Europa Barbarorum Bibliography

[Scud]

Something like this?

I Am Herenow

Yeah, that was the sort of thing I was looking for. It seems very imformative and of decent depth, thanks.

While on classical pieces, I did try reading Plato's Republic (in english) a while back but the Socratic dialogue style of prose just didn't really appeal to me and made reading it a chore. Well that was my personal opinion of it and I think it might be worth a revist if I can slog it through.

[Luduan]

To provide some variety (since most of the titles listed so far tend to be military/political history):

The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World, Charles Freeman. A breezy, cursory overview of Greek history that I picked up recently.

Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew, Bart D. Ehrman. Provides a brief layman's overview to the religious battles amongst Christian communities (Gnostic, Ebionite, proto-Orthodox, etc.) in the late Roman empire. His other works come highly recommended as well.

To Think Like God: Pythagoras and Parmenides, The Origins of Philosophy, Arnold Hermann. An account of pre-Socratic Greek philosophical history.

Homosexuality and Civilization, Louis Crompton. Has a scope far wider than ancient history, from Asia to England to Islamic Spain, but does an solid job of covering the Greek and Roman ethos. His views on sexual history seem more along the lines of Boswell than Foucault, whose work I admire greatly, but still very insightful.

Mohammed and Charlemagne, Henri Pirenne. A classic history on the fall (or rather, continuance) of the Roman Empire that runs contrary to Gibbon, mentioned earlier. No contemporary scholar would accept his thesis, of course, but it remains a seminal work.

[Luduan]

I apologize for double posting, but I was unable to include URLs as that was my first post.

A lecture series on ancient Greece available from Yale University: https://www.youtube.com/view_play_li...3BCE5134243987. The course page with MP3 and MOV downloads is available at http://oyc.yale.edu/classics/introdu...greek-history/. I have only just begun watching it, but thus far the professor seems well-informed about the period. Aside from his annoying habit of clearly his throat after nearly every sentence and a Nietzsche caricature that he presents in several lectures, I recommend it.

The controversial New Testament scholar Robert M. Price also has a large recommended reading list with numerous titles on Roman and Near Eastern history, along with other less topical, but still excellent, books: http://webulite.com/node/1818.

[penguinking]

A lecture series on ancient Greece available from Yale University: https://www.youtube.com/view_play_li...3BCE5134243987. The course page with MP3 and MOV downloads is available at http://oyc.yale.edu/classics/introdu...greek-history/. I have only just begun watching it, but thus far the professor seems well-informed about the period. Aside from his annoying habit of clearly his throat after nearly every sentence and a Nietzsche caricature that he presents in several lectures, I recommend it.

That professor, Donald Kagan, is one of the leading experts on the Peloponnesian War. His book, The Peloponnesian War, also available in four volumes, is a very detailed and well written account of the conflict. Highly recommended. The lectures are also very good, I've seen them.

[option]

Giving this a bump because it's a great resource, and I've read several books listed here and plan to read many more. Also, I'm looking for a good biography of Augustus, and figured this would be a fine place to ask about it. I'm currently looking at the one by Anthony Everitt, but I would love some suggestions.

EDIT: Also, if someone could show me a link to a pdf (or other online version) of From Sardis to Samarkhand, I would be very grateful.

[Sarkiss]

"Tigranes the Great" by Herant K. Armen

the first biography of Tigranes II the Great to be ever published in English. ("Tigranes II and Rome" by Professor H. Manandyan has been published the same year, in 1940, in Armenian in Yerevan and was only recently translated into English)

this work, unlike all others i come across so far, is addressed to general public (the above mentioned work of Professor Manandyan being more of an academic study). its author for the first time tells the story from Armenian point of view. by scrutinizing and cross checking primary sources he draws a more balanced and accurate picture than those drawn by biased Roman authors who are often inconsistent and even contradict themselves (Plutarch is a great example).

i highly recommend this book to all interested in the history of Antiquity.

[vartan]

Plutarch was a major disappointment for me when studying Armenian history. What a joke he must've been. Sheesh.

Thanks for the book Sarkiss jan.