Imperator Reading List Recommendations

[Wavey]

For a basic intro for India, there are two books I'd really suggest anyone to read:

- Penguin History of Early India by Romila Thapar

- The Wonder That Was India - Volume 1 by Arthur Llewellyn Basham

Both cover the general Indian history very well, including the period from the Imperator Rome timeline.

Thanks for these, it's really hard to find a good, reliable and unbiased history of early India. I've added the first one, don't have access to the other online, but will check out the physical copy in the uni library and probably add it too.


The list also now has sections added on India and Central Asia, Warfare, Eastern Europe and Ancient Sources since I last gave an update. Some other titles have been added in here and there. Keep the suggestions coming!

 

[sr999]

Many thanks!

For some interesting and historically consistent political and cultural immersion in respect of the Greeks and the key early Diadochi (including small naval actions against Romans, Carthaginians, and pirates) I'd recommend the "Hellenistic Traders" series of four novels by the Byzantine scholar (later the SF author) Harry Turtledove. It starts about 310 and the fourth book ends just as the protagonists are beginning to suspect Antigonus' and Demetrius' intentions toward their neutral city, Rhodes...

 

[Smokez83]

For a basic intro for India, there are two books I'd really suggest anyone to read:

- Penguin History of Early India by Romila Thapar

- The Wonder That Was India - Volume 1 by Arthur Llewellyn Basham

Both cover the general Indian history very well, including the period from the Imperator Rome timeline.

These will be very interesting! Many of the books I have read on the Classical era focus heavily on Greece and Rome, with a few that look at Persia, Babylon, Egypt etc. Having recently gotten a book on the history of Japan, I find a renewed interest in looking at the history of places outside of Europe.

 

[A_Dane]

While I acknowledge the point about avoiding books older than 30 years, I thought I'd post this, alongside 2 newer ones, which came highly recommended from my professor at uni, from back when I took a course on the hellenistic world, just in case anyone are interested

- F.W. Walbank: The Hellenistic World. (The Fontana History of the Ancient World). Glasgow, 1981.
- A Companion to the Hellenistic World. Ed.: A. Erskine. (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World). Oxford, 2003.
- M.M. Austin: The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest. A Selection of Ancient Sources in Translation. Cambridge, 2006

 

[Nikolai]

Also check out this thread from last year:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/any-book-recommendations.1108344/

 

[Amyntas]

Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age is the gold standard by which all other books on this period must be judged.

Peter Green is still the best and greatest.