These Were the Greeks

Rating:
Summary: These Were the Greeks
Review: This book is one of the books that, through vivid detail and scattered pictures, allows the ancient Greek world to practically come alive. It goes from the pre-Greek era and continues on through the days of the post-Greek glory, when all the Greeks had to offer was knowledge. I found the book sorely lacking as far as describing the multitude of gods, but beyond that, I believe that it thoroughly captured the true essence of Greek life. It is filled from cover to cover with information, and for someone who wants to know just how the Greeks went about their daily life, then this is the book for you. It lacks some of the more basic things you would expect to find out of a book full of a different language, such as a pronunciation guide, but hey, from a book this good, you hardly even notice!

Rating:
Summary: Great introduction
Review: This is a fantastically concise but scholarly and information-rich piece of work--I can't think of a better introduction to the ancient Greeks, or the field of Classics in general. One major irritant: no pronunciation guide. Some people could really care less, but I like to know the way an otherwise obscure word is pronounced the first time I encounter it in a text--at the very least I like to have a glossary/index with pronunciations to reference. To compensate, I kept a copy of Morford and Lenardon's 'Classical Mythology' handy, which happens to have a glossary with all the information you could desire concerning the pronunciation of ancient Greek cities and the legion of real and mythical Greek figures you encounter in a book like this. Outside of that, this book has a nice appendix section on the Greek alphabet and intriguing review questions for further inquiry.