This is ancient Greece - but not as we know it. Few people today appreciate that Greek culture was scattered throughout the Middle East and that there were Greek cities on the slopes of the Himalayas. This book tells the story of the Greeks outside of Greece, such as Sappho, the poet from Lesbos, Archimedes, a resident of Syracuse, and Herodotus, who was born in Asia Minor as a subject of the Persian Empire.

From the earliest times of prehistoric Greek colonies around the Black Sea, through settlements in Spain and Italy, to the conquests of Alexander and the glories of the Greco-Roman period, Philip Matyszak illuminates the Greek soldiers, politicians, scientists, and philosophers who, although rarely - if ever - set foot in the Greek mainland, nevertheless laid the foundations of what we call "Greek culture" today. Instead of following the well-trodden path of describing Athenian democracy and Spartan militarism, this book offers a fresh look at what it means to be Greek, narrating the story of Greeks abroad, from India to Spain.