The 2000-year story of Babylon sees it moving from a city-state to the centre of a great empire of the ancient world. It remained a centre of kingship under the empires of Assyria, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids and the Parthians. Its city walls were declared to be a Wonder of the World while its ziggurat won fame as the Tower of Babel. Visitors to Berlin can admire its Ishtar Gate, and the supposed location of its elusive Hanging Garden is explained. Worship of its patron god Marduk spread widely while its well-trained scholars communicated legal, administrative and literary works throughout the ancient world, some of which provide a backdrop to Old Testament and Hittite texts. Its science also laid the foundations for Greek and Arab astronomy through a millennium of continuous astronomical observations. This accessible and up-to-date account is by one of the world's leading authorities.

Slavery in ancient Greece was commonplace. In this book Sara Forsdyke uncovers the wide range of experiences of slaves and focuses on their own perspectives, rather than those of their owners, giving a voice to a group that is often rendered silent by the historical record. By reading ancient sources 'against the grain,' and through careful deployment of comparative evidence from more recent slave-owning societies, she demonstrates that slaves engaged in a variety of strategies to deal with their conditions of enslavement, ranging from calculated accommodation to full-scale rebellion. Along the way, she establishes that slaves made a vital contribution to almost all aspects of Greek society. Above all, despite their often brutal treatment, they sometimes displayed great ingenuity in exploiting the tensions and contradictions within the system of slavery.

First published in 2001, this is the first reference work to cover the archaeology of medieval Europe. No other reference can claim such comprehensive coverage -- from Ireland to Russia and from Scandinavia to Italy, the archaeology of the entirety of medieval Europe is discussed. With coverage ranging from the fall of the western Roman empire in the 5th century CE through the end of the high Middle Ages in 1500 CE, Medieval Archaeology: An Encyclopedia answers the needs of medieval scholars from a variety of backgrounds, including archaeologists, historians and classicists. Featuring over 150 entries by an international team of leading archaeologists, this unique reference is soundly based on the most important developments and scholarship in this rapidly growing field.

The Mycenaean World belonged to the legendary heroes who conquered Troy and stand at the heart of Greek identity. This new book brings their culture and society to life with wit and elegance. Since the discovery of the remains of the civilization of Mycenae in the 1870s, knowledge of these Bronze Age Greeks has increased dramatically. This text is a major new contribution to our understanding of this crucial period.. Stepping into the place of the collapsed civilization of Minoan Crete and the Peloponnese (the subject of Castleden's earlier bestselling study, Minoans), the Mycenaeans dominated mainland Greece and the Greek islands from about 1600-1250 BC. Their exploits became the subject of the legends that were immortalized by Homer. In lively prose informed by the latest research, this vivid study delivers the fundamentals of Mycenaean civilization, its hierarchy, economy, religion and arts. Controversially, Castleden interprets the well-known palaces of Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos and elsewhere as temples. Their sea empire and their relations with other peoples of the Bronze Age world, including the Hittites, the Egyptians and the Trojans, receive full attention. book is an indispensable starting point for the study of the Greek Bronze Age. Full bibliography and copious illustrations support this comprehensive interpretation of a civilization whose legend still lives on.

The Mycenaean World belonged to the legendary heroes who conquered Troy and stand at the heart of Greek identity. This new book brings their culture and society to life with wit and elegance. Since the discovery of the remains of the civilization of Mycenae in the 1870s, knowledge of these Bronze Age Greeks has increased dramatically. This text is a major new contribution to our understanding of this crucial period.. Stepping into the place of the collapsed civilization of Minoan Crete and the Peloponnese (the subject of Castleden's earlier bestselling study, Minoans), the Mycenaeans dominated mainland Greece and the Greek islands from about 1600-1250 BC. Their exploits became the subject of the legends that were immortalized by Homer. In lively prose informed by the latest research, this vivid study delivers the fundamentals of Mycenaean civilization, its hierarchy, economy, religion and arts. Controversially, Castleden interprets the well-known palaces of Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos and elsewhere as temples. Their sea empire and their relations with other peoples of the Bronze Age world, including the Hittites, the Egyptians and the Trojans, receive full attention. book is an indispensable starting point for the study of the Greek Bronze Age. Full bibliography and copious illustrations support this comprehensive interpretation of a civilization whose legend still lives on.

Eretria, on the island of Euboia, was an early and significant coloniser in both the Levant and in the West. During the period of the Persian advance towards the Aegean, the city was the moving spirit in the Greek resistance to Persian domination. Her democratic government pre-dates that of Athens and given the presence in Eretria of political exiles from Peisistratid Athens, it may have provided the basic model of Kleishthenes' reforms in Attica. This comprehensive and well-argued book is the first detailed history in any language of the city, one of the most prosperous and important of the pre-classical period. This study offers an alternative to the orthodox Athenocentric perception of the history of late sixth-and early fifth-century Greece. Keith Walker's stimulating and thoughtful work seamlessly synthesises evidence from archaeology, philology, textual research, epigraphy and numismatics. The study begins by examining the period from the later Neolithic to the early Iron Age. The following chapters cover the city's rise to prominence in the Archaic era. Throughout there is skilful reconstruction of the complex alliances and enmities of the Greek cities, crucial to understand

Geometric Greece has long been the standard work on this absorbing period, which saw the evolution of the Greek city-states, the composition of the Homeric poems, the rise of the great Panhellenic sanctuaries and the first exodus of Greek colonists to southern Italy and Sicily. Professor Coldstream has now fully updated his comprehensive survey with a substantial new chapter on the abundant discoveries and developments made since the book's first publication. The text is presented in three main sections: the passing of the dark ages, c. 900-770 BC; the Greek renaissance, c. 770-700 BC, covered region by region, and the final part on life in eighth century Greece. Its geographical coverage in the Mediterranean ranges from Syria to Sicily, and the detailed archaeological evidence is amplified by reference to literary sources. Heavily illustrated, including images of several finds never previously published, this is the essential handbook for anyone studying early Greek antiquity.

Geometric Greece has long been the standard work on this absorbing period, which saw the evolution of the Greek city-states, the composition of the Honeric poems, the rist of the great Panhellenic sanctuaries and the first exodus of Greek colonists to southern Italy and Sicily.
Professor Coldstream has now fully updated his comprehensive survey with a substantial new chapter on the abundant discoveries and developments made since the book's first publication.
The text is presented in three main sections: the passing of the dark ages, c.900-770 BC; the Greek renaissance, c.770-700 BC, covered region by region, and the final part on life in eighth century Greece. Its geographical coverage in the Mediterranean ranges from Syria to Sicily, and the detailed archaeological evidence is amplified by reference to literary sources.
Highly illustrated, including images of several finds never previously published, this is the essential handbook for anyone studying early Greek antiquity.

This book provides a thorough, area by area companion to the region's wealth of monuments, excavations and artefacts, from Paris and Boulogne-sur-Mer to Strasbourg and Lyon. Over ninety sites are treated in detail, including major attractions such as the parc archéologique in Lyon and the amphitheatre at Autun, numerous local museums and secluded rural excavations.
The guidebook combines a scholarly assessment of the area's Roman heritage, examining and interpreting the surviving remains, with practical visitor information such as directions to sites and opening hours. Comprehensively illustrated with photographs, maps and plans, it is a unique resource both for academic study and for visitors interested in the region's archaeological and historical background.

Named for a goddess, epicenter of the first democracy, birthplace of tragic and comic theatre, locus of the major philosophical schools, artistically in the vanguard for centuries, ancient Athens looms large in contemporary study of the ancient world. This Companion is a comprehensive introduction the city, its topography and monuments, inhabitants and cultural institutions, religious rituals and politics. Chapters link the religious, cultural, and political institutions of Athens to the physical locales in which they took place. Discussion of the urban plan, with its streets, gates, walls, and public and private buildings, provides readers with a thorough understanding of how the city operated and what people saw, heard, smelled, and tasted as they flowed through it. Drawing on the latest scholarship, as well as excavation discoveries at the Agora, sanctuaries, and cemeteries, the Companion explores how the city was planned, how it functioned, and how it was transformed from a democratic polis into a Roman city.

Contents:
1. Who this Arthur Was: The Once and Future King; Doubts about Arthur's Existence 2. The Documents: Constantius' Life of Germanus; Writings on Stones; Genealogies; Nennius' Historical Miscellany; Poetry; The Anglo-saxon Chronicle; Gilda's Book of Complaint; Geoffrey of Monmouth 3. The Archaeology: Background Problems; Strongholds of the North; strongholds of Wales and the Borders; Dark Age Dumnonia; Castle Dore and Other Sites 4. Arthur's Britain: St Germanus and Vortigern; Ambrosius Aurelianus; Christian Missionaries; The Saxons 5. Arthur: The Man. the King and the Kingdom: The Man; 'The most powerful leader of the Britons'; Arthur's Power Base; Arthur as a Christian King 6. Camelot: Colchester, Cadbury and Caerlaverock, Tintagel, Viroconium, Killibury, The Hammerer 7. The Death of Arthur: The last battle; Arthur's Disappearance; Avalon; 'The Wonder of the World'

This volume brings together a series of studies concerned with aspects of the archaeology of burial in early medieval England and Wales during the period c. A.D. 400-1100. The demographic composition of cemeteries, burial rites and mortuary behaviour are considered alongside the political and landscape context of burial, all topics which are recent developments in the field of burial archaeology in Britain. Students and researchers will find the theoretical and methodological approaches of use to their own studies, whilst those seeking an understanding of the trajectories of change in patterns of burial through the Anglo-Saxon period will find it the first summary of its kind. Besides offering individual studies, the volume reviews the early medieval burial archaeology of Britain and identifies areas of future research.

Religion in ancient Greece had a strong public character and was, in many respects, a way of integrating the individual into the community. Within this public religion, there were special cults - 'mysteries'. These were selected voluntarily by each person in the polis, allowing them to deal with the gods on an individual basis. Privacy was needed for the practice of the mysteries, and this was secured by an initiation ceremony that brought each person to a new spiritual level, and a higher degree of awareness in relation to the gods.
With the lack of written evidence that exists for the mysteries, archaeology has proved central to explaining their significance, and this welcome volume showcases new research on the archaeology, ritual and history of Greek mystery cults.

Religion in ancient Greece had a strong public character and was, in many respects, a way of integrating the individual into the community. Within this public religion, there were special cults - 'mysteries'. These were selected voluntarily by each person in the polis, allowing them to deal with the gods on an individual basis. Privacy was needed for the practice of the mysteries, and this was secured by an initiation ceremony that brought each person to a new spiritual level, and a higher degree of awareness in relation to the gods.
With the lack of written evidence that exists for the mysteries, archaeology has proved central to explaining their significance, and this welcome volume showcases new research on the archaeology, ritual and history of Greek mystery cults.

Who's Who in the Roman World is a wide-ranging biographical survey of one of the greatest civilizations in history. Covering a period from the 5th century BC to AD 364, this is an authoritative and hugely enjoyable guide to an era which continues to fascinate today. The figures included come from all walks of Roman life and include some of history's most famous - not to mention infamous - figures as well as hitherto little-known, but no less fascinating, characters. These include:
* the notorious emperors - Caligula; Nero; Elagabalus; Commodus
* the great poets, philosophers and historians - Virgil; Tacitus; Seneca; Ovid
* the brilliant politicians and soldiers - Hannibal; Scipio; Caesar; Mark Antony; Constantine
* noteworthy citizens - Acte, mistress of Nero; Catiline, the revolutionary; Spartacus, champion of the slaves; Gaius Verres, the corrupt governor of Sicily.
The inclusion of cross-referencing, a glossary of terms, select bibliographies, maps, genealogies and an author's preface complete what is at once a superb reference resource and an enormously entertaining read.

Contents:
Contents List of figures Preface Acknowledgements Part 1 The Discovery of Ignorance 1. Inventing the Middle Ages: Antiquarian Views (to c. 1800) 2. Lights and Shadows: Medievalism, the Gothic Revival and the Nineteenth Century (to 1882) 3. An Emerging Discipline: Monuments, Methods and Ideas (1882-1945) Part 2 Into the Light 4. Out of the Shell: Medieval Archaeology Comes of Age (1945-1970) 5. Breaking Ranks: New Ideas, New Techniques, the Rescue Years and After (1970-89) Part 3 Winds of Change 6. Retrospect and Prospect: Medieval Archaeology Today (1990 to the present) Bibliography Index

When we try to make sense of pictures, what do we gain when we use a particular method - and what might we be missing or even losing? Empirical experimentation on three types of mythological imagery - a Classical Greek pot, a frieze from Hellenistic Pergamon and a second-century CE Roman sarcophagus - enables Katharina Lorenz to demonstrate how theoretical approaches to images (specifically, iconology, semiotics, and image studies) impact the meanings we elicit from Greek and Roman art. A guide to Classical images of myth, and also a critical history of Classical archaeology's attempts to give meaning to pictures, this book establishes a dialogue with the wider field of art history and proposes a new framework for the study of ancient visual culture. It will be essential reading not just for students of classical art history and archaeology, but for anyone interested in the possibilities - and the history - of studying visual culture.

In this engaging book Matthew Johnson looks Behind the Castle Gate to discover the truth about castles in England at the end of the Middle Ages.
Traditional studies have seen castles as compromises between the needs of comfort and of defence, and as statements of wealth or power or both. By encouraging the reader to view castles in relation to their inhabitants, Matthew Johnson uncovers a whole new vantage point. He shows how castles functioned as stage-settings against which people played out roles of lord and servant, husband and wife, father and son. Building, rebuilding and living in a castle was as complex an experience as a piece of medieval art.
Behind the Castle Gate brings castles and their inhabitants alive. Combining ground-breaking scholarship with fascinating narratives it will be read avidly by all with an interest in castles.

In this engaging book Matthew Johnson looks Behind the Castle Gate to discover the truth about castles in England at the end of the Middle Ages.
Traditional studies have seen castles as compromises between the needs of comfort and of defence, and as statements of wealth or power or both. By encouraging the reader to view castles in relation to their inhabitants, Matthew Johnson uncovers a whole new vantage point. He shows how castles functioned as stage-settings against which people played out roles of lord and servant, husband and wife, father and son. Building, rebuilding and living in a castle was as complex an experience as a piece of medieval art.
Behind the Castle Gate brings castles and their inhabitants alive. Combining ground-breaking scholarship with fascinating narratives it will be read avidly by all with an interest in castles.

Ceramics are an unparalleled resource for women's lives in ancient Greece, since they show a huge number of female types and activities. Yet it can be difficult to interpret the meanings of these images, especially when they seem to conflict with literary sources. This much-needed study shows that it is vital to see the vases as archaeology as well as art, since context is the key to understanding which images can stand as evidence for the real lives of women, and which should be reassessed.
Sian Lewis considers the full range of female existence in classical Greece - childhood and old age, unfree and foreign status, and the ageless woman characteristic of Athenian red-figure painting.

Contents:
Contents Forward Acknowledgements Information for the Reader Athens and Piraeus 1. Athens: a historical overview 2. The Acropolis 3. The slopes of the Acropolis and the Peripatos 4. The Areopagos, the Hill of the Nymphs, the Mouseion Hill with the Pnyx, the Philopappos Monument and the Kerameikos 5. The Greek Agora, the Roman Market, the Library of Hadrian and Monastiraki 6. Plaka, Olympieion, Ilissos Area, the First Cemetery and the Stadium of Herodes Atticus 7. The National Garden, main boulevards, National Museum, Lykabettos, Tourkovounia and the Academy at Kolonos Hippios 8. Piraeus and Daphni 9. Kaisariani and the monasteries and quarries on Hymettos Attica I: from Athens to Sounion and in the Mesogeia 1. Glyphada, Voula, Vouliagmeni, Vari and the southwest Attic coastal sites 2. From Anavyssos to Sounion 3. The Laurion, Thorikos, Porto Raphti and Brauron 4. The Mesogeia: Loutsa, Raphina, Spata, Markopoulo, Koropi and Paiania Attica II: the Plain of Marathon and the Battle of MArathon 490BC 2. The Marathon Area 3. Rhamnous 4. The Amphiareion of Oropos and Avlona Attica III: Pentelikon and Dionysos 2. Parnes with Phyle and Menidi 3. Eleusis 4. The Thriasian Plain The Megarid, the Attic Border Forts and Perachora 1. Megara 2. Alepochori and Vathichoria in the Megarian Hinterland 3. The Attic Border Forts: Aigosthenai, Eleutherai and Oinoe 4. The Isthmus of Corinth and Diolkos 5. Perachora The Islands of the Saronic Gulf: Salamis, Aigina and Poros 1. Salamis 2. Aigina 3. Poros Appendices 1. The Geography of Attica 2. The modern Structure: Administration and economy 3. The Flora 4. The Fauna 5. Some basic concepts of ancient architecture Glossary 6. Observations on Byzantine Church Building in Greece a) the Early Christian period (306-527) b) The Early Byzantine Period (527-843) c) The Middle Byzantine Period (843-1204) d) The Late Byzantine Period (1204-1460) e) the Post Byzantine Period (1460-1830) 7. List of the most important monuments in chronological order Index of Sites and Monuments Bibliography

Coinage played a central role in the history of the Athenian naval empire of the fifth century BC. It made possible the rise of the empire itself, which was financed through tribute in coinage collected annually from the empire's approximately 200 cities. The empire's downfall was brought about by the wealth in Persian coinage that financed its enemies. This book surveys and illustrates, with nearly 200 examples, the extraordinary variety of silver and gold coinages that were employed in the history of the period, minted by cities within the empire and by those cities and rulers that came into contact with it. It also examines how coins supplement the literary sources and even attest to developments in the monetary history of the period that would otherwise be unknown. This is an accessible introduction to both the history of the Athenian empire and to the use of coins as evidence.

Plato's legend of the famed lost continent of Atlantis has become notorious among scholars as the most absurd lie in literature. Exciting our imagination and our curiosity, Atlantis Destroyed explores the possibility that Plato's account is the historical truth.
In this fascinating account, Rodney Castleden considers the widely-debated location of Atlantis and its destruction, the literary origins of utopian Atlantis and how this became confused with Plato's authentic account and also the remarkable parallels between Plato's narrative and the bronze age civilisation in the Aegean.

This landmark book shows how much Victorian and Edwardian Roman archaeologists were influenced by their own experience of empire in their interpretation of archaeological evidence. This distortion of the facts became accepted truth and its legacy is still felt in archaeology today. While tracing the development of these ideas, the author also gives the reader a throrough grounding in the history of Roman archaeology itself.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203136500

The impact of classical Rome on ancient Britain, as perceived by the late Victorian and Edwardian elites, was a resource of immense contemporary political value. The images it produced helped to define the idea and practice of British imperialism, and the very concept of "Englishness". Academics colluded in this process and this created a legacy in Roman archaeology which persists to the present day. Richard Hingley's work explores this relationship. His thorough examination of late Victorian and Edwardian writings on Rome and the ancient Britons illuminates the historical context and development of Roman archaeology, and simultaneously makes a contribution to the debates on English identity and imperialism. This landmark study should be useful reading for scholars and students in Roman archaeology, ancient history, colonial studies and historiography.