Forntidens historia

In the tumultuous and vivid history of New Kingdom Egypt, Ramesses III's reign was prosperous and culturally rich. He fended off attacks by the "Sea Peoples" and others who threatened the state, he built the great temple of Medinet Habu, and he left wonderfully complete documents describing contemporary social structure and the economy. Amazingly, we even have an account from a contemporary judicial document that describes events leading to Ramesses III's assassination. This edited collection presents a detailed and informative look at the life, career, and world of one of Egypt's most important pharaohs, providing insight both on his reign and its aftermath and on the study of the political and cultural history of ancient Egypt. This collection offers the best new scholarship on Ramesses III, with contributions from Christopher J. Eyre; Ogden Goelet, Jr.; Peter W. Haider; Carolyn R. Higginbotham; Kenneth A. Kitchen; Bojana Mojsov; Steven R. Snape; Emily Teeter; and James M. Weinstein, as well as from David O'Connor and Eric H. Cline. It will be of interest to those with an informed amateur's interest in Egyptology as well as to scholars of Egyptian and biblical archaeology.

Fornborgarnas tid handlar om en tidigare okänd tidsperiod i den nordiska fornhistorien. Det här är en tid då fundamentet läggs för mycket av det som vi idag tar för givet och uppfattar som vår samtid. I bokserien får läsaren följa med långt in i det som enbart har betraktats som förhistorisk tid, och den tydligaste resten från den här tiden är de mystiska fornborgarna som finns spridda i stort antal över Norden. Det här är den andra boken i en serie med tre delar. Den här delen söker svar på hur borgarna har använts. Borgarna har inte byggts så slumpmässigt som man tidigare tänkt sig, utan det verkar tvärt emot gå att följa en tidsmässig kontinuitet som kan förklara deras uppkomst. Genom att kombinera detta med arkeologiska och samtida historiska källor går svaret att finna. Det som tidigare har beskrivits som fornborgarnas gåta kan därmed ha fått en lösning. Spåren leder till en krigande överklass som funnits i Norden vid tiden för borgarna, och borgarna verkar ha varit centra platser för dessa krigare. Kring varje borg tycks det ha legat ett mindre kungarike som styrts från borgen av varsin kunglig släkt. Genom de kvarlämnade borgruinerna går det att detaljerat följa hur dessa har utvecklats över tid, samtidigt som de arkeologiska och historiska källorna ger ledtrådar till vad de gjort på borgarna. Borgarna leder fram till en beskrivning av den nordiska fornhistorien som du aldrig hört tidigare. Bokserien baserar sig på fältundersökningar av ca 280 fornborgar. Innehåll: Boken består av fem kapitel. Det första arbetar på djupet för att försöka förstå hur borgarna kan ha använts. Borgarna i undersökningsområde klassificeras efter hur kraftiga murarna varit, och placeras ut på en karta för att kunna jämföra de som kan antas ha varit samtida. Datakällan kommer från de egna undersökningarna. I andra kapitlet analyseras resultatet djupare, och borgar som verkar höra samman grupperas. Detta ger en första inblick i varför borgarna byggts på de platser som de har. Tredje kapitlet undersöker resultat från arkeologiska undersökningar, och försöker föra detta samman med borgarna. Redan nu börjar ett resultat framträda. Fjärde kapitlet försöker datera de tidigaste borgarnas tillkomst, bland annat som en grund för analyser av historiska källor. Femte kapitlet försöker sedan föra samman borgarna med det historiska källmaterial som finns från samma tid som borgarna. Allting sammanfattas i en avslutande analysdel där historiska och arkeologiska källor förs samma med borgarna, och nu är svaret tydligt. Beskrivningen kan göras mycket detaljerad när bitarna hamnar på rätt plats. Borgarna har använts av en krigande överklass som funnits långt tidigare än man räknat med att det ska ha funnits en sådan i Norden. Spåren leder ända tillbaka till järnålderns början. Mycket av dagens samhälle och värderingar i Norden kan spåras tillbaka till tiden för borgarna och denna överklass. Boken har 255 sidor varav ca 50% av dessa är tryckta med färgtryck. Författaren: Mattias Lennartsson kan beskrivas som amatörarkeolog, men kanske ännu bättre fornborgsforskare. Detta bland en allt för klen skara som förtjänar denna titel. Den senaste tiden har han spenderat stor tid med att undersöka fornborgarna ur ett brett perspektiv, vilket resulterat i denna bokserie. Mattias har studerat datateknik och arbetar annars med cybersäkerhet.

Fornborgarnas tid handlar om en tidigare okänd tidsperiod i den nordiska fornhistorien. Det här är en tid då fundamentet läggs för mycket av det som vi idag tar för givet och uppfattar som vår samtid. I bokserien får läsaren följa med långt in i det som enbart har betraktats som förhistorisk tid, och den tydligaste resten från den här tiden är de mystiska fornborgarna som finns spridda i stort antal över Norden. Det här är den första boken i en serie med tre delar. Den här delen söker svar på varför fornborgarna byggts. För att svara på frågan måste man först förstå vad de har gemensamt och varför de byggts på de platser där de har. Svaret på frågan är kanske inte vad man tidigare har tänkt sig. Bokserien baserar sig på fältundersökningar av ca 280 fornborgar. Innehåll: Det här är den första riktiga boken som skrivits om de nordiska fornborgarna, vilket i sig gör boken helt unik. Denna del har tre kapitel. Det första kapitlet beskriver hur fornborgarna kan ha varit konstruerade och hur de försvarats. Det andra beskriver hur borgarna ligger i förhållande till närliggande vattenvägar, vilket gör att man kan avfärda flera oprövade sanningar om dem. Det sista kapitlet beskriver ca 110 borgar med bilder och terrängkartor. Denna del ger en översikt av borgarna längs med Östkusten. En sådan översikt har tidigare saknats. Vart de större och mer intressanta borgruinerna funnits i detta område kan därmed påstås att tidigare har varit okänt. Boken innehåller också en inledande och avslutande analysdel som tolkar ursprunget till borgarna, samt en kortare inledning. Boken har 255 sidor varav ca 60% av dessa är tryckta med färgtryck. Författaren: Mattias Lennartsson kan beskrivas som amatörarkeolog, men kanske ännu bättre fornborgsforskare. Detta bland en allt för klen skara som förtjänar denna titel. Den senaste tiden har han spenderat stor tid med att undersöka fornborgarna ur ett brett perspektiv, vilket resulterat i denna bokserie. Mattias har studerat datateknik och arbetar annars med cybersäkerhet.

A bold reassessment of what caused the Late Bronze Age collapseIn 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 centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen?In this major new account of the causes of this "First Dark Ages," Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries.A compelling combination of narrative and the latest scholarship, 1177 B.C. sheds new light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and ultimately destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age—and that set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece.

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF EMPEROR OF ROME AND SPQR'EastEnders for the 1st century AD... Beard's enthusiastic sense of wonder remains undimmed' THE TIMES 'The rock star scholar of Ancient Rome' FINANCIAL TIMES 'The reigning Queen of Classics' SPECTATORWhat's exciting about a piece of bread 4,000 years old? Or some pots of paint abandoned in the eruption at Pompeii? Why should we be bothered with the distant past anyway? What's the point?The life, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome have something to offer everyone. They are not the property of wealthy white men only. They make us wonder how to make sense of people who lived long ago (from angry landlords to giggling senators) - and to think harder about our own world, to look at it differently.In Talking Classics, Mary Beard points to the surprising connections between antiquity and the present. From revolutionaries to dictators, Bob Dylan to Beyoncé, she joins forces with the varied modern characters who have been transfixed by the ancient world. It's not compulsory, she argues, to be excited by antiquity, but it's a shame not to be.After half a century teaching and studying classics, she fills the book with lively stories, curious facts and some good gossip. Talking Classics explains why the deep past does really affect us all.

** THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ** Readers love The Greatest Story Ever Told'Outstanding. A page-turner with a life-changing message.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review'This book is incredible. It will speak to believers and non-believers alike.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review'Wow what a book. What a way to share the gospel!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader reviewTHE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE MAN WHO CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY FOREVER.Beautifully told through the eyewitness accounts of those who knew him best.This real-life story will never leave you.Jesus of Nazareth (Yeshua) lived and died over 2,000 years ago, fulfilling expectations that existed long before his birth. His birth had been mystically foretold by astrologers for hundreds of years, yet the rulers of his day dreaded his coming.A humble builder.A teacher.A magnet for the poor. He's a symbol of love and mercy who transformed the lives and restored the health and purpose in all who encountered him.Billions of people have dedicated their lives to this man and have testified to his divinity and truth. To others, he is little more than another rebel who was killed by one of the most brutal empires in human history.Did this humble man tell the truth? Could one man really be the focal point of the universe?Wherever this journey takes you, this is arguably:THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD.This inspirational book welcomes you into the life of Jesus. A vivid, immersive retelling that makes the Gospel feel immediate and real.A Christian historical narrative. A gospel retelling. An immersive biography of Jesus for believers and skeptics alike.

Urban life as we know it in the Mediterranean began in the early Iron Age: settlements of great size and internal diversity appear in the archaeological record. This collection of essays offers for the first time a systematic discussion of the beginnings of urbanization across the Mediterranean, from Cyprus through Greece and Italy to France and Spain. Leading scholars in the field look critically at what is meant by urbanization, and analyse the social processes that lead to the development of social complexity and the growth of towns. The introduction to the volume focuses on the history of the archaeology of urbanization and argues that proper understanding of the phenomenon demands loose and flexible criteria for what is termed a 'town'. The following eight chapters examine the development of individual settlements and patterns of urban settlement in Cyprus, Greece, Etruria, Latium, southern Italy, Sardinia, southern France and Spain. These chapters not only provide a general review of current knowledge of urban settlements of this period, but also raise significant issues of urbanization and the economy, urbanization and political organization, and of the degree of regionalism and diversity to be found within individual towns. The three analytical chapters which conclude this collection look more broadly at the town as a cultural phenomenon that has to be related to wider cultural trends, as an economic phenomenon that has to be related to changes in the Mediterranean economy and as a dynamic phenomenon, not merely a point on the map.Wide ranging in its geographical coverage, this volume will be essential reading for scholars and students of archaeology, settlement studies, the archaic period and geographers interested in the history of urban forms.

Magic, sorcery and witchcraft are among the most common themes  of the great medieval Icelandic sagas and poems, the problematic  yet vital sources that provide our primary textual evidence for  the Viking Age that they claim to describe. Yet despite the  consistency of this picture, surprisingly little archaeological  or historical research has been done to explore what this may  really have meant to the men and women of the time. This book  examines the evidence for Old Norse sorcery, looking at its  meaning and function, practice and practitioners, and the  complicated constructions of gender and sexual identity with  which these were underpinned. Combining strong elements of  eroticism and aggression, sorcery appears as a fundamental domain  of women's power, linking them with the gods, the dead and the  future. Their battle spells and combat rituals complement the  men's physical acts of fighting, in a supernatural empowerment of  the Viking way of life. What emerges is a fundamentally new image  of the world in which the Vikings understood themselves to move,  in which magic and its implications permeated every aspect of a  society permanently geared for war. In this fully-revised and  expanded second edition, Neil Price takes us with him on a tour  through the sights and sounds of this undiscovered country,  meeting its human and otherworldly inhabitants, including the Sámi with whom the Norse partly shared this mental landscape. On the way we explore Viking notions of the mind and soul, the  fluidity of the boundaries that they drew between humans and  animals, and the immense variety of their spiritual beliefs. We find magic in the Vikings' bedrooms and on their battlefields,  and we meet the sorcerers themselves through their remarkable  burials and the tools of their trade. Combining archaeology,  history and literary scholarship with extensive studies of  Germanic and circumpolar religion, this multi-award-winning book  shows us the Vikings as we have never seen them before.

We all know how the people of Pompeii died. But what about how they lived? __________ In 24 hours, Pompeii will vanish. The morning of the eruption was a day like any other. Julia Felix opens her tavern for another day of business, defying every convention that says a woman can't succeed alone. Petrinus, newly freed from slavery, wrestles with an impossible decision about his future. Politician Gaius Cuspius Pansa prepares to host the Plebian Games, a spectacle that will cement his power forever. In 24 hours, seven lives will change forever. Drawing on the latest archaeological discoveries, Dr Jess Venner brings the ancient streets to life through the eyes of those who lived, worked, loved and ultimately met their fate in Pompeii. Here is a community more complex, diverse and human than we ever imagined.Pompeii is remembered for its destruction, but here we discover the vibrant lives that came before. Richly evocative and immersive, The Lost Voices of Pompeii vividly recreates the final twenty-four hours before the eruption, reminding us exactly what – and who – was lost in 79 AD. This is the story of everything, and everyone, that was lost. __________ For anyone who has ever walked the ruins of Pompeii and wondered what lives beneath the ash, this is the book that answers that question.

A major new history of the eastern Roman Empire, from Constantine to 1453.In recent decades, the study of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium, has been revolutionized by new approaches and more sophisticated models for how its society and state operated. No longer looked upon as a pale facsimile of classical Rome, Byzantium is now considered a vigorous state of its own, inheritor of many of Rome's features, and a vital node in the first truly globalized world.The New Roman Empire is the first full, single-author history of the eastern Roman empire to appear in over a generation. Covering political and military history as well as all the major changes in religion, society, demography, and economy, Anthony Kaldellis's volume is divided into ten chronological sections which begin with the foundation of Constantinople in 324 AD and end with the fall of the empire to the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth century. The book incorporates new findings, explains recent interpretive models, and presents well-known historical characters and events in a new light.

In 221 BC, the First Emperor of Qin unified the lands that would become the heart of a Chinese empire. Though forged by conquest, this vast domain depended for its political survival on a fundamental reshaping of Chinese culture. With this informative book, we are present at the creation of an ancient imperial order whose major features would endure for two millennia.The Qin and Han constitute the “classical period” of Chinese history—a role played by the Greeks and Romans in the West. Mark Edward Lewis highlights the key challenges faced by the court officials and scholars who set about governing an empire of such scale and diversity of peoples. He traces the drastic measures taken to transcend, without eliminating, these regional differences: the invention of the emperor as the divine embodiment of the state; the establishment of a common script for communication and a state-sponsored canon for the propagation of Confucian ideals; the flourishing of the great families, whose domination of local society rested on wealth, landholding, and elaborate kinship structures; the demilitarization of the interior; and the impact of non-Chinese warrior-nomads in setting the boundaries of an emerging Chinese identity.The first of a six-volume series on the history of imperial China, The Early Chinese Empires illuminates many formative events in China’s long history of imperialism—events whose residual influence can still be discerned today.

Why did Eurasians conquer, displace, or decimate Native Americans, Australians, and Africans, instead of the reverse? In this “artful, informative, and delightful” (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, a classic of our time, evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond dismantles racist theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors actually responsible for its broadest patterns.The story begins 13,000 years ago, when Stone Age hunter-gatherers constituted the entire human population. Around that time, the developmental paths of human societies on different continents began to diverge greatly. Early domestication of wild plants and animals in the Fertile Crescent, China, Mesoamerica, the Andes, and other areas gave peoples of those regions a head start at a new way of life. But the localized origins of farming and herding proved to be only part of the explanation for their differing fates. The unequal rates at which food production spread from those initial centers were influenced by other features of climate and geography, including the disparate sizes, locations, and even shapes of the continents. Only societies that moved away from the hunter-gatherer stage went on to develop writing, technology, government, and organized religions as well as deadly germs and potent weapons of war. It was those societies, adventuring on sea and land, that invaded others, decimating native inhabitants through slaughter and the spread of disease.A major landmark in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way in which the modern world, and its inequalities, came to be.

In The Greeks, Ian Morris and Barry B. Powell try to see ancient Greece as a whole: not just a narrative of events or an overview of culture, but history and culture taken together. From ancient Greece comes the modern conviction that through open discussion and the exercise of reason a society of free citizens can solve the problems that challenge it. In one period of Greek history, a society just so governed produced timeless masterpieces of literature, art, and rational thought at the same time that it waged terrible wars and committed countless cruelties. If we understand the past, we can live better in the present, but the past is hard to understand. In The Greeks, Morris and Powell offer new ways of thinking about old problems.

Any explanation of political collapse carries lessons not just for the study of ancient societies, but for the members of all complex societies in both the present and future. Dr Tainter describes nearly two dozen cases of collapse and reviews more than 2000 years of explanations. He then develops a new and far-reaching theory that accounts for collapse among diverse kinds of societies, evaluating his model and clarifying the processes of disintegration by detailed studies of the Roman, Mayan and Chacoan collapses.

The Greeks and Romans were not shy about sex. Drinking cups, oil-lamps and walls were decorated with scenes of seduction and sexual intercourse which make the modern viewer blush; models of penises were worn around the neck or hung from doorways. In classical Greece, statues of erect penises served as boundary-stones and signposts. In Rome, marble satyrs and nymphs grappled in gardens. How are we to make sense of this abundance of sexual imagery? Were these images seductive, shocking, humorous? Were they about sex or love? And what and how do we learn from them? Sex on Show answers these questions by embracing ancient attitudes to religion, politics, sex and gender to examine how the ancient saw themselves and their world. Covering the sixth century BC to the fourth century AD, as well as some Neoclassical art from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Sex on Show uses detailed visual analysis to bring new insights to Greek and Roman culture and to the meaning of erotic imagery, past and present. This is not simply a book about sexual practice or social history. It is a visual history – about what it meant and still means to stare sex in the face.

In this gripping sequel to his bestselling 1177 B.C., Eric Cline tells the story of what happened after the Bronze Age collapsed—why some civilizations endured, why some gave way to new ones, and why some disappeared forever“A landmark book: lucid, deep, and insightful. . . . You cannot understand human civilization and self-organization without studying what happened on, before, and after 1177 B.C.”—Nassim Nicholas Taleb, bestselling author of The Black SwanAt the end of the acclaimed history 1177 B.C., many of the Late Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean lay in ruins, undone by invasion, revolt, natural disasters, famine, and the demise of international trade. An interconnected world that had boasted major empires and societies, relative peace, robust commerce, and monumental architecture was lost and the so-called First Dark Age had begun. Now, in After 1177 B.C., Eric Cline tells the compelling story of what happened next, over four centuries, across the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean world. It is a story of resilience, transformation, and success, as well as failures, in an age of chaos and reconfiguration.After 1177 B.C. tells how the collapse of powerful Late Bronze Age civilizations created new circumstances to which people and societies had to adapt. Those that failed to adjust disappeared from the world stage, while others transformed themselves, resulting in a new world order that included Phoenicians, Philistines, Israelites, Neo-Hittites, Neo-Assyrians, and Neo-Babylonians. Taking the story up to the resurgence of Greece marked by the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C., the book also describes how world-changing innovations such as the use of iron and the alphabet emerged amid the chaos.Filled with lessons for today's world about why some societies survive massive shocks while others do not, After 1177 B.C. reveals why this period, far from being the First Dark Age, was a new age with new inventions and new opportunities.

'Offers fascinating insights into women's worlds and desires in Greco-Roman antiquity and beyond.'Emily Hauser, Sunday Times bestselling author of Mythica'A wonderfully witty and insightful look at attitudes towards female sexual pleasure in Ancient Greece and Rome... Truly fabulous.'Elodie Harper, Sunday Times bestselling author of the Wolf Den trilogy'An eye-opening and joyful read.'Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne ***Was Ovid a surprising champion of women's sexual pleasure? Or did he just want them to fake it? Where did the British Museum curators hide the most pornographic of frescoes? And what exactly was the phallic wooden object excavated in 90's Northumberland?In APHRODISIA, Dr Jean Menzies dives into the hidden history of women's sexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome. The classical world stretched across the Mediterranean for more than a millennium, its people and cultures wide and varied and its sexual proclivities equally so. Yet so often when we read about sex in antiquity it is about the men folk first and foremost: which brothels they were visiting, how they balanced wives and lovers, and what they got up to in the gymnasium. Delving into the literature, art and artefacts of the ancient world, from sex toys to seduction tips to kink, Dr Jean Menzies instead centres women and their desire. In doing so, she uncovers the many faces of women's sexuality over the course of thousands of years, and asks intriguing, and sometimes provocative questions about women, sex and desire today.***'Finally! An up close and personal look at ancient women's sex lives that doesn't treat them simply as a source of scurrilous gossip, but rather as a subject worthy of care and respect.'Dr Jane Draycott, author of Fulvia and Cleopatra's Daughter'Aphrodisia is a magnanimous triumph for the study of women in antiquity; Jean's ability to communicate this information in a witty and down-to-earth way makes this a necessary read for all people interested in sexuality and desire.'Erica Stevenson, author of The Odyssey Effect

"...a monumental work of reclamation and revival...The Golden Thread comes as a history, an argument, a treasure hoard." —The Wall Street JournalA sweeping, resource-rich history of the ancient world and Christendom—designed for students and lifelong learners alike, and faithful to the enduring legacy of the Western tradition. This is Volume I of a two-part series tracing the story of Western civilization from antiquity to the modern age.The Western Tradition from Antiquity to 1500Where do the threads that form the Western tradition originate, and how were they woven together over the two and a half millennia before 1500? What are the sources of our modern ideas about science, freedom, equality, law, good government, and virtue? These are the questions explored in The Golden Thread, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom, written by James Hankins.The story begins with the seminal culture of the classical Greeks and moves through the Hellenization of the east following the conquests of Alexander the Great. Hankins then narrates the rise and dominance of Rome and the fusion of Greco-Roman and Judea-Christian cultures in the Christian empire of the fourth century AD. The volume follows the history of Christendom from the fall of the Western Roman Empire, charts its centuries-long rivalry with the Islamic world, and culminates in the emergence of European civilization in the Middle Age and Renaissance. Volume I Examines how the foundations were laid for the West's political and economic dominance in the modern era, illuminating the deep roots of the ideas, arts, and institutions that continue to shape our world.The Golden Thread is a two-volume history of the Western tradition. Volume I is authored by James Hankins; Volume II, covering the modern and contemporary West, is authored by Allen C. Guelzo.The Golden Thread series features:The Vision of Two AuthorsWritten by two of the most distinguished historians of our time.The Golden Thread speaks in coherent, singular voices. Each volume is authored by an eminent individual writing in narrative form and interpretive tone, and animated by the conviction that knowledge across disciplines is best pursued through stories that are rich in insight, humanity, and meaning.A Cultural InheritanceNearly 1000 curated images—sculptures, paintings, and artifacts—from the vaults of the West’s finest cultural institutions.Readers are not merely told what happened, but shown what was created—page after page alive with the rich architecture, sculpture, music, and painting that gave visible form to the West’s most enduring aspirations.Living Voices from the Distant PastFeatures close to 200 foundational primary source texts drawn from every era.Woven through the chapters are the voices that once commanded nations, composed poems and hymns, and drafted creeds. These are not summaries or paraphrases—they are the words themselves, as they were first spoken, sung, and inscribed.Visual Histories of the WorldEnriched by over 150 bespoke maps, each a visual key to the unfolding story of the West.The Golden Thread does more than locate events—it reconstructs the shifting boundaries of thought, faith, empire, and imagination that defined how men and women once pictured the world and their place within it.

This volume gathers all available evidence for the martyrdoms of Perpetua and Felicitas, two Christian women who became, in the centuries after their deaths in 203 CE, revered throughout the Roman world. Whereas they are now known primarily through a popular third-century account, numerous lesser known texts attest to the profound place they held in the lives of Christians in late antiquity. This book brings together narratives in their original languages with accompanying English translations, including many related entries from calendars, martyrologies, sacramentaries, and chronicles, as well as artistic representations and inscriptions. As a whole, the collection offers readers a robust view of the veneration of Perpetua and Felicitas over the course of six centuries, examining the diverse ways that a third-century Latin tradition was appreciated, appropriated, and transformed as it circulated throughout the late antique world.

'One of the most fascinating and important works of global history to appear for many years' William Dalrymple'Quinn has done a lot more than reinvent the wheel. What we have here is a truly encyclopaedic and monumental account of the ancient world' The TimesAncient Greece and Rome are considered the parents of Western civilisation. But the ancient world was much more interconnected than we realise - a place of constant exchange, commerce and theft, sex, war and enslavement.Journeying from the Levant of 2500 BC to the dawn of the Age of Exploration, Josephine Quinn argues that the roots of the West can be found in everything from Indian mathematics to the chariots of the Steppe, from Arabic poetry to the Phoenician art of sailing. The result is an epic and revelatory history of our shared past.'Superb, refreshing and full of delights, this is world history at its best' Simon Sebag-Montefiore‘Full of little gem-like shifts of perspective’ Guardian‘Scintillates with its focus on the unexpected’ Economist‘A work of great confidence, empathy, learning and imagination’ Rory Stewart‘This is, in every way, a big book’ Times Literary SupplementLONGLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2025A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: The Times/Sunday Times, Observer, Economist, Guardian, BBC History Magazine, i-paper and History Today

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring The tradition of ancient philosophy is a long, rich and varied one. Julia Annas gives a succinct account of ancient Greco-Roman philosophy, emphasizing its freshness and variety of themes, and its approach of lively discussion and argument. Getting away from the presentation of ancient philosophy as a succession of Great Thinkers, the book gives readers a sense of the freshness and liveliness of ancient philosophy, and of its wide variety of themes and styles.This new edition has been fully updated to reflect updates in the field, with new illustrations and up to date further reading to allow further exploration of the field. The text has been expanded and modernized to be more comprehensive and accessible to the general reader, as well as exploring the relation of the tradition of ancient Greco-Roman philosophy to other traditions and to us.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

A pioneering history of this period of crisisThe Roman empire during the period framed by the accession of Septimus Severus in 193 and the rise of Diocletian in 284 has conventionally been regarded as one of crisis. Between 235 and 284, at least eighteen men held the throne of the empire, for an average of less than three years, a reckoning which does not take into account all the relatives and lieutenants with whom those men shared power. Compared to the century between the accession of Nerva and the death of Commodus, this appears to be a period of near unintelligibility. The middle of the century also witnessed catastrophic, if temporary, ruptures in the territorial integrity of the empire. Large portions of the eastern and western halves of the empire passed under the control of powers and principalities who assumed the mantle of Roman government and exercised meaningful and legitimate power over millions. Even those regions that remained Roman were subjected to deprivation and pillage by invading armies. The Roman peace, which had become in the last instance the justification for empire, had been shattered.Clifford Ando describes and integrates the contrasting histories of different parts of the empire and assesses the impacts of administrative, political and religious change.Key features:o Follows Rome's confrontation and conflict with a new world power, Sassanian Persia, in which two Roman emperors lost their liveso Devotes special attention to legal historyo Examines the changing nature of religious pluralism and the Christian persecutions

In this gripping sequel to his bestselling 1177 B.C., Eric Cline tells the story of what happened after the Bronze Age collapsed—why some civilizations endured, why some gave way to new ones, and why some disappeared forever“A landmark book: lucid, deep, and insightful. . . . You cannot understand human civilization and self-organization without studying what happened on, before, and after 1177 B.C.”—Nassim Nicholas Taleb, bestselling author of The Black SwanAt the end of the acclaimed history 1177 B.C., many of the Late Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean lay in ruins, undone by invasion, revolt, natural disasters, famine, and the demise of international trade. An interconnected world that had boasted major empires and societies, relative peace, robust commerce, and monumental architecture was lost and the so-called First Dark Age had begun. Now, in After 1177 B.C., Eric Cline tells the compelling story of what happened next, over four centuries, across the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean world. It is a story of resilience, transformation, and success, as well as failures, in an age of chaos and reconfiguration.After 1177 B.C. tells how the collapse of powerful Late Bronze Age civilizations created new circumstances to which people and societies had to adapt. Those that failed to adjust disappeared from the world stage, while others transformed themselves, resulting in a new world order that included Phoenicians, Philistines, Israelites, Neo-Hittites, Neo-Assyrians, and Neo-Babylonians. Taking the story up to the resurgence of Greece marked by the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C., the book also describes how world-changing innovations such as the use of iron and the alphabet emerged amid the chaos.Filled with lessons for today's world about why some societies survive massive shocks while others do not, After 1177 B.C. reveals why this period, far from being the First Dark Age, was a new age with new inventions and new opportunities.

Fierce warriors and skilled craftsmen, the Celts were famous throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World. They were the archetypal barbarians from the north and were feared by both Greeks and Romans. For two and a half thousand years they have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet their origins have remained a mystery and even today are the subject of heated debate among historians and archaeologists.Barry Cunliffe's classic study of the ancient Celtic world was first published in 1997. Since then huge advances have taken place in our knowledge: new finds, new ways of using DNA records to understand Celtic origins, new ideas about the proto-urban nature of early chieftains' strongholds, All these developments are part of this fully updated , and completely redesigned edition.Cunliffe explores the archaeological reality of these bold warriors and skilled craftsmen of barbarian Europe who inspired fear in both the Greeks and the Romans. He investigates the texts of the classical writers and contrasts their view of the Celts with current archaeological findings. Tracing the emergence of chiefdoms and the fifth- to third-century migrations as far as Bosnia and the Czech Republic, he assesses the disparity between the traditional story and the most recent historical and archaeological evidence on the Celts.Other aspects of Celtic identity such as the cultural diversity of the tribes, their social and religious systems, art, language and law, are also examined. From the picture that emerges, we are -- crucially -- able to distinguish between the original Celts, and those tribes which were 'Celtized', giving us an invaluable insight into the true identity of this ancient people.

Ancient Rome matters.Its history of empire, conquest, cruelty and excess is something against which we still judge ourselves. Its myths and stories - from Romulus and Remus to the Rape of Lucretia - still strike a chord with us. And its debates about citizenship, security and the rights of the individual still influence our own debates on civil liberty today.SPQR is a new look at Roman history from one of the world's foremost classicists. It explores not only how Rome grew from an insignificant village in central Italy to a power that controlled territory from Spain to Syria, but also how the Romans thought about themselves and their achievements, and why they are still important to us. Covering 1,000 years of history, and casting fresh light on the basics of Roman culture from slavery to running water, as well as exploring democracy, migration, religious controversy, social mobility and exploitation in the larger context of the empire, this is a definitive history of ancient Rome.SPQR is the Romans' own abbreviation for their state: Senatus Populusque Romanus, 'the Senate and People of Rome'.