The Ancient Greeks (Ten ways they shaped the modern world) by Edith Hall

[anef]

I've just finished reading this as my "going to bed" book.  I read non-fiction before going to sleep as I can put it down when I need to - fiction has its own rhythms that sometimes preclude slumber.  So I've been reading it in short to medium tranches for the last few weeks.  And it is brilliant!  Scholarship worn lightly, full of insights, hugely entertaining, it runs from the Myceneans to Julian the Apostate.  Hall explains who a lot of people were that I've only vaguely heard of - Plotinus, Plutarch, Origen, and many more, disentangling the Greek successors to Alexander in the Middle East -- and the index is comprehensive.  I can look forward to re-reading it in a couple of years' time when I've forgotten all the detail again.