Athens : its rise and fall ; with views of the literature, philosophy, and social life of the Athenian people

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton was once Britain's most famous historical novelist, rivalling and outselling Dickens in his day. His best-known book was The Last Days of Pompeii; yet he was also responsible for a great work of history. Athens: Its Rise and Fall, originally published in 1837, is the most important and readable of the Victorian histories of ancient Greece. It stands alongside Macauley and Carlyle as a great historical work of British Romanticism, and anticipates the thinking of George Grote and John Stuart Mill on Greek history by over a decade. 2003 is the bicentenary of Bulwer Lytton's birth. To celebrate, Routledge is reissuing this influential work. This new edition will include the text of a never-before published third volume, recently discovered by Oxford academic Oswyn Murray. "Athens: Its Rise and Fall, originally published in 1837, was the first radical history of Greece in the spirit of Lord Byron. It ranks with Thomas Babington Macaulay's History of England and the works of Thomas Carlyle as one of the greatest intellectual achievements of the Romantic Age, and anticipates the thinking of George Grote and John Stuart Mill on Greek history by more than a decade." "To celebrate the bicentenary of Bulwer Lytton's birth, Routledge is reissuing this influential work. This new edition publishes, for the first time, the text of a previously forgotten third volume, recently discovered by Oxford academic Oswyn Murray."--BOOK JACKET Athens: Its Rise and Fall, originally published in 1837, is the most important and readable of the Victorian histories of ancient Greece. It stands alongside Macauley and Carlyle as a great historical work of British Romanticism, and anticipates the thinking of George Grote and John Stuart Mill on Greek history by over a decade.Originally published in two volumes, this new one-volume edition includes the text of the never-before published'third volume'on which he was working at the time of his death, recently rediscovered by Oxford academic Oswyn Murray.An absolute must for any scholar of ancient Greece. Athens: Its Rise and Fall, originally published in 1837, is the most important and readable of the Victorian histories of ancient Greece. It stands alongside Macauley and Carlyle as a great historical work of British Romanticism, and anticipates the thinking of George Grote and John Stuart Mill on Greek history by over a decade. Originally published in two volumes, this new one-volume edition includes the text of the never-before published 'third volume' on which he was working at the time of his death, recently rediscovered by Oxford academic Oswyn Murray. An absolute