Europa Barbarorum Bibliography

[antiochus epiphanes]

hmmn anyone got any good reads on the saka and saroumatae?
id love to get my hands on them.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

An excellent book if you can find it is the UNESCO History of Civilizations of Central Asia, vol. II: The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 BC to AD 250. Ed. by Janos Harmatta, with co-editors B.N. Puri and G.F. Etemadi. 1994. Chapters on Parthia, the greek kingdoms of Central Asia, Nomads in east central Asia, the Yueh-chih, The Sakas and Indo-Parthians, the Kushans, languages and scripts in GraecoBactria and the Saca kingdoms, etc.

[oudysseos]

A book that I just finished is Soldiers and Ghosts, a History of Battle in Classical Antiquity, by J.E. Lendon. Very Highly Recommended (by me, at least), not only for it's excellent analysis of developments in military practice from the Greeks to the Romans, but also because of its clear-sighted treatment of the issues and problems inherent to the nature of the historical record.

P.S. At some point after 0.8 comes out ( if there's any interest ) I'll edit the first post of the thread and group the books by subject and title. I do hope that people keep contributing sources.

Oh and thanks to EB for having the inhuman patience to keep up these forums, bearing in mind that the public forums are not a direct part of the modding process. There are some rotten apples in the barrel of EB fans who post, and I am amazed at the forebearance and maturity that the EB devs display most of the time. I'm 39 years old with two kids, and assuming as I do that many (most) of the EB devs are younger than me, I have to say that often I would not have been as patient with some of the know-it-all jerks who berate ye. Kudos!

[olly]

Just thought I'd recommend The Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy and also Alexander by Robin Lane Fox (the book the film was based on but don't let thet worry you if you hated the film which I quite liked)

[Geoffrey S]

Just thought I'd recommend The Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy and also Alexander by Robin Lane Fox (the book the film was based on but don't let thet worry you if you hated the film which I quite liked)

Whether it's more accurate or not, I much preferred Mary Renault's biography of Alexander due to the passionate style of writing making me realise why men followed him through such perils; particularly in her historical novel written from Bagoas' perspective she presents a believable Alexander with great charisma and personal failings.

[oudysseos]

I agree about Mary Renault- I must have read both the Alexander trilogy and the Theseus books 20 times (seriously).

[oudysseos]

Some more books that I just finished reading-

Hannibal, Ernle Bradford

The Celtic Empire, Celtic History 1000 BC - 51 AD, Peter Berresford Ellis

Empires of the Word, a Language History of the World, Nicholas Ostler

Edit- sorry, I had fogotten that I had already posted all of these books. Mea culpa.

[abou]

How good is Bevan's The House of Seleucus? It is quite old - originally published in 1902. My library has both volumes, the first of which is in my current possession along with From Samarkhand to Sardis. I stumbled upon it by accident when looking for the latter and eagerly checked it out; however, the date puts it as a contemporary of Tarn's work.

After reading Holt's Thundering Zeus, I am very leery of what Tarn has written and his conclusions; if Bevan follows Tarn's trend, I doubt I would want to read The House of Seleucus. What should I expect from it?

[Lucasiewicz]

Peter Green, Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age
Peter Green, Alexander of Macedon

As you can see, I like his work. On the second book; I find it far better reading then Lane's work on Alexander, which is cited here some previous post.

[geala]

Very nice thread!

I wondered a bit about yours sources of information because the time frame and the "unconventionel" factions are not in the focus of everyone. I must frankly admit that I don't know anything about some of the factions despite some interest in ancient and medieval military history for years.

I will try some books for sure. Most of my books are about later or earlier times so I'm deeply in need of more information.

I like personal stories and what I read with pleasure time after time is Xenophons "Kyrou Anabasis" which "played" 130 years before EB but gives a vivid impression of soldiers problems.

And I like Mary Renaults books, too.

[Zaknafien]

Sweet, what an excellent thread how did I miss this one. Here's a few more contemporary works I've been reading recently.

Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome (Lesley and Roy Adkins)
As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History (Jo-Ann Shelton)
The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic (Various)
Greek and Roman Medicine (Ian Dawson)

[Lucasiewicz]

Ed. Ehsan Yarshater; Encyclopaedia Iranica
This can also be consulted online: http://www.iranica.com

I'm also wondering, has anyone before used this encyclopedia? Because I'm wondering how usefull it is. I discovered it some time ago but haven't gotten the time yet to consult it and compare it to other sources.

[oudysseos]

First post updated.

[oudysseos]

Having reorganized the list I can see where there are some gaps. Can anyone suggest some good reads on Pontus and Armenia?

[oudysseos]

First post updated.

[QwertyMIDX]

Having reorganized the list I can see where there are some gaps. Can anyone suggest some good reads on Pontus and Armenia?

For information about the civilizations around the black sea the Colloquica Pontica collection is great. I'm reading volume 9 right now (about the relationship between the black sea polities and the larger world). Number 12 (Wealth, Aristocracy and Royal Propaganda Under the Hellenistic Kingdom of the Mithradatids in the Central Black Sea Region of Turkey by Deniz Burcu Erciyas. ) is probably a helpful one for EB's Pontus though, it covers 120-63 BC. A number of them are in German or French though, beware.

[oudysseos]

New Book- The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World. Glenn Bugh ed. Great collection of articles, especially 'Hellenistic Military Developments' by the editor and 'Hellenistic Economies' by John Davies.

[cyberVIP]

Just my 50 cents...

Roman faction excellent source of "historical action" with genuine point of view

H.L.Havell "Ancient rome: The republic"

btw my copy in russian (translated) but U'll find original I think

[oudysseos]

First post updated. Does anyone find this useful or interesting? I'll stop if it's a bore.

[Geoffrey S]

Yes, I find it interesting. Certainly allowed me to find a few books I wouldn't have looked for otherwise.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Didn't we have some Saba ones listed here too?

Brian Doe - Monuments of South Arabia 1983 Falcon-Oleander Press.

Jean-Francois Breton - Arabia Felix From the Time of the Queen of Sheba: Eighth Century B.C. to First Century A.D. 1999 University of Notre Dame Press

I'll stick this also if you keep updating it O.

[Gazius]

First post updated. Does anyone find this useful or interesting? I'll stop if it's a bore.

I'm definitely interested in it, and will proceed to hunt down recommended books from the list. I just never felt compelled to say anything about it like many, I suspect.

To those recommending the books, any comments on whether they were really good, highly recommended, or even a mini-review so that those looking might, if the title doesn't cover it, find what they're after if its something specific would be greatly appreciated.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Good idea Gazius - Feel free to give mini-reviews on those books people. We will put your name next to it. Only your own words though please - don't copy something from somewhere else.

[oudysseos]

Hey, great! Thanks for sticky-ing. I will keep it updated and also attribute people's contributions.

[QwertyMIDX]

Didn't we have some Saba ones listed here too?

Brian Doe - Monuments of South Arabia 1983 Falcon-Oleander Press.

Jean-Francois Breton - Arabia Felix From the Time of the Queen of Sheba: Eighth Century B.C. to First Century A.D. 1999 University of Notre Dame Press

I'll stick this also if you keep updating it O.

You forgot Klaus Schippman's Ancient South Arabia.

[Quirinus Kuhlmann]

An excellent and very detailed book about the roman civil wars and the rise of octavianus is "The romen revolution" by the british historian Ronald Symes. It's a classical work from 1939, which also focusses on the many minor characters involved in the story and is written in a both academical and grimly humourous style. It's also good secondary lecture if you watch the amazing "Roma" series on HBO.
"Ceasar" by Christan Meier is also a remarcable Biography, which is translated to english too. He wrote a book called "Athens" too, but I didn't read that yet.

Currently I read a very entertaining historic novel called "Minutus, the roman", by the finnish author Mika Waltarí, (who also wrote the famous "Sinuhe the egypt"), which covers the time of the roman Caesars Claudius and Nero. It's full of details from roman culture and a very fun read.
Also "The pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius" by Seneca the younger is an original anciend text, which is so mean and evil, that it's worth the read, also maybe to extract quotas for future EB builts.

[oudysseos]

Have had a look at the following books, all look very worthwhile. Also updated the first post.

Hellenism in the East Amelie Kuhrt, Susan Sherwin-White ed.
A compilation, I read the article The Arab-Persian Gulf under the Seleucids by Jean-Francois Salles- a lot more was going on there than you might think

The Ancient Civilization of Romania E.Condurachi and C. Daicoviciu
The Thracians R.F. Hoddinott
Bulgaria in Antiquity R.F. Hoddinott

All three contain sections on the Getai and their environs in the EB time frame, also tons of photos and cultural info, plus a lot about the Celtic kingdom of Komontorius from ca. 280 to 220 BCE.

The Sarmatians T. Sulimiroki
The World of the Scythians Renate Rolle

Not specific to EB time frame per se but lots of pics and cultural info
Southern Arabia Brian Doe Very good chapter on Sabaeans and Himyar plus photos and examples of Saba texts and art, this might be the same book as in a previous post.

Unfortunately I can't take these books out of the library (it's reading only) or else I'd start scanning in photos. A project for the future.

[Disciple of Tacitus]

This thread is EXACTLY why I love this game. You guys have fully rounded out my reading list for the year (and then some). Oh, happy, happy, joy, joy.

I will add a few of my own asap.

again...

[oudysseos]

Well i just thought that more knowledge about the Getai (for example) would help with the role playing immersion. It does for me, anyway. I need to imagine myself there in order to retain any interest. Now if only I could put my own pic in the family tree......

[CountArach]

Well I'm about half way through Adrian Goldsworthy's The Men Who Won the Roman Empire, and I highly recommend it. I also enjoyed his Punic Wars (I think that's the name), which covers all 3 of the wars.