Bøger af Alfred Church

Alfred Church's book Carthage, or the Empire of Africa is a comprehensive look at the Carthaginian Empire, tracing its origins and rise across the Mediterranean to the decisive Punic Wars against Rome, a series of three conflicts that made legends out of Hannibal and Scipio Africanus while ultimately determining the fate of several empires.

Pliny's letters by Alfred Church. This book is a reproduction of the original book published in 1872 and may have some imperfections such as marks or hand-written notes.

Alfred Church's Early Britain is a concise but comprehensive book that examines the history of Britain spanning from prehistoric times until the decisive events of the 11th century and the Norman Invasion. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Western Civilization.

The Aeneid for Boys and Girls relates the compelling tale of Aeneas, the legendary ancestor of Romulus. Aeneas escaped from the burning city of Troy and wandered the Mediterranean for years before settling in Italy. Patterned after the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Aeneid was originally composed as an epic poem by Virgil to glorify the imperial city of Rome.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) was one of the most famous Romans in his day, and posterity has been even kinder to him. Cicero was a legend in his own time for his oratory abilities, which he used to persuade fellow Senators and denounce enemies like Catiline and Mark Antony, but he was also one of Rome's most prodigious writers and political philosophers. Alongside Pericles, Cicero was one of antiquity's greatest politicians, and he has remained one of the most influential statesmen in history, relied upon by the Romans of his day, political philosophers like John Locke, Enlightenment thinkers like Rousseau, and America's Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson credited Cicero as an inspiration for the Declaration of Independence, and John Adams asserted, "As all the ages of the world have not produced a greater statesman and philosopher united than Cicero, his authority should have great weight." While De re publica (The Republic) is his most well known work, Cicero's letters were also preserved. Cicero's letters include informal correspondences to friends, as well as long-winding thoughts about political topics that could pass as their own treatises. Nothing escaped Cicero's attention, indicating the extent to which Cicero kept up with events and how frequently he put his thoughts down on paper. The period covered by the letters of Cicero is one of the most important periods not just for Rome but for the history of the world, and it was covered by one of the most knowledgeable authorities at the time. Cicero's works were monumental, but he also happened to live during one of the most crucial times in all of Rome's history. He was an important Senator during the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and the side he chose came back to haunt him years later when Mark Antony and Octavian took power in the wake of Caesar's assassination. Although he was in old age, Cicero himself was ultimately hunted down by the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian and put to death. Antony hated him so thoroughly that he had Cicero's head and hands displayed publicly in the Forum, a gruesome testament to the fact that Cicero's words and writings had been so important.

"A disaster followed, whether accidental or treacherously contrived by the emperor, is uncertain, as authors have given both accounts, worse, however, and more dreadful than any which have ever happened to this city by the violence of fire. It had its beginning in that part of the circus which adjoins the Palatine and Caelian hills, where, amid the shops containing inflammable wares, the conflagration both broke out and instantly became so fierce and so rapid from the wind that it seized in its grasp the entire length of the circus." Among all the natural disasters that struck Rome, one of the most well-known is the Great Fire of Rome, in part due to the popular myth that Emperor Nero fiddled while the Eternal City burned, even though no fiddle existed in 1st century Rome. Suetonius and Cassius Dio, two of Nero's ancient biographers, are adamant that it was he himself who set the fire (or ordered it set), and they are the originators of the myth that Nero played the lyre, danced around his palace and sang "The Sack of Troy" while Rome burned outside his windows. Even though those accounts are likely apocryphal, it is true that on the night of July 18th, 64 A.D., the most significant event of Nero's time in power - and the one which, for better or for worse, would seal his name in infamy throughout the ages - took place. What became known as the Great Fire of Rome started sometime between the night of the 18th and the earliest hours of the 19th, and it consumed almost a quarter of the city as it burned out of control for five days. Interestingly, though there is archaeological evidence for the fact that the fire actually took place, and its extent was as significant as the sources seem to indicate, Tacitus is the only one who gives a comprehensive account of the fire, with other biographers not even mentioning it (aside from Pliny, who mentions it in connection to another incident). It is most likely that the fire was an accident, likely caused by flammable materials near the Circus Maximus. Indeed, blazes of such kind were common until the 19th century in overcrowded cities with wooden houses closely packed together, lit and heated by open flames, and with no organized official fire brigades. In fact, Rome would suffer two more major fires in the next 15 years. Regardless of its origins, the fire was a disaster for Rome. Though casualties are unknown, it destroyed scores, if not hundreds, of private residences, commercial premises, and public buildings. According to Tacitus, Nero quickly hurried back from Antium when news reached him of the fire and opened the doors of his palace to common people dispossessed by the flames. Tacitus claim Nero also spent days, sometimes without his bodyguards, combing the smoking ruins for victims and partially funding the relief effort out of his own private fortune. Though this is partially at odds with Nero's perceived character, his populist generosity to the lower classes, which was a hallmark of his reign, was in keeping with his previous legislation and sounds like it could have a kernel of truth. Either way, the Great Fire of Rome permanently tarnished Nero's reign, and it ultimately helped bring about the downfall that ended with the Roman emperor committing suicide just a few years later in 68 A.D.

The Odyssey centers on the Greek hero Odysseus and his long journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. Odysseus survives storm and shipwreck, the cave of the Cyclops and the isle of Circe, the lure of the Sirens' song and a trip to the Underworld, only to find his most difficult challenge at home, where treacherous suitors seek to steal his kingdom and his loyal wife, Penelope. The Odyssey is Homers' sequel to the Iliad.

The Iliad is typically described as one of the greatest war stories of all time. Set during the Trojan War, this timeless story vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amid devastation and destruction. Homer's tale is a compassionate view of human life lived under the shadow of suffering and death in the face of an often uncaring divinity. To call it a war story does not begin to describe the emotional sweep of its action and characters in the 10th and final year of the Greek siege of Troy.