Ancient

Philip V of Macedon in Polybius' Histories: Politics, History, and Fiction offers a historiographical and literary study of Polybius' portrait of Philip V and aims to advance our knowledge of both the Macedonian king and the historian. It takes a...

The most original and shocking interpretation of Lucretius in the last 40 yearsThomas Nail argues convincingly and systematically that Lucretius was not an atomist, but a thinker of kinetic flux. In doing so, he completely overthrows the interpretive...

From a small Iron Age settlement on the banks of the Tiber, Rome grew to become the centre of an Empire that dominated the Western world. Powerful in war, Rome was magnificent in peace, so that even today her poets, artists, philosophers and historians...

Taking us on an incredible journey across centuries and galaxies, accompanied by his characteristic wit, Professor Luke O'Neill explains how it all began, how it all will end and everything in between. Readers will benefit from Luke's insatiable...

This book introduces Proto-Indo-European and explores what the language reveals about the people who spoke it. The Proto-Indo-Europeans lived somewhere in Europe or Asia between 5,500 and 8,000 years ago, and no text of their language survives. J. P...

This volume aims to present the current state of research on Roman roads and their foundations in a combined historical and archaeological perspective. The focus is on the diverse local histories and the varying degrees of significance of individual...

One of the remarkable facts about the history of Western culture is that we are still in a position to read large amounts of the literature produced in classical Greece and Rome despite the fact that for at least a millennium and a half all copies had to...

A compelling new portrait of Marcus Brutus delves behind the ancient evidence to set aside the myths that surround the ancient world's most famous assassin"Kathryn Tempest leads us into the complexities and contradictions in the life and legacy of...

In the 5th century BCE, Herodotus wrote the first known Western history to build on the tradition of Homeric storytelling, basing his text on empirical observations and arranging them systematically. Herodotus and the Question Why offers a comprehensive...

The definitive work on the monuments of ancient Athens and Attica In this book, a leading authority on the archaeology of ancient Greece presents a survey of the monuments-first chronologically and then site by site. John M. Camp begins with a...

Between Sahara and Sea: Africa in the Roman Empire challenges orthodox views of the story of Africa under Roman domination. It presents a new framework for understanding this and other territories incorporated in the Roman empire. Based on decades of...

The private correspondence of Rome's most prolific public figure. To his dear friend Atticus, Cicero reveals himself as to no other of his correspondents except perhaps his brother. In Cicero's Letters to Atticus we get an intimate look at his...

In this portrait of life in Ancient Rome, the author begins by painting a backcloth on which the social, political, cultural and religious aspects of the community are drawn. He enlarges on the details of everyday life, following the typical routine of a...

A sweeping historical account of the Later Roman Empire incorporating the latest scholarly research In the newly revised 3rd edition of A History of the Later Roman Empire, 284-700, distinguished historians Geoffrey Greatrex and Stephen Mitchell deliver...

Until the publication of this captivating biography, no such volume on Trajan's life has been tailored to the general reader. The unique book illuminates a neglected period of ancient Roman history, featuring comprehensive maps and photographs to help...

In this first volume of his trilogy on the Ptolemies, John Grainger explains how Ptolemy I established the dynasty's power in Egypt in the wake of Alexander the Great's death. Egypt had been independent for most of the fourth century BC, but was...

A major new edition of the so-called Presocratics.The fragments and testimonia of the early Greek philosophers (often labeled the 'Presocratics') have always been not only a fundamental source for understanding archaic Greek culture and ancient...

The 'bog bodies' of north-western Europe have captured the imaginations of poets and archaeologists alike, allowing us to come face-to-face with individuals from the past. Their exceptional preservation permits us to examine minute details of their lives...

Gnaeus Julius Agricola was a man fated for conquest and tied to the island of Britannia. He cut his teeth on military command during the revolt of Boudicca, later commanded a legion against the warlike Brigantes and was finally given the governorship of...

Sophocles stands as one of the greatest dramatists of all time, and one of the most influential on artists and thinkers over the centuries. His plays are deeply disturbing and unpredictable, unrelenting and open-ended, refusing to present firm answers to...

Cicero is increasingly recognised as a highly intelligent contributor to the ongoing ethical debates between Epicureans, Stoics and other schools. In this work on the fundamentals of ethics his learning as a scholar, his skill as a lawyer and his own...

The gripping story of how the end of the Roman Empire was the beginning of the modern worldThe fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter Scheidel argues that Rome's...

'Fans of Philippa Gregory will be entranced. Kate Quinn's unforgettable third novel is a mesmerising story of passion, ambition and betrayal.' ELLEUnder its beloved Emperor Trajan, the Roman Eagle spreads its wings, advancing ever further into the...

More than 100,000 copies sold in France A fascinating new journey through Greek mythology that explains the myths' timeless lessons and meaning Heroes, gods, and mortals. The Greek myths are the founding narratives of Western civilization: to...

This report presents an overview of Roman urban development in London south of the Thames. The establishment of the Roman bridge and the first approach roads and landing places, made Southwark an ideal location for the development of facilities for...

Over the past century, exploration and serendipity have uncovered mosaic after mosaic in the Near East--maps, historical images, mythical figures, and religious scenes that constitute an immense treasure of new testimony from antiquity. The stories these...

From antiquity until the nineteenth century, there have been two types of state: macro-states, each dotted with a number of cities, and regions broken up into city-states, each consisting of an urban centre and its hinterland. A region settled with...

Their rivalry will change the world forever. As competition for the imperial throne intensifies, Constantine and Maxentius realise their childhood friendship cannot last. Each man struggles to control their respective quadrant of empire, battered by...

Building and architecture flourished throughout the Roman Empire. The Romans discovered new techniques to solve problems but also to impress the world. They built aqueducts to bring water into their cities and towns, grand baths for cleansing and...

"[A] magnificently learned, deeply felt and surprisingly pellucid set of essays."-Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World"A delight to read. It is written as history ought to be, especially for nonspecialist readers."-Richard A. Kauffman, Christian...

Publius Quinctilius Varus is famous as the incompetent commander duped into an ambush that wiped out three legions in one of the most humiliating defeats in Roman history. Yet this is the first full length biography of the man. Dr Joanne Ball revisits...

The ancient Sibylline prophecies had foretold that the Roman Empire would last for 1000 years. As the time for the expected dissolution approached in the middle of the third century AD, the empire was lapsing into chaos, with seemingly interminable civil...

Dr Simon Elliott describes eight of the greatest, most decisive of the Roman Empire of the first to third centuries. The list includes battles fought from the highlands of Scotland and the forests of Germany to the deserts of the Middle East. They show...

A fascinating and detailed exploration of one of the most famous warships of the Ancient world - the trireme - and its tactical employment by the opposing sides in the 5th-century BC Graeco-Persian Wars. You may be familiar with the Athenian trireme -...

In his Bellum Catilinae, C. Sallustius Crispus or Sallust (86-35/34 B.C.E.) recounts the dramatic events of the year 63 B.C.E. when a disgruntled and impoverished nobleman, L. Sergius Catilina, after two electoral defeats, made himself the leader of a...

The infamous emperor Caligula ruled Rome from A.D. 37 to 41 as a tyrant who ultimately became a monster. An exceptionally smart and cruelly witty man, Caligula made his contemporaries worship him as a god. He drank pearls dissolved in vinegar and ate...

Despite his enduring popularity, Martial has recently suffered from serious critical neglect. The present work is the first edition of selections from Martial to be published for decades, and includes a fully representative selection of the oeuvre of the...

Cunning, seductive, monstrous, virtuous - whether in divine or mortal form, women shape the foundations of ancient Greek mythology, but have long been eclipsed by their male counterparts. Now, it's time for their stories to be told.Heroines of Olympus...

This volume presents in new English translations the scattered fragments and testimonies regarding Hermes Thrice Great that complete Brian Copenhaver's translation of the Hermetica (Cambridge, 1992). It contains the twenty-nine fragments from Stobaeus...

Unfaithful spouses, divorce and remarriage, rebellious children, aging parents-today's headlines are filled with issues said to be responsible for a "breakdown" of the traditional family. But are any of these problems truly new? What can we learn from...