Ancient category: 10855 books

11 carefully chosen, highly readable stories — among the earliest literature known to Western man — provide a glimpse into the lives and culture of ancient Egyptians. Includes "The Scorpions of Isis," "The Princess and the Demon," "The Name of Ra," "The Regions of Night and Thick Darkness," and more.

Along with Plato and Socrates, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) is one of the triumvirate of philosophers responsible for the establishment of Western philosophy as it exists today. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were among the first to refine philosophical thought, and Socrates is credited with devising the...

The reader of these pages will perhaps remark, that the length of the following sketches is hardly proportioned to the relative importance of the several subjects, regarded in a merely historical point of view. In explanation of this fact, the author begs leave to say, that, while he intended to present...

Peeps at Many Lands:Ancient Egypt written by James Baikie.It was a popular classic work by James Baikie.

The Political Institutions of the Ancient Greeks is a classic overview by noted Cambridge scholar Basil Hammond. A table of contents is included.

Powerful female characters pervade both Greek and Latin literature, even if their presence is largely dictated by the narratives of men. Feminist approaches to the study of women in Greek literature have helped illustrate the importance of their religious and ritual roles in public life—Latin literature,...

Most likely born in the south of modern France on the Mediterranean, Tacitus is one of the most famous Roman historians. Tacitus is best known for The Annals and Histories, covering the history of Ancient Rome in very minute detail, and he also wrote Germania, a fascinating description of the Germanic...

Tough, resolute, fearless, Alexander was a born warrior and ruler of passionate ambition who understood the intense adventure of conquest and of the unknown. When he died in 323 BC aged thirty-two, his vast empire comprised more than two million square miles, spanning from Greece to India. His achievements...

One of the most controversial of all works to survive from ancient Rome, the Augustan History is our main source of information about the Roman emperors from 117 to 284 AD. Written in the late fourth century by an anonymous author, it is an enigmatic combination of truth, invention and humour. This...

“The first biography of an important personality from the beginnings of Rome’s empire” (Graham Sumner, coauthor of Arms and Armour of the Imperial Roman Soldier). Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (Drusus the Elder) was the first conqueror of Germania (the Netherlands and Germany) and one...

The first full-length biography of the half-barbarian emperor. Maximinus was a Thracian tribesman “of frightening appearance and colossal size” who could smash stones with his bare hands and pull fully laden wagons unaided. Such feats impressed the emperor Severus who enlisted Maximinus...

A wise and witty revival of the Roman poet who taught us how to carpe diem What is the value of the durable at a time when the new is paramount? How do we fill the void created by the excesses of a superficial society? What resources can we muster when confronted by the inevitability of death?...

We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did; in his unwavering commitment to truth and in the example of his own life, he set the standard for all subsequent Western philosophy. And yet, for twenty-five centuries, he has remained an enigma: a man who left no written legacy and about...

Very little is known about Diogenes Laertius, despite the fact he wrote some of the most influential accounts of the lives of the Wests best known philosophers. His mention of Sextus Empiricus means he lived after the 3rd century A.D., while Sopater quoted him in the 6th century. For that reason, historians...