An "extraordinary" account of the wars conducted by and against the Maccabean family of rulers in Palestine in the second and first centuries BC ( Midwest Book Review ).By the early second century BC, Israel had long been under the rule of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. But the policy of deliberate Hellenization and suppression of Jewish religious practices by Antiochus IV, sparked a revolt in 167 BC which was led initia...

After the surrender of the French government in May 1940, the British were concerned that the resources of the French Empire, and particularly the powerful French fleet, would be put at the disposal of the Germans. The British, dependent upon their naval power and the resources of the Empire and Commonwealth to continue the war, sought to neutralize the threat of the French fleet and saw an opportunity to gobble up certain French colonies for themselves. Thus, even while Britain was locked...

An account of a decade of upheaval across ancient India and the Mediterranean that would sway the political world order for the next seven-plus centuries.Between 152 and 138 BC a series of wars from Africa to India produced a radically new geopolitical situation. In 150 Rome was confined to the western Mediterranean, and the largest state was the Seleukid empire. By 140 Rome had spread to the borders of Asia Minor and the Seleukid empire was confined to Syria. The ...

Egypt was the last of the Macedonian Successor states to be swallowed up by Roman expansion. The Ptolemaic rulers had allied themselves to Rome while their rivals went down fighting. However, Cleopatra's famous love affair with Marc Antony ensured she was on the wrong side of the Roman civil war between him and Octavian (later to become Caesar Augustus). After the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at the naval battle of Actium, Octavian swiftly brought Egypt under direct Roman control, though...

Third in the trilogy of the ancient Greek dynasty. "In Grainger's account, the fall of the Seleukid is as enlightening as the rise."—Minerva MagazineThe concluding part of John D Grainger's history of the Seleukids traces the tumultuous last century of their empire. In this period, it was riven by dynastic disputes, secessions and rebellions, the religiously inspired insurrection of the Jewish Maccabees, civil war and external invasion from Egypt in the West and th...

Brings to life "a major figure in the Hellenistic World . . . in his own right, rather than as just another stepping stone during Rome's rise" (HistoryOfWar.org).The second volume in John Grainger's history of the Seleukid Empire is devoted to the reign of Antiochus III. Too often remembered only as the man who lost to the Romans at Magnesia, Antiochus is here revealed as one of the most powerful and capable rulers of the age. Having emerged from civil war in 223 as...

A historian of the ancient world examines the epic rise and fall of the Celtic tribes who invaded the Mediterranean and lands further east.The eastern Celtic tribes, known to the Greeks as Galatians, exploited the waning of Macedonian power after Alexander the Great's death to launch increasingly ambitious raids and expeditions into the Balkans. In 279 BC they launched a major invasion, defeating and beheading the Macedonian king, Ptolemy Keraunos, before sacking th...

An investigation of how a man could become a Roman emperor, and the failure to create an enduring, consistent system for selecting the next emperor.John D. Grainger analyses the Roman imperial succession, demonstrating that the empire organized by Augustus was fundamentally flawed in the method it used to find emperors. Augustus's system was a mixture of heredity, senatorial, and military influences, and these were generally antagonistic. Consequently, the Empire we...

How prehistoric humans coped with the end of the last Ice Age—and catastrophic global warming.Global warming is among the most urgent problems facing the world today. Yet many commentators, and even some scientists, discuss it with reference only to the changing climate of the last century or so. John Grainger takes a longer view and draws on the archaeological evidence to show how our ancestors faced up to the ending of the last Ice Age, arguably a more dramatic cl...

" A compelling review of Antipater and his family . . . A gripping story of a real game of thrones" from the author of the Seleukid Empire trilogy ( Firetrench).Antipater was a key figure in the rise of Macedon under Philip II and instrumental in the succession of Alexander III (the Great). Alexander entrusted Antipater with ruling Macedon in his long absence and he defeated the Spartans in 331 BC. After ...

A chronicle of the region's rich history, from the Ice Age to the dramatic political divisions of the current era.Syria—which in its historical wider sense includes modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, and Jordan—has always been at the center of events of world importance. It was in this region that pastoral-stock rearing, settled agriculture, and alphabetic writing were invented (and the dog was domesticated). From Syria, Phoenician explorers set out to explor...

A technological, strategic, and tactical history of ancient naval ships from Alexander to the battle of Actium.The period covered in this book is well known for its epic battles and grand campaigns of territorial conquest, but Hellenistic monarchies, Carthaginians, and the rapacious Roman Republic were scarcely less active at sea. Huge resources were poured into maintaining fleets not only as symbols of prestige but as means of projecting real military power across ...