Spivey Nigel. Classical Civilization: A History in Ten Chapters

Head of Zeus, 2015. — 288 p.A concise and accessible study of the foundations, development and enduring legacy of the cultures of Greece and Rome, centred on ten locations of seminal importance in the development of Classical civilisation.Starting with Troy, where history, myth and cosmology fuse to form the origins of Classical civilisation, Nigel Spivey explores the contrasting politics of Athens and Sparta, the diffusion of classical ideals across the Mediterranean world, Classical science and philosophy, the eastward export of Greek culture with the conquests of Alexander the Great, the power and spread of the Roman imperium, and the long Byzantine twilight of Antiquity.A secure grasp of the nature of our Greek and Roman heritage is absolutely fundamental to a true understanding of contemporary European society and culture. Nigel Spivey outlines and explains that heritage with supreme passion, rigour and clarity.Nigel Spivey is a senior lecturer in classical art and archaeology at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of several books, including Understanding Greek Sculpture, Enduring Creation, The Classical World, and The Ancient Olympics. He also presented the major BBC/PBS series How Art Made the World.