A culture of freedom: ancient Greece and the origins of Europe

Abstract

Christian Meier is one of Europe's preeminent authorities on the classical world. A Culture of Freedom marks the apex of his lifelong research on ancient culture. Beginning with a section on medieval and modern Europe's enormous inheritance of institutions and ideas, the book moves on to chronicle the rise of civilization from the Bronze Age to the Greco-Persian wars. Throughout, the author provides fresh insight into the Greek miracle, as he illuminates the well-known features of culture--from epic and lyric poetry to warfare, athletics, philosophy, religion, and democracy. What made these achievements possible and so enduring? Meier argues that across the whole range of human experience--in politics and philosophy no less than in war, sport, and religion--there was one common denominator among the ancient Greeks: an attempt to find compromise, balance, and understanding in the face of problems others usually solved by means of power. A Culture of Freedom is an original and learned portrait of a civilization that still captivates and inspires.