Summer Reading List for Ancient Worlds, 2025/26

We have summer reading lists for some of our postgraduate courses, which you might like to peruse.

The summer is a good time to get ahead with your studies, what follows is a list of suggested pre-course readings, and are in no way exhaustive. It is, of course, not a requirement that you read any of these books before commencing a course. Many libraries will have copies of these books and Amazon.co.uk and Abebooks.co.uk will hopefully have cheap second hand copies of other works. BookFinder.com – is also a useful website as it searches a wide range of both new and secondhand databases.

Some general introductions into our fields

 

This section lists a few resources that introduce our fields – you may want to look at some of them before taking the Core Course. They should be easy reading, but some of them are fact-heavy, so perhaps keep your notebooks ready!

Díaz-Andreu García, M., Lucy, S., Babić, S. and Edwards, D. N. 2005 (eds.). The Archaeology of Identity: Approaches to Gender, Age, Status, Ethnicity and Religion. London.

Johnson, M. 2019. Archaeological Theory: An Introduction. 3rd Edition. London.

Carver, M. 2009. Archaeological Investigation. London.

Lucas, G. 2005. The Archaeology of Time. London.

Morley, N. 1999. Writing Ancient History. London.

Morley, N. 2018. Classics: Why it Matters. Cambridge.

 

Some recent books people talk about in Classics/Ancient History (all epochs):

 

This section has nothing in particular to do with current course offerings. It lists relatively recent titles written in English that have stirred more than the usual amount of debate in their respective fields – which does not of course mean that what they argue is true! All of them should be interesting to read, though some are more complicated than others.

Harper, K. (2017), The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire. Princeton.

Kosmin, P. (2018), Time and its Adversaries in the Seleucid Empire. Cambridge (MA).

Mason, S. (2016), A History the Jewish War. A.D. 66-74. Cambridge.

Ober, J. (2017), Demopolis: Democracy Before Liberalism in Theory and Practice. Cambridge.

Quinn, J. (2017), In Search of the Phoenicians. Princeton.

Scheidel, W. (2018), The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century. Princeton.

Simonton, M. (2017), Classical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History. Princeton.

Stouraitis, Y. (ed.) (2022), Identities and Ideologies in the Medieval East Roman World. Edinburgh. 

Wallace-Hadrill, A. (2025), The Idea of the City in Late Antiquity. A Study in Resilience. Cambridge.

Books Related to Courses:

 

Some readings for Ancient Egyptian Religion and the Afterlife

  • Arnold, D. and Shafer, B. E. 1998. Temples of Ancient Egypt. London: Tauris.
  • Assmann, J. 2001. The Search for God in Ancient Egypt. Cornell: Cornell University Press.
  • Dodson, A. and Ikram, S. 2008. The tomb in ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson.
  • Forman, W. and Quirke, S. 1996. Hieroglyphs and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
  • Grajetzki, W. 2003. Burial customs in Ancient Egypt. London: Duckworth.
  • Ikram, S. (ed.) 2005. Divine Creatures. Cairo: AUC Press.
  • Lehner, M. 2008. The complete pyramids. London: Thames and Hudson.
  • Quirke, S. 1992. Ancient Egyptian Religion. London: British Museum Press.
  • Quirke, S. 2001. The cult of Ra: sun-worship in ancient Egypt. London: Thames and Hudson.
  • Quirke, S. 2015. Exploring Religion in Ancient Egypt. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
  • Taylor, J. 2001. Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt. London: British Museum Press.
  • Teeter, E. 2012. Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Verner, M. 2013. Temple of the world sanctuaries, cults, and mysteries of Ancient Egypt. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
  • Wilkinson, R.H. 2003. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson.
  • Wilkinson, R. H. and Weeks, K. R. 2016. The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings. New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Some readings for Charlemagne and the End of Antiquity

  • Burridge, Claire, Carolingian Medical Knowledge and Practice, c.775-900. New Approaches to Recipe Literature (Leiden, 2024)
  • Effros, Bonnie and Moreira, Isabel, eds., The Oxford Handbook of the Merovingian World (New York, 2020)
  • Esders, Stefan, 'Roman Law in the regnum Italiae under the Emperor Lothar I (817-855): Epitomes, Manuscripts, and Carolingian Legislation', in Fabrizio Oppedisano, ed., Between Ostrogothic and Carolingian Italy. Survivals, Revivals, Ruptures (Florence, 2022), pp. 19-40
  • Gantner, Clemens, et al., The Resources of the Past in early medieval Europe (Cambridge, 2015)
  • Hen, Yitzhak, Roman Barbarians: the Royal Court and Culture in the early medieval West (Basingstoke, 2007)
  • Leyser, Conrad, 'Late Antiquity in the Medieval West', in Philip Rousseau, ed., A Companion to Late Antiquity (Malden, 2009), pp. 29-42
  • McCormick, Michael, The Origins of the European Economy: Communications and Commerce, AD 300-900 (Cambridge, 2002)
  • McKitterick, Rosamond, History and Memory in the Carolingian World (Cambridge, 2004)
  • Nelson, Janet L., 'Revisiting the Carolingian Renaissance', in Jamie Kreiner and Helmut Reimitz, eds., Motions of Late Antiquity: Essays on Religion, Politics, and Society in Honour of Peter Brown (Turnhout, 2016), pp. 331-346
  • Prien, Roland, 'The copy of an empire': Charlemagne, the Carolingian Renaissance, and Early Medieval perceptions of late antiquity' In: Corinna Foberg and Philip Stockhammer, eds., The Transformative Power of the Copy (Heidelberg, 2017), pp. 309-330
  • Rio, Alice, Slavery After Rome, 500-1100 (Oxford, 2017)
  • Sarti, Laury, Orbis Romanus: Byzantium and the legacy of Rome in the Carolingian World (Oxford, 2024)

 

Some readings for Studies in Early Jewish Literature

  • Collins, John J. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016.
  • Collins, John J., ed. The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
  • Docherty, Susan E. The Jewish Pseudepigrapha an Introduction to the Literature of the Second Temple Period. London: SPCK, 2014.
  • Grabbe, Lester L. An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism: History and Religion of the Jews in the Time of Nehemiah, the Maccabees, Hillel and Jesus. London: T&T Clark, 2010.
  • Lim, Timothy H., and John J. Collins, eds. The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
  • VanderKam, James C. An Introduction to Early Judaism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.

 

Some readings for The Jewish Diaspora in the Roman Empire

  • J.M.G. Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: from Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE-117 C.E.) (1996).
  • J.M.G. Barclay (ed.), Negotiating Diaspora: Jewish Strategies in the Roman Empire (2004).
  • M. Goodman (ed.), Jews in a Graeco-Roman World (1998).
  • E. Gruen, Diaspora: Jews amidst the Greeks and Romans (2002).
  • T. Rajak, The Jewish Dialogue with Greece and Rome (2000).
  • J. Lieu, J. North, T. Rajak (eds.), Jews among Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire (1992).
  • J. Lieu, Christian Identity in the Jewish and Graeco-Roman World (2004).

 

Some general readings for Passion of the Christ: Texts and Reception

  • Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR) online access
  • Emma England and William J. Lyons (eds.), Reception History and Biblical Studies: Theory and Practice. London: T&T Clark, 2015.
  • Robert Evans, Reception History, Tradition and Biblical Interpretation: Gadamer and Jauss in Current Practice. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.
  • Chris Lawn, Gadamer: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Bloomsbury, 2006.
  • Christine Joynes (ed.). Perspectives on the Passion: Encountering the Bible through the Arts. London: T&T Clark, 2007.
  • 'Changing Horizons: Reflections on a Decade at Oxford University's Centre for Reception History of the Bible,' JBR 1 (2014): 161-71.
  • Ulrich Luz, Matthew 21-28: A Commentary. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005.
  • William John Lyons, Hope for a troubled discipline: Contributions to NT Studies from Reception History, JSNT 33 (2010): 207-220.

 

Some readings for Seafaring and Society in the Ancient Greek World

  • Broodbank, C. 2013. The Making of the Middle Sea: A history of the Mediterranean from the Beginning to the Emergence of the Classical World. Oxford.
  • Casson, L. 1995. Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World. Revised edition. Baltimore, MD.
  • De Souza, P., Arnaud, P. & C. Buchet (eds.) 2017. The Sea in History: The Ancient World. Suffolk & Rochester.
  • Ford, B., Hamilton, D.L. & A. Catsambis (eds.) 2013. The Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archaeology. Oxford.
  • Horden, P. & N. Purcell. 2000. The Corrupting Sea. Oxford.
  • Malkin, I. 2011. A Small Greek World: Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean. Oxford & New York.
  • Morrison, J. (ed.) 1995. The Age of the Galley. London.
  • Morrison, J.S. & R.T. Williams, 1968. Greek Oared Ships. Cambridge.
  • Murray, W.M. 2012. Age of Titans. The Rise and Fall of the Great Hellenistic Navies. Oxford.
  • Parker, A.J. 1992. Ancient Shipwrecks of the Mediterranean & the Roman Provinces. Oxford.
  • Roller, D.W. 2015. Ancient Geography: The Discovery of the World in Ancient Greece and Rome. London.

 

Some readings for Slavery in the Roman Empire

  • S. Bell, D. Borbonus, R. MacLean eds. Freed Persons in the Roman World. Status, Diversity, and Representation (2024)
  • K.R. Bradley, Slaves and Masters in the Roman Empire (1987)
  • C. de Wet, M. Kahlos, V. Vuolanto eds. Slavery in the Late Antique World, 150-700 CE (2022)
  • M.I. Finley, Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology (1985)
  • K. Heszer, Jewish Slavery in Antiquity (2005)
  • P. López Barja, C. Masi Doria, U. Roth eds. Junian Latinity in the Roman Empire (2023)
  • R. MacLean, Freed Slaves and Roman Imperial Culture: Social Integration and the Transformation of Values (2018).
  • O. Patterson, Slavery and Social Death (1982)
  • M. Perry, Gender, Manumission, and the Roman Freedwoman (2013)
  • F. H. Thompson, The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Slavery (2003)
  • K. Vlassopoulos, Historicising Ancient Slavery (2021)
  • W.L.Westermann, The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity (1955)Examples of readily available source collections/student readers (antiquity):
  • E. Bathrellou, K. Vlassopoulos, Greek and Roman Slaveries (2022)
  • M.I. Finley, Slavery in Classical Antiquity (1968)
  • P.D.A. Garnsey, Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine (1996)
  • T.E.J. Wiedemann, Greek and Roman Slavery (1988)

 

Some readings for The Archaeology of Technology: From Prehistory to the Present

  • Bolger, D. 2013., Gender, labor and pottery production in prehistory. In D. Bolger (ed.) A Companion to Gender Prehistory. Oxford and Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, Pp. 161-179.
  • Dobres, M., 2009. Archaeologies of technology. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34(1), 103-114.
  • Frieman, Catherine J., 2021. Archaeology of innovation: Approaching social and technological change in human society. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
  • Kozatsas, J. (Ed.), 2020. The Dialectic of Practice and the Logical Structure of the Tool: Philosophy, Archaeology and the Anthropology of Technology. Oxford: Archaeopress.
  • Lemonnier, P. (Ed.), 2013. Technological choices: transformation in material cultures since the Neolithic. London: Routledge.
  • Miller, H. M-L., 2009. Archaeological Approaches to Technology. Walnut Creek, California: Left Coast Press.
  • O'Brien, Michael John, and Stephen Shennan, eds. Innovation in cultural systems: contributions from evolutionary anthropology. Mit Press, 2010.
  • Roux, Valentine, Blandine Bril, Jessie Cauliez, Anne-Lise Goujon, Catherine Lara, Claire Manen, Geoffroy De Saulieu, and Etienne Zangato, 2017. Persisting technological boundaries: Social interactions, cognitive correlations and polarization. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 48: 320-335.
  • Schiffer, Michael B., ed., 2001. Anthropological perspectives on technology. No. 5. Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 2001.

 

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