Civilization as we know it was built on a handful of ancient cultures, and as the author of Songs on Bronze demonstrates, to understand the important ideas of antiquity, we need to look closely at the places that produced them. Starting with Troy—where history, myth and cosmology fuse to form the origins of Classical civilization—Nigel Spivey explores the contrasting politics of Athens and Sparta, the diffusion of classical ideals across the Mediterranean world, Alexander the Great's eastward diffusion of Greek culture, the power and spread of the Roman imperium, the advent of Christianity, and the long Byzantine twilight.