Search results for ""Parthian""

Pearl and Bone explores the complexities of the first year in the life of a pandemic mother, with the stories of other mothers interwoven amongst the author's intimate moments, from pregnancy to childbirth and beyond. These poems showcase the lost voices of women through history - in the throes of labour, Mary paces the stable; in a dim Soho studio, Christine Keeler poses for the infamous Lewis Morley photographs; while above us, the moon laments the number of feet that have stormed her surface. Beautiful, emotional and richly imagistic, Mari Ellis Dunning presents mothers in many forms: those experienced, chosen, unwitting, and presumed, asking us to consider the true nuances of motherhood - delicate as pearl, durable as bone.

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Contemporary Italian poetry offers an extraordinary array of styles, voices, approaches, ways of looking at the world and ways of representing it. This anthology tries to capture the multiplicity of these voices with its selection of the most representative poets from different backgrounds: academics, working-class writers, editors, journalists, performers, travellers and professional translators. The reader will discover a diverse poetry dealing with the topical concerns of identity, sex, politics, migration and race.

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Lewis has written a script. Eighty pages in ten days. Hardly slept... He taps the bag on his shoulder with a delicate fingertip like it’s a hot kettle. Cliff is then given ten minutes on the problem with Lewis’s printer. Then the history of problems with his printer. Then problems with printers more generally... Robert Clifford is in Cairo to present his latest film for a festival prize. It has taken seven gruelling years of his life to make and is definitely NOT a film about his mother. But his moment in the spotlight is not quite as he scripted. There are rumours the jury could be influenced. Nobody can lay their hands on a copy of the film. And even his girlfriend thinks it’s about his mother. Cliff’s producer has not turned up but sent his nephew Lewis Proudfoot instead. Lewis has a script of his own to sell and is determined that everyone should hear about it. Then a meeting is arranged with a group of the festival organiser’s friends, who may or may not be revolutionaries... Angels of Cairo is a fast-moving, acerbic comedy told over a single day but capturing a lifetime of angst and self-doubt.

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Sarah's not abnormal or ugly, just a little bit fat, and she's got cerebral palsy. "No way was it rape or even molestation... she's fourteen, not a child. I'm not a paedophile." Gemma's mother had shagged Tom Jones. Nobody knew who her father was, least of all her mother. Spiderman doesn't want to inflict his petty-thief persona on self contained Caitlin, but he finds himself getting off at her stop. When chickens that belong to 'Chelle's grand-dad start to peck each other, sounding like death warming up, she wrings one of their necks and ends up doing worse. Johnny Mental was sitting on his porch wearing sunglasses, drinking lager, his teeth orange and ugly. Someone was painting their front door a few yards away, with a portable radio playing soul music; Diana Ross or some shit. A big burgundy Vauxhall Cavalier came around the corner, real slow like an old man on a hill. Eleven wry and defiant stories on the power and beautiful transience of youth.

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World Book Day National Winner A bitterly intelligent and gruesomely funny journey through the worlds of work, sex and rugby. Lewis Davies ruthlessly dissects a passion on a four day odyssey through the pubs, bedrooms and building sites of a smouldering town. A Welsh homage to Saturday Night, Sunday Morning and A Kind of Loving, it is a novel that has become one of the modern classics of contemporary Welsh life.

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For five months John Harrison journeys through this secret country, walking alone into remote villages where he is the first gringo the inhabitants have ever seen, and where life continues as if Columbus had never sailed. He lives at over 10,000 feet for most of the trip, following the great road of the Incas: the Camino Real, or Royal Road. Hand built over 500 years ago, it crosses the most difficult and dangerous mountains in all the Americas, diving into sweltering canyons and soaring up into the snows. 1500 miles, half of it on foot, take him from the Equator to Cuzco and the most magical city of all: Machu Picchu. He is attacked, gets lost and is trapped by floods, but only when he goes home does he lose what he wants most.

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This edition celebrates the centenary of Williams's birth. RAYMOND WILLIAMS (1921-1998) was the most influential socialist writer and thinker in post-war Britain. Now, for the first time, making full use of Williams's private and unpublished papers and by placing him in a wide social and cultural landscape, Dai Smith, in this highly original and much praised biography, uncovers how Williams's life to 1961 is an explanation of his immense intellectual achievement. "It is Smith's ambition to set out the lonely, almost monastic path Raymond took through childhood, army and adult education towards his deserved eminence. But the biographer's greatest achievement is to find his own discerning route through what often seems to be a jungle of contradiction... This is a worthwhile book and a very good one." - David Hare, The Guardian "It is a remarkable piece of work and will henceforth be essential to the understanding of the making of Raymond Williams." - Eric Hobsbawm "Becomes at once the authoritative account... Smith has done all that we can ask the historian as biographer to do." - Stefan Collini, London Review of Books "Carrying an impressive deal of intensive research lightly... the portraiture throughout is graphic, richly detailed and subtly shaded... in these packed, lucidly written pages..." - Terry Eagleton, New Welsh Review

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'Over the last twenty five years, almost single-handedly, Peter Lord has transformed a collection of poorly understood evidence of art created in Wales, and lazy theoretical assumptions about it, into a discipline in its own right, equipped with analytical frameworks and supported by an accumulating body of knowledge.' -Andrew Green, Wales Arts Review (on The Tradition) The six sequential essays in this collection provide a narrative of a century and a half of Welsh painting, written with an emphasis on issues of social class and national identity. Through his earlier writing, Peter Lord has contributed to the establishment of an historical tradition of Welsh painting, but because it does not feature in the wider story of western art history as presently told, the work revealed continues to be perceived as marginal, existing in isolation from ideas and movements in other countries. These essays break new ground by discussing the concerns of Welsh painters not only in domestic terms but also in the context of the ways in which artists in other parts of Europe and in the United States reacted to the common underlying causes of those concerns. The author challenges the idea that the work of Welsh painters is relevant only to the evolution of their own communities and, through confident and detailed analysis, validates their pictures also in terms of the arts of other western cultures.

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HELLO FRIEND WE MISSED YOU is a deeply poignant and bleakly comic debut novel about loneliness, the 'violent revenge thriller' category on Netflix, solipsism, rural gentrification, Jack Black, and learning to exist in the least excruciating way possible. Its story of depression and death on the small Welsh island of Mon, of people armed with every social media completely failing to communicate, is far, far funnier than it has any right to be. It's also, ultimately, extremely moving. An incredible debut novel from a truly unique prose stylist.

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It's 1954 and nine-year-old Mira's life is about to change forever. After a typhoid outbreak rages through her town, robbing her of her parents and siblings, the orphaned child is forced to live with her mysterious, depressive Aunt Hana, a figure both frightening and fragile.Gradually, Mira uncovers the secrets of their troubled family history and begins to understand why her aunt is so incapable of trusting herself and the world around her. Deftly weaving two separate timelines, the harrowing reasons behind Hana's reclusive way of life, the guilt she wears as palpably as a cloak, and the tattoo on her wrist, are revealed to Mira. Alena Mornstajnova's gripping novel, which is based on real events, has won numerous awards and been translated into over a dozen languages across the world.

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Translated by Caroline Waight Kristian Bang Foss’ darkly comic, prize-winning road-novel satire sees two unlikely friends set out to defy the Danish welfare state – and Death himself – with both hilarious and tragic consequences. Life is looking pretty bleak for Asger. After a fiasco at work finds him unceremoniously booted from both his advertising job and his family home, he finds himself the carer of Waldemar, arguably Denmark’s sickest man. Their initial days together in a Copenhagen ghetto only serve to pile on the hopelessness. But then Waldemar hatches a plan: fabled healer Torbi el Mekki offers a miracle cure to all who seek an audience. Only thing is, he’s in Morocco – over two thousand miles and another continent away. Piling into a beaten-up Volkswagen, the two set off on a zany road trip across Europe towards a dubious salvation. But it soon seems they may have unwanted company, for on their tail is a pitch-black Audi... “Tender and indignant, satiric and apocalyptic, wildly, flamingly funny.” - Weekendavisen “With Kristian Bang Foss, the devil created the world, both nature and culture, both the desert and the local authorities. This creates devilish humor and poetry. It is hopelessly sad and it is damn funny.” - Politiken

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Brenda Chamberlain lived a life of artistic engagement with the world. She published a compelling body of literary work and held solo exhibitions in London and Wales, while her work was shown in over thirty group shows. Her brilliance was mirrored by the journey of her personal life, including marriage to fellow artist and Royal Academy student John Petts, the long relationship with the Frenchman Jean Van der Bijl, the life-long friendship with the German aristocrat Karl von Laer and her eventual journey to Hydra where she lived for many years before returning to Bangor, Wales. Jill Piercy draws upon extensive research gathered from public and private collections and from interviews with Chamberlain’s friends in Britain, Germany and Greece.

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Winner of the 2011 European Union Prize for Literature At the age of nineteen they handed you a rifle with a bayonet and dressed you up in a uniform ... and somehow, you managed to get your hands on a little, dark brown notebook and a pen. After the funeral, a grieving son starts reading the diary his dead father had kept during the Second World War. As he turns each page, searching for a trace of the man he remembers, a portrait of an individual unfolds; a figure made both strange and familiar through the handwritten observations, the yearnings and the confessions. Immanuel Mifsud tells a moving story of pain, warfare, and the things that connect us. As the narrator explores the diary and his own memories, he begins to recognise the man behind the words, the father whose death could release the truth of his life.

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`Superbly accomplished... Hughes' prose is startling and luminous' FINANCIAL TIMES`Beautifully nuanced and utterly touching'THE DAILY MAILBeside a lake in the northern Canadian wilderness, fifteen-year-old Zachary Tayler lives a lonely and isolated life with his father. His only neighbours are a leech trapper, an eccentric millionaire, and an expert in snow. But then one summer the enigmatic and shape-shifting Eva Spiller arrives in search of the remains of her parents and together they embark on a strange and disconcerting journey of discovery. Nothing at Sitting Down Lake is quite as it seems. The forest hides ruins and mysteries; the past can never be fully understood. And as Zach and Eva make their way through this haunted landscape, they move ever closer towards an acceptance of what in the end is lost and what can truly be found.In his fourth novel, award-winning author Tristan Hughes returns to the landscape of his youth in this vivid and poetic coming-of-age story about death, life, and the changes they bring. Set against the harsh, unforgiving beauty of the forests of northern Ontario, Hummingbird unravels a moving tale of loss, absence and redemption.

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Threon, the Vagabond King, is torn from a life in the palace by raiders and forced to scrape a living on the streets of a foreign land. Meeting a witch of the underworld, a rebel soldier and a woman cursed by a god, he seeks retribution through a quest to reclaim his home and throne. Together they rekindle old allegiances, face an immortal army and learn to trust one another. But when the gods begin to interfere with their plans, is it a curse or a blessing?

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For anyone struggling to conceive or have a child naturally, this straightforward self-help book could be the answer. Written in an easy-to-read style by consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician, Dr. Sean Watermeyer, the aim of the book is to enrich the knowledge of both individuals and couples so that the dream of having a child becomes a reality. Dr. Watermeyer has been helping couples to conceive, carry and deliver babies for over a decade, and now wants to share his expertise with as many people as possible. This comprehensive book explores the causes of infertility and miscarriage, available investigations and options and potential benefits, risks, and outcomes. It also provides a step-by-step guide to IVF. Filled with insightful detail, clinical case studies and clear diagrams, this book will also be a valuable tool for health professionals supporting couples experiencing fertility problems.

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We all like choosing the best-ever Welsh rugby team, but here is a XV with a difference. Here they are not players but writers. The exploits of the people's heroes from Gould to Gareth Edwards are vividly recaptured in some classic prose. So too are the expectations and emotions of the most passionate followers in the world. They deserve the best team we can put out. Here it is, a selection of world beating writing on Welsh rugby: The First XV. With an introduction by Gerald Davies, the featured authors include Richard Burton, Gwyn Thomas, Frank Keating, Alun Richards and many more.

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Arguably the greatest of all published memoirs of the Great War, Old Soldiers Never Die is Private Frank Richards' classic account of the war from the standpoint of the regular soldier, and a moving tribute to the army that died on the Western Front in 1914.

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The first of Lewis Jones' two epic industrial novels of the 1930s. Big Jim, collier and ex-Boer War soldier, and his partner Sian endure the impact of strikes, riots and war, while their son Len emerges as a sharp thinker and dynamic political organiser. Cwmardy paints a graphic portrait of the casual exploitation, tragedy and violence as well as the political hope and humanity of South Wales industrial workers from the 1900s to the 1930s.

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The Library of Wales' Story anthologies feature the very best of Welsh short fiction, written amid the political, social and economic turbulence of twentieth century Wales and beyond. More than eighty outstanding works from the classics of Dylan Thomas, Rhys Davies, Arthur Machen and Gwyn Thomas to the almost forgotten brilliance of work by Margiad Evans and Dilys Rowe and then forward to the prize-winning work of Emyr Humphreys, Rachel Trezise and Leonora Brito, colouring and engaging in the life of a changed country. Story I depicts a Wales wracked by a driving capitalism, shriven by hypocrisy and soon devastated by two world wars; but still creative, resilient and sometimes laughing uproariously. The writers produced stories to entertain, engage and share in the intimate lives of a distinctive people. In this selection Dai Smith has crafted an anthology that gives a unique insight into the life of a country and the talent of its major writers.

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w a l e s . c o m Widely regarded as one of the most readable, humorous and poignant autobiographies available today. Goodbye, Twentieth Centuryincorporates his acclaimed first volume of autobiography, A Poet in the Family, and in this new edition from the Library of Wales brings his life up to the present day and the outset of a new century.

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A classic selection of the best of Stan Barstow's stories covering the last five decades of British life. A group of young tearaways on a night out that begins with horse-play and ends in tragedy; the loneliness of a drunken miner's wife; a war-shocked ex-sailor forced beyond endurance, a widower is brought to grief by a woman outside his real understanding, a factory worker finding his way through the physical world of his marriage - real and involving, Barstow's stories are urgent slices of life, men and women struggling and succeeding to come to terms with The Likes of Us.

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1949: Egypt's struggle against its British occupiers moves towards crisis; Israel declares its statehood, driving out the Arabs; Joe Roberts, an RAF sergeant, his wife Ailsa and daughter, Nia, leave Wales for Egypt. "Into Suez" is a compelling human and political drama, set in the postwar period when Britain, the bankrupt victor of the Second World War, attempted to assert itself as an Imperial power in a world wholly altered. The novel is set in the run-up to the Suez Crisis, a template for future invasions (Iraq and Afghanistan being the most recent). In this moving story, Joe's tragedy is that of an ordinary working man of his generation: he's a lovely, humorous, emotional man in whom the common ration of racism and misogyny becomes a painful sickness. Ailsa, intelligent, curious and craving to explore the realities of the Egypt she enters, meets on the voyage out Mona, a Palestinian woman who excites in her yearning for a world beyond her horizons. When Joe's closest friend is murdered by Egyptian terrorists, their relationship spirals towards tragedy. Through it all, love remains. Looking back in old age, their daughter Nia follows in their wake to sail the Suez Canal with the aged Mona. Nia has been told her father was a war hero: now she will face a more painful truth.

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Harry Price has worked for years as a railway signalman in the Welsh border village of Glynmawr. Now he has had a stroke, and his son, Matthew, a lecturer at Oxford, returns to the close-knit community that he left. As Harry lies in silent pain in his cramped bedroom, Matthew experiences the jarring familiarity of the childhood world which, alienated, he can no longer re-enter. Struggling with the unspoken tensions and losses that returning home has provoked, he recalls what has made him who he is. Upstairs his deeply thoughtful father recalls his own arrival in the village, the relationships between men during the General Strike, and the social and personal changes that followed, and he struggles to articulate all that has been left unsaid. A beautiful and moving portrait of the love between a father and son, and of the strength and resilience of a small community, Border Countryis Raymond Williams' finest novel

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'A master of the genre' The TimesThe eighth book in the Empire sequence takes Centurion Marcus Aquila and his Tungrian legion on a dangerous mission to the heart of the Parthian empire.With Rome no longer safe Marcus and the Tungrians are ordered east, to the desolate border lands where Rome and Parthia have vied for supremacy for centuries.Ordered to relieve the siege of an isolated fortress, their task is doomed to bloody failure unless they can turn the disaffected Third Legion into a fighting force capable of resisting the terrifying Parthian cataphracts.And Marcus must travel to the enemy capital Ctesiphon on a desperate mission, the only man who can persuade the King of Kings to halt a war that threatens the humiliation of the empire and the slaughter of his friends.

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Explores the critical battle of Carrhae, a fascinating tale of treachery, tactics, and topography in which Rome experienced one of its most humiliating defeats. The Battle of Carrhae is from a heady moment in Roman history – that of the clever carve-up of power between the ‘First Triumvirate’ of Caius Iulius Caesar, Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus (the Roman general who had famously put down the Spartacan revolt). It is a fascinating tale of treachery, tactics, and topography in which Rome experienced one of its most humiliating defeats at the hands of the Parthians, not far from a trade-route town hunkered down on the fringes of the arid wastes of northern Mesopotamia, sending shock waves through the Roman power structure. In this work, classical historian Dr Nic Fields draws out the crucial psychological and political factors (including Crassus’ lust for military glory and popular acclaim) that played a key role in this brutal battle. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Parthian general Surena's horsemen completely outmanoeuvered Crassus' legionaries, killing or capturing most of the Roman soldiers. The detailed battlescene artworks reveal the tactics and techniques of the Parthian horse archers, and Roman and Parthian equipment and weaponry, and the approach to battle is clearly explained in 2d maps and 3D bird's-eye views.

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The epic story of the imperial rivalry between two of the greatest empires of the ancient world – Parthian and Persian – and how they rose and eventually fell. The Roman empire shaped the culture of the western world against which all other great powers are compared. Stretching from the north of Britain to the Sahara, and from the Atlantic coast to the Euphrates, it imposed peace and prosperity on an unprecedented scale. However, the exception lay in the east, where the Parthian and then Persian empires ruled over great cities and the trade routes to mysterious lands beyond. This was the place Alexander the Great had swept through, creating a dream of glory and conquest which tantalised Greeks and Romans alike. Caesar, Mark Antony and a long succession of emperors longed to follow in Alexander's footsteps. All failed. Only here did the Roman empire slow down and eventually stop, unable to go any further. Following seven centuries of conflict that, ultimately, neither Rome nor Persia would win, The Eagle and the Lion delves into the clash, context and journeys of these entities of great power and the people caught in their wider struggle.

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Born in a Mesopotamian village in the third century, the son of a Parthian warrior, Mani grows up in a volatile and dangerous world. As battle rages for control over the Middle East between the great Roman and Persian empires, as Jews and Christians, Buddhists and Zoroastrians fight for ascendency, Mani- painter, mystic, physician and prophet- makes his way through the battlefields to preach to his incandescent doctrine of humility, tolerance and love, a doctrine that comes to be known as Manicheanism.A vivid glimpse of the ancient world in all its perfumed splendour and cruelty, an elegantly philosophical discourse on the fall of man, THE GARDENS OF LIGHT is a story of great beauty and resonance, exquisitely told.

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A presentation of the various indigenous coin issues that circulated in Eastern Arabia during the pre-Islamic era as attested in five private collections studied by the author. The basis for the classification is a corpus of 529 coins selected from those collections for publication here. Geographically, the coins came from two distinct regions which today comprise the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain in the United Arab Emirates. Foreign issues were rare in these areas, although a handful of Sasanian, Roman, Seleucid, Greek, Phoenician, Nabataean, Elymaean, Parthian and Sabaean coins have been attested to in the collections that form the basis of this work.

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A distinguished team of internationally renowned scholars surveys the great empires from 1600 BC to AD 500, from the ancient Mediterranean to China, in ten comprehensive chapters, taking in the empires of New Kingdom Egypt; the Hittites; Assyria and Babylonia; Achaemenid Persia; Athens; Alexander; Parthian and early Sasanian Persia; Rome; India; and Qin and Han China. Each chapter conveys the main narrative of events, their impact on ancient societies and the dominant rulers who shaped that history, from Ramesses II in Egypt to Chandragupta in India, from Rome’s Augustus to China’s Shi-huangdi. Exploring the very nature of empire itself, the authors show how profoundly imperialism in the distant past influenced the 19th-century powers and the modern United States. With 38 illustrations, 28 in colour

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M. Cornelius Fronto was a Roman senator from North Africa, and the foremost Latin orator and legal advocate of the mid-second century A.D. Fronto’s talent and fame led to his appointment as tutor to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, the adoptive sons of the emperor Antoninus Pius, in the late 130s A.D. Fronto’s extant correspondence, discovered in the early nineteenth century, consists of around two hundred letters extending over a period of more than twenty-five years, from the late 130s to the mid-160s A.D. In this period, Fronto educated Marcus and Verus in the art of Latin rhetoric, and watched with pride as his illustrious pupils matured and ascended the throne. The correspondence includes letters Fronto exchanged with Marcus and Verus, their father Antoninus Pius, leading senators, and other influential figures at court. This collection features new English translations and commentaries on fifty-four letters from Fronto’s correspondence. The letters have been selected for the insights they provide into the political and social history of the Roman empire in the second century A.D., with particular emphasis on court politics and intrigue, the Parthian War, and family relationships among members of the Roman elite. The letters have been arranged in approximate chronological order, enabling the reader to take a journey through Fronto’s life over a quarter of a century. The introduction discusses Fronto’s life and career, Roman letter writing, the history and character of Fronto’s correspondence, and the relationship between Fronto and Marcus Aurelius. It also includes brief biographies of key individuals and family trees. The translation of fifty-four letters with contextual editorial introductions and notes is divided into the following sections: Educating Caesar; Fronto and Herodes; Fronto the Consul; Family Affairs; Politics and Patronage; The Reign of Marcus and Verus; Fronto, Verus and the Parthian War; and Fronto’s Grief.

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Dura-Europos is one of Syria’s most important archaeological sites. Situated on the edge of the Euphrates river, it was the subject of extensive excavations in the 1920s and 30s by teams from Yale University and the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. Controlled variously by Seleucid, Parthian, and Roman powers, the site was one of impressive religious and linguistic diversity: it was home to at least nineteen sanctuaries, amongst them a Synagogue and a Christian building, and many languages, including Greek, Latin, Persian, Palmyrene, and Hebrew which were excavated on inscriptions, parchments, and graffiti. Based on the author’s work excavating at the site with the Mission Franco-Syrienne d’Europos-Doura and extensive archival research, this book provides an overview of the site and its history, and traces the story of its investigation from archaeological discovery to contemporary destruction.

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"An impressive and important cross-cultural study that has vast implications for history, religion, anthropology, folklore, and other fields. . . . Remarkably wide-ranging and extremely well-documented, it covers (among much else) the following: medieval Christian legends such as the 14th-century Ethiopian Gadla Hawaryat (Contendings of the Apostles) that had their roots in Parthian Gnosticism and Manichaeism; dog-stars (especially Sirius), dog-days, and canine psychopomps in the ancient and Hellenistic world; the cynocephalic hordes of the ancient geographers; the legend of Prester John; Visvamitra and the Svapacas ("Dog-Cookers"); the Dog Rong ("warlike barbarians") during the Xia, Shang, and Zhou periods; the nochoy ghajar (Mongolian for "Dog Country") of the Khitans; the Panju myth of the Southern Man and Yao "barbarians" from chapter 116 of the History of the Latter Han and variants in a series of later texts; and the importance of dogs in ancient Chinese burial rites. . . . Extremely well-researched and highly significant."—Victor H. Mair, Asian Folklore Studies

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A comprehensive survey of Syriac Christianity over three thousand years Syriac is often referred to as the third main language of Christianity, along with Latin and Greek, and it remains a foundational classical, literary, and religious language throughout the world. Originating in Mesopotamia along the Roman and Parthian frontiers, it was never the language of a powerful state or ethnic group, but with the coming of Christianity it developed into a rich religious and cultural tradition. At the same time that Christianity was making its way through Europe, Syriac missionaries were founding churches from the Mediterranean coast to Persia, converting the Turkic tribes of Central Asia, and building communities in India and China. This comprehensive work tells the underexplored story of the Syriac world over three thousand years, from its pre-Christian roots in the Aramaic tribes and the ancient Near East to its vibrant expressions in modern diaspora churches. Enhanced with images, songs, poems, and important primary texts, this book shows the importance of Syriac history, theology, and literature in the twenty-first century.

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Taking the history of the world as its basis might seem a mammoth task but this fascinating book does just that, breaking the whole lot down into ten enthralling chapters that cover the ages and the world, from the Bronze Age up until the end of the Second World War.With over 5,500 years to choose from, and a whole world of events, you can be sure there is no shortage of intriguing history to explore. From the first empires and civilizations, through the Ancient world of the Middle East and Africa; the Parthian Empire; the Golden Age of India; the ancient dynasties of China; the founding of Rome and the Roman republic; Peruvian cultures; The Middle Ages; the Byzantine Empire; Mayan culture; the Crusades; the rise of the Ottoman Empire; the Renaissance – this far-reaching book will test the knowledge of any history lover and provide the ultimate challenge for even the most knowledgeable historian.With questions ranging through multiple choice, truth or fiction, maps and pictures, you will find there is always something new to learn about the world.

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Lucius Verus is one of the least regarded Roman emperors, despite the fact that he was co-ruler with his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius for nine years until his untimely death. The later sources were strangely hostile to him and modern writers tend to dismiss him, but contemporary writings shine a more favourable light on his accomplishments. His handling of military affairs, particularly the conflict with Parthia after their invasions of Armenia and Syria, deserves a new consideration in the light of a careful reassessment of all the available source material. This volume looks at the upbringing of the boy who lost two fathers, acquired a brother, had his name changed twice, became a general overnight, and commanded the army that defeated one of Rome s greatest foes in the 2nd century AD. His rise to power is placed in the context of Rome s campaigns in the East and the part played by all from the ordinary soldiers up to the aristocracy who commanded them in making Lucius Verus Parthian Wars a success.

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A timely and definitive exploration of the art and culture of the ancient civilizations situated between Rome and the Middle East that presents a new way of understanding the region’s influential heritage This publication examines the art and architecture of regions that served as major trade routes between the Roman and Parthian Empires from 100 B.C. to A.D. 250. The book examines the cultural histories of cities including Petra, Baalbek, Palmyra, Dura-Europos, and Hatra together for the first time, capturing the intricate web of influence that emerged in the Ancient Middle East through the exchange of goods and ideas across the region. Works illustrated and discussed include statues, coins, reliefs, architectural elements and friezes, painted tiles and wall fragments, jewelry, textiles, and more. The World Between Empires is the definitive book on this subject, contextualizing the significance of these works on a local and global scale, including a thoughtful discussion of recent cultural heritage destruction and preservation efforts in the region, particularly in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, and the role of museums.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (03/11/19–06/23/19)

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The history of Ancient Babylonia in ancient Mesopatamia is epic. After playing host to three great empires, the Hammurabic and Kassite empires, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire ruled by Nebuchadnezzar, it was conquered by the Persians. Entered triumphantly by Alexander the Great, it later provided the setting for the Conquerer's deathbed. Squabbled over by his heirs, Babylonia was subsequently dominated by the Parthian and Roman empires. In this Very Short Introduction, Trevor Bryce takes us on a journey of more than 2,000 years across the history and civilization of ancient Babylonia, from the emergence of its chief city, Babylon, as a modest village on the Euphrates in the 3rd millennium BC through successive phases of triumph, decline, and resurgence until its royal capital faded into obscurity in the Roman imperial era. Exploring key historical events as well as the day-to-day life of an ancient Babylonian, Bryce provides a comprehensive guide to one of history's most profound civilizations. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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The Sasanian Empire began in 226 C.E., when Ardashir, a Persian satrap, revolted against his Parthian overlords. Occupying the territories now divided among Iran and Iraq, and for brief periods Syria and Armenia, the empire engaged in intermittent warfare with Rome and Byzantium and was beset by internal strife as kings sought to impose Zoroastrianism upon the population and fought each other for power. In 640 C.E. the empire succumbed to the Arab invaders. Within the empire lived large communities of Jews, whose sheer numbers were considerably greater than the Jewish population of Byzantium. It was within the Sasanian Empire that the great Babylonian Talmud was assembled, yet Jewish relics are scarce. One of the most significant material remnants of Jewish life are seals, almost all of which are signet whose styles, inscriptions, and sites of discovery provide important clues about the size and status of Jewish populations throughout the empire. Seals show how Jews within the empire adopted or resisted certain Sasanian symbols and sustained traditional Jewish motifs such as the lulab and etrog. This volume presents fifty-seven Jewish seals from the Sasanian Empire, as well as comparative Zoroastrian and Christian seals. The text identifies their provenance (if known), translates their inscriptions, and organizes them by their depiction or reference.

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The founding of the first Persian Empire by the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great in the sixth century BCE established one of the greatest world powers of antiquity. Extending from the borders of Greece to northern India, Persia was seen by the Greeks as a vastly wealthy and powerful rival and often as an existential threat. When the Macedonian king Alexander the Great finally conquered the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BCE, Greek culture spread throughout the Near East, but local dynasties-first the Parthian (247 BCE-224 CE) and then the Sasanian (224-651 CE)-reestablished themselves. The rise of the Roman Empire as a world power quickly brought it, too, into conflict with Persia, despite the common trade that flowed through their territories. Persia addresses the political, intellectual, religious, and artistic relations between Persia, Greece, and Rome from the seventh century BCE to the Arab conquest of 651 CE. Essays by international scholars trace interactions and exchanges of influence. With more than three hundred images, this richly illustrated volume features sculpture, jewelry, silver luxury vessels, coins, gems, and inscriptions that reflect the Persian ideology of empire and its impact throughout Persia's own diverse lands and the Greek and Roman spheres. This volume is published to accompany a major international exhibition presented at the Getty Villa from April 6 to August 8, 2022.

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Throughout most of the classical period, Persia was one of the great superpowers, placing a limit on the expansion of Western powers. It was the most formidable rival to the Roman empire for centuries, until Persia, by then under the Sassanians, was overwhelmed by the Islamic conquests in the seventh century AD. Yet, the armies of ancient Persia have received relatively little detailed attention, certainly in comparison to those of Rome. This work is the first of three volumes that will form the most comprehensive study of ancient Persian armies available. The Sassanians, the native Iranian dynasty that ousted their Parthian overlords in AD 226, developed a highly sophisticated army that was able for centuries to hold off all comers. They continued the Parthians' famous winning combination of swift horse archers with heavily-armoured cataphract cavalry, also making much use of war elephants, but Kaveh Farrokh interestingly demonstrates that their oft-maligned infantry has been much underestimated. The author, born in Athens, Greece, and expert in ancient Persian languages and military history, has been researching the military history and technology of Persia for a quarter of a century. He draws on the latest research and new archaeological evidence, focussing on the organization, equipment and tactics of the armies that dominated the ancient Middle East for so long.

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Rome and Judea in Transition is the first English-language book to study exclusively the first century and a half of Roman-Judean political relations (164–37 B.C.). It presents a comprehensive reassessment of the Late Republic's involvement in the Levant, the motives of Hasmonean diplomacy, and the development of the Jewish high priesthood. Therefore, it is of interest to classicists, ancient historians, biblical scholars, and students of Judaica alike. Previous studies have often mischaracterized this period as a consistent unfolding of Rome’s hegemonic will at Jewish expense. By contrast, this book argues that the Republic harbored no imperial designs on Judea prior to Pompey’s opportunistic intervention in 63 B.C., and that Rome’s subsequent intermittent meddling in the region’s governance did not significantly alter the dynamics of the Hasmonean state. Only with the Parthian invasion of Syria in 40 B.C. – and because of it – did the Republic unilaterally reshape Judean politics by its elevation of Herod the Great as «King of the Jews.» Judea’s alliance with Rome began in the context of Judas Maccabeus’ revolt against Seleucid rule. Scholars have therefore understandably assumed that the primary hope of Judas’ successors was that Roman recognition would secure and extend Judean sovereignty. This book argues that the main motive for Hasmonean diplomacy was domestic: to advertise the legitimacy of the Maccabees against their Jewish rivals. For this reason, the documentary record of relations with the Republic is of great value for studying the ideology and institutional growth of high priestly power during this period.

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Stoic musings of a philosopher-emperor at war.Marcus Aurelius (AD 121–180), Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, born at Rome, received training under his guardian and uncle emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned 138–161), who adopted him. He was converted to Stoicism and henceforward studied and practiced philosophy and law. A gentle man, he lived in agreement and collaboration with Antoninus Pius. He married Pius’ daughter and succeeded him as emperor in March 161, sharing some of the burdens with Lucius Verus.Marcus’ reign soon saw fearful national disasters from flood, earthquakes, epidemics, threatened revolt (in Britain), a Parthian war, and pressure of barbarians north of the Alps. From 169 onwards he had to struggle hard against the German Quadi, Marcomani, Vandals, and others until success came in 174. In 175 (when Faustina died) he pacified affairs in Asia after a revolt by Avidius. War with Germans was renewed during which he caught some disease and died by the Danube in March 180.The famous Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (not his title; he simply calls them “The matters addressed to himself”) are reflections written in periods of solitude during the emperor’s military campaigns. Originally intended for his private guidance and self-admonition, the Meditations have endured as a potent expression of Stoic belief. It is a central text for students of Stoicism as well as a unique personal guide to the moral life.

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If you like Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane, you'll absolutely love this enthralling and action-packed novel of Roman adventure from bestselling author Douglas Jackson. Readers are loving Gaius Valerius Verrens! "A triumph of a novel" - 5 STARS"Impossible to put down." - 5 STARS"A real unputdownable read" - 5 STARS"Spellbinding" - 5 STARS***************************************************************************************A SOLDIER'S SWORD WILL DECIDE THE FATE OF ROMEEmperor Nero's grip on power is weakening - more and more fearful of losing his position, his paranoia settles on the figure of the popular Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, Rome's greatest General who leads the imperial legions in the East. Is he preparing to march against Rome?Gaius Valerius Verrens is ordered to Antioch on a mission to kill Corbulo, a soldier he worships...Yet Corbulo's eyes are not on Rome, but on a new threat to the Empire's border: the Parthian King, Vologases, is marching to war and with such an army that if not stopped he might overwhelm the entire Roman east.Valerius marches at Corbulo's side. Outnumbered they make a stand to meet Vologases in an epic contest of military might and ingenuity that will decide the fate of the Empire. And while he fights for the Empire, and for his own survival on the battlefield, Valerius must decide whether to complete his mission, or risk incurring his Emperor's dangerous wrath.Gaius Valerius Verrens's adventures continue in Sword of Rome.

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The son of a former slave, Pertinax was the Roman Emperor who proved that no matter how lowly your birth, you could rise to the very top through hard work, grit and determination. Born in AD 126, he made a late career change from working as a grammar teacher to a position in the army. As he moved up the ranks and further along the aristocratic cursus honorum, he took on many of the most important postings in the Empire, from senior military roles in fractious Britain, the Marcomannic Wars on the Danube, to the Parthian Wars in the east. He held governorships in key provinces, and later consulships in Rome itself. When Emperor Commodus was assassinated on New Year's Eve AD 192/193, the Praetorian Guard alighted on Pertinax to become the new Emperor, expecting a pliable puppet who would favour them with great wealth. But Pertinax was nothing of the sort and when he then attempted to reform the Guard, he was assassinated. His death triggered the beginning of the Year of the Five Emperors' from which Septimius Severus, Pertinax's former mentoree, became the ultimate victor and founder of the Severan Dynasty. This previously untold story brings a fascinating and important figure out of the shadows. A self made everyman, a man of principle and ambition, a role model respected by his contemporaries who styled himself on his philosophising predecessor and sometime champion Marcus Aurelius, Pertinax's remarkable story offers a unique and panoramic insight into the late 2nd century AD Principate Empire.

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Provides a new narrative history of the ancient world, from the beginnings of civilization in the ancient Near East and Egypt to the fall of Constantinople Written by an expert in the field, this book presents a narrative history of Babylon from the time of its First Dynasty (1880-1595) until the last centuries of the city’s existence during the Hellenistic and Parthian periods (ca. 331-75 AD). Unlike other texts on Ancient Near Eastern and Mesopotamian history, it offers a unique focus on Babylon and Babylonia, while still providing readers with an awareness of the interaction with other states and peoples. Organized chronologically, it places the various socio-economic and cultural developments and institutions in their historical context. The book also gives religious and intellectual developments more respectable coverage than books that have come before it. A History of Babylon, 2200 BC – AD 75 teaches readers about the most important phase in the development of Mesopotamian culture. The book offers in-depth chapter coverage on the Sumero-Addadian Background, the rise of Babylon, the decline of the first dynasty, Kassite ascendancy, the second dynasty of Isin, Arameans and Chaldeans, the Assyrian century, the imperial heyday, and Babylon under foreign rule. Focuses on Babylon and Babylonia Written by a highly regarded Assyriologist Part of the very successful Histories of the Ancient World series An excellent resource for students, instructors, and scholars A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75 is a profound text that will be ideal for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses on Ancient Near Eastern and Mesopotamian history and scholars of the subject.

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In The Throne of Caesar, award-winning mystery author Steven Saylor turns to the most famous murder in history . . .It's Rome, 44 BC, and the Ides of March are approaching.Julius Caesar has been appointed Dictator for life by the Roman Senate. Having pardoned his remaining enemies and rewarded his friends, Caesar is now preparing to leave Rome with his army to fight the Parthian Empire.Gordianus the Finder, after decades of investigating crimes and murders involving the powerful, has finally retired. But on the morning of March 10th, he's summoned to meet with Cicero and Caesar himself. Both have the same request - keep your ear to the ground, ask around, and find out if there are any conspiracies against Caesar's life. Caesar, however, has one other important matter to discuss - he is going to make Gordianus a Senator when he attends the next session on the 15th of March.With only four days left before he's made a Senator, Gordianus must dust off his old skills and see what conspiracy against Julius Caesar, if any, he can uncover. Because the Ides of March are approaching...Praise for Steven Saylor'A compelling storyteller, with a striking talent for historical reconstruction' Mary Beard'Saylor's scholarship is breathtaking and his writing enthrals' Ruth Rendell'The most reliably entertaining and well-researched novels about the ancient world [are] Steven Saylor's tales of the Roman proto-detective Gordianus the Finder. The Throne of Caesar brings the series to a satisfying conclusion [and offers] a new, compelling perspective on familiar historic events' Sunday Times'Writing a detective story about one of the most famous murders in history is no easy feat, but Saylor carries it off with characteristic brilliance . . . he has made this era his own' Ian Ross

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Provides a new narrative history of the ancient world, from the beginnings of civilization in the ancient Near East and Egypt to the fall of Constantinople Written by an expert in the field, this book presents a narrative history of Babylon from the time of its First Dynasty (1880-1595) until the last centuries of the city’s existence during the Hellenistic and Parthian periods (ca. 331-75 AD). Unlike other texts on Ancient Near Eastern and Mesopotamian history, it offers a unique focus on Babylon and Babylonia, while still providing readers with an awareness of the interaction with other states and peoples. Organized chronologically, it places the various socio-economic and cultural developments and institutions in their historical context. The book also gives religious and intellectual developments more respectable coverage than books that have come before it. A History of Babylon, 2200 BC – AD 75 teaches readers about the most important phase in the development of Mesopotamian culture. The book offers in-depth chapter coverage on the Sumero-Addadian Background, the rise of Babylon, the decline of the first dynasty, Kassite ascendancy, the second dynasty of Isin, Arameans and Chaldeans, the Assyrian century, the imperial heyday, and Babylon under foreign rule. Focuses on Babylon and Babylonia Written by a highly regarded Assyriologist Part of the very successful Histories of the Ancient World series An excellent resource for students, instructors, and scholars A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75 is a profound text that will be ideal for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses on Ancient Near Eastern and Mesopotamian history and scholars of the subject.

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