Polis: An Introduction to the Ancient Greek City-State

This book is the best general overview of the Ancient Greek Polis culture available. The author doesn't waste time on platitudes: He goes directly to relevant points: How these societies functioned? What are the characteristics of an city state culture? How numerous the ancient Greeks were? How important was trade for their economies? What was the importance of cities versus the countryside? All these questions are answered by reference to the best archaeological evidence currently available.The reader is left with a very good notion of how the hellas really was more than 2300 years ago. Highly recommended.

An excellent, detailed study of the ancient city-state and its social, cultural, and political institutions in a comparative perspective. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Ancient history.

Great book

If you have had 4 or 5 Greek Civilizations classes, or Greek History or Greek Battles, then this book is not for you. Have covered same book.

Prof. Hansen is the current leading world authority in the studies on the Greek polis, having founded the Copenhagen Polis Centre and published a wide variety of books and papers on the subject. On this book, he discusses the philological aspects of the word polis and its implications, such as the use of the translated term "City-State", and the political, social and cultural traits that define the polis as a particular institutional entity in the Ancient world.This book is a very dense, though short, synopsis of his work so far, and a very welcoming addition to the introductory studies of the Greek world. The chapters are quite small and schematic, so maybe the book could have been a bit longer in order to develop the arguments more thoroughly, but this is no hindrance for understanding the text.This is a recommended introduction to the work of the "Copenhagen School" about the polis, since some of their studies are not easily available.

Awesome book on the polis and the policies of the polis and the moral

A truly exellent overview of the subject. The somewhat quirky style only adds to the value. I found most interestind and informative

My history student Son said it was just the ticket, and thanked me for buying it for him.