Free Download Jebrael Nokandeh, Hamid Omrani Rekavandi, "Ancient Arms Race: Antiquity's Largest Fortresses and Sasanian Military Networks of Northern Iran: A joint fieldwork project by the Iranian Center for Archaeological Research, the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism and the University of Edinburgh"
English | 2023 | ISBN: 1789254620 | PDF | pages: 929 | 184.0 mb
Which ancient army boasted the largest fortifications, and how did the competitive build-up of military capabilities shape world history? Few realise that imperial Rome had a serious competitor in Late Antiquity. Late Roman legionary bases, normally no larger than 5ha, were dwarfed by Sasanian fortresses, often covering 40ha, sometimes even 125-175ha. The latter did not necessarily house permanent garrisons but sheltered large armies temporarily - perhaps numbering 10-50,000 men each. Even Roman camps and fortresses of the Early and High Empire did not reach the dimensions of their later Persian counterparts. The longest fort-lined wall of the late antique world was also Persian. Persia built up, between the fourth and sixth centuries AD, the most massive military infrastructure of any ancient or medieval Near Eastern empire - if not the ancient and medieval world. Much of the known defensive network was directed against Persia's powerful neighbours in the north rather than the west. This may reflect differences in archaeological visibility more than troop numbers. Urban garrisons in the Romano-Persian frontier zone are much harder to identify than vast geometric compounds in marginal northern lands. Recent excavations in Iran have enabled us to precision-date two of the largest fortresses of Southwest Asia, both larger than any in the Roman world. Excavations in a Gorgan Wall fort have shed much new light on frontier life, and we have unearthed a massive bridge nearby. A sonar survey has traced the terminal of the Tammisheh Wall, now submerged under the waters of the Caspian Sea. Further work has focused on a vast city and settlements in the hinterland. Persia's Imperial Power, our previous project, had already shed much light on the Great Wall of Gorgan, but it was our recent fieldwork that has thrown the sheer magnitude of Sasanian military infrastructure into sharp relief.

Free Download Bruce W. Longenecker, "The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity"
English | ISBN: 1108427391 | 2023 | 725 pages | PDF | 6 MB
The first three hundred years of the common era witnessed critical developments that would become foundational for Christianity itself, as well as for the societies and later history that emerged thereafter. The concept of 'ancient Christianity,' however, along with the content that the category represents, has raised much debate. This is, in part, because within this category lie multiple forms of devotion to Jesus Christ, multiple phenomena, and multiple permutations in the formative period of Christian history. Within those multiples lie numerous contests, as varieties of Christian identity laid claim to authority and authenticity in different ways. The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity addresses these contested areas with both nuance and clarity by reviewing, synthesizing, and critically engaging recent scholarly developments. The 27 thematic chapters, specially commissioned for this volume from an international team of scholars, also offer constructive ways forward for future research.

Free Download Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, "Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Studies in Honor of Christopher A. Faraone"
English | ISBN: 1032341262 | 2023 | 374 pages | EPUB, PDF | 5 MB + 24 MB
This volume explores aspects of ancient magic and religion in the ancient Mediterranean, specifically ways in which religious and mythical ideas, including the knowledge and practice of magic, were transmitted and adapted through time and across Greco-Roman, Near Eastern, and Egyptian cultures.

Free Download Loren R Spielman, "Jews and Entertainment in the Ancient World "
English | ISBN: 3161550005 | 2020 | 320 pages | PDF | 3 MB
Countering the traditional belief that Jews in antiquity were predominantly disinterested in the popular entertainments of the Greek and Roman world, Loren R. Spielman maps the varieties of Jewish engagement with theater, athletics, horse racing, gladiatorial, and beast shows in antiquity. The author argues that Jews from Hellenistic Alexandria to late antique Sepphoris enjoyed and exploited, or alternatively resisted and scorned, popular forms of public entertainment as they adapted to the political, social, and religious realities of imperial rule. Including references to ancient Jewish actors, athletes, promoters, and plays alongside analysis of rabbinic and other early Jewish critique of sport and spectacle, Loren R. Spielmandescribes the different ways that attitudes towards entertainment might have played a role in shaping ancient Jewish identity.

Free Download Simone Weil, "Intimations of Christianity Among the Ancient Greeks "
English | ISBN: 1032533994 | 2023 | 228 pages | EPUB, PDF | 740 KB + 2 MB
Simone Weil (1909-1943) is one of the most brilliant and unorthodox religious and philosophical minds of the twentieth century. She was also a political activist, worked in the Renault car factory in France in the 1930s and fought briefly as an anarchist in the Spanish Civil War, before her tragic early death in England at the age of thirty-four. Her work spans an astonishing variety of subjects, from ancient Greek philosophy and Christianity to oppression, political freedom and French national identity.

Free Download Erik Hornung, "History of Ancient Egypt: Translated by David Lorton"
English | ISBN: 0748613420 | | 224 pages | PDF | 135 MB
This is a vivid chronological history of the civilization of ancient Egypt from its foundation some 5,000 years ago to its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, effectively the first half of written human history. It is based on Professor Hornung's unrivalled knowledge of archaeological and documentary evidence, and provides as straightforward a story as the varied nature and extent of that evidence allows. The book opens with a consideration of the prehistoric origins of humans ettlement of the Nile valley. Following radical climatic change nomads, cattle-breeders and farmers, Africans and Asiatics, Semites and Hamites, came together in the two lands of the Upper and the Lower Nile. There the differentiated unity of ancient Egypt emerged and under the kings of the first two dynasties developed its characteristic high culture. Successive chapters are then devoted to the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, and to the late Period, in which the histories and varied fortunes of 28 dynasties are succinctly told. The author describes the nature and evolution of the Egyptians' at times iconoclastic relations with their complex deities, and the burial practices associated with them; their sophisticated government and administration; the building and import of the pyramids and temples; and their frequently warlike relations with the Hittites, Libyans, Babylonians, Syrians and Nubians. First published in German and long regarded as the most authoritative concise account,

Free Download Globalization and Papua New Guinea: Ancient Wilderness, Paradise, Introduced Terror and Hell by Falk Huettmann
English | PDF EPUB (True) | 2023 | 705 Pages | ISBN : 3031202619 | 324 MB
This book aims to present a reality view for Papua New Guinea based on many years of first-hand field work and research accounts. It further assesses sustainability in the light of 47,000 years of a self-sustained type of civilization without bad global impacts. This book contrasts the modern sustainable development failures from the colonial times onwards, as promoted by the 'western world', namely Australia, the UK, EU and the U.S as well as Japan and now, China, in times of globalization, Trump'ism and royal governance (Papua New Guinea is still part of the British Dominion and of the Antarctic Treaty etc). This assessment and book is the first of its kind also employing modern data analysis, Landscape Ecology principles (patterns and processes, telecoupling) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with Open Access data focusing on ecological economics, marxism, socialism and contrasting it with current capitalism and neoliberalism that Papua New Guinea is fully exposed to. Throughout the 31 book chapters various aspects are covered how a further insistence on the 'new' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and so-called Development Aid will result in unwanted side effects and perverse outcomes for Papua New Guinea and for the world in times of wider 'global change' and unprecedented man-made crisis.

Free Download Astronomy of Ancient Egypt: A Cultural Perspective by Juan Antonio Belmonte , José Lull
English | PDF EPUB (True) | 2023 | 619 Pages | ISBN : 3031118286 | 195.7 MB
This book is a comprehensive reference on ancient Egyptian astronomy, one of the most important topics in historical astronomy. Written by two recognized specialists-one an astronomer trained in Egyptology and the other an Egyptologist trained in astronomy-it synthesizes and analyses the international body of research surrounding this ancient culture.

Free Download Potts, "Aspects of Kinship in Ancient Iran (Iran and the Ancient World) "
English | ISBN: 0520394992 | 2023 | 148 pages | PDF | 15 MB
A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visitwww.luminosoa.orgto learn more.

Free Download Noboru Karashima, "Ancient to Medieval South Indian Society in Transition"
English | ISBN: 0198063121 | 2010 | 328 pages | PDF | 23 MB
Written over a decade, this collection traces the emergence of medieval state and social formation in south India, specifically in Tamil Nadu from twelfth to fourteenth centuries. The volume is divided into three sections. The first part deals with the transformation in the landholding and production systems. It discusses the changes in produce sharing of temple lands, land revenue policy, and land surveys. The next section studies the emergence of new j?tis and social change. It investigates the emergence of social classes occupying the lowest social rung; formation, growth and commercialization of the local assemblies; and change in the character of towns. The last part examines Chinese sources and overseas trade and how they describe the Chola and Pandyan states. The essays also throw light on the role of merchant guilds, trade, and ports in the development of socio-economic milieu.