
History at Darwin College, Cambridge, where he studies the ancient Greek and
Roman worlds as well as teaching undergraduates and working with schools
around the country.
Since 2007, he has been a regular guest lecturer aboard cruise tours of
ancient Greece, has run the route of the ancient Marathon in Athens, and has
been an on-screen historical consultant for several documentaries about the
ancient world for the History Channel.
www.michaelcscott.com
For Peter Wicker,
who taught me my first letters
of the ancient Greek alphabet
Acknowledgements
The genesis of this book was in a series of lectures given to undergraduates at
Cambridge University. My thanks go to the class of students who attended those
lectures with good humour and grace, who gave me an opportunity to road test
my ideas and who gave much helpful feedback. To the many friends and
colleagues with whom I have enjoyed countless discussions about the subject of
this book and about the ancient world in general, I offer my sincerest gratitude. I
would especially like to thank Prof. Robin Osborne, Prof. Paul Cartledge, Prof.
Pat Easterling, Dr Alastair Blanshard, James Watson, Ben Keim, Peter Agocs,
Clare Killikelly and Kelly Agathos for their thoughts, wit and guidance. To the
small team of ‘veteran travellers’ who willingly came with me to explore the
‘dancing floor of Ares’, its mysteries and delights (not least of which was the
underrated modern town of Thebes), I say ‘Suga!’ To Davina Barron, who
carefully and helpfully read earlier drafts, I offer my indebted thanks. To Darwin
College, Cambridge and to the British School at Athens, two admirable research
institutions, which have made me feel very much at home in Cambridge and
Athens not just during the research and writing of this book but over the past
several years, I offer my heartfelt gratitude and praise. To the people who make
these two institutions what they are, and who are themselves so much more
besides, I give my admiration and affection. To Moses and Mary Finley,
towering greats in the scholarship of the ancient world, whose legacy funds my
current position as Finley Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, I
offer my continued awe and thanks. For good advice on entering the world of
history writing, my deepest appreciation goes to my agents Diane Banks and Sue
Rider, my editor at Icon Simon Flynn, Duncan Heath and the rest of the team at
Icon, and at Cambridge Prof. Mary Beard, Prof. Simon Goldhill and Dr Chris
Kelly. Finally, to my family, who encouraged my desire to pursue this crazy
classics thing many years ago: thank you. It has been a pleasure and an honour to
write this book and to help bring the ancient world once more to life.
List of Illustrations
Maps
Map 1: Athens and Piraeus
Map 2: Greece, the Aegean and the Asia Minor coast
Map 3: Megale Hellas
Map 4: Alexander the Great’s empire
Plate section
1. An ancient portrait bust of Alexander the Great.
2. The Pnyx hill in the centre of Athens (with the Acropolis and Parthenon in
the background).
3. The public graveyard of Athens, the Cerameicus.
4. The landscape of the ancient city of Sparta.
5. A reconstruction of the ancient sanctuary of Delphi.
6. A reconstruction of the ancient sanctuary of Olympia.
7. The Theban victory monument at Leuctra.
8. The remains of the wall built by the Athenians to protect Attica.
9. A Roman copy of the statue of Eirene and Ploutus, 4th century BC.
10.A Roman copy of the Aphrodite of Cnidus.
11.A recreation of Mausolus’ funeral Mausoleum.
12.The law for the protection of democracy in Athens, 338 BC.
13.The stone lion set up by King Philip of Macedon at the battlefield of
Chaeronea.
14.The temple and oracle of the god Ammon at Siwah.
15.The remains of the great Persian capital of Persepolis.
16.The Tyrannicides statue group.
Map 1