Just Finished Reading: The Birth of Classical Europe – A History from Troy to Augustine by Simon Price and Peter Thonemann (FP: 2010)

I’ve been fascinated by the Classical Ancient World for as long as I can remember and frankly who wouldn’t be? As myth slowly became history, like a picture developing in a tank of exotic chemicals, the past becomes increasingly well documented and understood. The general story itself is well known, how early primitive societies began to trade and exchange ideas across the Mediterranean in ever more sophisticated ships, how petty kingdoms gave way to city states and then empires, how the great superpowers of the age, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Carthage and finally Rome came to prominence, dominance and ultimately decline in the face of enemies both foreign and domestic, climate change and economic circumstance.

But this book brought out much more than this which definitely raised it above what would be expected of such a general work. For one thing there was an interesting emphasis not only on the history of the age – but the history of the history of the age. Not only how our own historical interpretations have changed over time, as we have accumulated more knowledge about the era in question but as our own understanding of social structure, human psychology and cultural anthropology each added something into the mix of more deeply understanding what we already thought we knew. Added on top of this was an attempt to understand how the ancient societies saw and reinterpreted their own histories at the time – in a contemporary fashion. Our understanding of history is not, as you might expect, the only way to see and appreciate the past. History itself is a cultural construct that inevitably changes over time and, rather fascinatingly, this too formed part of the history of Europe discussed between these pages. It did almost at times feel like watching a 3D movie without the special glasses – being able to see the layers individually that made up the in-depth picture but, by and large, without the resulting headaches! There is so much packed into these 334 pages that it’s actually quite difficult to unpack things clearly. This is certainly not a standard historical text. There are enough of those in print to be getting on with without adding yet another. 

This book is, at least in my experience, quite different. It is, of course, about the known history of the period. It is also about our changing interpretations of that historical knowledge – which of course changed after each new discovery – and our growing knowledge of how the ancients themselves saw and indeed manipulated their histories to suit their very different needs. This is a very intelligent, knowing and very readable book which cannot help but change your vision of the past as you will begin to see echoes of previous interpretations layered over each other like coloured cellophane wrapping each giving a slightly different explanation of the actual object underneath it all. It won’t turn you overnight into a sophisticated cultural and archaeological anthropologist but it will give you insights to how the past is, has and will continue to be shaped by how we have changed the way we view it. Recommended.