A superb book which probably suffers from an excess of ambition: it tries to be a history of events AND of culture/thought, spanning the very *ahem* lively centuries between Alexander's conquests and the "triumph of Christianity." There is almost no way the author can avoid (and he doesn't -- how could he?) a real bona-fide name-a-lanche, where this reader at least was constantly flipping pages back and forth muttering "OK, so Whose-a-la-mapsis was WHOSE daughter again? and WHO demolished the Temple of Umphalopatapis?" Unless you have a brain that can immediately seize upon and store for recall names and terms that come fast and keep coming, you'll probably do the same ... but in the end you'll be glad you read this. 800 (or so) VERY packed pages. ( )