Analyses the Roman imperial succession and the failure to come up with an enduring, consistent system for selecting the next emperor.

2nd Part in groundbreaking three-part history of Seleukid Empire. Narrates the heyday of the Seleukid empire, then the largest state in the world, and beginning of their decline.

Ptolemaic Egypt was last of the Macedonian Successor states to be swallowed up by the expansion of Roman power. Cleopatra, last of the Ptolemies, was a Roman ally but backed the wrong side in the Roman civil war due to her famous love affair with Marc Antony. She and Antony were defeated at the naval battle of Actium in 31 BC.

Covers a fascinating, but neglected conflict. The Jewish Maccabean revolt and the brief Jewish independence under the Hasmonean dynasty.

An important but neglected aspect of classical warfare. Covers technological, strategic and tactical developments from Alexander to the battle of Actium.