The Rise of Athens

The Story of the World's Greatest Civilization

By: Anthony Everitt

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

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.

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.

Bringing history to life

Maybe a better title would be “The Rise and Fall of Athens,” since the author goes beyond just what made it great. There is no question about the greatness of Athens. It set standards of architecture, philosophy, literature, drama, sculpture, math, and science in the 5th and 4th centuries BC that continued to set the standard for centuries to come and are still influential today. Who doesn’t know about the Acropolis, the Parthenon, as well as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Homer, and maybe also Euripides, Archimedes, and so many more. In later years, even after they were no longer a political force, no Roman was considered to be fully educated without going to study in Athens and Rome copied its architecture, and continued to enjoy its plays and literature. It’s language spread throughout the Mediterranean and was the common language long after Athens had fallen and Rome was the power. Much of the vocabulary of English has Greek roots, including democracy (people-power). And, that was another contribution since it was the first true and lasting democratic civilization of any size or significant. It was a pure democracy, meaning that there were no representatives, but that all law and significant decisions were voted on by all, well at least all men who were citizens and of age, leaving out women, slaves, and other non-citizen residents. How was it that Athens became what it was? There had been an aristocracy and they had kings like all the other city-states of that time. And, even after the democracy was established, there was a continuing attempt by many (mostly those of the aristocracy and their descendents) to return to an autocracy. And, was their democracy the reason why they excelled in so many other areas (the author argues that it was)? And, how did they extend their power far beyond their city when there were so many other strong competitors from Sparta, Thebes, and other cities on the Greek peninsula to other powerful empires such as Persia and Carthage? Athens power was partly economic since it had the good fortune to be located on a lode of easily mined silver, but that doesn’t explain it all. The author, Anthony  Everitt, gives us his theme in the beginning, asking how such a tiny community produced so many geniuses to create a civilization that set the entire course of following Western history and beyond and laid the foundation for our political and philosophical heritage. He leads us through the history of the people, the battles, the debates that created this civilization, especially focusing on the creation of democracy. He doesn’t paint a rosy picture and deals with the brutality and cruelty that came with it, but at the same time, he tries not to judge it from a modern point of view but explaining things (including the rampant pederasty) from their point of view as best we can from a distance of 2,500 years. There were many things that were acceptable in the culture that would be criminal or at least morally repugnant today. But, Athens had 200 years of true greatness in almost every area. So, how did it end? What caused it to fall? That part is dealt with in less detail, but the themes are still there. There were many deadly wars, but in the end it was partly the inability to unite the peoples of their empire (as Rome did so skillfully) under one “roof” instead of treating them as subservient to Athens. And, there was that great and cunning king Philip of Macedonia who began to chip away at the corners until he was able to take on Athens herself, and his son Alexander (later also called “the Great”) who ended the democratic experiment. And how well did the experiment work. It worked well in some ways, but as Athens grew, its form of pure democracy, where every male was required to come together to vote, became too unwieldy to operate efficiently and resulted in, practically speaking, a different kind of autocracy as populist, charismatic leaders were able to move the masses, producing a government ruled by a mob controlled by a few. America’s founders looked back at the history of Athens for lessons that they applied in creating the representative democracy that became the second democratic experiment. Eventually Athens herself became a small “university” town educating the young men of the Roman empire and later being almost totally destroyed with just the Acropolis, though decaying and overgrown by weeds remaining. Everitt ends with a quotation from a cleric from the middle ages who said, “You cannot look upon Athens without weeping … A God-forsaken hole!” And, he then quotes Shelley as saying, “We are all Greeks,” showing the influence that Athens still holds over us. Athens remained a small backwater city until the peninsula was united in modern times to produce the modern nation of Greece which chose Athens as its capital. Everitt does an excellent job of presenting more than just a history, but an analysis that answers the questions of why and how that are inevitable as you look back at what Athens was. Highly recommended.

Well done! read before my Athens travel

I read this before trip to Athens, Greece. I learned much more about who had major and minor parts in the rise and fall of a Athens.

Persians, Spartans, Alexander the Great.

However I never thought I would know so much about the naked dancing boys Festival. Yes, that was a thing at one time.

Question: which book came first? The Rise of Athens or Tom Holland’s Persian Fire

I have listened to both. The small vignettes, such as a plane tree being decorated, man being sawn in half and posted on the road the army marched through, the dog of Xanthippes dying after swimming after his master, are the same. Holland’s book is easier to listen to. Holland is 2005. Leveritt is 2016.

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.

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.

Ancient Greece and present day USA

I see that Greece rose to power in there fervent love of democracy, but just as the US is doing now professional politicians are doing everything in their corrupt power to unseat a sitting elected president and regain power! They don’t think the US population is smart enough to think for ourselves and in doing so these terrible people will destroy this great nation. It is so sad.

History of Athens.

Very good and informative. but it doesn't just cover the rise of Athens, but it's whole ancient history. it should just be called Ancient Arhens. anyways, do recommend.