Textile production and the introduction of wool and woolen textiles represented a great revolution in Bronze Age Europe at the dawn of the second millennium BC. The available contemporary written sources from the Mediterranean and Near East suggest…
It is time for a new book about bog bodies: the number of known bodies is growing. Lindow Man, the famous 'Pete Marsh' discovered in Cheshire in the 1980s, has been joined by new finds from Ireland and elsewhere. Who were these unfortunate people, a…
Easily the most celebrated historical work in English, Gibbon's account of the Roman empire was in its time a landmark in classical and historical scholarship and remains a remarkable fresh and powerful contribution to the interpretation of Roman hi…
In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After c…
The world often misunderstands its greatest men while neglecting others entirely. Scipio Africanus, surely the greatest general that Rome produced, suffered both these fates. Today scholars celebrate the importance of Hannibal, even though Scipio de…
This is a highly readable history and a unique work of reference. Focusing on the succession of the rulers of imperial Rome, it uses timelines with at-a-glance visual guides to each reign and its main events. Biographical portraits of the 56 princip…
The complete history of every Imperial Roman legion and what it achieved as a fighting force, by an award-winning historianIn this landmark publication, Stephen Dando-Collins does what no other author has ever attempted to do: provide a complete his…
The Book of the Dead is not a single text but a compilation of spells that the ancient Egyptians believed would assist them in the afterlife as they made their perilous journey toward the realm of the gods and the ultimate state of eternity. No two…
A best-selling study of the Vikings' genius for war explodes myths and reveals the facts behind their fearsome reputation . . . This groundbreaking study of the Vikings establishes the facts behind their rise to prominence, and cuts away the myths a…
After surviving the fifth century fall of the Western European Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire flourished as one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe for a thousand years.In this Very Short Introduction Peter Sar…
Much of our perception of Babylon in the West is filtered through the poignant echoes of loss and longing that resonate in the Hebrew Bible. The lamenting exiles of Judah craved a return to their lost homeland after the sack of Jerusalem in 587 BC a…
This revised edition provides an up-to-date account of the many different kinds of information that can be obtained through the archaeological study of pottery. It describes the scientific and quantitative techniques that are now available to the ar…
The gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt, worshipped for over half of recorded history, are among the most fascinating and complex of any civilization. Here is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the deities that lay at the heart of Egyptian r…
The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage came into force in 2006, framing the international and national practices and policies associated with intangible cultural heritage. This volume critically and reflexivel…
Assyria was one of the most influential kingdoms of the Ancient Near East. In this Very Short Introduction, Karen Radner sketches the history of Assyria from city state to empire, from the early 2nd millennium BC to the end of the 7th century BC. Si…
Surveying more than three thousand years of Egyptian civilization, Egypt and the Egyptians offers a comprehensive introduction to this most rich and complex of early societies. From high politics to the concerns of everyday Egyptians, the book explo…
The legacy of the ancient Greeks has shaped our world. Classical Greece's military prowess, political sophistication and cultural innovations continue to influence modern society. The first half of the book focuses on political and military history,…
Everything we know about Alexander comes from ancient sources, which agree unanimously that he was extraordinary and greater than everyday mortals. From his birth into a hypercompetitive world of royal women through his training under the eyes and f…
The conversion of the emperor Constantine to Christianity in 368 AD brought a transformation to Christianity and to western civilization, the effects of which we still feel today.
This book offers a comprehensive overview of the tombs of Pompeii and its immediate environs, examining the funerary culture of the population, delving into the importance of social class and self-representation, and developing a broad understanding…
Revised and updated throughout, the fourth edition of Ancient Greece presents the political, social, cultural, and economic history and civilization of ancient Greece in all its complexity and variety. Written by six leading authorities on the class…
Rome, Ostia, Pompeii: Movement and Space demonstrates how studies of the Roman city are shifting focus from static architecture to activities and motion within urban spaces. This volume provides detailed case studies from the three best-known cities…
The Roman Republic was one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of civilization. Beginning as a small city-state in central Italy, Rome gradually expanded into a wider world filled with petty tyrants, barbarian chieftains, and despotic…
The Roman Republic was one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of civilization. After its founding in 509 BCE, Rome grew from an unremarkable Italian city-state to the dominant superpower of the Mediterranean world. Through it all, th…
In classical antiquity, there was much interest in necromancy--the consultation of the dead for divination. People could seek knowledge from the dead by sleeping on tombs, visiting oracles, and attempting to reanimate corpses and skulls. Ranging ove…
. Debunks the "pyramids as tombs" theory and shows how they are "recovery vaults" to ensure the rebirth of civilization after a global disaster. Explains in detail how the angles and geometry of the Great Pyramid record a shift of the world's axis i…
Homer's tale of the abduction of Helen to Troy and the ten-year war to bring her back to Greece has fascinated mankind for centuries since he related it in The Iliad and The Odyssey. More recently, it has given rise to countless scholarly articles a…
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial reviews the current state of mortuary archaeology and its practice, highlighting its often contentious place in the modern socio-politics of archaeology. It contains forty-four chapters whic…
Modern society is beginning to re-examine its whole relationship with animals and the natural world. Until recently issues such as animal welfare and environmental protection were considered the domain of small, idealistic minorities. Now, these iss…
The Neolithic saw the spread of the first farmers, and the formation of settled villages throughout Europe. Traditional archaeology has interpreted these changes in terms of population growth, economic pressures and social competition, but in The Do…
Emotional Heritage brings the issues of affect and power in the theorisation of heritage to the fore, whilst also highlighting the affective and political consequences of heritage-making. Drawing on interviews with visitors to museums and heritage s…
Resurrecting Pompeii provides an in-depth study of a unique site from antiquity with information about a population who all died from the same known cause within a short period of time.Pompeii has been continuously excavated and studied since 1748.…
Thucydides of Athens, one of the greatest of historians, was born about 471 BCE. He saw the rise of Athens to greatness under the inspired leadership of Pericles. In 430, the second year of the Peloponnesian War, he caught and survived the horrible…
Written for the general visitor, the Athenian Agora Museum Guide is a companion to the 2010 edition of the Athenian Agora Site Guide and leads the reader through all of the display spaces within the Stoa of Attalos in the Athenian Agora - the terrac…
In just over a hundred years-from the death of Muhammad in 632 to the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750-the followers of the Prophet swept across the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Their armies threatened states as far af…
In just over a hundred years-from the death of the Mohammed in 632 to the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750-the followers of the Prophet swept across the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. The conquered territory was larger t…
His last work, regarded by many as the greatest work of contemporary scholarship, Tacitus' The Annals of Imperial Rome recount with depth and insight the history of the Roman Empire during the first century A.D. This Penguin Classics edition is tran…
An analysis of the life, influence, and mythical powers of the Oracle of Delphi draws on the accounts of her contemporaries as well as archaeological and geological findings from her ancient temple on Mount Parnassos, in an investigation that seeks…
This volume focuses on the ways in which the production and consumption of food developed in the Aegean region in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, to see how this was linked to the appearance of more complex forms of social organisation. Sites fr…
From the civil wars of the Late Republic to Constantine's bloody reunification of the Empire, elite corps of guardsmen were at the heart of every Roman army. Whether as bodyguards or as shock troops in battle, the fighting skills of praetorians, spe…
In AD68 Nero's suicide marked the end of the first dynasty of imperial Rome. The following year was one of drama and danger, though not of chaos.In the surviving books of his Histories the barrister-historian Tacitus, writing some thirty years after…
`The story I now commence is rich in vicissitudes, grim with warfare, torn by civil strife, a tale of horror even during times of peace.' Edward Gibbon called The Histories an `immortal work, every sentence of which is pregnant with the deepest obse…
An authoritative re-telling of one of the greatest tales of heroism of all time and a decisive moment for the history of the world, Leonidas and the 300 Spartans' fight to the death against overwhelming Persian forces preserved the future of Greece…
Every day Roman urbanites took to the street for myriad tasks, from hawking vegetables and worshipping local deities to simply loitering and socializing. Hartnett takes readers into this thicket of activity as he repopulates Roman streets with their…
'The most important work on Alexander the Great to appear in a long time. Neither scholarship nor semi-fictional biography will ever be the same again...Engels at last uses all the archaeological work done in Asia in the past generation and makes it…
After nearly 200 years of the pyramid-as-tomb theory, a growing body of evidence suggests the first 16 pyramids of ancient Egypt were not royal tombs but nearly indestructible recovery vaults designed to revive civilization after an anticipated majo…
Plataea was one of the biggest and most important land battles of pre-20th century history. Close to 100,000 hoplite and light-armed Greeks took on an even larger barbarian army that included elite Asian cavalry and infantry, and troops from as far…
In all the stories told by mankind and recorded through its history, the tale of the siege of Troy is perhaps the greatest secular story ever told. It has certainly captured the western imagination for some 3000 years. Archaeological work has reveal…
The Roman military was one of the most powerful forces of the ancient world. But what did its soldiers wear? This book presents an accurate and illuminating study of a popular yet understudied subject. Spanning 1000 years from the Late Republic to t…
"The Romans is currently the best textbook on Roman history available in English."--Walter Scheidel, Stanford University How did a single village community in the Italian peninsula eventually become one of the most powerful imperial powers the world…
No Roman emperor had a greater impact on the modern world than did Constantine. The reason is not simply that he converted to Christianity, but that he did so in a way that brought his subjects along after him. Indeed, this major new biography argue…
This year Christians worldwide will celebrate the 1700th anniversary of Constantine's conversion and victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. No Roman emperor had a greater impact on the modern world than did Constantine. The reason is not simpl…
