James Boswell called him ‘the greatest man of any age’. Christian Meier’s biography is the definitive modern account of Caesar’s life and career, and places him within the wider context of the crisis of the Roman republic. It is a compelling work of historical scholarship.

Caesar

Biographies & Memoirs

Meier, Christian

Historical

Fontana Press

When and where did Europe begin? With the ancient Greeks, argues Christian Meier. But do we really know who the ancient Greeks were? And what was it that made their culture so special? A Culture of Freedom attempts to answer this question - to find the key to the 'miracle' of ancient Greece. The book takes us on a tour through the rich spectrum of Greek life and culture, from their epic and lyric poetry, political thought and philosophy, to their social life, military traditions, sport, and religious festivals, and finally to the early stages of Greek democracy. Running as a connecting thread throughout is a people's attempt to create a society based upon the freedom rather than power. It is this which, Meier argues, is the distinctive key to Greek culture, marking it out from all that had gone before, including the ancient societies of the Middle East from which the Greeks otherwise borrowed so much. The ancient Greeks managed to build a society founded on the concept of freedom - and by doing so helped mould the Europe that we live in today.

A Culture of Freedom: Ancient Greece and the Origins of Europe. Christian Meier

History

Ancient Civilizations

Oxford University Press

Christian Meier is one of Europe's preeminent authorities on the classical world. A Culture of Freedom marks the apex of his lifelong research on ancient Greek culture. Beginning with a section on medieval and modern Europe's enormous inheritance of Greek institutions and ideas, the book moves on to chronicle the rise of Greek civilization from the Bronze Age to the Greco-Persian wars. Throughout, the author provides fresh insight into the "Greek miracle," as he illuminates the well-known features of Greek culture--from epic and lyric poetry to warfare, athletics, philosophy, religion, and democracy. What made these achievements possible and so enduring? Meier argues that across the whole range of human experience--in politics and philosophy no less than in war, sport, and religion--there was one common denominator among the ancient Greeks: an attempt to find compromise, balance, and understanding in the face of problems others usually solved by means of power. A Culture of Freedom is an original and learned portrait of a civilization that still captivates and inspires.

A Culture of Freedom: Ancient Greece and the Origins of Europe

Raaflaub, Kurt

As politician and diplomat, writer and lover, but above all as a military genius, Julius Caesar is one of the perennially fascinating figures in historyBoswell called him ”the greatest man of any age.” Christian Meier's authoritative and accessible biography is the definitive modern account of Caesar's life and career, setting Caesar's life story against the rich political and social background of the Late Roman Republic.

Caesar: A Biography

Basic Books

What does history mean today? What is its relevance to the modern world? In contemplating fundamental questions about history and the Western legacy, the noted classical historian Christian Meier offers a new interpretation on how we view the world. 
 Meier sees an "absence" of history in contemporary Europe and throughout the West--an absence he attributes to the way modern historians have written about history and, more important, to the dramatic transformations of the twentieth century. He argues for the central legacy of Western civilization. He tackles the difficulty of reconciling a historical perspective with our era of extreme acceleration, when experience is shaped less by inheritance and legacy than by the novelty of changes wrought by science and globalization. Finally, Meier contemplates the enormity of the Holocaust, which he sees as a test of "understanding" history. If it is part of the whole arc of the Western legacy, how do we fit it with the rest? 
 This engaging and thought-provoking meditation challenges us to rethink the role of history in Western culture and a changing world.

From Athens to Auschwitz: The Uses of History

Europe

Harvard University Press

Why the Greeks? How did it happen that these people―out of all Mediterranean societies―developed democratic systems of government? The outstanding German historian of the ancient world, Christian Meier, reconstructs the process of political thinking in Greek culture that led to democracy. He demonstrates that the civic identity of the Athenians was a direct precondition for the practical reality of this form of government.
Meier shows how the structure of Greek communal life gave individuals a civic role and discusses a crucial reform that institutionalized the idea of equality before the law. In Greek drama―specifically Aeschylus' Oresteia―he finds reflections of the ascendancy of civil law and of a politicizing of life in the city-state. He examines the role of the leader as well as citizen participation in Athenian democracy and describes an ancient equivalent of the idea of social progress. He also contrasts the fifth-century Greek political world with today's world, drawing revealing comparisons.
The Greek Discovery of Politics is important reading for ancient historians, classicists, political scientists, and anyone interested in the history of political thought or in the culture of ancient Greece.

The Greek Discovery of Politics

The 5th century was a glorious era for Athens. The unprecedented evacuation of the city in 480 BC as the Persians advanced was followed by Athens' first and greatest victory at sea which established her as a major naval power. During the following years Athens dominated innovation, commerce, science, philosophy, art, architecture and literature. Meier brings this tumultuous and unique period in history to life by his imaginative use of the sources and lively comment.

Athens: A Portrait of the City in its Golden Age

Pimlico Publishing Ltd

In this outstanding new book, Christian Meier examines the close relationship between drama and politics at the beginning of the great age of Greek tragedy, focusing on the works of Aeschylus. The author examines the political, social and even psychological problems of the inhabitants of fifth-century Athens, during a time of rapid change. Through the role of festivals and the role of the festival of Dionysus in particular, Meier moves on to the interpretation of Aeschylus' plays. He shows how the political statements of the mythical characters made sense of and even influenced the politics of the day. Finally, he discusses the work of Sophocles in counterpoint to the plays of Aeschylus. This book will be of interest to students and academics of history, particularly the history of the ancient world, as well as those studying literature and drama.

The Political Art of Greek Tragedy

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

Polity

A lively and accessible history of Athens's rise to greatness, from one of the foremost classical historians. The definitive account of Athens in the age of Pericles, Christian Meier's gripping study begins with the Greek triumph over Persia at the Battle of Salamis, one of the most significant military victories in history. Meier shows how that victory decisively established Athens's military dominance in the Mediterranean and made possible its rise to preeminence in almost every field of human eavor--commerce, science, philosophy, art, architecture, and literature. Within seventy-five years, Athens had become the most original and innovative civilization the ancient world ever produced. With elegant narrative style, Meier traces the birth of democracy and the flourishing of Greek culture in the fifth century B.C., as well as Athens' slow decline and defeat in the Peloponnesian War. The great figures--from politicians and generals like Themistocles and Alcibiades to the philosophers Socrates and Plato--emerge as flesh-and-blood human beings, firmly rooted in their times and places. This is history in the tradition of Simon Schama and Barbara Tuchman--learned, accessible, and beautifully written.

Athens: A Portrait of the City in Its Golden Age

Metropolitan Books

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Books by Meier, Christian

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Meier, Christian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Caesar

A Culture of Freedom: Ancient Greece and the Origins of Europe. Christian Meier

A Culture of Freedom: Ancient Greece and the Origins of Europe

Caesar: A Biography

Caesar: A Biography

From Athens to Auschwitz: The Uses of History

The Greek Discovery of Politics

Athens: A Portrait of the City in its Golden Age

The Political Art of Greek Tragedy

Athens: A Portrait of the City in Its Golden Age