The best books on the ancient Mediterranean

This is a seminal work on the development of ancient Rome and an excellent overview of the city’s history. It presents an outline account from its early development to Late Antiquity written in an accessible and engaging style. Although its principal focus is a chronological account of Rome’s political development and rise to world power, it is much more than this and presents fascinating insights into Rome’s social and cultural history.

It examines themes of immigration and belonging, how to be a Roman, the nature of slavery and the lives of the ordinary people, and many others, alongside its account of conquest and imperial dominance, and of the transition from Republic to Principate.

The volume (the publication of a Cambridge lecture series) addresses one of the key themes of modern culture: the nature of identity. The question ‘what is a Greek?’ is not as straightforward as it seems, given that the Greek world was very diverse, and the book explores this by examining Greek culture as a series of polarities: Greek vs barbarian; free vs slave, citizen vs non-citizen; male vs female and gods vs humans. It traces how these polarities illuminate how the Greeks thought about themselves, and how we think about them.

Although aimed squarely at a student readership, it is an approachable introduction to the nature of Greek culture and reflection on questions of identity, difference, and belonging which are at the forefront of contemporary political and cultural debate.

The Etruscans were a fascinating people with a rich and varied material culture, as well as a reputation for mystery, partly due to their enigmatic and unique language. They were an influential people in Italy before the expansion of Rome and their culture which had a profound influence on that of Rome and other Italian peoples. As such, they are central to our understanding of early Italy. Haynes presents an approachable account of the origins and development of the Etruscans, integrating complex historical, archaeological, and art historical evidence into a readable account.

She weaves together a chronological survey of the Etruscans, their origins, expansion, and eventual decline, with an appreciation and explanation of their stunning visual and material culture to present a work that combines history, archaeology, and art history.

Carthage, founded by the Phoenicians in the late 9th century BC, was one of the major powers of the western Mediterranean, establishing domination in North Africa, western Sicily and the Mediterranean islands, and Spain. Its struggle with the Greeks for domination of Sicily in the 4th century and wars with Rome in the 3rd-2nd centuries were seminal events in Mediterranean history. This book offers an excellent introduction to the Carthaginians and their culture. It traces the development of the city from its foundation to its destruction by Rome in 146 BC, presenting a wealth of archaeological and written evidence and explaining many of the complexities of Carthage’s history and society.

Although aimed at an academic readership, it presents this material in a manner that is accessible to anyone with an interest in the ancient Mediterranean.

The later period of Greek history, after the conquests of Alexander the Great, is considerably less well known that the history of Classical Greece, but it was a fascinating period that radically changed the society and culture of the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. This book covers the period of Alexander's conquests, the fragmentation of his empire into multiple kingdoms after his death, and the Roman conquest and domination of the Greek world.

It outlines the rise and fall of dynasties and kingdoms, the Roman conquest, and the transformation of the region, firstly by the Greek culture promoted by Alexander and his successors, and then by Roman rule. It provides an accessible and informative narrative of a period in which the Middle East and Greek world underwent transformational changes.