That venerable and dedicated historian of ancient India travelled half a century ago to northern and north-western China to work at the cave sites of Maijishan and Dunhuang; based on her dia... read more
Beard on the faces of power through history. She asks why - for over two millennia - the striking, stony realism of Roman portraiture has been a touchstone for subsequent depictions of power... read more
A journey to find hope - or rather Hope: Fiennes's map for his wanderings are the myths, and then the myths come to infuse what he finds in Arcadia, the Peloponnese and beyond. The river Lou... read more
What distinguished 'art' from 'Art' ? Types of display, collecting, certain kinds of knowledge becoming matters of profession, etc. A specialised and fascinating study that puts the subject ... read more
LB could turn straw into gold. Here she describes chancing across the writings of a rather obscure Greek philosopher, and the wonders and illuminations that followed. Transformative.
Ostensibly about the life of the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, this beautifully illustrated volume examines the idea that harmony and beauty are not only inherent in the wo... read more
We haven't quite understood yet how to use this magnificent book as an atlas, but the pictures are breath-taking: ancient wonders hiding in plain sight. Abram's takes full advantage of aeria... read more
An investigation of the people behind the art: how did the Greeks and Romans view their own bodies? What were their ideas of perfection and ugliness and how were these used in art? Some illu... read more
Stoppard's libretto for André Previn's Penelope - a monodrama by Odysseus's wife - first performed in 2019 by Renée Fleming, Uma Thurman and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
A former editor of The Times Literary Supplement argues that the trajectory of Rome's richest man presents pertinent questions about the intertwining of money, ambition, and power.
Selections from the man who threatened to bite scoundrels; with the Greek on facing pages and an introduction. One of three niftily pocket-sized classical guides to life from Princeton.
Fortitude and patience: Cicero's text in Latin and in English translation, with a commentary. One of three niftily pocket-sized philosophical guides from Princeton.
A new translation of Seneca's 'On The Shortness of Life', with the Latin on facing pages and an introduction. One of three niftily pocket-sized classical guides to life.
2 vols in slipcase. 164 objects, each with full page illustration and a facing page of text. Vol 1 is concerned with deities; vol 2 looks at luxury objects. A gorgeous publication.
On the radical pre-Socratic philosopher and geometer who proposed (amongst other things) an early theory of evolution. By the author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Helgoland.
Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt was the French archaeologist who, in the 1960s, faced down both de Gaulle and Nasser to dismantle and move a dozen temples - including the vast Abu Simbel - t... read more
The philosophical innovations of Sappho, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Xenophanes, Homer and others. The first time since The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters that this excellent writer has turned t... read more
9000BC years ago there were pastoral economies; by 3000BC the desert reasserted itself. A fascinating study of human adaptability in the face of early climate change and geophysical influenc... read more
A compelling account of the world's first empire, drawing extensively on recent discoveries in the field with the use of new archaeological techniques.
The great historian of late antiquity mixes the personal with the scholarly in telling the story of his life and work. Engagement with the non-European world has been intrinsic to his work.