Book Resources for Ancient History (1 Viewer)

[AsyLum]

Since we have been getting quite a few questions on what books are helpful and what not, we've decided to create this thread solely to accomodate the book resources question.

Basically, please post up any of the books which you have found useful, with a little summary of the contents in this thread and we will try and keep it updated for people to use as a sort of index.


As an example:

- Plutarch - Fall of the Roman Republic ( Penguin ) ~$16

This book has Plutarch's Lives of: Gaius Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, and Cicero; and is invaluable in gaining an ancient source and understanding for their respective roles. Each holds an integral part to the disintergration and is well worth the read if you havent already.

- Plutarch - Makers of Rome ( Penguin ) ~$15

This book contains 9 lives with notable ones including: Marcellus, Cato the elder, the Gracchi, Sertorius, Brutus and Mark Antony. Geared towards the initial degradation from the destruction of Carthage and Corinth in 146BC as the earmark point of the downhil descent towards the Empire.

- Appian - The Civil Wars ( Penguin ) ~$20

Contains a continuous narrative of the events from 133BC from Tiberius Gracchus, to 70 BC with the murder of Julius Caesar. Everything within those two events is earmarked within this book, in good detail. From the Cataline conspiracy, to the rise and fall of the 1st Triumvirate, Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon and finally the formation of the 2nd 'Triumvirate.'

- H. H. Scullard - From The Gracchi To Nero ~$45

The definitive modern source/guide to the ancient undertakings of Rome. As it states in the title, the book spans from the middle of the turmoil within Republican Rome and right through to the Empirical Rome to Nero's reign. A good help in understanding subtleties and modern historians perspectives and opinions upon the ancient texts and sources.

 

[xeuyrawp]

I deleted my old message so I could put this info up. I took it from another of my posts:

These are a few books that you could use, knowing that you've hit all the important New Kingdom debates:

Egypt

• Alan Gardiner's The Egyptians, published under 3 different names (frequently Egypt of the Pharaohs), but it's his big philological study. This means that he only uses written evidence and constructs his history that way. He never makes judgement on anything, but rather tells a story based on writing. He's damn concise, but very dense and hard to read. He is probably the most impressive person to quote. NB: when I say "quote", I also mean paraphrase etc.
  
  
• Kitchen's Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramesses II: I hate the book, but it's a must to look at if you want to even do the NK period. Basically glorifies Ramses as everything up to and including a sex god.
  
  
• Barry J Kemp's Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation. Kemp's an archaeologist, and a pretty unusual writer. He uses his own translations and archaeology and is currently digging at Amarna. He wrote this book as a kind of Egyptological metanarrative, focusing on areas he's conducted research in (read: very reliable). Other than that, he's very easy to read, and I suggest photocopying his chapter "Akhetaten: Microcosm" if you're doing Akhenaten or the NK period dealing with him. His evidence is great to use in exams and assignments.
  
  
• Jan Assman's The Search for God in Egypt and The Mind of Egypt both religion related. Assman talks about abstract things, like theology, philosophy, and art. He never really talks about "history" as much as he talks about social climate and belief systems. His theories are a bit insane, which means he's great to use as a different historical perspective. He's good to use for Akhenaten, if you can find a simple article or chapter written by him.
  
  
• Adolf Erman's Life in Ancient Egypt is a social narrative, great if you're doing societies. Erman's a sucker for all ancient societies, and whilst he's good for that, it makes him less reliable in definitive Egyptological things.
  
  
• Nicolas Grimal's A History of Ancient Egypt: Another social history book- totally thematically structured and concerned- Occupations, different aspects of religion, food, clothing etc.
  
  
• Leonard Cottrell's The Lost Pharaohs: A pretty interesting book if you're doing Akhenaten, Hatshepsut, or the periods involving them. The book's good for interpretation, image, and legacy questions- it uses a lot of newish and different historical debate.
  
  
• TGH James' Pharaoh's People also a social history, but less of a narrative; deals more with thematic concerns.
  
  
• Cyril Aldred's Akhenaten is great if you're doing the NK period or the personality, and makes great reading material. I find Aldred's ability to make conclusive statements great for quoting; ditto for the other book The Egyptians(how original ).
  
  
• EA Wallis Budge's Book of the Dead is a total copy, transliteration, and translation of The Papyrus of Ani and several of the other Book of the Dead texts.
  
  
• JH Breasted's Ancient Records of Egypt Vols 1-5: These are the definitive translations and succinct commentaries on most of the important texts. Gardiner actually wrote his book because 1. Breasted's translations were older and maybe a bit incorrect, and 2. there are 5 volumes of the books. I've got the volumes in electronic form, and they're still good to have on hand as they're referred to a lot. I also have Breasted's A History of Egypt a pretty long and boring narrative- based heavily on texts.
  
  
• Gae Callender's The Eye of Horus is a good summary of most of Egypt and seems to follow Gardiner's closeness to literary sources. I don't like her way of using evidence, and I find she tends to write in a very story-like manner. I have this electronically as well. I've met her, and she's a really nice person =)
  
  
• Miriam Lichtheims' Ancient Egyptian Literature: Vols 1-3. Vol. 1 is the Old and Middle Kingdom, Vol. 2 is the New Kingdom, Vol. 3 is the Late Periods. Again, like Breasted, they're referred to a lot, and sometimes it's good to read the whole passage rather than an extract that's quoted in another work.
  
  
• Donald B Redford has several important books: Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times is, as it says, a more international concern- dealing with Egypt's foreign and internal relationships with other nations. It's good for showing how the main Egypt and Near-East nations have evolved and related with/to each other. Akhenaten: The Heretic King is very traditionalist, and generally condemns Akhenaten in every possible way, shape, and form. It's a great book to start off with if you're doing Akhenaten, good to be followed by the Aldred book or Cottrell's books- they're different historical ideas and can genuinely be "played off each other" in terms of views and evidence. The The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt is a great reference book, but you wouldn't buy it (in excess of $300 and 800 pages) and I've only seen it at Macquarie Uni library.
  
  
• C. N. Reeves and Nicholas Reeves, a father-son duo have written a few useful books, but I tend to find them "all over the place" in terms of arguments. Never the less, they're constantly referred to. The Complete Valley of the Kings: Tombs and Treasures of Egypt's Greatest Pharaohs is probably my favourite of theirs, with their book covering all of the The Valley of the Kings tombs (KV) and a few Theban Tombs (TT). Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet is the book you need to look at if you're doing Akhenaten. It totally destroys him as a Pharaoh, and goes so far as semantically denying that he was "King of Egypt"- the king was always Son of Horus, etc. It's interesting, but they seem to have some sort of vendetta against him.
  
  
• I've also got a few useful text books (Antiquity 1 and 2, Lawless' book), books on archaeology and on towns (Egyptian Cities and Towns), a few dictionaries (British Museum dictionary of Egypt), a tonne of the Macquarie-published texts (Macquarie Teachers' Association resources, the primary archaeology reports, articles, etc) and some cool picture books, (Schulz & Seidel's Egypt).
  
  

I've got all these books bar a few of the huge ones and have access to all on that list, and I think they're the main ones of importance, especially the personality related ones like Kitchen and Reeves. At the moment, they're the only ones that I'll add my seal of pwar-approval to.

Yes, it's a long list, but they're all very reliable and have some great info. It's also important to know what book someone's talking about when they say "Gardiner" or "Aldred".

I'm willing to scan or photocopy a reasonable and legal amount and send these to those who ask nicely- if you'd like hard-copy photocopies, you're paying the postage

edit: books in red are approachable without any prior knowledge. If you're doing the periods involving them, I'd advise at lease giving them a look in a library.

 

[Lyrit]

For 19th Dynasty Egyptian studies, specifically on Sety I and Ramesses II and the conflicts with the Hittites and Syrians:

Traces of Ramesses Early Career - Anthony Spalinger (article in Journal of Near Eastern Studies)

Spalinger essentially does a comparative examination of reliefs against previous study and research to prove the exact time Ramesses II spent as co-regent to his father Sety I before taking the throne solo. He spends most of his time in heavy analysis of wall reliefs in various temples which act as historical records for the battles against the Hittite king and relations slightly before and after. A bit of the article is spent on discussion of other theories put forth by other Egypt historians, notably Seele and Murnane. His overall thesis of that Ramesses was acting as sole regent during the time when it was said for him to be co-regent under Sety I is fairly well supported with primary source material as well as thoughts from secondary sources.

The Road to Kadesh - William Murnane

An excellent analysis of a small period in the early 19th Dynasty, it combines very nicely with Spalinger's article which expands on events that happen soon after and are influenced by it. Murnane spends a great deal of time analyzing primary sources. He looks for not only bias and reliability, but also for believability. He includes a timeline for a questionable passage in on of the reliefs regarding Sety’s marches through the desert in III Smr, proving through analysis and common sense that the passage, while coming from an overall reliable source, it seems to have been wrong or misinterpreted because time and burden constraints would not have allowed so quick a travel for the pharaoh. In his appendixes he goes into even more analysis of the various stele and wall inscriptions he used, allotting for why he chose them and their overall uses in his argument. His arguments are well supported and his work is a reliable secondary source for research on the Hittite and Syrian conflicts during the 19th Dynasty.


I'll put more up for the later periods (Roman and Greek) as my semester goes on.

 

[xeuyrawp]

For 19th Dynasty Egyptian studies, specifically on Sety I and Ramesses II and the conflicts with the Hittites and Syrians:

Traces of Ramesses Early Career - Anthony Spalinger (article in Journal of Near Eastern Studies)

Spalinger essentially does a comparative examination of reliefs against previous study and research to prove the exact time Ramesses II spent as co-regent to his father Sety I before taking the throne solo. He spends most of his time in heavy analysis of wall reliefs in various temples which act as historical records for the battles against the Hittite king and relations slightly before and after. A bit of the article is spent on discussion of other theories put forth by other Egypt historians, notably Seele and Murnane. His overall thesis of that Ramesses was acting as sole regent during the time when it was said for him to be co-regent under Sety I is fairly well supported with primary source material as well as thoughts from secondary sources.

I can't find that article. Have you got the full reference?

I'd imagine that the article is good (JONES is a pretty good publication), but I bet he's actually updated his info in his new War in Ancient Egypt, which is primarily about the Ramesside phraraohs. The article would be very introductory, I should think, and I reakon the book would base a lot of his previous research on it.

The Road to Kadesh - William Murnane

An excellent analysis of a small period in the early 19th Dynasty, it combines very nicely with Spalinger's article which expands on events that happen soon after and are influenced by it. Murnane spends a great deal of time analyzing primary sources. He looks for not only bias and reliability, but also for believability. He includes a timeline for a questionable passage in on of the reliefs regarding Sety’s marches through the desert in III Smr, proving through analysis and common sense that the passage, while coming from an overall reliable source, it seems to have been wrong or misinterpreted because time and burden constraints would not have allowed so quick a travel for the pharaoh. In his appendixes he goes into even more analysis of the various stele and wall inscriptions he used, allotting for why he chose them and their overall uses in his argument. His arguments are well supported and his work is a reliable secondary source for research on the Hittite and Syrian conflicts during the 19th Dynasty.

That's an excellent book, although I've never found a less pricey version of it.

Salinger and Murnane are the big names on the theme of war in the New Kingdom, so those sources really would be great!

Thanks for posting.