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The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome [Paperback]

Robin Lane Fox
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
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Book Description

6 July 2006

Robin Lane Fox's The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome is a comprehensive and enthralling introduction to Ancient civilization.

The classical civilizations of Greece and Rome dominated the world for centuries and continue to intrigue and enlighten us with their inventions, whether philosophy, politics, theatre, athletics, celebrity, science or the pleasures of horse racing. Robin Lane Fox's spellbinding history, spans almost a thousand years of change from the foundation of the world's first democracy in Athens to the Roman Republic and the Empire under Hadrian.

Bringing great figures such as Homer, Socrates, Cicero, Alexander, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Augustus and the first Christian martyrs to life, exploring freedom, justice and luxury, this wonderfully exciting tour brings the turbulent histories of Greece and Rome together in a masterly study.

'Epic in the true sense'
  The Times Books of the Year

'He writes supremely well ... a keen eye for the telling detail and powerful example ... the humanity of the exercise shines through ... compulsory, and compulsive, reading'
   Peter Jones, Sunday Telegraph

Robin Lane Fox is a Fellow of New College, Oxford, and a University Reader in Ancient History. His other books include Alexander the Great, Pagans and Christians and The Unauthorized Version. He was historical advisor to Oliver Stone on the making of Stone's film Alexander, for which he waived all his fees on condition that he could take part in the cavalry charge against elephants which Stone staged in the Moroccan desert.


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The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome + Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire + Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic
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Product details

  • Paperback: 720 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (6 July 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0141021411
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141021416
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 3.2 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 12,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

The Classical World is a more epic epic than any toga-clad celluloid epic to date... Mr Lane Fox's brilliant book, where soldiers, poets and orators fight for attention in a story that is never cluttered and always stimulating. (The Economist )

witty, ferociously learned, enormously well read (Mary Beard, The Independent )

an ambitious and exhilarating volume...The Classical World is so replete with insight and anecdote that I would love to see it in every school library. (Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday )

we are in the hands of an author who knows that an epic can only be driven by big characters such as Pericles, Demosthenes, Philip, Cicero, Pompey, Caesar and Cleopatra...Here lies the author's mastery, matching a lifelong familiarity with his subject to the basic needs of a newly arrived apprentice (Nigel Spivey, FT )

About the Author

Robin Lane Fox was born in 1946 and educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of New College, Oxford, and a University Reader in Ancient History. His other books include Alexander the Great, Pagans and Christians and The Unauthorized Version. He was historical advisor to Oliver Stone on the making of Stone's film Alexander, for which he waived all his fees on condition that he could take part in the cavalry charge against elephants which Stone staged in the Moroccan desert.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
68 of 70 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Olympian in every sense 13 Jan 2006
Format:Hardcover
Robin Lane Fox, well known for his books on Alexander, has here produced one of the best overviews of classical Greek and Roman history, from the emergence of preclassical Greece to its second coming, so to speak, under Hadrian, that most philhellenic of Romans. Urbane but enthusiastic, revealing an immense learning very lightly, Lane Fox is unashamedly narrative in his approach. Essentially a Hellenist, he is perhaps unfair to some of the Romans - especially to the emperor Augustus whose achievements as a ruler surely atone for his lack of appeal as a man. Both Homer's world at the book's start, and that of the emperor Hadrian at the book's end, were aristocratic. Although Lane Fox treats the rise and fall of Athenian democracy very favourably, his general viewpoint is also elevated, unfashionably so. He concentrates on political and military events, rather ignoring cultural factors. For Greece especially, this is an omission. But overall, while his Olympian narrative may not impress some specialists, it will probably still be read with fascination and appreciation long after more specialist works have been forgotten. Lane Fox can stand deservedly in the grand narrative tradition of Gibbon.
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82 of 85 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Classical History - Short, Sweet, Elegant 21 Aug 2006
By Withnail67 TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an outstanding sweep across hundreds of years of Classical Greek and Roman history by a very fine scholar with a well-tuned popular touch.

Ranging from the poet Homer in the 7th century BCE, to the Roman 'First Citizen' Hadrian surveying his empire from the Tyne to the Euphrates, Lane Fox communicates a lifetime experience of teaching the Classics in one compact volume, deliciously divided into chapters which can capture an era or event in one pre-sleep bite! His view is even handed, but his enthusiasm for figures such as Pliny and Cicero shine out. He also has a soft spot for gardeners...

This is an excellent starting point for further reading, with excellent and easily usable notes and bibliographies. The illustrations are fascinatingly discussed in an appendix. I especially enjoyed the careful modern nuances that alluded to 'spin' and 'regime change' - these can be clumsy in lesser writers, but they were revealing and apposite here.

A very very fine book covering a vital aspect of human history, and essential to fully understand the Western World with all its achievements, weaknesses and cruelties.
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64 of 67 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A real tour de force 21 Dec 2005
By Mr. A. C. Gilbert VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
If you've ever wanted to delve into Classical history but have always felt put off by the kind of high-brow, donnish aura that surrounds the subject, then this is the book for you.
I don't mean by this that the book is "dumbed-down", far from it; Lane Fox has written a gripping, accessible account of the great Greek and Roman civilisations upon which Western society still stands. He is an absolute master of sources and stories, and weaves them together into a cogent whole. This is a book not just about the princes, philosophers and Emperors but about the entire classical societies of Greece and Rome. It feels like you're there yourself.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars why can't I buy?
"This item is currently under review" - please can you review it then? What is subject to dispute? Why can't I purchase this on Kindle???? Read more
Published 23 days ago by tpemckiernan
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
I think it is one of the best book
It is very precise and very elaborated book !!!
I suggest this book to everyone
Published 1 month ago by evaghelos michilios
5.0 out of 5 stars College work
I bought this book for college and found that it was outstanding and easy to follow and made my course work a lot easier
Published 2 months ago by john mabbley
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Introduction to the Ancient World
If, like me, all you know about Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome is either what you picked up at school or through popular culture, and heavily biased towards the Roman occupation... Read more
Published 6 months ago by S. Matthews
5.0 out of 5 stars Bored Lawyer
Having read ancient history books extensively as a hobby over the decades,this has been the most enjoyable, fluent and accessible read thus far. Read more
Published 14 months ago by bored lawyer
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent buy
This was an excellent buy, as an undergraduate in Ancient History it has become most beneficial to my learning. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Emilyj92
3.0 out of 5 stars A good read, but biased and with detail flaws
As other reviewers have remarked, this is definitely a good read and the narrative simply draws you in. Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2011 by Indiscriminate Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on Greece and Rome
I am impressed at how Robin Lane Fox has managed to take a near incomprehensible field such as the classical world and distilled it down to the near essentials. Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2011 by Peyman Askari
4.0 out of 5 stars Well written
I greatly enjoyed this. It is a very decent narrative history book. It covers a great deal of ground and does so in a comprehensive and rigorous way. Read more
Published on 27 Nov 2010 by The Emperor
5.0 out of 5 stars The Classical World - A Masterpeice of Historical Narrative.
This is a perfect example of British academia at its absolute best. In a market full of narratives regarding the history of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, this book, and its... Read more
Published on 23 Nov 2010 by ShiDaDao Ph.D
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