Did the Trojan War really happen? Archaeological evidence suggests that it did. Excavations and translated Hittite texts reveal that Troy was a large, wealthy city allied with the Hittite Empire. The Trojan War may have been the consequence of expanding Gr

Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who started a prison breakout with 74 men, armed with kitchen knives. It grew into a full scale rebellion against Rome, the most famous slave revolt in history. With an army of gladiators, ex-slaves & other desperadoes, he defeated a succession of Roman armies & brought the Republic to its knees.

In Masters of Command, Barry Strauss compares the way the three greatest generals of the ancient world waged war and draws lessons from their experiences that apply on and off the battlefield.

ALEXANDER, HANNIBAL, CAESAR--each was a master of war. Each had to look beyond the battlefield to decide whom to fight, when, and why; to know what victory was and when to end the war; to determine how to bring stability to the lands he conquered. Each general had to be a battlefield tactician and more: a statesman, a strategist, a leader.

Tactics change, weapons change, but war...

In this story of the most famous assassination in history, "the last bloody day of the Roman] Republic has never been painted so brilliantly" (The Wall Street Journal).

Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate on March 15, 44 BC--the Ides of March according to the Roman calendar. He was, says author Barry Strauss, the last casualty of one civil war and the first casualty of the next civil war, which would end the Roman Republic and inaugurate the Roman Empire. "The Death of Caesar provides a fresh look at a well-trodden event, with superb storytelling sure to...