Athens and Sparta, Adrian Goldsworthy

 

Athens and Sparta:  The rivalry that shaped ancient Greece by Adrian Goldsworthy

Started: July 10, 2026
Completed: July 23, 2026

Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody
Media: Audio

Review:

This book is a little dry and assumes awareness of some Ancient Greek history.  Goldsworthy is clear about the areas where there is speculation and he is quick to try and bracket things like troop estimates realistically.  He is also straight forward in pointing out that the history was written basically by the victor as there are no significant records of the Spartan perspective.  I think that this was a good overview of the relationship between the cities and offers a good foundation for a deeper study.

The Fall of Carthage, Adrian Goldsworthy

 

The Fall of Carthage:  The Punic Wars 265-146BC by Adrian Goldsworthy

Started: 11/2/2025
Completed: DNF (March 26, 2026)
Recommendation: Cannot comment

Media: eBook
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I just could not get into this book.  The preface was quite large and provided a ton of information that I could not correlate to anything.  It was also quite boring.  I never even got to the start of any war.

Rome and Persia, Adrian Goldsworthy

 

Rome and Persia:  The seven hundred year rivalry by Adrian Goldsworthy

Started: 12/2/2023

Completed: 12/10/2023

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Words for which  I sought help:

escalade -- the scaling of fortified walls using ladders as a form of military attack

Review:

Goldsworthy opens by suggesting that this book will be about more than just war.  It isn't.  It is all about war.  Maybe that is fine because that is the record we have.  Still I hoped to learn about culture exchange between the groups, to learn about trading communities, and to learn about trading paths.  None of that.  Because, what the real time writers talked about was wars.  We have no idea if there are plays that the two cultures have in common.  It is entirely unclear whether there were gladiatorial combats in Persia...or at least this book simply doesn't address it.  Intermarriage is constrained to the intermixing of royal families that led to, you guessed, it, war.  Goldsworthy tells us about wars, fortifications, attack paths, and even elephants (yes, used in war), but nothing about anything else.  Oh well.