The Battle of Nemea marked Sparta's dramatic return to dominance at the opening of the Corinthian War.In 394 B.C., the greatest coalition assembled against Sparta since the Persian Wars confronted the Peloponnesian army on the plains of Nemea. Athenians, Boeotians, Corinthians, Argives, and their allies sought to end Spartan supremacy. Instead, they encountered one of the finest demonstrations of discipline and battlefield leadership in Classical Greek warfare....

A rhetorician of the late second century, Athenaeus wrote ‘The Deipnosophistae’ (‘Dinner-Table Philosophers’), a fifteen-book encyclopaedia of information on the ancient world, preserving otherwise lost treasures from many important writers. The text is structured as a dialogue in the vein of Plato, offering an amusing account of a Greek symposium. ‘The Deipnosophistae’ details the many different cuisines and entertainments of ancient banquets, held together by the intellectual tal...

At Constantinople, the future of the Byzantine Empire—and perhaps of Europe itself—was decided.In 717 A.D., the Umayyad Caliphate launched the greatest expedition in its history to capture Constantinople. After decades of relentless expansion, the Arabs stood before the strongest fortress of the medieval world, determined to destroy the Byzantine Empire and open southeastern Europe to further conquest. Opposing them stood Emperor Leo III, whose leadership, preparat...

At Chaeronea, the Greek world crossed a point of no return.In 338 B.C., on the plains of Boeotia, the armies of Athens, Thebes, and their allies confronted the rising power of Macedon. The Battle of Chaeronea was not simply a clash between opposing forces, but a confrontation between two fundamentally different ways of making war. It was shaped by preparation, command structure, and the ability to control events as the battlefield fractured, rather than by chance, ...

At Dara, the Eastern Roman Empire proved that discipline, preparation, and operational control could halt the offensive power of Sassanian Persia.In 530 A.D., near the fortified frontier city of Dara, the Byzantine general Belisarius confronted a larger Persian army determined to break Roman resistance in Mesopotamia. Using fortified positions, coordinated cavalry maneuver, concealed reserves, and disciplined battlefield control, the Byzantines absorbed repeated Pe...

At Yarmuk, the fate of the Eastern Roman Empire in the Levant was decided.In 636 A.D., two worlds collided on the windswept plains near the Yarmuk River. The Eastern Roman Empire, exhausted but victorious after decades of war against Sasanian Persia, sought to reclaim full control of Syria and halt the rapid expansion of the Rashidun Caliphate. Facing them stood the armies of Islam under Khalid ibn al-Walid, determined to preserve their conquests and secure the fut...

Athenaeus (Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD. The Suda says only that he lived in the times of Marcus Aurelius.Several of his publications are lost, but the fifteen-volume Deipnosophistae mostly survives.The Deipnosophistae is an early 3rd-century AD Greek work by the Greek author Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is a long work of literary, historical, and antiquarian references set in Rome a...

In preparing the present volume the Editor has aimed at providing the English reader with the most complete apparatus for the study of Athanasius, his life, and his theological influence, which could be brought within the compass of a single volume of the ‘Nicene and Post-Nicene Library.’ The volume contains all the most important treatises of Athanasius (in as nearly as possible their exact chronological order), with the exception of the ad Serapionem, the contra Apollinarium, the ad Marc...

Athenæus is the author of this book; and in it he is discoursing with Timocrates: and the name of the book is the Deipnosophists. In this work Laurentius is introduced, a Roman, a man of distinguished fortune, giving a banquet in his own house to men of the highest eminence for every kind of learning and accomplishment; and there is no sort of gentlemanly knowledge which he does not mention in the conversation which he attributes to them; for he has put down in his book, fish, and their us...

In The Deipnosophists, Volume 2, Athenaeus continues the rich tapestry of discussion among the intellectuals gathered at the fictional banquet. Building upon the themes introduced in the first volume, this second installment delves even deeper into the cultural, gastronomic, and literary curiosities of ancient Greece. The conversation becomes more layered as participants recount specific details about feasting customs, unusual culinary practices, and lesser-known myths. The topics range wi...

The Deipnosophists by Athenaeus of Naucratis is an encyclopedic work that provides a vivid picture of ancient Greek culture through a fictionalized banquet of intellectuals. The title, derived from the Greek word for "learned banqueters," refers to a symposium where a group of scholars, philosophers, and rhetoricians gather to discuss a wide array of topics, including food, literature, philosophy, and customs. Modeled after Plato’s Symposium, this work spans 15 volumes and offers a blend o...

In The Deipnosophists, Volume 3, Athenaeus continues the detailed and varied discussions among the guests at the elaborate banquet. This volume explores a mix of subjects, from the origins of foods and the significance of specific ingredients to poetic interpretations of luxury and moderation. Guests share knowledge of ancient festivals, elaborate drinking customs, and the symbolic meaning of particular dishes within Greek and Roman cultures. The banter often weaves mythological and histor...