Ancient Historiography on War and Empire
Ancient Historiography on War and Empire

Author: Timothy Howe

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2016-11-30

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1785703005

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In the ancient Greek-speaking world, writing about the past meant balancing the reporting of facts with shaping and guiding the political interests and behaviours of the present. Ancient Historiography on War and Empire shows the ways in which the literary genre of writing history developed to guide empires through their wars. Taking key events from the Achaemenid Persian, Athenian, Macedonian and Roman ‘empires’, the 17 essays collected here analyse the way events and the accounts of those events interact. Subjects include: how Greek historians assign nearly divine honours to the Persian King; the role of the tomb cult of Cyrus the Founder in historical narratives of conquest and empire from Herodotus to the Alexander historians; warfare and financial innovation in the age of Philip II and his son, Alexander the Great; the murders of Philip II, his last and seventh wife Kleopatra, and her guardian, Attalos; Alexander the Great’s combat use of eagle symbolism and divination; Plutarch’s juxtaposition of character in the Alexander-Caesar pairing as a commentary on political legitimacy and military prowess, and Roman Imperial historians using historical examples of good and bad rule to make meaningful challenges to current Roman authority. In some cases, the balance shifts more towards the ‘literary’ and in others more towards the ‘historical’, but what all of the essays have in common is both a critical attention to the genre and context of history-writing in the ancient world and its focus on war and empire.

The War That Made the Roman Empire
The War That Made the Roman Empire

Author: Barry Strauss

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2022-03-22

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1982116692

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A “splendid” (The Wall Street Journal) account of one of history’s most important and yet little-known wars, the campaign culminating in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, whose outcome determined the future of the Roman Empire. Following Caesar’s assassination and Mark Antony’s defeat of the conspirators who killed Caesar, two powerful men remained in Rome—Antony and Caesar’s chosen heir, young Octavian, the future Augustus. When Antony fell in love with the most powerful woman in the world, Egypt’s ruler Cleopatra, and thwarted Octavian’s ambition to rule the empire, another civil war broke out. In 31 BC one of the largest naval battles in the ancient world took place—more than 600 ships, almost 200,000 men, and one woman—the Battle of Actium. Octavian prevailed over Antony and Cleopatra, who subsequently killed themselves. The Battle of Actium had great consequences for the empire. Had Antony and Cleopatra won, the empire’s capital might have moved from Rome to Alexandria, Cleopatra’s capital, and Latin might have become the empire’s second language after Greek, which was spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt. In this “superbly recounted” (The National Review) history, Barry Strauss, ancient history authority, describes this consequential battle with the drama and expertise that it deserves. The War That Made the Roman Empire is essential history that features three of the greatest figures of the ancient world.

The Historiography of Late Republican Civil War
The Historiography of Late Republican Civil War

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-07-29

Total Pages: 541

ISBN-13: 9004409521

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The Historiography of Late Republican Civil War is part of a burgeoning new trend that focuses on the great impact of stasis and civil war on Roman society. This volume specifically concentrates on the Late Republic, a transformative period marked by social and political violence, stasis, factional strife, and civil war. Its constitutive chapters closely study developments and discussions concerning the concept of civil war in the late republican and early imperial historiography of the late Republic, from L. Cornelius Sulla Felix to the Severan dynasty.

The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity
The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity

Author: Hugh Elton

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-11-22

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1108686273

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In this volume, Hugh Elton offers a detailed and up to date history of the last centuries of the Roman Empire. Beginning with the crisis of the third century, he covers the rise of Christianity, the key Church Councils, the fall of the West to the Barbarians, the Justinianic reconquest, and concludes with the twin wars against Persians and Arabs in the seventh century AD. Elton isolates two major themes that emerge in this period. He notes that a new form of decision-making was created, whereby committees debated civil, military, and religious matters before the emperor, who was the final arbiter. Elton also highlights the evolution of the relationship between aristocrats and the Empire, and provides new insights into the mechanics of administering the Empire, as well as frontier and military policies. Supported by primary documents and anecdotes, The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity is designed for use in undergraduate courses on late antiquity and early medieval history.

Provincial Soldiers and Imperial Instability in the Histories of Tacitus
Provincial Soldiers and Imperial Instability in the Histories of Tacitus

Author: Jonathan Master

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2016-03-03

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0472119834

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Tacitus’ narrative of 69 CE, the year of the four emperors, is famous for its description of a series of coups that sees one man after another crowned. Many scholars seem to read Tacitus as though he wrote only about the constricted world of imperial Rome and the machinations of emperors, courtiers, and victims of the principate; even recent work on the Histories either passes over or lightly touches upon civil unrest and revolts in the provinces. In Provincial Soldiers and Imperial Instability in the Histories of Tacitus, Jonathan Master looks beyond imperial politics and finds threats to the Empire’s stability among unassimilated foreign subjects who were made to fight in the Roman army. Master draws on scholarship in political theory, Latin historiography, Roman history, and ethnic identity to demonstrate how Tacitus presented to his contemporary audience in Trajanic Rome the dangerous consequences of the city’s failure to reward and incorporate its provincial subjects. Master argues that Tacitus’ presentation of the Vitellian and Flavian armies, and especially the Batavian auxiliary soldiers, reflects a central lesson of the Histories: the Empire’s exploitation of provincial manpower (increasingly the majority of all soldiers under Roman banners) while offering little in return, set the stage for civil wars and ultimately the separatist Batavian revolt.

The Historians of Ancient Rome
The Historians of Ancient Rome

Author: Ronald Mellor

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-10-12

Total Pages: 618

ISBN-13: 1136222618

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The Historians of Ancient Rome is the most comprehensive collection of ancient sources for Roman history available in a single English volume. After a general introduction on Roman historical writing, extensive passages from more than a dozen Greek and Roman historians and biographers trace the history of Rome over more than a thousand years: from the city’s foundation by Romulus in 753 B.C.E. (Livy) to Constantine’s edict of toleration for Christianity (313 C.E.) Selections include many of the high points of Rome’s climb to world domination: the defeat of Hannibal; the conquest of Greece and the eastern Mediterranean; the defeat of the Catilinarian conspirators; Caesar’s conquest of Gaul; Antony and Cleopatra; the establishment of the Empire by Caesar Augustus; and the "Roman Peace" under Hadrian and long excepts from Tacitus record the horrors of the reigns of Tiberius and Nero. The book is intended both for undergraduate courses in Roman history and for the general reader interested in approaching the Romans through the original historical sources. Hence, excerpts of Polybius, Livy, and Tacitus are extensive enough to be read with pleasure as an exciting narrative. Now in its third edition, changes to this thoroughly revised volume include a new timeline, translations of several key inscriptions such as the Twelve Tables, and additional readings. This is a book which no student of Roman history should be without.

Appian's Roman History
Appian's Roman History

Author: Kathryn Welch

Publisher: Classical Press of Wales

Published: 2015-08-31

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 191058911X

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Appian of Alexandria lived in the early-to-mid second century AD, a time when the pax Romana flourished. His Roman History traced, through a series of ethnographic histories, the growth of Roman power throughout Italy and the Mediterranean World. But Appian also told the story of the civil wars which beset Rome from the time of Tiberius Gracchus to the death of Sextus Pompeius Magnus. The standing of his work in modern times is paradoxical. Consigned to the third rank by nineteenth-century historiographers, and poorly served by translators, Appian's Roman History profoundly shapes our knowledge of Republican Rome, its empire and its internal politics. We need to know him better. This collection of 15 new papers from a distinguished international team studies both what Appian had to say and how he said it. The papers engage in a dialogue about the value of Appian's text as a source of history, the relationship between that history and his own times, and the impact on his narrative of the author's own opinions - most notably that Rome enjoyed divinely-ordained good fortune. Some authors demonstrate that Appian's text (and even his mistakes) can yield significant new information, others re-open the question of Appian's use of source material in the light of recent studies showing him to be far more than a transmitter of other people's work.

Warfare in the Ancient World
Warfare in the Ancient World

Author: Sir John Hackett

Publisher:

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13:

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Oldtidens Krigshistorie; Antikkens krigshistorie; Romerske Kejserrige; Romerske Legioner; Perserkrigene; Alexander den Store; Athen; Grækere; Krigskunst; Militærhistorie; Store Slag og Kampe; Puniske krige; Adrianople; Agesilaus; Amida; Belejringer; Antigonis Monophthalmus; Mracus Antonius; Marc Anthony; Cæsar; Assyrians; Bue og Pil; Bueskytter; Våbensystemer; Våbenhistorie; Oldtidens Våben; Babylon; Augustus; Aurelian; Militære Heste; Militært Brug af Dyr; Ashurbanipal; Armour; Forsvarsværker; Befæstninger; Tidlig Krigsførsel; Kampformer; Kampvåben; Cannae; Karthago; Makedonien; Persien; Thesaloniki; Sparta; Chariots; Kelterne; Claudius; Cohorts; Kohorder; Hæropstilling; Coronea; Etruskerne; Epaminondas; Elefanterne; Ægypten; Demosthenes; Darius; Cyrus the Great; Crassus; Sargon II; Sarissas; Salonika; Rubicon; Rom; Rhodos; Qadesh; Qarqar; Pydna; Ptolemy; Pompei; Plataea; Pila; Plutarch; Polybius; Philip V; Filip II; Phalanx; Lejesoldater; Numantia; Notitia Dignitatum; Nivevh; Nimrud; Milvian Bridge; Mesopotamien; Nebukanesar; Megiddo; Masada; Mantinea; Marius; Marcellimus; Leuctra; Jugurtha; Julian; Josephus; Jerusalem; Jeriko; Issus; Ilipa; Hysiae; Hoplities; Herodotus; Helmets; Hannibal; Hamanu; Hadrian; Granicus; Gaza; Gaugarnela; Fortifikationer; Hastati; Frankerne; Israelerne; Thucydides; Tiglath-pileser; Trajan; Trasimene; Trebbia; Tullius; Tuthmosis; Uratu; Vandalerne; Veii; Velites; Vercingetorix; Xernophon; Zama; Thebes; Takabara; Sværd; Syracuse; Spears; Spyd; Spartacus; Siege Warfare; Skjolde; Sepea; Sennacherib; Signifer; Tribunes

The Roman Historians
The Roman Historians

Author: Ronald Mellor

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2002-01-31

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1134816529

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The Romans' devotion to their past pervades almost every aspect of their culture. But the clearest image of how the Romans wished to interpret their past is found in their historical writings. This book examines in detail the major Roman historians: * Sallust * Livy * Tacitus * Ammianus as well as the biographies written by: * Nepos * Tacitus * Suetonius * the Augustan History * the autobiographies of Julius Caesar and the Emperor Augustus. Ronald Mellor demonstrates that Roman historical writing was regarded by its authors as a literary not a scholarly exercise, and how it must be evaluated in that context. He shows that history writing reflected the political structures of ancient Rome under the different regimes.