Tim Cornell and John Matthews, Atlas of the Roman World (1982), offers a general introduction, pictures, and maps to illustrate many aspects of Roman civilization. Richard J. A. Talbert, ed., Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (2000), is the definitive cartographic resource. Michael Grant and Rachel Kitzinger, eds., Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean, 3 vols. (1988), is an invaluable collection of essays with bibliographies by specialists on every major facet of life in the Greek and Roman worlds. A good new survey of Roman history is Mary T. Boatwright, Daniel J. Gargola, and Richard J. A. Talbert, The Romans: From Village to Empire (2004). Also useful are Michael Grant, History of Rome (1978), and M. Cary and H. H. Scullard, A History of Rome Down to the Reign of Constantine (1975). Naphtali Lewis and Meyer Reinhold, eds., Roman Civilization, 2 vols. (1951), contains extensive ancient sources in translation. David Cherry, The Roman World: A Sourcebook (2001), and Kenneth J. Atchity, The Classical Roman Reader (1997), are more selective.
For Roman political and legal institutions, attitudes, and values, see J. A. Crook, Law and Life of Rome: 90 B. C.-A. D. 212 (1967). Michael Crawford, The Roman Republic, 2nd ed. (1993), and Chester G. Starr, The Roman Empire, 27 B. C.-A. D. 476: A Study in Survival (1982), assess the evolution of the Roman state during the Republic and Principate. Fergus Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World (31 B. C.-A. D. 337) (1977), is a comprehensive study of the position of the princeps. Barbara Levick, The Government of the Roman Empire: A Sourcebook (2000), presents original texts in translation.
For Roman military expansion and defense of the frontiers see W. V. Harris, War and Imperialism in Republican Rome (1979), and Stephen L. Dyson, The Creation of the Roman Frontier (1985). For military technology see M. C. Bishop, Roman Military Equipment: From the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome (1993). David Macaulay, City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction (1974), uses copious illustrations to reveal the wonders of Roman engineering; more depth and detail are found in K. D. White, Greek and Roman Technology (1984). The characteristics of Roman urban centers are highlighted in John E. Stambaugh, The Ancient Roman City (1988).
Kevin Greene, The Archaeology of the Roman Economy (1986), showcases new approaches to social and economic history. Suzanne Dickson, The Roman Family (1992), explores this most basic social group. David Matz, Daily Life of the Ancient Romans (2002); Lionel Casson, Everyday Life in Ancient Rome (1998); and U. E. Paoli, Rome: Its People, Life and Customs (1983), look at the features that typified daily life. Jo-Ann Shelton, ed., As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History (1998), offers a selection of translated ancient sources. Elaine Fantham, Helene Peet Foley, Natalie Boymel Kampen, Sarah B. Pomeroy, and H. Alan Shapiro, Women in the Classical World: Image and Text (1994), provides an up-to-date discussion of women in the Roman world. Diana E. E. Kleiner and Susan B. Matheson, eds., 1, Claudia:Women in Ancient Rome (1996), is the illustrated catalog of a wide-ranging museum exhibition. Many of the ancient sources on Roman women can be found in Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant, eds., Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Translation (1982). Marilyn B. Skinner, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture (2005), tackles the ways in which sexual activity and sexual identity in the ancient world differed from modern practices. Thomas Wiedemann, ed., Greek and Roman Slavery (1981), contains the ancient sources in translation. Donald G. Kyle, Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (1998), explores the nature and significance of blood sports in the arena.
A number of the chapters in John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, and Oswyn Murray, eds., The Roman World (1988), survey the intellectual and literary achievements of the Romans. Ronald Mel-lor, ed., The Historians of Ancient Rome (1998), provides context for reading the historical sources. Stephen Harrison, ed., A Companion to Latin Literature (2005); Michael von Albrecht, History of Roman Literature: From Livius Andronicus to Boethius: With Special Regard to Its Influence on World Literature (1997); Michael Grant, Art in the Roman Empire (1995); and Nancy H. Ramage and Andrew Ramage, The Cambridge Illustrated History of Roman Art (1991), are surveys of Roman creative arts. Robert Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome: Religion in Everyday Life from Archaic to 1mperial Times (2000), and R. M. Ogilvie, The Romans and Their Gods in the Age of Augustus (1969), are accessible introductions to Roman religion in its public and private manifestations. Michael Grant, The Jews in the Roman World (1973), and Erich S. Gruen, Diaspora: Jews Amidst Greeks and Romans (2002), explore the complicated situation of Jews in the Roman Empire. Christopher Bryan, Render to Caesar: Jesus, the Early Church, and the Roman Superpower (2005); Gillian Clark, Christianity and Roman Society (2004); and Joseph F. Kelly, The World of the Early Christians (1997), investigate the rise of Christianity. Everett Ferguson, ed., Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (2nd ed., 1998), contains articles and bibliographies on a wide range of topics. Noel Lenski, ed., The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine (2006); Peter J. Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians (2006); and Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization (2005), examine the momentous changes occurring in Rome’s last centuries.
For the geography and demography of China see the well-illustrated Cultural Atlas of China (1983) by Caroline Blunden and Mark Elvin. Valerie Hansen, The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600 (2000), emphasizes social history and China’s interactions with other societies.
Other basic surveys of Chinese history include Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Anne Walthall, and James B. Palais, East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History (2006); John K. Fairbank, China: A New History (1992); and Jacques Gernet, A History of Chinese Civilization (1982). In greater depth for the ancient period is Edward L. Shaughnessy and Michael Loewe, eds., The Cambridge History of Ancient China (1998); Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe, eds., The Cambridge History of China, vol. 1, The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 B. C.-A. D. 220 (1986); and Michele Pirazzoli-T’Serstevens, The Han Dynasty (1982). Nicola Di Cosmo, Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History (2002), explores the interactions of Chinese and nomads on the northern frontier. Kwang-chih Chang, The Archaeology of Ancient China, 4th ed. (1986), and Ronald G. Knapp, China’s Walled Cities (2000), emphasize the archaeological record.
For social history see Michael Loewe, Everyday Life in Early Imperial China During the Han Period, 202 B. C.-A. D. 220 (1988).
Bret Hinsch, Women in Early Imperial China (2002); Anne Behnke Kinney, “Women in Ancient China,” in Women's Roles in Ancient Civilizations:A Reference Guide, ed. Bella Vivante (1999); and Paul Rakita Golden, The Culture of Sex in Ancient China (2002), examine issues of gender and sexuality. For economic history and foreign relations see Xinru Liu, Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious Exchanges, A. D. 1-600 (1994), and Ying-shih Yu, Trade and Expansion in Han China (1967).
Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, 2nd ed. (1993), and Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, 2nd ed. (2000), are collections of sources in translation. Grant Hardy, Worlds of Bronze and Bamboo: Sima Qian’s Conquest of History (1999), is a thorough introduction to the father of Chinese History. Selections from Sima’s history covering the Qin are in Raymond Dawson, Sima Qian: Historical Records (1994); selections on the early Han period are in Burton Watson, Records of the Grand Historian: Han Dynasty, vols. 1 and 2 (1993). Rhapsodies describing the Han capital cities are translated in David R. Knechtges, Wen Xuan, or, Selections of Literature (1982). J. D. Frodsham, An Anthology of Chinese Verse (1967), and Burton Watson, The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry (1984), include poems composed throughout the Han period that illustrate everyday life and concerns.
Benjamin I. Schwartz addresses intellectual history in The World of Thought in Ancient China (1985), while G. E. R. Lloyd, The Ambitions of Curiosity: Understanding the World in Ancient Greece and China (2002), compares Chinese and Greco-Roman approaches to philosophy, history, and science. For scientific and technological achievements see Robert Temple, The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention (1986). Spiritual matters are taken up by Laurence G. Thompson, Chinese Religion: An Introduction, 3rd ed. (1979). For art see Michael Sullivan, A Short History of Chinese Art, rev. ed. (1970), and Jessica Rawson, Ancient China: Art and Archaeology (1980).
For a stimulating comparison of the Roman and Han Empires that emphasizes the differences, see the first chapter of S. A. M. Adshead, China in World History, 2nd ed. (1995).
World History
