Penguin Books Australia

A fresh, gripping look at one of Western history's defining moments

the inspiration for our modern-day marathon comes form the legend of Philippides, who is said to have run 26 miles form Marathon to Athens to deliver the news of the Greeks' victory over the Persians.  Yet the battle of Marathon has had a far greater impact; it can even be seen as the most significant moment in our collective...

FROM ALEXANDRIA TO YORK, THIS UNIQUE ATLAS ALLOWS US TO SEE THE GREAT CENTRES OF CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION AFRESH.

The key feature of Cities of the Classical World is 120 specially drawn maps tracing each city's thoroughfares and defences, monuments and places of worship. Every map is to the same scale, allowing readers for the first time to appreciate visually the relative sizes of Babylon and Paris...

The creation of the Christian Church is one of the most important stories in the development of the world's history, but also one of the most enigmatic and little understood, shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding.  

' Ancient Worlds really does put flesh on the bones of history and Richard Miles brings long lost cities to life'  Observer

Ancient Worlds tells the epic story of civilization, and the cities that made us who we are.

IN HIS GOAL OF COMPOSING 'A POSSESSION FOR ALL TIME,' THUCYDIDES HAS SET THE STANDARD FOR HISTORIANS FOR THE PAST TWO-AND-A-HALF MILLENNIA

'An enthralling narrative'  Economist

'The Carthaginians finally get their due . . .  well-paced and compelling … In bringing the real Carthage to the fore, Carthage Must Be Destroyed makes a substantial contribution to the field'   Financial Times

'Lively and compelling'   Literary Review

'Thoughtful and meticulous . . . fascinating'  Guardian

'A superb achievement'...

Islam and the Crusades contains the autobiographical works of Usama ibn Munqidh, a twelfth-century Arab aristocrat. Full of detail, wit and melancholy, Usama's narrative anecdotes illustrate the inscrutability of God's will in life, as well as providing a memorable record of Islam's long encounter with the Crusaders, known to Usama only as the Franks.

In Livy's epic history of Rome he unashamedly praised his country's virtues and urged against its excesses, in order to keep it great. He dedicated most of his life to writing some 142 volumes of history...

Josephus' account of a war marked by treachery and atrocity is a superbly detailed and evocative record of the Jewish rebellion against Rome between AD 66 and 70. Originally a rebel leader, Josephus changed sides after he was captured to become a Rome-appointed...

'If history is deprived for the truth, we are left with nothing but an idle,unprofitable tale'

Completed in 1136, The History of the Kings of Britain traces the story of the realm from its supposed foundation by Brutus to the coming of the Saxons some two thousand years later. Vividly portraying legendary and semi-legendary figures such as Lear, Cymbeline, Merlin the magician and the most famous of all British heroes, King Arthur, it is as much myth as it is history and its veracity was questioned...

Xenophon's History recounts nearly fifty turbulent years of warfare in Greece between 411 and 362 BC. Continuing the story of the Peloponnesian War at the point where Thucydides finished his magisterial history, this is a fascinating chronicle of the conflicts that ultimately led to the decline of Greece, and the wars with both Thebes and the might of Persia. An Athenian by birth, Xenophon became a...

A military leader of legendary genius, Caesar was also a great writer, recording the events of his life with incomparable immediacy and power. The Civil War is a tense and gripping depiction of his struggle with Pompey over the leadership of Republican Rome - a conflict that spanned the entire Roman world, from Gaul and Spain to Asia and Africa. Where Caesar's own account leaves off in 48 BC, his lieutenants...

In The Persian Expedition, Xenophon, a young Athenian noble who sought his destiny abroad, provides an enthralling eyewitness account of the attempt by a Greek mercenary army - the Ten Thousand - to help Prince Cyrus overthrow his brother and take the Persian throne. When the Greeks were then betrayed by their Persian employers, they were forced to march home through hundreds of miles of difficult...

Edward Gibbon's six-volume History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-88) is among the most magnificent and ambitious narratives in European literature. Its subject is the fate of one of the world's greatest civilizations over thirteen centuries - its rulers, wars and society, and the events that led to its disastrous collapse. Here, in volumes one and two, Gibbon charts the vast extent...

Edward Gibbon's six-volume History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-88) is among the most magnificent and ambitious narratives in European literature. Its subject is the fate of one of the world's greatest civilizations over thirteen centuries - its rulers, wars and society, and the events that led to its disastrous collapse. Here, in volumes three and four, Gibbon vividly recounts...