The Rise of Athens

The Story of the World's Greatest Civilization

By: Anthony Everitt

Narrated by: Michael Page

Filled with tales of adventure and astounding reversals of fortune, The Rise of Athens celebrates the city-state that transformed the world - from the democratic revolution that marked its beginning through the city's political and cultural golden age to its decline into the ancient equivalent of a modern-day university town. Anthony Everitt constructs his history with unforgettable portraits of the talented, tricky, ambitious, and unscrupulous Athenians who fueled the city's rise. An unparalleled storyteller, Everitt combines erudite, thoughtful historical analysis with stirring narrative set pieces that capture the colorful, dramatic, and exciting world of ancient Greece. Although the history of Athens is less well known than that of other world empires, the city-state's allure would inspire Alexander the Great, the Romans, and even America's own founding fathers. It's fair to say that the Athenians made possible the world in which we live today. In this peerless new work, Anthony Everitt breathes vivid life into this most ancient story.

©2016 Anthony Everitt (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

enjoyed the listen

plenty of interesting info, good level of detail, not a dry "read". thought provoking on the topic of sic transit gloria mundi.

difficult read

very hard to finish read like a text book. good school text read. hard to follow.

Thorough, Entertaining, and a Bit Sad

Everett does a masterful job of encapsulating the pertinent history of Athens (and very much Sparta and the Persian Empire as well). His limited editorial commentary is usually for the purpose of humor and he is very good at it. His analysis of the impact of Athens and the larger Hellenic world on history is astute. It was excellent and I enjoyed it very much. It makes me sad that I cannot see this remarkable polis at its Fifth Century BCE height.

very broad - more a war history book

Knowing little about ancient Greek history I thought this book would be a good start (especially given the high ratings). However, this book is so broad and, in my opinion, is more on the rise and fall of ancient Greece that it doesn't really get into much detail on any one topic about Athens. If you like war history though, you may enjoy this as the title should be "The History of Greece at War" as there seems to be an abundance of information on the Greek battles.

Very Accessible History of Ancient Greece

This is an extremely accessible account of classical Greek history focusing on Athens, Sparta and the Persian Empire. Everitt manages to give plenty of detail while keeping a relatively fast moving narrative. He moves from the ancient history up to Alexander hitting all the major points of the wars with Persia and the Peloponnesian War. At times the details become overwhelming—that’s to be expected in a long volume like this—but if you’re looking to understand ancient Greek history this is an exceptional volume. The part I found most informative was the very insightful discussion of how the nobility in Athens tried to use democracy to maintain their grip on power.

Incisive Synopsis of the Ascendancy of Ancient Gre

Excellent, thorough and cohesive modern synopsis that filled in many gaps for this passionate student of ancient Greece. Narration was impeccable.

expected better

from time to time I got a nugget or a good story from this book but more often then not I felt lost. the author will jump back and forth in time without nothing it so you don't understand things that overlap until he mentions a notable figure. I prefer the great courses book, I recently read. it wasn't specific to Athens but dealt with much of this time period and Incorporated many of these stories.

Overwhelmed by the details

I have discovered that I love Everitt’s books when they are focused on one individual rather than an empire. This books was so comprehensive it made my head spin. I had a hard time tracking it all but that it by no means the author’s fault - it was my inability to keep track of all the names that I am not familiar with.

Enjoyable Listen

The story is interesting and keeps you listening, although the litany of names can be overwhelming at times. This narrator’s incredibly annoying tendency to over-annunciate every single word and use pretentious pronunciations was minimized in this book. One wishes for more condemnation of the slavery and odd views of the man/boy relationship, but the facts are well presented.

Good but not great. With some disturbing opinions.

This was a good overview of Athens and Athen’s place in the greater Hellenic world.
I have read or listened to many other titles by this Author and they are usually relaxing tours of a character or period of the past.
My one main issues with this book is his view on the Greek Pederasty.
The author apologizes or opines his horror of slavery constantly but when it comes to the institutional (mostly upper-class) pedophilia of Ancient Greece it’s treated as romantic love affairs.
The author could have thrown of few opinions on this disgraceful institution that developed in the Hellenic World but he instead tries to turn it into some kind of willing homosexual practice.
This is the same kind of description often used in books about Leonardo Da Vinci and his apprentice Salaì. Many are afraid of criticizing Da Vinci as a pedophile and will often overlook or interpret his abuse of Salaì as a wonderful open love affair when in actuality it was abuse that scarred and ruined his student psychologically for his whole life.
The Greek Erastes (Older Man) and the Eromenos (younger male) a boy that didn’t grow hair on his face were involved in an abusive relationship that, as moderns, we understand cannot be a mutual relationship.
I don’t judge people of the past directly but we can say if something they were doing was wrong by our standards. The author is fine condemning slavery of the past but is unwilling to condemn an equally atrocious institution.