Thucydides called his account of two decades of war between Athens and Sparta "a possession for all time," and indeed it is the first and still most famous work in the Western historical tradition. Considered essential reading for generals, statesmen, and liberally educated citizens for more than 2,000 years, The Peloponnesian War is a mine of military, moral, political, and philosophical wisdom.

However, this classic book has long presented obstacles to the uninitiated reader. Robert Strassler's new edition removes these obstacles by providing a new coherence to the narrative overall, and by effectively reconstructing the lost cultural context that Thucydides shared with his original audience. Based on the venerable Richard Crawley translation, updated and revised for modern readers. The Landmark Thucydides includes a vast array of superbly designed and presented maps, brief informative appendices by outstanding classical scholars on subjects of special relevance to the text, explanatory marginal notes on each page, an index of unprecedented subtlety, and numerous other useful features.

In any list of the Great Books of Western Civilization, The Peloponnesian War stands near the top. This authoritative new edition will ensure that its greatness is appreciated by future generations.

In Four Lost Cities, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz takes readers on an entertaining and mind-bending adventure into the deep history of urban life. Investigating across the centuries and around the world, Newitz explores the rise and fall of four ancient cities, each the centre of a sophisticated civilisation: the Neolithic site of Catalhoeyuk in Central Turkey, the Roman town of Pompeii on Italy's southern coast, the medieval megacity of Angkor in Cambodia and the indigenous American metropolis Cahokia, which stood beside the Mississippi River where East St. Louis is today. Newitz travels to all four sites and investigates the cutting-edge research in archaeology, revealing the mix of environmental changes and political turmoil that doomed these ancient settlements. Tracing the early development of urban planning, Newitz also introduces us to the often-anonymous workers-slaves, women, immigrants and manual labourers-who built these cities and created monuments that lasted millennia. Four Lost Cities is a journey into the forgotten past but, foreseeing a future in which the majority of people on Earth will be living in cities. It may also reveal something of our own fate.

First published in 1989. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 1993. This is a new edition of Akhaenaten's boundary stelae, which now includes information about most of the boundary markers, the tablets were accompanied by statues of Akhenaten, Nefertiti and two of their daughters, all of which stood on low platforms that were raised above the level of the floor. In addition was the awareness that the statues at the site of Stela A were elevated to a greater degree than were the corresponding statues at other sites (insofar as this could be judged from published photographs). The evidence in the publication indicated, moreover, that Stela A, along with Stela B (some two miles south) were the latest of the boundary monuments to be inscribed, since both concluded with a colophon, dated to the end of Akhenaten's eighth regnal year, added to the standard text of the Later Proclamation found on these and other stelae of this series.

The ancient history of Greece holds a great deal of interest to many, particularly to those whose culture and religion grew from early Greek civilisation. Originally published in 1913, Hall provides a thorough history of the origins of Ancient Greek civilisation as well as commenting on Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Babylon amongst others. This title will be of interest to students of Classics and Ancient History.

Here is presented a succinct and insightful account of the reception of the Iliad and Odyssey from antiquity to the mid-twentieth century. The overall result is less a systematic history than a series of independent studies differing in scale and focus, the chapter on Gladstone being the most comprehensive and detailed. First published in 1958. The author gives greatest attention to those who made active use of Homer rather than passive, even if admiring, readers: Virgil because he wrote the Aeneid, Gladstone because he brought him to prominence in Oxford education, Wood because he sought out the geography and Schliemann because he dug for the kings. The emphasis is thus placed less on the purely academic critic than on the traveller and the innovative amateur. A valuable contribution to a subject of perennial fascination, this will be of interest to all students and teachers of the classics.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Originally published in 1927, this text contains a translation of Adolf Erman's work into English. Erman's original intention was to bring the songs, stories and poems that have survived from ancient Egypt to the masses of the modern world. The literature of the Egyptian world provides a real insight into the day-to-day life of one of the oldest societies known to man and this translation ensures that these insights are afforded to an English audience. This title will be of interest to students of History, Classics and Literature.

The Bronze Age Civilization of Central Asia edited by Philip L. Kohl collates translated articles from soviet findings of Bronze Age and Aenolithic remains in Central Asia. Originally published in 1981, these articles include the latest discoveries at the time of publication such as the Murghab Delta sites to build a clearer picture of civilizations and settlements in Bronze Age Southern Central Asia and their history and evolution for new English audiences. This title will be of interest to students of history, archaeology and anthropology.

Over the past decade, evidence has been mounting that our ancestors developed skills to sail across large bodies of water early in prehistory. In this fascinating volume, Alan Simmons summarizes and synthesizes the evidence for prehistoric seafaring and island habitation worldwide, then focuses on the Mediterranean. Recent work in Melos, Crete, and elsewhere-- as well as Simmons' own work in Cyprus-- demonstrate that long-distance sailing is a common Paleolithic phenomenon. His comprehensive presentation of the key evidence and findings will be of interest to both those interested in prehistory and those interested in ancient seafaring.

The role of warfare is central to our understanding of the ancient Greek world. In this book and the companion work, War and Society in the Roman World, the wider social context of war is explored. This volume examines its impact on Greek society from Homeric times to the age of Alexander and his successors and discusses the significance of the causes and profits of war, the links between war, piracy and slavery, and trade, and the ideology of warfare in literature and sculpture.

Like other volumes in this series, Ancient History from Coins demystifies a specialism, introducing students (from first year upwards) to the techniques, methods, problems and advantages of using coins to do ancient history. Coins are a fertile source of information for the ancient historian; yet too often historians are uneasy about using them as evidence because of the special problems attaching to their interpretation. The world of numismatics is not always easy for the non-specialist to penetrate or understand with confidence. Dr Howgego describes and anlyses the main contributions the study of coins can make to ancient history, showing shows through numerous examples how the character, patterns and behaviour of coinage bear on major historical themes. Topics range from state finance and economic policy to imperial domination and political propaganda through coins types. The period covered by the book is from the invention of coinage (ca 600BC) to AD 400.

The archaeology of early Rome has progressed rapidly and dramatically over the last century; most recently with the discovery of the shrine of Aeneas at Lavinium and the reports of the walls of the Romulan city discovered on the city slopes of the Palatine Hill. The Archaeology of Early Rome and Latium presents the most recent discoveries in Rome and its surroundings: princely tombs,inscriptions and patrician houses are included in a complete overview of the subject and the controversies surrounding it. This comprehensively illustrated study fills the need for an accessible English guide to these new discoveries, and in preparation, the author interviewed most of the leading figures in current research on the early periods of Rome.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Bodies and Lives in Ancient America offers a broad overview of what it was like to live and die throughout North America before European contact. Using a unique life history approach, the book moves from pregnancy and birth through to senescence. Drawing on biological data gathered from human remains, as well as cultural and environmental data derived from archaeological investigations, the authors provide students with a wealth of information on health and other aspects of life that leave changes on the skeletal system. Rich case studies throughout demonstrate the temporal, cultural and environmental variability across the continent prior to colonial times. The authors also examine how different groups faced a variety of challenges in their lives, including climate change and violence, and the effects this had on their health. The book concludes by considering the relevance of what ancient bones reveal for people today. Written in an engaging style, with complex paleopathology data synthesized and clearly presented, Bodiesand Lives in Ancient America is an accessible introduction to the state of health across prehistoric North America.

Bodies and Lives in Ancient America offers a broad overview of what it was like to live and die throughout North America before European contact. Using a unique life history approach, the book moves from pregnancy and birth through to senescence. Drawing on biological data gathered from human remains, as well as cultural and environmental data derived from archaeological investigations, the authors provide students with a wealth of information on health and other aspects of life that leave changes on the skeletal system. Rich case studies throughout demonstrate the temporal, cultural and environmental variability across the continent prior to colonial times. The authors also examine how different groups faced a variety of challenges in their lives, including climate change and violence, and the effects this had on their health. The book concludes by considering the relevance of what ancient bones reveal for people today. Written in an engaging style, with complex paleopathology data synthesized and clearly presented, Bodiesand Lives in Ancient America is an accessible introduction to the state of health across prehistoric North America.

First Published in 1988. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book takes a new approach to the question, "Is the philosopher to be seen as universal human being or as eccentric?". Through a reading of the Theaetetus, Pappas first considers how we identify philosophers - how do they appear, in particular how do they dress? The book moves to modern philosophical treatments of fashion, and of "anti-fashion". He argues that aspects of the fashion/anti-fashion debate apply to antiquity, indeed that nudity at the gymnasia was an anti-fashion. Thus anti-fashion provides a way of viewing ancient philosophy's orientation toward a social world in which, for all its true existence elsewhere, philosophy also has to live.

In this, the only biography of Septimius Severus in English, Anthony R. Birley explors how 'Roman' or otherwise this man was and examines his remarkable background and career. Severus was descended from Phoenician settlers in Tripolitania, and his reign, AD 193-211, represents a key point in Roman history. Birley explores what was African and what was Roman in Septimius' background, given that he came from an African city. He asks whether Septimius was a 'typical cosmopolitan bureaucrat', a 'new Hannibal on the throne of Caesar' or 'principle author of the decline of the Roman Empire'?

Analysing six Greek tragedies - the Orestes triology, Ajax, Antigone and Philoctetes - and Hamlet, this book also contains a chapter on the Greek and the Elizabethan dramatic forms and one on religious drama. This is an important work from an author respected for a constructive and sensitive quality of criticism.

The Roman Republic was governed by a small group of men who agreed far more than they disagreed on the fundamental questions facing the state. The details of their public behaviour can thus only be understood in relation to the idiosyncrasies deeply embedded in Roman political culture, one of the most important of which was that of personal hatred - 'inimicitia'. Personal Enmity in Roman Politics, first published in 1987, explores how 'inimicitia' could arise and how it was often central in the formation of political factions. In particular, groups opposing such powerful figures as Pompey and Caesar might be united by nothing more than common hatred of the individual. An important feature too was the criminal trial, because of the highly personal nature of the Roman adversary system at the time: Epstein argues that personal factors were more important than political ones in the famous trials of the late Republic.

This volume discusses infirmitas ('infirmity' or 'weakness') in ancient and medieval societies. It concentrates on the cultural, social and domestic aspects of physical and mental illness, impairment and health, and also examines frailty as a more abstract, cultural construct. It seeks to widen our understanding of how physical and mental well-being and weakness were understood and constructed in the longue duree from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The chapters are written by experts from a variety of disciplines, including archaeology, art history and philology, and pay particular attention to the differences of experience due to gender, age and social status. The book opens with chapters on the more theoretical aspects of pre-modern infirmity and disability, moving on to discuss different types of mental and cultural infirmities, including those with positive connotations, such as medieval stigmata. The last section of the book discusses infirmity in everyday life from the perspective of healing, medicine and care.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.