This volume is the second in a series of five on the Insula (city block) of the Menander at Pompeii. The first (on the structures) and the fourth (on the silver treasure) have already been published; the third, on the objects, and the fifth, on the graffiti, are in preparation. The Insula of the Menander, approximately 3500 sq. m. in area, derives its name from the House of the Menander, one of the best-known dwellings of the ancient city. This was evidently the property of one of Pompeii's leading citizens. Renowned for its architectural grandeur and for the hoard of 110 pieces of silver plate found in a cellar, it also yielded room upon room of splendid wall-paintings and mosaic pavements, ranging in date from the first century BC to the eve of the eruption of AD 79. In addition to this dominant house, the block contains several smaller houses - notably the House of the Lovers and the House of the Craftsman - most of which contain further paintings and pavements of interest. The present volume publishes these decorations in full for the first time. Its importance lies in the fact that it covers the whole block, rather than concentrating upon isolated houses (as most previous volumes have done). This enables the reader not only to look at questions of chronology and iconography room by room and house by house, but also to observe broad patterns of taste and social differentiation within a particular neighbourhood of Pompeii.

The site of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was rediscovered and partially excavated by C. T. Newton's expedition in 1865-6, and has been cleared completely by the Danish Archaeological Expedition to Bodrum (1966-76). Most of the fragments of relief sculpture have not been published before. The larger pieces, including slabs formerly incorporated in the Castle at Bodrum, are well known, but new, detailed photographs are published here for the first time. The Introduction includes a history of the site and the reliefs, with a new hypothesis on their location in the castle, a critique of Newton's accounts of his excavation, and a definitive rebuttal of many attempts made over the past century to attribute the reliefs to the sculptors named by Pliny and Vitruvius as responsible for decorating the four sides of the building, attempts now seen to be mistaken in method and misleading in results.

In this new edition of Greek and Roman Technology, the authors translate and annotate key passages from ancient texts to provide a history and analysis of the origins and development of technology in the classical world. Sherwood and Nikolic, with Humphrey and Oleson, provide a comprehensive and accessible collection of rich and varied sources to illustrate and elucidate the beginnings of technology. Among the topics covered are energy, basic mechanical devices, hydraulic engineering, household industry, medicine and health, transport and trade, and military technology. This fully revised Sourcebook collects more than 1,300 passages from over 200 ancient sources and a diverse range of literary genres, such as the encyclopaedic Natural History of Pliny the Elder, the poetry of Homer and Hesiod, the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Lucretius, the agricultural treatises of Varro, Columella, and Cato, the military texts of Philo of Byzantium and Aeneas Tacticus, as well as the medical texts of Galen, Celsus, and the Hippocratic Corpus. Almost 100 line drawings, indexes of authors and subjects, introductions outlining the general significance of the evidence, notes to explain the specific details, and current bibliographies are included. This new and revised edition of Greek and Roman Technology will remain an important and vital resource for students of technology in the ancient world, as well as those studying the impact of technological change on classical society.

This is the first ever documented study of the 1,035 identifiable Greek city states (poleis) of the Archaic and Classical periods (c.650-325 BC). Previous studies of the Greek polis have focused on Athens and Sparta, and the result has been a view of Greek society dominated by Sophokles', Plato's, and Demosthenes' view of what the polis was. This study includes descriptions of Athens and Sparta, but its main purpose is to explore the history and organization of the thousand other city states. The main part of the book is a regionally organized inventory of all identifiable poleis covering the Greek world from Spain to the Caucasus and from the Crimea to Libya. This inventory is the work of 47 specialists, and is divided into 46 chapters, each covering a region. Each chapter contains an account of the region, a list of second-order settlements, and an alphabetically ordered description of the poleis. This description covers such topics as polis status, territory, settlement pattern, urban centre, city walls and monumental architecture, population, military strength, constitution, alliance membership, colonization, coinage, and Panhellenic victors. The first part of the book is a description of the method and principles applied in the construction of the inventory and an analysis of some of the results to be obtained by a comparative study of the 1,035 poleis included in it. The ancient Greek concept of polis is distinguished from the modern term `city state', which historians use to cover many other historic civilizations, from ancient Sumeria to the West African cultures absorbed by the nineteenth-century colonializing powers. The focus of this project is what the Greeks themselves considered a polis to be.

This book investigates how varying practices of gender shaped people's lives and experiences across the societies of ancient Greece and Rome. Exploring how gender was linked with other socio-political characteristics such as wealth, status, age and life-stage as well as with individual choices, in the very different world of classical antiquity, is fascinating in its own right. But later perceptions of ancient literature and art have profoundly influenced the development of gendered ideologies and hierarchies in the West, and influenced the study of gender itself. Questioning how best to untangle and interpret difficult sources is a key aim. This book exploits a wide range of archaeological, material cultural, visual, spatial, demographic, epigraphical and literary evidence to consider households, families, life-cycles and the engendering of time, legal and political institutions, beliefs about bodies, sex and sexuality, gender and space, the economic implications of engendered practices, and gender in religion and magic.

This volume provides an up-to-date selection of inscriptions which are important for the study of Greek history in the fourth century BC. It contains an introduction, Greek texts, English translations, and commentaries, which cater for the needs of today's students. The texts shed light not only on the mainstream of Greek political and military history, but also on institutional, social, economic, and religious life.

Late antique Corinth was on the frontline of the radical political, economic and religious transformations that swept across the Mediterranean world from the second to sixth centuries CE. A strategic merchant city, it became a hugely important metropolis in Roman Greece and, later, a key focal point for early Christianity. In late antiquity, Corinthians recognised new Christian authorities; adopted novel rites of civic celebration and decoration; and destroyed, rebuilt and added to the city's ancient landscape and monuments. Drawing on evidence from ancient literary sources, extensive archaeological excavations and historical records, Amelia Brown here surveys this period of urban transformation, from the old Agora and temples to new churches and fortifications. Influenced by the methodological advances of urban studies, Brown demonstrates the many ways Corinthians responded to internal and external pressures by building, demolishing and repurposing urban public space, thus transforming Corinthian society, civic identity and urban infrastructure. In a departure from isolated textual and archaeological studies, she connects this process to broader changes in metropolitan life, contributing to the present understanding of urban experience in the late antique Mediterranean.

The story of the Agora did not end in A.D. 267, when the Herulians invaded the city. From ornate Early Christian carving to the colorful green and brown glazed pottery that distinguished the city, this booklet shows how medieval Athens was a lively, bustling town with a rich artistic tradition. Finds and architecture from the private houses that covered over the remains of the classical city are discussed, and the book ends with a survey of the Church of the Holy Apostles, the 11th-century A. D. church that stands at the southeast corner of the Agora.

This is an up-to-date survey of Aegean archaeology at the beginning of the Iron Age (late eleventh and tenth centuries BC). There are chapters on pottery, metal finds, burial customs, architectural remains (and how to use them to understand the social and political structure of the society), cult practices, and developments towards state formation. The book will be useful to field archaeologists, historians of ancient Greece, and students.

The excavation of settlements has transformed our understanding of life in north-west Europe during the early Middle Ages, a period for which written sources are scarce. This is the first overview and synthesis of the extensive and rapidly growing body of archaeological evidence for early medieval buildings, settlements, farming, craft production, and trade among the rural communities of this region. Helena Hamerow places the archaeological findings in their historical context and examines their significance for Anglo-Saxon England.

In this volume, ten leading international historians and archaeologists provide a fresh and dynamic picture of Italy's history from the end of the Roman Western Empire in 476 to the end of the tenth century. Recent archaeological findings, which have so greatly changed our perceptions and understanding of the period, have been fully integrated into the eleven thematic chapters, which provide a fully rounded overview of the entire Italian peninsula in the early middle ages. The chapters consider such themes as regional diversities, rural and urban landscapes, the organisation of public and private power, the role and structure of ecclesiastical institutions, the production of manuscripts, inscriptions, and private charters

Incorporating all of the latest archaeological and historical discoveries, ten leading international historians and archaeologists provide a fresh and dynamic picture of Italy's history from the end of the Roman Western Empire in 476 to the end of the tenth century.

While prayer is generally understood as "communion with God" modern forms of spirituality prefer "communion" that is non-petitionary and wordless. This preference has unduly influenced modern scholarship on historic methods of prayer particularly concerning Anglo-Saxon spirituality. In Compelling God, Stephanie Clark examines the relationship between prayer, gift giving, the self, and community in Anglo-Saxon England. Clark's analysis of the works of Bede, Aelfric, and Alfred utilizes anthropologic and economic theories of exchange in order to reveal the ritualized, gift-giving relationship with God that Anglo-Saxon prayer espoused. Anglo-Saxon prayer therefore should be considered not merely within the usual context of contemplation, rumination, and meditation but also within the context of gift exchange, offering, and sacrifice. Compelling God allows us to see how practices of prayer were at the centre of social connections through which Anglo-Saxons conceptualized a sense of their own personal and communal identity.

Coin Hoards and Hoarding in the Roman World presents fourteen chapters from an interdisciplinary group of Roman numismatists, historians, and archaeologists, discussing coin hoarding in the Roman Empire from c. 30 BC to AD 400. The book illustrates the range of research themes being addressed by those connected with the Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire Project, which is creating a database of all known Roman coin hoards from Augustus to AD 400. The volume also reflects the range of the Project's collaborations, with chapters on the use of hoard data to address methodological considerations or monetary history, and coverage of hoards from the west, centre, and east of the Roman Empire, essential to assess methodological issues and interpretations in as broad a context as possible. Chapters on methodology and metrology introduce statistical tools for analysing patterns of hoarding, explore the relationships between monetary reforms and hoarding practices, and address the question of value, emphasizing the need to consider the whole range of precious metal artefacts hoarded. Several chapters present regional studies, from Britain to Egypt, conveying the diversity of hoarding practices across the Empire, the differing methodological challenges they face, and the variety of topics they illuminate. The final group of chapters examines the evidence of hoarding for how long coins stayed in circulation, illustrating the importance of hoard evidence as a control on the interpretation of single coin finds, the continued circulation of Republican coins under the Empire, and the end of the small change economy in Northern Gaul.

The Roman period is where the past of the British Isles is first revealed through substantial written sources as well as aracheology. This book distils recent archeological and documentary discoveries and advances in an accessible, concise manner for anyone interested in finding out more about the Roman Era. A number of key themes are discussed within a chronological framework. The book features chapters contributed by a team of scholars amongst those most closely involved with discovery and analysis.

This is the first study in nearly seventy years of one of the largest known hoards of Roman silver plate, found in the House of the Menander, one of the finest houses in the centre of Pompeii, buried in AD 79. It is the only surviving complete Roman dinner service for eight people, belonging to a rich citizen of Pompeii who was probably a local magistrate.

Although they do not survive intact, composite statues of gold and ivory were the most acclaimed art form in classical antiquity. Greek and Roman authors make their religious, social, and political importance clear. This study, the first to address the topic as a whole since 1815, presents not only literary references to lost works, but also representations of them in other media, and more importantly, fragmentary survivals that elucidate the techniques employed in their production and the quality achieved by their creators.

During the last few decades, there has been great interest in the problems of defining the extent and nature of kingship in the Mycenaean world. Questions concerning the degree of economic and religious power held by the king have been given special emphasis. This book surveys the conclusions drawn by individual scholars studying the Linear B tablets, contrasts their theories with our knowledge of the Mycenaean kingdoms as derived from the archaeological record, and finally compares this evidence with possible reflections in the oral tradition, specifically in the Iliad and Odyssey. This approach leads to the suggestion that the king in the Mycenaean period had only limited power over the society and its economy. Although the king appears to have controlled a large segment of the economy, it is argued here that other individuals and family groups within the kingdom also had a certain degree of economic independence.

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.

The artifacts and monuments of the Athenian Agora provide our best evidence for the workings of ancient democracy. As a concise introduction to these physical traces, this book has been a bestseller since it was first published almost 20 years ago. Showing how tribal identity was central to all aspects of civic life, the text guides the reader through the duties of citizenship; as soldier in times of war and as juror during the peace. The checks and balances that protected Athenian society from tyrants, such as legal assassination and ostracism, are described. Selected inscriptions are illustrated and discussed, as are ingenious devices such as allotment machines and water clocks, which ensured fairness in the courts. The book ends with some of the lasting products of classical administration; the silver coins accepted around the known world, and the standard weights and measures that continue to protect the consumer from unscrupulous merchants. Now illustrated entirely in color, with updates and revisions by the current director of excavations at the Agora, this new edition of an acknowledged classic will inform and fascinate visitors and students for many years to come.

This book comprises a significant contribution to our understanding of Graeco-Egyptian relations during the seventh and sixth centuries BC and also demonstrates that Polanyian economic theory can play an invaluable role in the ongoing debate about the concepts best employed to analyse the ancient Greek economy. Dr Moeller employs different approaches from archaeology, history, epigraphy, Egyptology, and comparative economic theory to create the first thorough account of the archaeology and archaic history of Naukratis.

This book examines how Romans used their pottery and the implications of these practices on the archaeological record. It is organized around a flow model for the life cycle of Roman pottery that includes a set of eight distinct practices: manufacture, distribution, prime use, reuse, maintenance, recycling, discard, reclamation. J. Theodore Pena evaluates how these practices operated, how they have shaped the archaeological record, and the implications of these processes on archaeological research through the examination of a wide array of archaeological, textual, representational, and comparative ethnographic evidence. The result is a rich portrayal of the dynamic that shaped the archaeological record of the ancient Romans that will be of interest to archaeologists, ceramicists, and students of material culture."

This volume follows the development of Greek gem engraving from Alexander to Augustus. Hellenistic gems are studied in their archaeological context with an assessment of the evidence of their use, significance, and value. The book focuses on subject-matter, technique, and style, as well as problems of chronology and distribution.

Homer's mythological tales of war and homecoming,the Iliad and the Odyssey, are widely considered to be two of the most influential works in the history of western literature. Yet their author, 'the greatest poet that ever lived' is something of a mystery. By the 6th century BCE, Homer had already become a mythical figure, and today debate continues as to whether he ever existed. In this Very Short Introduction Barbara Graziosi considers Homer's famous works, and their impact on readers throughout the centuries. She shows how the Iliad and the Odyssey benefit from a tradition of reading that spans well over two millennia, stemming from ancient scholars at the library of Alexandria, in the third and second centuries BCE, who wrote some of the first commentaries on the Homeric epics. Summaries of these scholars' notes made their way into the margins of Byzantine manuscripts; from Byzantium the annotated manuscripts travelled to Italy; and the ancient notes finally appeared in the first printed editions of Homer, eventually influencing our interpretation of Homer's work today. Along the way, Homer's works have inspired artists, writers, philosophers, musicians, playwrights, and film-makers. Exploring the main literary, historical, cultural, and archaeological issues at the heart of Homer's narratives, Graziosi analyses the enduring appeal of Homer and his iconic works. 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. This book was previously published in hardback as Homer.

An introduction to the raucous yet educational 'gap year' tours of Europe taken by wealthy British aristocrats in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. For many young eighteenth-century aristocrats, the Grand Tour was an essential rite of passage. Spending many months travelling established routes through France and Italy, they would visit the great cultural sites of western Europe - from Paris, through to Venice, Florence and Rome - ostensibly absorbing art, architecture and culture. Yet all too often, it was a gateway to gambling and debauchery. In this beautifully illustrated guide, Mike Rendell shows how the tour reached its zenith, examining the young tourists' activities and how they acquired 'polish' and an appreciation for fashion, opera and classical antiquity. He also explores their passion for souvenirs and art collecting, and how these items made their way back to grand country houses, which were themselves often modelled to the rules of classical European architecture.