Arthur Cotterell

Bloody fighting between rival tribes and clans has existed since the dawn of Homo sapiens, but war as we knew it began to take the more organized forms we recognize today in the ancient Near East, starting in the vital region near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (modern Iraq) and ultimately extending west to the Mediterranean Sea through what became the Holy Land of the Bible, a region eventually contested by Egypt, the Roman Empire, and others, and extending north and east into the mountains of Persia (modern Iran). In this informed and accessible history, Arthur Cotterell tells the story of how the story of the development of civilization is also the story of the development of organized warfareThis story begins around 4,000 to 3,000 BC with the Sumerians, one of the first dominant civilizations of fertile Mesopotamia, and their wars with their neighbors. The Sumerians eventually gave way to the Babylonians, whose period of dominance saw rudimentary great power rivalries begin to form with the likes of Egypt and the Hittites and the Battle of Kadesh (1274 BC). This period resolved with the fall of Babylon and the rise of other powers, ultimately the Persian Empire of Cyrus and Darius, one of the great ancient dynasties, which battled the Greeks directly (as chronicled in Herodotus) and indirectly as rival Persian factions battled each other (e.g., as chronicled in Xenophons account of the storied Ten Thousand).In the period that followed, the Near East was dominated by Alexander the Great, whose legendary campaigns conquered Persia and ventured east into modern India. This era saw the refinement of the Greek hoplite tactics that remained standard for many hundreds of years. After Alexander the Great, and the rise of the Seleucids and Parthians where Persians once reigned, the Roman Empire began to exert its power in the region, especially at its colonies in Judea and Syria.Spanning some 4,000 years and drawing anecdotes and quotations from ancient sources, Where War Began is a lively narrative of the origins of war in a region that is still afflicted by war and that still shapes global politics.

The chariot changed the face of ancient warfare. First in West Asia and Egypt, then in India and China, charioteers came to dominate the battlefield. Its use as a war machine is graphically recounted in Indian epics and Chinese chronicles. Homers Iliad tells of the attack on Troy by Greek heroes who rode in chariots. In 326 BC Alexander the Great faced charioteers in northern India, while in 55 BC, on a Kent beach, Julius Caesar was met by British chariots. Because of the danger involved, chariot racing attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators. So enthusiastic were they that the Roman emperor Nero could not resist driving his own ten-horse chariot at the Olympic Games: he fell out but still won the prize. Rivalry between groups of spectators at chariot races often ignited urban riots. In Constantinople, in 532 AD, a three-day disturbance left 30,000 dead.

An original and unique work of reference which breaks new ground by treating for the first time the classical era of the Old World as a whole. Never before have the key peoples and events of Greece, Rome, Persia, India, and China been encompassed in a single volume, despite the fact their civilizations had much in common and laid the foundations of present-day Europe and Asia. Arthur Cotterell asserts that for too long Greece and Rome have been regarded as the classical world and its study isolated from even the major powers that confronted the Greeks and Romans in Iran and India. Today we are more aware of the complex interrelations that once existed between the Greeks and the Persians, the Macedonians and the Indians, the Romans and both the Persians and the Sasanians. The persistent isolation of China, on the other hand, cut off by mountains and deserts from India, makes the classical experience there so useful for comparison and contrast. The virtual absence of slavery in China is but one of its startling features.Comprehensive, wide-ranging and lavishly illustrated, The Pimlico Dictionary of Classical Civilizations provides a fascinating overview and a detailed analyis of the formative period of the world, making it indispensible for both students and the general reader.

In recent decades there has been a dramatic transformation around the Pacific Rim. No longer the Far East - that exotic, mysterious land at the distant fringe of Western consciousness - East Asia today commands the attention of the entire world. In East Asia, Arthur Cotterell condenses into a compact, highly readable book an immense amount of historical knowledge, placing this amazing economic development in its proper perspective - an Asian one. Cotterell ranges from the dawn of Chinese civilization to Japans emergence as the first East Asian nation to develop an industrial economy. And he brings his history up to the present, examining Americas setbacks in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Japans rise as an economic superpower, and the recent histories of countries such as reunited Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore. Cotterell goes on to suggest that Japan will eventually be overtaken by its neighbours, concluding that relations between the Chinese and the Japanese will ultimately determine the future of East Asia, although over the coming decades the key Pacific partners remain China and the United States. With spectacular historical perspective, Arthur Cotterell performs an invaluable service to all those who wish to have deeper understanding of our newest, and most competitive, trading partners.

One of the most far-reaching events since the Second World War is the re-emergence of China as a world power, and its present governments willingness to open up the country to the rest of the world.This comprehensive cultural history ranges from prehistoric times to the present - from the disunity of Pre-Imperial China to the renaissance of the Sung and Tang dynasties, from the Mongol conquest to Tiananmen Square and the 1989 student revolt. By placing the modern country in historical perspective this brilliant study reveals how many continuities there are within the oldest of all civilizations.

The Pimlico Dictionary of Classical Mythologies is a unique work of reference which breaks new ground by treating for the first time the classical mythologies of the Old World as a whole. Never before have the mythologies of Greece, Rome, Persia, India and China been encompassed in a single volume, despite the fact that the first four have much in common through their Indo-European ancestry. Arthur Cotterell shows how much more can be understood about classical mythology by comparison and contrast of its five major traditions. Another key aspect of The Pimlico Dictionary of Classical Mythologies is that the myths are not simply recounted; their least accessible features are helpfully interpreted by reference to the culture in which they arose. Thus, for example, the profound influence of the Iranian prophet Zoroasters thinking on Persian mythology is made clear, along with the far-reaching consequences its adoption would later have for Christian thought.The Pimlico Dictionary of Classical Mythologies also includes over two hundred original illustrations, which have been specially commissioned in order to reveal how gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, sages, villains and demons were actually envisaged during the classical period. Taken together with the well-devised entries and the informative introduction, these unusual illustrations make The Pimlico Dictionary of Classical Mythologies an indispensable handbook for both students and the general reader.