Who's Who in the Greek World

Book excerpt: Was there such a person as Homer? Who were the key figures in the first democracy of the Western World? Who is the father of tragedy? Who is the father of history? Of all the world's ancient civilisations, it is perhaps the Ancient Greece that has the strongest hold over the modern imagination. The history, philosophy and literature continue to intrigue and enthral. Now John Hazel has compiled the definitive biographical guide to the Greek and Hellenistic world from 750 BC to the end of the Roman Empire. The lives of Alexander the Great, Socrates and Plato are opened up, but so too are those of lesser-known figures: Bacchylides the lyric poet; Chares the general; and the traitor Ephialtes, giving a thorough and fascinating overview of life in Ancient Greece.