Life in the Classical World

Introductory Readings

• Classics for the people – why we should all learn from the ancient Greeks
• Classical Greek Culture
• The 10 best ancient Romans
• Classic Age

General Resources

• Use the Information Skills Process (ISP) on the Research page to guide you.
• Browse the non-fiction shelves: 100s Philosophy; 290s Mythology/Religion; 305s Women; 355s Arms & weapons/Military science; 792 Theatre; 880s Ancient writers; 920s Biography; 930s General Ancient History/Archaeology; 937 Rome/history; 938 Greece/history; 939 other parts of the Ancient World, e.g. Troy, Knossos.
• Audio-visual resources: search ClickView.  You will be able to view items rated G and PG.

Oliver Catalogue

• Search the CTHS Library Oliver catalogue using subject terms: Rome – History, Greece – History; add subheadings such as period (time), individual names
• Expand your search to Hornsby Library resources. Run a search in Oliver, click other providers and select Hornsby Shire Library. If you are a member of Hornsby Library, you can borrow their resources (or use whichever local library you have).

Encyclopaedia

• World Book Online is a reliable starting point for an overview and concepts; browse Timelines; choose the Advanced option.

Databases

• State Library of NSW databases require you to sign up for free membership. Choose a database by name. General Ancient History databases with which to start your research are:
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome.
• Cambridge Companions Online – Subject or theme based collections of content within a richly functional, fully cross-searchable online environment.
• Cambridge Histories Online – An historical reference compendium allows instant access to the renowned texts of the Cambridge Histories series.
• Jstor – Subject based collections of content. Search across journals, books and pamphlets.
• Hornsby Library databases require you to sign up for free membership.

Publications

• The Sydney Morning Herald – Digital edition accessible while at school
• National Geographic (in library)
• BBC history (in library) – The contents pages are searchable using Oliver
• Historicool (in library)

Internet resources

• Internet Ancient History Sourcebook – Original texts and supporting material organised by area of study.
• World Digital Library – Significant primary materials from all countries and cultures. Search specifically for your individual; there are small articles on many
• Most Important Figures in Ancient History
• Ancient History Encyclopedia
• Livius – articles on Ancient history
• Ancient World Magazine

Bibliographies and citations

• Citethisforme – Bibliography generator/ask your teacher, choose the style

Evaluating websites

• The CRAAP test

Some links to get started

Follow the links within these links for primary sources. N.B. Some articles’ authors are not necessarily historians/researchers – compare facts, details, inferences, interpretations, reference sources and primary sources.

Pyrrhus

• Pyrrhus of Epirus
• Pyrrhus
• The Eagle at Asculum: General Pyrrhus of Epirus
• Pyrrhus of Epirus

Tiberius Gracchus

• Tiberius Gracchus (legendary, died 133 B.C.E.)
• The Death of Tiberius Gracchus
• The Gracchi Brothers
• Gracchus
• The Life of Tiberius Gracchus
• Episode CXXIX – Tiberius Gracchus and the Landless Masses (Gracchi II) (podcast)
• Plutarch: Tiberius Gracchus, excerpts

Scipio Africanus

• Scipio Africanus
• Scipio Africanus (Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus) 234–149 BC
• Rome’s Craftiest General: Scipio Africanus Scipio Africanus the Elder
• Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236-184/3B.C.)

Seleucus

• The Seleucid Empire (323–64 B.C.)
• Seleucus I Nicator  [ca. 358-281 BCE; murdered]
• Seleucus
• Seleucus I Nicator
• Seleucus I Nicator
• Seleucus I Nicator
• Seleucus I Nicator Seleucid Ruler
• Seleucid-Mauryan Rule (313-180 BC)
• The Royal Macedonian Tombs at Vergina

Antoius Pius

• Antoninus Pius
• Antoninus Pius
• Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius
• Antoninus Pius
• Antonin le Pieux, imperatore romano Antoninus Pius

Artemesia

• Artemisia I of Caria
• Artemisia
• Artemisia I of Caria
• Artemisia at Salamis
• Let’s Talk about Artemisia
• The Artemisia of Herodotus was Complex
• Foreign women on the ancient Mediterranean Sea

Miltiades

• Miltiades
• Miltiades
• The Miltiades Helmet
• The Helmet of Miltiades, Symbol of a Famous Ancient Greek Warrior
• Miltiades: Athenian statesman and military hero
• Miltiades the Younger (c.554-489 BC)
• Lives of eminent commanders/ I. Miltiades (Cornelius Nepos)

Aeschylus

• Who Was Aeschylus? 
• Aeschylus
• Aeschylus, 525 BCE – 456 BCE (course description, useful)
• Aeschylus
• Aeschylus (525—456 bc) Greek dramatist
• The religious and moral ideas of Aeschylus
• Patriotic and religious ideas of Aeschylus
• The renown of Aeschylus after his death
• Life of Aeschylus

Spartacus

• Spartacus: History of Gladiator Revolt Leader
• Spartacus
• The Spartacus Revolt
• Spartacus in ancient sources
• Spartacus: a real representative of the proletariat of ancient times
• The legendary Spartacus: Gladiator & leader of slaves against the Romans – Part 1
• The legendary Spartacus: Gladiator & leader of slaves against the Romans – The Final Stand (Part 2)
• What was the impact of Spartacus’ uprising on Rome?
• Plutarch on Spartacus

Epaminondas

• Epaminondas
• Epaminondas
• Epaminondas 418–362 BC
• A hero from an earlier age: Epaminondas in Cicero and Roman antiquity
• Epaminondas, Savior of Greece?

Gorgo

• Gorgo of Sparta
• Leonidas’ Bride: Gorgo
• Gorgo
• Sayings of Spartan Women – Gorgo
• Gorgo, Queen of Sparta

Pisistratus

• Pisistratus and the Pisistratidae
• Pisistratus
• Pisistratus 605-527 BC
• Solon’s Failure and Rise of the Tyrant Pisistratus

Livia

• Livia Drusilla
• Portrait of Livia, the wife of Emperor Augustus
• Livia, Rome’s most famous first lady (ABC podcast)
• Livia Drusilla, the First First Lady
• I, Claudius: Livia Just Another an Evil Woman?
• The Empress Livia: Murderess or Maligned?
• 4 Livia Drusilla (2): The Anti-Cleopatra (podcast preceded by 3 minutes of advertising to ignore)

Callimachus

• Callimachus of Cyrene
• Callimachus of Cyrene Hymns
• Callimachus

Cimon

• Cimon – Athenian statesman
• Cimon

Gaius Marius

• Gaius Marius (c. 157-86 BCE)
• Gaius Marius was the Savior of Ancient Rome, but was he a Hero or Villain?
• Gaius Marius (157 – 86 BC)
• Gaius Marius (c. 157 – 86 BC)
• What were the impact of the military reforms of Marius on Rome?
• Marius – in ancient sources
• The Life of Marius/Plutarch
• Gaius Marius (157 – 86 BC)
• Gaius Marius and his role in the fall of the Roman Republic (download, sign in not required)
• Marius’ Mules: Paving the Path to Power
• The Military Reforms of Gaius Marius in their Social, Economic, and Political Context (very comprehensive; scan for a map, sketch etc; for an enthusiast)

Philip II of Macedon

• Philip II of Macedon
• Philip II of Macedonia
• Philip of Macedon  Philip II of Macedon Biography (359 – 336 BC)
• Macedon before Philip (scroll down a page to this heading; you have the power to ignore and skip advertising)
• Philip II of Macedonia (382-336 BC), king of Macedonia (359-336 BC) (there is ongoing disagreement about Macedonia – boundaries etc.)
• How did Phillip II of Macedon change Ancient Greek history?
• Philip of Macedon unifies Greece (video/Khan Academy)
• Ancient Greece and the Hellenistic World/Macedonian Conquest
• The Military Genius of Philip II of Macedon
• Philip II of Macedonia: Greater Than Alexander (download chapter without sign in)

Marcus Antonius

• Marcus Antonius “Mark Antony”
• The Timeline of the Life of Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony)
• Mark Antony (83-30 BCE)
• Marcus Antonius Timeline (follow the links)
• The Lost Building Program of Marcus Antonius
• The fourteen orations of M.T. Cicero against Marcus Antonius, called Philippics

Ptolemy I Sotter

• Ptolemy I Soter (367-282)
• Ptolemy I Soter (366-282 BCE)
• Ptolemy I (Soter) (Satrap of Egypt, 323‑305; King of Egypt, 305 to 283‑282 B.C.)
• Ptolemy I Soter (Ptolemy the Savior (ca. 367 B.C.E. — ca. 283 B.C.E.)
• Ptolemy I Soter, The First King of Ancient Egypt’s Ptolemaic Dynasty
• Did the Trusted Ptolemy Murder Alexander the Great?
• PtolemyI Soter [366-282 BCE]
• Household of Ptolemy I Soter Pharaoh of Egypt (Ptolemy I Soter)
• Ptolemy – in ancient sources
• Ptolemy I, Macedonian military leader, general, and ruler
• From Ptolemaic and Roman rule to the Arab Conquest (332 BC – 664 AD)
• Ptolemy I. (surnamed Soter and Lagi)
• Ptolemy I Soter, The First King of Ancient Egypt’s Ptolemaic Dynasty
• The Great Library of Alexandria

Marcus Licinius Crassus

• Marcus Licinius Crassus
• Money was not enough for Crassus, the richest man in Rome
• Marcus Licinius Crassus (114 – 53 BCE)
• Licinius Crassus, Marcus, Roman censor and triumvir, 65 BCE
• The Life of Crassus/Plutarch, The Parallel Lives
• The Silk Road/How the Romans learned of silk
• Fact and Fiction: Crassus, Augustus, and the Spolia Opima
• Some aspects of the political career of Marcus Licinius Crassus, consul 70 & 55BC (download, long, detailed)
• Lost Eagles: Character, Ambition, and the Parthian Invasion
• Caesar, Magnus, Crassus, Cicero/timeline

Lysander

• Lysander
• The Life of Lysander/ Plutarch, The Parallel Lives
• Lysander/ Encyclopaedia Iranica
• Lysander of Sparta, son of Aristocleitus
• The Final Blow of a 27 Year Struggle: Lysander And Aegospotami
• Lysander
• Lysander/Latinlibrary
• Lysander and the Devil
• Lysander [d. 395 B.C.]
• Ancient Sparta: The History of the Spartans

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus

• Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, Quintus
• The Shield of Rome: Fabius Cunctator
• Taking on an Army of Elephants: Roman Leaders in the War Against Hannibal
• The Life of Fabius Maximus/Plutarch, The Parallel Lives
• Livy, Polybius and Plutarch on Fabius Maximus
• Plutarch’s Lives in Paint: 7b Quintus Fabius Maximus (artworks focusing on him)
• Hannibal at bay

Antipater

• Antipater (c. 399-319 BCE) Macedonian statesman
• Antipater (399-319): supreme commander
• Antipater (397-319)
• Marcus Junianus Justinus: Book XIII
• Antipater – in ancient sources
• Olympias and Antipater

Anytime: Ask the teacher-librarians for assistance or email library@cths.nsw.edu.au