Slightly off-mint.

Most histories of Ancient Greece focus on male protagonists, implying that women were a secluded, excluded part of society. Paul Chrystal questions this assumption, investigating the lives of Ancient Greek women writers, philosophers, artists and scientists, and their experiences of love, marriage, religion and death. Drawing on Homer, Hesiod and others, he demonstrates that women’s roles were far more nuanced and complex than previously portrayed.

Although Jesus’ conversation with Pilate was a moment of enormous political and theological significance, the Roman governor of Judaea is a shadowy figure in the Gospel accounts. Schiavone takes the reader on a ‘journey within early Christian memory’ to investigate what can be learned from those narratives and their intersection with Judaeo-Roman historiography: who was Pilate, what was he thinking during his questioning of Jesus and how did he become a figure of such controversy and ambiguity? American-cut pages.

Off-mint.

From underwater breathing equipment (as described by Aristotle) to star charts (drawn on the walls of the Lescaux caves, 33,000–10,000 years ago), James Russell describes the inventions of ancient times. There are chapters on everyday life, with items as diverse as alarm clocks, make-up, games and chewing gum; mechanical and industrial technology, including the spoked wheel and movable type; military inventions; medical breakthroughs; scientific advances; and mysterious lost inventions such as Greek fire, Maya blue and the Baghdad battery.

Beneath the waters of Abukir Bay, at the edge of the north-western Nile delta, lie the submerged remains of the ancient Egyptian cities Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus. This volume, which accompanied the British Museum exhibition in 2016, describes the technical challenges that faced the underwater archaeologists; presents, with over 270 illustrations, the submerged buildings and artefacts, including jewellery and ceramics, that have been found; and discusses how these discoveries have transformed our understanding of the relationship between ancient Egypt and Greece.

Informed by the author’s long experience of travel in North Africa, this ‘journey into a landscape of ruins’ is structured around the lives of six much-mythologized figures who represent the region’s rich classical culture: the refugee Queen Dido, the generals Hannibal and Masinissa, King Juba II, Septimus Severus and Augustine the intellectual careerist. Rogerson argues that the choices each made about cultural assimilation and resistance to Rome resemble those still faced by their modern descendants.

Examining artefacts such as the fragment of terracotta frieze from the ‘king’s house’ in the Forum and archaic inscriptions and ‘cross-questioning’ Roman authors, Wiseman searches for ‘usable evidence’ about pre-literary Rome and arrives at the Roman republic, ‘Year One’. No jacket.

Cats, birds and crocodiles are among the animals mummified in quantity by the ancient Egyptians and deposited as votive offerings. With contributions from 19 experts, this collection of illustrated essays details animals’ role in Egyptian religion and traces both the British fascination with such artefacts and the recent development of innovative techniques for studying them.

These ten papers examine the forms taken by families in territories conquered by the Romans, with a particular focus on the ways in which local traditions and the process of ‘Romanization’ combined to shape social attitudes in provinces from Lusitania to Judaea. The authors analyse evidence from a wide range of sources, including the speeches of Cicero, Justinian’s law code, archival documents from Egypt and the inscriptions and reliefs carved on funerary monuments.

In 83 CE, following a seven-year campaign against Caledonian tribesmen, the Romans fought a final battle at which 10,000 of the enemy died. But recent investigation of marching camps in northern England and Scotland has suggested that Tacitus’ account, our main source for the battle, may not be accurate. Forder triangulates the ancient sources with the archaeological evidence to suggest a new location for the elusive battle site known as Mons Graupius.

Off-mint.

In 376 CE, under attack by the Huns, the Goths took the radical step of crossing the Danube and, with Emperor Valens’ agreement, settling in Thrace, within the protection of Rome, their former enemy. The arrangement was short lived: in 378 CE, the Goths, led by Fritigern, inflicted a stinging defeat on the Roman army, with the emperor himself among the dead. Coombs-Hoar’s history describes in detail the events leading up to this crucial battle, the battle itself and its aftermath.

The Vandals, who are best remembered for their sack of Rome in 455 CE, have become synonymous with wanton and barbaric destruction. But who were these people and do they deserve their reputation? MacDowell follows the Vandals’ great migration across Germany, Gaul, Spain and North Africa as they sought a new homeland; he also analyses the evolution of their armies’ tactics and equipment and emphasizes the centrality of Arian Christian beliefs in the tribe’s identity.

The intelligent, politically astute Cleopatra captivated both Caesar and Antony, two of the most powerful Romans of her age, and continues to fascinate us today. Watterson describes the events of the Egyptian queen’s life, examines how she came to symbolize the danger of female influence to Rome’s safety and traces the development of the Cleopatra legend in art and in drama for stage and screen. The book’s appendices present extensive excerpts from ancient sources.

Beginning with a survey of the period 55 BCE to 122 CE and the decades of Roman government in Britain before the wall was begun, Patricia Southern, a renowned authority on ancient Roman history, gives a closely detailed account of Hadrian himself, how his wall was built and manned by Roman soldiers, what life was like on this northernmost outpost of the Empire, the building of the Antonine Wall, and what happened to Hadrian’s Wall when the Romans left.

The Carthaginian general Hannibal (247–183 BCE) won an enduring place in the popular imagination through his audacious expedition across the Alps with a contingent of elephants. But what were his motivations and why did his long campaign against Rome end in tragic failure? Combining evidence from ancient sources with his own experience of Hannibal-related sites, Prevas analyses the enigmatic personality and unconventional tactics of the commander whom Napoleon considered ‘the most daring of all men’. Felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (c.2030–1650 BCE) brought new developments in religious beliefs, political systems and artistic conventions. This volume comprises essays by an international team of scholars, covering such topics as the court and royal women, Egypt’s expanding relations with foreign lands and the themes of Middle Kingdom literature. Nearly 300 examples of the period’s art are featured; they demonstrate how artists were adapting older forms and iconography in work of great subtlety and originality.

Some ancient Egyptian queens, including Nefertiti, wife of the radical reformer Akhenaten, and Hatshepsut, who rose from the position of a conventional consort to that of female pharaoh, are still renowned today. These women are set alongside lesser-known queens in this collection of biographies, which reveals their uniquely varied roles and their importance across 3,000 years of their country’s history. The book also features timelines, genealogical tables and photographs of sites and artefacts.

The history of ancient Israel is told through the biographies of 83 leaders, from the founder Abraham (c.1450 BCE) and his son Isaac to Herod Agrippa, who died in 44 CE when the region was under Roman occupation. Seeking to reveal the historical figures behind the familiar names and traditional stories, Rogerson discusses debates about the accuracy and interpretation of the biblical accounts and the insights provided by other ancient texts and archaeological discoveries. Off-mint.