Trimalchio's Feast by Petronius

$3.00 NZD

Category: Latin Literature | Series: Little Black Classics 21 | Reading Level: very good

'I blush to say what happened next.' A satirical portrait of a drunken, orgiastic Roman banquet, hosted by the grossly ostentatious Trimalchio. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, wit h books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Titus Petronius Arbiter (1st century BCE-c.66 CE). Petronius's The Satyricon is also available in Penguin Classics. ...Show more

The Villas of Pliny from Antiquity to Posterity by Pierre de la Ruffiniere du Prey

$45.00 NZD

Category: Architecture | Reading Level: very good

Pierre de la Ruffinière du Prey traces the influence of Pliny the Younger as a continuous theme throughout the history of architecture. First he looks at what Pliny considered to be the essential qualities of a villa. He then discusses the many buildings Pliny inspired: from the Renaissance estates of t he Medici, to papal summer residences near Rome, to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, and the home of former Canadian prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Equally important to du Prey's study are the many designs by architects past and present that remain on paper. These imaginary restitutions of Pliny's villas, each representative of its own epoch, trace in microcosm the evolution of the classical tradition in domestic architecture. In analyzing each project, du Prey illuminates the work of such great masters as Michelozzo, Raphael, Palladio, and Schinkel, as well as such well-known modern architects as Léon Krier, Jean-Pierre Adam, and Thomas Gordon Smith. ...Show more

A Guide to the Roman Remains in Britain by Roger J. A. Wilson

$15.00 NZD

Category: Ancient History | Reading Level: very good

Aimed at the non-specialist reader, this guide provides comprehensive coverage of the visible remains of Roman Britain. More than 250 sites are described, including 12 new to this revised edition, each of which is accompanied by site plans and access details. They range from the settlement of Chysauster at Land's End to Normandykes camp in the north of Scotland. ...Show more

Everyday Life in Egypt in the days of Ramesses the Great by Pierre Montet

$20.00 NZD

Category: Ancient History | Reading Level: reprint

Roman Britain - Life at the Edge of Empire by Richard Hobbs; Ralph Jackson

$14.00 NZD

Category: Ancient History | Reading Level: very good

This is an accessible, highly illustrated introduction to the history, society, culture and art of Britain when it was a province of the Roman Empire. This is a readable and attractive presentation of Britain's Roman heritage. This is a high-profile subject, as 2010 is the 1600th anniversary of the end of Roman Britain. This title contains beautiful new photography of recently discovered artefacts. Based on the latest research, this is the first all-new book on this subject published by the British Museum in nearly 20 years. For nearly four centuries, Britain was a province on the outer edge of the Roman Empire and developed a distinctively Romano-British culture and way of life. Using the archaeological evidence, ancient written sources and the latest research on surviving artefacts from a child's leather shoe to fascinating letters, from the monumental bronze head of the emperor Hadrian to hoards of stunning gold and silver a picture of Roman Britain is brought vividly to life. Whether for a Roman soldier on the northern frontier or a native British farmer; for a pagan British king or a Christian Roman lady living in a villa, the diversity of lifestyles, experiences and cultures is revealed. Native British traditions of trade and craftsmanship merged with the imported Roman styles and practices to create a unique cultural synthesis, the legacy of which is still visible today in British landscapes, architecture, art and society. Ralph Jackson and Richard Hobbs are curators of Romano-British antiquities in the British Museum. Ralph Jackson is also author of BM Research Publication "181: Cosmetic Sets of Late Iron Age and Roman Britain", which will be published August 2010. ...Show more

The Amazons - Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor

$25.00 NZD

Category: Ancient History | Reading Level: very good

Amazons--fierce warrior women dwelling on the fringes of the known world--were the mythic archenemies of the ancient Greeks. Heracles and Achilles displayed their valor in duels with Amazon queens, and the Athenians reveled in their victory over a powerful Amazon army. In historical times, Cyrus of Pers ia, Alexander the Great, and the Roman general Pompey tangled with Amazons. But just who were these bold barbarian archers on horseback who gloried in fighting, hunting, and sexual freedom? Were Amazons real? In this deeply researched, wide-ranging, and lavishly illustrated book, National Book Award finalist Adrienne Mayor presents the Amazons as they have never been seen before. This is the first comprehensive account of warrior women in myth and history across the ancient world, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Great Wall of China. Mayor tells how amazing new archaeological discoveries of battle-scarred female skeletons buried with their weapons prove that women warriors were not merely figments of the Greek imagination. Combining classical myth and art, nomad traditions, and scientific archaeology, she reveals intimate, surprising details and original insights about the lives and legends of the women known as Amazons. Provocatively arguing that a timeless search for a balance between the sexes explains the allure of the Amazons, Mayor reminds us that there were as many Amazon love stories as there were war stories. The Greeks were not the only people enchanted by Amazons--Mayor shows that warlike women of nomadic cultures inspired exciting tales in ancient Egypt, Persia, India, Central Asia, and China. Driven by a detective's curiosity, Mayor unearths long-buried evidence and sifts fact from fiction to show how flesh-and-blood women of the Eurasian steppes were mythologized as Amazons, the equals of men. The result is likely to become a classic. ...Show more

A History of Ancient Britain by Neil Oliver

$25.00 NZD

Category: Ancient History | Reading Level: very good

Who were the first Britons, and what sort of world did they occupy? In A HISTORY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN Neil Oliver turns a spotlight on the very beginnings of the story of Britain; on the first people to occupy these islands and their battle for survival. There has been human habitation in Britain, regular ly interrupted by Ice Ages, for the best part of a million years. The last retreat of the glaciers 12,000 years ago brought a new and warmer age and with it, one of the greatest tsunamis recorded on Earth which struck the north-east of Britain, devastating the population and flooding the low-lying plains of what is now the North Sea. The resulting island became, in time, home to a diverse range of cultures and peoples who have left behind them some of the most extraordinary and enigmatic monuments in the world. Through what is revealed by the artefacts of the past, Neil Oliver weaves the epic story - half -a-million years of human history up to the departure of the Roman Empire in the Fifth Century AD. It was a period which accounts for more than ninety-nine per cent of humankind's presence on these islands. It is the real story of Britain and of her people. ...Show more

The Roman Emperors - A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome: 31BC-AD476 by Michael Grant

$10.00 NZD

Category: Ancient History | Reading Level: good

An Introduction to Ancient Egypt by James Putnam

$14.00 NZD

Category: Ancient History | Reading Level: very good

The Age of Sutton Hoo - The Seventh Century in North-Western Europe by M O H Carver (Editor)

$30.00 NZD

Category: Ancient History | Reading Level: very good

Comparative studies on the age of Sutton Hoo (5c - 8c) with English and European focus, plus summary of the latest site excavations. The Sutton Hoo princely' burials play a pivotal role in any modern discussion of Germanic kingship.'EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE The age of Sutton Hoo runs from the fifth to the eighth century AD - a dark and difficult age, where hard evidence is rare, but glittering and richly varied. Myths, king-lists, place-names, sagas, palaces, belt-buckles, middens and graves are all grist to the archaeologist's mill. This book celebrates the anniversary of the discovery of that most famous burial at Sutton Hoo. Fifty years ago this great treasure, now in the British Museum, was unearthed from the centre of a ninety-foot-long ship buried on remote Suffolk heathland. Included in this volume are 23 wide-ranging essays on the Age of Sutton Hoo and director Martin Carver's summary of the latest excavations, which represent the current state of knowledge about this extraordinary site. That it still has secrets to reveal is shown by the last-minute discovery of a striking burial of a young noble with his horse and grave goods.M.O.H. CARVER is Professor of Archaeology at York University, and Director of the Sutton Hoo Research Project. ...Show more

The Oxford Classical Dictionary by N G L Hammond; H H Scullard

$25.00 NZD

Category: Ancient History | Reading Level: good

Ancient Civilizations and Ruins of Turkey by Ekrem Akurgal

$12.00 NZD

Category: Travel | Reading Level: very good