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Atlantis Destroyed
Plato's legend of Atlantis has become notorious among scholars as the absurdest lie in literature. Atlantis Destroyed explores the possibility that the account given by Plato is historically true. Rodney Castleden first considers the location of Atlantis re-examining two suggestions put forward in the early twentieth century; Minoan Crete and Minoan Thera. He outlines the latest research findings on Knossos and Bronze Age Thera, discussing the material culture, trade empire and agricultural system, writing and wall paintings, art, religion and society of the Minoan civilization. Castleden demonstrates the many parallels between Plato's narrative and the Minoan Civilization in the Aegean. Fired by the imagination a new vision of Atlantis has arisen over the last one hundred and fifty years as a lost utopia. Rodney Castleden discusses why this picture arose and xplains how it has become confused with Plato's genuine account.
English Castles
From the Queen's residence at Windsor Castle to dramatic Alnwick (‘The Harry Potter Castle'), from the scene of royal coronations and funerals at Westminster Abbey to the gruesome tortures and executions of the Tower of London, and from the commanding sentinel of Dover Castle (‘the Key of England') to the mystic environs of Glastonbury Abbey, all of historic England is here. Immersed in history, visually imposing and set in stunning locations, medieval castles and cathedrals are to many the essence of England's great past. This full-colour, beautifully photographed book celebrates 60 of the grandest and most historically significant of these formidable stone strongholds. Around these striking images, Rodney Castleden has weaved a fascinating and detailed text, telling not just of the construction, history and often destruction of these magnificent structures, but also the human stories from behind their ancient walls. These are the stories of Kings, Queens and feuding lords; conquest, war and bloody conflict; treason, revenge and murder...
The Mycenaeans
Following on from Rodney Castleden's best-selling study Minoans, this major contribution to our understanding of the crucial Mycenaean period clearly and effectively brings together research and knowledge we have accumulated since the discovery of the remains of the civilization of Mycenae in the 1870s. In lively prose, informed by the latest research and using a full bibliography and over 100 illustrations, this vivid study delivers the fundamentals of the Mycenaean civilization including its culture, hierarchy, economy and religion. Castleden introduces controversial views of the Mycenaean palaces as temples, and studies their impressive sea empire and their crucial interaction with the outside Bronze Age world before discussing the causes of the end of their civilization. Providing clear, easy information and understanding, this is a perfect starting point for the study of the Greek Bronze Age.
Conflicts that Changed the World
Conflict and warfare is perpetual in the world today. It has always been like that. The history of the human race is the history of conflict. Conquest and glory versus death and destruction. Who takes us to war and why? This book traces world history through the conflicts that changed the world. From the Battle of Megiddo in 1479 BC to the Wars of the Roses of the Middle Ages and the American Civil War of the 19th century. From World Wars I and II to the Iraq War and the ongoing war against terror. Some conflicts are not only turning points in war but in history itself. Contents include Persian invasion of Greece, wars of Alexander the Great, the slave rebellion of Spartacus, Julius Caesar's Gallic wars, Boudicca's rebellion, the birth of Islam, Viking raids, the Crusades, the Hundred Years War, fall of Constantinople, the wars of the Roses, Spanish conquest of Peru, the Anglo-Spanish wars, rebellion in Ireland, British Civil War, Jacobite rising, French revolution, Napoleonic wars, the Zulu war, Crimean war, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, Falklands war, the Gulf war, the war on Terror.
The Castles of Britain and Ireland
To many, medieval castles are the essence of Britain and Ireland's fascinating past. Immersed in history and centuries old, each one tells a story of Kings, Queens and feuding lords; war and bloody conflict; treason, revenge and murder. In Castles of Britain and Ireland, Rodney Castleden weaves a fascinating and detailed narrative of 115 of the grandest and most historically significant castles in the British Isles, including Balmoral in Scotland, Bunratty in Ireland, Caernarfon in Wales and St Michael's Mount in England. As well as the details of the construction, function, and often the destruction of these magnificent buildings, each chapter also tells the human stories behind these ancient walls, with fascinating details of everyday life within.
Events That Changed the World C
In this volume the author offers a thought-provoking examination of the many pivotal events in the course of world history.
The Making of Stonehenge
Every generation has created its own interpretation of Stonehenge, but rarely do these relate to the physical realities of the monument. Rodney Castleden begins with those elements which made possible the building of this vast stone circle: the site, the materials and the society that undertook the enormous task of transporting and raising the great vertical stones, then capping them, all to a carefully contrived plan. What emerges from this detailed examination is a much fuller sense of Stonehenge, both in relation to all the similar sites close by, and in terms of the uses to which it was put. Castleden suggests that there is no one 'meaning' or 'purpose' for Stonehenge, that from its very...
King Arthur
King Arthur is often written off as a medieval fantasy, the dream of those yearning for an age of strong, just rulers and a contented kingdom. Those who accept his existence at all generally discard the stories that surround him. This exciting new investigation argues not only that Arthur did exist, as a Dark Age chieftain, but that many of the romantic tales - of Merlin, Camelot and Excalibur - are rooted in truth. In his quest for the real King Arthur, Rodney Castleden uses up-to-date archaeological and documentary evidence to recreate the history and society of Dark Age Britain and its kings. He revives the possibility that Tintagel was an Arthurian legend, and proposes a radical new theory - that Arthur escaped alive from his final battle. A location is even suggested for perhaps the greatest mystery, the whereabouts of Arthur's grave. King Arthur: The Truth Behind the Legend offers a more complete picture of Arthur's Britain and his place in it than ever before. The book's bold approach and compelling arguments will be welcomed by all readers with an interest in Arthuriana.
Minoans
Thoroughly researched, Rodney Castleden's Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete here sues the results of recent research to produce a comprehensive new vision of the peoples of Minoan Crete. Since Sir Arthur Evans rediscovered the Minoans in the early 1900s, we have defined a series of cultural traits that make the ‘Minoan personality’: elegant, graceful and sophisticated, these nature lovers lived in harmony with their neighbours, while their fleets ruled the seas around Crete. This, at least, is the popular view of the Minoans. But how far does the later work of archaeologists in Crete support this view? Drawing on his experience of being actively involved in research on landscapes processes and prehistory for the last twenty years, Castleden writes clearly and accessibly to provide a text essential to the study of this fascinating subject.
The Knossos Labyrinth
Knossos, like the Acropolis or Stonehenge, is a symbol for an entire culture. The Knossos Labyrinth was first built in the reign of a Middle Kingdom Egyptian pharaoh, and was from the start the focus of a glittering and exotic culture. Homer left elusive clues about the Knossian court and when the lost site of Knossos gradually re-emerged from obscurity in the nineteenth century, the first excavators - Minos Kalokairinos, Heinrich Schliemann, and Arthur Evans - were predisposed to see the site through the eyes of the classical authors. Rodney Castleden argues that this line of thought was a false trail and gives an alternative insight into the labyrinth which is every bit as exciting as the traditional explanations, and one which he believes is much closer to the truth. Rejecting Evans' view of Knossos as a bronze age royal palace, Castleden puts forward alternative interpretations - that the building was a necropolis or a temple - and argues that the temple interpretation is the most satisfactory in the light of modern archaeological knowledge about Minoan Crete.
