'I cannot tune a harp or play a lyre, but I know how
to make a small city great.' Themistocles After almost
three thousand years, the brilliant achievements of
ancient Athens - the philosophy of Plato, the birth of
modern democracy, architecture and theatre - continue to
tower over modern culture. Lords of the Sea seeks to
write the first modern biography of this extraordinary
ancient city from a dramatic new angle - the sea. How
did a humble, unremarkable fishing village turn itself
into a dazzling democratic empire fuelled by silver,
intellect, sheer cunning, sophisticated rowing power,
and blood shed during heroic battles, to become the most
intrepid free superpower the world has ever known? Lords
of the Sea brings together the impressive modern
scholarly knowledge of ancient Athens. Its narrative
relies on ancient literature (the histories, plays,
speeches, poetry, inscriptions), the latest
archaeological discoveries (bronze rams, ship houses and
docks, naval monuments), first-hand study of every
important theatre of war, and insight into a society
that was one of the few in history to grant extreme
sexual license to free adult males.Famous names, such as
Themistocles, Pericles, Socrates, the treacherous
Alcibiades, Thucydides, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato and
Aristotle, appear in vividly-drawn portraits as the
Athenians themselves would have seen and judged them at
the time. The dramatic rise, decline and fall of ancient
Athens is much more than a gripping historical tale.
Lords of the Sea shows that it is one of the first
struggles of everything that makes the human race
potentially great. |
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