Best of
Ancient-History

1966

Aegean Turkey: The Classic guides to Turkey


George Ewart Bean - 1966
    The author examines the many west and south-west sites of the country, including Pergamum, Horacleia, Sardis, Ephesus, Priene, Miletus and Didyma.

Mask of Jove


Stringfellow Barr - 1966
    The requirements vary, depending on subject, though the essential ingredients would appear to be urbanity and zest. Stringfellow Barr, the famous founder of the St. John's Great Books curriculum, here presents his fine companion volume to The Will Of Zeus. That volume chronicled Grecian antiquity; the current work describes the shaping, triumphs, and eventual demise of the Roman Empire. It is, of course, a not unfamiliar tale: the curtain rises on the death of Alexander, the various Caesars march across the stage, the arts of war, politics, commerce, and poetry flourish, the Byzantine world emerges, and the house lights dim as the Christian emperor Constantine exits from the scene. To encompass so many centuries, to draw upon such a plethora of primary and secondary sources, and to infuse urgency with panoramic scope, is a difficult job. Barr has the specialist's training, so his account is always historically disciplined. Happily, it is rarely smothered with off-putting details dear to the heart of academics. The portraiture is especially good: Hadrian and Aurelius, for instance, are dramatically characterized. Extracts from Pliny or Tacitus or Cicero are aptly chosen; the military struggles, imperial claims, conflicting ideas and religions gain much from Barr's wise insistence on keeping them within a Graeco-Roman focus. True, there are some unwieldy stretches, but the rich canvas absorbs them all."

Greek Philosophy: Thales to Aristotle


Reginald E. Allen - 1966
     For the Third Edition, Professor Allen has provided new translations of Socrates' speech in the Symposium and of the first five chapters of Aristotle's Categories, as well as new selections bearing on Aristotle's Theory of Infinity, Continuity, and Discreteness. The book also contains a general introduction which sets forth Professor Allen's distinctive and now widely accepted interpretation of the development of Greek philosophy and science, along with selective bibliography, and lists of suggested readings.

The Rock Art of Texas Indians


William W. Newcomb - 1966
    Makes available again the paintings of Kirkland, who was zealous in his efforts to copy petroglyphs and pictographs in watercolor in order to preserve them which he did at 80-some Texas sites. The informative and engaging text by Newcomb, former director of the T