Collection
Empires
Ancient, medieval and modern histories of the Persian, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic empires and their neighbours, linked to the texts and guides in the library.
See also Lives & Memoirs, Myths and Legends, Heroes & Villains.
Public-domain sources carry the full text in the library reader. Copyrighted modern histories, and a few older works without a public-domain English translation, have an abstract and study guide only.
Greeks and Persians
Greek historians recorded the wars between the Greek cities and the Persian Empire, the struggle between Athens and Sparta, and the conquests of Alexander.
The Histories · c. 430 BCE
An inquiry into the origins and course of the Persian Wars, with wide-ranging accounts of the peoples and customs of the Persian Empire and its neighbours.
The History of the Peloponnesian War · c. 431-411 BCE
An Athenian general's account of the war between Athens and Sparta, with speeches and analysis of power, plague and civil strife.
The Persian Expedition · c. 370 BCE
Xenophon's account of the Greek mercenaries who marched into Persia with Cyrus the Younger and fought their way home after his death.
The Age of Alexander: Nine Greek Lives · c. 100 CE
Nine of Plutarch's Greek lives, from Agesilaus to Alexander the Great, tracing Greek politics from Sparta's supremacy to Macedonian conquest.
The Roman Republic
Roman and Greek writers explained how a city on the Tiber became a Mediterranean power, and how its republican government gave way to civil war and one-man rule.
The History of Rome, Books I-V · c. 27-9 BCE
Livy's history of Rome from its founding to the Gallic sack, told through exemplary figures such as Romulus, Lucretia, Brutus, Cincinnatus and Camillus.
The Histories, Book VI · c. 150 BCE
A Greek statesman's analysis of the Roman constitution as a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, with a description of the Roman army.
Catiline's War and The Jugurthine War · c. 42-40 BCE
Two short monographs on the conspiracy of Catiline and the war against Jugurtha of Numidia, both presented as studies in ambition and the decline of Roman virtue.
First Oration Against Catiline · 63 BCE
The consul Cicero's speech before the Senate exposing Catiline's conspiracy and urging him to leave Rome.
The Conquest of Gaul · 58-50 BCE
Caesar's own commentaries on his campaigns in Gaul, Germany and Britain, written in the third person.
The Fall of the Roman Republic: Six Lives · c. 100 CE
Six of Plutarch's Roman lives, from Marius to Cicero, telling the end of the Republic through its leading men.
The Roman Empire
Historians and biographers of the first two centuries described the emperors, the court and the provinces, from Britain and Germany to Judaea.
The Annals of Imperial Rome · c. 109-117 CE
Tacitus's year-by-year history of Rome from the death of Augustus through the reigns of Tiberius, Claudius and Nero.
The Histories · c. 100-110 CE
Tacitus's account of the civil wars of AD 69, the year of four emperors, and the rise of the Flavian dynasty.
The Agricola and the Germania · 98 CE
A life of Tacitus's father-in-law, governor of Britain, paired with an ethnographic description of the Germanic peoples beyond the Rhine.
The Twelve Caesars · c. 121 CE
Suetonius's lives of Julius Caesar and the first eleven emperors, rich in anecdote and personal detail.
The Jewish War · c. 75 CE
A Jewish commander turned Roman client's history of the revolt in Judaea and the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in AD 70.
Pax Romana: War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World · 2016
A modern history of how Rome conquered, governed and kept peace in its provinces, and how subject peoples experienced Roman rule.
Rome: An Empire's Story · 2012
A modern survey of the Roman Empire over more than a millennium, asking how it grew, held together and changed.
Late Rome and the Fall of the West
Ancient witnesses and later historians have described and debated the crises of the fourth and fifth centuries and the end of Roman rule in the West.
The Roman History · c. 390 CE
The last major Latin history of Rome, covering AD 353-378, including the emperor Julian and the Gothic victory at Adrianople.
City of God · 413-426 CE
Written after the Visigothic sack of Rome in 410, Augustine's answer to pagan critics contrasts the earthly city with the city of God.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Selections) · 1776-1789
Selections from Gibbon's history of the Roman Empire from the Antonines to the fall of Constantinople, a landmark of Enlightenment historical writing.
The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians · 2005
A modern history arguing that pressure from the Huns and Germanic peoples was central to the collapse of the western empire.
The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire · 2017
A modern history examining how climate change and pandemics, including the Antonine plague and the plague of Justinian, shaped the Roman Empire's fortunes.
The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 · 2009
A modern history of Europe from the end of the western empire to the year 1000, covering the post-Roman kingdoms, Byzantium and the Islamic world.
Byzantium
The eastern Roman Empire, ruled from Constantinople, lasted until 1453. Its historians wrote of emperors, wars, law and the city's final siege.
History of the Wars, Books I-II (The Persian War) · c. 550 CE
Procopius's account of Justinian's wars with Persia under Belisarius, including the Nika riot and a description of the plague of 542.
The Secret History · c. 550 CE
Procopius's unpublished invective against Justinian, Theodora and Belisarius, contradicting the tone of his public histories.
The Institutes of Justinian · 533 CE
The introductory textbook of Justinian's codification of Roman law, covering justice, natural law, persons, things and actions.
Chronographia · c. 1078
A courtier's history of the Byzantine emperors from Basil II to Michael VII, drawing on his own experience at court.
The Alexiad · c. 1148
A Byzantine princess's history of her father Alexios I, his wars with the Normans and Turks, and the First Crusade seen from Constantinople.
The Fall of Constantinople, 1453: Eyewitness Accounts · 1453
Accounts by Venetian, Greek and other witnesses of the Ottoman siege and capture of Constantinople under Mehmed II.
Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire · 2007
A modern introduction to Byzantine history and culture arranged in short thematic chapters.
The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium · 2023
A modern narrative history of the eastern Roman Empire from Constantine to 1453, treating it as the continuation of the Roman state.
The Fall of Constantinople, 1453 · 1965
A modern narrative of the last siege of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire, drawn from Greek, Latin, Slavonic and Turkish sources.
The Caliphates and the Islamic World
From Baghdad to Cordoba and beyond, writers in the Islamic world produced medicine, philosophy, memoir, travel writing and a theory of how dynasties rise and fall.
A Treatise on the Smallpox and Measles · c. 910
A Persian physician's clinical account distinguishing smallpox from measles, with observations on causes, signs and treatment.
The Canon of Medicine, Book I · c. 1025
The general principles of Avicenna's medical encyclopedia: humours, temperaments, anatomy, causes of disease and the preservation of health.
Deliverance from Error · c. 1100
Al-Ghazali's autobiographical account of his search for certainty through theology, philosophy and Sufism.
Memoirs of Usama ibn Munqidh · c. 1183
A Syrian Muslim nobleman's recollections of war, hunting and daily life alongside the Frankish crusaders.
The Travels of Ibn Battuta · 1355
A Moroccan scholar's account of nearly thirty years of travel through North Africa, Arabia, Persia, India and China.
The Muqaddimah · 1377
The introduction to Ibn Khaldun's universal history, setting out a method for history and a theory of group solidarity (asabiyya) and the rise and fall of dynasties.
The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In · 2007
A modern history of the Arab conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries, from Iraq and Syria to Spain and Central Asia.
When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty · 2005
A modern history of the Abbasid caliphate at its height in Baghdad, from its founding in 750 to its political decline in the tenth century.
Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes · 2009
A modern narrative of world history told from the perspective of the Islamic world, from Muhammad to the present.
Empires East and West
Two works from beyond the Mediterranean: a Venetian's account of the Mongol court in China and an Indian treatise on statecraft.
The Travels of Marco Polo · c. 1298-1300
A Venetian merchant's account, dictated in a Genoese prison, of his journeys across Asia and service at the court of Kublai Khan.
The Arthashastra · c. 2nd century BCE - 3rd century CE
An ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, covering kingship, administration, law, diplomacy, espionage and war.