Ancient History Books
recommended by historians and Classicists
Last updated: September 25, 2024
Which are the best ancient history books? For a greater understanding of that long ago time, we've turned to some of the leading experts of the era to recommend the best books ever written on ancient history. Historians, including Peter Brown, Robin Lane Fox and Mary Beard, have all been kind enough to recommend books. Our interview with Oxford's emeritus professor Chris Pelling, on Ancient Greece, is a perennial favourite on the site and his book co-authored with Marina Wyke, Twelve Voices, highly recommended as a way of getting into the literature of the Latin and Greek worlds.
(If you want to read either literature or primary sources in the original, we have books recommendations for learning both Latin and Ancient Greek filed under 'Classical Studies'.)
The best books on Ancient Rome, recommended by Tom Holland
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 best books on Ancient Greece, recommended by Christopher Pelling
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 on Ancient Egypt, recommended by Toby Wilkinson
Cambridge Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson discusses his favourite works on Ancient Egypt — from the first book he bought on the subject to an authoritative coffee-table tome.
The Best Classics Books for Teenagers, recommended by Olly Murphy
Caesar, Cicero, Achilles, Socrates, Plato: millennia later, we still talk about them. Olly Murphy, classics teacher at Wycombe Abbey, one of England’s top girls’ schools, recommends books and explains why classics remains one of the most exciting subjects for teenagers to study.
Books about Pompeii
On August 24th, 79 AD Vesuvius, a volcano overlooking the Bay of Naples, erupted. The surrounding towns, including Pompeii and Herculaneum, would eventually be covered in ash and preserved for centuries, rediscovered in the 19th century and still revealing new information about the ancient world today.
The best books on Boudica, recommended by Richard Hingley
Boudica was an Iron Age queen who led her people into rebellion against Roman rule in the province of Britannia. She was defeated, but only after she had burned several towns, including London, to the ground. Here Richard Hingley, Professor of Archaeology at Durham University, explains how to sift the truth from the myth, and why Boudica has remained an enduring source of fascination down the centuries.
The Best Augustine Books, recommended by Catherine Conybeare
Christianity has been profoundly influenced by Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE), but the fifth-century North African bishop has impacted almost every area of western thought: philosophy, theology, political theory, linguistics, and rhetoric. His Confessions is one of the most recommended titles on Five Books, but is it really the first autobiography? Professor Catherine Conybeare introduces us to the life, thought, and personality of this controversial yet brilliant figure. She picks the best books to learn more about St. Augustine and explores how he has been unfairly maligned.
The best books on The Celts, recommended by Simon Young
In telling the story of the Celts, it’s challenging to separate history from legend, says writer and historian Simon Young. And yet, we do have evidence of cities burned to the ground and decapitated statues, as well as books written at the time. He takes us to the land of Boudicca, King Arthur and Merlin, and explains why Irish monks took to the sea to find deserted islands.
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1
Hieroglyphs: A Very Short Introduction
by Penelope Wilson -
2
Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt
by Maria Betro -
3
The Myth of Egypt and Its Hieroglyphs in European Tradition
by Erik Iversen -
4
Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World's Undeciphered Scripts
by Andrew Robinson -
5
The Dawning Moon of the Mind: Unlocking the Pyramid Texts
by Susan Brind Morrow
The best books on Hieroglyphics, recommended by Diane Greco Josefowicz
The best books on Hieroglyphics, recommended by Diane Greco Josefowicz
Reading the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt reveals much about the worldview of a civilisation that rose to prominence 5000 years ago and flourished for thousands of years. Here, intellectual historian Diane Greco Josefowicz—whose book, The Riddle of the Rosetta, co-written with Jed Buchwald, tells the story of how the meaning of the hieroglyphs was deciphered in 19th century France—recommends the best books to learn more about hieroglyphics.
The best books on Sparta, recommended by Andrew Bayliss
Their reputation for self-discipline and self-denial made their way into the English language, but what the ancient Spartans were really like remains a source of debate among scholars, not least because they wrote little themselves. Andrew Bayliss, Senior Lecturer in Greek History at the University of Birmingham and author of an excellent, short book on The Spartans, talks us through what we know about the heroes of Thermopylae, including the darker sides of their culture and society.