New book poll

[Jona Lendering]

Having finished my book on ancient battle narratives and propaganda, I am looking forward for a new subject. Here are several ideas. Which one would you like to read? Suggestions for other books are also welcome; non-military please. I've already written a book on Alexander, and a third one give the impression that I am a specialist, which I am not.

[Praefectusclassis]

I voted Studying Antiquity. Theory and methodology is not only interesting to me, but imho underrated as a subject, especially for non specialists.

[Ioannis]

I voted for Studying Antiquity as well.

[stevesarak]

Antiquity for me. I'd be more interested in philological theory if it was more geared towards warfare or culture as a whole, if the angle was of how warfare shaped it.

[Kate Gilliver]

What is your ultimate aim, Jona? If you want to cause controversy, go for the first; if you want to reach out to a tiny audience, Synesius of Cyrene might be a suitable topic (who the heck's he?!); Soap, if you really ratcheted up the sex n scandal, would probably sell rather well (would this be an historical novel? :wink: ); debunking 'aliens built the pyramid' et alia scholars would be quite entertaining; Persepolis - (forum rules forbid me from starting on geo-politics and the middle east); which leaves Studying Antiquity.

sorry to agree with the others!

[Iosephus]

I'm interested in the hellenistic era as well, so my vote is for:





Soap! The house of Ptolemy and the house of Seleucus

[Jona Lendering]

Synesius of Cyrene might be a suitable topic (who the heck's he?!)

Laudes to an honest scholar who admits to be ignorant, a virtue that is too rare. So dear Kate, I wrote this one for you.

[Caius Fabius]

Of ocurse a really good poll would have included :"None of the Above" to get a better sampling.

I can always use another well written book on "How to .."

I'd rather see a translation of "Legions of Augustus" by Junklemann into English. I suspect it would sell better than any of the above titles, if you could get the artwork.

[Kate Gilliver]

Jona, I've changed my mind - Synesius sounds a fascinating person who clearly deserves to be known by more than a few people - go for it!
Very sad that his treatise on dogbreeding is no longer extant - I would have enjoyed that!

Thanks very much for the article!

[Jona Lendering]

Synesius sounds a fascinating person who clearly deserves to be known by more than a few people - go for it!

I added some of his texts:

Epistle 105: becoming a bishop.
Epistle 132: war against tribesmen.
Epistle 136: a visit to Athens.
Epistle 147: congratulations to someone who became a monk.
Epistle 154: his own writings.
Hymn 8: requesting blessings for his family and wife.
Homily 1: against being drunk.

[Muzzaguchi]

Hi Jona,

I have always wanted to read a scholarly debunking (that is what I am assuming it will be roll: ). But something examining Daniken and Velikovsky and others would be great.

Anywhoo I vote for men from Atlantis

Cheers

Murray

[Robert Vermaat]

Epistle 132: war against tribesmen.

Very interesting - right in line with other 'fighting bishops' such as Germanus of Auxerre.

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

persepolis, considering that books about this period ar hard to find!

[Jona Lendering]

Today, I spoke to my publisher, and we agreed that

Soap! The house of Ptolemy and the house of Seleucus does not immediately raise interest in Holland. Pity for the Dutch; therefore, postponed until they want to be educated.

The man who accepted his responsibility. A life of Synesius of Cyrene is too specialist. Still, it is worth to keep it in mind. A brief monography may be nice.

Studying Antiquity: Historical, archaeological, and philological theory, methods, perspectives has no market outside the universities. And probably not in the universities, too. There are several German books, and one postmodernist English one; they are not part of the standard course for BA students. The exception is the Free University, and the one who wrote the text is yours truly. Most universities think this is for post-grads.

Persepolis. A guide is a good second choice; problem is the color print. The publisher thinks it will become cheaper.

The men from Atlantis. Von Däniken, Carotta, Vergeer, Velikovsky, and other pseudo-scholars: this one, I had to leave, because I wanted to do this with a co-author who will have a new job soon. Still, combining this book and the theoretical one, may be an option.

Which leaves: Origins of Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE - 200 CE). I think I will have to post a lot on this subject the next year and a half or so.