The heritage of Greece has inspired and shaped Western science, art and philosophy. Yet who are the Greeks? Who were the men who built the Parthenon? What are the links between these times and the Greeks today? This volume presents the entire Greek experience. An international team, headed by Robert Browning, analyzes every facet of Greek history, life and culture, aided by an array of pictures which set the latest discoveries beside the acknowledged masterpieces and depict the extraordinary Greek landscape, the art and the people. The story of Greece is traced through the four dark centuries of Ottoman domination to a time of far-reaching diaspora, that promised fresh life in the future. Greece's struggle for independence in the 1820s captured the imagination of the West. Greece now has its own special place in the world, guardian of an incredible cultural heritage and mother country to Greek communities all round the world.