Herculean Task

Paul Christesen ’88 leads an all-star cast of Greek scholars.

One million words. Six volumes. That’s the size of what some scholars are calling “a once-in-a-generation effort.” Classics department chair Christesen and coeditor Paul Cartledge, a former Cambridge University professor, have the Olympian job of editing the Oxford History of the Archaic Greek World (due by 2021). Together they are writing the volume Spartan Origins.

In May, Dartmouth hosts the other authors, 30 scholars from eight nations, a group Christesen calls “a pretty spectacular all-star cast.”

A crucial period in Greek history, the Archaic years (750-480 B.C.) saw the creation of the world’s first democracy and the spread of 900 Greek communities from present-day Spain to Afghanistan. Prepare to be surprised by what Christesen has to say about Spartans. “They almost never fought,” he says. “And they made specific efforts to avoid fighting.”

Portfolio

Book cover for Conflict Resilience with blue and orange colors
Alumni Books
New titles from Dartmouth writers (May/June 2025)
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Origin Story
Physicist Sara Imari Walker, Adv’10, goes deep on the emergence of life.
Commencement and Reunions

A sketchbook

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Ben Rice ’22
A New York Yankee on navigating professional baseball

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