Synopses & Reviews
Published in 1928, Volume VII of the Cambridge Ancient History orginally covered both the history of the Hellenistic world from the battle of Ipsus in 301 BC down to the Peace of Naupactus and the battle of Raphia in 217 BC and the history of Rome from its foundation down to the same date. In the new edition the Greek and Roman sections have been assigned to two separate volumes. Of these, VII part I opens after the death of Alexander, in 323 BC, as being a more logical starting-point for Hellenistic history; but 217 has been retained as the terminal date since, as Polybius noted, it is from then onwards that Rome begins to play a substantial role in Greek affairs. The volume has been completely rewritten by specialists from Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Canada, and takes full account of the vast amount of new material that has become available in the last fifty years. Separate chapters deal with the main kingdoms - Ptolemaic Egypt, Seleucid Asia and Macedonia - and with mainland Greece, Sicily and the smaller states including Pergamum. Political events are fully described and assessed, but there is less emphasis on military detail than in the first edition. The space thus saved has been given over to chapters on the historical sources, on the institution of monarchy and the ideology surrounding it, on the main cultural, social and economic aspects of the Hellenistic world and on the development of Hellenistic science, especially in relation to its application in peace and war. This up-to-date and authoritative account of the early Hellenistic world is designed to serve both the student and the general reader of this and subsequent generations as the first edition has served those of the last fifty years.
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"The answer to the question whether the ancient world is worth studying is 'yes', and the Cambridge Ancient History proves it....CAH III/2 is an impressive achievement." John Ray, Times Literary Supplement
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"CAH IV fulfills its function: it sets forth the state of the questions, clarifies controversies, suggests new approaches. It will be found useful by graduate students reviewing for comprehensive examinations and by professors wishing to update lectures in survey courses." Paul MacKendrick, Classical World
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"...this is a reliable work which both scholars and students can use with confidence. The individual contributors must be commended for submitting such excellent material. But it is the editors...who deserve the warmest commendation for the sureness of their judgement in soliciting contributions of high calibre and for editing the work of many different historians to produce a volume which is...both accurate on matters of fact and secure in its historical assessments and which...displays greater originality than most collective works of this nature." International History Review
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"the entire thrust of the volume has been transformed and truly mirrors contemporary scholarly preoccupations." American History Bulletin
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"This series is a basic `must' for all public and private libraries, in the community or in universities. It will be the standard general work for serious academic students and scholars for the next generation." Religious Studies Review
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"The new volume X of the Cambridge Ancient History is an impressive accomplishment....the editors have done an admirable job. The overall standard of the contributions is good: anyone seeking an outline of the period who turns to this book will not be badly served." International History Review
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"...the range and breadth of material covered will make this indispensable reading for ancient historians and students of Roman literature adn culture alike. The high level of quality throughout is what we have come to expect from this venerable series." Craige Champion, Classical World
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'I had bought this volume before I was asked to review it, the best possible compliment surely to publishers, editors, and contributors alike.' The Classical Review
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'Cameron and Garnsey deserve congratulations for this: the volume will last at least as long as the first editions of CAH did (of course they did not cover this period at all), and maybe longer.' Journal of Roman Studies
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"One can only be immensely impressed on opening this book....An immmediately apparent and most attractive feature of the volume under review is its generous supply of maps which are not only excellently produced but put to imaginative use....The volume is generous around the margins of the ancient world....But it is the interpretative discussions that are of most interest....Perhaps this issue can most clearly be seen with reference to women....No one who reads it will fail to be daunted by how much there is to know, nor grateful for the skill and style with which its authors lay so much before us. And the book stands as a suoerb vindication of the new field of late antiquity: unknown until recently." Classical Bulletin
Synopsis
Over the past half century The Cambridge Ancient History has established itself as a definitive work of reference. The original edition was published in twelve text volumes between 1924 and 1939. Publication of the new edition began in 1970. Every volume of the old edition has been totally re-thought and re-written with new text, maps, illustrations and bibliographies. Some volumes have had to be expanded into two or more parts and the series has been extended by two extra volumes (XIII and XIV) to cover events up to AD 600, bringing the total number of volumes in the set to fourteen. Existing plates to the volumes are available separately.
Synopsis
Complete new edition of the text volumes of this definitive work of reference.
Synopsis
Over the past half century The Cambridge Ancient History has established itself as a definitive work of reference. The original edition was published in twelve text volumes between 1924 and 1939. Publication of the new edition began in 1970. Every volume of the old edition has been totally re-thought and re-written with new text, maps, illustrations and bibliographies. Some volumes have had to be expanded into two or more parts and the series has been extended by two extra volumes (XIII and XIV) to cover events up to AD 600, bringing the total number of volumes in the set to fourteen. Existing plates to the volumes are available separately.
Synopsis
With Volume 14 The Cambridge Ancient History concludes its story. This latest volume embraces the wide range of approaches and scholarship which have in recent decades transformed our view of Late Antiquity. In particular, traditional political and social history has been enormously enhanced by integrating the rich evidence of Christian writing, and the constantly expanding results of archaeological research. A picture emerges of a period of considerable military and political disruption, but also of vibrant intellectual and cultural activity. The volume begins with a series of narrative chapters. These are followed by sections on government and institutions, economy and society, and religion and culture. A section on the provinces and the non-Roman world marks the rise of new and distinct political and cultural entities. This volume, and the CAH, ends in around AD 600, before the Arab conquests shattered for ever what remained of the unity of the Roman world.
Synopsis
Volume II, Part I, deals with the history of the region from about 1800 to 1380 BC.
Synopsis
Volumes I and II of The Cambridge Ancient History have had to be entirely rewritten as a result of the very considerable additions to knowledge which have accrued in the past forty-five years. For the same reason it has also been necessary to increase the size of the volumes and to divide each of them into two separately published parts. The individual chapters have already appeared as fascicles, but without maps, indexes and chronological tables which, for practical reasons, have been reserved for these volumes. Some additions and corrections have also been made in order to bring the text, as far as possible, up to date. Together the new volumes provide a history of Egypt and the Ancient Orient (including Greece and the Aegean region) down to 1000 BC in a form suitable for both specialist and student. Volume II, Part I, deals with the history of the region from about 1800 to 1380 BC. This was the era of Hammurabi in Western Asia, the Hyksos and warrior-kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty in Egypt, and the Minoan and early Mycenaean civilizations in Crete and mainland Greece.
Synopsis
Volume III Part II carries on the history of the Near East from the close of Volume III Part I and covers roughly the same chronological period as Volume III Part III. It describes the rise and fall of the great empires of Assyria and Babylonia, the sack of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews in Babylon.
Synopsis
During this period the dominant powers in the East were Assyria and then Babylonia. Each established an extensive empire that was based on Mesopotamia, and each in turn fell largely through internal strife.
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This volume covers c.525 to 479 BC, a period which saw events and developments of major significance in the Mediterranean world.
Synopsis
The first section of this volume examines the Persian empire, the regions it comprised, and its expansion under Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes. In Greece, Sparta attained maturity as the leader of a military coalition and Athens passed through a period of enlightened tyranny to a moderate democracy of dynamic energy and intelligence. Given the contrast between Greek idealism and Persian absolutism a clash between the two empires was inevitable. Important chapters deal with the revolt of Ionian Greeks against the Persians, and the two Persian invasions of Greece including epic battles at Marathon, Tthermopylae, and Salamis. The book's third part turns to the Western Mediterranean: Italy becomes a significant factor in the area's historical development and is explored in terms of its peoples and languages from the Bronze to the Iron Ages.
Synopsis
In this new edition the Greek and Roman sections has been assigned to two separate volumes.
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Volume III, Part III, explores the new prosperity and growth of the young city-states in the eighth to the sixth centuries B.C.
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The emergence of the Greek world from the Dark Ages to the height of its Geometric civilization was described in The Cambridge Ancient History Volume III Part I. Volume III Part III explores the new prosperity and growth of the young city-states in the eighth to the sixth centuries B.C. This was the great period of expansion and colonization which saw the establishment of Greek city-states from the Western Mediterranean to the Black Sea. This volume describes the East and Egypt, the importance of West Greece and the Aegean islands in trading and exploration, the special characteristics of the societies which were established by colonization. While societies outside the mainstream of expansion and trade retained their old institutions, those at the centre changed rapidly and the period was a time of warfare in mainland Greece. Athens is seen developing into a leading state under the influence of the reforms of Solon and assessment of the social, economic and material history of Greece during these years.
Synopsis
Volume 14 concludes the new edition of The Cambridge Ancient History.
Synopsis
Volume 11 of the second edition of The Cambridge Ancient History covers the history of the Roman empire from AD 70 to 192--Vespasian to the Antonines. The volume begins with the political and military history of the period. Developments in the structure of the empire are then examined, including the organization and personnel of the central government and province-based institutions and practices. A series of provincial studies follows, and the society, economy and culture of the empire as a whole are reviewed in a group of thematic chapters.
Synopsis
This Ancient History describes the period beginning in the year after the death of Julius Caesar, and ending in the year after the fall of Nero.
Synopsis
The period described in this volume begins in the year after the death of Julius Caesar and ends in the year after the fall of Nero. Its main theme is the transformation of the political configuration of the state to a dynastic monarchy and the establishment of the Roman Empire. Central to the period is the achievement of the first emperor, Augustus.
Synopsis
This latest volume of The Cambridge Ancient History covers the years 337-425, a period not covered in the first edition.
Synopsis
With Volume 13, the new edition of The Cambridge Ancient History moves into fresh territory. The first edition was completed by Volume 12, which closed in AD 324. The editors of the new edition have enlarged the scope of Volume 12 to include the foundation of Constantinople and the death of Constantine, and extended the series with two wholly new volumes taking the History up to AD 600. Volume 13, the first of these new volumes, covers the years 337SH425, from the death of Constantine to the reign of Theodosius II.
Synopsis
The new edition of this definitive reference work has involved the complete re-writing of every volume. The series has been extended by two volumes to cover events up to AD 650, bringing the total number of volumes in the set to fourteen. Plates to the volumes are available separately.
Table of Contents
Part I. Chronological Overview: 1. The Western Empire, 425-476 Peter Heather; 2. The Eastern Empire: Theodosius to Anastasius A. D. Lee; 3. Justin I and and Justinian Averil Cameron; 4. The successors of Justinian Michael Whitby; 5. The Western Kingdoms Roger Collins; Part II. Government and Institutions: 6. Emperor and court M. McCormick; 7. Government and administration Sam Barnish, A. D. Lee and Michael Whitby; 8. Administration and politics in the cities of the fifth to mid-seventh centuries: 425-640 J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz; 9. Roman law Detlef Liebs; 10. Law in the Western Kingdoms between the fifth and the seventh centuries T. M. Charles-Edwards; 11. The army, c. 420-602 Michael Whitby; Part III. East and West: Economy and Society: 12. Land, labour and settlement Bryan Ward-Perkins; 13. Specialised production and exchange Bryan Ward-Perkins; 14. The family in the late Roman world Andrea Giardina; 15. Family and friendship in the West Ian Wood; 16. State, lordship and community in the West (c. AD 400-600) Peter Heather; 17. Armies and society in the later Roman world Michael Whitby; Part IV. The Provinces and the Non-Roman World: 18. The north-western provinces Ian N. Wood; 19. Italy, AD 425-605 Mark Humphries; 20. Vandals and Byzantine Africa Averil Cameron; 21a. Asia Minor and Cyprus Charlotte Roueché; 21b. Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia Hugh Kennedy; 21c. Egypt James G. Keenan; 22a. The Sasanid monarchy Ze'ev Rubin; 22b. Armenia in the fifth and sixth centuries R. W. Thomson; 22c. The Arabs Lawrence I. Conrad; 23. The Balkans and Greece, 420-602 Michael Whitby; Part V. Religions and Culture: 24. The organization of the Church S. G. Hall; 25. Monasticism Philip Rousseau; 26 Holy men Peter Brown; 27. The definition and enforcement of orthodoxy Pauline Allen; 28. Philosophy and philosophical schools Anne Sheppard; 29. Education in the Roman Empire Robert Browning; 30. The visual arts Robin Cormack; 31. Building and architecture Marlia Mundell Mango; Conclusion.