This book is a new, shorter version of the successful book by the authors Ancient Greece: Political, Social, and Cultural History (OUP, 1998). Four leading experts of the classical world vividly and informatively narrate the history of Greece and its culture in all its complexity and variety, covering the entire period from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic Period and incorporating the latest findings from archaeology, comparative anthropology, and social history into the narrative. They show how the early Greeks utilized borrowings from their neighbors to eventually develop their own distinctive culture, which stood out for its remarkable creativity, adaptability, and flexibility. The authors go on to trace the complex and astonishing evolution of ancient Greek culture until its final dissolution and its blending with various other cultures. Using material evidence from archaeology, written records of literary texts and inscriptions, and anthropological models based on comparative studies, this comprehensive volume offers a presentation of the Greek world that is thorough and serious, yet accessible and enjoyable to students and readers of all kinds who have little or no knowledge of Greece.