No Greek writer ever attempted to describe or analyse the events of his own lifetime or of the immediate past until Herodotos and Thucydides in the fifth century. Our knowledge of Greece before 479 BC is dependent on the stories which the later Greeks told about their past and the indirect testimony of the material and poetic monuments of the archaic age.

Greece in the Making shows how we can write the history of this period, and the insights which can be gained by doing so for our understanding of later periods of history. It goes beyond tradition and exploits the literature, art, and archaeology of the period. Richly illustrated, this book makes much new information readily accessible and puts the reader in touch with the latest scholarship on the subject.