Wars and words
PETER JONES selects his favourite new books on the distant past, from war and peace through to the roots of language
AdrianA Goldsworthy is on t op form with his Pax Romana:R War, Peace anda Conquest in the RomanR World (Weidenfeld & Nicolson). Pointing out ththat war was virtually endemic in the ancient world, he explains clearly and persuasively how Rome was able to maintain the peace ffor such a long period. How did an ancient Greek learn Latin? In Learning Latin the Ancient Way (Cambridge University Press), Eleanor Dickey lifts the curtain on the famous language teacher Dosith and his imitators. It is the holiday-phrasebook stories that are so fascinating (going to school; shopping; at the baths) – all Latin translated.
From life to death, war to peace, power to prostitutes, aliens to apes, beards to bribes, lovers to lawyers anda education to equality, you’ll find it alll in more than 20,000 entries in A Dictionary of Classical Greek Quotations edited by Marinos
Yeroulanos (IB Tauris). The quotes are listed alphabetically by author, in Greek and translation, with the topic index in English. A tremendous bargain.
In the Land of a ThousandT Gods: A HistoryH of Asia Minor ini the Ancient World byb Christian Marek, with PeterP Frei (Princeton), resemblesr a narrative encyclopedia. The Hittites were that region’s sole indigenous rulers. From then on, Persians, Greeks and Romans controlled it. Marek’s history covers every aspect of this extraordinary world in the “first historical overview of Anatolia as a bridge and a melting pot”. The Hippocrates
Code by JC McKeown and Joshua Smith (Hackett) introduces the Greek roots of medical terminology in the context of ancient medical practice, andd theh book isi superbly illustrated.