We think we know ancient Greece, the civilisation that shares the same name and gave us just about everything that defines ‘western’ culture today, in the arts, sciences, social sciences and politics. Yet, as Greece has been brought under repeated scrutiny during the financial crises that have convulsed the country since 2010, worldwide coverage has revealed just how poorly we grasp the modern nation. Roderick Beaton sets out to understand the modern Greeks on their own terms. How did Greece come to be so powerfully attached to the legacy of the ancients in the first place, and then define an identity for themselves that is at once Greek and modern? This title reveals the remarkable achievement, during the last 300 years, of building a modern nation on, sometimes literally, the ruins of a vanished civilisation.

Author Roderick Beaton Published by Penguin Books ISBN 9780141986524 EAN 9780141986524 Bic Code Cover Paperback