Preface ix Acknowledgments xvii 1 Mountains and Sea 1 The Physical Character of Greece 6 Earliest Inhabitants 8 Neolithic Period: Settled Life in Greece 9 Kuria 11 Notes 14 Further Reading 15 2 The Age of Heroes 17 The Role of Islands 19 The Greek Age of Heroes 23 Penelope and Odysseus 26 Notes 29 Further Reading 29 3 End of the Bronze Age: Slow Reshaping 31 The Dark Age 31 Archaic Age: Revival 33 Establishing Classical Greece 35 Hesiod 40 Notes 43 Further Reading 44 4 The Second Age of Heroes: Classical Greece 47 Mediterranean Impact 48 The Golden Age 51 Athens’ Rise to Dominance 55 Socrates, Citizen of Athens: Wisest Man in the World? 58 Outcome: The Peloponnesian War 60 Fourth-Century Greece 63 Notes 65 Further Reading 65 5 Incorporation into a Larger State 67 The Northern Neighbor: Macedon 67 Alexander III 71 Alexander’s Successors 74 The Greatest of Kings: Philip II 81 Notes 85 Further Reading 86 6 Graecia Capta: Roman Control 89 Roman Administration 94 Life in the Province of Achaea 97 Polybius: A Greek Captive Praises Rome 102 Notes 106 Further Reading 106 7 Power Returns to Greece: The Byzantine Empire 109 Separation from Rome 110 Restoration of Order 112 Decline 116 The Byzantine Greek World 117 Administration 119 Economic Health 121 Byzantine Culture 122 Anna Comnena: Daughter of the Emperor and Historian of Byzantium 125 Notes 127 Further Reading 128 8 Ottoman Greece: 1453–1821 129 Ottoman Control of Greece 132 Eighteenth Century 137 Those Who Said “No” 140 Theodore Kolokotronis 140 Adamantios Korais 142 Rigas Velestinlis (Pheraios) 143 Notes 144 Further Reading 145 9 Building a New State: 1821–1935 147 Enter Otto I 153 1862–1913 156 Eleftherios Venizelos, 1864–1936 158 1922–1935 162 Notes 163 Further Reading 163 10 A Player in the Modern World: 1935 to Present 165 Resistance Fighters 168 1944–1952 169 1952 to Present 171 Greece in the New World Order 176 Constantine and Costas Karamanlis 179 Notes 182 Further Reading 182 11 Conclusion: Past and Present 185 Notes 191 Further Reading 191 Chronology: Major Ages of Greek History 193 Index 195

Greece: A Short History of a Long Story, 7000 BCE to the Present, offers readers a comprehensive overview of the history of Greece by exploring the continuity of Greek culture from its Neolithic origins to the modern era. Compressing 9,000 years of Greek history into a concise and accessible format, author Carol G. Thomas explores the ways in which the nature of Greek culture was continually reshaped over time—especially during periods of non-Greek rule by Romans and Ottoman Turks. Utilizing an increasingly popular archaeological approach that focuses on people and the natural environment, Thomas brings various eras of the ancient Greek world vividly to life by telling its story through individual personalities—farmers and philosophers, peasants and politicians, women and men, locals and foreigners alike—who provide revealing and intimate glimpses into the distant past. From the Homeric heroes and the Golden Age of Classical Greece to the Romans, Byzantines, and beyond, Greece: A Short History of a Long Story offers readers a compact and comprehensive overview of Greece and its civilization from prehistory to the present day.