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1049 results in Ancient history

Page 1 of 53

The Cambridge Urban History of Europe
  • Volume 1, Ancient Europe
  • General editor Maarten Prak
  • Edited by Penelope J. E. Davies, Christina G. Williamson
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    January 2026
    Print publication:
    31 October 2025
  • Volume I offers a broad perspective on urban culture in the ancient European world. It begins with chronological overviews which paint in broad brushstrokes a picture that serves as a frame for the thematic chapters in the rest of the volume. Positioning ancient Europe within its wider context, it touches on Asia and Africa as regions that informed and were later influenced by urban development in Europe, with particular emphasis on the Mediterranean basin. Topics range from formal characteristics (including public space), water provision, waste disposal, urban maintenance, spaces for the dead, and border spaces; to ways of thinking about, visualising, and remembering cities in antiquity; to conflict within and between cities, economics, mobility and globalisation, intersectional urban experiences, slavery, political participation, and religion.

Latin Texts on Papyrus and the Study of Classics
  • Edited by Maria Chiara Scappaticcio
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    December 2025
    Print publication:
    31 December 2025
  • This volume gathers 25 chapters focused on Latin texts on papyrus, exploring them from multi- and cross-disciplinary perspectives. It serves as a companion to the texts published in The Corpus of Latin Texts on Papyrus (Cambridge, forthcoming). The chapters provide in-depth analyses of the chosen texts from literary, philological, linguistic, and historical perspectives, or offer methodological reflections on Latin texts on papyrus, promoting innovative approaches. They cover topics ranging from palaeography and philology to Latin literature and from ancient law to ancient and medieval history, and brilliantly demonstrate the potential of Latin texts on papyrus to inspire and illuminate the field of Classics.

A Narratological Commentary on Herodotus' Histories
  • Edited with Introduction and Notes by Irene J. F. de Jong
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    December 2025
    Print publication:
    31 December 2025
  • The narrative art of Herodotus' Histories has always been greatly admired, but it has never received an in-depth and systematic analysis. This commentary lays bare the role of the narrator and his effective handling of time, focalization, and speech in all the famous and much-loved episodes, from Croesus, via the Ionian Revolt, to the climax of Xerxes' expedition against Greece. In paying close attention to the various ways in which Herodotus structures his story, it offers crucial help to get a grip on the at first sight bewildering structure of this long text. The detailed analysis of Herodotus' narration shows how his masterful adoption and expansion of the epic toolbox endowed the new genre of historiography with the same authority as its illustrious predecessor. The commentary is suitable for all readers of Herodotus' Greek text: students, teachers, and scholars.

Athena's Sisters
  • Reclaiming the Women of Classical Athens
  • Katherine Backler
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    November 2025
    Print publication:
    30 November 2025

The Roman Empire and World History
  • Peter Fibiger Bang
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    November 2025
    Print publication:
    30 November 2025
  • How do we fit the Roman Empire into world history? Too often the empire has simply been conceived of in terms of the West. But Rome was too big to be squeezed into a purely European model; her empire bestrode three continents. Peter Fibiger Bang develops a radical new world history framework for the Roman Empire, presenting it as part of an Afro-Eurasian arena of grand empires that dominated the shape of history before the forces of globalization and industrialization made the world centre on Europe from the eighteenth century onwards. It was a world before East and West. The book traces surprising cultural connections and societal similarities between Rome and the other vast empires of Afro-Eurasia. Whether we look at war-making, slavery, empire formation, literary culture or intercontinental trade and rebellion, Rome is best approached in its Afro-Eurasian context.

Premodern Economies
  • A Comparative Study
  • Edited by Kenneth Hirth, Timothy Earle
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    November 2025
    Print publication:
    30 November 2025
  • Economies are fundamental to all human societies by providing the material support for their populations and respective social institutions. This volume brings together scholars from archaeology, anthropology, and history in a collaborative examination of how premodern societies produced and mobilized resources to support social, political, and religious institutions. Thirteen societies from horticultural/pastoral groups to expansionistic states are used to develop a truly comparative view of economic development. Topics discussed include the nature of productive self-sufficiency, forms of economic specialization, the economics of labor and resource mobilization, economic inequality and stratification, commerce and the marketplace, and urban and ritual economies. The book's collective discussions have led to the construction of five generalizations and eighteen specific hypotheses about the way that ancient and premodern societies navigated the material worlds in which they lived. These hypotheses will serve as a basis for scholars exploring how societies in other times and places navigated their economic landscapes.

Ancient Assyrians
  • Identity and Society in Antiquity and Beyond
  • Jonathan Valk
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    October 2025
    Print publication:
    31 October 2025
  • In this book, Jonathan Valk asks a deceptively simple question: What did it mean to be Assyrian in the 2nd millennium BCE? Extraordinary evidence from Assyrian society across this millennium enables an answer to this question. The evidence includes tens of thousands of letters and legal texts from an Assyrian merchant diaspora in what is now modern Turkey, as well as thousands of administrative documents and bombastic royal inscriptions associated with the Assyrian state. Valk develops a new theory of social categories that facilitates an understanding of how collective identities work. Applying this theoretical framework to the so-called Old and Middle Assyrian periods, he pieces together the contours of Assyrian society in each period, as revealed in the abundance of primary evidence, and explores the evolving construction of Assyrian identity as well. Valk's study demonstrates how changing historical circumstances condition identity and society, and that the meaning we assign to identities is ever in flux.

The Cambridge History of Rights
  • Volume 1, The Ancient World
  • Edited by Clifford Ando, Mirko Canevaro, Benjamin Straumann
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    October 2025
    Print publication:
    31 October 2025
  • The ancient world existed before the modern conceptual and linguistic apparatus of rights, and any attempts to understand its place in history must be undertaken with care. This volume covers not only Greco-Roman antiquity, but ranges from the ancient Near East to early Confucian China; Deuteronomic Judaism to Ptolemaic Egypt; and rabbinic Judaism to Sasanian law. It describes ancient normative conceptions of personhood and practices of law in a way that respects their historical and linguistic particularity, appreciating the distinctiveness of the cultures under study whilst clarifying their salience for comparative study. Through thirteen expertly researched essays, volume one of The Cambridge History of Rights is a comprehensive and authoritative reference for the history of rights in the global ancient world and highlights societies that the field has long neglected.

Political Violence in Ancient Greece
  • Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches to Stasis, 500–301 BCE
  • Scott Lawin Arcenas
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    October 2025
    Print publication:
    31 October 2025
  • Political violence, which the ancient Greeks called stasis, was a fundamental aspect of Greek society. In this book, Scott Arcenas reshapes our understanding of this important phenomenon. He argues that it differed fundamentally from its analogues in both ancient and modern societies and that in most poleis it occurred with high frequency but very low levels of violence. Stasis therefore promoted economic growth, institutional innovation, and cultural creativity in a variety of important and surprising ways. In order to undertake this study, Dr Arcenas introduces new methods and tools to confront some of the greatest methodological challenges that face scholars of the ancient world: evidentiary scarcity, evidentiary bias, epistemic uncertainty, and lack of clarity regarding the explanatory value of our sources' silence. The book is therefore required reading for a wide range of scholars and students of ancient history.

Industry, Trade and the State in Ptolemaic Egypt
  • Nico Dogaer
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    October 2025
    Print publication:
    31 October 2025
  • This book provides a reassessment of Ptolemaic state intervention in industry and trade, an issue central to the economic and political history of Hellenistic Egypt. Based on a full survey of Greek and Demotic Egyptian sources, and drawing on theoretical perspectives, it challenges the prevailing interpretation of 'state monopolies'. While the Ptolemies displayed an impressive capacity to intervene in economic processes, their aims were purely fiscal, and the extent of their reach was limited. Every sector was characterised by significant market activity, either recognised and supported by the state, or illicit where the Ptolemies did make attempts to establish exclusive control. Nico Dogaer provides a full account of several key industries and presents new conclusions about the impact of Ptolemaic rule, including on economic performance. The book also makes an important contribution to broader debates about the relation between states and markets in historical societies.

Inscriptions from the Age of Constantine
  • Editions, Translations, and Essays
  • Edited and translated by Raymond Van Dam
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    October 2025
    Print publication:
    31 October 2025
  • The reign of Constantine, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, was one of the most important periods in world history. Although literary texts often represented him as the first Christian emperor, the inscriptions engraved on monuments, statue bases, and milestones offer alternative perspectives. Inscriptions highlight the influence of the other emperors, the prominence of senators at Rome, the civic traditions for praising benefactors in provincial cities, the logistics of the economy, and the abiding importance of traditional cults. This book includes the Greek and Latin texts of over 800 inscriptions from the early fourth century, with translations and critical annotations. An extended Introduction and almost 200 short essays provide context by explaining the issues and problems, correlating the literary texts, and comparing the legends and images of coins. Without the emperor as the constant focus, the Age of Constantine becomes all the more fascinating.

Performing Justice in the Later Roman Empire
  • Peter Van Nuffelen
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    October 2025
    Print publication:
    31 October 2025
  • In the Later Roman Empire (AD 300–650), power seems to manifest itself mostly through legislation, bureaucracy, and an increasingly distant emperor. This book focuses instead on personal interaction as crucial to the exercise of power. It studies four social practices (petitions, parrhesia, intercession, and collective action) to show how they are much more dynamic than often assumed. These practices were guided by strong expectations of justice, which constrained the actions of superiors. They therefore allowed the socially inferior to develop strategies of conduct that could force the hand of the superior and, in extreme cases, lead to overturning hierarchical relations. Building on the analysis of these specific forms of interaction, the book argues for an understanding of late antique power rooted in the character and virtue of those invested with it.

Diodoros of Sicily: Bibliotheke Historike
  • Books 21-40: From the Battle of Ipsos (301 BC) to the Catilinarian Conspiracy (62 BC)
  • Edited and translated by Duane W. Roller
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    September 2025
    Print publication:
    30 September 2025
  • Diodoros' Bibliotheke Historike, written in the last half of the first century BC, is a major source for ancient history from earliest times to his own era. This is the first English translation of Books 21-40 (301-62 BC) in seventy years, and the first ever commentary on those portions of the text. Major topics include the history of Sicily, the career of Hannibal, the slave wars that plagued the era, and the increasing instability of the Roman Republic. Diodoros' insight into the events of these years is a major source for that era, but his account, which survives only in fragments excerpted and to some extent paraphrased by later Byzantine scholars, has long been neglected.

Reassessing the Peloponnesian War
  • Edited by Samuel Gartland, Robin Osborne
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    September 2025
    Print publication:
    30 September 2025
  • Modern accounts of the great war between the Athenians and the Spartans in the late fifth century BC have simply reanalysed the gripping analysis of military and political events given by Thucydides. But a great deal of other evidence survives from this best-known of all periods of Athenian history. This book exploits that evidence and our rich knowledge of ancient Greek society to reveal the Peloponnesian War as not just an event but an experience that reshaped Athenian society as it was happening. It looks again not merely at the causes of the war and its military and political narratives, but at how the war reshaped the world, for men, for women, and even for the gods. This book not only re-illuminates the most dramatic years of classical Athenian history, it reshapes what it is to write history.

The God and the Bureaucrat
  • Roman Law, Imperial Sovereignty, and Other Stories
  • Zachary Herz
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 August 2025
  • Why is Roman law so boring? In this book, Zachary Herz argues that the bureaucratic, positivistic world of Roman law is not a distraction from the violent autocracy of the Roman empire, but an imagined escape. Lawyers, bureaucrats, and even emperors used legal writing to think about worlds that were safer or fairer than the one in which they lived. This archive of political imagination slowly became a law-code, and now guides readers through a legal system about which its authors could only dream. From Augustus to Justinian, this book shows how law symbolized order in chaotic times, and how that symbol eventually took on a life of its own. From the enlightened judgements of Hadrian to the great jurists and child rulers of Severan Rome, Herz reveals what Romans were really talking about when they talked about law.

Palmyra, the Mediterranean and Beyond
  • Edited by Rubina Raja
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 August 2025
  • Palmyra is one of the most famous sites of the ancient world and played a major role in the overland trade between the Mediterranean and the East. This volume explores fascinating aspects of Palmyrene archaeology and history that underline the site's dynamic relations with the Roman world, whilst simultaneously acknowledging its extremely local nature. The chapters explore Palmyra as a site, but also Palmyrene society both at home and abroad – as travellers in the then known world and contractors and businesspeople as well as innovative political and military leaders of their time. They illuminate Palmyra's and Palmyrene society's negotiations, struggles, benefits and disadvantages from being part of the Roman Empire, situated on the fringes between the East and the West, and their use of this location to recreate themselves as a central power player – at least for a time – within a rapidly changing world.

Learning and Power in Late Antique Gaul
  • Classical Education and the End of Roman Rule
  • Alison John
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    July 2025
    Print publication:
    31 July 2025
  • This book traces the changing political and social roles of classical education in late antique Gaul. It argues that the collapse of Roman political power in Gaul changed the way education was practiced and perceived by Gallo-Romans. Neither the barbarian kingdoms nor the Church directly caused the decline of classical schools, but these new structures of power did not encourage or support a cultural and political climate in which classical education mattered; while Latin remained the language of the Church, and literacy and knowledge of law were valued by barbarian courts, training in classical grammar and rhetoric was no longer seen as a prerequisite for political power and cultural prestige. This study demonstrates that these fundamental shifts in what education meant to individuals and power brokers resulted in the eventual end of the classical schools of grammar and rhetoric that had once defined Roman aristocratic public and private life.

Cyril of Alexandria: Against Julian
  • Introduction and Translation
  • Edited and translated by Matthew R. Crawford, Aaron P. Johnson
  • With Edward Jeremiah
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    July 2025
    Print publication:
    31 July 2025
  • In 362/363 the Roman emperor Julian composed a treatise titled Against the Galileans in which he set forth his reasons for abandoning Christianity and returning to devotion to the traditional Greco-Roman deities. Sixty years later Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, composed a response. His resulting treatise Against Julian would dwarf the size of Julian's original work and in fact serves as our primary source for the fragments of it that have survived. Julian's treatise was the most sophisticated critique of Christianity to have been composed in antiquity and Cyril's rebuttal was equally learned. The Christian bishop not only responded directly to Julian's own words but drew upon a wide range of ancient literature, including poetry, history, philosophy, and religious works to undermine the emperor's critiques of the Christian Bible and bolster the intellectual legitimacy of Christian belief and practice. This is the first full translation of the work into English.

The Archaeology of the Cyclades in the Roman and Late Antique Periods
  • Globalization, Christianization and Resilience
  • Rebecca Sweetman
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    July 2025
    Print publication:
    31 July 2025
  • The Cycladic islands have traditionally been considered as backwaters during the Roman and Late Antique periods. Through analysis of the material culture produced from the late first century BCE through to the seventh century CE, however, Rebecca Sweetman offers a fresh interpretation of Cycladic societies across this diachronic period. She demonstrates that the Cyclades remained vibrant, and that the islands embraced the potential of being part of wider political, economic and religious networks that were enabled as part of the Roman Empire. Sweetman also argues that the Cyclades were at the forefront of key social developments, notably, female social and physical mobility, as well as in the islands' early adoption of Christianity. Drawing on concepts related to Globalization, Christianization, and Resilience, Sweetman's analysis highlights the complex relationships between the islands and their Imperial contexts over time. The gazetteer of archaeological sites will be fundamental for all working on archaeology of the Roman and Late Antique periods as well as those interested in the Mediterranean.

The Fragmentary Greek Chronicles after Eusebius
  • Edition, Translation and Commentary
  • Edited and translated by Peter Van Nuffelen, Lieve Van Hoof
  • Assisted by Maria Conterno, Lorenzo Focanti, Andy Hilkens, Panagiotis Manafis, Marianna Mazzola, Stephanie Pambakian
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    July 2025
    Print publication:
    31 July 2025
  • This is the first systematic collection of the remains of the lost Greek chronicles from the period AD 350–650 and provides an edition and translation of and commentary on the fragments. Introducing neglected authors and proposing new interpretations, it reveals the diversity of the genre and revises traditional views about its development, nuancing in particular the role usually attributed to Eusebius of Caesarea. It shows how the writing of chronicles was deeply entangled in controversies about exegesis and liturgy, especially the dates of Christmas and Easter. Drawing from Latin, Armenian, Syriac and Arabic sources besides Greek ones, the book also studies how chronographic material travelled across linguistic and cultural boundaries. In this way, it sheds a profoundly new light on historiography in transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages.

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