Question: Has Toynbee ever said this?

falameufilho — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 08:27:11 -0800

On the back cover of my copy of Gates of Fire it says something like (quoting on the top of my head here) "Toynbee said that 'what ifs' are generally irrelevant in history, except for one - what if the Persians had conquered Greece? Then what we regard as western civilization would not exist". Has Toynbee ever said such a thing? Where?

By: Hartster

Hartster — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 08:58:22 -0800

It would be from Toynbee's "Some Problems of Greek History", the last quarter of which deals with various ancient counter-factuals.

Comments on: Has Toynbee ever said this?

Question: Has Toynbee ever said this?

By: Hartster