A Culture of Freedom

• A fascinating analysis of what made Greek culture so special, both at the time and in their legacy for the modern world
• Takes the reader on a tour through the whole spectrum of ancient Greek culture, from poetry, philosophy, and political thought to social life, religious festivals, and sport
• Shows how the concept of freedom under-pinned the Greek achievement

Readership: All those interested in the history of Ancient Greece and the Classical legacy for the modern world

Christian Meier, Former Chairman of the Association of German Historians and President of the German Academy for Language and Literature

Christian Meier is one of the foremost classical historians of his generation and the author of numerous books, both on the classical world and in the sphere of cultural history. He was formerly Chairman of the Association of German Historians and President of the German Academy for Language and Literature in Darmstadt and in 2003 received the prestigious Jacob Grimm prize for German literature.

"Christian Meier is one of the most celebrated ancient historians writing today" - Times Higher Education Supplement

"This lucid and impassioned narrative of political freedom, written by a great historian, explains anew why the thought and practice of the ancient Greeks remains so peculiarly salient for our contemporary globalized world." - Josiah Ober, Stanford University

"This book is special not because it traces the development of early Greek society and culture from its beginnings to the threshold of its 'classical' greatness; others have done that. Rather, this book is unique and fascinating because it allows us not just to read about this process but to relive it and thus to understand in a fundamentally new way what it meant and entailed" - Kurt Raaflaub, Brown University

Foreword by Kurt Raaflaub
Part I: The Question of Beginnings
1: A Most Unusual Case (I): The Co-Option of Antiquity by Medieval and Modern Europe
2: The Challenge of Freedom
3: A Most Unusual Case (II): The Formation of Medieval and Early Modern Culture
4: The Constitution of Europe as a Part of the World
5: Greeks and Persians (I): Freedom and Rule: Atossa's dream
6: Europe and Asia in Antiquity
7: Antiquity as European Pre- or Early History
Part II: The Rise of the Polis
1: A Post-Mycenaen New Beginning: Origins of Greek Particularity
2: The Dawn of an Era: The 8th Century BC
3: The Greeks and the Orient
4: Colonialism
5: Homer and Hesiod
6: Gods and Priests
7: Crisis and Consolidation: The 7th and 6th Centuries BC
8: Polis Individualism and the Pan-Hellenic Context: The Agonal
9: The Diversity of the Poleis: Sparta and Other Cities
10: The Wars
11: Polis Structure: Public Sphere and Institutions
12: Crisis: Aristocratic Battles, Outrage, Tyranny
13: Lyric Poetry: The Symposium and a Reorientation Toward Virtue
14: The Beginnings of Political Thought: The Middle Ones
15: The Beginnings of Greek Philosophy and Science
16: Athens' Path Toward Isonomia and Rise to Power
17: The Aegean World Around 500 BC: Greeks and Persians (2)
Afterword