List of maps and plates Acknowledgements Introduction Note on ancient monetary values Maps Prolog... more List of maps and plates Acknowledgements Introduction Note on ancient monetary values Maps Prologue 1. The making of an imperial city-state, c 750-367 BC 2. The rise of a superpower, 343-146 BC 3. The Roman revolution, 133-30 BC 4. The Pax Romana, 30 BC-AD161 5. The decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire Timeline References Bibliographical notes Index and glossary
The great revolt by the Jews against the occupying Roman power in the first century AD ended in b... more The great revolt by the Jews against the occupying Roman power in the first century AD ended in bloody defeat. Neil Faulkner provides a blow-by-blow account of this long and bitter struggle, together with a shrewd analysis of the underlying issues. The author synthesises the evidence of written sources with that of archaeology to produce a narrative account of the revolt with full historical and cultural background. This event was a milestone in Jewish national consciousness. If you want a gripping, well-written, detailed story of insurrection against the might of Rome, supported by splendid illustrations, start here. Prof Peter Jones in The Sunday Telegraph.
This paper offers a critical reconsideration of the social, spatial and temporal dynamics of sixt... more This paper offers a critical reconsideration of the social, spatial and temporal dynamics of sixth- to eighth-century great hall complexes in England. The major interpretative issues and constraints imposed by the data are considered, and the sites are then subject to comparative analysis across long-term and short-term temporal scales. The former highlights persistence of antecedent activity and centrality, the latter the ways in which the built environment was perceived in the past, structured social action, and was a medium for the construction and consolidation of elite identity and authority. Within the broad similarity that defines the site-type there is evidence for considerable diversity and complexity of site history and afterlife.
Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 22, 2020
This paper offers a critical reconsideration of the social, spatial and temporal dynamics of sixt... more This paper offers a critical reconsideration of the social, spatial and temporal dynamics of sixth- to eighth-century great hall complexes in England. The major interpretative issues and constraints imposed by the data are considered, and the sites are then subject to comparative analysis across long-term and short-term temporal scales. The former highlights persistence of antecedent activity and centrality, the latter the ways in which the built environment was perceived in the past, structured social action, and was a medium for the construction and consolidation of elite identity and authority. Within the broad similarity that defines the site-type there is evidence for considerable diversity and complexity of site history and afterlife.
Increasingly in our frenetic times history is seen as one damned thing after another. Neil Faulkn... more Increasingly in our frenetic times history is seen as one damned thing after another. Neil Faulkner's epic treatment, based on his Marxist understanding that mankind makes its own history but not under conditions of its own choosing, is both breath taking in its scope and, despite his modest claims, its exhaustive research. Most importantly it is highly readable. The interplay of natural, geographical, technological and sociological factors all provide circumstances in which and through which mankind can forge its destiny. These are however contested by the political systems under which men and women have laboured. The first great revolutionary breakthrough around 6000 BC came about when the shortage of hunted food forced people to turn to agriculture which itself became a surplus bearing economy when the iron age allowed the laborious hand held hoe to be replaced by the plough. Different economies and political systems arose in different parts of the world. Empires developed in...
What was it like to attend the Olympics in 388 B.C.? Would the experience resemble Olympic festiv... more What was it like to attend the Olympics in 388 B.C.? Would the experience resemble Olympic festivals as we celebrate them today? This remarkable book transports us back to the heyday of the city-state and classical Greek civilization. It invites us to enter this distant, alien, but still familiar culture and discover what the Greeks did and didn't do during five thrilling days in August 2,400 years ago. In the Olympic Stadium there were no stands, no shade-and no women allowed. Visitors sat on a grassy bank in the searing heat of midsummer to watch naked athletes compete in footraces, the pentathlon, horse and chariot races, and three combat sports-wrestling, boxing, and pankration, everyone's favorite competition, with virtually no rules and considerable blood and pain. This colorfully illustrated volume offers a complete tour of the Olympic site exactly as athletes and spectators found it. The book evokes the sights, sounds, and smells of the crowded encampment; introduces the various attendees (from champions and charlatans to aristocrats and prostitutes); and explains the numerous exotic religious rituals. Uniquely detailed and precise, this guide offers readers an unparalleled opportunity to travel in time, back to the excitement of ancient Olympia.
Faulkner N., Dennis M., Mckinnon K., Walker K., and Cross, P.J. (2014) “From Remote Prehistory to... more Faulkner N., Dennis M., Mckinnon K., Walker K., and Cross, P.J. (2014) “From Remote Prehistory to an Icenian Tribal Centre.” In Faulkner, N., Robinson, K. and Rossin, G. (eds.) Digging Sedgeford, A People’s Archaeology. Cromer: Poppyland Publishing. (ISBN: 978-1-909796-08-9). Contributions to Chapters 2 (noted above) and 5 (which discusses the woman-horse burial).
List of maps and plates Acknowledgements Introduction Note on ancient monetary values Maps Prolog... more List of maps and plates Acknowledgements Introduction Note on ancient monetary values Maps Prologue 1. The making of an imperial city-state, c 750-367 BC 2. The rise of a superpower, 343-146 BC 3. The Roman revolution, 133-30 BC 4. The Pax Romana, 30 BC-AD161 5. The decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire Timeline References Bibliographical notes Index and glossary
The great revolt by the Jews against the occupying Roman power in the first century AD ended in b... more The great revolt by the Jews against the occupying Roman power in the first century AD ended in bloody defeat. Neil Faulkner provides a blow-by-blow account of this long and bitter struggle, together with a shrewd analysis of the underlying issues. The author synthesises the evidence of written sources with that of archaeology to produce a narrative account of the revolt with full historical and cultural background. This event was a milestone in Jewish national consciousness. If you want a gripping, well-written, detailed story of insurrection against the might of Rome, supported by splendid illustrations, start here. Prof Peter Jones in The Sunday Telegraph.
This paper offers a critical reconsideration of the social, spatial and temporal dynamics of sixt... more This paper offers a critical reconsideration of the social, spatial and temporal dynamics of sixth- to eighth-century great hall complexes in England. The major interpretative issues and constraints imposed by the data are considered, and the sites are then subject to comparative analysis across long-term and short-term temporal scales. The former highlights persistence of antecedent activity and centrality, the latter the ways in which the built environment was perceived in the past, structured social action, and was a medium for the construction and consolidation of elite identity and authority. Within the broad similarity that defines the site-type there is evidence for considerable diversity and complexity of site history and afterlife.
Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 22, 2020
This paper offers a critical reconsideration of the social, spatial and temporal dynamics of sixt... more This paper offers a critical reconsideration of the social, spatial and temporal dynamics of sixth- to eighth-century great hall complexes in England. The major interpretative issues and constraints imposed by the data are considered, and the sites are then subject to comparative analysis across long-term and short-term temporal scales. The former highlights persistence of antecedent activity and centrality, the latter the ways in which the built environment was perceived in the past, structured social action, and was a medium for the construction and consolidation of elite identity and authority. Within the broad similarity that defines the site-type there is evidence for considerable diversity and complexity of site history and afterlife.
Increasingly in our frenetic times history is seen as one damned thing after another. Neil Faulkn... more Increasingly in our frenetic times history is seen as one damned thing after another. Neil Faulkner's epic treatment, based on his Marxist understanding that mankind makes its own history but not under conditions of its own choosing, is both breath taking in its scope and, despite his modest claims, its exhaustive research. Most importantly it is highly readable. The interplay of natural, geographical, technological and sociological factors all provide circumstances in which and through which mankind can forge its destiny. These are however contested by the political systems under which men and women have laboured. The first great revolutionary breakthrough around 6000 BC came about when the shortage of hunted food forced people to turn to agriculture which itself became a surplus bearing economy when the iron age allowed the laborious hand held hoe to be replaced by the plough. Different economies and political systems arose in different parts of the world. Empires developed in...
What was it like to attend the Olympics in 388 B.C.? Would the experience resemble Olympic festiv... more What was it like to attend the Olympics in 388 B.C.? Would the experience resemble Olympic festivals as we celebrate them today? This remarkable book transports us back to the heyday of the city-state and classical Greek civilization. It invites us to enter this distant, alien, but still familiar culture and discover what the Greeks did and didn't do during five thrilling days in August 2,400 years ago. In the Olympic Stadium there were no stands, no shade-and no women allowed. Visitors sat on a grassy bank in the searing heat of midsummer to watch naked athletes compete in footraces, the pentathlon, horse and chariot races, and three combat sports-wrestling, boxing, and pankration, everyone's favorite competition, with virtually no rules and considerable blood and pain. This colorfully illustrated volume offers a complete tour of the Olympic site exactly as athletes and spectators found it. The book evokes the sights, sounds, and smells of the crowded encampment; introduces the various attendees (from champions and charlatans to aristocrats and prostitutes); and explains the numerous exotic religious rituals. Uniquely detailed and precise, this guide offers readers an unparalleled opportunity to travel in time, back to the excitement of ancient Olympia.
Faulkner N., Dennis M., Mckinnon K., Walker K., and Cross, P.J. (2014) “From Remote Prehistory to... more Faulkner N., Dennis M., Mckinnon K., Walker K., and Cross, P.J. (2014) “From Remote Prehistory to an Icenian Tribal Centre.” In Faulkner, N., Robinson, K. and Rossin, G. (eds.) Digging Sedgeford, A People’s Archaeology. Cromer: Poppyland Publishing. (ISBN: 978-1-909796-08-9). Contributions to Chapters 2 (noted above) and 5 (which discusses the woman-horse burial).
Neil Faulkner is a British historian and archaeologist, well known thanks to his works regarding ... more Neil Faulkner is a British historian and archaeologist, well known thanks to his works regarding Marxism and divulgation.
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