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Volumes in this series examine important topics in the history and civilization of ancient Greece and Rome. Many of the books focus on a watershed period in classical antiquity - such as Athens in the fifth century BC, or Rome in the transition from Republic to empire - in which key events generated important changes and developments in all aspects of the society, including politics, the economy, warfare, and the arts. Each volume includes newly-commissioned essays that examine a particular aspect of the topic. Offering a synthesis of the literature on the topic, the essays also pose new questions and suggest new paths of inquiry for both students and scholars.

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19 results in Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World

The Cambridge Companion to Alexander the Great
  • Edited by Daniel Ogden
  • Published online:
    04 January 2024
    Print publication:
    18 January 2024
  • Has any ancient figure captivated the imagination of people over the centuries so much as Alexander the Great? In less than a decade he created an empire stretching across much of the Near East as far as India, which led to Greek culture becoming dominant in much of this region for a millennium. Here, an international team of experts clearly explains the life and career of one of the most significant figures in world history. They introduce key themes of his campaign as well as describing aspects of his court and government and exploring the very different natures of his engagements with the various peoples he encountered and their responses to him. The reader is also introduced to the key sources, including the more important fragmentary historians, especially Ptolemy, Aristobulus and Clitarchus, with their different perspectives. The book closes by considering how Alexander's image was manipulated in antiquity itself.

The Cambridge Companion to the Ancient Greek Economy
  • Edited by Sitta von Reden
  • Published online:
    21 July 2022
    Print publication:
    04 August 2022
  • This is the most comprehensive introduction to the ancient Greek economy available in English. A team of specialists provides in non-technical language cutting edge accounts of a wide range of key themes in economic history, explaining how ancient Greek economies functioned and changed, and why they were stable and successful over long periods of time. Through its wide geographical perspective, reaching from the Aegean and the Black Sea to the Near East and Egypt under Greek rule, it reflects on how economic behaviour and institutions were formed and transformed under different political, ecological and social circumstances, and how they interacted and communicated over large distances. With chapters on climate and the environment, market development, inequality and growth, it encourages comparison with other periods of time and cultures, thus being of interest not just to ancient historians but also to readers concerned with economic cultures and global economic issues.

The Cambridge Companion to Constantinople
  • Edited by Sarah Bassett
  • Published online:
    17 March 2022
    Print publication:
    17 March 2022
  • From its foundation in the fourth century, to its fall to the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth, 'Constantinople' not only identified a geographical location, but also summoned an idea. On the one hand, there was the fact of Constantinople, the city of brick and mortar that rose to preeminence as the capital of the Roman Empire on a hilly peninsula jutting into the waters at the confluence of the Sea of Marmora, the Golden Horn, and the Bosporos. On the other hand, there was the city of the imagination, the Constantinople that conjured a vision of wealth and splendor unrivalled by any of the great medieval cities, east or west. This Companion explores Constantinople from Late Antiquity until the early modern period. Examining its urban infrastructure and the administrative, social, religious, and cultural institutions that gave the city life, it also considers visitors' encounters with both its urban reality and its place in imagination.

The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens
  • Edited by Jenifer Neils, Dylan K. Rogers
  • Published online:
    10 March 2021
    Print publication:
    18 February 2021
  • Named for a goddess, epicenter of the first democracy, birthplace of tragic and comic theatre, locus of the major philosophical schools, artistically in the vanguard for centuries, ancient Athens looms large in contemporary study of the ancient world. This Companion is a comprehensive introduction the city, its topography and monuments, inhabitants and cultural institutions, religious rituals and politics. Chapters link the religious, cultural, and political institutions of Athens to the physical locales in which they took place. Discussion of the urban plan, with its streets, gates, walls, and public and private buildings, provides readers with a thorough understanding of how the city operated and what people saw, heard, smelled, and tasted as they flowed through it. Drawing on the latest scholarship, as well as excavation discoveries at the Agora, sanctuaries, and cemeteries, the Companion explores how the city was planned, how it functioned, and how it was transformed from a democratic polis into a Roman city.

The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Nero
  • Edited by Shadi Bartsch, Kirk Freudenburg, Cedric Littlewood
  • Published online:
    16 November 2017
    Print publication:
    09 November 2017
  • The age of Nero has appealed to the popular imagination more than any other period of Roman history. This volume provides a lively and accessible guide to the various representations and interpretations of the Emperor Nero as well as to the rich literary, philosophical and artistic achievements of his eventful reign. The major achievements of the period in the fields of literature, governance, architecture and art are freshly described and analysed, and special attention is paid to the reception of Nero in the Roman and Christian eras of the first centuries AD and beyond. Written by an international team of leading experts, the chapters provide students and non-specialists with clear and comprehensive accounts of the most important trends in the study of Neronian Rome. They also offer numerous original insights into the period, and open new areas of study for scholars to pursue.

The Cambridge Companion to Roman Law
  • Edited by David Johnston
  • Published online:
    05 February 2015
    Print publication:
    16 February 2015
  • This book reflects the wide range of current scholarship on Roman law. The essays, newly commissioned for this volume, cover the sources of evidence for classical Roman law, the elements of private law, as well as criminal and public law, and the second life of Roman law in Byzantium, in civil and canon law, and in political discourse from AD 1100 to the present. Roman law nowadays is studied in many different ways, which is reflected in the diversity of approaches in the essays. Some focus on how the law evolved in ancient Rome, others on its place in the daily life of the Roman citizen, still others on how Roman legal concepts and doctrines have been deployed through the ages. All of them are responses to one and the same thing: the sheer intellectual vitality of Roman law, which has secured its place as a central element in the intellectual tradition and history of the West.

The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila
  • Edited by Michael Maas
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    29 September 2014
  • This book examines the age of Attila, roughly the fifth century CE, an era in which western Eurasia experienced significant geopolitical and cultural changes. The Roman Empire collapsed in western Europe, replaced by new 'barbarian' kingdoms, but it continued in Christian Byzantine guise in the eastern Mediterranean. New states and peoples changed the face of northern Europe, while in Iran, the Sasanian Empire developed new theories of power and government. At the same time, the great Eurasian steppe became a permanent presence in the European world. This book treats Attila, the notorious king of the Huns, as both an agent of change and a symbol of the wreck of the old world order.

The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic
  • 2nd edition
  • Edited by Harriet I. Flower
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    23 June 2014
  • The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic examines all aspects of Roman history and civilization from 509 to 49 BC. The key development of the republican period was Rome's rise from a small city to a wealthy metropolis, which served as the international capital of an extensive Mediterranean empire. These centuries produced a classic republican political culture, closely associated with the growth of a world empire. They also witnessed the slow disintegration of republican government under the relentless and combined pressure of external commitments, growing internal dissension, and the boundless ambition of successful military leaders. In the second edition of this Companion volume, distinguished European, Canadian, and American scholars present a variety of lively current approaches to understanding the political, military, and social aspects of Roman history, as well as its literary and visual culture. The second edition includes a new introduction, three new chapters on population, slavery, and the rise of empire, and updated bibliographies and maps.

The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Rome
  • Edited by Paul Erdkamp
  • Published online:
    05 September 2013
    Print publication:
    29 August 2013
  • Rome was the largest city in the ancient world. As the capital of the Roman Empire, it was clearly an exceptional city in terms of size, diversity and complexity. While the Colosseum, imperial palaces and Pantheon are among its most famous features, this volume explores Rome primarily as a city in which many thousands of men and women were born, lived and died. The thirty-one chapters by leading historians, classicists and archaeologists discuss issues ranging from the monuments and the games to the food and water supply, from policing and riots to domestic housing, from death and disease to pagan cults and the impact of Christianity. Richly illustrated, the volume introduces groundbreaking new research against the background of current debates and is designed as a readable survey accessible in particular to undergraduates and non-specialists.

The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy
  • Edited by Walter Scheidel
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    08 November 2012
  • This book offers readers a comprehensive and innovative introduction to the economy of the Roman Empire. Focusing on the principal determinants, features and consequences of Roman economic development and integrating additional web-based materials, it is designed as an up-to-date survey that is accessible to all audiences. Five main sections discuss theoretical approaches drawn from economics, labor regimes, the production of power and goods, various means of distribution from markets to predation, and the success and ultimate failure of the Roman economy. The book not only covers traditionally prominent features such as slavery, food production and monetization but also highlights the importance of previously neglected aspects such as the role of human capital, energy generation, rent-taking, logistics and human wellbeing, and convenes a group of five experts to debate the nature of Roman trade.

The Cambridge Companion to Archaic Greece
  • Edited by H. A. Shapiro
  • Published online:
    28 November 2009
    Print publication:
    07 May 2007
  • The Cambridge Companion to Archaic Greece provides a wide-ranging synthesis of history, society, and culture during the formative period of Ancient Greece, from the Age of Homer in the late eighth century to the Persian Wars of 490–480 BC. In ten clearly written and succinct chapters, leading scholars from around the English-speaking world treat all aspects of the civilization of Archaic Greece, from social, political, and military history to early achievements in poetry, philosophy, and the visual arts. Archaic Greece was an age of experimentation and intellectual ferment that laid the foundations for much of Western thought and culture. Individual Greek city-states rose to great power and wealth, and after a long period of isolation, many cities sent out colonies that spread Hellenism to all corners of the Mediterranean world. This Companion offers a vivid and fully documented account of this critical stage in the history of the West.

The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Political Thought
  • Edited by Stephen Salkever
  • Published online:
    28 September 2009
    Print publication:
    27 April 2009
  • The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Political Thought provides a guide to understanding the central texts and problems in ancient Greek political thought, from Homer through the Stoics and Epicureans. Composed of essays specially commissioned for this volume and written by leading scholars of classics, political science, and philosophy, the Companion brings these texts to life by analysing what they have to tell us about the problems of political life. Focusing on texts by Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle, among others, they examine perennial issues, including rights and virtues, democracy and the rule of law, community formation and maintenance, and the ways in which theorizing of several genres can and cannot assist political practice.

The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Pericles
  • Edited by Loren J. Samons II
  • Published online:
    28 March 2009
    Print publication:
    15 January 2007
  • Mid-fifth-century Athens saw the development of the Athenian empire, the radicalization of Athenian democracy through the empowerment of poorer citizens, the adornment of the city through a massive and expensive building program, the classical age of Athenian tragedy, the assembly of intellectuals offering novel approaches to philosophical and scientific issues, and the end of the Spartan-Athenian alliance against Persia and the beginning of open hostilities between the two greatest powers of ancient Greece. The Athenian statesman Pericles both fostered and supported many of these developments. Although it is no longer fashionable to view Periclean Athens as a social or cultural paradigm, study of the history, society, art, and literature of mid-fifth-century Athens remains central to any understanding of Greek history. This collection of essays reveal the political, religious, economic, social, artistic, literary, intellectual, and military infrastructure that made the Age of Pericles possible.

The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World
  • Edited by Glenn R. Bugh
  • Published online:
    28 November 2007
    Print publication:
    01 May 2006
  • This Companion volume offers fifteen original essays on the Hellenistic world and is intended to complement and supplement general histories of the period from Alexander the Great to Kleopatra VII of Egypt. Each chapter treats a different aspect of the Hellenistic world - religion, philosophy, family, economy, material culture, and military campaigns, among other topics. The essays address key questions about this period: To what extent were Alexander's conquests responsible for the creation of this new 'Hellenistic' age? What is the essence of this world and how does it differ from its Classical predecessor? What continuities and discontinuities can be identified? Collectively, the essays provide an in-depth view of a complex world. The volume also provides a bibliography on the topics along with recommendations for further reading.

The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine
  • Edited by Noel Lenski
  • Published online:
    28 September 2007
    Print publication:
    14 November 2005
  • The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine offers students a comprehensive one-volume survey of this pivotal emperor and his times. Richly illustrated and designed as a readable survey accessible to all audiences, it also achieves a level of scholarly sophistication and a freshness of interpretation that will be welcomed by the experts. The volume is divided into five sections that examine political history, religion, social and economic history, art, and foreign relations during the reign of Constantine, who steered the Roman Empire on a course parallel with his own personal development. Each chapter examines the intimate interplay between emperor and empire, and between a powerful personality and his world. Collectively, they show how both were mutually affected in ways that shaped the world of Late Antiquity and even affect our own world today.

The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus
  • Edited by Karl Galinsky
  • Published online:
    28 March 2007
    Print publication:
    12 September 2005
  • The age of Augustus, commonly dated to 30 BC – AD 14, was a pivotal period in world history. A time of tremendous change in Rome, Italy, and throughout the Mediterranean world, many developments were underway when Augustus took charge and a recurring theme is the role that he played in shaping their direction. The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus captures the dynamics and richness of this era by examining important aspects of political and social history, religion, literature, and art and architecture. The sixteen essays, written by distinguished specialists from the United States and Europe, explore the multi-faceted character of the period and the interconnections between social, religious, political, literary, and artistic developments. Introducing the reader to many of the central issues of the Age of Augustus, the essays also break new ground and will stimulate further research and discussion.

The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law
  • Edited by Michael Gagarin, David Cohen
  • Published online:
    28 August 2006
    Print publication:
    12 September 2005
  • This Companion volume provides a comprehensive overview of the major themes and topics pertinent to ancient Greek law. A substantial introduction establishes the recent historiography on this topic and its development over the last 30 years. Many of the 22 essays, written by an international team of experts, deal with procedural and substantive law in classical Athens, but significant attention is also paid to legal practice in the archaic and Hellenistic eras; areas that offer substantial evidence for legal practice, such as Crete and Egypt; the intersection of law with religion, philosophy, political theory, rhetoric, and drama, as well as the unity of Greek law and the role of writing in law. The volume is intended to introduce non-specialists to the field as well as to stimulate new thinking among specialists.

The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic
  • Edited by Harriet I. Flower
  • Published online:
    28 May 2006
    Print publication:
    19 January 2004
  • The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic examines all aspects of Roman history and civilization from 509–49 BC. The key development of the republican period was Rome's rise from a small city to a wealthy metropolis and international capital of an extensive Mediterranean empire. These centuries produced the classic republican political system and the growth of a world empire. They also witnessed the disintegration of this system under the pressure of internal dissension and boundless ambition of its leading politicians. In this Companion volume, distinguished European and American scholars present a variety of lively approaches to understanding the political, military, and social aspects of Roman history, as well as its literary and visual culture. Designed to be accessible to the general reader and to students, The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic will invite further exploration to a vital, formative period of Roman history and its later influence.

The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian
  • Edited by Michael Maas
  • Published online:
    28 May 2006
    Print publication:
    18 April 2005
  • This book introduces the Age of Justinian, the last Roman century and the first flowering of Byzantine culture. Dominated by the policies and personality of emperor Justinian I (527–565), this period of grand achievements and far-reaching failures witnessed the transformation of the Mediterranean world. In this volume, twenty specialists explore the most important aspects of the age including the mechanics and theory of empire, warfare, urbanism, and economy. It also discusses the impact of the great plague, the codification of Roman law, and the many religious upheavals taking place at the time. Consideration is given to imperial relations with the papacy, northern barbarians, the Persians, and other eastern peoples, shedding new light on a dramatic and highly significant historical period.