Showing titles in Ancient

Ancient Egyptian civilization is so grand our minds sometimes have difficulty adjusting to it. It lasted 3,000 years, longer than any other on the planet. Its Great Pyramid of Cheops was the tallest building in the world until well into the 19th century and remains the only Ancient Wonder still standing. And it was the most technologically advanced of the ancient civilizations, with the medical knowledge that made Egyptian physicians the most famous in the world.

Tom Holland gives a dazzling portrait of Rome's first imperial dynasty. Dynasty traces the full astonishing story of its rule of the world: both the brilliance of its allure, and the blood-steeped shadows cast by its crimes. Ranging from the great capital rebuilt in marble by Augustus to the dank and barbarian-haunted forests of Germany, it is populated by a spectacular cast: murderers and metrosexuals, adulterers and druids, scheming grandmothers and reluctant gladiators.

Look beyond the abstract dates and figures, kings and queens, and battles and wars that make up so many historical accounts. Over the course of 48 richly detailed lectures, Professor Garland covers the breadth and depth of human history from the perspective of the so-called ordinary people, from its earliest beginnings through the Middle Ages.

Brought to you by Penguin. A Sunday Times bestseller The next book in Stephen Fry's acclaimed internationally bestselling Greek myths series telling the story of The Odyssey. Sometimes the hardest journey is the way back home . . . Wily Odysseus, King of Ithaca, has won Troy for the Greeks –...

The Enuma Elish is one of the most important texts from the ancient world. In this Babylonian creation epic, Marduk defeats Tiamat, fashions heaven and earth from her divided body, and creates humanity from divine blood. More than myth, this poem became a theological declaration of imperial Babylon and a key witness to the religious world behind the Old Testament.

In the 6th century AD, the Near East was divided between two venerable empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years on, and one had vanished forever, while the other seemed almost finished. Ruling in their place were the Arabs: an upheaval so profound that it spelt, in effect, the end of...

Brought to you by Penguin. 'An inimitable retelling of the siege of Troy . . . Fry's narrative, artfully humorous and rich in detail, breathes life and contemporary relevance into these ancient tales' -- Observer THE #1 BESTSELLER. AN EPIC BATTLE THAT LASTED TEN YEARS. A LEGENDARY STORY THAT HAS...

The story of one of the most brilliant, flamboyant and historically important men who ever lived. From the very beginning, Caesar's story makes dazzling reading. In his late teens he narrowly avoided execution for opposing the military dictator Sulla. He was decorated for valour in battle...

Embark on a journey to the very beginning of writing as a tool of language and see how the many threads of history and linguistics came together to create the alphabet that forms the foundation of English writing. Your guide is Professor John McWhorter of Columbia University and in the 16 lectures of Ancient Writing and the History of the Alphabet, he will help you navigate the complex linguistic and cultural history behind one of our most crucial tools of communication.

This is the story of the fall of an Empire – and the rise of another. Who spread Christianity, how, and why? In her quest to find the answer, Professor Alice Roberts takes us on a gripping investigative journey. From a secluded valley in south Wales to the shores of Brittany; from the heart of...

Emperor of Rome is not your usual chronological account of Roman rulers, one after another: the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, the philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Beard asks bigger questions: What power did emperors actually have? Was the Roman palace really so bloodstained? Emperor of Rome goes directly to the heart of Roman (and our own) fantasies about what it was to be Roman, offering an account of Roman history as it has never been presented before.

This is the first volume in a bold new series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history. This narrative history employs the methods of "history from beneath" - literature, epic traditions, private letters, and accounts - to connect kings and leaders with the lives of those they ruled.

*A GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN, PROSPECT AND WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2025* 'The fascinating story of ancient words … new revelations await' The Guardian 'A magisterial feat' New Scientist ________________________________ One ancient language transformed our world. This is its story. Star. Stjarna...

Bloomsbury presents The Rest is History Returns: An A-Z of Historical Curiosities, written by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook with Goalhanger Podcasts, read by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER The second bestselling book from 'the most joyous and...

In Wives, Witches, and Whirlpools: The Powerful Women of Homer’s Odyssey, Professor Jessica Blum-Sorensen helps you explore this classic work with fresh eyes, focusing not on the eponymous hero, but on the many women whose voices and motivations invite us to rethink traditional ideas of heroism. Across seven lectures, you’ll reexamine some of the foundational themes of the literary canon from a new perspective and discover why the deities, wives, maidens, witches, and monsters who populate Homer’s Odyssey are more than a match for its hero.

Brought to you by Penguin. A masterful new translation of Suetonius' renowned biography of the twelve Caesars, bringing to life a portrait of the first Roman emperors in stunning detail The ancient Roman empire was the supreme arena, where emperors had no choice but to fight, to thrill, to...

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Holland, who co-hosts the podcast The Rest Is History, is at his best when having fun with Rome's bloody history' The Times 'A book for lovers of traditional, grand sweep narrative history' Sunday Times The definitive history of Rome's golden age -...

We've been taught that North and South America were empty of humans until around 13,000 years ago - amongst the last great landmasses on earth to have been settled by our ancestors. But new discoveries have radically reshaped this long-established picture and we know now that the Americas were first peopled more than 130,000 years ago - many tens of thousands of years before human settlements became established elsewhere. 

New archaeological evidence for a pre-historic civilisation updated with two substantial new chapters brimming with recent reporting of fresh scientific advances. Graham Hancock's multi-million bestseller Fingerprints of the Gods remains an astonishing, deeply controversial, wide-ranging...

Even today, the influence of Ancient Rome is indelible, with Europe and the world owing this extraordinary empire a huge cultural debt in almost every important category of human endeavor, including art, architecture, engineering, language, literature, law, and religion. At the peak of its power, Rome's span was vast. In the regional, restless, and shifting history of continental Europe, the Roman Empire stands as a towering monument to scale and stability, unified in politics and law, stretching from the sands of Syria to the moors of Scotland. And it stood for almost 700 years.In this series of 48 spirited lectures, you'll see how a small village of shepherds and farmers rose to tower over the civilized world of its day and left a permanent mark on history. In telling Rome's riveting story, Professor Fagan draws on a wealth of primary and secondary sources, including recent historical and archaeological scholarship, to introduce the fascinating tale of Rome's rise and decline, including the famous events and personalities that have become so familiar: . Horatius at the bridge . Hannibal crossing the Alps during Rome's life-or-death war with Carthage . Caesar assassinated before a statue of his archrival Pompey . The doomed lovers Antony and Cleopatra . The mad and venal emperors Nero and Caligula . The conversion of Constantine The course also addresses one of history's greatest questions: Why did the Roman Empire fall? And you'll learn why most modern scholars believe that the empire did not "fall" at all, but, rather, changed into something very different-the less urbanized, more rural, early medieval world.