Quotes from Roderick Beaton

Having left not one of them alive, they stripped the temple of its treasures and burnt everything on the Acropolis.

res publica, literally 'the thing belonging to the people', and the origin of the modern term republic.

ten tonnes of copper ingots together with quantities of tin, jars that would have contained olive oil

The 'Persian Wars', as the two campaigns of 490 BCE and 480–479 BCE have been known ever since, were over.

Instead, the key to happiness and fulfilment lies in what we would call a psychological attitude

The Greek word barbaros at first just meant a foreigner who spoke a different language.

Modern stereotypes brand Epicureans as seekers after sensual pleasure, often associated with the motto, 'Eat, drink

and be merry, for tomorrow we die'.

the word 'stoical' has entered the languages of today to describe patient endurance in the face of suffering.

There was never a political entity of that name until 1821, when Greek subjects of the Ottoman Empire raised

In the absence of the principle of hereditary rule

There was never a political entity of that name until 1821

when Greek subjects of the Ottoman Empire raised the flag of revolution

GREEK REVIVAL' 1669–1833

declared their independence.

the only other force that might have exerted a compelling authority over a polis would have been religion.

Poseidon ruled over the sea and was responsible for earthquakes. Athena was the goddess of wisdom

the urban space was dominated by the imposing rock known as the Acropolis

Aphrodite of sexual love, Apollo of light and poetry

Ares personified war, Dionysus the emotions and intoxication, Hermes trickery.

The frontiers of the Greek state as we know it today mostly date from as recently as 1913.

the Greek word literally means 'high city'

fortifications bear witness to the power of the rulers to command the labour of many thousands of men.

their owners were Mycenaeans heading for home when their ship foundered off the headland in southern Turkey known as Uluburun