{"title":"Books by Paul Cartledge","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780199601349","title":"Ancient Greece","description":"The contribution of the Ancient Greeks to modern western culture is incalculable. In the worlds of art, architecture, myth, literature, and philosophy, the world we live in would be unrecognizably different without the formative influence of Ancient Greek models. Ancient Greek civilization was defined by the city - in Greek, the polis, from which we derive 'politics'. It is above all this feature of Greek civilization that has formed its most enduring legacy, spawning such key terms as aristocracy, oligarchy, tyranny and - last but by no means least - democracy. This stimulating Very Short Introduction to Ancient Greece takes the polis as its starting point. Paul Cartledge uses the history of eleven major Greek cities to illuminate the most important and informative themes in Ancient Greek history, from the first documented use of the Greek language around 1400 BCE, through the glories of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, to the foundation of the Byzantine empire in around CE 330. Covering everything from politics, trade, and travel to slavery, gender, religion, and philosophy, it provides the ideal concise introduction to the history and culture of this remarkable civilization that helped give birth to the world as we know it.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201513586866,"sku":"9780199601349","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780199601349.jpg?v=1786012454"},{"product_id":"9780198815136","title":"Democracy","description":"Democracy is either aspired to as a goal or cherished as a birthright by billions of people throughout the world today -- and has been been for over a century. But what does it mean? And how has its meaning changed since it was first coined in ancient Greece? Democracy: A Life is a biography of the concept, looking at its many different manifestations and showing how it has changed over its long life, from ancient times right through to the present. For instance, how did the 'people power' of the Athenians emerge in the first place? Once it had emerged, what enabled it to survive? And how did the Athenian version of democracy differ from the many other forms that developed among the myriad cities of the Greek world? Paul Cartledge answers all these questions and more, following the development of ancient political thinking about democracy from the sixth century BC onwards, not least the many arguments that were advanced against it over the centuries. As Cartledge shows, after a golden age in the fourth century BC, there was a long, slow degradation of the original Greek conception and practice of democracy, from the Hellenistic era, through late Republican and early Imperial Rome, down to early Byzantium in the sixth century CE. For many centuries after that, from late Antiquity, through the Middle Ages, to the Renaissance, democracy was effectively eclipsed by other forms of government, in both theory and practice. But as we know, this was by no means the end of the story. For democracy was eventually to enjoy a re-florescence, over two thousand years after its first flowering in the ancient world: initially revived in seventeenth-century England, it was to undergo a further renaissance in the revolutionary climate of late-eighteenth-century North America and France -- and has been constantly reconstituted and reinvented ever since.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43403914838194,"sku":"9780198815136","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780198815136_b40012db-16f9-49a7-8ad4-c6db86c6e45f.jpg?v=1786033247"},{"product_id":"9781035062775","title":"The Spartans","description":"\u003cp\u003e'Our greatest living expert on Sparta' \u003cb\u003e- Tom Holland, author of \u003ci\u003eRubicon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe definitive account of the extraordinary people of Sparta. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Spartan legend has inspired and captivated subsequent generations with evidence of its legacy found in both the Roman and British Empires. The Spartans are our ancestors, every bit as much as the Athenians. But while Athens promoted democracy, individualism, culture and society, their great rivals Sparta embodied militarism, totalitarianism, segregation and brutal repression . . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs ruthless as they were self-sacrificing, their devastatingly successful war rituals made the Spartans the ultimate fighting force, epitomized by Thermopylae. While slave masters to the Helots for over three centuries, Spartan women, such as Helen of Troy, were free to indulge in education, dance and sport.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eInterspersed with the personal biographies of leading figures, and based on thirty years' research, Paul Cartledge's \u003ci\u003eThe Spartans\u003c\/i\u003e tracks the people from 480 to 360 BC charting Sparta's progression from the Great Power of the Aegean Greek world to its ultimate demise.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNow part of the Picador Collection.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55897802965365,"sku":"9781035062775","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781035062775_a45894dc-17e0-4180-a8f3-be82a612afc4.jpg?v=1786017556"},{"product_id":"9780192803887","title":"The Greeks","description":"This book provides an original and challenging answer to the question: 'Who were the Classical Greeks?' Paul Cartledge - 'one of the most theoretically alert, widely read and prolific of contemporary ancient historians' (TLS) - here examines the Greeks and their achievements in terms of their own self-image, mainly as it was presented by the supposedly objective historians: Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon.  Many of our modern concepts as we understand them were invented by the Greeks: for example, democracy, theatre, philosophy, and history. Yet despite being our cultural ancestors in many ways, their legacy remains rooted in myth and the mental and material contexts of many of their achievements are deeply alien to our own ways of thinking and acting.  The Greeks aims to explore in depth how the dominant group (adult, male, citizen) attempted, with limited success, to define themselves unambiguously in polar opposition to a whole series of 'Others' - non-Greeks, women, non-citizens, slaves and gods. This new edition contains an updated bibliography, a new chapter entitled 'Entr'acte: Others in Images and Images of Others', and a new afterword.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56225627439477,"sku":"9780192803887","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780192803887_d2442aeb-38d4-40e5-8676-6b8e309900a5.jpg?v=1786011706"},{"product_id":"9781447237198","title":"Alexander the Great","description":"\u003cp\u003eAt eighteen Alexander had conquered mainland Greece, was crowned King of Macedonia at twenty and by twenty-six he had made himself master of the once mighty Persian Empire. By the time of his death, aged only thirty-three, in 323BCE he was ruler of the known world and was being worshipped as a god by the Greeks, both at Babylon, where he died, and further west, among the Greek cities of the Asiatic seaboard. The fruit of a lifetime’s scholarship and meticulous research, this is an outstanding biography of one of the most remarkable rulers in history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'A hugely impressive portrait of a towering but enigmatic figure' Saul David,\u003ci\u003e Sunday Telegraph \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'A revealing, often enthralling search . . . [a] restless, exhilarating book' \u003ci\u003eObserver \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Fascinating . . . blends all the pleasures of Hollywood epic with those of a subtle and deeply intriguing detective tale' Tom Holland, author of \u003ci\u003eRubicon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e '\u003ci\u003eAlexander the Great\u003c\/i\u003e provides an endless fount both of amazement and of speculation. This gripping book examines the legends as well as the life. Most interestingly, it invites the reader to participate in the difficult task of separating the fact from the fiction' Norman Davies\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt eighteen Alexander had conquered mainland Greece, was crowned King of Macedonia at twenty and by twenty-six he had made himself master of the once mighty Persian Empire. By the time of his death, aged only thirty-three, in 323BCE he was ruler of the known world and was being worshipped as a god by the Greeks, both at Babylon, where he died, and further west, among the Greek cities of the Asiatic seaboard. The fruit of a lifetime’s scholarship and meticulous research, this is an outstanding biography of one of the most remarkable rulers in history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'A hugely impressive portrait of a towering but enigmatic figure' Saul David, \u003ci\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'A revealing, often enthralling search . . . [a] restless, exhilarating book' \u003ci\u003eObserver \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Fascinating . . . blends all the pleasures of Hollywood epic with those of a subtle and deeply intriguing detective tale' Tom Holland, author of \u003ci\u003eRubicon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Alexander the Great provides an endless fount both of amazement and of speculation. This gripping book examines the legends as well as the life. Most interestingly, it invites the reader to participate in the difficult task of separating the fact from the fiction' Norman Davies\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56300083511669,"sku":"9781447237198","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781447237198_f3384ab7-df6b-45b5-aede-eec9ffa4b5c5.jpg?v=1786020578"},{"product_id":"9781509873180","title":"Thebes","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘An incisive, inspiring and vitally illuminating account of a city which changed the ancient world and which deserves to be remembered by the modern. A masterful book written by a master historian.’\u003c\/b\u003e – \u003cb\u003eBettany Hughes, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eIstanbul\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHelen of Troy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Continuously inhabited for five millennia, and at one point the most powerful city in Ancient Greece, Thebes has been overshadowed by its better-known rivals, Athens and Sparta. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e According to myth, the city was founded when Kadmos sowed dragon’s teeth into the ground and warriors sprang forth, ready not only to build the fledgling city but to defend it from all-comers. It was Hercules’ birthplace and the home of the Sphinx, whose riddle Oedipus solved, winning the Theban crown and the king’s widow in marriage, little knowing that the widow was his mother, Jocasta.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The city’s history is every bit as rich as its mythic origins, from siding with the Persian invaders when their emperor, Xerxes, set out to conquer Aegean Greece, to siding with Sparta – like Thebes an oligarchy – to defeat Pericles’ democratic Athens, to being utterly destroyed on the orders of Alexander the Great.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece\u003c\/i\u003e, the acclaimed classical historian Paul Cartledge brings the city vividly to life, and argues that it is central to our understanding of the ancient Greeks’ achievements – whether politically or culturally – and thus to our own culture and civilization.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301997588853,"sku":"9781509873180","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781509873180_d4bd3028-ae18-41a0-8841-ee80c7ac8326.jpg?v=1786022549"},{"product_id":"pericles","title":"Pericles","description":"Pericles, the Athenian statesman, was a towering figure of his era, renowned for promoting Athenian democracy, shaping the Athenian Empire and championing the arts, notably through the Parthenon’s creation. Born to aristocracy, he was a fervent democrat, a masterful demagogue in the ancient sense and an eccentric in his personal life. Paul Cartledge explores Pericles’ life, examines Athenian history and provides an insightful account of Pericles’ political career, his role in Athens’s building programme, his intellectual connections and his love life. Cartledge further considers Pericles’ reputation in the theatre as well as the ways in which he has been represented over the centuries from antiquity to the present day. This is a nuanced, illuminating and lively portrayal of a remarkable politician.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57490151735669,"sku":"9781836392002","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781836392002.jpg?v=1786442037"},{"product_id":"spartan-and-other-ruminations","title":"Spartan and Other Ruminations","description":null,"brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57509969756533,"sku":"9781914535512","price":85.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-paul-cartledge.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}