Pathbreaking essays challenging the traditional focus on the eastern Mediterranean in the Hellenistic period and on Rome in the West.

Pathbreaking essays challenging the traditional focus on the eastern Mediterranean in the Hellenistic period and on Rome in the West.

Pathbreaking essays challenging the traditional focus on the eastern Mediterranean in the Hellenistic period and on Rome in the West.

The Hellenistic period—the nearly three centuries between the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 B.C., and the suicide of the Egyptian queen Kleopatra VII (the famous "Cleopatra"), in 30 B.C.—is one of the most complex and exciting epochs of ancient Greek art. The unprecedented geographic sweep of Alexander's conquests changed the face of the ancient world forever, forging diverse cultural connections and exposing Greek artists to a host of new influences and artistic styles. This beautifully illustrated volume examines the rich diversity of art forms that arose through the patronage of the royal courts of the Hellenistic kingdoms, placing special emphasis on Pergamon, capital of the Attalid dynasty, which ruled over large parts of Asia Minor. With its long history of German-led excavations, Pergamon provides a superb paradigm of a Hellenistic capital, appointed with important civic institutions—a great library, theater, gymnasium, temples, and healing center—that we recognize today as central features of modern urban life. The military triumphs of Alexander and his successors led to the expansion of Greek culture out from the traditional Greek heartland to the Indus River Valley in the east and as far west as the Strait of Gibraltar. These newly established Hellenistic kingdoms concentrated wealth and power, resulting in an unparalleled burst of creativity in all the arts, from architecture and sculpture to seal engraving and glass production. Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World brings together the insights of a team of internationally renowned scholars, who reveal how the art of Classical Greece was transformed during this period, melding with predominantly Eastern cultural traditions to yield new standards and conventions in taste and style.

A radical and powerful reappraisal of the impact of Constantine’s adoption of Christianity on the later Roman world, and on the subsequent development both of Christianity and of Western civilization. When the Emperor Contstantine converted to Christianity in 368 AD, he changed the course of European history in ways that continue to have repercussions to the present day. Adopting those aspects of the religion that suited his purposes, he turned Rome on a course from the relatively open, tolerant and pluralistic civilization of the Hellenistic world, towards a culture that was based on the rule of fixed authority, whether that of the Bible, or the writings of Ptolemy in astronomy and of Galen and Hippocrates in medicine. Only a thousand years later, with the advent of the Renaissance and the emergence of modern science, did Europe begin to free itself from the effects of Constantine's decision, yet the effects of his establishment of Christianity as a state religion remain with us, in many respects, today. Brilliantly wide-ranging and ambitious, this is a major work of history.

"Wonderful…a thoughtful discussion of what made [the Greeks] so important, in their own time and in ours." —Natalie Haynes, Independent The ancient Greeks invented democracy, theater, rational science, and philosophy. They built the Parthenon and the Library of Alexandria. Yet this accomplished people never formed a single unified social or political identity. In Introducing the Ancient Greeks, acclaimed classics scholar Edith Hall offers a bold synthesis of the full 2,000 years of Hellenic history to show how the ancient Greeks were the right people, at the right time, to take up the baton of human progress. Hall portrays a uniquely rebellious, inquisitive, individualistic people whose ideas and creations continue to enthrall thinkers centuries after the Greek world was conquered by Rome. These are the Greeks as you’ve never seen them before.