Best Book of 2012?

[Nathan Ross]

As usual about this time of year, there's a lot in the newspapers about the best publications of the year, so I thought it might be fun to ask a similar question here.

What was your best book of 2012? It doesn't have to be something published this year, just something you read - old or new, fact or fiction.

But it has to be about ancient history (so no 50 Shades of Grey... )

Mine would be David Potter's The Roman Empire at Bay, which I asked about last autumn and finally read this spring. It's a huge and compendious history of the empire between AD 180 and 395 - Potter alternates a narrative account of political and military developments with lengthy excursions into social, religious, philosophical and literary themes. Most of these are fascinating, exceptionally erudite and (most importantly) very readable, and together they build up a detailed composite picture of the empire in transition - highly recommended!

mile:

[Longovicium]

I will look at that book based upon what you have written!

I would have to say that a recent purchase really grabbed me: 'The Chronicle of Pseudo-Joshua the Stylite', by Liverpool University Press (translated and introduced by Frank R Trombley and John W Watt), published 2000.

I only finished this last week but was really captivated by the detail in the history. It covers the war between Rome and Persia circa 502-506 AD and the writer is very detailed and precise in his descriptions of the military operations both sides enagaged in. As a lover of the Later Roman Empire and an avid reader of Ammianus Marcellinus, it was refreshing to read of the second siege and sack of Amida, for example, along with various scenes and vignettes that brought to life the period for me.

Overall, the Chronicle is packed with detail and description - and for anyone interested in this period, I would thoroughly recommend it!

[jvrjenivs]

Hard to determine which I found best. Some excellent books came out. (in particular order) my favourites of last year probably are

Stef Verstraaten - Romans; a wonderful photo book in big size with lots of reenactors portray (see elsewhere on the forum for more information)

Axel Thünker - Carpe Diem; yet another big size photo book with pictures of the Archeological park xanten. Wonderful pics of the building reconstructions and activities in the APX during the last couple of years.

Jona Lendering & Arjen Bosman - Edge of empire; Interesting read about the Roman history of the rhine delta and some very interesting thought about history & education. (although I didn't totally read this version of the book)

Thomas Fischer ea - Die Armee der Caesaren; A text book with very good and interesting reads.

[Kegluneq]

I greatly enjoyed Simon James' 'Rome and the Sword', published Nov 2011. The book is a military history of Rome, with the development of the sword used as a central focus. James' approach (as with his previous research) is based on modern archaeological t(/T)heories, but what makes his writing especially compelling is that he has an absolutely unromantic view of the Roman military and the Roman empire as a whole. This makes his work a refreshing development from the 'Roman war machine' school of writing used by many other writers hoping to cash in on Rome's glamorous martial reputation - indeed, the volume also serves as a critique of this approach. The book is well referenced and illustrated throughout (although could do with far more colour images).

[Flavivs Aetivs]

I uh... haven't bought anything but sonic's book this year.

Well I bought Empires and Barbarians and JJN Brief History of Byzantium back in 1st quarter but those are old.

[Ross Cowan]

Best book I've read this year: The Earliest Romans: A Character Sketch by Ramsay MacMullen. I didn't agree with half of it, but it's beautifully written and thoroughly entertaining. I also enjoyed Jean MacIntosh Turfa's Divining the Etruscan World.

Best paper: Duncan B. Campbell's 'Ancient Catapults: Some Hypotheses Re-examined'. Some will know that I dabble in late medieval and early modern warfare, and I read Martin MacGregor's 'Warfare in Gaelic Scotland in the Later Middle Ages' with great profit (there are parallels, I think, with early Italic warfare). It's in the recent A Military History of Scotland. I haven't read Fraser Hunter's 'War in Prehistory and the Impact of Rome', which is in the same volume.

[Epictetus]

I think the book I enjoyed the most this year was B.P. Reardon's Collected Ancient Greek Novels.

It was absolutely fascinating to see fiction as it was crafted by people 2,000 years ago.

[Alexand96]

I greatly enjoyed Simon James' 'Rome and the Sword', published Nov 2011. The book is a military history of Rome, with the development of the sword used as a central focus. James' approach (as with his previous research) is based on modern archaeological t(/T)heories, but what makes his writing especially compelling is that he has an absolutely unromantic view of the Roman military and the Roman empire as a whole. This makes his work a refreshing development from the 'Roman war machine' school of writing used by many other writers hoping to cash in on Rome's glamorous martial reputation - indeed, the volume also serves as a critique of this approach. The book is well referenced and illustrated throughout (although could do with far more colour images).

I also enjoyed this very much. Might have to re-read it if I get the chance. As I remember, very readable - blew through it on the metro in about a week or two.

[Virilis]

"Rome and the Sword" by Simon James is my favourite too. Perhaps a lttle repetitive at times (the "two-bladed" nature of the army etc.) but a fascinating read.

[cab717]

John Haldon's Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era 680-850 is great . It is incredibly dense with material and information but still enjoyable to read. I still can not believe I got my copy for 50 dollars.