Book Reviews

Marc Van De Mieroop's A History of the Ancient Near East is a superb book for students and general readers alike. Its crisp, clear narrative keeps the material lively while covering all of the important points. The third edition improves...

The Ancient City by Arjan Zuiderhoek is a thoughtful study of cities in the ancient world, specifically focusing on ancient Greece and Rome. He argues that the similarities between the cities of these two cultures outweighs the differences...

The Etruscans have long been a neglected civilization of the ancient Mediterranean and reading this book you will wonder how on earth that situation was ever allowed to come about. Sybille Haynes has compiled the single most comprehensive...

The Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, was the idea that the lands governed by the Empire enjoyed long-term stability and prospered because of their submission to Rome. Armies were sent to the frontiers to protect against the invasion of barbarians...

Many times when a reader picks up a book pertaining to a certain event or object in history, it is from one point of view that has either been influenced or created from other ideas to form one concise thought. It is only in other books from...

Professor Joann Fletcher cuts a distinctive figure. Sporting a shock of flaming red hair, dressed in black and normally wielding a black umbrella to ward off the relentless Egyptian sun, she has captivated audiences in her passionate documentaries...

Written by Andrew Robinson and published by Reaktion Books in 2015, The Indus is an introduction to the Indus Valley Civilization. Who were the Indus? Where and when did they live? Maybe these two questions are the first to come to the reader's...

Nickel begins by setting up the historical background for his narrative. He explains that Xenophon is invited on a journey to Persia by his friend Proxenus in 401 BC. This journey was actually to become the military adventure known as the...

The author starts by giving an overview of who the Vandals were, what they did, the sources we have regarding them, and their origins. He then begins to tell their story. He starts in the mid-fourth century with the Germanic tribes being...

In Lords of Asian Minor, Annick Payne and Jorit Wintjes provide a wonderfully clear and accessible introduction to the Lydians. Through the succinct exploration and presentation of five major aspects of ancient Lydia, the reader is left with...