Slitherine

Thank you Pocus and company. What a gem!

Any suggestions appreciated for 1) books covering time period and alot of nations 2) books covering time period and one nation (i.e. Rome, etc. ). I love reading and learning more as I go. Just another joy with artwork of this caliber.

Michael

I’ve been reading “The History of the Ancient World” by Susan Wise Bauer and thoroughly enjoying it. It has (so far) mainly focused on civilizations in the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia/the near east, India, and China, and covers the earliest evidence we have of civilization to the fall of Rome. Very accessible style without (imo) being oversimplified.

Adrian Goldsworthy's work, in general.
In particular, his book "The Fall of Carthage", on the Punic Wars.

Thx. I had History of Ancient World and her series on shelf and am enjoying sections now that you reminded me. I had just started a game as Chandragupta in Mauryan and liked the section on this in the book. Too bad Chandragupta got killed by tiger on hunt turn 2.

rs2excelsior wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 10:18 am I’ve been reading “The History of the Ancient World” by Susan Wise Bauer and thoroughly enjoying it. It has (so far) mainly focused on civilizations in the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia/the near east, India, and China, and covers the earliest evidence we have of civilization to the fall of Rome. Very accessible style without (imo) being oversimplified.

This is a great book. She's also quite funny.

Three books on the Diadochi that I can highly recommend:
1. Ghost on the Throne by Romm.
2. Dividing the Spoils by Waterfield.
3. The Legacy of Alexander by Bosworth.

On the Roman generals:
4. In the Name of Rome by Goldsworthy.

For an overview of the Hellenistic era a good starting point is “A History of the Greek World from 323 To 146 B.C” by M Cary. Published in 1972 but a good place to start and available on Amazon for not that much.

Rather more pricy but really good in terms of empire strategic management generally (although covering a much longer historical time period) is “The Field And The Forge: Population, Production, and Power in the Pre-industrial West” by John Landers.

My main area of interest is the Peloponnesian Wars and Rome from late republic to early empire. A few I can recommend:
"The Roman Revolution"by Syme- somewhat dated but really broke the mould in terms of viewing Augustus as someone who fundamentally changed Roman power politics
"Augustus" and "Caesar" by Goldsworthy are clear and accurate, and biographies are a good way to get a sense of the main events and players
"Song of Wrath" by Lendon- one of the best books for getting you into the mindset of Hellenic war and culture, excellent book about Archidamian war
"Sparta at War" by Rusch
"The Fall of the Roman Empire" by Heather

Hope that helps!

Santiago Posteguillo has a great trilogy about Scipio Africanus. It tells battles of 20-30 pages as if you were transported to the frontline with a sword and a spear waiting the Anibal elephants to come.

First book: Tells the invasion of Italy of Anibal and the main battles (Trebia, Trasimeno, etc)
Second book: The incredible intervention of Scipio in Spain and north Africa (battles of Baecula, Utica, Zama)
Third book: The campaign against the selyucid empire with Scipio and his brother (battle of Magnesia)

He has a great trilogy of Trajanus too

A must read

For fiction, Elephants and Castles by Alfred Duggan is a great fun read about the fall of the Antgonid Empire. It starts at the same time as the game so is a good way of getting a feel for the period and the conflict between the Diadochi depicted at game start.

I recommend the original texts by Caesar, Xenophon, Thucydides, Arrian, etc...they really evoke the era, and there are excellent modern annotated editions (search for "The Landmark [Julius Caesar|Xenophon]", etc.) Xenophon's Anabasis is an excellent read.

Thanks to all for sharing some great books to go along with learning a great game. New wall of bookcases is filling...