Book special Ancient History

The Week of the Classics has just ended, but we are just going to continue… with the book special Ancient History.

The History &Archeology editors of Kennislink have once again listed a number of historically oriented books. This time books on themes from Ancient History. We invite you to choose the very best from these books. You can vote at the bottom of this page. By casting your vote you have a chance to win one of five copies of the book Rubicon. The End of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland.

When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon river with his army one dark January morning, uttering the words "the die is cast," he unleashed one of history's most famous civil wars. Rubicon. The End of the Roman Republic is an excellently documented account of how a great civilization grew from republic to empire. Tom Holland tells us the fascinating story of the fall of the Roman Republic, starting with the period in which the later protagonists grow up:Caesar, Cicero, Cleopatra, Brutus, Pompey, Augustus and many others.

Athenaeum-Polak &Van Gennep Publishers are making five copies of this book available to raffle among the people who vote for their favorite Ancient History book. So scroll down quickly to the nominated books below to cast your vote! ¹

Read more about this book on the website of Publisher Athenaeum-Polak &Van Gennep

¹ Employees of NEMO and Kennislink are excluded from participation. You can vote until June 1, 2010. Only the winners will receive a personal message by e-mail. There will be no correspondence about the result.

Carthage

by Adrian Goldsworthy During the Bella Punica Punic Wars (265 – 146 BC) Rome and Carthage fought to expand their spheres of influence in the western half of the Mediterranean. The battle is known as the largest and bloodiest conflict fought during ancient times. The outcome had a major impact on Western history:with the fall of Carthage, Roman rule was definitively a fact. Success writer Adrian Goldsworthy tells in Carthage throughout its history:from the early battles in Sicily and the storied career of Hannibal to the siege of the city and the extermination of the Carthaginian people. Carthage is a smoothly written story about shady gang leaders, beautiful princesses, cunning politicians and unyielding warriors and famous and infamous generals like Hannibal, Fabius Maximus, Scipio Africanus and his grandson Scipio Aemilianus, who eventually bring the city down.- Jorg Rousseeuw

Greek athletes in the Roman Empire, 31 BC. – 400 A.D. BC

by Patrick Gouw

The Greeks and Romans knew what sports was. From the first Olympic Games in 776 BC in Greece, the whole sporting scene, with peaks and troughs, developed enormously. PhD candidate Patrick Gouw studied the first four centuries of our era. A period in which many sports competitions were organized in large parts of the Mediterranean in Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, the Levant and Egypt, in which runners, boxers, wrestlers, pankratiasts and pentathlon competed against each other. On the basis of epigraphic, literary and archaeological sources, Gouw paints a detailed picture of the life of athletes during the Roman imperial period (31 BC – 400 AD). The high geographical mobility of Greek athletes, their ideology, career development, earning opportunities and mutual understanding are discussed.- Jorg Rousseeuw

Read more about 'Greek athletes in the Roman Empire, 31 BC. – 400 A.D. BC.'

Vercingetorix

by Fik Meijer

Vercingetorix, the bravest of the Gauls. In 53 B.C. he managed to unite several tribes and together inflict some sensitive defeats on Julius Caesar, who was considered unbeatable. A year later, the Gaul found his Waterloo at Alesia. With a sense of drama, Vercingetorix surrendered to Caesar, before ending up in prison in Rome only to be murdered six years later. It didn't mean the end of France's oldest hero. On the contrary. Beginning in the sixteenth century, the Gaul regained its fame through writers, poets, politicians and historians. In the same breath he was named with Clovis and Joan of Arc. Vercingetorix, champion of France's unity, champion of freedom, "the first true Frenchman". Fik Meijer wrote a charming little book about this unyielding Gaul in his always accessible way.- Jorg Rousseeuw

Young years, wild hair?

by Christian Laes and Johan Strubbe

“Young years, wild hair”, that's how we think about young people today. But does that kite also apply to the young in the Roman Empire? Did the youth also have their own youth phase with its own character, or was there no place for it? Researchers Laes and Strubbe examined the life and image of young people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five in the Latin West, Rome and the Greek East on the basis of literary texts, inscriptions, papyri and many other sources. Provided with an extensive set of notes, the two discuss rites of passage, the commitment of adolescents in the adult life of politics, work and religion, teenage girls and the experience of sexuality.- Jorg Rousseeuw

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Roman Emperors

by Olivier Hekster

Olivier Hekster knows his sources. Using various ancient sources, the historian analyzes how Roman emperors tried to win over and satisfy the various peoples within their Imperium Romanum, soldiers, senators, local elites and Romans. Discontent led to revolt and eventual fall. But all had their own agenda. In Roman emperors. The power of the image Hekster examines the self-presentation of and the image formed around a large number of different emperors. Questions that will be addressed:What determines the ancient and modern image of the emperors and how does the image of those emperors relate to their actual position? Hekster clearly shows how some emperors became good emperors and others bad.- Jorg Rousseeuw

The Horus Enigma

by Wim Zitman

The Egyptians:discoverers of the calendar, the most fundamental and practical application of astronomy through observation and determination of the length of the solar year. However? Or is the fork in the stem differently. For why would they want to fix the law of heavenly phenomena? And how would they have done that? According to Zitman, the Egyptians, the sons of Horus, developed an all-encompassing system:the cosmic order, the connection between Heaven and Earth. They were the first people on earth to use hours, days, months, seasons and years. A mighty secret held in The Horus Enigma to be revealed!- Jorg Rousseeuw

War fog

by Jona Lendering

The Trojan War, the fall of Nineveh, the naval battle of Salamis, the siege of Syracuse, Hannibal's journey across the Alps, the battle in the Teutoburg Forest, Alexander's genocide in the Pubjab, the Bar Kokhba revolt. Each and every one of them wonderful stories from antiquity in which warriors play an important role. But the descriptions often fall short. In War Fog. Ancient battles and propaganda Jona Lendering illustrates in a very clear way the limitations of ancient war reporting. Occasionally the ancient writers give us a glimpse of the confusion of the battle. Propagandistic motives are more often recognizable and attempts are almost always made to give the violence a religious interpretation. - Jorg Rousseeuw

Persian fire

by Tom Holland

It is written at the beginning of the fifth century BC. Superpower Persia, unparalleled in ambition and with an abundance of gold and manpower, wants to bring order to the terrorist states of Athens and Sparta. A clash between the first world empire in history and two poor, “backward” states. Holland tells the exciting story of one of the most breathtaking episodes in history in a very clear way. Persian fire is also a story about classical antiquity. From the temple priests of Baylon to the Spartan secret police, from the Persian love of ducks and parks to the Athenian predilection for prostitutes, from Darius the murderer, the usurper and greatest political genius in Middle Eastern history to Themistokles, the savior of the west. - Jorg Rousseeuw

Hadrian

by Anthony Everitt

Hadrian was a versatile man. He reigned when the Roman Empire was at its height, understood that a larger empire would lead to decay, was a great lover of philosophy and poetry, traveled throughout his empire and left impressive buildings, including his Villa Hadriana in Tivoli and of course the famous Hadrian's Wall in Northern England. Hadrian. The Restless Emperor is a smoothly written story about the chaotic period in which the emperor reigned, but also about his turbulent private life. From his unhappy and childless marriage to Sabina to his doomed relationship with the young Greek Antinous, the love of his life. - Jorg Rousseeuw

August

by Anthony Everitt

August… does he need an introduction? Son of the murdered adoptive father Julius Caesar, first emperor of Rome, end of a century of civil wars, founder of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, creator of the Pax Augusta, predecessor in the fight against Mark Antony and his mistress Cleopatra… In the biography Augustus. The First Emperor Anthony Everitt paints a vivid, clear and honest picture of Augustus and Rome from around the beginning of our era. The Romans come to life in all their sensuousness, political ambition and murderous glory.- Jorg Rousseeuw

Nero &Seneca

by Anton van Hooff

Nero, the cruelest emperor of Rome. Why is he so in all the textbooks? Because of his brutal pursuit of Christians, the liquidation of senators, the murder of his pregnant wife, his mother Agrippina and his stepbrother and the (possible) arson of Rome. His most famous victim is probably Seneca. The philosopher, orator, and man of letters recalled from exile to serve as the Emperor's tutor. Anton van Hooff clearly outlines in Nero &Seneca how the lives of the emperor and the philosopher were at first closely linked but gradually became more distant from each other. A relationship that we see returning at different times in history and in different regimes.- Jorg Rousseeuw