The Cambridge Ancient History by John Boardman, N. G. L. Hamm... - 9780521228046

The Cambridge Ancient HistoryAuthor(s): John Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond, D. M. Lewis, M. Ostwald\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9780521228046, 978-0521228046\nSynopsis\nThe years covered by this volume saw events and developments of major significance in the Mediterranean world. The first section of the book examines the Persian empire, the regions it comprised and its expansion during the reigns of Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes. In Greece, Sparta was attending maturity as the leader of a military coalition and Athens passed through a period of enlightened tyranny to a moderate democracy of dynamic energy and clear-sighted intelligence. Given the contrast between Greek ideas and Persian absolutism a clash between Greece and Persia became inevitable, and important chapters deal with the revolt of the Ionian Greeks against the Persians, and the two Persian invasions of Greece including the epic battles .