The words Pax Augusta - or Pax Romana - evoke a period of uninterrupted peace across the vast Roman Empire. Lindsay Powell exposes this as a fallacy. Almost every year...
'Gladiators and Beasthunts' is a comprehensive survey of arena sports in ancient Rome, focusing upon gladiatorial combat and the beast-hunts (venationes). Whilst numerous books have already been written on arena...
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) is one of the great figures of antiquity whose life and words still speak to us today. His Meditations remains one of the most widely read...
The words Pax Augusta - or Pax Romana - evoke a period of uninterrupted peace across the vast Roman Empire. Lindsay Powell exposes this as a fallacy. Almost every year...
'Never less than compelling ... She consistently succeeds in bringing what might otherwise seem dusty and remote to vivid life' Tom Holland, Literary Review'Starts with an erupting volcano - and...
Maximinus was a half-barbarian strongman 'of frightening appearance and colossal size' who could smash stones with his bare hands and pull fully laden wagons unaided. Such feats impressed the emperor...
This groundbreaking book challenges many stereotypical views about the historical practice of prostitution. Based on twenty years' research, and organized by region, it charts the history of sex for sale...
The ancient Greeks were a wonderful people. They gave us democracy, drama, and philosophy, and many forms of art and branches of science would be inconceivable without their influence. And...
During the lifetime of Augustus (from 63 B.C. to A.D. 14), Roman civilization spread at a remarkable rate throughout the ancient world, influencing such areas as art and architecture, religion,...
While conquering Greece and Macedonia the Romans defeated an intervention by the Seleucid Empire, the most powerful of the Hellenistic states founded by Alexander the Great's successors. Soon Roman armies...
A gripping account of how and why the legendary 'scourge of God' was able to inscribe his legacy into the annals of military history.One of the most powerful men in...
This book investigates how semivowels were realized in Indo-European and in early Greek. More specifically, it examines the extent to which Indo-European *i and *y were independent phonemes, in what...
Conceived as a gorgeously illustrated accompaniment to "How Do We Look" and "The Eye of Faith," the famed Civilisations shows on PBS, renowned classicist Mary Beard has created this elegant...
In this now-classic history of Roman civilization, Edith Hamilton vividly depicts Roman life and spirit as they are revealed by the greatest writers of the age. Among these literary guides...
The Roman prefect Pontius Pilate has been cloaked in rumor and myth since the first century, but what do we actually know of the man who condemned Jesus of Nazareth...
Richard Gabriel has been studying and writing about ancient warfare for nearly half a century. He has written fifty-five books on the subject (before this one) and over three hundred...
The Berlin Painter was the name given by British classicist and art historian Sir John Beazley to an otherwise anonymous Athenian red-figure vase-painter. The artist's long career extended from about...
In the late 3rd century BC, while Rome struggled for her very survival against the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War, Philip V of Macedon allied with Hannibal in pursuit...
In this book, Bill Gladhill studies one of the most versatile concepts in Roman society, the ritual event that concluded an alliance, a foedus (ritual alliance). Foedus signifies the bonds...
The war between Caesar and Pompey was one of the defining moments in Roman history. The clash between these great generals gripped the attention of their contemporaries and it has...
A vibrant, accessible social history of Rome, from 753 BCE to the fall of the Empire some 1300 years later. To support its findings the book features hundreds of translations...
Cleonvs Brasidas in the Peloponnesian War This original book looks in detail at arguably the two most significant characters on either side in the middle years of the great Peloponnesian...
Julie Wileman challenges the traditional view of the barbaric fighting which went on prior to the Roman occupation of Northern Europe as she uncovers the true nature of warfare before...
Over the years, some 20,000 books and articles have been written about Alexander the Great, the vast majority hailing him as possibly the greatest general that ever lived. Richard A....
The history of alchemy is traced from its earliest roots through to its influence and use in modern-day science.Beginning in China in the search for the secret of immortality, and...
In 1881, a writer in the Saturday Review called tattooing 'an art without a history'. 'No-one', it went on, 'has made it the business of his life to study the...
Twenty thousand years ago Earth was in the midst of an ice age. Then global warming arrived, leading to massive floods, the spread of forests and the retreat of the...
A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR'An absolute joy to read and an early contender for every list of History Books of the Year' Sunday Telegraph'On nearly every page a random...
From Terry Goodkind, author of the Sword of Truth series, comes a sweeping new novel of Richard Rahl, Kahlan Amnell, and their world. From the far reaches of the D'Haran...
A fascinating, richly illustrated study of the role and significance of ancient statues in Egyptian history and beliefWhy do ancient Egyptian statues so often have their noses, hands, or genitals...
Ancient Rome matters.Its history of empire, conquest, cruelty and excess is something against which we still judge ourselves. Its myths and stories - from Romulus and Remus to the Rape...
Mary Beard is one of the world's best-known classicists - a brilliant academic, with a rare gift for communicating with a wide audience both though her books and TV presenting.In...
Although Marcus Junius Brutus is one of the most famous, or infamous, conspirators of Rome and the ancient world, if not of all time, knowledge of this historical figure has...
The Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, where an Athenian-led Greek force defeated a Persian invasion, is one of the most decisive battles in Antiquity and has been studied for...
Cataphracts were the most heavily armoured form of cavalry in the ancient world, with riders and mounts both clad in heavy armour. Originating among the wealthiest nobles of various central...
Though images of women were ubiquitous in the Roman world, these were seldom intended to be taken simply at face value. The importance of marriage, motherhood and political stability was...
Many books have been written on the Second Punic War and Hannibal in particular but few give much space to his campaigns in the years from 213 203 BC. Most...
Although Plato's Republic is perhaps the most influential text in the history of Western philosophy, Claudia Baracchi finds that the work remains obscure and enigmatic. To fully understand and appreciate...
The 'great man' of later Greek historical thought is the long product of traceable changes in ancient ideas about the meaning and impact of an individual life. At least as...
Thucydides was the chronicler of the almost 30-year long Peloponnesian war, which came to a close with Sparta's victory over Athens in 404 BC. His famous historical work was preserved,...
Oaths were ubiquitous rituals in ancient Athenian legal, commercial, civic and international spheres. Their importance is reflected by the fact that much of surviving Greek drama features a formal oath...
Julius Caesar's conquests in Gaul in the 50s BC were bloody, but the cultural revolution they brought in their wake forever transformed the ancient Celtic culture of that country. After...
Naval warfare is the unsung hero of ancient Greek military history, often overshadowed by the more glorified land battles. Owen Rees looks to redress the balance, giving naval battles their...
From the moment its last king was expelled (traditionally in 753) the Roman republic had to fight for its very survival. Centuries of almost continuous warfare saw Rome's armies evolve...
With its emphasis on the dynasty's concern for control of the sea - both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea - and the Nile, this book offers a new and...
Modern scholarship tends to focus on the social, political and economic information that can be gleaned from Pindar's treatment of the subject of his victory odes - the athlete who...
The domestication of the horse revolutionised warfare, granting unprecedented strategic and tactical mobility, allowing armies to strike with terrifying speed. The horse was first used as the motive force for...