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The pre-eminent historian of his day, Edward Gibbon (1737–94) produced his magnum opus in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. Reissued here is the authoritative seven-volume edition prepared by J. B. Bury (1861–1927) between 1896 and 1900. Immediately and widely acclaimed, Gibbon's work remains justly famous for its magisterial account of Roman imperialism and Christianity from the first century CE through to the fall of Constantinople and beyond. Innovative in its use of primary sources and notable for its tone of religious scepticism, this epic narrative stands as a masterpiece of English literature and historical scholarship. Volume 7 covers the period 1206–1590 CE, examining the rise of Genghis Khan, the conquests of Tamerlane, the Council of Basel, the Ottoman capture of Constantinople, the Western schism and reunion, and the ruins of ancient Rome. Indexes to the text and appendices are also included.
The Assyriologist George Smith (1840–76) was trained originally as an engraver, but was enthralled by the discoveries of Layard and Rawlinson. He taught himself cuneiform script, and joined the British Museum as a 'repairer' of broken cuneiform tablets. Promotion followed, and after one of Smith's most significant discoveries among the material sent to the Museum - a Babylonian story of a great flood - he was sent to the Middle East, where he found more inscriptions which contained other parts of the epic tale of Gilgamesh. Before his early death in 1876, he was writing a history of Babylonia for the 'Ancient History from the Monuments' series. Prepared for press by A. H. Sayce, it was published in 1877. Smith traces the story of the Babylonian empire from mythical times ('before the deluge') to its conquest by Persia in the sixth century BCE. Several other books by Smith are also reissued in this series.
The pre-eminent historian of his day, Edward Gibbon (1737–94) produced his magnum opus in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. Reissued here is the authoritative seven-volume edition prepared by J. B. Bury (1861–1927) between 1896 and 1900. Immediately and widely acclaimed, Gibbon's work remains justly famous for its magisterial account of Roman imperialism and Christianity from the first century CE through to the fall of Constantinople and beyond. Innovative in its use of primary sources and notable for its tone of religious scepticism, this epic narrative stands as a masterpiece of English literature and historical scholarship. Volume 2 seeks to explain the rise of Christianity, focusing on its emergence from and early interactions with Judaism, and the nature of Christian belief and worship. It also examines the founding of Constantinople and the pagan reign of Julian.
The pre-eminent historian of his day, Edward Gibbon (1737–94) produced his magnum opus in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. Reissued here is the authoritative seven-volume edition prepared by J. B. Bury (1861–1927) between 1896 and 1900. Immediately and widely acclaimed, Gibbon's work remains justly famous for its magisterial account of Roman imperialism and Christianity from the first century CE through to the fall of Constantinople and beyond. Innovative in its use of primary sources and notable for its tone of religious scepticism, this epic narrative stands as a masterpiece of English literature and historical scholarship. Volume 6 covers the period from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries CE, addressing the Arab sieges of Constantinople, the culture of the Eastern Empire at the end of the first millennium, the origins of the Bulgarian, Hungarian and Russian peoples, the rise of the Turks and the conquest of Asia Minor, and the Crusades.
Born near Aachen, Leonhard Schmitz (1807–90) studied at the University of Bonn, from which he received his PhD, before marrying an Englishwoman and becoming a naturalised British citizen. Made famous by the 1844 publication of his translation of Niebuhr's Lectures on the History of Rome, he became rector of the Royal High School, Edinburgh, where he taught Alexander Graham Bell. He also briefly tutored the future Edward VII (and he had previously taught Prince Albert in Bonn). This short-lived quarterly journal, which Schmitz founded and edited between 1844 and 1850, focused exclusively on aspects of classical antiquity – in contrast to the more general literary reviews that were common in the period. It illuminates the development of Classics as a specialist discipline as well as contemporary intellectual links between Britain and Germany. This fourth volume was published in 1847.
This book, originally published in 1900, was the major work of the classical historian J. B. Bury. It became a standard textbook on the topic of ancient Greek history to the death of Alexander the Great for almost a century, and in its updated form is still studied today. Bury had studied philosophy as well as classics at Trinity College, Dublin, and had travelled widely in Greece, but until the publication of this work was better known for his two-volume History of the Later Roman Empire (also reissued in this series), and many of his other works also deal with the Byzantine period. He describes in the preface his decision to limit the extent of his history: 'compression into a single volume often produces a more useful book'. This magisterial and very readable synthesis of political and military history encompasses nearly three millennia and the whole of the Mediterranean and Near East.
Born near Aachen, Leonhard Schmitz (1807–90) studied at the University of Bonn, from which he received his PhD, before marrying an Englishwoman and becoming a naturalised British citizen. Made famous by the 1844 publication of his translation of Niebuhr's Lectures on the History of Rome, he became rector of the Royal High School, Edinburgh, where he taught Alexander Graham Bell. He also briefly tutored the future Edward VII (and he had previously taught Prince Albert in Bonn). This short-lived quarterly journal, which Schmitz founded and edited between 1844 and 1850, focused exclusively on aspects of classical antiquity - in contrast to the more general literary reviews that were common in the period. It illuminates the development of Classics as a specialist discipline as well as contemporary intellectual links between Britain and Germany. This fifth volume was published in 1848.
Controversial for centuries, the route across the Alps taken by Hannibal, his Carthaginian army and his famous elephants in 218 BCE formed the basis of an extended scholarly dispute between William John Law (1786–1869) and Robert Ellis (1819/20–85). Fought in the pages of books and the Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, their exchanges lasted several years. Ellis' Treatise on Hannibal's Passage of the Alps (1853) and An Enquiry into the Ancient Routes between Italy and Gaul (1867) are also reissued in this series. Published in 1866, this two-volume work was Law's major contribution to the debate, examining the various theories and historical accounts. Modern scholarship has questioned, however, whether either man was right. Volume 1 examines the accounts of Polybius, using numerous modern measurements to try to gauge their accuracy. It also evaluates the reliability of previous suggestions for Hannibal's route at each stage of the journey.
The classical historian J. B. Bury (1861–1927) was the author of a history of Greece which was a standard textbook for over a century. He also wrote on later periods, and, in this two-volume work of 1889, examines Byzantine history from 395 to 800. Arguing for the underlying continuity of the Roman empire from the time of Augustus until 1453, Bury nevertheless begins his account in the year in which, on the death of Theodosius I, the empire was divided into eastern and western parts, and Constantinople began to take on the metropolitan role formerly held by Rome. Broadly chronological, but with an extended section on the state of the empire at the end of the fourth century, Volume 1 covers the period to the deaths of Belisarius and Justinian in 565, examining the decline of paganism, the inroads of 'barbarians', and the cultural milieu of the early Byzantine empire.
The classical scholar J. P. Mahaffy (1839–1919) is known equally for his work on Greek texts and Egyptian papyri (his edition of The Flinders Petrie Papyri is reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection). This illustrated work of 1895 is a sort of sequel to his Alexander's Empire of 1887 (also reissued in this series), in which he focuses specifically on the dynasty of the Ptolemies, rulers of Egypt, but also, as he points out, of wider territories and subject kingdoms. The study of the successor states of Alexander was in its infancy at this period, and Mahaffy regards this work as a pioneering discussion of various problems raised by the limited literary record, hoping this will stimulate further research, in the welcome context of an increasing number of archaeological discoveries relevant to this late period in the long history of ancient Egypt.