for
J.A.H.M.
O.M.
A.E.M.
M.P.M.
R.J.M.
Contents
Introduction to the Fontana History of the Ancient World
Preface to First Edition (1980)
Preface to Second Edition (1993)
I. Myth, History and Archaeology
III. The End of the Dark Age: the Aristocracy
IV. The End of the Dark Age: the Community
VIII. Warfare and the New Morality
X. Sparta and the Hoplite State
XII. Life Styles: the Aristocracy
XIII. Life Styles: the Economy
XIV. The Coming of the Persians
XV. The Leadership of Greece: Sparta and Athens
Introduction to the Fontana History of the Ancient World
No justification is needed for a new history of the ancient world; modern scholarship and new discoveries have changed our picture in important ways, and it is time for the results to be made available to the general reader. But the Fontana History of the Ancient World attempts not only to present an up-to-date account. In the study of the distant past, the chief difficulties are the comparative lack of evidence and the special problems of interpreting it; this in turn makes it both possible and desirable for the more important evidence to be presented to the reader and discussed, so that he may see for himself the methods used in reconstructing the past, and judge for himself their success.
The series aims, therefore, to give an outline account of each period that it deals with and, at the same time, to present as much as possible of the evidence for that account. Selected documents with discussions of them are integrated into the narrative, and often form the basis of it; when interpretations are controversial the arguments are presented to the reader. In addition, each volume has a general survey of the types of evidence available for each period and ends with detailed suggestions for further reading. The series will, it is hoped, equip the reader to follow up his own interests and enthusiasms, having gained some understanding of the limits within which the historian must work.
Oswyn Murray
Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History,
Balliol College, Oxford
General Editor
a The site of Pithecusae (Ischia)
b Bronze armour from the Warrior Grave at Argos
c Corinthian helmet of Miltiades
b Geometric funerary vase from Athens