The Ancient & Pre-Modern History Book Club discussion

Please let us know what are your favourite historical periods, and cultures, that you like to explore - or those you are yet to do so but are intrigued by.

Since becoming enamoured of reading history, much of my reading has been on Greece and Rome, filling in the gaps left by the rather cursory education I received way back in secondary school. Along the way I've become to spread out into associated or connected cultures - especially into the middle East, to those peoples who had interaction with those cultures but were so often written out by Victorian historians obsessed with the Classical, Euro-centric world - from the Akkadians, Sumer and the Phoenicians to Persian ( of whichever era ), Parthians and Sassanids.



So much reading, so little time.

Ancient Rome. Must be done in Latin though.

Anglo saxon history.

Late Antiquity/Early Middle Ages - from Diocletian to the so-called Carolingian Renaissance.

WarpDrive wrote: "Late Antiquity/Early Middle Ages - from Diocletian to the so-called Carolingian Renaissance."

I read an answer like this and immediately realize that my response to the initial question is, “yes.” lol

Carol wrote: "WarpDrive wrote: "Late Antiquity/Early Middle Ages - from Diocletian to the so-called Carolingian Renaissance."

I read an answer like this and immediately realize that my answer to the initial que..."

:-) :-)

Vaclav wrote: "Anglo saxon history."

I'm afraid my knowledge here would start and end with Caesar's report to the Senate, "Veni, vidi, vici."

WarpDrive wrote: "Late Antiquity/Early Middle Ages - from Diocletian to the so-called Carolingian Renaissance."

I know very little about this period - just vague references from other sources - but I am completely with you in wanting to know more. It seems quite fascinating.

The Ottoman Empire - did a bit of reading a couple of years ago but really want to read more - particularly about its early stages.

The history of the kings and queens of France. Finding books on the english monarchy is easy but France is much more difficult. Other than Napoleon I know almost nothing.

I was a voracious reader of anything and everything in my youth and have regained my enthusiasm in the past 12 months.

As I started to write a novel recently it suddenly took an unexpected turn and I found I needed an understanding of Ancient Greece. My knowledge, now mostly forgotten, consisted of an enforced school reading of The Iliad when I was 11 years old. Over the weekend I've read "Why Homer Matters" by Adam Nicolson as a primer and I'm awaiting works by Hesiod, Herodotus, Aristotle, Apollonus, Virgil and Ovid.

My aim is to begin here and read as many classics as possible, chronologically from antiquity to the 20th Century. A spreadsheet list already contains 35 titles from the B.C.E. period and numerous A.D. authors I mean to read. If I live that long!

Firstly, thank you to Paul for inviting me to this group, I get many Group invitations but have started being more selective.

Hmm, period I am interested in, er, lots I think would be my answer. Ancient Greek and Roman certainly and I now seem to be developing a taste for early classical Chinese "history" or tales. I will shortly be attempting (one of the so called) unabridged translated versions of the Three Kingdoms if anyone else is interested in tagging along through 2500 pages 😬

My interests would be the closest to Sandy's. I would like to increase my expertise in haplogroups and I have a particular interest in pre-Roman Western and Central European migratory history. The lates theories suggest an Atlantic-East bound path for a superior status 'Celtic' language and a non-assimilated East-West bound path for 'Celtic' cultural and industrial patterns. If anybody has good reads on this topic I'd love to find out about it and share information.Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature

Alexander the Great, Rome, Byzantium, Early Christianity, the crusades

I enjoy Native American culture especially that prior too the arrival of Europeans.

I've been hit with a desire recently to read more about Central Asia. The Tarim Mummies had a much wider scope than I expected and made me want to learn more. In particular, it mentions a precursor civilization to the BMAC far to the northeast, whose name unfortunately escapes me. The Barbarian Empires of the Steppes was of a later period, but went into an amazing level of detail on the steppes through recorded history. Then facing a long plane flight where I needed a book with a high time-to-weight ratio, I finally worked up the gumption to read The Great Game, on the long-19th-century.

So I put a few more books on the subject onto the wishlist my family will pick over for Christmas presents (in the likely event they can't think of anything else to buy me).

It's not recent but I enjoyed 'A Peace to End all Peace' by David Fromkin and 'The Zealous Intruders' by Naomi Shepherd.

New member as of today. I’m interested in ancient origins, so the Akkadians, Sumer and any theoretical origin histories.

New member as well. At the present time I am reading biographies of 19th and 20th Century Writers. Just a few so far are Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and at present am reading Poe. These are just a few I have read this year. Other periods I have over the years. I was an avid reader of American Civil War for while, then on to WWII, Russian History, Ancient Rome, Ottoman Empire, African History just a few periods I have read about over the years. Now if I could get all those books and facts that I once new so well to surface at my age it would be great. If anyone has any suggestions I am always open to read any new good books. I also enjoy reading fiction for a break from history.

I just ran across this old thread and thought that I would refer you to my new historical fiction trilogy, A Slave's Story, that's set in Roman Asia Minor. I'm an academic historian of early Christianity, and I wrote these books in part to immerse readers into the social and religious world where the apostle Paul and his converts lived. I'm a stickler for historical accuracy, and the story is good, too--five stars on Amazon!

Check them out at my Website, https://www.aslavesstory.com, where you'll find plot summaries, author info, and lots of background information on Roman social life.

If you do read them, I'd appreciate you posting reviews for me on Amazon and Goodreads. Here's my Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Chris Stanley

I just ran across this old thread and thought that I would refer you to my new historical fiction trilogy, A Slave's Story, that's set in Roman Asia Minor. I'm an academic historian of early Judaism and Christianity, and I wrote these books in part to immerse readers into the social and religious world where Jews and Christians were a tiny (and strange) minority. I'm a stickler for historical accuracy, and the story is good, too--five stars on Amazon!

Check them out at my Website, https://www.aslavesstory.com, where you'll find plot summaries, author info, and lots of background information on Roman social life.

If you do read them, I'd appreciate you posting reviews for me on Amazon and Goodreads. Here's my Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Chris Stanley

I just ran across this old thread and thought that I would refer you to my new historical fiction trilogy, A Slave's Story, that's set in Roman Asia Minor. I'm an academic historian of early Judaism and Christianity, and I wrote these books in part to immerse readers into the social and religious world where Jews and Christians were a tiny (and strange) minority. I'm a stickler for historical accuracy, and the story is good, too--five stars on Amazon!

Check them out at my Website, https://www.aslavesstory.com, where you'll find plot summaries, author info, and lots of background information on Roman social life.

If you do read them, I'd appreciate you posting reviews for me on Amazon and Goodreads. Here's my Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Chris Stanley

I enjoy reading about ancient sumerian, akkadia, phoenician, and elamites. There influences both then and now blows me away. Admiration and respect.