Warwick Ball argues that the story of Rome is the story of the East, more than the story of the West."--BOOK JACKET.

From Rome's legendary foundation by Aeneas and the Trojan heroes as the New Troy, through installing Arabs as Roman emperors, to the eventual foundation of the new Rome by a latter-day Aeneas at Constantinople, the East took over Rome - and Rome ultimately ditched Europe to the Barbarians. Through this obsession, Near Eastern civilisation - most of all, Christianity - went West to transform Europe. Warwick Ball argues that the story of Rome is the story of the East, more than the story of the West."--Jacket

“Not just worthwhile for its analysis of the battle, but also for its coverage on Marcus Licinius Crassus’ long career and the rise of the Parthian Empire.” —Medieval Warfare Magazine In 53BC the Proconsul Marcus Crassus and 36,000 of his legionaries were crushed by the Parthians at Carrhae in what is now eastern Turkey. Crassus’ defeat and death and the 20,000 casualties his army suffered were an extraordinary disaster for Rome. The event intensified the bitter, destructive struggle for power in the Roman republic, curtailed the empire’s eastward expansion and had a lasting impact on the history of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. It was also the first clash between two of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world. Yet this critical episode has often been neglected by writers on the period who have concentrated on the civil war between Pompey and Caesar. Gareth Sampson, in this challenging and original study, reconstructs the Carrhae campaign in fine detail, reconsiders the policy of imperial expansion and gives a fascinating insight into the opponents the Romans confronted in the East—the Parthians. “The book is very well written and tightly referenced . . . Recommended, especially for those who only remember Crassus as the guy who was played by Laurence Olivier in Spartacus.” —Slingshot

This volume offers a collection of seventeen of the more important papers written by the late Peter Derow during the course of his career. With a detailed introduction by the editors, it is essential reading for anyone interested in Roman imperialism or Polybius, and Rome's rise to Mediterranean power.

In ancient times there were several major trade routes that connected the Roman Empire to exotic lands in the distant East. Ancient sources reveal that after the Augustan conquest of Egypt, valued commodities from India, Arabia and China became increasingly available to Roman society. These sources describe how Roman traders went far beyond the frontiers of their Empire, travelling on overland journeys and maritime voyages to acquire the silk, spices and aromatics of the remote East. Records from ancient China, early India and a range of significant archaeological discoveries provide further evidence for these commercial contacts. Truly global in its scope, this study is the first comprehensive enquiry into the extent of this trade and its wider significance to the Roman world. It investigates the origins and development of Roman trade voyages across the Indian Ocean, considers the role of distant diplomacy and studies the organization of the overland trade networks that crossed the inner deserts of Arabia through the Incense Routes between the Yemeni Coast and ancient Palestine. It also considers the Silk Road that extended from Roman Syria across Iraq, through the Persian Empire into inner Asia and, ultimately, China.

This volume completes the three-volume collection of Fergus Millar's essays, which, together with his books, transformed the study of the Roman Empire by shifting the focus of inquiry onto the broader Mediterranean world and beyond. The eighteen essays presented here include Millar's classic contributions to our understanding of the impact of Rome on the peoples, cultures, and religions of the eastern Mediterranean, and the extent to which Graeco-Roman culture acted as a vehicle for the self-expression of the indigenous cultures. In an epilogue written to conclude the collection, Millar argues for rethinking the focus of "ancient history" itself and for considering the Levant and the eastern Mediterranean from the first millennium B.C. to the Islamic conquests a valid scholarly framework and an appropriate educational syllabus for the study of antiquity. English translations of extended ancient passages in Greek, Latin, and Semitic languages in all the essays make Millar's most important articles accessible for the first time to specialists and nonspecialists alike.

AN EPIC STORY OF EMPIRE, HEROES, TREACHERY, COURAGE, AND MOST OF ALL, BRUTAL BLOODY WARFARE . . . 'Enthralling and exciting, you will struggle to put this book down' 5***** READER REVIEW 'A cracking story. Sidebottom's detailed knowledge of the period is remarkable' 5***** READER REVIEW _______ The year is AD 255. The Roman Imperium is stretched to breaking point, with its might and authority challenged along every border. The greatest threat lies in Persia to the east, where the massing forces of the Sassanid Empire loom with fiery menace. There the isolated Roman citadel of Arete awaits inevitable invasion. One man is sent to marshal the defences and shore up crumbling walls. A man whose name itself means war: Ballista. Alone, Ballista is called to muster the forces and the courage to stand first and to stand hard against the greatest enemy ever to confront the Imperium . . . With a spectacular flair for sheer explosive action and knuckle-whitening drama, fans of Bernard Cornwell will love this recreation of the ancient world. Praise for Harry Sidebottom: 'Sidebottom's prose blazes with searing scholarship' The Times 'The best sort of red-blooded historical fiction' Andrew Taylor, author of The American Boy

This volume explores the transformation of public space and administrative activities in republican and imperial Rome through an interdisciplinary examination of the topography of power. Throughout the Roman world building projects created spaces for different civic purposes, such as hosting assemblies, holding senate meetings, the administration of justice, housing the public treasury, and the management of the city through different magistracies, offices, and even archives. These administrative spaces – both open and closed – characterised Roman life throughout the Republic and High Empire until the administrative and judicial transformations of the fourth century CE. This volume explores urban development and the dynamics of administrative expansion, linking them with some of the most recent archaeological discoveries. In doing so, it examines several facets of the transformation of Roman administration over this period, considering new approaches to and theories on the uses of public space and incorporating new work in Roman studies that focuses on the spatial needs of human users, rather than architectural style and design. This fascinating collection of essays is of interest to students and scholars working on Roman space and urbanism, Roman governance, and the running of the Roman Empire more broadly.