F. W. Walbank - Böcker

With extensive use of quotations from original source material, this book examines the political events in the Hellenistic world from Alexander's death until his incorporation in the Roman Empire. It also describes the different social systems of the peoples under Greek rule, important developments in literature, science and technology and the founding of new religious movements. The author has assimilated all pertinent recent scholarship in the field, and fashioned an obsorbing account of a vast and complex society whose ideas and achievements for the bedrock of present-day Western civilization.

This volume carries the history of Macedonia through from the death of Philip II to the end of its existence as an independent state in 167 BC. Its expansion in the reign of Alexander is one of the miracles of history. An attempt is made to understand the internal sources of strength of the kingdom and the impact of Alexander's career upon the Macedonians, the Greek states, and the Balkan area. It then goes on to examine the period of civil war which followed, between the Macedonian generals, each of them claiming to defend the monarchy. After the death of Alexander IV the Macedonian-Hellenistic kingdoms are viewed from the standpoint of Macedonia and the Greek mainland, which remain the central topics of this three-volume history. The final phase is dominated by the wars with Rome; recent discoveries have afforded new insights into Macedonia's contribution to the arts and into the structure and the institutions of this most remarkable of all the monarchic states.

As a young man, the historian Polybius was an active politician in the Achaean Confederacy of the second century B.C., and later, during his detention at Rome, became a close friend of some leading Roman families. His History is our most important source for the momentous half-century during which the Romans weathered the war with Hannibal and became masters of the Mediterranean world. F. W. Walbank describes the historical traditions within which Polybius wrote as well as his concept of history.

Published in 1928, Volume VII of the Cambridge Ancient History orginally covered both the history of the Hellenistic world from the battle of Ipsus in 301 BC down to the Peace of Naupactus and the battle of Raphia in 217 BC and the history of Rome from its foundation down to the same date. In the new edition the Greek and Roman sections have been assigned to two separate volumes. Of these, VII part I opens after the death of Alexander, in 323 BC, as being a more logical starting-point for Hellenistic history; but 217 has been retained as the terminal date since, as Polybius noted, it is from then onwards that Rome begins to play a substantial role in Greek affairs. The volume has been completely rewritten by specialists from Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Canada, and takes full account of the vast amount of new material that has become available in the last fifty years. Separate chapters deal with the main kingdoms - Ptolemaic Egypt, Seleucid Asia and Macedonia - and with mainland Greece, Sicily and the smaller states including Pergamum. Political events are fully described and assessed, but there is less emphasis on military detail than in the first edition. The space thus saved has been given over to chapters on the historical sources, on the institution of monarchy and the ideology surrounding it, on the main cultural, social and economic aspects of the Hellenistic world and on the development of Hellenistic science, especially in relation to its application in peace and war. This up-to-date and authoritative account of the early Hellenistic world is designed to serve both the student and the general reader of this and subsequent generations as the first edition has served those of the last fifty years.

This volume of the second edition of the Cambridge Ancient History traces the history of Rome from its origins to the eve of the Second Punic War. Although the period covered is essentially the same as in the undivided Volume VII of the first edition, the treatment of the material is completely fresh and is much more extensive. Account is taken of new scholarly insights and of the considerable amount of new evidence, much of it archaeological, which has become available since the first edition was published. After a survey of the sources of our information the origins of Rome are discussed, beginning with the first discernible traces of the bronze Age settlement and going on to an assessment of the regal period. The complex and often controversial history of the early Republic is examined with reference to its internal development, the evolution of its relationships with the Latins, and the remorseless, if occasionally erratic, advance of Roman power in parts of Italy less immediately adjacent to the city. These developments are traced further in relation to the intervention of Pyrrhus and its aftermath, leading to consideration of Rome's relationships with Carthage, the First Punic War, and the beginnings of overseas empire. Rome is considered from a different perspective in a chapter on society and religion.

Volume VIII of the second edition of The Cambridge Ancient History, like its counterpart in the first edition, deals with the comparatively short but eventful period in which Rome acquired effective political mastery of the Mediterranean lands. From the Carthaginians in Spain, the Second Punic War and the first Roman involvement across the Adriatic, the advance of Roman power is traced through the conquests in Cisalpine Gaul, Spain and Africa in the west and through the conflicts in the east with Macedonia, the Seleucid empire, and finally the Greeks. Interspersed with these themes are chapters on the Seleucids and their rivals and on the Greeks of Batria and India, on the internal political life of Rome, and on developments in Rome's relationship with her allies and neighbours in Italy. In conclusion, two chapters explore the interaction between the Roman and Italian tradition and the Greek world, the first dealing mainly with intellectual and literary developments, the Second Punic War and the first Roman involvement across the Adriatic, the advance of Roman power is traced through the conflicts in the east with Macedonia, the Seleuid empire, and finally the Greeks. Interspersed with these themes are chapters on the Seleucids and their rivals and on the Greeks of Bactria and India, on developments in Rome's relationships with her allies and neighbours in Italy. In conclusion, two chapters explore the interaction between the Roman and Italian tradition and the Greek world, the first dealing mainly with intellectual and literary developments, the second with the material evidence for such interaction at many levels ranging from the basis of economic production to architecture and major works of art. This new edition has been completely replanned and rewritten in order to reflect the advances in scholarship and changes in perspective which have been achieved in the half-century since the publication of its predecessor.