pompey

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What we really know of Roman warfare comes from the ancient sources – scant and sometimes unreliable – and from the physical evidence, primarily numismatic and sculptural. In this well illustrated volume, 10 essayists throw light on these aspects of representation, concentrating more on the artistic than the purely literary.

Katherine Welch’s neatly organised introduction deftly tackles the minefield of early and republican history, examining the qualities that made Roman society so eminently warlike and exposing the degree to which prowess in war was related to success in domestic (and later foreign) politics, and how that was achieved through apposite imagery. To varying degrees, all the contributors underline the bond between religion, war and the way in which art advertised this conjunction to a triumphing general’s own class as well as the proletariat on whom he relied for election to higher office.

About The Author

Roger Michael Kean

Roger Michael Kean was the founder and managing director of Thalamus Publishing, which specialised in illustrated historical reference books for adults and children. He is also the author of Forgotten Power – Byzantium – Bulwark of Christianity, Exploring Ancient Egypt, The Complete Chronicle of the Emperors of Rome, and Pirates – Predators of the Seas (with Angus Konstam)

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Mithradates VI Eupator (c.135–63 BC), king of Pontus, is one of the most fascinating characters of the late Roman republican period. After Hannibal, no other foreign power held the emerging Roman commonwealth to ransom as effectively as Mithradates, and he did so for far longer than the Carthaginian genius. His exploits aroused the admiration of later Roman chroniclers and gave rise to innumerable legends which echoed throughout history to the Renaissance and beyond. As this new retelling of his life story elaborates, his famous antidote to poisoning, the Mithridatium, was still available in Rome as recently as 1984 (that’s AD…).

The title indicate’s Mayor’s principle interest in Mithradates’ scholarship in the field of toxicology which ultimately led to a concoction of poisons which, when taken daily in tiny amounts, built an immunity to doses that would have been lethal to anyone not so protected. It’s this aspect of the book which adds a great deal to Mithradates’ life largely ignored by previous historians.

About The Author

Roger Michael Kean

Roger Michael Kean was the founder and managing director of Thalamus Publishing, which specialised in illustrated historical reference books for adults and children. He is also the author of Forgotten Power – Byzantium – Bulwark of Christianity, Exploring Ancient Egypt, The Complete Chronicle of the Emperors of Rome, and Pirates – Predators of the Seas (with Angus Konstam)