The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World: From the Archaic Age to the Arab Conquests (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781804298558)

The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World is an original and provocative reconstruction of 1,400 years of classical antiquity. Sharply written, it is a major intervention in Marxist theories of class, seeking to explain and illustrate the value of Marx's general analysis of society to ancient Greek studies. G. E. M. de Ste. Croix makes slavery central to the achievements of the Greek city-states and wider classical civilisation. He traces the social origins of Athenian democracy and advances an innovative explanation for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Comparing the late Roman political system to a 'vampire bat', Ste. Croix argues that serfdom and a tightening fiscal screw left the peasant masses indifferent to the Empire's fate.

Widely reviewed and debated, The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World was hailed by the New York Review of Books as 'the only work in a Western language that has ever attempted to tell the story of the greatest part of the ancient world with the interests of the lower classes as its central theme'.

Author: G. E. M. Ste Croix
ISBN-10: 1804298557
ISBN-13: 9781804298558
Publisher: Verso
Language: English
Published: 07/01/2025
Pages: 744
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs