The LACTOR series is designed for students of Ancient History at school and at university. The Athenian Empire (LACTOR 1) is highly relevant to the Period Study prescribed for the Greek component of OCR's Ancient History A Level, and it also has much to offer students of the second depth study (The Politics and Culture of Athens c.460-399 BC).
There are no differences between the content of this new fifth edition and the fourth edition of 2000. It offers a rich collection of primary sources in translation, both inscriptions and literary sources, not all of which are otherwise readily available in accessible translation. These are interspersed with commentary by Robin Osborne, and this is educationally most valuable since it invites the development of those source evaluation skills which are so important in A Level Ancient History.
The book includes some graphs indicating levels of tribute payment, and a very useful collection of maps, which are more relevant and readable than those in either the Penguin edition of Thucydides or the OCR course book. The nine-page bibliography is extensive, though, as it is unchanged since the previous edition, it contains no entries published since 1999. Particularly useful to the A Level student is a glossary and a very concise set of notes giving the context of each author included, which would assist a newcomer.
For the average A Level student, this book could be a valuable but a challenging resource. There is far more material here than is needed for a thorough grasp of the Athenian empire, and since the scope of the book begins in earnest in the year 478, there remains much to be learned for the Period Study which is not covered here. The commentaries are generous, but they make no concessions to the younger reader; for example, some knowledge of Athenian currency is assumed. It would therefore be an ambitious Sixth Form student indeed who had the time and confidence to devote to a book with this level of detail. For more advanced students, however, it is far more apt, particularly for those with a specialist interest in the economic history of Athens.
In practical application, for the purposes of A Level, The Athenian Empire is more suitable in the hands of teachers than of students. For the teacher it will be particularly welcome as a repository of sources and other information which is not otherwise easy to come by. A free digital version has also just been made available, as for other LACTOR source books.
Open access
