Athens

Its Rise and Fall

By Edward Bulwer-Lytton

1874

First Published

3.89

Average Rating

488

Number of Pages

14H54M

Audio Length

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton was once Britain's most famous historical novelist, rivalling and outselling Dickens in his day. His best-known book was The Last Days of Pompeii; yet he was also responsible for a great work of history. Athens: Its Rise and Fall, originally published in 1837, is the most important and readable of the Victorian histories of ancient Greece. It stands alongside Macauley and Carlyle as a great historical work of British Romanticism, and anticipates the thinking of George Grote and John Stuart Mill on Greek history by over a decade. 2003 is the bicentenary of Bulwer Lytton's birth. To celebrate, Routledge is reissuing this influential work. This new edition will include the text of a never-before published third volume, recently discovered by Oxford academic Oswyn Murray.

Avg Rating

3.89

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

28%

4 STARS

39%

3 STARS

28%

2 STARS

1 STARS

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Author

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Author · 16 books

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC, was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. Lord Lytton was a florid, popular writer of his day, who coined such phrases as "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", and the infamous incipit "It was a dark and stormy night." He was the youngest son of General William Earle Bulwer of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling, Norfolk and Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth, Hertfordshire. He had two brothers, William Earle Lytton Bulwer (1799–1877) and Henry, afterwards Lord Dalling and Bulwer. Lord Lytton's original surname was Bulwer, the names 'Earle' and 'Lytton' were middle names. On 20 February 1844 he assumed the name and arms of Lytton by royal licence and his surname then became 'Bulwer-Lytton'. His widowed mother had done the same in 1811. His brothers were always simply surnamed 'Bulwer'.