What is it that makes the theories of Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes “philosophical”?
Why is it that democracy, which has been known since the sixth century BC, has taken so long to be
universally adopted?
Why is it that some Greeks were willing to cooperate with the Persians even as the latter were
attempting to conquer the Greeks’ home cities?
Why is it that people seem inclined to attribute victory in war to the superiority of their own way of
life, but are reluctant to attribute defeat to the superiority of their adversaries’ way of life?Recommended for Further Reading
Graham, D. W. The Texts of Early Greek Philosophy: The Complete Fragments and Selected
Testimonies of the Major Presocratics, 2 vols. (Cambridge 2010): a reliable translation, with helpful
introduction and notes, of virtually all that survives of the writings of the earliest philosophers.
Green, P. The Greco-Persian Wars (Berkeley 1996): a lively and engaging account of the Persian Wars
that reads like a novel, yet is fundamentally sound in terms of historical and scholarly accuracy.
Harrison, T. (ed.) Greeks and Barbarians (New York 2002): a stimulating collection of essays and
excerpts from larger works by prominent scholars concerning the Greek construction of foreigners and, by
extension, of themselves.
Krentz, P. The Battle of Marathon (New Haven 2010): a scholarly reconstruction of the battle that is
accessible to the general reader, published exactly 2,500 years after the Athenian victory.
Miller, M. C. Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century bc: A Study in Cultural Receptivity (Cambridge
1997): a well-illustrated study of the (rather surprisingly) large influence “the enemy” had on the cultural
life of Athens in the wake of the Persian Wars.
Morrison, J. S., Coates, J. F., and Rankov, N. B. The Athenian Trireme: The History and Reconstruction
of an Ancient Greek Warship, 2nd edition (Cambridge 2000): a detailed study of every aspect of ancient
Greek naval construction, sailing, and warfare, along with the story of the successful design and launching
of the full-scale modern replica of a trireme seen in figure 38.
Strauss, B. The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter that Saved Greece – and Western Civilization
(New York 2004): an exciting specimen of military history that attempts to convey not only what
happened at Salamis in 480 bc but how the battle and its outcome affected the development of Western
democracy.
Suggested Internet Resources
Presocratic Philosophy (plato.stanford.edu/entries/presocratics, accessed March 29, 2016), by Patricia
Curd, is an excellent entry in the on-line Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, with links to entries on
individual philosophers and to other internet resources.
A Walk Through Ancient Miletus (fhw.gr/choros/miletus/en, accessed March 29, 2016) presents a history
of Miletus, with plans and reconstructions and a 360° virtual tour of the agora and other sections of the
ancient city.