i am off up to cam. soon for my interview and have a gaping wide hole bigger than benissimus’ cunnus post stephanos quam puellus lignum ipsuc nefandum impulit. said gaping hole is where my knowledge of ancient society should be.
it is not my fault for i have no latin class. i was wondering if any of you know of a good book which would give me a basic overview of the ancient world (as i can probably afford only 1 book) - i don’t need to go out on a whim about it, but i should at least be aware of ancient society, as it would be rather embarrassing otherwise, and could damage my application to cam.
p.s. any one up in cam. slip in a good word for me and i’ll bring you 1kg broccoli, a my little pony cutlery set (complete with teaspoons) and a forever friends lunchbox (purpurea) containing 500g pure hydrolyzed soy protein.
You’ll probably find even more stuff there (Project Gutenberg) including a 6-volume History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, but that might be a bit much to swallow and may not be quite what you’re looking for anyway.
Rubicon, by Tom Holland is a pretty good write up of the times leading to the collapse
of the republic. On the Greek side, my favorite is Aubrey de Selincourts world of Herodotus.
Its a great book that covers pretty much what greek culture was up to and including the
time of Herodotus. Especially his take on things.
I’d have to speak up for books of this nature. I’ve taught myself greek off of this site, which
is great but I find myself often getting caught up in the particulars of the language and not
really seeiing the whole forest when I read in the original. Books like the previous two, as
well as “Decline and Fall” are a great help in really understanding what the old authors were
trying to say.
I’m sure there must be a lot of books out there where the author really loved their subject
and did’nt write down to us in order to boost sales. Recommendations are always welcome.