Following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, one of his commanders, Seleukos Nikator, rose over a period of forty years from being a landless refugee to the most successful of the Successor kings. This biography, first published in 1990, makes use of both historical and archaeological sources to trace the stages of Seleukos’ life as he added province to province, kingdom to kingdom, gradually building an empire which stretched from India to Greece and founding a state which lasted for the next two centuries. This strangely neglected figure in ancient history emerges as a modestly proficient general, an excellent strategist, a consummate diplomat, and an inventive and constructive ruler, the diversity of his empire demanding intelligence of a high order to hold it together. Seleukos Nikator will be of interest to students of ancient history and the politics of the Hellenistic world.

Following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, one of his commanders, Seleukos Nikator, rose over a period of forty years from being a landless refugee to the most successful of the Successor kings. This biography, first published in 1990, makes use of both historical and archaeological sources to trace the stages of Seleukos’ life as he added province to province, kingdom to kingdom, gradually building an empire which stretched from India to Greece and founding a state which lasted for the next two centuries. This strangely neglected figure in ancient history emerges as a modestly proficient general, an excellent strategist, a consummate diplomat, and an inventive and constructive ruler, the diversity of his empire demanding intelligence of a high order to hold it together. Seleukos Nikator will be of interest to students of ancient history and the politics of the Hellenistic world.

This book, the first of two volumes, explores India’s economic development from 5000BC through to the India’s independence period from 1947AD to 2022AD. The specific characteristics of economic development in India are examined to help determine development paths India can pursue to create sustainable development in the 21st century. The transition from the primary section to the secondary sector, through the process of industrialisation and in turn the move towards the services sector, is discussed in relation to climate change and the pressure on resources posed by population growth. This book aims to contextualise India’s economic development within the political economy of trade, sustainable development and culture with a particular focus on the institutions that have emerged in the Indian sub-continent since 5000BC. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in economic history, development economics, and the political economy.

"We Greeks are one in blood and one in language; we have temples to the gods and religious rites in common, and a common way of life." So the fifth-century historian Herodotus has some Athenians declare, in explanation of why they would never betray their fellow Greeks to the enemy, the "barbarian" Persians. And he might have added further common features, such as clothing, foodways, and political institutions. But if the Greeks knew that they were kin, why did many of them side with the Persians against fellow Greeks, and why, more generally, is ancient Greek history so often the history of internecine wars and other forms of competition with one another? This is the question acclaimed historian Robin Waterfield sets out to explore in this magisterial history of ancient Greece. With more information, more engagingly presented, than any similar work, this is the best single-volume account of ancient Greece in more than a generation. Waterfield gives a comprehensive narrative of seven hundred years of history, from the emergence of the Greeks around 750 BCE to the Roman conquest of the last of the Greco-Macedonian kingdoms in 30 BCE. Equal weight is given to all phases of Greek history -- the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods. But history is not just facts; it is also a matter of how we interpret the evidence. Without compromising the readability of the book, Waterfield incorporates the most recent scholarship by classical historians and archaeologists and asks his readers to think critically about Greek history. A brilliant, up-to-date account of ancient Greece, suitable for history buffs and university students alike, Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens presents a compelling and comprehensive story of this remarkable civilization's disunity, underlying cultural solidarity, and eventual political unification.

The study of Syria as a Roman province has been neglected by comparison with equivalent geographical regions such as Italy, Egypt, Greece and even Gaul. It was, however, one of the economic powerhouses of the empire from its annexation until after the empire’s dissolution. As such it clearly deserves some particular consideration, but at the same time it was a major contributor to the military strength of the empire, notably in the form of the recruitment of auxiliary regiments, several dozens of which were formed from Syrians. Many pagan gods, such as Jupiter Dolichenus and Jupiter Heliopolitanus Dea Syra, and also Judaism, originated in Syria and reached the far bounds of the empire. This book is a consideration, based on original sources, of the means by which Syrians, whose country was only annexed to the empire in 64 BC, saw their influence penetrate into all levels of society from private soldiers and ordinary citizens to priests and to imperial families.

First published in 2002. The history of science is one of knowledge being passed from community to community over thousands of years, and this is the classic account of the most influential of these movements -how Hellenistic science passed to the Arabs where it took on a new life and led to the development of Arab astronomy and medicine which flourished in the courts of the Muslim world, later passing on to medieval Europe. Starting with the rise of Hellenism in Asia in the wake of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, O'Leary deals with the Greek legacy of science, philosophy, mathematics and medicine and follows it as it travels across the Near East propelled by religion, trade and conquest. Dealing in depth with Christianity as a Hellenizing force, the influence of the Nestorians and the Monophysites; Indian influences by land and sea and the rise of Buddhism, O'Leary then focuses on the development of science during the Baghdad Khalifate, the translation of Greek scientific material into Arabic, and the effect for all those interested in the history of medicine and science, and of historical geography as well as the history of the Arab world.