The 'Science of properties' represents a large and fascinating part of Arabic technical literature. The book of 'Isa ibn 'Ali (9th cent.) 'On the useful properties of animal parts' was the first of such compositions in Arabic. His author was a Syriac physician, disciple of Hunayn ibn Ishaq, who worked at the Abbasid court during the floruit of the translation movement. For the composition of his book, as a multilingual scholar, he collected many different antique and late antique sources. The structure of the text itself-a collection of recipes that favoured a fluid transmission-becomes here the key to a new formal analysis that oriented the editorial solutions as well. The 'Book on the useful properties of animal parts' is a new tile that the Arabic tradition offers to the larger mosaic representing the transfer of technical knowledge in pre-modern times. This text is an important passage in that process of acquisition and original elaboration of knowledge that characterized the early Abbasid period.

J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz compares the personalities and the respective careers of two of the greatest of the early Christian Fathers, Ambrose and John Chrysostom. While the statesmanlike Ambrose ended his life as a pillar of the Western establishment, Chrysostom, the outspoken idealist, died in exile. However, their views and ideals were remarakably similar: both bishops were concerned with the social role of the Church, both were determined opponents of what they called the Arian heresy, and each attracted a dedicated following among his urban congregation. This similarity, Liebeschuetz argues, was due not to the influence of one on the other, but was a consequence of their participation in a Christian culture which spanned the divide between the Eastern (later Byzantine) and Western parts of the Roman Empire. The monastic movement figures throughout the book as an important influence on both men and as perhaps the most dynamic development in the Christian culture of the fourth century.

Greek ethnography is commonly believed to have developed in conjunction with the wider sense of Greek identity that emerged during the Greeks' "encounter with the barbarian"--Achaemenid Persia--during the late sixth to early fifth centuries BC. The dramatic nature of this meeting, it was thought, caused previous imaginings to crystallise into the diametric opposition between "Hellene" and "barbarian" that would ultimately give rise to ethnographic prose. The Invention of Greek Ethnography challenges the legitimacy of this conventional narrative. Drawing on recent advances in ethnographic and cultural studies and in the material culture-based analyses of the Ancient Mediterranean, Joseph Skinner argues that ethnographic discourse was already ubiquitous throughout the archaic Greek world, not only in the form of texts but also in a wide range of iconographic and archaeological materials. As such, it can be differentiated both on the margins of the Greek world, like in Olbia and Calabria and in its imagined centers, such as Delphi and Olympia. The reconstruction of this "ethnography before ethnography" demonstrates that discourses of identity and difference played a vital role in defining what it meant to be Greek in the first place long before the fifth century BC. The development of ethnographic writing and historiography are shown to be rooted in this wider process of "positioning" that was continually unfurling across time, as groups and individuals scattered the length and breadth of the Mediterranean world sought to locate themselves in relation to the narratives of the past. This shift in perspective provided by The Invention of Greek Ethnography has significant implications for current understanding of the means by which a sense of Greek identity came into being, the manner in which early discourses of identity and difference should be conceptualized, and the way in which so-called "Great Historiography," or narrative history, should ultimately be interpreted.

The period from the departure of the Romans through to the coming of the Vikings saw the gradual conversion of the peoples of the British Isles to Christianity and (with the exception of Ireland) the redrawing of the ethnic and political map of the islands. The chapters in this volume analyse in turn the different nationalities and kingdoms that existed in the British Isles during this period, the process of their conversion to Christianity, the development of art and of a written culture and the interaction between this written culture and the societies of the day. Moving away from the pattern of histories constructed on the basis of later nation states, this volume takes Britain and Ireland as a whole, so as to understand them better as they were at the time and avoid anachronistic divisions from a later era. It is an approach that allows the volume to give greater weight to the important religious, intellectual and artistic developments and interactions of the period, which normally crossed national boundaries at this time.

Pliny the Younger who lived c. 100 AD, left a large collection of letters, thanks to which we know him better than almost any other Roman. He is best known as witness to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 that destroyed Pompeii, and for his dealings with the early Christians when a regional governor. He was not an emperor or general, but a famous lawyer of his time specialising in private finance and later a senior state official specialising in public finance. His life straddled both a 'bad'; emperor (Domitian) and a 'good'; emperor (Trajan), so his life and letters are relevant to perennial political questions like how an honourable man could serve an absolute autocracy such as Rome, and how justice could live alongside power. His letters also give a unique insight into social, literary and domestic life among the wealthy upper classes of the empire. He knew most of the famous writers of his time, and wrote love letters to his wife. But there are serious controversies about how honest and truthful a man he was - did he use his letters to rewrite history (his own history) and cover up questionable aspects of his career? This general biographical account of Pliny is the first of its kind and covers all aspects of his life in a systematic way. This accessible title tackles key issues including his political anxieties and issues, his relationship with women and his literary style in a roughly chronological order. It covers his life as a lawyer, both in private practice and in state prosecutions, his literary circle, his career in state office and his working relationships with two very different emperors, his background, his property and his family life.

This volume examines the period from Rome's earliest involvement in the eastern Mediterranean to the establishment of Roman geopolitical dominance over all the Greek states from the Adriatic Sea to Syria by the 180s BC.
Applies modern political theory to ancient Mediterranean history, taking a Realist approach to its analysis of Roman involvement in the Greek Mediterranean
Focuses on the harsh nature of interactions among states under conditions of anarchy while examining the conduct of both Rome and Greek states during the period, and focuses on what the concepts of modern political science can tell us about ancient international relations
Includes detailed discussion of the crisis that convulsed the Greek world in the last decade of the third century BC
Provides a balanced portrait of Roman militarism and imperialism in the Hellenistic world

The medical literature of ancient Greece has been much studied during the 20th century, particularly from the 1970s on. In spite of this intense activity, the search for manuscripts still relies on the catalogue compiled in the early 1900s by a group of philologists led by the German historian of Greek philosophy and medicine Hermann Diels. However useful the so-called Diels has been and still is, it is now in need of a thorough revision. The present five-tome set is a first step in that direction. Tome 1 offers a reproduction of Diels' catalogue with an index of the manuscripts. The following three tomes provide a reconstruction of the texts contained in the manuscripts listed in Diels on the basis of Diels' catalogue. Proceeding as Diels did, these three tomes distinguish the manuscripts containing texts by (or attributed to) Hippocrates (tome 2), Galen (tome 3), and the other authors considered by Diels (tome 4). Tome 5 will list all the texts listed in Diels for each manuscript in the catalogue. The present work will be a reference for all scholars interested in Greek medical literature and manuscripts, in addition to historians of medicine, medical book, medical tradition, and medical culture.

How do you contend with Josephus's interpretation of events when undertaking historical inquiry? Taking as a test case the presentation of Judaea in the first century CE, McLaren argues that existing scholarship fails to achieve conceptual independence from Josephus. It simply repeats Josephus's presentation of a society engulfed in an escalating turmoil that allegedly culminated in the revolt of 66-70 CE. A new strategy is offered here by applying a case-study approach and formulating open-ended questions. In so doing, McLaren calls for an entirely fresh appraisal of the situation in Judaea and other areas where Josephus serves as a major source.

Science in the Ancient World presents a worldwide history of science, from prehistoric times through the medieval period. It covers Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas and includes topics ranging from alchemy and astrology to psychology and physics. This work spans prehistory to 1500 CE, examining thousands of years of history in four world regions: Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Highlights of this period include the onset of civilization and science in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the accomplishments of the ancient Greeks between 700 BCE and 100 CE, the adaptation of Greek science by the Romans, the spread of Greek science during the Hellenistic Age, the expansion of Islamic power and commensurate scientific knowledge, and the development of science and philosophy in ancient China and India. Focusing on the history of the science that blossomed in the above regions, scientific disciplines covered include alchemy, astronomy, astrology, agriculture, architecture, biology, botany, chemistry, engineering, exploration, geography, hydraulics, institutions of science, marine science, mathematics, medicine, meteorology, military science, myth and religion, philosophy, philosophy of science, psychology, physics, and social sciences. In all of these fields, theory and application are explored, as are leading individuals and schools of thought, centers of intellectual activity, and notable accomplishments and inventions. Coverage provides global view of science in the ancient world Short topical sections offer objective, fundamental information about science from antiquity through the Middle Ages Each section cites works for further reading, and the book closes with a selected, general bibliography A detailed timeline places important people, events, and discoveries into chronological context

In The History of the Destruction of Troy, Dares the Phrygian boldly claimed to be an eyewitness to the Trojan War, while challenging the accounts of two of the ancient world's most canonical poets, Homer and Virgil. For over a millennium, Dares' work was circulated as the first pagan history. It promised facts and only facts about what really happened at Troy - precise casualty figures, no mention of mythical phenomena, and a claim that Troy fell when Aeneas and other Trojans betrayed their city and opened its gates to the Greeks. But for all its intrigue, the work was as fake as it was sensational. From the late antique encyclopedist Isidore of Seville to Thomas Jefferson, The First Pagan Historian offers the first comprehensive account of Dares' rise and fall as a reliable and canonical guide to the distant past. Along the way, it reconstructs the central role of forgery in longstanding debates over the nature of history, fiction, criticism, philology, and myth, from ancient Rome to the Enlightenment.

The Computer Working Group of the International Association of Egyptologists has been in existence since 1983. The group focuses on the efforts of Egyptologists to find creative and useful ways of using information technology to aid in the research and teaching of Ancient Egypt. This volume collects the 16 papers presented during the 2008 meeting on topics including databases, complex systems, 3D modelling, textual analysis systems, the uses of the internet for sharing photographs, and bibliography. This publication provides an essential snapsot of the present uses of IT in the study of Ancient Egypt.

A two volume masterpiece on ancient warfare
Little needs to be said here about the fascinating era of the Roman Empire of the first century B. C., or about one of the most outstanding military commanders in history, Gaius Julius Caesar. The military history of the period has always had its avid students and enthusiasts. It also has its notable historians and foremost among these was former soldier, Theodore Ayrault Dodge who was probably the first military historian to walk upon the ground on which all of the events about which he wrote in this classic work took place. Dodge's grasp of topography and its bearing on tactical issues makes this work indispensible. The Leonaur editors highly regard Dodge's works on the great captains of warfare through the ages and our edition of 'Warfare in the Age of Napoleon' is already available. 'Warfare in the Age of Gaius Julius Caesar' is our second offering in the series and it follows the model already established by its predecessor. Based on Dodge's academically ground-breaking work, 'Caesar, ' this unique two volume edition, like all of the author's 'great captains' series, benefits from numerous diagrams and maps that explain the campaigns, battles, marches, weapons, equipment, etc., in significant detail. The Leonaur editions have been substantially represented so that all the images-often small in the original editions-have been enlarged to the fullest degree to aid understanding. Volume two covers a five year period in considerable detail and concludes in 45 B. C., a year before Caesar's death. Chapters on Caesar the man and soldier and the art of war in the Roman Empire are also included. Highly Recommended.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.