Ancient History Lives

The ruins of Pompeii, buried by an explosion of Vesuvius in 79 CE, offer the best evidence we have of everyday life in the Roman empire. This remarkable book rises to the challenge of making sense of those remains, as well as exploding many myths: the very date of the eruption, probably a few months later than usually thought, or the hygiene of the baths that must have been hotbeds of germs, or the legendary number of brothels, most likely only one, or the massive death count, maybe less than 10 per cent of the population.

When Pliny the Elder perished at Stabiae during the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, he left behind an enormous compendium of knowledge, his 37-volume Natural History, and a teenaged nephew who revered him as a father. Grieving his loss, Pliny the Younger inherited the Elder's notebooks - filled with pearls of wisdom - and his legacy. At its heart, The Shadow of Vesuvius is a literary biography of the younger man, who would grow up to become a lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, and chronicler of the Roman Empire.

Alexander the Great. A boy, groomed for greatness from the earliest age, who would put his stamp on the world for generations to come. A man who sought immortality and achieved it in just 10 years. A soldier whose genius for strategy and tactics is still studied in the modern world. A ruler who understood how to win the hearts and minds of his subjects. This is the story of a Titan of the ancient world, a man who rose but, though he died, never truly fell.

Nicolaus of Damascus was a Hellenized Jewish scholar who lived contemporaneously with Octavius and lived to see him become Caesar Augustus. The work itself takes us through young Octavius’ life and shows how he was carefully brought up and eventually adopted by his uncle, Julius Caesar. But what is remarkable about this short biography is the care and detail with which Nicolaus goes about in describing the plot and assassination of Caesar. The aftermath of Caesar’s murder is explained quite clearly as Octavian steps up to claim his uncle’s inheritance.

Julius Caesar peaked as one of the most powerful generals in Roman history. In “The Life of Caesar", Plutarch attempts to capture the greatness of this man on paper. With stirring prose, he documents Caesar’s military might and rousing spirit. The biography ends with the details of Caesar’s assassination, but Plutarch assures us that the murderers eventually paid for the deed.

Plutarch’s Lives remains one of the world’s most profoundly influential literary works. Written at the beginning of the second century, it forms a brilliant social history of the ancient world. second volume includes Alexander and Caesar, Demetrius and Antony, Dion and Marcus Brutus, the aforementioned Demosthenes and Cicero, as well as biographies of Alexander, Caesar, Cato the Younger, and others.

Heroes, gods, and mortals. The Greek myths are the founding narratives of Western civilization: to understand them is to know the origins of philosophy, literature, art, science, law, and more. Indeed, as Luc Ferry shows in this masterful book, they remain a great store of wisdom, as relevant to our lives today as ever before.

The Life and Legacy of Augustus Caesar Explore the transformative reign of Augustus Caesar, the founder of the Roman Empire, in this comprehensive and engaging biography. "The Life and Legacy of Augustus Caesar" delves into the life of one of history's most influential leaders, from his early beginnings as Gaius Octavius to his rise as the revered first Emperor of Rome. This meticulously researched book offers an in-depth exploration of Augustus' political strategies, military conquests, and cultural contributions that defined his era. Discover how Augustus skillfully maneuvered through ...

Though he was Greek, Plutarch wrote his Lives in the first century, a world dominated by the Roman Empire. Here he considers some of the major figures who had left their stamp on the history of Rome, including generals, rulers, philosophers, and politicians. These unabridged selections focus on Coriolanus, Pompey, Caesar, Cicero, Brutus, and Mark Antony.

The Mongols were known to be both merciful as well as tolerant. Moreover, their conquests weren’t aimed against civilized life; in fact, they helped connect numerous cultures and facilitated the spread of ideas and knowledge across the continent. Diving deep inside their culture and society, we’ll cast off their barbaric image. By the end of this guide of the Mongol conquests, you will get a better understanding of not only the history of the Mongols but of all of humankind as well.

While he was one of the most influential men in the ancient world, research on Cyrus the Great is simultaneously fascinating and frustrating. Of course, this reality has deepened the mystique that surrounds Cyrus even to this day, and it has elevated his status from conqueror and king to enlightened humanist monarch and ideal ruler. Whatever the underlying issues, the incredible achievements of Cyrus distinguish him as one of the greatest kings in history, and his life, conquests, reforms, and rule continue to be of great interest over 2,500 years later.

This audiobook offers the perfect explanation of how the Roman empire began, how it was run, what some of the emperors did, and much more. You’ll also find out why and how it ended, how the wars influenced their expansion and shrinkage, and other facts.

Would you like to learn about daily life in ancient Rome, but find conventional history books a bit boring? Would you like a more entertaining way to learn about Roman history, from the Republic to the Empire? We have a look at Roman sanitation, medicine, education, wine, sex, bathing, dining, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, and public health from an accessible, non-academic perspective in this book, as well as looking at some of the perils or downsides in these advances in civilization. We discuss the developments in these aspects of daily life.

Many of us know little about Archimedes other than his "Eureka" exclamation upon discovering that he could immerse an object in a full tub of water and measure the spillage to determine the object's weight. That seemingly simple observation not only proved to King Hieron II of Syracuse that a certain amount of silver had been used in what was supposed to be his solid-gold crown, it established the key principles of buoyancy that govern the flotation of hot-air balloons, ships, and denizens of the sea.

Here is a fascinating compact history of Chinese political, economic, and cultural life, ranging from the origins of civilization in China to the beginning of the 21st century. Historian Paul Ropp combines vivid story-telling with astute analysis to shed light on some of the larger questions of Chinese history. Offering a global perspective, the book tells how China's nomadic neighbors to the north and west influenced much of the political, military, and even cultural history of China.

Alcibiades was brilliant beyond his time and ambitious beyond his own safety. Was he traitor or true patriot? Even his own historian was not sure.

Aristotle was an extraordinary thinker, perhaps the greatest in history. Yet he was preoccupied by an ordinary question: how to be happy. His deepest belief was that we can all be happy in a meaningful, sustained way - and he led by example. In this handbook to his timeless teachings, Professor Edith Hall shows how ancient thinking is precisely what we need today, even if you don’t know your Odyssey from your Iliad.

Alexander is arguably one of the most notable Greek figures, immortalized in stories and legends that are commonly used in mythology classes today. With the lingering feeling of discontent after the Persian invasion and the political unrest that surrounded him, his life made for an interesting topic in Plutarch’s works.

In How to Be, Adam Nicolson takes us on a glorious, immersive journey. Grounded in the belief that places give access to minds, however distant and strange, this book reintroduces us to our earliest thinkers through the lands they inhabited. To know the mental occupations of Homer or Heraclitus, one must visit their cities, sail their seas, and find landscapes not overwhelmed by the millennia that have passed but retain the atmosphere of that ancient life. Nicolson takes us to the dawn of investigative thought and a nexus of cross-cultural connection.

Despite the fact that Marius’ achievements, both personally and as a leading statesman, far outweigh the vast majority of Rome’s emperors, Marius is not a well-known figure outside academic circles. Gaius Marius: The Life and Legacy of the General Who Reformed the Roman Army chronicles how Marius rose through the ranks, his reforms of the military, and his lasting legacy.