Kategoria BISAC: History >> Ancient - Rome

In Blood in the Forum, Pamela Marin offers a fresh and illuminating perspective on the complexities of the late Republic and the rise of Octavian. The book deals with how Roman politics, the desire for personal glory, and the inadequacies of the Republican system ultimately led to Caesar's dictatorship.
Marin assigns a crucial role to Cato the Younger in the political narrative, which differs from conventional views, but allows for a clearer understanding of the allegiances of the civil war and the assassination of Caesar on the Ides of March 44 BCE. Drawing from the...

There are possibly more explanations for the fall of the Roman Empire than for any other event in history: from the theory that links the widespread use of lead in utensils and glass with mental impairment (and hence incapacity for rule) to the sequoia tree theory, which purports to show through reduced ring growth in these ancient trees how the period coinciding with the fall of empire was one of hardship and death. The more bizarre theories are entertaining but devoid of explanatory power. The question still remains: why did the empire fall? As Christie suggests, the question is...

The Roman emperor Hadrian, who lived from 76 to 138 AD was a hugely influential figure whose architectural legacy is obvious even today. However, he was also contradictory and mysterious: he was a Spaniard who became emperor at Rome; he was a popular, successful soldier who aimed to be a man of peace. He dabbled in black magic, and he courted scandal: as well as his bitterly unhappy marriage, he had a very public love affair with Greek boy, who died in mysterious circumstances surrounded by rumours of human sacrifice.This title explores these contradictions and complexities, and pieces...

This edition includes Gibbon's...

Italy's original fascination with its cultural origins in Greece and Rome first created what is now known as 'the Classical tradition' - the pervasive influence of ancient art and thought on later times. In response to a growing interest in Classical reception, this volume provides a timely reappraisal of the Greek and Roman legacies in Italian literary history. There are fresh insights on the early study of Greek and Latin texts in post-classical Italy and reassessments of the significance attached to ancient authors and ideas in the Renaissance, as well as some innovative interpretations...

This volume presents the architecture, biological remains, and other material culture from the Hellenistic, Roman, and later strata excavated at Tel Zahara, a small site approximately 0.25 ha, located in the central Jordan Valley in modern Israel. In both the Hellenistic and Roman periods of settlement, Tel Zahara's close proximity to Beth Shean (Scythopolis) influenced the site's development and illustrates the interconnection between rural settlement and urban site. The data produced by the Tel Zahara excavations reveal rural practices and subsistence patterns, and underscore the...

Conspiracy theory as a theoretical framework has emerged only in the last twenty years; commentators are finding it a productive way to explain the actions and thoughts of individuals and societies. In this compelling exploration of Latin literature, Pagan uses conspiracy theory to illuminate the ways that elite Romans invoked conspiracy as they navigated the hierarchies, divisions, and inequalities in their society. By seeming to uncover conspiracy everywhere, Romans could find the need to crush slave revolts, punish rivals with death or exile, dismiss women, denigrate foreigners, or view...

This book describes the tragic and bloody collapse of Roman civilization in the West in the fifth century and the near ruin of the Eastern Roman Empire. The hundred years from the death of Theodosius I to the conquest of Italy by Theodoric the Ostrogoth were years of chaos, havoc, and destruction. In the East we see the confusion of the imperial government, the palace intrigues, and the sinister role of the palace eunuchs--but survival. The events are dramatically described by eyewitnesses to the disasters--the Byzantine historians Priscus, Malchus, Olympiodorus, John of Antioch, and...