Anyone who follows the ancient Greek civilization, the more they pay attention to the pivotal position of the ancient Greeks in civilization, the more they want to know the origin of all this. Traditionally, the study of Ancient Greece has been divided into three sections, dealing with the history of the Early, Classical, and Hellenistic periods.
There should also be appropriate turning points between different historical periods, such as the Greco-Persian Wars as a turning point between early Greek civilization and classical civilization, and Alexander the Great as the starting point of the Hellenistic era. The main purpose of the book The Rise of the Greeks by Michael Grant, a well-known British classicist and best-selling author of history, is to explore the long period of history that preceded these two turning points.
The Rise of the Greeks by Michael Grant Translated by Liu Feng
Michael Grant is one of the rare freelance writers in the field of ancient history, with The Times calling him one of the few "classic historians who has earned the respect of both academics and general readers." In this book, he focuses on the history of the rise and fall of more than 50 city-states in early ancient Greece, as well as their exchanges with Eastern and Western civilizations, and recreates the glory of Greece.
A more comprehensive review of the process of the great migration of the Greeks and the exchange of civilizations
The vitality and vitality of Greek culture in the classical period have nourished the history of Western civilization for thousands of years. The glory belongs to Greece and the greatness belongs to Rome, but unlike the city of Rome to the Romans, the Greeks did not have an absolute core settlement. In contrast to the Romans, the Greeks had a strong desire for decentralization, and there were at least 700 city-states scattered across the continent, perhaps twice as many. Herodotus once said that the Greeks were one, bound together by a common kinship, customs, language, and religion. But there is also a big difference between them, because these hundreds of city-states are politically independent of each other.
The city-states scattered throughout Eurasia witnessed the birth of the classical Greek civilization. Rome was not built in a day, and the process of great migration and civilization exchange between the Greeks never stopped before entering the glorious classical age. Prior to this, Greece did not always play the role of a cultural exporter, and the exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations were more intensive than expected, and Greece drew a lot of nutrients from Egypt and the Near East, and experienced the so-called "Orientalization" era. With the passage of time, many city-states that adhered to the core of the Greek spirit and were influenced by different regional cultures interacted with each other and diverged, making it difficult for even Western readers to fully understand the whole picture of the Greeks in the Archaic era. This book focuses on the history of the rise and fall of more than 50 city-states over the centuries, and more comprehensively sorts out the process of the great migration of the Greeks and the exchange process between Eastern and Western civilizations.
A clearer description of the living conditions of the Greeks in different parts of early Greece
In his preface, Michael Grant points out that, firstly, the vast majority of the historical material in early Greece, like that of classical Greece, is either from or related to the Athenians, and secondly, even in early Greece, the Athenians were already very accomplished. Of course, even if the above two points are true, we should be careful to analyze them in their appropriate context. Although the historical sources are scattered and mostly inclined to Athens, we should also try to explore the Greek world beyond Athens.
Michael Grant argues that "the history of the Greeks, like the history of other peoples of the world, has a great deal to do with geography, or even more, and cannot be understood without taking this to heart." In addition, the principles of other organizational histories do not seem to be as effective as this approach. He changed the style of historians in the past to plan the layout according to the theme, sorted out the materials related to the early Greeks from a geographical perspective, comprehensively sorted out the centuries-old history of more than 50 Greek city-states before the Greco-Persian War, and the many civilizations that interacted with Greece, and more clearly described the living conditions of Greeks in different regions before the classical era.
Greece itself was not the only heir to ancient Greece, and the Greeks of western Asia Minor, southern Italy, Sicily, and even southern Russia had their own rich and varied achievements. This is the fundamental reason why the author named the book "The Rise of the Greeks" rather than "The Rise of Greece." Therefore, the Greek city-states covered in this book include but are not limited to the famous Thebais, Corinth, and Delphi in Greece, the civilizations of Ephesus, Miletus, and Smyrna in Asia Minor, the rich Syracuse, Croton, and Massalia in the West, the colonies as far away as the Black Sea, the trading centers of Egypt, and the history of the Aegean islands. The Greeks from prehistory to the late Archaic era are brought to life in Grant's writing, and the glory of Greece in the classical era has become visible.
About the Author
Michael Grant
（Michael Grant，1914—2004）
He is a renowned British classicist and best-selling author of history, a former professor of Latin literature at the University of Edinburgh, and vice-chancellor of the University of Khartoum and Queen's University. His translation of Tacitus's Chronicle is still a popular translation to this day, and he has translated many other classical writers, and is the author of as many as 70 books on Greek, Roman, and medieval history such as The Rise of the Greeks, The Top of Rome, and the City of Vesuvius, and his book Greece in the Classical Period has been translated into German and other editions. Professor Grant devoted himself to writing after his retirement, and is one of the few freelance writers in the field of ancient history, with The Times calling him one of the few "classic historians who have earned the respect of both academics and general readers".
About the translator
Liu Feng
Ph.D. student at the Department of Ancient History and Epigraphy at the University of Heidelberg.
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preface
Chapter 1: The Early Greeks
Chapter 2 Athens Section 1 Early Athens Section 2 Eleusis Section 3 Solon Section 4 Pisistratus and His Sons Section 5 Cristhenes Section 6 Athens and Aegina
Chapter 3: Peloponnese Section 1 Argos Section 2 Corinth Section 3 Sparta Section 4 Sissian Section 5 Megara Section 6 Olympia
Chapter 4 Central and Northern Greece Section 1 Euboea: Lefcandi, Karchis, Eretria Section 2 Delphi Section 3 Larissa and Thessalytes Section 4 Thebais and the Boeautian League (Hesiod)
Chapter 5 Eastern and Central Aegean Section 1 Ionia: Chios (Homer), Samos Section 2 Ionia: Miletus Section 3 Ionia: Ephesus, Smyrna, PhosiaSection 4 Ionia: MytileneSection 5 Cyclades: Naxos, Paros, Delos
CHAPTER VI South and East Section 1 Crete: Knossos, Gertti, Drerus Section 2 Cyprus: Salamis, Paphos Section 3 Cyrene Section 4 Port markets in Syria and Egypt
Chapter 7 Western Region Section 1 Campania: Pitcusse and Kumai Section 2 Sibaris, Croton (Pythagoras), Silocli Section 3 Eastern Sicily: Syracuse Section 4 Northern Sicily: Zankole and Himera Section 5 Southern Sicily: Guela and Selinos Section 6 Massalia
Chapter 8 Northern Regions Section 1 Adriatic Sea: Corkyra, Atria and Spinner Section 2 Passage of the Northern Aegean Sea and the Black Sea Section 3 Black Sea: Sinop, Easteros, Obia
Chapter 9 Follow-up Appendix Relations between the Greeks and the Others Appendix 1 Regions Influenced by the Greeks: The Near and Middle East Appendix 2 Interactions: Thracians and Scythians Appendix 3 Regions Influenced by the Greeks: Etruscan city-states
Timetable Notes Bibliographic Index
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Delphi is located in Phocis, in central Greece. Its spectacular ruins sit on the low slopes of Mount Parnassus, sandwiched between two towering cliffs (Phaedriades) overlooking the Gulf of Corinth. The Bay of Corinth is located about 6 miles south of Delphi and about 2,000 feet below Delphi. The site was inhabited in the late Bronze Age (first in Lycoria, near the Corycian caves), and the Greeks considered it to be the center of the world, as Zeus unleashed two eagles here that went in opposite directions from east to west, and they eventually converged at Delphi.
The place was famous for the god Apollo, and with the arrival of the Dorians, a god from the Anatolian region was also brought here after absorbing the elements of the north. However, there are some other gods and even monsters that have ruled the land in the past. A poem written in the 7th century BC, Homer's ode to Apollo, half about Delphi and half about Delos, vaguely records the story. Originally, the two gods were worshipped separately, but the hymn unites them and tells the story of how the god came from Delos to Delphi on Mount Parnassus, and when he came to Delphi, he killed Typhaon or Typhon, the murderous female serpent (the same as Delphi's python skin), who is said to be the guardian of Cassotis. The hymn also mentions: "Whoever touches the serpent will be swept away by the last day, until Apollo, who is far away in the sky, brings death and shoots powerful arrows at her." She fell to the ground, torn apart by the pain, and lay on the ground, gasping for breath and writhing her body. As she writhed in the woods, she made an indescribably terrible sound, and she gave up her life and exhaled a mouthful of blood. ”
However, the ode also mentions another version of Apollo's arrival at Delphi. According to this version, the deity, wanting to attract the faithful, turned into a dolphin, appeared above the waves, passed by a ship from the Cretan city of Knossos, and they miraculously diverted from Pylos in order to land at Kira. Kira is located near the Krisha Plain, while Crassa was a town from the Mycenaean era, and Kira was originally its port, which later became the port of Delphi.
Then the hymn says: "Like the stars at midnight, the industrious Apollo leaped from the ship, and the light flashed past him, and the light reached the sky." He made the ship's crew his servants and worshipped him as Apolloca the dolphin, and they did the same. It is generally believed that this is the origin of the name Delphi, but there is another theory that the name of Delphi comes from Delphus, the son of Poseidon and Melaine, the founders of the mythical city-state. However, there is a completely different version that it is more likely that the word originated in Crete.
In the hymn, Apollo is both a majestic archer and a quiet lula god. He was charming and awe-inspiring, the object of every young Greek's admiration, his penchant for beauty (though at the same time he was also a god of pure ritual and healing), his sometimes cold and sometimes merciful in the Iliad, the most powerful deity beside his father Zeus, who revealed his will to the world through his oracles.
In any case, although he was a deity who came with the Doric immigrants, the pre-Doric Cretanic and Minoan elements of the Delphi temple mentioned in the hymn also seem to be of true origin. Admittedly, to date, this view that its worship has not been interrupted has not been confirmed by stratigraphy. However, objects representing the Minoan civilization have been found in the area, with the remains of Mycenaean settlers found under the temple of Apollo and more than 200 small Mycenaean sculptures, mostly of women, dating back to the 12th century BC, under the sanctuary of Athena Prona, which leads to speculation that she was the successor of a goddess from the late Bronze Age. In addition, the python belonged to Gaia, she was the goddess of the earth, and in fact, the image of the python has always been female rather than male, and the priesthood of Delphi was also female, which may be a remnant of another ancient religion.
Apollo issued oracles through the Pythian priestesses. She would first drink the spring water of Casotis and purify it in the water of the Castalia spring that gushes from the cliffs of Federiades. Next, she would sit in a crack in the temple of Apollo, where a puff of steam came out, and the priestess inhaled it to intoxicate herself.
This rift is now difficult to find, and it is speculated that the so-called Abyssal Rift is nothing more than a hole in the ground of the Temple of Apollo, revealing soil that has been sacred since ancient times. However, this does not explain why steam rises from the ground, and it is believed that the Pythian priestesses ingested the hallucinogenic substance by chewing bay leaves. There are also suspicions that the whole story is fictional. But we must take into account that there are similar states of witchcraft, ecstasy, and trance in other cultures.
Normally, a male clergyman or prophet would translate the question of the person who wanted to invoke the oracle to the Pythian priestess, who would reply with a series of non-logical and chaotic words, and then the clergy would translate the reply into a six-step verse. These oracles were already known in the Iliad and gained Panhellenic fame before the 7th century BC. The oracle played an important role in the overseas colonization of Greece (generally heading west from the neighboring Gulf of Corinth). In other words, the leaders of these colonial causes would tell the Delphi oracle where they wanted to establish a colony and ask for approval, indicating that the Delphi oracle was the religious and spiritual foundation of the settlers.
However, it is difficult to judge from the content of these oracles how much influence they had on the colonial movement. This is because, while some of the surviving texts that record the oracle appear to be authentic, others are forgeries, some of which were intended to be colonized or had been colonized by city-states to show that they had the support of the Delphi oracle, and some of which were made up by Delphi himself, possibly to modify or erase some of the policies they wanted to forget. For these reasons, and the growing sacredness of Delphi itself, the oracles of Apollo became the subject of many anecdotes, often fictional. In most cases, these anecdotes are created to increase the mystery and ambiguity of the oracle itself, and in addition, to act on the questioner and make the questioner believe in the oracle more. In any case, the real focus of these stories is often to prove that the oracle's prophecy is accurate.
Series Introduction
Twentieth Century Humanities Translation Series
Edited by Professor Chen Heng of Shanghai Normal University, the Twentieth Century Humanities Translation Series brings together the condensed translations of a number of influential classics in the field of humanities before and after the twentieth century, covering theoretical discussions and empirical research in various disciplines and fields of humanities.
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