Central Greece and the Politics of Power in the Fourth Century BC

The streams of Greek history in the fourth century are highly controversial. Sandwiched between the Classical fifth century and the Hellenistic period, the era has invited various readings, most prominently the verdict of decrepitude and decline. Recent discoveries, however, indicate that the period was not simply illustrative of the political, social, and economic weaknesses of the Greek city-state. This book examines the fourth century from an area with its own regional dynamics: central Greece, a region often considered as a backwater for macro-politics. The authors disclose a vivid tension between regional politics in Boeotia and its adjacent territories and Greek affairs. They provide a meticulous and, at times, microscopic investigation into the region's military and political history, together with detailed analyses of the topography of the places 'where history was made.' The result is a dazzling account of Greece's power transition crisis on the eve of the Macedonian conquest.

Author: John Buckler, Hans Beck
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 04/24/2008
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.00w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780521837057

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2009

About the Author
Buckler, John: - JOHN BUCKLER is Emeritus Professor of Greek History. Selected publications include The Theban Hegemony, 371-362 B.C. (1980), Philip II and the Sacred War (1989) and Aegean Greece in the Fourth Century B.C. (2003).Beck, Hans: - HANS BECK is John MacNaughton Professor of Classics at McGill University in Montreal and has published widely in the field of Greek federalism. He is the author of Polis und Koinon (1997).