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Beginning at the end of Augustus' reign, Tacitus's Annals examines the rules of the Roman emperors from Tiberius to Nero (though Caligula's books are lost to us). Their dramas and scandals are brought fully under the spotlight, as Tacitus presents a catalog of their murders, atrocities, sexual improprieties, and other vices in no unsparing terms. Debauched, cruel, and paranoid, they are portrayed as being on the verge of madness. Their wars and battles, such as the war with the Parthians, are also described with the same scrutinizing intensity.

Julius Caesar is one of the most famous figures of the ancient Roman world. A skillful general and leading politician of the late Roman Republic, he secured a 10-year proconsular command in the province of Gaul, during which he accumulated both wealth and power. A core text in the teaching of Latin in schools, The Gallic War gives a unique insight into this remarkable man, as well as military strategy and practice of the day.

There are few things more in common across cultures than the belief in ghosts. Ghosts inhabit something of the very essence of what it is to be human. Whether we personally 'believe' or not, we are all aware of ghosts and the rich mythologies and rituals surrounding them. They have inspired, fascinated and frightened us for centuries - yet most of us are only familiar with the vengeful apparitions of Shakespeare, or the ghastly spectres haunting the pages of 19th-century Gothic literature. But their origins are much, much older.

In AD 66, nationalist and religious revolutionaries in Judaea led a ferocious revolt of the Jewish people against the authority of mighty Rome, culminating in the greatest upheaval and savagery the world had known up to that time. By the end of the conflict seven years later, over one million Jews had perished and tens of thousands were sold into slavery. Until the Holocaust, it remained the greatest tragedy ever endured by a people.

The Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe.

Until his death in 4 BCE, Herod the Great's monarchy included territories that once made up the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Although he ruled over a rich, strategically crucial land, his royal title did not derive from heredity. His family came from the people of Idumea, ancient antagonists of the Israelites.

The definitive translation of Plato's Republic, the most influential text in the history of Western philosophy “No one else has even come close to balancing Bloom’s fidelity to Greek with intelligible English prose.”—National Review Long regarded as the most accurate rendering of Plato's...

Robert Twigger, poet and travel author, was in search of a new way up England when he stumbled across the Great North Line. From Christchurch on the South Coast to Old Sarum to Stonehenge, to Avebury, to Notgrove barrow, to Meon Hill in the midlands, to Thor's Cave, to Arbor Low stone circle, to Mam Tor, to Ilkley in Yorkshire and its three stone circles and the Swastika Stone, to several forts and camps in Northumberland to Lindisfarne (plus about thirty more sites en route). A single dead-straight line following one degree 50 West up Britain.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A lucid, intelligent page-turner” (Los Angeles Times) that challenges long-held assumptions about Jesus Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the “Kingdom of God...

In 1887, an Egyptian woman made an astonishing discovery among the ruins of the heretic king Akhenaten's capital city, a site now known as Amarna. She found a cache of cuneiform tablets, nearly four hundred in all, that included correspondence between the pharaohs and the mightiest powers of the day, such as the Hittites, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Love, War, and Diplomacy tells the story of the Amarna Letters and the dramatic world of the Bronze Age they revealed.

Did a highly advanced civilization exist in prehistory? Is the Giza Pyramid a remnant of their technology? Then, what was the power source that fueled such a civilization? The technology of harmonic resonance, claims renowned master craftsman and engineer Christopher Dunn. In a brilliant piece...

A fascinating take on classical Greek stories: Discover six classic Greek myths in this exciting retelling that paints both famous and lesser known characters in a whole new light. Follow the likes of Odysseus, Lamia, Bellerophon, Icarus, Medusa, and Artemis as their fates are revealed through bloody trials, gut-wrenching betrayals, sinister motives, and broken hearts.

Few people today realize that this earth is the primary battle zone of a cosmic war that erupted years ago. But, after listening to this book, you will know why it is being fought, how and when it will end. The Great Controversy begins at the dawning of the Christian era, traces the rise and fall of nations and religious powers down to our day, then plunges ahead to preview the future. And what this book sees coming is not based on guesswork.

Most people picture archaeologists digging through dirt in search of ancient artifacts and lost cities. And sometimes that’s exactly right—as at the mound of Troy, where excavations suggest there may be truth behind Homer’s tales. But archaeology is much more than excavation. It blends science, history, and detective work, using tools like CT scans, astronomical modeling, and even cryptographic analysis to solve puzzles from across the ages.

This book invites you to step into the magical world of Aboriginal Dreamtime and to share in the world's oldest living culture - its ancient knowledge and spiritual wisdom. Inside are Dreamtime concepts that everyone can understand. Come on a journey with Aboriginal elder Aunty Munya as she guides you in discovering your purpose in life and how to walk in the footsteps of our ancestors. Learn what it means to truly belong and be family to everyone and everything.

"A dauntingly ambitious, obsessively researched" (Los Angeles Times) global history of music that reveals how songs have shifted societies and sparked revolutions. Histories of music overwhelmingly suppress stories of the outsiders and rebels who created musical revolutions and instead celebrate...

Explore the dramatic interaction between Judaism, Christianity, and paganism in Rome from the 1st to the 6th centuries. Why did pagan Rome clash with the early Christians? What was it like to be a Jew or a Christian under Roman law? And how did Christianity ultimately achieve dominance in the Roman Empire?Over the course or 24 lectures, Professor Harl enables you to grasp the full historical sweep of this critically important era and its key figures.

Chi era davvero Cleopatra? Scopriremo che è stata una donna straordinaria, oltre che l'ultima regina d'Egitto: col suo fascino ha saputo legare a sé figure molto importanti dell'antica Roma come Cesare e Marco Antonio. Faremo un lungo viaggio nell'epoca nella quale è vissuta, dove prenderanno forma luoghi, persone, eventi storici come guerre e battaglie. Seguiremo Cleopatra dalla nascita fino alla sua chiacchierata morte, svelando i tanti retroscena della sua intensa e regale esistenza.

Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero - these are the names history associates with the early Roman Empire. Yet, not a single one of these emperors was the blood son of his predecessor. In this captivating history, a prominent scholar of the era documents the Julio-Claudian women whose bloodline, ambition, and ruthlessness made it possible for the emperors' line to continue. Eminent scholar Guy de la Bedoyere, author of Praetorian, asserts that the women behind the scenes - including Livia, Octavia, and the elder and younger Agrippina - were the true backbone of the dynasty.

Do you know that Egyptians had over 2000 gods and goddesses? To understand how the ancient Egyptians saw the world around them, we begin our journey by exploring their beliefs of how the world and man came to be. Get this audiobook and discover the fascinating world of Egyptian Mythology today!