The Greeks

A colourful cavalcade of soldiers, scholars, philosophers and political leaders who spread Greek culture so far afield populate the pages of The Greeks, and thanks for Matyszak’s crisp prose and wry humour, his tale never flags. * Minerva *In this book Matyszak deliberately ignores the well-trodden 5th C BC on mainland Greece and concentrates on the Greeks of the diaspora. This spans a period of nearly 1900 years between 700 BC and AD 1200 and a geographic spread from Spain to Bactria. To cover this at all in less than 200 pages is a tour de force and to cover it with such a breadth of knowledge and with such clarity is a triumph. The sixty-eight, mainly coloured, illustrations are attractive and relevant, and the timeline at the start of the book is an essential tool … The Greeks is a masterful and eminently readable account of an unfamiliar theme and is excellent value for money. * Classics For All *Matyszak’s book covers 2,000 years of Greek history: from the prehistorical settlements in the shores of the Black Sea to the capture of the medieval Greek capital of Constantinople by Moslem Turks in 1453. The Greeks is a breath of fresh air in the stories it tells about the Greeks who lived primarily outside of mainland Greece: Southern Italy, Sicily, north Africa, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, France, Spain, Black Sea, and Asia Minor … Timely and riveting. * Counterpunch *Matyszak has written a book that can be recommended for a general audience with no prior knowledge of the Greeks. He provides an entertaining journey through the history of Greek civilization written in a colourful and fluid style … Matyszak succeeds in showing that Greek civilization consisted of more than the Peloponnese and Attica, and he has provided the general reader with a different story of the origin, development, and collapse of Greek civilization. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *

Philip Matyszak teaches ancient history for Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education. He has written extensively on the ancient world, including Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day (2008), Greek and Roman Myths: A Guide to the Classical Stories (2010) and most recently Sparta: Fall of a Warrior Nation (2017).