This book will be the culmination of Christian Meier's lifelong research on Greek culture. Beginning with a section on medieval and modern Europe's enormous inheritance of Greek institutions and ideas, the book will move on to chronicle the rise of Greek civilization from the Bronze Age to the Greco-Persian wars. Throughout, the author will provide fresh insight into the "Greek miracle," as he reconstructs the well-known features of Greek culture--from epic and lyric poetry to warfare, athletics, philosophy, religion, and democracy.