Alexander the Great: His Life and His Mysterious Death by Anthony Everitt

$44.99 AUD

Category: Ancient History

What can we learn from the stunning rise and mysterious death of the ancient world's greatest conqueror? An acclaimed biographer reconstructs the life of Alexander the Great in this magisterial revisionist portrait.   More than two millennia have passed since Alexander the Great built an empire t hat stretched to every corner of the ancient world, from the backwater kingdom of Macedonia to the Hellenic world, Ancient Persia, and ultimately to India--all before his untimely death at thirty-three. Alexander believed his empire would only stop when he reached the ocean. But stories of both real and legendary events from his life have kept him evergreen in our imaginations with a legacy that meant something different to every era: in the Middle Ages he became an exemplar of knightly chivalry, he was a star of Renaissance paintings, and by the early twentieth century he even came to resemble an English gentleman. But who was he in his own time?   In Alexander the Great, Anthony Everitt judges Alexander's life against the criteria of his own age and considers all his contradictions. We meet the Macedonian prince who was naturally inquisitive and fascinated by science and exploration, who enjoyed the arts and used the poet Homer's great epic, the Iliad, as a bible. As his empire grew, Alexander exhibited respect for the traditions of his new subjects and careful judgment in administering rule over his vast territory. But his career also had a dark side. An inveterate conqueror who in his short life built the largest empire up to that point in history, Alexander glorified war and was known to commit acts of great cruelty.   As debates continue about the meaning of his life, Alexander's death remains an unsolved mystery. Did he die of natural causes--felled by a fever--or did his marshals, angered by his tyrannical behavior, kill him? An explanation of his death can lie only in what we know of his life, and Everitt ventures to solve that puzzle, offering an ending to Alexander's story that has eluded so many for so long. ...Show more

The Map of Knowledge: How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found, a History in Seven Cities by Violet Moller

$35.99 AUD

Category: Ancient History

'An epic treasure hunt into the highways and byways of stored knowledge across faiths and continents.' John Agard, poet and playwright In The Map of Knowledge Violet Moller traces the journey taken by the ideas of three of the greatest scientists of antiquity - Euclid, Galen and Ptolemy - through seven cities and over a thousand years. In it, we follow them from sixth-century Alexandria to ninth-century Baghdad, from Muslim Cordoba to Catholic Toledo, from Salerno's medieval medical school to Palermo, capital of Sicily's vibrant mix of cultures, and - finally - to Venice, where that great merchant city's printing presses would enable Euclid's geometry, Ptolemy's system of the stars and Galen's vast body of writings on medicine to spread even more widely. In tracing these fragile strands of knowledge from century to century, from east to west and north to south, Moller also reveals the web of connections between the Islamic world and Christendom, connections that would both preserve and transform astronomy, mathematics and medicine from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Vividly told and with a dazzling cast of characters, The Map of Knowledge is an evocative, nuanced and vibrant account of our common intellectual heritage. ...Show more

Epic Continent - Adventures in the Great Stories of Europe by Nicholas Jubber

$32.99 AUD

Category: Ancient History

Songs on Bronze by Nigel Spivey

$24.95 AUD

Category: Ancient History

Tales From Greek Mythology Most of us would like to know the Greek myths better than we do, and in this book Cambridge academic and BBC presenter Nigel Spivey re-tells the Greek myths as the spellbinding stories they are. In exciting prose he tells of Jason and the Argonauts and the travels of Odysse us, of Oedipus's crime and Orpheus's excursion into the underworld among many more. ...Show more

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry

$22.99 AUD

Category: Ancient History | Series: Stephen Fry's Greek Myths

No one loves and quarrels, desires and deceives as boldly or brilliantly as Greek gods and goddesses. In Stephen Fry's vivid retelling we gaze in wonder as wise Athena is born from the cracking open of the great head of Zeus and follow doomed Persephone into the dark and lonely realm of the Underworld. We shiver when Pandora opens her jar of evil torments and watch with joy as the legendary love affair between Eros and Psyche unfolds. Mythos captures these extraodinary myths for our modern age - in all their dazzling and deeply human relevance.   ...Show more

The Bad Boy of Athens: Classics from the Greeks to Game of Thrones by Daniel Mendelsohn

$49.99 AUD

Category: Ancient History

From Prix Méditerranée-winning author Daniel Mendelsohn (shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, Pen Art of the Essay Award) comes a collection of eclectic writing that interrogates contemporary life and pop culture with wisdom and humour. 'Our most irresistible literary critic' New York Times The Ancient Greeks are still very much alive. Over the past two decades, Daniel Mendelsohn's reviews for The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Book Review have earned him a reputation as one of the greatest critics of our time. In this striking collection of essays, he shines a unique spotlight on our culture. Moving between the Latin classics and the modern likes of Virginia Woolf, Brideshead Revisited, Battlestar Galactica, and Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life, these essays expose the heart of antiquity - still beating in our art and our everyday lives. In some essays, Mendelsohn shows how readily we still call on the Greeks and Romans as role models. In others, he illuminates the surprising modernity of canonical works - including Homer's interest in artificial intelligence. We see Sappho alongside Girl, Interrupted, read the mythic side of Spider-Man, and come to understand a little better our relentless fascination with the Titanic. The collection also brings together - for the first time - a number of Mendelsohn's personal essays, including his 'critic's manifesto' and a touching memoir of his boyhood correspondence with the historical novelist Mary Renault. Travelling an immense range of landmark books, plays, films, and age-old stories, the depth of Mendelsohn's thinking is as impressive as its breadth. This is a powerful collection of essays from the master of popular criticism. ...Show more

Ten Caesars: The Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine by Barry Strauss

$42.99 AUD

Category: Ancient History

Bestselling classical historian Barry Strauss tells the story of three and a half centuries of the Roman Empire through the lives of ten of the most important emperors, from Augustus to Constantine.   Barry Strauss's Ten Caesars is the story of the Roman Empire from rise to reinvention, from Augu stus, who founded the empire, to Constantine, who made it Christian and moved the capital east to Constantinople.   During these centuries Rome gained in splendor and territory, then lost both. The empire reached from modern-day Britain to Iraq, and gradually emperors came not from the old families of the first century but from men born in the provinces, some of whom had never even seen Rome. By the fourth century, the time of Constantine, the Roman Empire had changed so dramatically in geography, ethnicity, religion, and culture that it would have been virtually unrecognizable to Augustus.   In the imperial era Roman women--mothers, wives, mistresses--had substantial influence over the emperors, and Strauss also profiles the most important among them, from Livia, Augustus's wife, to Helena, Constantine's mother. But even women in the imperial family faced limits and the emperors often forced them to marry or divorce for purely political reasons.   Rome's legacy remains today in so many ways, from language, law, and architecture to the seat of the Roman Catholic Church. Strauss examines this enduring heritage through the lives of the men who shaped it: Augustus, Tiberius, Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Diocletian and Constantine. Over the ages, they learned to maintain the family business--the government of an empire--by adapting when necessary and always persevering no matter the cost. Ten Caesars is essential history as well as fascinating biography. ...Show more

Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures by Stephen Fry

$22.99 AUD

Category: Ancient History

Mortals and Monsters. Quests and Adventures . . . There are Heroes - and then there are Greek Heroes. Few mere mortals have ever embarked on such bold and heart-stirring adventures, overcome myriad monstrous perils, or outwitted scheming vengeful gods, quite as stylishly and triumphantly as Greek heroes . In this companion to his bestselling Mythos, Stephen Fry brilliantly retells these dramatic, funny, tragic and timeless tales. Join Jason aboard the Argo as he quests for the Golden Fleece. See Atalanta - who was raised by bears - outrun any man before being tricked with golden apples. Witness wily Oedipus solve the riddle of the Sphinx and discover how Bellerophon captures the winged horse Pegasus to help him slay the monster Chimera. Filled with white-knuckle chases and battles, impossible puzzles and riddles, acts of base cowardice and real bravery, not to mention murders and selfless sacrifices, Heroes is the story of what we mortals are truly capable of - at our worst and our very best. 'Ebullient and funny' The Times 'Entertaining and edifying' Daily Telegraph 'A rollicking good read' Independent 'Fry exhibits enormous erudition and enthusiasm' Mail on Sunday 'The Greek gods of the past become relatable as pop culture, modern literature and music are woven throughout. Joyfully informal yet full of the literary legacy' Guardian ...Show more

A Little History of Archaeology by Brian Fagan

$27.99 AUD

Category: Ancient History | Series: Little Histories Ser.

The thrilling history of archaeological adventure, with tales of danger, debate, audacious explorers, and astonishing discoveries around the globe What is archaeology? The word may bring to mind images of golden pharaohs and lost civilizations or Neanderthal skulls and Ice Age cave art. Archaeology is all of these, but also far more: the only science to encompass the entire span of human history - more than three million years This Little History tells the riveting stories of some of the great archaeologists and their amazing discoveries around the globe: ancient Egyptian tombs, Mayan ruins, the first colonial settlements at Jamestown, mysterious Stonehenge, the incredibly preserved Pompeii, and many, many more. In 40 brief, exciting chapters, the book recounts archaeology's development from its 18th-century origins to its 21st-century technological advances, including remote sensing capabilities and satellite imagery techniques that have revolutionized the field. Shining light on the most intriguing events in the history of the field, this absolutely up-to-date book illuminates archaeology's controversies, discoveries, heroes and scoundrels, global sites, and newest methods for curious listeners of every age. ...Show more

Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens - A History of Ancient Greece by Robin Waterfield

$52.95 AUD

Category: Ancient History

"We Greeks are one in blood and one in language; we have temples to the gods and religious rites in common, and a common way of life." So the fifth-century historian Herodotus has some Athenians declare, in explanation of why they would never betray their fellow Greeks to the enemy, the"barbarian" Persi ans. And he might have added further common features, such as clothing, foodways, and political institutions. But if the Greeks knew that they were kin, why did many of them side with the Persians against fellow Greeks, and why, more generally, is ancient Greek history so often thehistory of internecine wars and other forms of competition with one another? This is the question acclaimed historian Robin Waterfield sets out to explore in this magisterial history of ancient Greece.With more information, more engagingly presented, than any similar work, this is the best single-volume account of ancient Greece in more than a generation. Waterfield gives a comprehensive narrative of seven hundred years of history, from the emergence of the Greeks around 750 BCE to the Romanconquest of the last of the Greco-Macedonian kingdoms in 30 BCE. Equal weight is given to all phases of Greek history - the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods. But history is not just facts; it is also a matter of how we interpret the evidence. Without compromising the readability of thebook, Waterfield incorporates the most recent scholarship by classical historians and archaeologists and asks his readers to think critically about Greek history. A brilliant, up-to-date account of ancient Greece, suitable for history buffs and university students alike, Creators, Conquerors, andCitizens presents a compelling and comprehensive story of this remarkable civilization's disunity, underlying cultural solidarity, and eventual political unification. ...Show more

Infamy - The Crimes of Ancient Rome by Jerry Toner

$35.00 AUD

Category: Ancient History

Rome is an empire with a bad reputation. From its brutal games to its depraved emperors, its violent mobs to its ruthless wars, its name resounds down the centuries like a scream in an alley. But was it as bad as all that? Join the historian Jerry Toner on a detective's hunt to discover the extent of Ro me's crimes.From the sexual peccadillos of Tiberius and Nero to the chances of getting burgled if you left your apartment unguarded (pretty high, especially if the walls were thin enough to knock through) he leaves no stone unturned in his quest to bring the Eternal City to book.Meet a gallery of villains, high and low. Discover the problems that most exercised its long-suffering citizens. Explore the temptations of excess and find out what desperation can make a pleb do. What do we see when we look at Rome? A hideous vision of ancient corruption - or a reflection of our own troubled age? ...Show more

How to Keep Your Cool: an Ancient Guide to Anger Management by Seneca Seneca; James S. Romm

$32.99 AUD

Category: Ancient History | Series: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers Ser.

Timeless wisdom on controlling anger in personal life and politics from the Roman Stoic philosopher and statesman Seneca In his essay "On Anger" (De Ira), the Roman Stoic thinker Seneca (c. 4 BC-65 AD) argues that anger is the most destructive passion: "No plague has cost the human race more dear." Thi s was proved by his own life, a life he barely preserved under one wrathful emperor, Caligula, and lost under a second, Nero. This splendid new translation of essential selections from "On Anger," presented with an enlightening introduction and the original Latin on facing pages, offers readers a timeless guide to avoiding and managing anger. It vividly illustrates why the emotion is so dangerous and why controlling it would bring vast benefits to individuals and society. Drawing on his great arsenal of rhetoric, including historical examples (especially from Caligula's horrific reign), anecdotes, quips, and soaring flights of eloquence, Seneca builds his case against anger with mounting intensity. Like a fire-and-brimstone preacher, he paints a grim picture of the moral perils to which anger exposes us, tracing nearly all the world's evils to this one toxic source. But he then uplifts us with a beatific vision of the alternate path, a path of forgiveness and compassion that resonates with Christian and Buddhist ethics. Seneca's thoughts on anger have never been more relevant than today, when uncivil discourse has increasingly infected public debate. Whether seeking personal growth or political renewal, readers will find, in Seneca's wisdom, a valuable antidote to the ills of an angry age. ...Show more