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The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
Peter Heather · back to the book
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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorThe History of Rome, Books XXI-XXX: The War With Hannibal
Livy · 712 pages
History of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides · 500 pages
Written four hundred years before the birth of Christ, this detailed contemporary account of the long life-and-death struggle between Athens and Sparta stands an excellent chance of fulfilling its author's ambitious claim. Thucydides himself (c.460-400 BC) was an Athenian and achieved the rank of general in the earlier stages of the war. He applied thereafter a passion for accuracy and a contempt
The Peloponnesian War
Donald Kagan · 511 pages
For three decades in the fifth century b.c. the ancient world was torn apart bya conflict that was as dramatic, divisive, and destructive as the world wars of the twentieth century: The Peloponnesian War. Donald Kagan, one of the worldrsquo;s most respected classical, political, and military historians, here presents a new account of this vicious war of Greek against Greek, Athenian against Sparta
Alexander the Great
Robin Lane Fox · 568 pages
Tough, resolute, fearless, Alexander was a born warrior and ruler of passionate ambition who understood the intense adventure of conquest and of the unknown. When he died in 323 BC aged thirty-two, his vast empire comprised more than two million square miles, spanning from Greece to India. His achievements were unparalleled - he had excelled as leader to his men, founded eighteen new cities and st
The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire from the First Century AD to the Third
Edward N. Luttwak · 272 pages
Cleopatra: A Life
Stacy Schiff · 441 pages
From back cover: Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons; her supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order.
A History of Warfare
John Keegan · 432 pages
In *A History of Warfare*, Keegan outlines the development and limitations of warfare from prehistory to the modern era. It looks at various topics, including the use of horses, logistics, and "fire". One key concept put forward is that war is inherently cultural. In the introduction, he rigorously denounces the idiom "war is a continuation of policy by other means", rejecting on its face "Clausew
The Later Roman Empire (A.D. 354-378)
Ammianus Marcellinus · 506 pages
The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-heroes of Ancient Greece
Paul Anthony Cartledge · 288 pages
Traces the history of the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta, describes its distinctive military society and the unusual freedom of Spartan women, and discusses the influence which its culture has had on later civilizations.
Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the War for Crown and Empire
James Romm · 341 pages
Alexander the Great, perhaps the most commanding leader in history, united his empire and his army by the titanic force of his will. His death at the age of 32 spelled the end of that unity. The story of his conquests is known to many readers, but the saga of the empire's collapse remains virtually untold. Alexander bequeathed his power, legend has it, "to the strongest," leaving behind a mentally
The Persian War
Herodotus, William Shepard · 136 pages
The Histories
Tacitus · 415 pages
Edward Gibbon called The Histories an 'immortal work, every sentence of which is pregnant with the deepest observations and the most lively images.' Its author, Cornelius Tacitus, widely acknowledged as the greatest of all Roman historians, describes with cynical power the murderous 'Year of the Four Emperors' - AD 69 - when in just a few months the whole of the Roman Empire was torn apart by civi
How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower
Adrian Goldsworthy · 531 pages
"In AD 200, the Roman Empire seemed unassailable. Its vast territory accounted for most of the known world. By the end of the fifth century, Roman rule had vanished in Western Europe and much of northern Africa, and only a shrunken Eastern Empire remained. What accounts for this improbable decline? Here, Adrian Goldsworthy applies the scholarship, perspective, and narrative skill that defined his
The history of Herodotus — Volume 1
Herodotus · 488 pages
The Trojan War: A New History
Barry S. Strauss · 288 pages
"The Trojan War is the most famous conflict in history, the subject of Homer's Iliad, one of the cornerstones of Western literature. Although many readers know that this literary masterwork is based on actual events, there is disagreement about how much of Homer's tale is true. Drawing on recent archeological research, historian and classicist Barry Strauss explains what really happened in Troy mo
The Rise of the Roman Empire
Polybius · 574 pages
Political and social history, chronicle of military affairs.
Carthage Must be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization
Richard Miles · 520 pages
"The devastating struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the Ancient World. In an epic series of land and sea battles both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally buckled and their capital city, history and culture were almost utterly erased. The last great threat to Roman supremacy across the entire Mediterranean had go
Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C.
Peter Green · 617 pages
Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great's Empire
Robin A.H. Waterfield · 273 pages
"Dividing the spoils" revives the memory of Alexander's Successors, whose fame has been dimmed only because they stand in his enormous shadow. In fact, Alexander left things in a mess at the time of his death, with no guaranteed succession, no administration in place suitable for such an enormous realm, and huge untamed areas both bordering and within his 'empire'. The Successors consolidated the
Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West
Tom Holland · 448 pages
In 480 B.C.E., Xerxes, the King of Persia, led an invasion of mainland Greece. Its success should have been a formality. For seventy years, victory--rapid, spectacular victory--had seemed the birthright of the Persian Empire. They had swept across the Near East, shattering ancient kingdoms, storming famous cities, putting together an empire which stretched from India to the shores of the Aegean. X