Ancient Empires

The Roman emperor Nero’s name has long been a byword for cruelty, decadence, and despotism. As the stories go, he set fire to Rome and thrummed his lyre as it burned. He then cleared the charred ruins and built a vast palace. He committed incest with his mother, who had schemed and killed to place him on the throne, and later murdered her. But these stories, left behind by contemporary historians who hated him, are hardly the full picture, and in this nuanced biography, celebrated historian Anthony Everitt and investigative journalist Roddy Ashworth reveal the contradictions inherent in Nero

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.

When young Telemachus gets the chance to join the crew of the merchant ship Selene, he's delighted to escape the rough streets of Piraeus. He knows little of the dangers of life at sea. And even past hardship has not prepared him for the terror on board when a pirate ship appears on the horizon. The fight is bloody, but the result is never in doubt. Then the victorious pirate chief, Bulla, offers the beaten men a cruel choice: join us, or die.

The Crusades shook the world. But why did they happen? Their origins are revealed in a new light. As part of a medieval world war that stretched from Asia to Europe. At its center was an ancient empire Byzantium. Told for the first time as a single, linked narrative are three great events that changed history: The fall of Byzantium in the 11th century, the epic campaign of the First Crusade and the origins of modern Turkey. Nick Holmes not only presents the First Crusade in a wider global context but he also puts forwards new interpretations of the original sources.

A.D. 165: The empire of Rome has reached its pinnacle. Universal peace - the Pax Roma - reigns from Britannia to Egypt, from Gaul to Greece. Marcus Aurelius, as much a philosopher as he is an emperor, oversees a golden age in the city of Rome. The ancient Pinarius family and their workshop of artisans embellish the richest and greatest city on earth with gilded statues and towering marble monuments. Art and reason flourish. But history does not stand still. The years to come bring wars, plagues, fires, and famines. The best emperors in history are succeeded by some of the worst.

Suetonius wrote his Lives of the Twelve Caesars in the reign of Vespasian around 70AD. He chronicled the extraordinary careers of Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, and Domitian and the rest in technicolour terms. They presented some high and low times at the heart of the Roman Empire. The accounts provide us with perspicacious insights into the men as much as their reigns.

AD 381. Five years have gone by since a Roman governor ordered the deaths of a Gothic king and his attendants at a feast in their honor. This disastrous act led to warfare in the Roman Empire and the death of the Emperor Valens. The Empire is now at peace, but the powerful brother of the murdered king has sworn revenge on the regicides, and will not rest until they are hunted down. For the eight legionaries who carried out the killings, the bloodshed is only just beginning.

In the pantheon of ancient men of letters, none hold a more venerated position than the Roman historian, Tacitus, venerated alike for the accuracy of his chronicles as well as for the superiority of his style. He was a writer of unexcelled genius and consummate skill. But his work fell into oblivion not long after his death, and has come down to us based on the text of a single tattered manuscript from the Middle Ages.

Durante muchos años, los aztecas han capturado nuestra imaginación. Las historias de los invasores europeos originales combinadas con ruinas y leyendas únicas e impresionantes que hablan de palacios de oro crean una imagen de la sociedad azteca definida por la grandeza, la riqueza y el esplendor. Pero, ¿quiénes eran exactamente los aztecas? ¿De dónde vienen? ¿Cómo ascendieron para controlar una extensión tan amplia de tierra? Y si fueron tan poderosos, ¿cómo era posible que cayeran del poder y la dominación solo tres años después del primer contacto con los españoles?

One of the most shocking things about the Persians is how quickly they went from an obscure, powerless, and nomadic tribe to an immense empire that spanned across western Asia, Africa, and parts of Europe. The rise of Cyrus the great, considered the father of Persia, in the seventh century BCE, filled the power vacuum caused by the fall of the Assyrians, and it led to the formation of one of the most powerful empires of the ancient world.

A bloody revolt by a North African prince and a plot to seize control of Rome are the subjects of two short masterpieces of ancient history by the illustrious Roman chronicler, Sallust. He could not have chosen two more dramatic episodes in the long history of this city.

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.

Constantine the Great is a complex figure surrounded by controversies and contradictions. The sources of history left for us to read are often biased one way or the other as he is the first Christian Roman emperor. His own propaganda paints a bright picture of his actions and his personality, while on the other side, we have his political enemies who paint him in much darker colors. All of the sources available to us either fully support Constantine or are strictly against him.

The influence of the Roman Empire has been widespread and profound, perhaps more so than that of any other empire or civilization. Rome laid the foundation for many of the institutions and ideas in the modern Western world, including the common political and legal systems. Roman ruins can still be found in distant England, and Roman aqueducts still bring fresh drinking water to modern Rome.

Empire of Ancient Greece is an informative introduction to this cornerstone of Western civilization. The Greeks invented and developed everything from logic and democracy to rhetoric, drama, and philosophy. Empire of Ancient Greece chronicles the remarkable legacy of the Greeks, as well as the diversity of their societies - from the thriving democracy of Athens to the militarism of Sparta to the oligarchy of Thrace.

In all of Roman history there was never a more turbulent year than A.D. 69, the ill-omened "Year of the Three Emperors". By some miracle, the greatest historian of the age, Tacitus, was able to chronicle those momentous events in a work he called The History. In its pages are some of the most memorable events of Roman history described in some of the most intensely passionate prose ever devised.

Did you know that at its peak, Angkor was the largest city in the world, almost the size of a modern metropolis, maybe even comparable to Los Angeles? When we think of the great civilizations in the world, the first ones that come to mind are Egyptian, Inca, Greek, and Roman civilizations. Not many people think of the Khmer Empire or are aware of how great it was. The Khmer Empire was the greatest player in the political and cultural world of medieval Southeast Asia.

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.

Ancient Persia conjures images of extravagant palaces, beautiful gardens, mighty armies, and all-powerful kings, queens, and princes. The beginnings of Iranian antiquity are enigmatic, but from the cradle of the western Zagros Mountains came the greatest empires the world has ever known. The Elamites, Medians, Achaemenids, Parthians, and Sassanids all sprang from interlinked cultural origins that could trace their roots back through each successive empire.

The Roman army is one of the most famous fighting forces in history. Through its power and prowess, a once obscure Italian city forged an empire that encircled the Mediterranean and covered half of Europe. The physical remains of its presence can be traced from the mountainous borders of Scotland to the arid deserts of Egypt, but its legacy is far greater and more enduring, as Rome's influence continues to shape the political, legal, and cultural landscape of Europe to this very day.