Greece Against Rome

The Fall of the Hellenistic Kingdoms 250-31 BC

De: Philip Matyszak

Narrado por: Gareth Richards

The acclaimed ancient world historian examines the centuries-long decline of Greek powers in the face of the growing Roman threat.

Towards the middle of the third century BC, the Hellenistic kingdoms were near their peak. In terms of population, economy, and military power, each was vastly superior to Rome, not to mention in fields such as medicine, architecture, science, philosophy, and literature. But over the next two and a half centuries, Rome would eventually conquer these kingdoms while adopting so much of Hellenistic culture that the resultant hybrid is known as "Graeco-Roman."

In Greece Against Rome, Philip Matyszak relates this epic tale from the Hellenistic perspective. At first, the Romans appear to be little more than another small state in the barbarian west as the Hellenistic powers are consumed by war amongst themselves. It is a time of assassinations, double crosses, dynastic incest, and warfare. By the time they turn their attention to Rome, it is already too late.

©2020 Philip Matyszak (P)2022 Tantor

Interesting

Matystak takes the reader through a detailed account of the clashes that the three empires that resulted from Alexander the Great's conquest engaged in with Rome. It's a fascinating book and made me wonder if one of the reasons for Rome's success is that they elected their consuls and thus avoided the problem of a great ruler's son not being as capable as dad was. If you're interested in the expansion of Rome or Alexander's successor states, this is a worthwhile book.

Complex

Very in depth hard even for someone who knows history well. A lot of unfamiliar empires and names makes it challenging comprehend, but you get the general zeitgeist without remembering every detail.

Tough to listen to

Hi. The subject and content is great. The narrator’s voice is awful to listen to.

Greek influnce on Middle East

A great overview of the influence of Helenism in the Mediterranean world and beyond. Well read.

Great Stuff

Love Maty's writing, this is a great hellenistic overview and intro to the interactions between the hellenes and the late roman republic...between the times of Alexander to ~50bce, Actium, death of the seleucids, etc

Excellent Listen

Great narration combined with thorough historical overview, peppered throughout with a personal touch from the author’s voice that truly enhances the delivery of so much information.

Good overall history

It's a good overall history but doesn't go into a ton of detail. It makes some big assumptions in passing without really taking the time to explain or defend those arguments. I'm sure there is a reason why the author believes these things and I know there is a lot to cover in a small quantity of pages, but these big assumptions mentioned only in passing did bother me and takes away from the credibility a little bit. If the author just added a little more evidence that would be helpful.

While a good, cohesive, and even entertaining narrative, the author stops short of any conclusion or "thesis" statement other than military force was more powerful than cultural sophistication in a fight, which is kind of obvious. I was hoping for something like Rome conquered Greece because of x y and z, but we don't get anything like that. Good information, but not a lot of analysis. Informative without being boring, which is good. Narrator has a nasaly voice and it's a little annoying to be honest.

Awesome.

Great job with capturing a long and complex story in history. Good narration. I recommend it to anyone interested in Greco-Roman history.

A lot of information

A lot of research and information in this book. Not a page turner but interesting if you are into this time period. Sometimes difficult to follow if you don’t picture the geography the author is referring to. Probably would be more interesting if I had gotten or followed maps as the story developed.

I didn't know

the hellenic world was far beyond Greece. The book described how Greece affected the World greatly thru Rome. Wonderfully done.