But it was the Romans who built the greatest empire the world has ever seen. Already a bestseller in Japan, China and Korea, acclaimed Japanese historian Nanami SHIONO’s fifteen-volume series-now available for the first time in English-takes readers on a thousand-year odyssey beginning with the city’s mythical founding by a humble shepherd raised by a she-wolf.*CONTENTS*A Note to Readers of the English EditionPrefaceIntroductionChapter One: The Birth of RomeChapter Two: Republican RomeChronologyReferencesAbout the Series and Author

    AD 46 -120) used an encyclopedic knowledge of the Roman Empire to produce a compelling and individual voice. In this superb selection from his writings, he offers personal insights into moral subjects that include the virtue of listening, the danger of flattery and the avoidance of anger, alongside more speculative essays on themes as diverse as God's slowness to punish man, the use of reason by supposedly 'irrational' animals and the death of his own daughter. Brilliantly informed, these essays offer a treasure-trove of ancient wisdom, myth and philosophy, and a powerful insight into a deeply intelligent man.

    Martin West investigates their traditional mythologies, religions, and poetries, and points to elements of common heritage. In The East Face of Helicon (1997), West showed the extent to which Homeric and other early Greek poetry was influenced by Near Eastern traditions, mainly non-Indo-European. His new book presents a foil to that work by identifying elements of more ancient, Indo-European heritage in the Greek material. Topics covered include the status of poets and poetry in Indo-European societies; metre, style, and diction; gods and other supernatural beings, from Father Sky and Mother Earth to the Sun-god and his beautiful daughter, the Thunder-god and other elemental deities, and earthly orders such as Nymphs and Elves; the forms of hymns, prayers, and incantations; conceptions about the world, its origin, mankind, death, and fate; the ideology of fame and of immortalization through poetry; the typology of the king and the hero; the hero as warrior, and the conventions of battle narrative.

    Yet, until now, no single-volume introduction has existed to act as a guide to this labyrinthine symbolic world. In The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya nearly 300 entries, from accession to yoke, describe the main gods and symbols of the Olmecs, Zapotecs, Maya, Teotihuacanos, Mixtecs, Toltecs, and Aztecs. Topics range from jaguar and jester gods to reptile eye and rubber, from creation accounts and sacred places to ritual practices such as bloodletting, confession, dance, and pilgrimage. Two introductory essays provide succinct accounts of Mesoamerican history and religion, while a substantial bibliographical survey directs the reader to original sources and recent discussions. Dictionary entries are illustrated with photographs and specially commissioned line drawings. This authoritative work serves as a standard reference for students, scholars, and travelers.

    This book offers an introductory guide to the beliefs and customs of the ancient Mesopotamians, as revealed in their art and their writings between about 3000 B.C. and the advent of the Christian era. Gods, goddesses, demons, monsters, magic, myths, religious symbolism, ritual, and the spiritual world are all discussed in alphabetical entries ranging from short accounts to extended essays. Names are given in both their Sumerian and Akkadian forms, and all entries are fully cross-referenced. A useful introduction provides historical and geographical background and describes the sources of our knowledge about the religion, mythology and magic of "the cradle of civilisation."

    When Dr. Walter Alva, director of the Bruning Museum in Peru, received an urgent call from the police, he had no idea that he would soon be in charge of excavatinghat his life would soon be in grave danger. Color photos; maps and illustrations.

    Jews have always studied, interpreted, and revered sacred texts; they have also adorned the settings and occasions of sacred acts. Calligraphy and ornamentation have transformed Hebrew letters into art; quotation, interpretation, legend, and wordplay have made ceremonial objects into narrative. This book represents just such a collaboration between art and language. Ellen Frankel and Betsy Platkin Teutsch, writer and artist, have brought their extensive knowledge and talents together to create The Encyclopedia of Jewish Symbols, the first reference guide of its kind, designed for use by educators, artists, rabbis, folklorists, feminists, Jewish and non-Jewish scholars, and lay readers.

    The alien qualities of these edges of the earth became the basis of a literary tradition that endured throughout antiquity and into the Renaissance, despite the growing challenges of emerging scientific perspectives. Here James Romm surveys this tradition, revealing that the Greeks, and to a somewhat lesser extent the Romans, saw geography not as a branch of physical science but as an important literary genre.

    Using twin cameras suspended from a 33-foot, four-finned balloon, Wilson and Ellie Myers have been able to photograph 44 archaeological sites on Crete from a much lower altitude than is possible from helicopters or airplanes. The result is stunning. The breathtaking high-resolution photographs reveal new information and correct mistaken assumptions about these ancient sites. The Atlas will cause scholars to rethink their notions about the Minoan culture of Crete, which with its linear A writing, widespread sea trade, elaborate palaces, and unique art was crucial to the development of western civilization. For archaeologists of the future, the Atlas photographs preserve important information that is being lost each year through gradual erosion of the sites.For each site entry there are aerial views and a corresponding drawn plan, each shedding light on the other; a detailed description of the site (its significance, relationship to the local topography and geology, and excavation history); and a comprehensive research bibliography. The descriptions prepared by the international community of Cretan archaeologists under the guidance of regional specialist Gerald Cadogan reflect the latest available information on the sites of the Minoans and those who succeeded them. Indeed, the text entries and the chapter on Crete by Cadogan are in themselves a major contribution to scholarship.Together, text and photographs, which offer a unique grouping of related sites for comparative study, provide a significant advance in archaeological method. The work will be welcomed by archaeologists in the field as well as by scholars of ancient Greek civilization. With its introductory chapters, accessible style, and magnificent photographs, the Atlas will also appeal to the archaeological tourist and the armchair traveler.

    The Bible characterized them as cunning pagan warmongers, the ancient Egyptians as pirates and marauders. In today's language, a "philistine" is an uncouth, uncultured person.Thanks to the work of Trude Dothan and Moshe Dothan, three thousand years of bad press are at last giving way to a wholly different picture of the Philistines. Through their excavations and other studies, these two eminent archaeologists have unearthed startling answers to some of the great mysteries of biblical history, revealing the Philistines as a highly civilized people. They were advanced artisans and craftsmen, sophisticated architects and ecologically minded town planners.One of the Aegean Sea Peoples who settled on the southern coast of Canaan at the end of the twelfth century B.C., the Philistines entered history as the main adversaries of the Israelites, stigmatized by the wicked Delilah and the arrogant Goliath. While the nature of their written language is still a mystery, the nature of their civilization is not. The remains of monumental buildings, a flourishing olive-oil industry, cast bronze, iron, and ivory artifacts, weaving looms, wine presses, and a wide range of artistically distinctive pottery urge us to make a historical reassessment.In People of the Sea, the world's preeminent authorities on Philistine history and culture provide the first popular account of their ground-breaking work. Handsomely illustrated with line drawings, photographs, and maps, the book interweaves a fascinating history of the rise and fall of the Philistines with the first-person experiences of archaeologists at work. The result is a work that not only dramatically changes our understanding of an important and legendary era but also serves to illuminate an ancient civilization long lost to history.

    Focusing on the ruling elites of the middle and later Republic, for whom Hellenic literature, religion, and visual arts were at once intimidating and appealing, Erich S. Gruen offers a compelling account of the assimilation and adaptation of Greek culture by the Romans.Gruen examines such key cultural developments in the history of Republican Rome as the adaptation of the legend of Troy to create a special place for Rome within Hellenic traditions and Cato's campaign to distinguish Roman cultural achievements by defining them in contrast to those of the Greeks. He describes the diverse purposes--civic, religious, and political--for which the Romans used Greek art, as well as the reshaping of Hellenic models to express a distinctively Roman character in historical reliefs, portraiture, and comic drama. The book treats a variety of means whereby the Greek legacy was molded to suit the living Roman tradition. Gruen shows that this complex process of cultural transformation served to sharpen the Romans' sense of their own values their national character, and their international image.Demonstrating that the Roman response to Hellenism was far more subtle and dynamic than has generally been acknowledged, Culture and National Identity in Republican Rome will be welcomed as an outstanding contribution by readers interested in ancient history, classical literature, and the history of art.

    -- Examine the everyday lives of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations-- Filled with colorful pictures, maps and diagrams-- World History Dates covers 9000BC to the present day

    

    Students of speech and rhetoric to this day study the works of Cicero for guidance. We find Roman Law setting the model for legal systems from the twelfth century to the present. And Latin itself, far from being a dead language, lives on not only in the Romance languages, but also in English vocabulary and grammar. Rhetoric, language, law--these are just a small part of the great Roman influence that has lasted throughout the centuries. The Legacy of Rome has long been considered the standard introduction to the achievements of the Roman world. Now in a completely new edition, this classic work brings together the latest scholarship in the field from some of the world's leading classical scholars. Unlike the previous version, which focused on such narrow topics as commerce and administration, the new edition broadens the spectrum of influence, showing the impact, for example, of Roman literature, art, politics, law, and language on western civilization. Jasper Griffin, for instance, looks to the works of Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, and Wordsworth, among others, to trace the lasting influence of the great Roman poet Virgil on the development of poetic forms such as the pastoral, epitomized by Virgil's Eclogues, and the epic poem, exemplified by the Aeneid. A.T. Grafton shows how Renaissance intellectuals such as Machiavelli and Guicciardini looked to Rome's past for political enlightenment, and found models of military strategy in the works of Tacitus and Livy. Editor Richard Jenkyns dispels the misconception of the Romans as purely imitative of the Greeks; he points out such uniquely Roman concepts as jurisprudence and citizenship, and architecture based on the round arch and the vault, as evidence of Roman innovativeness. Other contributors--George A. Kennedy, Robert Feenstra, and Nicholas Purcell--discuss the importance of the study of Roman rhetoric in preparing speakers for public life, the lasting influence of the Justinian code on Western legal development, and the impact on future civilizations of the romanticized notion of an imperial Rome and its magical ruins. Ranging from the pastoral tradition, to the development of the comedy, to the lasting influence of the Latin language, The Legacy of Rome provides a much-needed new appraisal of the richness of the great civilization which gave rise to a large part of Western heritage.

    This fascinating, fast-moving overview of contemporary events shows why the Temple is significant in Bible prophecy and how, more than ever, Israel is ready to rebuild.

    The author traces the sequence of the Emperor Julian's responses to inner and outward challenges and considers the tensions and conflicts each new choice created for him.

    The evil eye—the power to inflict illness, damage to property, or even death simply by gazing at or praising someone—is among the most pervasive and powerful folk beliefs in the Indo-European and Semitic world.  It is also one of the oldest, judging from its appearance in the Bible and in Sumerian texts five thousand years old.  Remnants of the superstition persist today when we drink toasts, tip waiters, and bless sneezers.  To avert the evil eye, Muslim women wear veils, baseball players avoid mentioning a no-hitter in progress, and traditional Jews say their business or health is "not bad" (rather than "good").    Though by no means universal, the evil eye continues to be a major factor in the behavior of millions of people living in the Mediterranean and Arab countries, as well as among immigrants to the Americas.  This widespread superstition has attracted the attention of many scholars, and the twenty-one essays gathered in this book represent research from diverse perspectives:  anthropology, classics, folklore studies, ophthalmology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, sociology, and religious studies.  Some essays are fascinating reports of beliefs about the evil eye, from India and Iran to Scotland and Slovak-American communities; others analyze the origin, function, and cultural significance of this folk belief from ancient times to the present day.  Editor Alan Dundes concludes the volume by proffering a comprehensive theoretical explanation of the evil eye.     Anyone who has ever knocked on wood to ward off misfortune will enjoy this generous sampling of evil eye scholarship, and may never see the world through the same eyes again.

    Lund's book sets his actions significantly within the context of the volatile early Hellenistic world and views them as part of a continuum of imperial rule in Asia minor. She challenges the assumption that he was a vicious, but ultimately incompetent tyrant.

    Does Judaism in fact liberate or repress sexual desire? David Biale does much more than answer that question as he traces Judaism's evolving position on sexuality, from the Bible and Talmud to Zionism up through American attitudes today. What he finds is a persistent conflict between asceticism and gratification, between procreation and pleasure.From the period of the Talmud onward, Biale says, Jewish culture continually struggled with sexual abstinence, attempting to incorporate the virtues of celibacy, as it absorbed them from Greco-Roman and Christian cultures, within a theology of procreation. He explores both the canonical writings of male authorities and the alternative voices of women, drawing from a fascinating range of sources that includes the Book of Ruth, Yiddish literature, the memoirs of the founders of Zionism, and the films of Woody Allen.Biale's historical reconstruction of Jewish sexuality sees the present through the past and the past through the present. He discovers an erotic tradition that is not dogmatic, but a record of real people struggling with questions that have challenged every human culture, and that have relevance for the dilemmas of both Jews and non-Jews today.

    This vast trading settlement is not at all typical of the Western colonial scene. Pithekoussi is very large and very early, and it marks the northern limit of Greek South Italy; furthermore, the earliest immigrants may not all have been Greek. This book about Pithekoussai and its implications is based on Giorgio Buchner's excavations there, which have revealed a variety of component sites so far without parallel in the contemporary Greek homeland. The cemetery, the acropolis dump and suburban industrial quarter each shed light on a different aspect of everyday life at one of the great crossroads of antiquity.

    An investigation of laments ranging from New Guinea to Greece suggests that this essentially female art form gave women considerable power over the rituals of death. The threat they posed to the Greek state caused them to be appropriated by male writers including the tragedians. Holst-Warhaft argues that the loss of the traditional lament in Greece and other countries not only deprives women of their traditional control over the rituals of death but leaves all mourners impoverished.

    Carlin Barton makes us uncomfortably familiar with a society struggling at or beyond the limits of human endurance. To probe the tensions of the Roman world in the period from the first century b.c.e. through the first two centuries c.e., Barton picks two images: the gladiator and the "monster."