The story of Athens is truly intriguing: how did a tiny community of
200,000 citizens manage to give birth to towering geniuses across the
range of human endeavour, create one of the greatest civilizations in
history, and lay the foundations of our own political and intellectual
heritage? Taking the city itself as his central subject, Anthony Everitt
relates the story of this early metropolis, taking in the strengths,
flaws and unique brilliance of this ambitious experiment in
civilization. Filled with adventure and astounding reversals of fortune,
The Rise of Athens celebrates the city-state that cradled the world's
first democracy - from its revolutionary beginnings through to the
flowering of its intellectual and artistic achievements - and explores
its eventual decline into a lesser city under outside rule. In his deft
and fluid style, Everitt shows how our culture has been profoundly
influenced by the Athenians: inventing the arts of tragedy and comedy,
architecture and sculpture, establishing the concepts and language of
western philosophy, and raising political issues that still vex thinkers
to this day.
