Persia and the Greeks. The Defence of the West 546-478 B.C. - BURN, A.R.,

London, 1962. XVI,586p. Cloth. Spine bit discoloured. Small personal library marks on tail spine as well as free endpaper. Name on free endpaper.Antiquarian
This sequel tells the story of the great Persian menace that threatened Greek civilisation during the first half of the fifth century, and of its repulse. Our written sources for this history are almost entirely Greek, and the Persians not unnaturally tend to appear as barbarous folk. Mr. Burn corrects this bias and lets us see that the struggle was between two civilisations, each great in its way. It was no mean task to hold together such a vast empire, and the mounting of Xerxes' invasion was a triumph of organisation. On the other side, though democracy eventually overcame absolute monarchy, the inveterate jealousy and suspicion between the Greek states, even in face of the enemy, more than once brought them within an ace of defeat, and calls for something less than our admiration. Mr. Burn's knowledge of the literature, both ancient and modern, is encyclopaedic. Again and again his acute analysis of the authorities whom the marshals, and his estimate of their relative values, result in a new view of hitherto accepted theories. He has, moreover, travelled widely over most of the ground, and this has enabled him, for example among the much disputed accounts of the tactics at the battle of Thermopylai, to throw fresh and convincing light on what really happened. (Publisher's information). From the library of the late Sir Kenneth James Dover.