This is a deceptively long book, it is so filled with data that a reader could branch out in a hundred different directions from points of interest covered by the author. I became interested in Polycrates of Ephesus, he kept popping up all over as a naval innovator, globe trotting diplomat and sponsor of science and engineering. He was also crucified, the only mention of it in the whole book. And, it only covers the early centuries of the Greeks, focusing on the building of the Athens dominated Mediterranean world to come. The entirety of the book is really a few to several page long synopses of every major city and colony throughout the region, broken up in to several geographic chapters. There is a lot of overlap and repeating, but that's not a bad thing, really. Just adds to the length, and aids in memory through repetition a little. Like the Graves Greek Myths above, it is a dangerous sleep inducer. It could be because I am out of the house a lot frisbee golfing and shedding that layer of winter fat. Just in the last two weeks I have put 70 miles on my bike and walked another twenty or more just disc golfing. Not to mention all of the throws. I feel much better than I did a month ago.

That went off on a tangent. Anyway, The Rise of the Greeks actually forms an informal trilogy of compendiums by Mr. Grant, the others being The Classical Greeks and From Alexander to Cleopatra. These are organized similarly, but focus on the people and characters, as opposed to places, of a more time-focused era than the sprawling centuries long Rise of the Greeks. The Classical Greeks will probably be my next read, but I might take a short detour away from Greece for a few days.

A last note, the Rise is filled, quite singularly, with huge, complex, comma filled, (with stuff here and sub-ideas in brackets and finishing a thought over here), yet, somehow, the idea, such as it is, gets across to the reader, in spite of, or maybe because of, all the commas, but I, however, doubt it. Maybe it's a British thing, but it was blatant in the beginning and tapered off as the book continued along. Just an observation on the subtleties of editing ( )

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