Ancient Biography

This new, original translation of Cornelius Nepos's Lives of the Great Commanders is the first to appear in many generations. The Roman writer Cornelius Nepos (circa 110 BC to 25 BC) was one of the first biographers in the Western tradition. He composed memorable and entertaining sketches of some of the most famous statesmen of antiquity.

Africa may have given rise to the first human beings, and Egypt probably gave rise to the first great civilizations, which continue to fascinate modern societies across the globe nearly 5,000 years later. From the library and Lighthouse of Alexandria to the great pyramid at Giza, the ancient Egyptians produced several wonders of the world, revolutionized architecture and construction, created some of the world’s first systems of mathematics and medicine, and established language and art that spread across the known world.

Era el siglo IV a.C. y Alejandro Magno había fundado un gran imperio, fusionando dos grandes civilizaciones, la occidental y la cristiana; asimismo las polis griegas habían sido heridas de muerte y el malestar de la época se manifestaba de varias maneras. Súbitamente, un griego desvergonzado, audaz y desafiante de las convenciones sociales surgió para provocar el escándalo y la hilaridad.

Charlemagne, while subjugating the people he conquered, modernized education, currency, art, music, and leadership to bring stability back to Europe, setting it on the path to thrive for years to come. Europe had been in upheaval, with threats from every direction, when Charlemagne came to power in the eighth century. The barbarian king worked to unite Germanic people into one kingdom and to spread Catholicism.

Though the Romans were known for having contributed much to culture and the arts, there was one facet that was unrivaled when it came to ancient civilizations: their published works. Philosophy was their forte, and it goes without saying that the meditations by Marcus Aurelius is a superb piece of philosophical writings and musings. What is interesting about this collection is that it chronicles his thoughts during the time of his reign as Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180.

In this classic of social history, the author describes the lives of six obscure men and women of the Middle Ages. She draws on account books, records, letters, diaries, and wills to make the life of those times as concrete and comprehensible as our own.

Saint Patrick was, by his own admission, a controversial figure. Convicted in a trial by his elders in Britain and hounded by rumors that he settled in Ireland for financial gain, the man who was to become Ireland’s patron saint battled against great odds before succeeding as a missionary. Saint Patrick Retold draws on recent research to offer a fresh assessment of Patrick’s travails and achievements. This is the first biography in nearly 50 years to explore Patrick’s career against the background of historical events in late antique Britain and Ireland.

In this literary detective story, Robert Kanigel gives us a long overdue portrait of an Oakland druggist's son who became known as the "Darwin of Homeric studies." So thoroughly did Milman Parry change our thinking about the origins of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey that scholars today refer to a "before" Parry and an "after." Kanigel describes the "before", when centuries of readers, all the way up until Parry's trailblazing work in the 1930s, assumed that the Homeric epics were "written" texts, the way we think of most literature.

The son of a former slave, Pertinax was the Roman Emperor who proved that no matter how lowly your birth, you could rise to the very top through hard work, grit and determination. This previously untold story brings a fascinating and important figure out of the shadows. A self-made everyman, a man of principle and ambition, a role model respected by his contemporaries, Pertinax's remarkable story offers a unique and panoramic insight into the late 2nd century AD Principate Empire.

Jack the Ripper. Jeffrey Dahmer. John Wayne Gacy. Locusta of Gaul. If that last name doesn’t seem to fit with the others, it’s likely because our modern society largely believes that serial killers are a recent phenomenon. Not so, argues Debbie Feltonin fact, there’s ample evidence to show that serial killers stalked the ancient world just as they do the modern one.

Marcus Licinius Crassus (115-53 BCE) was a modern man in an ancient world, a pioneer disrupter of finance and politics, and the richest man of the last years of the Roman republic. Without his catastrophic ambition, this trailblazing tycoon might have quietly entered history as Rome's first modern political financier. Instead, Crassus and his son led an army on an unprovoked campaign against Parthia into what are now the borderlands of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, losing a battle at Carrhae which scarred Roman minds for generations.

From Catholic schoolgirl to punk rocker to emergent church planter, Angela Doll Carlson traveled a spiritual path that in many ways mirrors that of a whole generation. She takes us with her on a deep and revealing exploration of the forces that drove her toward Orthodoxy and the challenges that long kept her from fully entering in.

Although the city had been destroyed, the legacy of the Persians survived, even as they mostly remain an enigma to the West and are not nearly as well understood as the Greeks, Romans, or Egyptians. When considering this empire’s rulers, the two most often referenced are Xerxes, the leader of the Persian invasion of Greece which caused the heroic sacrifice of the Spartans and their allies at Thermopylae, or Cyrus the Great, the man who created the Persian Empire.

In 1892, a young man left his home in the coastal foothills of Lebanon in search of a better life. Coming to America with his newlywed wife, he found work as a traveling peddler, before settling on a small farm in central Nebraska. Years later, personal tragedy and an unexpected midnight visit from a saint changed the course of his life. Seeing the desperate need of his fellow orthodox Christians and heeding God’s call, he would spend the rest of his life traversing the Great Plains as a circuit-riding priest, known to his thousands of parishioners as Father Nicola Yanney.

Africa may have given rise to the first human beings, and Egypt probably gave rise to the first great civilizations, which continue to fascinate modern societies across the globe nearly 5,000 years later. From the Library and Lighthouse of Alexandria to the Great Pyramid at Giza, the ancient Egyptians produced several wonders of the world, revolutionized architecture and construction, created some of the world’s first systems of mathematics and medicine, and established language and art that spread across the known world.

This history book will tell you all about Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China, even though he was from the Mongol Empire. How did he lead the ancient Chinese? What were his achievements? What were his major contributions to ancient Chinese society, cultures, and traditions? Find out today!

Cornelius Nepos greatly admired Timoleon, a man of wisdom and patience who knew evil when he saw it. He was ready and willing to do right by his homeland of Corinth, even when it meant betraying his own brother, the dictator. Timoleon stands through time as a model citizen and leader who, in his old age, became blind just like true justice.

In ancient Athens, thousands would attend theatre festivals that turned writing into a fierce battle for fame, money, and laughably large trophies. While the tragedies earned artistic respect, it was the comedies - the raunchy jokes, vulgar innuendo, outrageous invention, and barbed political commentary - that captured the imagination of the city.

The John Milton Poetry Collection includes four of his most beloved works, sharing Milton's pioneering writing on everything from politics to religion. As you listen, be transported to the 17th century when political and religious tensions were high and war was imminent. Listen as Milton's works reveal his opinions on biblical themes, political division, and personal freedoms.

Dive into the unique and powerful kingships in Sparta, where not one man ruled, but two. Learn the ways and lives of the men who rose above the rest to be elected leader of the most feared and respected city-state of ancient Greece. Who managed to embody the fullness of Spartan values, and who fell to the side, enticed by the finer things kingship could bring?