Basic Books
The Greeks: A Global History
Key Metrics
- Roderick Beaton
- Basic Books
- Hardcover
- 9781541618299
- -
- -
- History > Europe - Greece (see also Ancient - Greece)
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
More than two thousand years ago, the Greek city-states, led by Athens and Sparta, laid the foundation for much of modern science, the arts, politics, and law. But the influence of the Greeks did not end with the rise and fall of this classical civilization. As historian Roderick Beaton illustrates, over three millennia Greek speakers produced a series of civilizations that were rooted in southeastern Europe but again and again ranged widely across the globe.
In The Greeks, Beaton traces this history from the Bronze Age Mycenaeans who built powerful fortresses at home and strong trade routes abroad, to the dramatic Eurasian conquests of Alexander the Great, to the pious Byzantines who sought to export Christianity worldwide, to today's Greek diaspora, which flourishes on five continents. The product of decades of research, this is the story of the Greeks and their global impact told as never before.
Author Bio
Roderick Beaton grew up in Edinburgh where he first studied Latin and ancient Greek before going on to Peterhouse, Cambridge, to graduate with a BA in English Literature and a PhD in Modern Greek. He came to King’s in 1981, first as Lecturer in Modern Greek Language and Literature, and then from 1988 until his retirement in 2018 as Koraes Professor.
For ten years he headed the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (whose functions since 2015 have been taken over by the Department of Classics), and from 2012 to 2018 was Director of the Centre for Hellenic Studies.
He is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA, 2013), a Fellow of King’s College (FKC, 2018), Commander of the Order of Honour of the Hellenic Republic (2019) and, from September to December 2021, has been appointed A.G. Leventis Visiting Professor in Greek at the University of Edinburgh.
Teaching
Myth and modern literature; nations and nationalism in the Hellenic world; Romanticism and the making of modern Greece; Classical reception in modern Greece; and (at MA level) the history of the Greek novel in comparative context.
Expertise and public engagement
I frequently appear in Greek national press and on national radio, as well as many online appearances. I am actively involved in the organization of events in Greece, the UK and elsewhere to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution in 2021, and have already recorded extensive interviews for several TV and film documentaries on the subject.
I am available to the talk to the media about any aspect of current affairs or the modern history and culture of Greece or Cyprus.
Source: King's College London, U.K.
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