Ancient Empires

Discover the majestic landscapes, ancient traditions, and the relentless quest for freedom in this captivating journey. Explore the spiritual and everyday life of Tibetan civilization, from the mysterious beginnings of its people to their ongoing struggles under Chinese rule.

The very idea of empire was created in ancient Rome, and even today, traces of its monuments, literature, and institutions can be found across Europe, the Near East, and North Africa - and sometimes even further afield. Historian Greg Woolf expertly recounts how this mammoth empire was created, how it was sustained in crisis, and how it shaped the world of its rulers and subjects - a story spanning a millennium and a half of history.

The Annals, Part 2 picks up in the year A.D. 32 with the increasingly menacing and tyrannical behavior of Tiberius. With hundreds murdered or driven to suicide and many more in exile, Tiberius descends steadily into growing lust and debauchery on his private estate on the isle of Capri. Overseas, Rome is victorious in her struggle with Parthia, and as Tiberius is being smothered to death in A.D. 37 by Macro, peace at last comes to the eastern frontier.

The Ottoman Empire was one of the longest standing empires in the world. Started in 1299, the Ottomans would conquer much of the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeastern Europe. This classic by William Deans covers 600 years of Ottoman rule.

The sheer importance of Sumerian culture in regards to world culture as a whole is impossible to overstate. This civilization is single-handedly responsible for some of the most major innovations in nearly every field relevant to maintaining a civilized society - this includes religion, lawmaking, architecture, schooling, art, literature, and even entertainment. Naturally, most of what we see as negative aspects of society were established in ancient Sumer as well. There wasn’t an aspect of Sumerian life that wasn’t plagued with corruption or devastation of one form or another.

After saving the Empire's richest province from a foreign army, Marcus and the men who protect him have been in hiding. Their lives will be forfeit if they are seen in Rome. But times have changed. Marcus's protector, the patrician legion commander Scaurus, has been summoned home by his mentor, a powerful senator who has decided he must act to save the empire from its debauched ruler's reign of terror. Rome is a hotbed of conspiracy and treachery and the senator is not the only contender for power. The emperor himself plans to destroy those he mistrusts, and no-one is safe.

In sumptuous and illuminating detail, Simon Winchester, the bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman (""Elegant and scrupulous""—New York Times Book Review) and Krakatoa (""A mesmerizing page-turner""—Time) brings to life the extraordinary story of Joseph Needham, the brilliant...

New York Times bestselling author Juliette Cross returns with a new scorching dark romantasy in her The Fire That Binds trilogy. The fate of a powerful witch who can control men with one taste of their blood and a fierce dragon collide. A spellbinding gift... A plea answered by the gods... An...

The earliest history of Babylon is little known. Among the many cities flourishing in southern Iraq, the town first appears in texts in the third millennium BC. Until the last century of the third millennium, few references existed to Babylon; however, offerings made to the temple of Enlil in Nippur during this period (when Babylon was part of an empire ruled by Ur) suggest a city already of some size and wealth. From relative obscurity in the middle of the 18th century BC, Babylon emerged as the political center of southern Mesopotamia.

*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE FOR FICTION* An epic, boundary-pushing tale of five young women rebelling against an era that relies on their submission, from the acclaimed author of Etta and Otto and Russell and James. During the golden age of the Roman Empire, five girls enjoy a...

The exemplary life of a noble soldier/statesman, a description of ancient Germany, and a discussion of oratory are the subjects of three short masterpieces by the brilliant Roman historian, Tacitus.

The story of the Roman Republic is the greatest epic in human history. Seen in the long perspective of time, it seems too fantastic to be real. From its modest beginnings as a convenient fording place on the Tiber to its eventual destiny as the mistress of the Mediterranean, Rome offers a strange tale of fate, sacrifice, and indomitable willpower. The stern realities of war shaped its policies from the very beginning.

In this gripping retelling of one of the most momentous chapters in history, Nick Holmes presents a new interpretation of an old story. The fate of Rome was decided not just by emperors, soldiers, and barbarians but also by an environmental disaster. A catastrophic megadrought on the Asian steppes in the fourth century AD forced the migration of entire peoples—Huns, Goths, Vandals, and others—west into the Roman Empire. They met an empire weakened from war with Persia. Rome's misfortunes multiplied as it made tactical errors on the battlefield.

From the wind-swept plains of Anshan to the terraced palaces of Persepolis, Founding an Empire follows how a cluster of royal ambitions became the ancient world’s most sophisticated superstate.

Award-winning ancient historian, archeologist, and social media sensation Dr. Jess Venner (@lifeinthepastlane_) brings the citizens of Pompeii back to life through a vibrant account of their final day before Mt. Vesuvius’s eruption. While the ruins of Pompeii still stand today, silent and...

Der Westen befindet sich in einer Krise: Unsere Demokratie ist angeschlagen, die Deindustrialisierung bedroht den Wohlstand und Flüchtende machen sich auf in westliche Länder und stehen vor den Toren.In diesem außergewöhnlichen historischen Vergleich erkunden die Autoren die unheimlichen Parallelen–und produktiven Unterschiede–zwischen dem Untergang Roms und dem Fall des Westens, um aus der antiken Geschichte neue Lehren zu ziehen.

Appian of Alexander was a Greek historian who lived at the height of the Roman Empire during the first half of the 2nd century AD, having been born around AD 95 and died about AD 165. Very little is known about him beyond what he reveals about himself, along with the fact that he lived in Alexandria. He was a Roman citizen and held several senior-level public offices, both in Alexandria and in Rome.

A new civil war has begun: with the emperor Pertinax's murder Marcus and his protector Scaurus have escaped Rome, seeking sanctuary for their familia in the East. But they are soon pressed back into service by Septimius Severus, the ruthless commander who has seized the imperial capital and who holds the military balance of power over his two rivals. Niger, the would-be emperor in the East is on the march with six legions, and Scaurus's legion is ordered to Thrace as a sacrificial advance guard, tasked with delaying them. Whatever the cost.

The pope wanted it, Montesquieu used it, and the Nazis pilfered an Italian noble's villa to get it: the Germania, by the Roman historian Tacitus, took on a life of its own as both an object and an ideology. When Tacitus wrote a not-very-flattering little book about the ancient Germans in 98 CE, at the height of the Roman Empire, he could not have foreseen that the Nazis would extol it as "a bible", nor that Heinrich Himmler, the engineer of the Holocaust, would vow to resurrect Germany on its grounds. But the Germania inspired - and polarized - people long before the rise of the Third Reich.

Ten years after the eruption of Vesuvius, the surrounding countryside lies buried and barren. But the destroyed cities and luxury villas on the Bay of Naples are not utterly lost. Flavia Albia and her husband Tiberius Manlius are tasked with restoring one villa and identifying any surviving...