Includes bibliographical references (p. 441-449) and index.

Ch. 1. Introduction -- Ch. 2. Location of Greek civilization and environmental setting -- Ch. 3. Historical and chronological setting -- Ch. 4. Origins, growth, and decline of Greek civilization -- Ch. 5. Economics -- Ch. 6. Social organization and social structure -- Ch. 7. Politics -- Ch. 8. Religion and ideology -- Ch. 9. Material culture -- Ch. 10. Intellectual accomplishments -- Ch. 11. Major controversies and future directions in the study of Greek civilization.

"A scholarly, comprehensive work that engages the reader and makes history a pleasure, this book covers the whole of Ancient Greece - 3,000 years of art, culture, literature, politics, war, and empire. Until now, histories of Ancient Greece were either accessible to the general reader but out-of-date or current but too daunting for anyone but the specialist." "Using the full range of resources of art history, linguistics, archaeology, and literature, this book details the familiar - mythic heroes; famous scholars, scientists, and warriors; classical architecture - and introduces the obscure - the origins of the Greeks and their culture, including their first written language, Linear B cuneiform. More than a recitation of facts, the book provides an introduction to historical technique: How do historians know what they know; where do they disagree and why?"--BOOK JACKET.