Classics reading lists
Summer reading lists for some of our classics courses.
Suggested preparatory reading for MSc programmes in Classics
We are looking forward to welcoming you to Edinburgh in September. We will be in touch with Offer Holders over the summer with details of course offerings and information about Welcome Week.
If you have any questions about the programme you have signed up to attend, please do not hesitate to get in touch with
- MSc in Classics - Aaron.Pelttari@ed.ac.uk
- MSc in Ancient History - Aaron.Pelttari@ed.ac.uk
- MSc in Classical Art and Archaeology - Aaron.Pelttari@ed.ac.uk
- MSc in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies - Yannis.Stouraitis@ed.ac.uk
In the meantime, and if you have not already filled up your summer with exciting fieldwork or trips around the Mediterranean, you might be keen to get stuck into some preparatory reading. Specific reading lists for courses in Semester 1 will be circulated closer to the start of the academic year, but here are some general suggestions for useful reading that might interest you.
- Hinds, S. (1998), Allusion and Intertext: Dynamics of Appropriation in Roman Poetry, Cambridge.
- Pelling, C. (1999), Literary Texts and the Greek Historian, London and New York. Princeton.
- Porter, J.I. ed. (2005), Classical Pasts: The Classical Traditions of Greece and Rome,
- Potter, D.S. (1999), Literary Texts and the Roman Historian, London and New York.
- Reynolds, L.D. (1983), Texts and Transmission: A Survey of the Latin Classics, Oxford. Schaps, D.M. (2010), Handbook for Classical Research, London and New York.
- Schmitz, T. (2007), Modern Literary Theory and Ancient Texts: An Introduction, Oxford.
- Tarrant, R. (2016), Texts, Editors, and Readers: Methods and Problems in Latin Textual Criticism, Cambridge.
- Wiseman, T.P. ed. (2006), Classics in Progress: Essays on Ancient Greece and Rome, Oxford.
- Bodel, J. ed. (2001), Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions, London and New York.
- Crawford, M. (1983), Sources for Ancient History, Cambridge. London.
- Finley, M.I. (1985), Ancient History: Evidence and Models, London.
- Hedrick, C.W. (2006), Ancient History: Monuments and Documents, Oxford.
- Morley, N. (2004), Theories, Models and Concepts in Ancient History, London and New York. Morley, N. (2013), Writing Ancient History, Bristol.
- Pelling, C. (1999), Literary Texts and the Greek Historian, London and New York.
- Potter, D.S. (1999), Literary Texts and the Roman Historian, London and New York.
- Sauer, E. ed. (2004), Archaeology and Ancient History: Breaking down the Boundaries,
- Schaps, D.M. (2010), Handbook for Classical Research, London and New York. Oxford.
- Wiseman, T.P. ed. (2006), Classics in Progress: Essays on Ancient Greece and Rome,
- Alcock, S.E. and Osborne, R. eds. (2012), Classical Archaeology (Blackwell Studies in Global Archaeology), 2nd edition, Oxford.
- Dyson, S. (2013), In Pursuit of Ancient Pasts: A History of Classical Archaeology in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, New Haven.
- Laurence, R. (2012), Roman Archaeology for Historians, Abingdon. London.
- Sauer, E. ed. (2004), Archaeology and Ancient History: Breaking down the Boundaries,
- Schaps, D.M. (2010), Handbook for Classical Research, London and New York. Oxford.
- Wiseman, T.P. ed. (2006), Classics in Progress: Essays on Ancient Greece and Rome,
Your dissertation
It is never too early to start thinking about your dissertation. If you already have a topic in mind please email Dr Stouraitis (Yannis.Stouraitis@ed.ac.uk), and he will either provide you with suggestions, or put you in contact with a member of our team who hopefully will be able to.
If you do not have a topic, then the summer can be an opportunity to consider what you may wish to examine. Read widely (and beyond the chronological and thematic confines of the bibliography below, if you are interested in the later Islamic or Byzantine worlds!), and follow your interest. Also consider what will be practical for a primary-source based dissertation. Will there be sufficient sources that you will have access to (either digitally or physically)? When you have a topic that you are interested in, read a little deeper – what are historians disagreeing over in the more recent journal articles? Where are the frontiers of research on this topic? What methodologies are they employing?
Below please find a list of suggested readings for our core course, Approaches to the Long Late Antiquity (PGHC11360):
- Berkey, J. (2002) The Formation of Islam. Cambridge.
- Bowersock, G., Brown, P. and Grabar, O. (eds) (1998) Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Post-classical World. London.
- Bowersock, G. (2012) Empires in Collision in Late Antiquity. Waltham, Mass.
- Bowersock, G. (2013) The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea wars on the eve of Islam. Oxford and New York.
- Bowman, A. Cameron, Av and Garnsey, P. (eds) (2004) The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 12, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193–337. Cambridge.
- Brown, P. (1981) The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity. London.
- Brubaker, L. and Haldon, J. (2011) Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c. 680-8500: A History. Cambridge.
- Cameron, Av. (2011) Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, 2nd ed. London.
- Cameron, Av. and Garnsey, P. (1998) (eds) The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 13, The Late Empire, AD 337–425. Cambridge.
- Cameron, Av., Ward-Perkins, B. and Whitby, M. (eds) (2000) Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 14, Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, AD 425–600. Cambridge.
- Cook, M. ed. (2010) The New Cambridge History of Islam. Cambridge. Cormack, R. (2000) Byzantine Art. Oxford.
- Crone, P. (2005) Medieval Islamic Political Thought. Edinburgh.
- Crone, P. (2008) From Arabian Tribes to Islamic empire? Army, State and Society in the Near East c.600– 850. Aldershot.
- Curran, J. (1999) Pagan City and Christian Capital: Rome in the Fourth Century. Oxford.
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Dagron, G. (1974) Naissance d’une capitale: Constantinople et ses Institutions, 330–451. Paris.
- Donner, F. (1981) The Early Islamic Conquests. Princeton.
- Fowden, G. (1993) Empire to Commonwealth: Consequences of Monotheism in Late Antiquity. Princeton.
- Fowden, G. (2015) Before and After Muhammad: The First Millennium Refocused. Princeton.
- George, A. (2010) The Rise of Islamic Calligraphy. Berkeley, Calif.
- Grig, L. and Kelly, G. (2012) Two Romes: Rome and Constantinople in Late Antiquity. New York.
- Haldon, J. (2010) Money, Power and Politics in Early Islamic Syria: A Review of Current Debates. Aldershot.
- Haldon, J. (2016) The Empire That Would Not Die: The Paradox of Eastern Roman Survival, 640–740. Cambridge, Mass.
- Harries, J. (1999) Law and Empire in Late Antiquity. Cambridge.
- Harris, W. V. (ed.) (1999) The Transformations of Urbs Roma in Late Antiquity. Portsmouth, R.I.
- Hawting, G. (1987) The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate AD 661–750. Carbondale and Edwardsville.
- Hillenbrand, R. (1999) Islamic Art and Architecture. London.
- Hordern, P and Purcell, N. (2000) The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History. London.
- Howard-Johnston, J. D. (2010) Witnesses to a World Crisis: Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century. Oxford.
- Hoyland, R. (1997) Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam. Princeton.
- Hoyland, R. (2015) In God’s Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire. New York and Oxford.
- Johnson, S. F. (2012) The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford.
- Jones, A. H. M. (1964) The Later Roman Empire 284–602: A Social, Economic, and Administrative Survey. Oxford.
- Kelly, G. (2008) Ammianus Marcellinus: The Allusive Historian. Cambridge.
- Kennedy, H. (2004) The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth Century to the Eleventh Century. London.
- Krautheimer, R. (1983) Three Christian Capitals: Topography and Politics. London. Lenski, N. (2006) The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine. Cambridge.
- L’Orange, H. (1965) Art Forms and Civic Life in the Late Roman Empire. Princeton, N.J.
- Maas, M. (2004) The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian. Cambridge.
- Maas, M. (2014) The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila. Cambridge.
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Mango, C. (2002) The Oxford History of Byzantium. Oxford.
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Mango, C. (1985) Le développement urbain de Constantinople (IVe–VIIe siècles). Paris.
- Marsham, A. (2009) Rituals of Islamic Monarchy? Accession and Succession in the First Muslim Empire. Edinburgh.
- Markus, R. (1990) The End of Ancient Christianity. Cambridge.
- Matthews, J. F. (1990) Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court, AD 364–425. Oxford.
- Matthews, J. F. (1989) The Roman Empire of Ammianus. London.
- Mitchell, S. (2007) A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284–641. Oxford.
- Millar, F. (2006) A Greek Roman Empire: Power and Belief under Theodosius II, 408–450. Berkeley.
- Robinson, C. F. (2003) Islamic Historiography. Cambridge.
- Rousseau, P. (2009) A Companion to Late Antiquity. London.
- Sarris, P. (2011) Empires of Faith: The Fall of Rome and the Rise of Islam, 500–700. Oxford.
- Shelton, K. (1981) The Esquiline Treasure. London.
- Shepard, J. (ed.) (2008), The Cambridge history of the Byzantine Empire: c. 500 – 1492. Cambridge.
- Stephenson, P. (2010) The Byzantine World. London and New York.
- Studies in Late Antiquity – a new, open-access online journal with the University of California Press: http://sla.ucpress.edu/
- Weitzmann, K. (1979) Age of Spirituality: Catalogue of the Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York.
- Wickham, C. (2009) The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000. London.
- Wickham, C. (2005) Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean 400–800. Oxford.