Ancient History Encyclopedia

Toga and Dagger: Espionage in Ancient Rome

Sheldon, Rose Mary

Military History Quarterly, (Autumn, 2000)

Abstract

The Romans prided themselves on being a people who won their battles the hard way. Roman writers claimed that their army did not defeat its enemies by trickery or deceit but by superior force of arms, and for the most part they were right...

History of spine surgery in the ancient and medieval worlds

By James Tait Goodrich

Neurosurgery Focus, Vol. 16:1 (2004)

Introduction: There is a paucity of surviving texts from ancient and medieval times that can shed light on the early development of spine surgery. Nevertheless, the author reviews many of the available books and fragments and discusses early developments...

Byzantine Intelligence Service

Dvornik, Francis

Origins of intelligence services: Chapter 3 – the ancient Near East, Persia, Greece, Rome, Byzantium, the Arab Muslim Empires, the Mongol Empire, China, Muscovy, (Rutgers University Press, 1974)

Abstract

The Byzantine Empire, often regarded as the heir of the Roman Empire, was rather its continuation...

The Seleukid Empire between Orientalism and Hellenocentrism: Writing the history of Iran in the Third and Second Centuries BCE

By Rolf Strootman

Paper given at the Center for Persian Studies, University of California Irvine (2011)

Introduction: Wedged between the Achaemenid and Parthian periods in Iranian history, there is the so-called Hellenistic...

Mineral Exploration and Fort Placement in Roman Britain

By Richard Dibon-Smith

Published Online (1985-1990)

Introduction: “Britain yields gold, silver, and other metals, to make it worth conquering.” Tacitus (De Vita Agricolæ)

It has been common practice for historians of technology to interpret the colonial systems of the ancient world as little...