Greece and Rome: An Integrated History of the Ancient Mediterranean

By: Robert Garland, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Robert Garland

Integrated approaches to teaching Greek and Roman history are a rarity in academia. Most scholars are historians of either Greek or Roman history and perform research solely in that specific field, an approach that author and award-winning Professor Robert Garland considers questionable.

In these 36 passionate lectures, he provides an impressive and rare opportunity to understand the two dominant cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world in relation to one another - a relationship that has virtually no parallel in world history. He shows you how these two very different cultures intersected, coincided, and at times, collided.

You'll discover the extraordinary culture that we call Greco-Roman: a unique fusion of civilizations that encompasses statecraft, mythology, language, philosophy, fine arts, architecture, science, and much else. Who were the Greeks and the Romans? How did they organize their societies? How did they interact?

In this unique integrated historical approach, you'll see how Greece and Rome's relationship resembled a marriage: two distinct personalities competing in some areas, sharing in others, and sometimes creating a new synthesis of the two civilizations. And you'll consider their more substantive cultural differences, including religion, their views of foreigners, and their ways of thinking.

You'll delight in the variety of sources - literature, archaeology, the visual arts, coinage, inscriptions - that Professor Garland draws upon to assemble a fascinating and complex picture of these two great civilizations. And you'll appreciate how he keeps Greece and Rome focused on how this material affects us today.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2008 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2008 The Great Courses

Excellent content with some caveats

Any additional comments?

Prof. Garland makes clear from several perspectives why we cannot understand or appreciate ancient Rome apart from its relationship to ancient Greece. I now appreciate more than ever the concept "Greco-Roman." This course is excellent, but there are some shortcomings the listener should be aware of.

1. Garland occasionally argues from etymologies to support some of his interpretations. This method of argumentation has been discredited for over 50 years. His conclusions may be correct, but when he etymologizes his methodology is suspect.

2. Garland, in spite of his protestations against it, seems unable to resist playing the role of a long-distance armchair psychologist analyzing the interior motives of long-dead ancient persons about whom we know very little.

3. Garland's presentation of the relationship between Christianity and Greco-Roman culture is superficial at best and just plain wrong at worst. He fails to present (or understand?) the essentially Jewish nature of primitive (including Pauline) Christianity. Further, while he argues that Christianity is essentially an amalgamation of elements derived from contemporaneous Mediterranean religions, he also argues that Christianity thoroughly overhauled the ideology and worldview of the Greco-Roman world. How what was essentially a patchwork of existing religious beliefs could have had such a thoroughgoing transformational effect he does not even address or question. He does not appear to be aware of this apparent contradiction.

That being said, the course is well worth it and I will listen to some of Prof. Garland's other presentations.

Mostly Awesome

Slightly confusing toward the beginning, where he seemed to jump around a lot, but in the later lectures it felt more chronological. Maybe printing out the course materials would have helped with that. Overall though, a good listen.

Robert Garland Rocks!

I'm a big fan of Robert Garland. He's very passionate about his interests and conveys that with joy when he shares it. Greece and Rome: An Ingegrated History is unlike all the other lecture series' i've listened to from Teaching Company/Great Courses. It plumbs the depths of the well-known Greco-Roman story from a higher altitude than most, offering true glimpses of fresh perspective. And that is quite an accomplishment.

Rotten Romans and Groovy Greeks

Really, really excellent summation of how these two cultures coexisted, intermingled and influenced....the whole world. I was relatively familiar with Roman history, but found the interconnectedness with the Greeks had passed me by. I now feel that I have a much greater understanding of this pivotal period. Very grateful I bought this series. PS Prof Garland is brilliant, and has the fairly standard upper class british lisp. Makes you think the Brits have no speech therapists as well as few (no?) dentists. I found the lisp endearing - this man has a brain the size of a planet. Ill forgive anything, even a few shh sounds where there should be "s".

Good integration approach to history.

A fine course by a brilliant professor.
Learned a great deal. I want to pursue the topic further.

Great!!

Very thorough and insightful analysis of the the two foundational pillars of our western civilization. I recommend the verse heartily.

5 Stars--An Epiphany

This is the BEST Great Course EVER! Robert Garland is simply incredible! I have never been so enthralled, and this course made my zillion books on the Greeks and Romans much more appealing to me. Adrian Goldsworthy, Donald Kagan, Victor Davis Hansen, Paul Cartledge, Richard Miles, Edward Gibbon and other great historians can't be read as deserved without an integrated understanding of Greek and Roman history--Dr. Garland gave me such knowledge in spades. I loved this course so much that I had every intention of flying to Colgate to tell Dr. Garland thank you in person, only to find he retired in 2020. Bravo, Dr. Garlannd, you are a good man and a magical teacher; you have taught me so much, and I can't wait to dive into Thucydides, Homer and Virgil because of you, you, you. My only regret is your course had to end. I find great peace imagining you retiring to Greece and laughing in the sun. Thank you.

Great integration

I truly enjoyed these lectures. Dr Garland's passion and depth of knowledge were truly inspiring.

Great eloquence and mastery of the subject matter.

I enjoyed it very much and highly recommend this interesting course. But first I suggest one to hear it to check if the narrator"s articulation does not sound annoying to you.

Robert Garland for the victory!

Recently decided to move from US coins to Ancient Greek and Roman coins. Garland makes history come alive!