This social history of war from the third millennium BCE to the 10th-century CE in the Mediterranean, the Near East and Europe (Egypt, Achamenid Persia, Greece, the Hellenistic World, the Roman Republic and Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the early Islamic World and early Medieval Europe) with parallel studies of Mesoamerica (the Maya and Aztecs) and East Asia (ancient China, medieval Japan). The volume offers a broadly based, comparative examination of war and military organization in their complex interactions with social, economic and political structures, as well as cultural practices.

This widely respected study of social conflicts between the patrician elite and the plebeians in the first centuries of the Roman republic has now been enhanced by a new chapter on material culture, updates to individual chapters, an updated bibliography, and a new introduction.

• Analyzes social conflicts between patricians and plebeians in early republican Rome
  
• Includes chapters by leading scholars from both sides of the Atlantic illuminating social, economic, legal, religious, military, and political aspects as well as the reliability of historical...

This widely respected study of social conflicts between the patrician elite and the plebeians in the first centuries of the Roman republic has now been enhanced by a new chapter on material culture, updates to individual chapters, an updated bibliography, and a new introduction.

• Analyzes social conflicts between patricians and plebeians in early republican Rome
  
• Includes chapters by leading scholars from both sides of the Atlantic illuminating social, economic, legal, religious, military, and political aspects as well as the reliability of historical...

This book is the first to focus on war and peace in the ancient world from a global perspective.

• The first book to focus on war and peace in the ancient world
  
• Takes a global perspective, covering a large number of early civilizations, from China, India and West Asia, through the Mediterranean to the Americas
  
• Features contributions from nineteen distinguished scholars, all of whom are experts in their fields
  
• Offers remarkable insights into the different ways in which ancient societies dealt with a common human...

This book is the first to focus on war and peace in the ancient world from a global perspective.

• The first book to focus on war and peace in the ancient world
  
• Takes a global perspective, covering a large number of early civilizations, from China, India and West Asia, through the Mediterranean to the Americas
  
• Features contributions from nineteen distinguished scholars, all of whom are experts in their fields
  
• Offers remarkable insights into the different ways in which ancient societies dealt with a common human...

This book presents a state-of-the-art debate about the origins of Athenian democracy by five eminent scholars. The result is a stimulating, critical exploration and interpretation of the extant evidence on this intriguing and important topic. The authors address such questions as: Why was democracy first realized in ancient Greece? Was democracy "invented" or did it evolve over a long period of time? What were the conditions for democracy, the social and political foundations that made this development possible? And what factors turned the possibility of democracy into necessity and reality?...

This fascinating volume brings together leading specialists, who have analyzed the thoughts and records documenting the worldviews of a wide range of pre-modern societies.

• Presents evidence from across the ages; from antiquity through to the Age of Discovery
• Provides cross-cultural comparison of ancient societies around the globe, from the Chinese to the Incas and Aztecs, from the Greeks and Romans to the peoples of ancient India
• Explores newly discovered medieval Islamic materials
  

With contributions from leading scholars, this is a unique cross-cultural comparison of historical epics across a wide range of cultures and time periods, which presents crucial insights into how history is treated in narrative poetry.

• The first book to gain new insights into the topic of 'epic and history' through in-depth cross-cultural comparisons
• Covers epic traditions across the globe and across a wide range of time periods
• Brings together leading specialists in the field, and is edited by two internationally regarded scholars
• An important reference...

Through a series of original essays by leading international scholars, The Roman Empire in Context: Historical and Comparative Perspectives offers a comparative historical analysis of the Roman empire's role and achievement and, more broadly, establishes Rome's significance within comparative studies.

• Fills a gap in comparative historical analysis of the Roman empire's role and achievement
• Features contributions from more than a dozen distinguished scholars from around the world
• Explores the relevance of important comparativist themes of state, empire, and...

Thinking, Recording, and Writing History in the Ancient World presents a cross-cultural comparison of the ways in which ancient civilizations thought about the past and recorded their own histories.

• Written by an international group of scholars working in many disciplines
• Truly cross-cultural, covering historical thinking and writing in ancient or early cultures across in East, South, and West Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Americas
• Includes historiography shaped by religious perspectives, including Judaism, early Christianity, Islam, and...