Epochs of Ancient History (PDF)

The period of history covered by this volume is full both of interest and importance. It embraces about seventy years, and treats of that grave period in the history of the Greeks when Sparta overran and subdued Athens, and destroyed its rule and power everywhere. This was followed by the rise and success for a time of Thebes. It was the transition period from the glories of the Athenian Empire to the degradation of the Macedonian Conquest. The stirring events of the time are remarkably well related, and the characters of great men who took a part in the momentous struggle are well portrayed. Spartan rule was a tyrannical and corrupt rule. It was under this rule that Socrates was condemned to death, and we have placed before us a vivid picture of the causes that led to that eminent man's condemnation. The characters of the other important actors in the history of that time are equally well brought out, and the reader rises from the perusal of the work ready to carry his research further into more voluminous pages, with an increased zest in consequence of having had the whole train of events passed in a clear and rapid review before him. The Greeks carried their wars over that part of Western Asia where the Russians are now attacking the Turks, and Russians are now attacking the Turks, and the changes in modern nomenclature of the maps are so great that nothing but the conformation of the country remains the same. There are five maps and an excellent Index.