Books published by Classical Press of Wales

Since its first appearance in 2008, this book has changed the landscape of Virgilian studies. Analysing closely the logic and the literary genres of Virgil's three poems, it politely confronts the modern orthodoxy that Virgil signalled distaste for the methods of his ruler, Octavian-Augustus. It refreshes the study of Virgil's poetry by comparing it with the detail (normally neglected by scholars) of Rome's civil wars after Julius Caesar's death, when Octavian's survival looked highly unlikely. And it argues that Virgil wrote as a passionate - and brave - partisan of Octavian, who - like a good lawyer - confronted his patron's undeniable failings in order to defend.Awarded in 2011 the prize of the Vergilian Society for 'the book that makes the greatest contribution toward our understanding and appreciation of Virgil'.

Includes essays that examine the techniques of Cicero's verbal aggression.

A generation ago the Achaemenid Empire was a minor sideshow within long-established disciplines. For Greek historians the Persians were the defeated national enemy, a catalyst of change in the aftermath of the fall of Athens or the victim of Alexander.

Features 17 essays considering the text, interpretation and cultural context of Greek tragedy. This book includes studies of single plays, of major themes in each of the three tragedians, of modern approaches to tragic text and interpretation, and of the genre's social, political and religious background.

Aristomenes was the legendary hero of the Messenian wars who led resistence against Sparta and yet, despite a full account of his heroic deeds by Pausanias, is now almost forgotten.

The use by the Nazi regime of idealised images of ancient Sparta is increasingly recognised as an important element of the Third Reich. This work explores the historical roots and the personal effects of these ideals.

Eight leading contemporary interpreters of Classical Greek tragedy here explore its relation - convergence and divergence - with ideas of the Archaic Period.

Velleius Paterculus' short work is the earliest surviving attempt on the part of a post-Augustan historian to survey the history of the res publica from its origins to his own times. In a period from which no other contemporary historical narrative survives in more than meagre fragments, Velleius' work is uniquely important.

A collection that not only explores many aspects of the ancient Olympics and the programme of competitive festivals in democratic Athens but also the broader religious, social and political contexts in which sport and festival flourished in ancient Greece. It shows how the values of sport pervaded Greek society.

Celebrates the work of Nick Fisher, Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University. This title contains essays on the theme of ancient Greek social behaviour. It reflects the diversity and the unities in the honorand's interests.

Features the papers that form a case for viewing competition for superiority as a major force in ancient history, including the earliest human societies and the Assyrian and Aztec empires.

Addresses strategies of vituperation and eulogy within the Republic, and examines the mechanisms and effects of praise and blame.

Images of ancient Sparta have had a major impact on Western thought. From the Renaissance to the French Revolution she was invoked by radical thinkers as a model for the creation of a republican political and social order.

Plato's Crito examines a single moral decision, whether Socrates ought to escape from his death-cell. Stokes's book discusses Socrates' arguments against Crito's offer of escape. It construes Socrates' questions as genuine questions, which clarify and undermine Critos positions.

Deals with the Lucian's "Philopseudes or Lover of Lies". This book comprises a discussion, with translation, on this engaging and satirical Greek text with its ten tales of magic and ghosts. One of these is the famous story of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", and this conveys the flavour of the rest.

The writing of Spartan history for long involved gliding - sometimes seamlessly - between the evidence of very different ancient sources. Now, a short series conceived by The Classical Press of Wales will examine closely and individually each of the principal sources and its relationship with classical Sparta.

Discusses issues of Roman social, cultural and political history from the foundation of the Principate to the age of barbarian settlements of the west.

Educated in Scotland and France, George Buchanan became one of the most influential writers of 16th century Europe. Writing in the lingua franca of his time - Classical Latin - he was to be hailed internationally as 'easily the prince of poets'.

Late Antiquity has increasingly been viewed as a period of transformation and dynamic change. This volume focuses on the intellectual and literary culture of the time, investigating complex relationships between late-Antique authors and the texts which they had inherited through the classical (pagan) and Christian traditions.

A collection of essays on topics in Greek history and epigraphy. It includes papers on Athenian politics and political institutions, the language and significance of honorific decrees, the role of inscriptions in the Athenian democratic state and elsewhere, as well as analyses of the methods for interpreting them.

Includes eleven essays, from an international cast that trace the development of political culture in the Roman Republic. This title covers such themes as the flourishing of civic society, as with the introduction of the Roman Games, and the emergence of a theory of politeness.

The poems of Catullus have notoriously been subjected to numerous accidental corruptions. This work represents a reappraisal of his text. It recommends some 600 changes to the Oxford Text of "R A B Mynors". It suggests that Catullus' text was also subjected to significant deliberate change, much of it probably dating back to classical antiquity.

Assembles nine original papers on the language and thought of the Athenian philosopher. This collection encompasses issues from the Apology to the Laws. It includes discussions of topics in ethics, political theory, psychology, epistemology, ontology, physics and ancient literary criticism.

Discusses models of gesture and non-verbal communication and apply them to Greek and Roman culture, literature and art. This title covers such topics as dress and costume in the Homeric poems; the importance of looking, eye-contact, and face-to-face orientation in Greek society; and, the construction of facial expression in Greek and Roman epic.

The esteem in which satyr drama was held in antiquity arouses curiosity and controversy. This title explores questions central to the genre, including how did satyr drama relate to comedy and tragedy; how closely was it tied to its tragic trilogy; and, how did the Athenians react to pro-satyric drama, such as the "Alcestis".

Herakles and Hercules: two names for a figure of pervasive appeal in Antiquity. He was a hero of myth and a god with cult associations. He was ancestor of Macedonian kings, patron of Carthaginian generals and of Roman emperors, and a role model for Stoic philosophers.

Sparta was admitted by Greeks generally, even by its Athenian enemies, to be the School of Hellas. This title collects, translates and evaluates the sources for Spartan education.

The genre of biography in the ancient world is interestingly diverse and permeable and bears on ideas of characterization and the individual. This volume considers both the form and the content of biography across the ancient world, and is particularly interested in the frontiers with other related genres, such as history.