Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities is a concise and surprisingly refined assessment of the world of Ancient Greece, from the Early Dark Ages to Late Antiquity, uniquely told through history of eleven city-states or “polis”. Paul Cartledge's Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities details the cultural traditions, trade, and politics that laid the foundations of the sprawling Aegean civilization. Through the examples of the success of the Knossos polis on the island of Crete, and continuing to the rise of iconic Sparta, it is easy to trace the development of Greek civilization. The emergence of classical Greece is examined in accounts of Athens, Syracuse, and Thebes while descriptions of Alexandria symbolize the transition to the Hellenistic age. A final discussion of the rise of Byzantium notes the decline of the city-state's independence. Arguably, the paradoxical title of Cartledge's book strikingly captures the key events detailing the history of Greek civilization. Cartledge begins by discussing the intensely debated linear tablets and their writing. These tablets provided researchers with valuable and indispensable information about people's lives and the structured world in which they lived. Linear A and Linear B are linear forms of writing used by some Aegean civilizations. Cartridge continues to discuss the importance of tablets throughout the chapter and the novel. However what stands out in the chapter are the beautiful details of the people and the backdrop of Knossos. Information and knowledge about the prehistoric era of ancient Greece is scarce due to the fact that many things were destroyed when the polis was destroyed and later revived. Much of the information obtained is inferred or theoretical. Proceeding on... half of the paper..." of the representative Greek history of that era. However, the reader can easily get lost in the rapid passages that the author makes between the eleven cities. Paolo Cartuccia's main criticism is inherent to the the feat itself: terms, places and people pass by so briefly that one does not know what has just been read. The immeasurable amount of information about ancient Greece makes it extremely difficult to correctly convey the author's message to the reader and so on. Ancient Greece cannot be fully praised if not adequately conveyed Although, in fairness, Cartledge spends many pages suggesting many works for further reading Being an admirer of Ancient Greek history, one can fully appreciate Paul Cartledge's work , but the reader is ultimately left feeling that the novel fell short in attempting to adequately cover the information.