Ancient

At the close of the third century B.C., Rome and the Seleucid Empire confronted one another in the neutral ground of disputatious Greece. By E. Badian.

Among the ruins of ancient Pylos— which, together with all the other major strongholds of Mycenaean power, was destroyed at the end of the Hellenic Bronze Age—a library of clay tablets has come to light, depicting a threatened society “in the throes of total moblization.” By L.R. Palmer.

Much malignant gossip has gathered around the enigmatic personality of the second Roman Emperor whose peaceful reign extended from AD 14 until AD 37.

C.M. Matthews introduces Cymbeline, the most successful king of the dominant tribe in Southern England during the period between the two Roman invasions.

The early life of the “Father of History” was dominated by the clash between East and West—Persia and Greece. Russell Meiggs finds that his story of the Great War is part tragic drama, part folk-tale and part travel-book, but is informed throughout by the desire to verify and by rational curiosity.

Defeated enemies, as history shows, may become devoted allies. Once Rome had seemed the tyrant of Italy. After the successful outcome of the Social War, writes Harold Mattingly, her Italian neighbours took their places at her side, ready to assist her in the gigantic task of government.

S.G.F. Brandon describes how the Roman conquest of Jerusalem marked a crisis in the early development of Christianity, and paved the way for a general acceptance of the Pauline message.

Despite its isolation from the mainstream of human development, Basil Davidson writes, African society before the coming of the Europeans was neither savage nor stagnant.

Michael Grant offers the tale of Rome's most infamous emperor from both his fans and detractors.

Anthony Rhodes introduces Diocletian, the first sovereign to voluntarily resign power, and how, at the opening of the fourth century, he spent his last years in a huge fortified seaside palace of his own construction.