New Releases by Michael Grant

In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE. Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what''s happened. Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day. It''s a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...

Who''s Who in Classical Mythology is the most complete and detailed reference book of its kind. It offers scholarly, yet accessible accounts of those mythological tales surrounding such gods as Apollo, Zeus, Athena and Dionysus, and mortals such as Achilles, Odysseus, Jason, Aeneas, Romulus and Remus and Tarquin. It contains over 1200 extensive entries, covering both Greek and Roman characters, providing detailed biographical information, together with historical and geographical background. In addition there are comprehensive genealogical trees of important mythological families and a detailed list of all Greek and Latin writers referred to in the text.

The Severans analyses the colourful decline of the Roman Empire during the reign of the Severans, the first non-Roman dynasty. With its beautifully selected plate section, maps and bibliography, this will appeal to student and general reader.

A biography of the apostle and leader of the early Christians, based on scholarship in anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, and religion. Includes sections on his relationship with Jesus, his role as a leader, and his death and burial-place

Drawing on recent techniques practiced in archaeology and anthropology, Michael Grant reveals the ancient Greece and Rome of the common people--men and women citizens as well as slaves and freedmen and women--and adds a human dimension to more standard accounts of political and military events. "Grant blows the dust off our timeworn images. . . ".--Publishers Weekly.

History of the most dramatic events in the Greo-Roman world from 1,000 B.C. to the fall of The Roman Empire in 5 A.D.

Written by eminent classical scholar Michael Grant. The Ancient Mediterranean is a wonderfully revealing, unusually comprehensive history of all the peoples who lived around the Mediterranean from about 15,000 B.C. to the time of Constantine (306-337 A.D.). Many volumes, including Professor Grant''s own previous works, trace the histories of the great civilizations of Greece and Rome. But this unique work looks at the influences and cultures of the entire region, including Egypt, Israel, Crete, Carthage, Ionia and the Eastern colonies. Syria, and the Etruscans, as well as the Greek and Roman states. Drawing on archaeology, geography, anthropology, and economics. Professor Grant shows how the great Oriental civilizations—Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia—originated attitudes and institutions ultimately passed on to the West. He describes the effect on the people and their achievements of the long, irregular coastline, the mountainous terrain surrounding small fertile plains, the typical plant life of olive and grape, and the rapidly changing weather. Further, he investigates how the demographic factors around this deep and stormy sea caused or influenced the great periods of ancient history, such as that of fifth-century Athens and of Rome in the first century A.D. Appealing and fascinating reading, this impeccably researched history brings a fresh perspective to understanding our ancient heritage.

This useful companion to classical history reveals the ancient world, from Scotland to India and from Spain to the Black Sea, through the numerous sites of its history and legends. Covering nations, provinces, cities, towns, rivers, seas, straits, mountains, plains, and battle sites, the author describes about 900 historically significant places in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

From a small Iron Age settlement on the banks of the Tiber, Rome grew to become the center of an Empire that dominated the Western world. Powerful in war, Rome was magnificent in peace, so that even today her poets, artists, philosophers and historians exert their influence over Western thought and civilization. Michael Grant, the renowned classical historian, recreates the evolution of this astonishing city and community. He describes the individuals and events that made Rome a political and cultural conqueror, and defines the dramatic circumstances of her eventual decline and fall.- Publisher description.

"The Greek and Roman myths and legends are an indispensable part of our cultural heritage -- drawn upon by painters adn writers through the centuries, told and retold all over the world. Together they add up to one of the greatest imaginative achievements in the history of civilization; and yet the narratives of the myths themselves, today, are often only half-remembered. This scholarly and comprehensive book presents, in alphabetical order, clear and concise accounts of all the characters around whom the myths of Greece and Rome were woven." --from publisher''s notes.

"The Herod of popular tradition is the tyrannical King of Judaea who ordered the Massacre of the Innocents and died a terrible death in 4 BC as the judgment of God. But this biography paints a much more complex picture of this contemporary of Mark Antony, Cleopatra, and the Emperor Augustus. Herod devoted his life to the task of keeping the Jews prosperous and racially intact. To judge by the two disastrous Jewish rebellions that occurred within a hundred and fifty years of his death -- those the Jews called the First and Second Roman Wars -- he was not, in the long run, completely successful. For forty years Herod walked the most precarious of political tightropes. For he had to be enough of a Jew to retain control of his Jewish subjects, and enough of a pro-Roman to preserve the confidence of Rome, within whose territory his kingdom fell. For more than a quarter of a century he was one of the chief bulwarks of Augustus'' empire in the east. He made Judaea a large and prosperous country. He founded cities and built public works on a scale never seen before: of these, recently excavated Masada is a spectacular example. And he did all this in spite of a continuous undercurrent of protest and underground resistance. The numerous illustrations presents portraits and coins, buildings and articles of everyday use, landscapes and fortresses, and subsequent generations'' interpretations of the more famous events, actual and mythical, of Herod''s career." --

In this 1968 study, Michael Grant examines the varied ways in which Rome used currency to inform direct or deceive public opinion and also considers results of this exploitation. Cunning historians can read in the coins matters of art politics, religion, economics - even personalities not to be found in surviving books: or if found, can set what the books say against what the coins say. Professor Grant astutely masters his difficult and complex subject matter, producing a brief exposition of it in words which the general reader and specialist alike can understand and profit from. Complemented by a series of half-tone plates, Professor Grant''s book is an excellent introduction for students of history to the value of coins as evidence for their subject.

Surveys the historical panorama of European art and culture from the Minoans of Crete to the twentieth century.