Ancient Greece’s legacy can be seen all around us, including in our political system — but many of us don’t know that much about it. Fortunately, we have someone who has devoted his life to studying this remote time and place to give us a reading list. Chris Pelling, Emeritus Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford, recommends his top five books on Ancient Greece.

The Best Books to Read on Late Antiquity — a Five Books Reading List

The classical Greek philosopher is credited with laying the foundation of Western philosophy – without ever having written a word. Here, the eminent scholar M M McCabe enters into dialogue with Five Books to recommend the best texts through which we might understand Socrates, and engage with the eternal question: How best to live?

Lucy Coats, author of one of the best children’s books on Greek myths, recommends her own favourites. There’s one for children, one for teenagers, one for scholars, one to read out loud and one that’s very definitely adult in content…

Cultural and philosophical changes that occurred in late antiquity are essential to our understanding of the world today, but few us know much about that period. Historian Robin Lane Fox recommends the best books to read to get a good sense of late antiquity.

Ancient history was a man’s world – but women were considered closer to the gods. The historian and TV presenter reveals the secrets of Athenian priestesses, Byzantine empresses and Stone Age fertility goddesses.

How accurate is what we think we know about the Romans? Tom Holland, the author of Rubicon, tells us about the exercise of power, the staging of ceremony and the influence of religion in ancient Rome.

The Cambridge Egyptologist discusses his favourite works on Ancient Egypt, from the first book he bought on the subject to an authoritative coffee-table tome.

Oxford historian chooses books on Ancient Rome and counters recent arguments that the fall of the Empire was all about compromise, diplomacy and accommodation. It wasn't, "it was all rape and murder". Brace yourself!

The Stanford University classics scholar says a comparison between Mithradates, a deadly enemy of the Roman Empire, and Osama bin Laden, who set his sights on the American Empire, is a tempting one.

Eugene Rogan is Director of the Middle East Centre at Oxford University. His research focuses on the social and economic history of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire and the Arab states in the 20th century.

Writer and Dark Age historian delves into five books on Celtic history, and talks about the challenge of separating history from legend. One priority for any Dark Age historian, he says, is “to avoid these awful bogs”

Byzantine scholar Judith Herrin, professor emerita at King’s College London, selects five books to help us understand the place of Byzantium in world civilisation.

Cambridge classics professor Mary Beard explains how the Ancients are pertinent to modern life. Even the most “formative intellectual cultures” had a seething heart of irrationality underneath the sparkling surface.

Egyptologist Elizabeth Frood recommends books that take us away from the elite context of Egyptian history and focus on the ‘normal’ lives of Egyptians.