Ancient history Books

Between ancient Greece and modern psyche lies a divide of not only three thousand years, but two cultures that are worlds apart in art, technology, economics and the accelerating flood of historical events. This unique collection of essays from an...

This work offers a unique overview of the work done in the field of Egyptology during the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. An excellent starting point and reference for anyone fascinated by ancient Egypt, this book includes such...

The spectacular ruins of such places as Palmyra and Petra bear witness to the wealth and power which could be derived from the silks, spices and incense of the east. Such goods were highly prized in the Roman Empire, and merchants were ready to face the...

This original and compelling study argues against the traditional identification of Arthur as a king in Celtic Britain. Instead, Graham Anderson explores the evidence for two much older figures, known to classical writers as kings of Arcadia and Lydia,...

Collected for the first time by the eminent scholar E. A. Wallis Budge, this work contains all of the written records of the early Assyrian kings, from the reign of Irishum in about B.C. 2000 to the reign of Ashur-nasir-pal, which ended in B.C. 860. The...

Magnus Zetterholm uses theoretical insights from the social sciences to deal with the complex issues raised by the parting of Judaism and Christianity, and the accompanying rise of Christian anti-Semitism in ancient Antioch.Unlike previous attempts to...

The Roman Revolution is one of the most momentous periods of change in history, in which an imperial but quasidemocratic power changed into an autocracy.  This book studies the way the Roman army changed in the last eighty years of the Republic, so...

The larger part of Theodoret of Cyrus' existant body of work still remains untranslated, and this lack provides a fragmented representation of his thought and has lead to his misrepresentation by ancient, medieval and some modern scholars.Theodoret of...

Reading Plato offers a concise and illuminating insight into the complexities and difficulties of the Platonic dialogues, providing an invaluable text for any student of Plato's philosophy.Taking as a starting point the critique of writing in the...

The theorem of Pythagoras, Euclid's "Elements", Archimedes' method to find the volume of a sphere: all parts of the invaluable legacy of ancient mathematics. But ancient mathematics was also about counting and measuring, surveying land and attributing...

The elaborate and inventive slaughter of humans and animals in the arena fed an insatiable desire for violent spectacle among the Roman people. Donald G. Kyle combines the words of ancient authors with current scholarly research and cross-cultural...

The contributors in this volume present a systematic survey of the struggles of Athens, Sparta and Thebes to dominate Greece in the fourth century - only to be overwhelmed by the newly emerging Macedonian kingdom of Philip II. Additionally, the situation...

Jacobins and Utopians examines the politics of ideal societies and the means necessary to bring them into existence. George Klosko reveals how discussions of fundamental moral reform lead inexorably to questions of political power. Machiavelli...

The Hebrew Gospels were uncovered in Israel by Dr. Miles R. Jones who is now tranlating them.  They were bound beneath another Hebrew manuscript in order to hide them - and survived in the Vatican Library for 500 years before being discovered. ...

The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia is a unique blend of comprehensive overviews on archaeological, philological, linguistic, and historical issues at the forefront of Anatolian scholarship in the 21st century. Anatolia is home to early complex...

This book examines how Pompeian peristyle gardens were utilized to represent the socioeconomic status of Roman homeowners, introducing fresh perspectives and critiques on how these spaces were designed, used, and perceived. Suitable for students and...

What makes Classics "global", and what does it mean to study the ancient world "globally"? How can the study of antiquity contribute to our understanding of pressing global issues? Global Classics addresses these questions by pursuing a transdisciplinary...

This volume offers a new translation of the Pseudo-Clementine family narrative here known as The Sorrows of Mattidia. It contains a full introduction which explores the obscured origins of the text, the plot, and main characters, and engages in a...

This volume examines the prevalence, function, and socio-political effects of slavery discourse in the major theological formulations of the late third to early fifth centuries AD, arguably the most formative period of early Christian doctrine. The...

First published in 1988. Following up on a previous visit in the 1970s to the site of Hierakonpolis this publication records the work of the author from the 1980s to 1986 when she was part of the research team. This work concentrates on the cemetery...

First published in 1930, this book deals with Byzantine art, not as an isolated province, but as one intimately connected with the subsequent history of European painting. It is an important and exciting addition to the history of European Art and...

This definitive study from the author of From the Gracchi to Nero, examines the period from the foundation of Rome to the fall of Carthage. An accessible introduction to these centuries of change, this book will also be useful as context for those...

This book defines the processes used for delivering a range of food items to the city of Rome and its hinterland from the first century AD using modern supply chain modelling techniques. The subject matter delves into the wider supply of goods, such as...

This volume examines the life and career of L. Munatius Plancus, and through him, explores the tumultuous final years of the Roman Republic. Plancus had very active and lengthy political career, from his initial appearance on the staff of Julius Caesar...

Monsters in Greek literature are often thought of as creatures which exist in mythological narratives, however, as this book shows, they appear in a much broader range of ancient sources and are used in creation narratives, ethnographic texts, and...

This volume explores the role that republican political participation played in forging elite Roman masculinity. It situates familiarly "manly" traits like militarism, aggressive sexuality, and the pursuit of power within a political system based on...

This volume presents an essential but underestimated role that Dionysus played in Greek and Roman political thought. Written by an interdisciplinary team of scholars, the volume covers the period from archaic Greece to the late Roman Empire.The reader...

Investigating key features of contemporary Egypt, this volume includes Egypt's modern history, politics, economics, the legal system, environment, and its media and modes of cultural expression. It examines Egypt's capacities to meet developmental...

This new edition introduces the reader to the philosophy of early Christianity in the second to fourth centuries AD, and contextualizes the philosophical contributions of early Christians in the framework of the ancient philosophical debates.It...

First published in 2006. This delightful book written in 1892 by a founder of the National Trust is regarded as a classic of high Victorian travel writing. After three journeys to the East, Rawnsley decided that existing guide-books were not sufficiently...

The discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 aroused unprecedented excitement in the field of Egyptology. In the tomb of a "colourless youth, who reigned for a few years only" were found unmatched riches, the study of which has led to numerous insights...

The Roman World 44 BC - AD 180 deals with the transformation of the Mediterranean regions, northern Europe and the Near East by the military autocrats who ruled Rome during this period. The book traces the impact of imperial politics on life in the city...

Mariam F. Ayad explores how five women were elevated to a position of supreme religious authority. Drawing on a variety of textual, iconographic, and archaeological evidence, and containing fifty-one black and white and colour illustrations, the...

In this fully revised and updated edition of Roman Pompeii, Dr. Laurence looks at the latest archaeological and literary evidence relating to the city of Pompeii from the viewpoint of architect, geographer and social scientist.Enhancing our general...

Do the Romans have anything to teach us about the way that they saw the world, and the way they ran their empire? How did they deal with questions of frontiers and migration, so often in the news today?This collection of ten important essays by C. R...

Curchin explores how, why and to what extent the peoples of Central Spain were integrated into the Roman Empire during the period from the second century BC to the second century AD.He approaches the question from a variety of angles, including the...

This collection of papers combines important archaeological and textual evidence to examine diverse aspects of religion and society in Roman Palestine.A range of international experts provide an unprecedented look at issues of acculturation, assimilation...

An examination of the cult of Mary in the cultural and religious life of Constantinople in late antiquity in the context of the religious culture of the Mediterranean world and the imperial Christianity of the Roman Empire.

The economies of classical and Mediterranean antiquity are currently a battleground. Some scholars see them as lively and progressive, even proto-capitalist: others see them as static, embedded in social action and status relationships.Focusing on the...

John the Baptist as a Rewritten Figure in Luke-Acts compares the Gospel of Luke's account of John's ministry with those of Matthew, Mark, and John to make the case for the hypertextual relationship between the synoptic gospels.The book is divided into...

This volume offers 18 new studies reflecting the latest scholarship on Latin verse, explored both in its original context and in subsequent contexts as it has been translated and re-imagined. All chapters reflect the wide research interests of Professor...