N. G. L. Hammond - Böcker

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.

In 338 BC Philip II of Macedon established Macedonian rule over Greece; he was succeeded in 336 by his son Alexander the Great, whose conquests in the twelve years that followed reached as far as the Russian steppes, Afghanistan, and the Punjab, and created the Hellenistic world. The study of Macedonia has just been completed in three volumes by N. G. L. Hammond, helped by G. T. Griffith and F. W. Walbank. On the basis of that work, (Volume III of which won the Runicman Award, 1989), Professor Hammond now provides in one volume a history of the Macedonian State in action from early times to 167 BC. The most important concern is the nature of the Macedonian State and its institutions both in Europe and in the Hellenistic kingdoms in Asia and Egypt, on which much new light has been shed by epigraphic and archaeological discoveries. Those institutions have had a profound influence upon subsequent history. Full references are given to the ancient sources of information and to archaeological, numismatic, and epigraphic articles.

In 338 BC Philip II of Macedon established Macedonian rule over Greece; he was succeeded in 336 by his son Alexander the Great, whose conquests in the twelve years that followed reached as far as the Russian steppes, Afghanistan, and the Punjab, and created the Hellenistic world.The study of Macedonia is now a growing point in ancient history. The first ever history of ancient Macedonia has now been completed in three volumes by N. G. L. Hammond, helped by G. T. Griffith and F. W. Walbank. On the basis of that work Professor Hammond now provides in one volume a history of the Macedonian state and its institutions both in Europe and in the Hellenistic kingdoms in Asia and Egypt, on which much new light has been shed by epigraphic and archaeological discoveries. Those institutions have had a profound influence on subsequent history. Full references are given to the ancient sources of information and to archaeological, numismatic, and epigraphic articles.

This widely-used textbook presents a modern interpretation of Greek ideas, culture, and actions. Changes in the new edition concern mainly the spread and significance of tumulus-burial in Albania and the Mycenaean world, the dating of early coinage, the decree of Themistocles, and some aspects of Alexander the Great.

Our knowledge of Alexander the Great is derived from the widely varying accounts of five authors who wrote three and more centuries after his death. The value of each account can be determined in detail only by discovering the source from which it drew, section by section, whether from a contemporary document, a memoir by a companion of Alexander, a hostile critique or a romanticizing narrative. In this book the three earliest accounts are studied in depth, and it becomes apparent that each author used more than one source, and that only occasionally did any two of them or all three use the same source for an incident or a series of incidents. This book will be of value to ancient historians and of interest also to those studying Alexander the Great.

The present volume begins with an account of what is known about the remotest geological ages and comprises chapters on the different kinds of evidence concerning man and his physical environment up to the end of the Predynastic Period in Egypt and the parallel stages of development in Mesopotamia, Persia, Anatolia, Palestine, Cyprus, Greece and the Islands. To trace the history of these very early times it is necessary to rely chiefly on material remains, since writing had not then been invented. The text offers a setting against which the cultural progress of the historical epoch can be viewed. Archaeological investigation may be expected to bring to light more evidence to fill some of the present gaps in our knowledge, but already it is clear that the gulf between historical and prehistorical times in much of the ancient world is narrower than was once supposed.

Part II of volume I deals with the history of the Near East from about 3000 to 1750 B.C. In Egypt, a long period of political unification and stability enabled the kings of the Old Kingdom to develop and exploit natural resources, to mobilize both the manpower and the technical skill to build the pyramids, and to encourage sculptors in the production of works of superlative quality. After a period of anarchy and civil war at the end of the Sixth Dynasty the local rulers of Thebes established the so-called Middle Kingdom, restoring an age of political calm in which the arts could again flourish. In Western Asia, Babylonia was the main centre and source of civilisation, and her moral, though not always her military, hegemony was recognized and accepted by the surrounding countries of Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, Assyria and Elam. The history of the region is traced from the late Uruk and Jamdat Nasr periods up to the rise of Hammurabi, the most significant developments being the invention of writing in the Uruk period, the emergence of the Semites as a political factor under Sargon, and the success of the centralized bureaucracy under the Third Dynasty of Ur.

Volumes I and II of The Cambridge Ancient History have had to be entirely rewritten as a result of the very considerable additions to knowledge which have accrued in the past forty-five years. For the same reason it has also been necessary to increase the size of the volumes and to divide each of them into two separately published parts. The individual chapters have already appeared as fascicles, but without maps, indexes and chronological tables which, for practical reasons, have been reserved for these volumes. Some additions and corrections have also been made in order to bring the text, as far as possible, up to date. Together the new volumes provide a history of Egypt and the Ancient Orient (including Greece and the Aegean region) down to 1000 BC in a form suitable for both specialist and student. Volume II, Part I, deals with the history of the region from about 1800 to 1380 BC. This was the era of Hammurabi in Western Asia, the Hyksos and warrior-kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty in Egypt, and the Minoan and early Mycenaean civilizations in Crete and mainland Greece.

Volume II, Part II deals with the history of the region from about 1380 to 1000 B.C., and includes accounts of Akhenaten and the Amarna 'revolution' in Egypt, the expansion and final decline of the Mycenaean civilization in Greece, the exodus and wanderings of the Israelites, and the Asstrian and Hittite empires.

A new Plates Volume to accompany the four new Parts of The Cambridge Ancient History, Volumes I and II. The editors have selected many new as well as familiar subjects for illustration, and contributors to the text Volumes have made frequent references to these illustrations. The Plates Volume can also, however, stand on its own as a visual guide to the formative period of civilization in Egypt, the Middle East and the Aegean region from earliest times to about 1000 B.C.

Volume III of The Cambridge Ancient History was first published in 1925 in one volume. The new edition has expanded to such an extent, owing to the immense amount of new information now available, that it has had to be divided into three parts. Volume III Part 1 opens with a survey of the Balkans north of Greece in the Prehistoric period. This is the first time such a survey has been published of this area which besides its intrinsic interest is important for its influence on the cultures of the Aegean and Anatolia. The rest of the book is devoted to the tenth to the eighth centuries B. C. In Greece and the Aegean the main theme is the gradual regeneration from the Dark Age and the emergence of a society in which can be seen the beginnings of the city-state. During the same period in Western Asia and the Middle East the Kingdoms of Assyria and Babylonia rise to power, the Urartians appear, and in Palestine the kingdoms of Israel and Judah flourish. In Egypt the country's fortunes revive briefly under Shoshenq I. The final chapter in this part deals with the languages of Greece and the Balkans and with the invention and spread of alphabetic writing.

Volume III Part II carries on the history of the Near East from the close of Volume III Part I and covers roughly the same chronological period as Volume III Part III. During this period the dominant powers in the East were Assyria and then Babylonia. Each established an extensive empire which was based on Mesopotamia, and each in turn fell largely through internal strife. Assyrian might was reflected in the imposing palaces, libraries and sculptures of the Assyrian kings. Babylonian culture was outstanding in literature, mathematics and astronomy, and the great buildings of Nebuchadnezzar II surpassed even those of the Assyrian kings. Israel and Judah suffered at the hands of both imperial powers, Jerusalem being destroyed and part of the population deported to Babylon; and Egypt was weakened by an Assyrian invasion. The Phoenicians found a new outlet in colonising and founded Carthage. A number of small, vigorous kingdoms developed in Asia Minor, while from the north and north east the Scythian nomadic tribes pressed down upon Turkey and the Danube valley, but found their match in the Thracian tribes which held south-eastern Europe and parts of western Turkey. The burials of the chieftains of both peoples were remarkable for the great wealth of offerings.

The years covered by this volume saw events and developments of major significance in the Mediterranean world. The first section of the book examines the Persian empire, the regions it comprised and its expansion during the reigns of Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes. In Greece, Sparta was attending maturity as the leader of a military coalition and Athens passed through a period of enlightened tyranny to a moderate democracy of dynamic energy and clear-sighted intelligence. Given the contrast between Greek ideas and Persian absolutism a clash between Greece and Persia became inevitable, and important chapters deal with the revolt of the Ionian Greeks against the Persians, and the two Persian invasions of Greece including the epic battles of Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis. The third part of the volume turns to the Western Mediterranean. Italy now becomes a significant factor in the history of the area and this section covers the Italic peoples and their languages from the Bronze to the Iron age, and examines the Etruscans and their culture. Sicily is the subject of the final chapter. There the Greek city-states under Gelon of Syracuse and Theron ruler of Acragas repelled a Carthaginian onslaught at the battle of Himera. This new edition has been completely replanned and rewritten in order to reflect the advances in scholarship and changes in perspective which have been taking place in the sixty years since the publication of its predecessor.

The emergence of the Greek world from the Dark Ages to the height of its Geometric civilization was described in The Cambridge Ancient History Volume III Part I. Volume III Part III explores the new prosperity and growth of the young city-states in the eighth to the sixth centuries B.C. This was the great period of expansion and colonization which saw the establishment of Greek city-states from the Western Mediterranean to the Black Sea. This volume describes the East and Egypt, the importance of West Greece and the Aegean islands in trading and exploration, the special characteristics of the societies which were established by colonization. While societies outside the mainstream of expansion and trade retained their old institutions, those at the centre changed rapidly and the period was a time of warfare in mainland Greece. Athens is seen developing into a leading state under the influence of the reforms of Solon and assessment of the social, economic and material history of Greece during these years.

Plutarch and Arrian have contributed more than any other ancient authors to our picture of Alexander the Great, but since they wrote four or more centuries after his death the value of what they said depends upon the sources of information on which they themselves drew. In this 1993 book the attempt is made to define and to evaluate those sources in a detailed study, analysing the historians' works section by section and comparing them with other accounts of the same episodes. This volume completes Professor Hammond's study of the five Alexander-historians begun with Three Historians of Alexander the Great (Cambridge University Press, 1983) and lays a basis for work in this area.

Plutarch and Arrian have contributed more than any other ancient authors to our picture of Alexander the Great, but since they wrote four or more centuries after his death the value of what they said depends upon the sources of information on which they themselves drew. In this 1993 book the attempt is made to define and to evaluate those sources in a detailed study, analysing the historians' works section by section and comparing them with other accounts of the same episodes. This volume completes Professor Hammond's study of the five Alexander-historians begun with Three Historians of Alexander the Great (Cambridge University Press, 1983) and lays a basis for work in this area.

Sir John Edwin Sandys (1844-1922) was a highly esteemed Classical scholar known primarily for his History of Classical Scholarship and editions of various Classical texts. This biography, first published in 1933 and written by fellow Classicist N. G. L. Hammond, reproduces some of Sandys' correspondence and the diaries he kept during his many voyages around the Mediterranean. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Sandys' legacy and the history of classical scholarship.