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Ancient Greece

When we think of Ancient Greece, what we usually have in mind are the Classical or Hellenistic eras—the Archaic Period is murky and uncertain, the lines between myth and reality unhelpfully blurred. Classical Greece (and the more universal Hellenistic Period that followed) are fortunately well-documented, and for those who've studied Western history, by now quite familiar.

The entity we call Western Civilization began, by most accounts, in Greece. Dates are fluid, but we do know a few: the Persian Wars began in 490 BC and lasted till 449; the Peloponnesian Wars dragged from 431-404 BC; the philosopher Plato was born around 428 BC and lived about 80 years; his brightest pupil, Aristotle, was born in 384 BC, living to approximately 61 years.

And, of course, in 336 BC Alexander the Great became king of Macedon and invaded Asia Minor two years later. This initiated the Hellenistic Age in which Greek thought, culture, language, and warfare was distributed throughout the known world at an extremely rapid pace and with almost evangelistic fervor. The era isn't greatly distinguishable from the Classical Period that preceded it, except that the Classical ideals were more aggressively distributed throughout the rest of Europe and Western Asia.

So what were these ideals? and how were they responsible for shaping the Western world? In many ways we could boil it down to a single word: philosophy (though not in the restrictive sense we tend to use that word nowadays). The ancient Eastern and Near Eastern cultures involved a spiritual element oddly lacking in the salient elements of Greek culture, a religiosity foreign to the temporally-minded Balkans.

During the Archaic Period (roughly 800-400 BC), Greek culture began to develop in earnest after a protracted Dark Ages from which not much emerged but extensive warfare and the early stages of the city-state polis. In the four hundred years prior to the Classical Era, the city-state evolved into the dominant governmental form (largely due to geographical concerns), tragic theater formed, and the first philosophers began contemplating the world.

Philosophy to those of us in the post-Enlightenment refers to a highly academic pursuit involving truth-constructions, advanced logic, and the perception and analysis of facts to create interpretations of reality. It's all very abstruse, and for most 20th and 21st century philosophers (by their own admission) no more than an intellectual game.

In ancient Greece, philosophy was a search for Truth. It encompassed science, mathematics, music and art, literature, and the activity Aristotle believed was man's highest end: contemplation. The word comes from two Greek words—philos meaning love, and sophia meaning wisdom; thus, love of wisdom—and is the summation of the Greek cultural project.

What set the Greeks apart from their Eastern neighbors was their starting point. The Jews had philosophy of a sort (expressed best in the books of Job and Ecclesiastes), the races Alexander conquered in India had philosophy, the Egyptians to the south certainly had religiously-informed philosophy. But they all began with some kind of religious contruct and authority system; the Greeks began with man's ability to reason.

It wasn't that they didn't have religion or gods, either. But their gods were strangely human, even by ancient polytheistic standards, and served rather to celebrate man's mannishness (to borrow a phrase from Schaeffer) than any distinctly divine attributes. Man was the measure of all things for the Greeks, and they set out trying to understand everything from his perspective.

Some of the greatest accomplishments in the arts and thought were the result. Socrates was the father of philosophy; his acolyte, Plato, one of its greatest champions; and his successor, Aristotle, arguably the greatest philosopher who ever lived. The architecture and statuary of the period, the scientific advances, the literature (The Iliad and The Odyssey, the works of Aristophanes, Euripides, and Herodotus), the political science, all laid the foundation for what would come later in the West.

Without a relatively comprehensive understanding of ancient Greece and its culture, we have no real basis for understanding the subsequent 3000 years of Western history, or even our own time. The ideas of Medieval Scholasticism, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, modernism, and postmodernism are all based in ideas developed in the Classical period in a relatively out-of-the-way region of the second smallest continent. Because it's such an important era, we offer a wide range of materials for every age and reading level.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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95 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 9th grade (Ages 14-15)
Adventures of Ulysses
World Landmark #40
by Gerald Gottlieb
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, Isaac Bashevis Singer
from International Collectors Library
for 6th-10th grade
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
Alexander the Great
Sterling Point Books
by John Gunther
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Historical Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Ancient City
by Hazel Dodge, Peter Connolly
First Thus from Oxford University
for 8th-Adult
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$14.00 (2 in stock)
Ancient Civilizations & the Bible - Student Manual
by Diana Waring
from Diana Waring Presents
History Curriculum for 4th-9th grade
in Diana Waring History Revealed (Location: OHIS-DWHR)
Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece
by Michelle Miller
from TruthQuest History
History Curriculum for 5th-12th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in Old Edition History & Geography (Location: OHIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Ancient Greece
by Michelle Miller
from TruthQuest History
for 5th-12th grade
in TruthQuest History (Location: HISCUR-TQ)
$24.95 $17.50 (1 in stock)
Antigone
Dover Thrift Editions
by Sophocles, translated by Sir George Young
from Dover Publications
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$3.00 $2.00 (2 in stock)
Antigone
by Sophocles
from Hackett Publishing Company
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$10.50
Authoress of the Odyssey
by Samuel Butler, introduction by David Grene
from University of Chicago
for 8th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Biblical Antiquity: Old & New Testament in One Volume
by Evan B. Wilson
from Big Haus Society
Biblical Reference for 9th-12th grade
in Ancient History (Location: HISW-ANC)
Bulfinch's Greek and Roman Mythology
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Dover Publications
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.00
Chronological and Background Charts of the New Testament
by H. Wayne House
from Zondervan
Biblical Reference for 9th-Adult
in Bible Geography and Surveys (Location: XBI-GEO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Dateline: Troy
by Paul Fleischman
from Candlewick Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Dateline: Troy
by Paul Fleischman
New Updated Edition from Candlewick Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Dear and Glorious Pysician
by Taylor Caldwell
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Echo of Greece
by Edith Hamilton
for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
ECL: The Heroes
Educator Classic Library #10
by Charles Kingsley, illustrated by Ron King
Complete and Unabridged Edition from Classic Press
Action/Adventure for 7th-10th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
Exploits of Xenophon
World Landmark #18
by Geoffrey Household
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Exploits of Xenophon
World Landmark #18
by Geoffrey Household, illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Purple House Press
for 5th-9th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$14.99
Exploits of Xenophon
by Geoffrey Household
from Purple House Press
for 5th-9th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$24.99
Famous Men of Greece
by John Haaren & A. B. Poland
1998 printing from Greenleaf Press
Greek History for 4th-9th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$7.50 (4 in stock)
Famous Men of Greece - Memoria Press Package
from Memoria Press
for 4th-9th grade
in Memoria Press Classical Studies (Location: HISCUR-MP)
First 3000 Years
by Charles B. Falls
from Viking Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Five Dialogues of Plato
by Plato, translated by G.M.A. Grube, revised by John M. Cooper
2nd edition from Hackett Publishing Company
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Five Great Dialogues of Plato
by Plato
2nd edition from Walter J. Black, Inc.
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Gorgias
Penguin Classics
by Plato
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$10.00
Gorgias
Oxford World's Classics
by Plato
from Oxford University
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$8.95 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Great Dialogues of Plato
Signet Classics
by Plato
from Signet Classics
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$6.95
Greek Myths: A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrated by Walter Crane
from Barnes & Noble
Myths for 5th-10th grade
Greek Tragedies I
by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore
from University of Chicago
for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Greek Treasure
by Irving Stone
Book Club from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Greek Way
by Edith Hamilton
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Greek History for 7th-10th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$13.95 $9.00 (2 in stock)
Greek Way
by Edith Hamilton
1981 reprint from Time-Life Books
Greek History for 7th-10th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
Greek World
by Peter Levi
1st edition from Dutton Adult
for 8th-12th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Heather, Oak, and Olive
by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by Victor Ambrus
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Heroes of the City of Man
by Peter Leithart
from Canon Press
for 9th-Adult
in Classical Literature Guides (Location: LIR-CLA)
$25.00
Iliad
Everyman's Library
by Homer (translation by Robert Fitzgerald)
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$23.00
Iliad
by Homer (translation by Robert Fitzgerald)
from Franklin Library
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
Iliad
Signet Classics
by Homer (translation by W.H.D. Rouse), Afterword by Adam Nicolson
from Signet Classics
Ancient Literature for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$6.95
Iliad and the Odyssey (retold)
by Jane Werner Watson, illustrated by Alice & Martin Provensen
from Golden Books
for 5th-9th grade
Iliad of Homer
by Homer (translation by Richmond Lattimore)
from University of Chicago
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$15.00
Illustrated Bulfinch's Mythology: Age of Fable
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Macmillan
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Imitation in Writing: Greek Heroes
Imitation in Writing Series
by Matt Whitling
2nd edition from Logos School
Writing Curriculum for 4th-9th grade
in Imitation in Writing (Location: WRI-LSIW)
$15.00
Imitation in Writing: Greek Heroes
Imitation in Writing Series
by Matt Whitling
3rd edition from Logos School
Writing Curriculum for 4th-9th grade
in Imitation in Writing (Location: WRI-LSIW)
$20.00
Imitation in Writing: Greek Heroes (spiral cover)
Imitation in Writing Series
by Matt Whitling
from Logos School
Writing Curriculum for 4th-9th grade
in Imitation in Writing (Location: WRI-LSIW)
$10.00
Imitation in Writing: Greek Myths
Imitation in Writing Series
by Matt Whitling
2nd edition from Logos School
Writing Curriculum for 4th-9th grade
in Imitation in Writing (Location: WRI-LSIW)
$15.00
Imitation in Writing: Greek Myths
Imitation in Writing Series
by Matt Whitling
3rd edition from Logos School
Writing Curriculum for 4th-9th grade
in Imitation in Writing (Location: WRI-LSIW)
$20.00
Inspirational Women
for 8th-12th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Jason Voyage
by Tim Severin
for 8th-Adult
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
Joshua through Malachi & Ancient Greece
by Sonya Shafer
2nd edition from Simply Charlotte Mason
for 1st-12th grade
in Charlotte Mason Education (Location: HSR-METCM)
Last Days of Socrates
Penguin Classics
by Plato
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00
Lysis Goes to the Play
by Caroline Dale Snedeker
from American Home-School Publishing
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Medea and Other Plays
by Euripides
from Penguin Putnam
Drama for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$11.00
Mythology
by Edith Hamilton
from Little, Brown & Company
Mythology for 7th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$17.99
Mythology
by Edith Hamilton
from Black Dog & Leventhal
Mythology for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$29.99
Odyssey
by Homer (translation by Robert Fitzgerald)
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$16.00
Odyssey
Everyman's Library
by Homer (translation by Robert Fitzgerald)
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
Odyssey
Signet Classics
by Homer, prose translation by W.H.D. Rouse
from Signet Classics
Ancient Literature for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.95
Odyssey
Everyman's Library
by Homer (translation by Robert Fitzgerald)
from Franklin Library
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
Odyssey (retold)
by Robin Lister & Alan Baker
from Kingfisher
for 7th-9th grade
Odyssey of Homer
by Homer (translation by Richmond Lattimore)
from HarperCollins
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$18.99
Oedipus at Colonus
Dover Thrift Editions
by Sophocles, translated by Sir George Young
from Dover Publications
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$3.00 $2.00 (3 in stock)
Oedipus Cycle
by Sophocles (translation by Dudley Fitts & Robert Fitzgerald)
from Harcourt
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-12th grade
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$15.99 $9.50 (1 in stock)
Oedipus Rex
Dover Thrift Editions
by Sophocles, translated by Sir George Young
from Dover Publications
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$4.00
Old Western Culture Year 1 DVD Set
by Wesley Callihan
from Roman Roads Media
for 9th-Adult
in Old Western Culture (Location: LITCUR-OWC)
Oresteia Trilogy
Dover Thrift Editions
by Aeschylus
from Dover Publications
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.00
Oxford Concise Companion to Classical Literature
by M. C. Howatson & Ian Chilvers
from Oxford University
for 9th-Adult
in Classical Literature Guides (Location: LIR-CLA)
Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece
by Robert Morkot
from Penguin Putnam
Atlas/Greek History Reference for 9th-12th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$18.00 $11.00 (2 in stock)
Plutarch's Lives Volume I
by Plutarch, translated by John Dryden
from Modern Library
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$19.00
Plutarch's Lives Volume I
by Plutarch, translated by John Dryden
from Modern Library
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$20.00 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Prometheus Bound
Dover Thrift Editions
by Aeschylus
from Dover Publications
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$2.50
Republic
Dover Thrift Editions
by Plato
from Dover Publications
Ancient Philosophy/Utopian Literature for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.00
Republic
by Plato
from Oxford University
Classic Literature for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$9.95
Republic
by Plato (translation by Desmond Lee)
from Penguin Classics
Classic Literature for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.00
Republic
by Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett and illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Easton Press
Classic Literature for 9th-Adult
in Leather Bound Collectible Books (Location: VIN-LEA)
$30.00 (1 in stock)
Sophocles I
The Complete Greek Tragedies
by Sophocles (translation/editing by David Grene & Richmond Lattimore)
3rd edition from University of Chicago
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Sophocles I (old)
The Complete Greek Tragedies
by Sophocles (translation/editing by David Grene & Richmond Lattimore)
2nd edition from University of Chicago
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Clearance: Literature (Location: ZCLE-LIT)
$9.00 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Spartan
by Caroline Dale Snedeker
from American Home-School Publishing
Historical Fiction for 8th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Stories From the Greek Tragedians
by Alfred J. Church
from Yesterday's Classics
for 6th-9th grade
in Classics Retold (Location: FIC-RET)
$11.95
Story of the Greeks
by H. A. Guerber
from Yesterday's Classics
for 7th-9th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$15.95
Story of the Greeks
by H. A. Guerber
from Living Book Press
for 7th-9th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$10.99
Story of the Persian War
by Alfred J. Church
from Yesterday's Classics
for 7th-10th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$12.95
Tale of Troy
Puffin Classics
by Roger Green
from Puffin Books
Greek Mythology for 6th-9th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$7.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Tales of the Greek Heroes
Puffin Classics
by Roger Green
from Puffin Books
Greek Mythology for 6th-9th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$8.99
These Were the Greeks
by H.D. Amos, A.G.P. Lang
1989 Reprint from Dufour Editions, Inc.
for 8th-12th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Treasures of Ancient Greece
by John S. Bowman
1995 edition from Crescent Books
for 8th-Adult
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Treasury of Classical Mythology
by A. R. H. Moncrieff
from Barnes & Noble
for 7th-Adult
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Triumph of the Hero
Time-Life Myth & Mankind
from Time-Life Books
for 7th-Adult
in Time-Life Myth & Mankind Series (Location: FIC-MYTH)
Usborne Book of the Ancient World
by Jane Chisholm & Anne Millard
from Usborne
for 5th-12th grade
in Ancient History (Location: HISW-ANC)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
West Meets East
by Suzanne Strauss Art
from Pemblewick Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$13.95
Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Yesterday's Classics
Myths for 5th-10th grade
$12.95 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Living Book Press
Myths for 5th-10th grade
$15.99
Wonder Book: Heroes & Monsters of Greek Mythology
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Dover Publications
Myths for 5th-10th grade
$5.99
Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 5th-10th grade
$17.00
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