Ancient History - HSC

Resources for HSC Ancient History and History Extension

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors are kindly advised that this website includes images, sounds and names of people who have passed.

All users should be aware that some topics or historical content may be culturally sensitive, offensive or distressing, and that some images may contain nudity or are of people not yet identified. Certain words, terms or descriptions may reflect the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written, but are now considered inappropriate in today's context.

Key to library resources

Access anywhere with a library card In the Library (or anywhere with a Library card for NSW residents)
Available to access in the library Only in the Library
Publicly available online Publicly available

Ebooks

The State Library has thousands of ebooks covering many subject areas in the Ebook Central Library

  • You can access ebooks from anywhere for free with your Library card.
  • To read ebooks on portable devices, download and install the free software program Adobe Digital Editions.
  • Once an ebook is downloaded, it will usually be accessible for up to three weeks.
  • You can also read it online, download individual chapters and search within an ebook.

There are two ways to search for ebooks:

 

Search in Ebook Central by keyword:
For example: roman empire


Selected ebooks

Gender, Memory, and Identity in the Roman World

Demonstrates the significance of gender, memory and identity through their interaction at all social levels of Imperial Rome. It casts light on the construction and maintenance of both public and private identities in the Roman Empire through memory, and highlights the role of gender in that process.

Deep Time Dreaming

Investigates a twin revolution: the reassertion of Aboriginal identity in the second half of the twentieth century, and the uncovering of the traces of ancient Australia. It explores what it means to live in a place of great antiquity, with its complex questions of ownership and belonging.

After Thermopylae

The Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE is one of world history's unjustly neglected events. It decisively ended the threat of a Persian conquest of Greece. Cartledge analyses a little-known oath reputedly sworn by the leaders of Athens, Sparta, and other Greek city-states prior to the battle – the Oath of Plataea. The oath also highlights the profound role of religion and myth in ancient Greek life.

In the Shadow of the Mongol Empire

During the thirteenth century, the Mongols created the greatest empire in human history. Genghis Khan and his successors brought death and destruction to Eurasia, and created courts in China, Persia and southern Russia that were famed as centers of wealth, learning, power and religion. Robinson traces how the newly established Ming dynasty (1368-1644) in China crafted a narrative to prove that it was the rightful successor to the Mongol empire.

Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

Drawing on both archaeological and historical sources, this book traces the history of urbanisation in Denmark from the Viking Age to 1350, exploring how interconnected political, religious and economic factors were instrumental in bringing about the growth of towns.

Ancient Egypt in the Modern Imagination

Explores representations of Ancient Egypt in the modern imagination, breaking down conventional disciplinary boundaries between fields such as History, Classics, Art History, Fashion, Film, Archaeology, Egyptology, and Literature to further a nuanced understanding of ancient Egypt in cultures stretching from the eighteenth century to the present day.

The Politics of the Past in Early China

Explores how the past was implicated in the long transition of power in early China, as embodied by the decline of the late Bronze Age aristocracy and the rise of empires over the first millenium BCE. Leung shows that the past was mobilized as powerful ideological capital in political debate and ethical dialogue.

Using Ebook Central (ProQuest)