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 victories in history. Meier shows how that victory decisively established Athens' military dominance in the Mediterranean and made possible its rise to preeminence in almost every field of human endeavor - 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. 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.