A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great [antikvár]

JOHN BAGNELL BURY(1861-1927)A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF GREECE"As a student at Foyle College, in Derry, Ireland, J. B. Bury's first interest in antiquity was awakened by Freeman's History oj Federal Government in Greece and Italy. After winning a fellowship at Trinity College, Dublin, he wrote, when he was but twenty-seven, A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadia to Irene. This work was acclaimed by scholars and became widely popular. His love of Pindar's poetry led him to edit the Nemean and Isthmian Odes. In 1893, he was made Professor of History at Trinity College and wrote A History of the Roman Empire from Its Foundation to the Death of Marcus Aurelius. Seven years later he issued his major work, A History of Greece, and was appointed Regius Professor at Cambridge. In addition to his monumental classical research and translations, he found time to write a Life oj Saint Patrick. In 1908, he lectured at Harvard University, and thereafter continued to add to his stature as a teacher and scholar. His last work, published in 1923, carried forward his Roman historical chronicle to the death of Justinian. Ill health forced him to abandon his labors and go to Rome, where he died on June i, 1927.PREFACE TO FIRST EDITIONIn determining the form and character of this book, I have been prompted by two convictions. One is that while, in writing a history based on the original authorities and from one's own personal point of view, it is natural and certainly easier to allow it to range into several volumes, its compression into a single volume often produces a more useful book. In the case of a new history of Greece, it seemed worth while to undertake the more laborious task. The other opinion which I venture to hold is this. So far as history is concerned, those books which are capable of enlisting the interest of mature readers seem to me to be best also for informing younger students. Therefore, while my aim is to help education, this book has in view a wider circle than those merely who are going through a course of school or university discipline.It was a necessary consequence of the limitations of space which I imposed upon myself, that literature and art, philosophy and religion, should be touched upon only when they directly illustrate, or come into some specially intimate connexion with, the political history. It will be found that I have sometimes interpreted this rule liberally; but it is a rule which could be the more readily adopted as so many excellent works dealing with art, literature, and philosophy are now easily accessible. The interspersion, in a short political history, of a few unconnected chapters dealing, as they must deal, inadequately with art and literature seems useless and inartistic.The existence of valuable handbooks, within the reach of all, on constitutional antiquities has enabled me, in tracing the development of the Athenian state or touching on the institutions of other cities, to omit minor details. The reader must also seek elsewhere for the sagas of Hellas, for a geographical description of the country, for the topography of Athens. On the topography of Athens, and on the geography of Greece, he will find excellent works to his hand.There are two cautions which I must convey to the reader, and it will be most convenient to state them here. The first concerns the prehistoric age, which is the subject of the first chapter of this work. The evidence gathered by the researches