The Birth of Greek Civilization

C.W.J. Eliot was President, University of Prince Edward Island.

Pavel Oliva, a member of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, has written “a succinct account of the pre-classical period of Greek history” from the Neolithic to the end of the sixth century B.C. First published in 1981, this study has now been made available in English by the University of Alberta Press. It is a short book on a very long subject, one that includes several momentous developments: the first European settlements based on farming; the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations; the growth of city-states with particular emphasis on Sparta and Athens; Greek colonization in the Mediterranean and Black Sea; and the genesis and early achievements of Greek literature, art, and philosophy. The author is well informed about recent discoveries and scholarship; he is aware of disagreement in interpretation; but his is a summary of knowledge, and to that end he moves briskly, without footnotes or other academic delay.

For whom is this sketch intended? The professional historian will have his memory jogged, but he will not learn much that is new, and at times he will be annoyed at what is, or he perceives to be, wrong. The student will see a parade of facts, but he will not understand the relevance of all the information, nor will he fully appreciate the significance of the Greek experience. Moreover, through the text he will not be moved by the energy and excitement that accompanied discoveries that quite literally civilized our world. It is hard to believe that the general reader will feel better served. Names of poets without examples of their poetry, to cite from the final chapter, neither illustrate imagination nor command it. And archaeological discoveries should not seem as dry as the dust they have dispelled.

Much as I respect Professor Oliva’s learning, I am without enthusiasm for his book, largely because what I know to be exciting has become dull in the telling. Some additional blemishes do not improve my response: inconsistency of usage, lack of reference to illustrations, and an unreliable index. The bibliography is a useful, though not exhaustive, listing of books published up until 1981.