The aside is a familiar convention in drama, but surprisingly little has been written about it in connection with Greek theater, where the aside originated and developed. In Actors and Audience, David Bain traces the aside back to its earliest appearance...

The whole observable world was, for the Ancient Egyptians, a symbolic representation. From the sun and the river Nile, to the animal kingdom and even architecture, different phenomena were seen to have hidden meaningsOne of a series of volumes that...

Winner of the Runciman AwardWinner of the Charles J. Goodwin Award“Tells the story of how the Seleucid Empire revolutionized chronology by picking a Year One and counting from there, rather than starting a new count, as other states did, each time a new...

The first comprehensive study of Pliny the Elder’s economic thought—and its implications for understanding the Roman Empire’s constrained innovation and economic growthThe elder Pliny’s Natural History (77 CE), an astonishing compilation of 20,000...

How rhetorical training influenced deeds as well as words in the Roman EmpireThe assassins of Julius Caesar cried out that they had killed a tyrant, and days later their colleagues in the Senate proposed rewards for this act of tyrannicide. The killers...

"In 63 BC the corrupt aristocrat Lucius Sergius Catilina (Catiline in English) aimed to topple the Roman Republic. Catiline attracted a wide array of supporters: debt-ridden men and women from prominent families, youths looking for adventure, the less...

A riveting history of the city that led the West out of the ruins of the Roman EmpireAt the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here, in Ravenna on...

The dramatic story of the rise and collapse of Europe's first great urban experimentThe growth of cities around the world in the last two centuries is the greatest episode in our urban history, but it is not the first. Three thousand years ago most of...

In this richly illustrated book, art historian John R. Clarke helps us see the ancient Roman house "with Roman eyes." Clarke presents a range of houses, from tenements to villas, and shows us how enduring patterns of Roman wall decoration tellingly bear...

Edith Hamilton buoyantly captures the spirit and achievements of the Greek civilization for our modern world.In The Greek Way, Edith Hamilton captures with "Homeric power and simplicity" (New York Times) the spirit of the golden age of Greece in the...

A selection of Seneca’s most significant letters that illuminate his philosophical and personal life. “There is only one course of action that can make you happy. . . . rejoice in what is yours. What is it that is yours? Yourself; the best part of you.”...

Book X of Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria is the most accessible section of his remarkable treatise. Chapter I is a survey and critique on the evolution of Greek and Roman literature-poetry, history, oratory, and philosophy-that defends as the key to...

How do we find calm in times of stress and uncertainty? How do we cope with sudden losses or find meaning in a world that can easily rob us of what we most value? Drawing on the wisdom of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and others, Nancy Sherman's...

The Agricola is both a portrait of Julius Agricola—the most famous governor of Roman Britain and Tacitus' well-loved and respected father-in-law—and the first detailed account of Britain that has come down to us. It offers fascinating descriptions of the...