Product Description

With extensive use of quotations from original source material, this book examines the political events in the Hellenistic world from Alexander's death until his incorporation in the Roman Empire. It also describes the different social systems of the peoples under Greek rule, important developments in literature, science and technology and the founding of new religious movements. The author has assimilated all pertinent recent scholarship in the field, and fashioned an obsorbing account of a vast and complex society whose ideas and achievements for the bedrock of present-day Western civilization.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118788 in Books
• Published on: 1992-09-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

An accessible and masterly all-round introductory text!
The Hellenistic World is a clear, engaging and scholarly commentary on the Hellenistic Period. F. W. Walbank writes in a clear and engaging style and the impression the book gives is one of a complex narrative, thoroughly and entertainingly delivered.

The Hellenistic World, like the other books in this Fontana series, backs up the points made with a good deal of ancient evidence - and not just one-line quotes, but chunks of ancient authors which provide a solid basis for Walbank's account of the period. This feature will no doubt appeal to the interested amateur, since books like this rarely include such full and well-chosen ancient quotations, and to the student of the Hellenistic period, who will benefit from the inclusion of a wide variety of ancient authors on a number of issues.

The book covers all aspects of the Hellenistic world in fairly equal measure. Unusually, and refreshingly, Ptolemaic Egypt is neither the real focus of the book, neither is it set apart and ignored for the sake of a concentrating on less studied aspects of this era. Walbank puts Egypt into perspective in relation to the rest of the Hellenistic world, but some readers may be surprised at the absence of much on Egypt's role in the ending of the Hellenistic period. Cleopatra VII, the famous final queen of Egypt, and her Roman adventures are not well represented in the narrative. Nevertheless, this does not detract from the text, and helps it fit in well with the rest of the series, and illustrates the even-handedness with which Walbank assesses his subject(s). Similarly, Walbank deals in appropriate measure with both the culture and the politics of the period and illustrates fully both aspects of Hellenistic history. The photographs are as useful and as well chosen as the ancient sources in illuminating the text.

In short, Walbank has written an excellent book about the Hellenistic Age, which provides an easily readable and interesting account, which should dispel a few illusions about the period, and which will serve equally as a reference textbook on, and an engaging and successful introduction to, this turbulent period of Classical history.