antiquity
Antiquity is a term used in the science of history . For the Mediterranean and Near Eastern civilizations , this includes the period from the end of prehistory (up to the middle of the 4th millennium BC) to the beginning of the Middle Ages (from the 6th century). Spatially, it relates to the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Antiquity encompasses classical antiquity both in terms of time (depending on the delimitation from the 17th / 16th, 11th or 8th centuries BC to approx. 600 AD) and spatially ( ancient Greece and the Roman Empire ).
At the beginning of antiquity there was the development of writing and the ancient Near Eastern empires - Mesopotamia ( Sumer , Akkad , Babylonia , Mittani , Assyria ), Iranian highlands ( Elam , Media , Persia ), Levant ( Ugarit ) and Asia Minor / Anatolia ( Hittite Empire , Phrygia) , Lydia , Luwien ) - as well as Egypt .
Antiquity ends with the disintegration of the Roman and Sassanid states during the migration of peoples and the Arab expansion ( fall of Western Rome in 476/480; death of Justinian in 565; destruction of the Sassanid Empire in 651). In more recent research, the transition period between antiquity and the Middle Ages (from the end of the 3rd to the beginning of the 7th century) is counted as a separate section of antiquity, see Late Antiquity .
Neolithic
The first civilizations of antiquity emerged from the fully developed Neolithic ( Chalcolithic ). These civilizations were characterized by productive agriculture (agriculture, livestock farming), societies based on the division of labor (specialization), basic metallurgical techniques, supra-regional trade and stock economy, as well as by settling in walled settlements. The formation of writing is associated with the following cultures. Pictorial signs (symbols) continued to develop from the middle of the 4th millennium BC. BC - possibly in mutual influence - in Mesopotamia to the cuneiform script and in Egypt to the Egyptian hieroglyphs . The latter were from the 3rd millennium BC. Through Canaanite mediation even further developed into alphabet scripts. These new recording methods made it possible to form states with permanently established systems of rule, administration and religion, which were the first advanced civilizations to mark the beginning of antiquity.
Mesopotamia
The first highly cultural development phase from the middle of the 4th millennium BC. BC manifested itself in southern Mesopotamia in the Sumerian city-states, of which Uruk , Ur , Eridu , Larsa , Lagaš and Kiš were the most important. Uruk, in particular, was distinguished from other cities by the absolute size and age of its layout. These centers were based on a constantly developed and widely ramified irrigation system that was organized as part of a state temple economy . Thanks to pottery shards, bronze artefacts and cylinder seals, trade relations with Arabia and India can also be proven early on . Last but not least, the wheel and the potter's wheel provided decisive economic impetus. The increasing demands on trade and agriculture caused and favored the development of a font that was initially only used for bookkeeping. The transition to writing as a personal and collective form of expression is documented as one of the oldest literary testimonies by the Gilgamesh epic about a mythological king Uruk from the 26th century BC. The remarkable correspondences with passages of Genesis and Greek origin myths ( Deucalion and Pyrrha ) are evidence of the cultural continuum of antiquity.
The leadership of the city-states was incumbent on priestly princes, who combined secular and spiritual power. The architectural expression of the distinctly polytheistic - cosmological religiosity of Sumer was the ziggurats , step pyramids up to fifty meters high; the palace complexes next to them only played a representative role. The individual cities were almost constantly in conflict with their neighbors over water rights, trade routes and tribute payments; but the effects of the wars were limited; a cross-city empire formation did not take place. From the 3rd millennium BC BC nomads immigrated to Mesopotamia from the north. The Sumerian king list documents this through the appearance of Semitic names (Sumerian is a language that has not yet been assigned). In this epoch, which also led to the destruction of the monumental temples, the unity of spiritual and secular power broke. The rulers of this time demonstrated their claim to power with functional palaces as well as with graves in which they were buried with their entourage. At the end of this so-called early dynastic period, which ran from the 25th to the 24th century BC. The Sumerian sphere of influence extended to the Mediterranean for the first time.
Egypt
In Egypt, in contrast to Sumer, the country's political unification took place at the end of the 4th millennium, whereby the geographical protection against external influences (desert location) may have favored the unified development of the empire. Several minor kingdoms grouped into the two loose spheres of influence of Upper Egypt (with a center in Nekhen ) and Lower Egypt (with a center in Buto ) were established in a process lasting several generations around the middle of the 32nd century BC. United under Upper Egyptian rule. At the beginning of historical times and at the turn of the pre- to the early dynasty , the ruler's names Scorpio , Narmer and Aha appeared in the earliest written traditions , which the later tradition summarized in the mythological figure of Menes, who unified the empire . At the end of the early dynastic period (end of the 28th century BC) Egyptian power extended to Sinai, and direct trade relations to Byblos in Lebanon.
Even the rulers of the first dynasties based their rule on a state with a central administrative system and on a god-kingdom in which they appeared as a human manifestation of the hawk-shaped sky god Horus . In any case, religion was shaped by deified animals (lion, bull and cow), at whose side only at the end of the epoch mixed beings with animal heads and human bodies appeared. The thought of the hereafter was very pronounced. Huge sacred buildings and tombs made of Nile mud bricks were erected in Saqqara near Memphis and in Abydos . The unified Egypt was based on a culture that was highly developed during the predynastic period and an interest in civilizational refinement ( faience , ornate make-up tablets). The hieroglyphic writing was used in cult and administrative records (tax registers), but also in the calendar and increasingly for annalistic abbreviations that explained pictorial works.
Expansion
Mesopotamia
In the Sumerian culture it came about in the second half of the third millennium BC. To profound changes. Starting from Akkad , a city north of the Sumerian heartland, Sargon established a great empire. This king succeeded not only in expanding his sphere of influence to the hinterland of his hometown, but also in uniting all of Mesopotamia under his rule. This can presumably be traced back to both Sargon's exceptional leadership character and military reforms. The Akkadian army was more agile than that of the Sumerian city-states and consequently superior. At Sargon's death, he ruled over an empire that stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean , and was the first to use a naval force.
During this time there was also an expansion of the written culture . Cuneiform tablets had already been made in the Mesopotamian border region, especially in the kingdom of Elam, which was centered on Susa .
Egypt
In Egypt, development continued unhindered. After the incorporation of the Nile Delta, the empire expanded to the south. The structures of rule were refined and the culture took on its final shape. This is particularly evident in the construction of monumental tombs, which eventually reached their climax with the pyramids in the third and fourth dynasties .
With the third dynasty, whose beginning on 2707 BC The history of the Old Kingdom begins , which is mainly characterized by new architectural achievements. In addition to the pyramids, huge palaces and sculptures were created, the most famous example of which is the Sphinx of Giza . The most important builders of that time were Djoser , who had the first step pyramid built, Snefru , Cheops and Chephren . Just as monumental architecture was perfected on a large scale, so did the smaller art forms. Painting and sculpture reached their first high points. The sun god Ra got a bigger meaning in religion . Djedefra was the first king to call himself "son of Ra". Since the fifth dynasty, Ra has overshadowed Horus in its meaning .
The bronze age
The dominance that copper continued into the second millennium BC Chr., Gradually went over to the bronze . In addition to the almost ubiquitous copper, which was now the subject of systematic mining, they also needed tin , which was probably imported into Mesopotamia from western Iran or Uzbekistan.
In Egypt, copper and bronze were introduced relatively late. The copper never achieved the same status here as in Mesopotamia, while the bronze, which was probably never made in Egypt but only imported, was soon able to establish itself in art and the military. Here a great problem for the development of the Egyptians was revealed. Egypt was poor in raw materials, which meant that trade relations with the outside world had to be strengthened. Ultimately, this is probably also the reason why both the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in Egypt took a long time to reach full bloom.
The High Bronze Age
Mesopotamia
The Akkad Empire fell not long after Sargon's death due to both internal unrest and external threats. A restoration of the Sumerian city-states began, but it did not last long. More and more peoples invaded from outside, the Elamites and Amurrites formed powerful empires that soon encroached on Mesopotamia. The end of the Sumerian era was creeping. The individual Sumerian princes grew increasingly in power. The most powerful empire was initially that of Larsa , but the previously unknown Babylon under the leadership of Hammurabi I soon fought for supremacy. Hammurapi founded the second great empire on Mesopotamian soil. Although it did not quite reach the extent of the empire of Akkad and disintegrated again shortly after Hammurapi's death, the effect on Mesopotamia was more lasting. The administrative structures were refined and a comprehensive legal code was drawn up. In addition, the city of Babylon was granted a longer life than Akkad; soon it became the largest and most important in all of Mesopotamia.
Although the Kassite people in the Iranian mountains rose to a threatening power for Babylon and made themselves felt through frequent attacks on Mesopotamia, the real fatal blow for the empire came completely unexpectedly from Asia Minor . Here the Hittites had started to build an empire and attacked in 1530 BC. BC Babylon. This invasion was not a conquest. The Hittites merely plundered the city and immediately withdrew into their realm. However, the Kassites took advantage of this moment of weakness in the Babylonian Empire and took power in Babylonia .
The Levant
The first century of Kassite rule in Mesopotamia remains in the dark due to a lack of sources. At that time, the Hittite Empire was expanding south, where it came into conflict with the Mitanni , a Hurrian state that occupied the far north of Mesopotamia as far as the Syrian Mediterranean coast. Here, after the end of the Akkadian Empire, the cultural life intensified. There was no significant formation of an empire, but larger settlements emerged that became wealthy through brisk trade, such as Ugarit , Arados , Byblos and Tire .
Egypt
Most of the cities mentioned fell to Egypt, which after expanding to the south now turned against the resource-rich Middle East. Canaan , Phenicia and the Levant were established around 1500 BC. Conquered by the Egyptians, under Thutmose III. (1479–1425 BC) it reached its greatest extent and the height of its power and even bordered on the Euphrates . The kings of the 18th dynasty, now representatives of the New Kingdom, were possibly the most powerful in Egyptian history. However, Amenhotep IV, better known as Akhenaten , introduced religious and social innovations that met with considerable resistance, especially among the priestly caste. He wanted to establish a monotheistic religion with the solar disk Aton as the only deity. The capital was moved to the newly founded Achet-Aton . From here the king pursued elaborate diplomatic relations with neighboring states. However, his revolution failed shortly after his death, and Egypt fell back into the old structures.
Aegean
On what is now the Greek island of Crete , around 2000 BC The heyday of the Minoan culture , the first advanced civilization in Europe. The archaeological evidence allows an insight into the manorial palace culture, but the religious and political structures remain largely uncertain, because the Minoan language could not be assigned to any known language and therefore the Minoan written documents cannot be understood. What is certain is that the Minoans attached great importance to seafaring and possibly also pursued colonial expansion. At that time they were arguably the predominant power in the Aegean. From approx. 1450 BC. Most of the palaces of Crete were destroyed in the 4th century BC, most likely by Mycenaean conquerors from mainland Greece. No later than 1400 BC. BC, Crete, the Cyclades , which were previously at least under strong Cretan influence, and settlements with former Minoan influences such as Miletus in Asia Minor, became part of the Mycenaean culture.
The beginning of the Mycenaean culture on mainland Greece coincided with the beginning of the Late Bronze Age ( Late Helladic ) around 1600 BC. Together. Whether Mycenaean Greece at the time of its greatest heyday (approx. 1400–1200 BC) was divided into several small kingdoms or at least temporarily formed a coherent state (under the rule of Mycenae or Thebes ) is still a matter of dispute. It is certain that in the 15th / 14th In the 19th century, powerful palace centers emerged in many regions, from which larger territories were ruled and economically coordinated (see Mycenaean palace times ). Mycenae, Thebes, Pylos and Athens were among the most important centers . Greek culture reached a temporary peak in Mycenaean times. Many clay tablets with linear B characters , written in an early form of the Greek language ( Mycenaean Greek ), have survived from the palace archives . Above all, these documents give an insight into the centrally controlled economic system of the palaces. The Mycenaeans cultivated intensive trade contacts with other cultures in the eastern and partly also in the western Mediterranean. Mycenaean ceramics testify to this, as do other goods that were discovered in many regions of the Mediterranean. The legend of the Trojan War , the historicity of which is highly controversial, is now sometimes interpreted as a romanticization of a Mycenaean raid. After the palace centers were destroyed around 1200 BC BC and the collapse of the Mycenaean palace economy, Greece and larger parts of the Aegean remained culturally Mycenaean for about 150–200 years.
The end of the bronze age
The expansion of the Hittites to the south led to a clash with Egypt. After the Hittite conquests in the Levant, it came about in 1274 BC. At the Battle of Kadesch , which is considered a key event of the late Bronze Age. In this battle no clear winner could be determined, and finally the first documented peace agreement in world history (see Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty ), which established a balance of power between Egyptians and Hittites.
In Mesopotamia, this period was marked by the efforts of the Assyrians to build a great empire. From the core area around the capital Assur , the Assyrian kings undertook between 1300 and 1200 BC. Extensive military campaigns that finally brought all of Mesopotamia under their rule. The Assyrians tried to adopt Mesopotamian traditions in order not to be regarded as foreign rulers and to legitimize a universal claim to rule. In the west, the Assyrian Empire reached the Euphrates, which brought it into contact with the Hittites. Similar to Egypt, Assyria was able to reach a settlement of the conflict through diplomatic channels, so that ultimately a power triangle between the Hittite Empire, Egypt and Assyria emerged. However, this was short-lived, since around 1200 BC. BC the so-called sea peoples suddenly appeared on the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean . It was probably a large number of smaller ethnic groups to which the collapse of the Mycenaean and Hittite empires were previously attributed. Today it is more likely that the Sea Peoples were only indirectly involved in the fall of the Hittite Empire and the upheavals in Greece. What is certain is that the trade routes for Greece and Asia Minor became more uncertain and important trading partners were canceled, which at least led to an economic weakening. Furthermore, deliveries of grain for the Hittite Empire by Pharaoh Merenptah (approx. 1213–1204 BC) are attested by an Egyptian inscription. Since the king of Ugarit in Syria, which was under Hittite rule, was instructed several times to urgently send grain to Anatolia, a severe famine in Asia Minor can be assumed.
The exact causes and processes that led to the collapse of the Hittite empire and the destruction and upheaval on the Greek mainland are unclear. Many centers in the Syrian-Canaanite region fell victim to the Sea Peoples (Ugarit was attacked and destroyed between 1194 and 1186 BC), probably also Cyprus. During attacks by sea and on land on Egypt, by Ramses III. could be beaten off, the Philistines were part of the Sea Peoples Alliance , who settled in the Palestinian area after the defeat against Egypt. Meanwhile, at least parts of the Hittite population apparently left central Anatolia; the capital Hattuša, which reveals very little fire damage, was probably abandoned by its residents. It is considered likely that the Hittite population moved from the former heartland to the south and southeast, where Hittite principalities remained for a long time . The vacuum in Central Anatolia was filled a few decades later by Phrygians and possibly also Kaškäer , who expanded their settlement area far to the east and south-east. The Assyrian empire lost due to internal unrest that was still under Tukulti-Ninurta I in the late 13th century BC. Began to grow strongly in power and had to relinquish its position as a hegemonic power in Mesopotamia to the regaining strength of Babylonia. At the same time, the Arameans increasingly appeared on the borders of Mesopotamia . Only Egypt was able to maintain its state structures, albeit severely weakened by the encounter with the Sea Peoples.
The iron age
At this time, iron processing became increasingly important. The transition to the Iron Age was fluid, but around 1000 BC. In BC iron had replaced bronze processing in the Near East.
Middle East
After the fall of the Hittite Empire and the fall of the Kassite Babylonia, which was mainly brought about by the Aramaeans, a power vacuum arose in the Near East, which again affected the Assyrians under Tukulti-apil-Ešarra I (1114-1076 BC; better known as Tiglath- Pilesar) were ready to fill out. Tiglatpilesar managed to expand the empire to the Mediterranean coast. However, this new empire fell victim to the Arameans after his death, and Assyria was pushed back into the heartland around Assur.
The Assyrians now had to assert themselves against a number of small Aramaic states. It was only about a century after Tiglatpilesar's death that the Assyrian king Aššur-dan II (912–891 BC) succeeded in expanding his empire again. The Assyrians were able to regain supremacy in northern Mesopotamia and finally conquer areas from Lake Urmia and the Zagros Mountains to the Mediterranean coast. Later Babylonia, Syria and Palestine also fell to Assyria, and the empire of Urartu , which rose into the northern mountains, could be defeated. At the height of their power, 663 BC. BC, the Assyrians even ruled Egypt as far as Thebes .
However, the Assyrians had overstretched their empire. Internal difficulties made the empire so troublesome that the ruling structure crumbled. In Babylonia in particular, such a hatred of the Assyrians arose that a great uprising was sparked which, with the help of the Medes , led to the Assyrian royal cities of Assyria and Nineveh not only being captured but also being fundamentally destroyed. After the death of the last Assyrian king, Aššur-uballiṭ II , nothing was left of the Assyrian empire, and two hundred years later its existence was forgotten.
In Babylonia the Chaldeans had meanwhile taken power. Allied with the Medes, after the end of Assyria, they were able to extend their power to essential parts of the former Assyrian empire, so that under Nabu-kudurri-usur II it was almost congruent with that empire . At that time, the city of Babylon had also reached its cultural heyday. According to today's scientists, the magnificent buildings of Nebuchadnezzar were later combined as the Hanging Gardens to form one of the wonders of the ancient world. The Marduk cult , which has existed since Hammurabi, reached its climax with the construction of a 90 meter high ziggurate - the biblical tower of Babel . Babylon became the largest city of its time with about a million inhabitants. However, this splendid development came at the expense of the conquered peoples, especially the Jews who were taken into Babylonian captivity .
In Asia Minor the Phrygian Empire was formed around Gordion on the ruins of the Hittite Empire . Nevertheless, Hatti initially remained free of their influence and small states of the late Hittites emerged here. The Phrygerreich soon had the incident Cimmerians and Scythians fight and fell gradually to that of Sardis outgoing Lyderreich victim.
Egypt
On the Nile from the end of the 2nd millennium BC A decay of the manorial structures noticeable, which found its expression in political turmoil and civil wars. The priests of Amun grew increasingly in power and at times were even able to establish a kind of god state in Upper Egypt. In the 8th century BC In BC Egypt eventually fell under the control of the Cushites who tried to stop Assyria in its rise. Due to the weakness of the Egyptian Empire, this ultimately led to the conquest of the Nile region by the Assyrians, who drove the Cushites out of the country and ushered in the late period with the restoration of Egyptian rule . As Egypt was friendly towards the Assyrians as a result of these events, after the fall of Assyria there was a conflict with the Babylonians, which ultimately led to the conquest of Egypt by the Persians .
Mediterranean area
Fundamental changes took place in the Mediterranean region at this time. In the 10th century BC Colonization began by the Phoenicians in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. This colonization is probably due to the fact that the individual, mutually independent cities of Phenicia came to such wealth and growth through constant trade that they were threatened by overpopulation, also because they could not expand inland. This is certainly accompanied by economic considerations, because the resource-rich areas of North Africa and Spain were specifically targeted. The fertility of the lands and the wealth of various trade goods, including silver and gold, meant that the Phoenician colonies soon became as rich as their mother cities. Carthage , Gades , Ebusos and Panormos are among the most important foundations of that time . In the Aegean region, after the fall of the Mycenaean culture, major social upheavals took place, also due to new migration movements from the north, which are referred to as the Dark Age due to the inadequate sources . The expansion of Sparta began in the Peloponnese . In other areas of Greece the rule of the king passed into the polis structures. At the end of these developments there were mostly democratic orders in the individual city-states, but there were also authoritarian political systems that either only gradually took on democratic traits (e.g. Athens ), or retained an authoritarian ruler at their head (the tyranny , e.g. Pherai ).
The dense settlement of Greece eventually led to an overpopulation, which also ended in a colonization of the Mediterranean area on the part of Greece (so-called great colonization ). There were occasional conflicts with the Phoenicians, but in general the Greeks settled mainly on the northern coast of the Mediterranean. Colonization came mainly from Corinth , Megara , Chalkis and Miletus . The main areas of colonization were the Iberian Peninsula , Sicily and Lower Italy ( Magna Graecia ), the northern Aegean region and the entire Black Sea coast . In Sicily in particular, the Greek colonists came into contact with the Phoenician colonies. This led to conflicts and wars that shaped the history of the island until it was conquered by the Romans.
In Italy , too, the structures changed during this time. With the influence of the Greeks, the peoples living here came to be historically. Around 900 BC The Etruscan culture was formed from the Iron Age forerunners of the Villanova culture . The Etruscans extended their territory until 500 BC. BC to large parts of Italy including the Po Valley and Campania . It is a largely uniform cultural area, also influenced by Greek, but not a state. The Etruscans, like the Greeks and Phoenicians, were split up into individual city-states, but by and large they appeared uniformly outward, especially against the Greeks and various Italian tribal areas such as the Latins , Umbrians or Venetians . Since their writing has not yet been deciphered, the culture has been researched mainly through grave finds.
The classic antiquity
Middle East
The great empire of the Babylonians in the Middle East began to crumble shortly after its formation. The successors of Nebuchadnezzar did not succeed in asserting their power in the individual areas of the kingdom, and the popularity of the ruling house also declined in the core area of Babylonia. So it was not surprising that the Persian King Cyrus II was welcomed by the population. Cyrus had in previous years, from Persia , a vassal state made of the Median Empire, an empire by the Median king Astyages defeated and whose capital Ecbatana had taken, where he in personal union was the same king of the Medes and Persians. A few years later he also conquered the Lydian Empire under Kroisos and the Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor. 539 BC Babylon was finally conquered, and here, too, Cyrus assumed the native crown, so that he was nominally king of three kingdoms at the same time. His son and successor Cambyses II added the crown of Egypt to this structure, which he acquired in 525 BC. Chr. Conquered. When he died in 522 BC The empire threatened to fall apart, as the meager in Persia had usurped the throne during his campaign in Egypt . A member of Cambyses' staff, Dareios I , succeeded in eliminating the usurpers and occupying the throne himself. Serious uprisings broke out in the empire shortly afterwards, and it took Darius two years to consolidate his rule.
Finally, Darius managed to unite the empire under his rule and to expand its borders to the Indus in the east and to the Cyrenaica in the west. The Achaemenid Empire, named after the founder of the dynasty, also played an increasingly influential role in the Aegean region . After the Persian expansion in 480 BC. Was stopped by the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis and a year later at the Battle of Plataiai (see Persian Wars ), the empire turned inward. Extensive political and social innovations were already introduced under Darius I. Whether one can speak of a Persian imperial culture in view of the introduction of Persian norms in almost all areas of political and in large parts of cultural life is rather doubtful; instead, it can be observed that the Persians treated the peoples they ruled, their traditions and cultures, and even the political systems with great respect. The great king also did not see himself as the king of a Persian empire, but called himself “king of kings” and “king of countries and peoples”. This feeling of togetherness is also expressed in royal inscriptions and reliefs in the royal cities of Susa , Persepolis , Pasargadai and Ekbatana as well as in the tombs in Naqsch-e Rostam .
Nevertheless, the Persian rule was felt by some peoples, especially the Egyptians, as oppression, so that the empire in the early 4th century BC. Chr. Had to accept larger territorial losses. The individual provincial administrators, the satraps , also increasingly sparked revolts against the great royal rule. Artaxerxes III. (359–338 BC), however, succeeded in enforcing his power with great severity and reintegrating some border areas, above all Egypt, into the empire. However, a profound restoration of the empire was prevented by his assassination, and a few years later the area was conquered by Alexander the Great .
Aegean region
The political and cultural developments in Greece took place around 500 BC. At the beginning of the Classical Period, an era characterized by the refinement and completion of philosophical, political and cultural ideas. From a political point of view, the beginning of the classical period marked the beginning of Athenian democracy and the struggle against the Persian Empire . These so-called Persian Wars created a feeling of community in the Greek states that had never existed here before. They saw themselves as defenders of the Hellenic culture against foreign barbarians (although this term did not yet have the current meaning, but was used as a collective term for all non-Greek peoples). Nevertheless, the Greek world of states was characterized by internal turmoil, which in view of the external threat was only partially overcome.
An important feature of the time after the successful defense of the Persians (and the subsequent liberation of the Greek poleis on the west coast of Asia Minor; around 477 BC) was the Athenian-Spartan dualism , an ongoing struggle for supremacy in the Aegean region. This resulted in 431 BC. To the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War , which had serious consequences and which has not wrongly been described as an ancient world war , and shortly after its end in 404 BC. BC, to the Corinthian War (395–386 BC), at the end of which there was the royal peace . This also made clear the supremacy of Persia and the Persian great king Artaxerxes II , since the divided Greek world of states was not able to find a modus vivendi on its own . The contract also contained a declaration that all Greek cities and islands should become independent. This did not mean much for the smaller Greek states, but for Athens, Sparta and Thebes it was a major change. Sparta was considered to be the guarantor of Persian sovereignty in Greece and thus held the long-contested hegemonic position. The goal of achieving a general peace remained unattainable, however, because the treaty met opposition from Athens and Thebes, and the latter were finally able to defeat Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra and a few years later eliminate Sparta as a Greek empire. The Theban hegemony soon collapsed again, however, as the power of Thebes came from a person, Epameinodas , the leading figure in Theban politics, who lived in 362 BC. Died at the battle of Mantineia .
Many Greeks felt at that time that the former glory of civilization was drowning in the political turmoil. Some speakers, especially Isocrates , called for the unification of the Greek states for the purpose of a large-scale campaign of revenge against the Persians, who died in 480 BC. Had destroyed Athens. This was finally tackled by the Macedonian King Philip II , who ruled between 359 and 338 BC. Conquered almost all of Greece and large parts of the areas north and east of Macedonia, Illyria and Thrace , and 338 BC. BC at Chaironeia was able to destroy an allied Athenian-Theban army. As the new hegemon of Greece, he planned a military campaign against the Persian Empire, which was, however, caused by his murder in 336 BC. Was thwarted.
The spiritual and cultural life in Greece
In general, the Greek classical period is seen as the origin and starting point of occidental culture. The epics of Homer , which were considered sacred by the Greeks , probably paved the way for Greek literature . In the lyrical life of Greece, drama soon became the most popular form of literature. The works of playwrights such as Aeschylus , Aristophanes or Euripides set the trend for all of subsequent Western literature. With Herodotus began in the 5th century BC. The historiography, which for the first time allows detailed reconstructions of historical events on a large scale, while Thucydides , the chronicler of the Peloponnesian War, founded the scientific historiography.
Probably the most important achievement of the spiritual life, however, is the emergence of philosophy . With the school of Socrates , which besides its founder belonged above all to Plato , and the school of Aristotle , the philosophy of antiquity reached its climax, and the approaches that emerged at that time and the works developed from them are still the foundations of Christian- occidental ethics. Other art forms such as music , architecture , sculpture, and painting also flourished. Here, too, the achievements of the Greeks formed the basis for later developments.
Western Mediterranean
In the western Mediterranean it rose around 800 BC. Carthage, founded in BC, became a major power thanks to lively trade activities. Even a colony of Tire , Carthage was soon able to bring the Phoenician settlements in this area under its domination. In Sicily, this led to contact with the Greek colonies there, especially the mighty Syracuse , which ultimately led to several wars. Despite alliances with the Persians and the Etruscans in Italy , Carthage failed to force a decision.
Carthage did not have such a lively intellectual and cultural life as Greece, which was probably also due to the fact that, thanks to trade relations, influences from all over the Mediterranean came into the city and its empire, which were to shape the cultural identity. The greatest achievements of the Carthaginians can therefore be found in another area, seafaring. The city had always been facing the Mediterranean, mainly because of its earlier dependence on Tire, which resulted in a maritime orientation and consequently a high development of shipping. The Carthaginians were also the first civilization in the Mediterranean to be active beyond it. Voyages of discovery to today's Gabon and Scandinavia took place as early as the 6th century BC. Herodotus also ascribes to Carthage the circumnavigation of the African continent, which the Phoenicians had already accomplished on behalf of the Egyptian king Necho II . A significant description of the African voyages of discovery can be found in the Periplus des Hanno .
the Hellenism
After the death of Philip II, his son Alexander the Great took power. After consolidating his hegemony over Greece with considerable brutality, he began in 334 BC. A campaign against the Persian Empire, ostensibly to liberate the Greek cities in Asia Minor and to carry out the war of vengeance that has long been propagated. In just two years he managed to conquer the entire eastern Mediterranean coast, including Egypt. 333 BC He presented the Persian great king Dareios III. in the battle of Issus .
Despite the Macedonian-Greek victory, Darius escaped and raised a new army, which awaited its opponent in the plain of Gaugamela in northern Mesopotamia (331 BC). Also in this battle Alexander was victorious and was able to advance unhindered to Babylon, Susa and finally into the Persian heartland, where he took Persepolis and Ekbatana. Here the campaign of vengeance ended, and the continuation of the war against Darius became a personal matter for Alexander, who managed to win the army for it. However, there was no final decisive battle, because Darius was murdered by the satrap Bessos , who claimed the title of Great King for himself. Alexander, who in the meantime had dismissed most of the Greek troops and continued to fight primarily with the Macedonians, therefore saw the ongoing campaign as retaliation against this betrayal and advanced into Central Asian Bactria , where Bessus was handed over to him. The campaign of conquest then continued, and a kind of partisan war ensued, especially against the northern Sacred tribes . When Central Asia 327 BC In the 4th century BC was finally pacified, Alexander's urge to conquer drove him into the Indus Valley , where he fought against a number of princes until his homesick army finally forced him to return. The Macedonians brought the rest of the Indus region under their control and began a lossy return journey through the Gedrosian Desert . After returning in 325 BC Alexander held court in Babylon, where he lived in 323 BC. BC died. A planned campaign in Arabia did not materialize.
According to some scholars, Alexander's ideology of the empire shifted over time from a purely Greek-Macedonian idea of revenge to the idea of a balance between Greeks and non-Greeks, the so-called barbarians. This found expression in many ways, above all through the founding of numerous cities in the areas he had conquered, an organized mass wedding between Greek soldiers and Persian women and, last but not least, in the fact that Alexander gave his kingdom more Persian and oriental features. This met with resistance from the Macedonians, and after his death little is to be found of this oriental idea of rule. When the king died, a civil war broke out among his generals for the succession, in which the empire was finally divided into several monarchies, of which the Seleucids , Ptolemies , and Antigonids were the most powerful. Especially in the Aegean region and in the Middle East, these diadochi competed with one another; most of the Greek cities were more or less directly under their rule. The Seleucids in particular had long-term problems in preserving their heterogeneous empire and were gradually pushed back from the conquered areas. Traces of Greek civilization were preserved, especially in Bactria , but also in Mesopotamia, which was under Seleucid rule for a long time until it was conquered by the Iranian Arsacids . From then on, Syria, Asia Minor and Egypt were assigned to the Greek cultural area for centuries. In Egypt, indigenous and Greek cultural elements were partially merged, especially in the new capital Alexandria . In Syria and Asia Minor, however, the Greek displaced the local cultures as far as possible, at least in the cities.
The internal division of the Greek world of states, which had only gained a greater geographical expansion through Alexander, ultimately contributed to the fact that the entire Greek area since 200 BC. It was gradually incorporated into the Roman Empire until 30 BC. BC also Egypt, the last remaining Diadochian empire, became a Roman province. This ended the political history of Hellenism. Roman culture did not replace Greek culture in the east, but it did influence it.
The Roman Empire
Ascent
From its origins, Rome was a city-state, which, with a new political order, the republic , sought the political, cultural and intellectual demarcation from the former supremacy of the Etruscans. Strengthened from within by this system, the Romans succeeded in first shaking off the Etruscan power (according to legend around 510 BC, in reality the republic was probably founded around 475 BC) and to confirm and maintain its independence. From then on there were no longer any kings in Rome and the state became a res publica , a “public affair”. After 387 BC When the Celts had occupied and sacked Rome, Rome saw territorial expansion as the best way to secure its existence and went on the offensive. The Roman expansion was also fueled by the competition within the new ruling class ( nobility ), whose members strived for military glory. After a long series of wars against the neighboring peoples of the Etruscans , Samnites , Latins , Sabines , Umbrians and finally the Greeks settling in southern Italy (see also Pyrrhos I ), Rome had 270 BC. All of Italy up to the Po Valley under his control.
264 BC BC began with rival Roman and Carthaginian interventions in Sicily Rome's first conflict with a great power, the First Punic War , which began in 241 BC. BC ended with the defeat of Carthage and the Roman occupation of Sicily. In 238 Rome expanded its territory, contrary to the treaty, to include the islands of Sardinia and Corsica , which had been Carthaginian until then , while the Carthaginians tried to regain their lost power by conquering Spain. This led to renewed tension between the two powers, which in 218 B.C. After the capture of the city of Saguntum, allied with Rome, by the Carthaginian Hannibal in the Second Punic War . Hannibal led a campaign to Italy that began in 216 BC. Culminated with the Carthaginian victory over Rome in the battle of Cannae . However, Hannibal was unable to take Rome and remained active in southern Italy, which allowed the Romans to rebuild their lost military strength and go on the offensive themselves. Initially, however, this was deliberately not directed directly against Hannibal's armed forces, but rather to the possessions in Spain, which fell to Rome during the course of the war. A Carthaginian counter-offensive failed at the Battle of Metaurus and finally forced Hannibal to retreat to North Africa, where he died in 202 BC. At Zama was defeated by the Romans under Scipio .
In the following period the Romans extended their territories in Spain, northern Italy, Gaul and on the Illyrian coast until it was 149 BC. BC came to the Third Punic War , which ended in the complete annihilation of Carthage. The city was leveled and the areas annexed.
From 200 BC Rome was also active in Greece and the eastern Mediterranean, where it initially responded to calls for help, but in the course of the wars that followed it brought the Aegean region completely under its control. 133 BC BC inherited Rome from the then King Attalus III. the kingdom of Pergamon and thus received its first province on the Asian mainland.
The time of crisis in the republic
133 BC When Tiberius Gracchus was slain by other senators, the breach of the constitution and violence found their way into Roman domestic politics . With that began the crisis of the republic. From around 120 BC In addition, the Celtic and Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and Teutons began to migrate south, where they were viewed by the Romans as a serious threat. After several defeats, the Romans under Marius succeeded in defeating the invading peoples and repelling them as a result of an army reform. However, this army reform created a professional army which, as "army clientele", could be used as a weapon by ambitious politicians. Through the Mithridatic Wars , Rome gained several vassal states in Asia Minor. The absence of the armed forces in Rome, however, intensified the political turmoil that had prevailed since the Gracchi attempted reform (see: Gracchian reforms and Roman civil wars ). The domestic political difficulties of the republic were due not least to the political structure of the republic, which was hardly sufficient to rule the empire that Rome had become, and which also required the elite to be able to compromise, which no longer existed. Thus the crisis period of the late republic was exacerbated by ambitious politicians and military men pursuing their own goals, which led to a struggle in the Senate between the so-called Optimates and the Populares . The general Sulla was 88 BC. The first to use his army as a domestic weapon and to take Rome. After a lengthy civil war, he succeeded in 82 BC. With the renewed invasion of Rome, the disputes (not least through the use of force) to be settled for the time being and a dictatorship to be established that would last until his resignation in 79 BC. Stopped. During this time he tried to reform the republic in the spirit of the Optimates. Shortly afterwards he died.
The restoration of stable political conditions did not succeed, however, because the slave revolt of Spartacus in the Italian heartland required radical measures and the power of command was transferred to Crassus and Pompeius , who had originally been Sulla's supporters, but now sought to gain popularity by repealing his reforms. After the suppression of the uprising, both eliminated in the joint consulate in 70 BC. Important laws of Sulla. In the years that followed, Pompey was entrusted with "extraordinary commands" in the East and gained tremendous fame - and numerous enemies among the nobility. Politically outmaneuvered by them, he secretly formed an alliance with his rival Crassus, with the aim of usurping as much power as possible. 60 BC The up-and-coming Julius Caesar joined this covenant, creating the so-called First Triumvirate (i.e. an unofficial college of three men). As consul, Caesar enforced the wishes of the triumvirs by force. The greatest beneficiary of this order was himself, since he then conquered all of Gaul on his own in the so-called Gallic War and thus even surpassed Pompey in fame and fortune. The alliance broke after 53 BC. When Crassus fell in a great battle against the Parthians at Carrhae in search of his own battle glory .
Pompey now viewed Caesar as a personal rival, allied himself with leading optimates who hated Caesar for his actions as consul, and demanded 49 BC. From Rome from the resignation of his offices. Caesar, the end of his career in sight, reacted with the march on Rome, which led to the civil war between the supporters of Caesar and those of Pompey. 48 BC Pompey was defeated at Pharsalus and Caesar was after further victories in 45 BC. To the sole ruler of Rome until he was already 44 BC. Was murdered. In the civil war-like turmoil that followed, the people commissioned 43 BC BC the Caesar followers Marcus Antonius , Octavian and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus were forced to form a college to restore political order (the so-called Second Triumvirate ). As under Sulla, there were proscriptions , that is, organized murders, to which Cicero , among others, fell victim; the Caesar murderers were defeated the following year. 32 BC However, the 2nd triumvirate ended in the power struggle of the two triumvirs Antonius and Octavian, which ended in a civil war, which Octavian 30 BC. To decide for himself and finally to take sole power in Rome.
Early and high imperial times
Octavian now had to turn the sole rule he had obtained by force into an orderly monarchy. He succeeded from 27 BC. To preserve the appearance through clever reforms that the republic would be restored, while in reality (and recognizable for all) he took over the sole rule and thus established the order of the principate . This construction meant that a hereditary monarchy could never fully establish itself in Rome, since the empire was formally always an exceptional office. As the first Roman emperor with the honorary name Augustus (Eng. "The sublime") he added large new areas to Rome in Spain, the Alpine region, Illyria and Asia Minor and also took Egypt for Rome into possession. Only campaigns in Germania failed after the battle in the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. Under his successors Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius and Nero , the order of the Principate was consolidated and new areas in North Africa, Asia Minor, Thrace and Britain were added to the empire, albeit in Inside, the emperors after Tiberius were less capable or even, as in the case of Caligulas and Nero, apparently decadent or did not understand the Augustan system of veiled autocracy. After the assassination of Nero (68 AD) there was a brief civil war (year of the four emperors ), which ended with the victory of Vespasian . Christianity first appeared in Rome under Nero .
With the Flavian emperors from Vespasian onwards, Rome reached the height of its power. Vespasian himself reorganized the finances and stabilized the administration; his sons Titus and Domitian also ruled successfully overall, even if Domitian fell victim to a conspiracy in 96 AD and was murdered. The so-called adoptive emperors followed the Flavians . Under Trajan , the empire briefly reached its greatest extent with the conquest of Dacia , Mesopotamia, Assyria and Armenia, but most of the areas he had gained were given up again by his successor Hadrian . During the reign of Mark Aurel (161–180) there were invasions of the Germanic tribes into the empire, which the emperor could only with difficulty master through several large-scale campaigns. After the death of his incompetent son and successor Commodus (180-192), another civil war broke out ( Second Year of the Four Emperors ), which ended in favor of Septimius Severus . Severus was unable to permanently restore internal peace in Rome, and after the assassination of his successor Caracalla in 217, the order of the empire began to fall apart, especially as the empire came under increasing pressure from outside. This culminated in 235 in the mutiny of the Roman army in Mogontiacum and the murder of the last Severus , Severus Alexander , by his troops, who instead proclaimed Maximinus Thrax emperor. This started a period of repeated civil wars (e.g. in the six-imperial year 238) and the military emperor.
During this phase, often referred to as the 3rd century crisis, the empire threatened to break up completely at times. The ongoing invasions of Germanic peoples from the north and especially the strengthening of Persia under the Sassanid dynasty , who inherited the Parthians in 224 , meant serious threats to Rome, while a large number of generals claimed the imperial throne and this repeatedly led to the Armies of the empire were involved in military combat operations. Areas of the empire (Gaul, Britain and the Empire of Palmyra ) fell temporarily away. Border areas in Germania and Dacia had to be given up completely. A slow consolidation only began around 270 (although it is disputed whether one can speak of a general crisis affecting the whole empire). The changed foreign policy conditions required the exertion of all forces.
Late imperial era
It was not until the first emperor of late antiquity, Diocletian , that, with extensive reforms, succeeded in stabilizing the Roman Empire again after the time of the imperial crisis and adapting the system to the sharply increased pressure on the borders. This went hand in hand with the factual subdivision of the empire into two large and four subordinate administrative areas, which were ruled by two upper emperors ( Augusti ) and two lower emperors ( Caesares ) ( Roman tetrarchy ). The last large-scale persecution of Christians took place under Diocletian since 303 . However, the system of tetrarchy ("rule of four") broke up not long afterwards, and in 324 Constantine the Great took sole rulership over the empire, continuing Diocletian's military and administrative reforms. His seat of government was moved from Rome to Constantinople , which was named after him . Constantine confessed to the Christian faith through baptism at the latest on his deathbed. This paved the way for a fundamental Christianization of the empire, which culminated in 391 in Theodosius I's prohibition of all non-Christian cults . With the division of the empire in 395 , the empire disintegrated in fact (but not formally) into a western and an eastern part, each under an Augustus .
From the third quarter of the 4th century, more and more Germanic tribes invaded the Roman dominion, since after the destruction of the Goths in southern Russia by the Huns (375) and the flight of the Danube Goths into the Roman Empire (376), in eastern and eastern Germany Central Europe had come to migratory movements of larger peoples (see migration of peoples ). The Germanic tribes who broke into the empire were partially settled on Roman soil as federates . However, this and the increasing recruitment of even the highest military for the Roman army eventually led to the formation of Germanic empires on the soil of the western empire and to the internal loss of actual power. On the eastern border, Rome was bound in the fight against the Persian Empire, which had regained strength under the Sassanids . Although the Roman possessions were largely secured, a Roman claim to supremacy could no longer prevail in this region. After all, during the 5th century it was mostly possible to keep peace with the Persians, which relieved the burden on Eastern Europe.
The western empire , which had been hit hardest by the onslaught of the Germanic peoples, could no longer stabilize the borders, in contrast to the eastern part. The decisive factor was probably the loss of the rich North African provinces to the Vandals : the Western emperors subsequently ran out of funds, so that they could hardly recruit troops and increasingly depended on federations who ultimately pursued their own goals. Soon after the assassination of the army master Aëtius (454), who had offered considerable resistance to the Huns and the Germanic peoples allied with them, the western Roman army effectively disbanded. This finally led to the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, which basically ended the history of the Imperium Romanum in the Occident, even if many ancient lines of tradition initially outlived the fall of Western Rome (in particular the Empire of the Ostrogoths in Italy was still strongly influenced by late antiquity). In the east, the empire was able to maintain its position and under Justinian I even dominated the entire Mediterranean area again in the 6th century ; However, due to its increasing Christian character and the dominance of Greek culture as the Byzantine Empire, it took on a completely different character from the 7th century and also lost over two thirds of its territory to the attacking Arabs since 636. This Islamic expansion at the latest therefore marks the end of antiquity .
Iran
In Iran, Hellenism was only able to prevail to a limited extent. Greek rule in the 3rd century BC BC put an end to the uprising of the Parthians , who founded the Arsacid Empire , a structure of largely decentralized royal power and vassal princes. This empire also acted as a mediator between the western Greco-Roman world and the Indian and Chinese cultures. The Parthians had to assert themselves against threats from the Romans in the west and the nomadic tribes in the north. This was made more difficult by the unstable feudal order in the interior of the empire, and there were often confusions of the throne. Such turmoil also meant that the Parthians were unable to exploit their victory at Carrhae (53 BC) and fundamentally weaken the Roman Empire. Thereafter Rome became a serious opponent of the Parthians, and more and more territorial losses had to be accepted. There were repeated fighting, especially around Armenia .
The Parthian empire suffered a catastrophic defeat in 114 with the invasion of Trajan into Mesopotamia, the center of Parthian power. After the abandonment of these areas by Hadrian in 117, the Parthians were able to rebuild their power and ultimately grow again to be a serious opponent of Rome: 161 the Parthians began a war of aggression and invaded Armenia (the eternal bone of contention between Rome and the Parthians or later the Sasanids), but were repulsed in 162 by the troops of Avidius Cassius ; The Romans even conquered the capital Ctesiphon in 165 , but the Roman troops withdrew again in 166 - and in the process dragged a form of plague into the Roman Empire. Soon the seeds of the later downfall grew in the interior of the Parthian Empire; The vassal state of Persia, increasingly dissatisfied with Parthian rule and driven by an awakening national pride, was able to gain power in the following decades.
In 218, the Parthians and Romans made peace with each other after Caracalla's Parthian campaign , which had already been murdered in 217. But at the same time a revolt broke out in Persia, which in 224 led to the victory of the Persian king Ardaschir I over the Parthian Artabanos IV . The Persian Sasanid (or Sassanid) dynasty took power and established the Sasanid Empire . Ardaschir and his son Shapur I gained control of all areas previously ruled by the Parthians and attacked the Roman Empire. The Persians managed to finally conquer Armenia and defeat Roman troops several times. In 260 even the Roman emperor Valerian was captured (see also Roman-Persian Wars ).
This rise was ended by the confusion of the throne between Bahram II and Hormizd I. The Romans forced Persia to conclude peace. Only Shapur II (309–379) was able to go on the offensive again against Rome. Emperor Julian , who invaded Mesopotamia with a large army in 363, was killed in a battle. The Romans were then forced to cede territory by the Persians. In the northeast, the Hephthalites invaded Iran from 400 and developed into the second main enemy of the Persians. Peroz I fell in battle against them in 484, and Persia was forced into a temporary tributary dependency as a result of this defeat. At the same time, famine broke out in the empire, leading to riots (see Mazdakites ).
All of this also led to a weakening of the nobility, which enabled Chosrau I , the most important Sasanid king , to implement fundamental reforms in the empire and to make peace with Rome in 532 . He broke this, however, in 540: A Persian army invaded Syria and conquered and plundered the important Antioch on the Orontes . Finally, Chosrau I succeeded in destroying the Hephthalite Empire. Power in Arabia could be expanded and Yemen became a Persian province. His grandson Chosrau II expanded the empire even further. From 603 he conquered Syria and Egypt and had Constantinople besieged unsuccessfully in 626, until Emperor Herakleios struck back and defeated the Persians at the end of 627. Chosrau was murdered in 628. This was followed by a prolonged turmoil of the throne, which weakened the empire in its foundations and thus facilitated the conquests of the Arabs that began in 634 . The last great king died in 651.
To the problem
The ancient term only includes developments in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, including Iran. Developments in other cultures around the world cannot be taken into account due to the chronological restriction.
In Central America, antiquity would include all developments from the first Mesoamerican civilizations ( Olmecs , Zapotecs ) around 1500 BC. BC to the Spanish annihilation of the Maya culture in the 17th century, in India such a limitation is even more difficult to achieve, in China it is as good as impossible. Therefore, antiquity as such is a Mediterranean-Near Eastern term that cannot be applied to other cultures. The only gradual contacts between the civilizations described here and those in the Indian and Sino-East Asian circles mean that such historical classifications are largely unproblematic for part of Europe and for the Middle East.
However, the term “antiquity” also has to do without the involvement of the Celts and Germanic peoples, although they were in close contact with the civilizations of the Mediterranean. The fact that these two cultures left hardly any written evidence and are mostly known from grave finds means that they can be classified as prehistory and early history .
See also
literature
- Introductory literature
-
Klaus Bringmann : Roman history from the beginning to late antiquity . CH Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-39377-2 .
(Very brief overview of the developments in Rome from its founding to the time of Justinian.) -
Erik Hornung : Basics of Egyptian History . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1978, ISBN 3-534-02853-8 .
(Early days up to foreign rule.) -
Barthel Hrouda : Mesopotamia. The ancient cultures between the Tigris and Euphrates . CH Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-40330-1 .
(Brief overview of the checkered history of Mesopotamia.) -
Detlef Lotze : Greek History from the Beginnings to Hellenism . CH Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-39500-7 .
(Also a brief overview of Greece in the pre-Roman times). - Josef Wiesehöfer : The early Persia. History of an ancient empire . CH Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-43307-3 .
- Further representations
-
Blackwell History of the Ancient World
- Marc Van de Mieroop : A History of the Ancient Near East. Approx. 3000-323 BC. Blackwell, Malden MA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-631-22551-X (2nd edition, ibid 2007, ISBN 978-1-4051-4910-5 ).
- Jonathan M. Hall: A History of the Archaic Greek World. Approx. 1200-479 BC. Blackwell, Oxford 2006, ISBN 0-631-22667-2 .
- PJ Rhodes: A History of the Classical Greek World. 478-323 BC. Blackwell, Malden MA et al. 2006, ISBN 0-631-22564-1 (2nd edition. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester et al. 2010, ISBN 978-1-4051-9286-6 ).
- R. Malcolm Errington : A History of the Hellenistic World. 323-30 BC. Blackwell, Malden MA et al. 2008, ISBN 978-0-631-23387-9 .
- Stephen Mitchell: A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284-641. The Transformation of the Ancient World. Blackwell, Malden MA et al. 2007, ISBN 978-1-4051-0856-0 .
- Timothy E. Gregory: A History of Byzantium. Blackwell, Malden MA et al. 2005, ISBN 0-631-23512-4 (2nd edition. Wiley-Blackwell, ibid 2010, ISBN 978-1-4051-8471-7 ).
(All volumes offer an easily readable and well-founded, concise overview with current literature).
-
The Cambridge Ancient History . Div. Editor, 14 volumes (partly in partial volumes) Cambridge 1970 ff. (2nd edition)
(Comprehensive and very important overall presentation of antiquity. The second edition has been completely revised.). -
Hans-Joachim Gehrke , Helmuth Schneider (ed.): History of antiquity. 4th, enlarged and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2013, ISBN 978-3-476-02494-7 .
(basic introduction to Greco-Roman antiquity) -
Routledge History of the Ancient World. (Routledge, London / New York):
- Amélie Kuhrt : The ancient Near East. C. 3000-330 BC. 2 volumes. 1995, ISBN 0-415-01352-6 .
- Robin Osborne : Greece in the making, 1200-479 BC. 2nd Edition. 2009, ISBN 978-0-415-46991-3 .
- Simon Hornblower : The Greek world 479-323 BC. 4th edition. 2011, ISBN 978-0-415-60291-4 .
- Graham Shipley : The Greek world after Alexander, 323-30 BC. 2000, ISBN 0-415-04617-3 .
- Timothy J. Cornell : The Beginnings of Rome. Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC). 1995, ISBN 0-415-01595-2 .
- Martin Goodman : The Roman world 44 BC – AD 180. 1997, ISBN 0-415-04970-9 .
- David S. Potter : The Roman empire at Bay. AD 180-395. 2004, ISBN 0-415-10058-5 , review .
-
Averil Cameron : The Mediterranean world in Late Antiquity. AD 395-600. 2nd Edition. 2012, ISBN 978-0-415-57961-2 .
(The Routledge History is a sophisticated overall representation of antiquity, with most of the volumes having long since become standard works.).
- Josef Wiesehöfer: Ancient Persia. From 550 BC BC to AD 650. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2005, ISBN 3-491-96151-3 .
(Standard work).
- History of Classical Science
- William M. Calder III , Alexander Košenina (ed.): Appointment policy within ancient studies in Wilhelmine Prussia. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff's letters to Friedrich Althoff (1883–1908). Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-465-02200-9 .
- Beat Näf (ed.): Antiquity and Classical Studies in the Era of Fascism and National Socialism (= Texts and Studies in the History of Humanities. Vol. 1). Colloquium University of Zurich 14. – 17. October 1998. With the collaboration of Tim Kammasch. Edition Cicero, Mandelbachtal et al. 2001, ISBN 3-934285-45-7 .
- Classical Studies and New Media
- Jan Bierweiler, Martin Scholz: Classical multimedia production with the authoring systems Authorware and Director from Macromedia (= Computer and Antiquity. Vol. 7). Scripta-Mercaturae-Verlag, St. Katharinen 2004, ISBN 3-89590-149-0 .
