Recommended Documentaries and Informative Material

[Fishman786]

This will be a thread for users to suggest valuable online learning resources appropriate to the period/era of the upcoming game, no matter what that may be.

These educational videos will most certainly improve everyone's understanding of the classical world:

Spoiler

EDIT:

Please do not feel restricted to posting hilarious videos. Actual educational ones are useful as well! I just don't have any...

 

[Fishman786]

yall assuming it's rome gonna be real fucking disapointed when it turns out to be a fantasy game

My good sir, I am not assuming anything, I am in fact making an educated and informed deduction! And if my deduction turns out to be an incorrect one I shall be thrilled to have learnt something new that I didn't know before!

And also I will go and cry in a hole somewhere. Preferably a nice Roman hole. Maybe go to Leicester cry under the Roman baths there, longing for my departed love.

 

[Egiel]

AVE CAESAR!!!!

 

[vyshan]

I recommend Mike Duncan's The History of Rome and his book The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic

 

[Markus Marius]

Books I think would be worth reading while waiting:
Greece and Rome at War by Peter Connolly. Full of info on the weapons, armour, organization etc.
Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough. Novels but extensively researched and those who like the Character aspects should really enjoy.


P.S. Looks like I'll have to add: IR + mods .

 

[Spartanlemur]

Great thread idea. Historia Civilis is an informative YouTube channel covering Roman politics and battles:

 

[Atour Bet Khaya]

Some great books focusing on the Hellenistic world:

Peter Thonemann, The Hellenistic Age (general intro)

Paul Kosmin, Land of the Elephant Kings (about the Seleucids, a cracking read)

John Ma, Antiochus III and the cities of Asia Minor (about different approaches to imperialism in the period, esp. Greek vs Roman methods of controlling territory)

 

[fay902]

Mary Beard's SPQR is quite good.

 

[QuantumWind]

I can suggest this amazing Map of the Roman Empire created by Johan Åhlfeldt from Lund University with support from the Pelagios project.
It is very detailed and info about it can be found on top right, under the search bar. The only downside i would say is that the map doesn't show the date of the settlement of the road but just puts it in place. So you cant really differentiate from which settlement come first, if it was a colony and such.
http://pelagios.org/maps/greco-roman/

That's a screenshot from the Rome area:

 

[Nerdman3000]

I recommend Mike Duncan's The History of Rome and his book The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic

Agreed. Mike Duncan's History of Rome is pretty much the definitive way of learning about Rome in my opinion.

 

[Uhtred_CK2]

Some great books focusing on the Hellenistic world:

Peter Thonemann, The Hellenistic Age (general intro)

Paul Kosmin, Land of the Elephant Kings (about the Seleucids, a cracking read)

John Ma, Antiochus III and the cities of Asia Minor (about different approaches to imperialism in the period, esp. Greek vs Roman methods of controlling territory)

WHERE IS BILLOWS 1990 "ANTIGONOS THE ONE EYED AND THE CREATION OF THE HELLENISTIC"


Despite the caps. It's a fantastic book for understanding the period 323-301 in the Hellenistic East.

Symes seminal "Roman Revolution" is great for the last 30 years of the republic.

And Crawford's "Roman Republic 2nd Ed" is a great survey study. (Just don't listen to his dating of coins) - if anyone gets that final reference I'll be impressed

 

[Uhtred_CK2]

Mary Beard's SPQR is quite good.

Please no. It's such a horrible written history. Look at her earlier work though.

 

[fay902]

Please no. It's such a horrible written history. Look at her earlier work though.

Why do you not like it? I thought it was a pretty well written book.

Obviously it suffers in some aspects because it's meant as an introductory text, but that is what the OP is looking for.

 

[Uhtred_CK2]

Why do you not like it? I thought it was a pretty well written book.

Obviously it suffers in some aspects because it's meant as an introductory text, but that is what the OP is looking for.

I think it might have something to do with years of academic reading which SPQR is certainly not. But it jumps around. Paints Cicero in a beautiful light (he was an ass) But also in a 500ish page book trying to cover 753BCE-212CE is just futile and the depth and useful knowledge dips for it.

 

[Mundane]

I'd recommend editing the OP to include links to appropriate media as folks post stuff here.

 

[fay902]

I think it might have something to do with years of academic reading which SPQR is certainly not. But it jumps around. Paints Cicero in a beautiful light (he was an ass) But also in a 500ish page book trying to cover 753BCE-212CE is just futile and the depth and useful knowledge dips for it.

I actually agree completely -- it was definitely trying to do too much in one book, and thus leaves a lot to be desired. I quit reading it half way through or so because I realized I wasn't quite learning anything new.

That being said, I do think it'd be a nice primer on Roman history for someone who really has no experience in the field of classics. It's written for the layman, and it's broadness might be easier to grasp for someone not too familiar with the field.

Also OP, as with any historical time period, diversify your sources as many people disagree on many things (of course)!

 

[Uhtred_CK2]

I actually agree completely -- it was definitely trying to do too much in one book, and thus leaves a lot to be desired. I quit reading it half way through or so because I realized I wasn't quite learning anything new.

That being said, I do think it'd be a nice primer on Roman history for someone who really has no experience in the field of classics. It's written for the layman, and it's broadness might be easier to grasp for someone not too familiar with the field.

Also OP, as with any historical time period, diversify your sources as many people disagree on many things (of course)!

I get that. Thank you for being so pleasant on the internet. I would suggest Crawford's Roman Republic as I did above.

Much smaller as a book and attempts to.do less. It's also a decent blend of academic study and popular history .

 

[EU3NOOB]

Agreed. Mike Duncan's History of Rome is pretty much the definitive way of learning about Rome in my opinion.

Pretty much this.

It's pretty much been the cause of my Ancient Rome bender over the last month or so.

 

[Atour Bet Khaya]

WHERE IS BILLOWS 1990 "ANTIGONOS THE ONE EYED AND THE CREATION OF THE HELLENISTIC"


Despite the caps. It's a fantastic book for understanding the period 323-301 in the Hellenistic East.

Symes seminal "Roman Revolution" is great for the last 30 years of the republic.

And Crawford's "Roman Republic 2nd Ed" is a great survey study. (Just don't listen to his dating of coins) - if anyone gets that final reference I'll be impressed

More importantly, where's
E. Dąbrowa, The Hasmoneans and Their State: A Study in History, Ideology, and the Institutions ?

Everyone knows the Jews are the MVPs of this period

 

[jontehs]

a few documentaries by Mary beard