The bloody stand made there by Leonidas and his small Spartan army in 480 B.C. has been hailed ever since as an outstanding example of patriotism, courage, and sacrifice.

    He had taken an army right through Spain and into what is now France, crossed the Alps (at a time of year when no one believed it possible), and invaded Italy. Then, for 15 years, he used the country as his battlefield and his home, destroying Roman armies with an almost contemptuous ease. For centuries after his death, Roman mothers would frighten their children into behaving by telling them: "Hannibal is at the Gates!" Even today, Hannibal stands as one of the greatest generals in the history of warfare and his battlefield tactics are still studied in military academies all over the world. Ernie Bradford presents a biography, exploring the strategies of his greatest triumphs and showing us Hannibal as the soldier, the general, the statesman and the private man - revealing a personal charisma and leadership ability that makes his presence still felt in every country bordering the Mediterranean.The Wordsworth Military Library covers the breadth of military history, including studies of individual leaders and accounts of major campaigns and great conflicts.

    

    

    In his 20s, both tactitian & intellectual, Alexander struck out on an adventure from Greece, leading 50,000 men. It would span 10 years & 11,000 miles on foot & horseback, beginning in 336 BC. At its end, he was by conquest king of the Greeks, pharoah of Egypt, ruler of Persia, master of the known world. By age 32, he would be dead. A comprehensive & wonderfully illustrated & documented biography of Alexander the Great, published to coincide with a national television special & a major international art exhibition held at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC & museums in Chicago, Boston & San Francisco. Published in conjunction with a television series & an art exhibition, this is a comprehensive biography of Alexander, focusing on what is actually known, beautifully illustrated with over 220 photographs throughout.

    Peter Wiseman's influential book, first published in 1979 and now for the first time in paperback, concerns the writing of history during the first century BCE, when Rome was in process of becoming the centre of the Greek, as much as her own, literary world. Historians, trained in the schools of rhetoric, prized elegant plausibility above the empirical objectivity we expect of them today. Legend and history intermingled; history and poetry overlapped. This study divides into three distinct parts. The first treats the problems that arise from reading first century history as if it were written by modern, non-rhetorical standards. The second examines the pseudo-history of the gens Claudia, fabricated during the first century and transmitted to us by Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The third discusses Catullus' dedication of his poetry to the historian Cornelius Nepos against the background of the two authors' common intellectual heritage. The book represents a significant contribution towards an appreciation of ancient historiography and Roman culture. History is viewed here as rhetoric, as myth-making, and as poetry.

    In describing European culture and society during the Bronze Age, this develops common themes linking different areas and cultural groups, and uses the results of radiocarbon dating to establish an objective chronology of the period.

    with 150 illus. (13 in color), 8vo.

    Each age produces its own interpretations of him. Alexander remains a fascinating subject for specialists, and this study is very able. The author is a historian of note, an Honorary Fellow of Cambridge University, and a lifelong student of his subject. "This book has been eagerly awaited. It presents Alexander as he functioned. The hero-worship came later." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)

    Mr. Buckler provides a totally new look at Theban diplomacy and politics. He examines, for the first time, the social and economic backgrounds of the leaders of Thebes during the period of its hegemony. He focuses attention also on local politics and on the constitution of the Boiotian Confederacy, the federal government created by Thebes in the 370s. Of special interest is the author's recognition of the historical implications of topography. He has inspected the terrain of the battlefields and routes of communication; his accounts of military campaigns are thus well grounded and convincing. His contemporary photographs of major sites and topographical maps are valuable supplements to the text. This study is a significant contribution to our knowledge of an important period of Greek history.

    Full-color illustrations.

    

    Strutynski has provided a selection and translation from Georges Dumezil's Mythe et epopee III and Fetes romaines d'ete et d'automne which offer an ingenious solution to one of the most nagging puzzles of early Roman history and religion.Although there is some historical basis for the character of Camillus, Dumezil demonstrates how Camillus belongs to the realm of ancient Indo-European myth which the earliest Roman sources had covered with the veneer of history. A careful analysis of all the evidence exposes Camillus as protege' of the dawn goddess, Mater Matuta, who grants him victories against his enemies whenever the battles occur at daybreak."

    The material is arranged thematically, offering the reader a comprehensive review of the idea and practice of slavery in ancient civilization. In addition, a thorough bibliography for each chapter, as well as an extensive index, make this a valuable source for scholars and students.

    

    The forms of Northern Buddhism in Mongolia correspond in the main to those Tibetan forms from which they originated. Professor Heissig is mainly concerned in the present book with those beliefs and concepts which belong to the non-Buddhist folk religion of the Mongols. Scholars have in recent years discovered original Mongol texts and documents unknown till now, and professor Heissig´s own researches in European libraries have revealed more than seventy-eight manuscripts, containing prayers and invocations from the folk religion, all of which provide essential material on the non-Buddhist religious conceptions of the Mongols. His philological work on these Mongol texts is the basis for this account of the ancient religious ideas of the Mongols. He begins by describing the shamanism of the Mongols, then gives an account of the spread of Lamaism and the subsequent Lamaist suppression of Shamanism. The main part of the book is devoted to a study of the Mongolian folk religion and its pantheon, which includes heavenly beings, the ancestor god, the deity of fire, and equestrian deities.