My top books of 2024
By Owain Williams
There are, simply, too many books to read. As editor of Ancient History, I get to read a lot of books, whether for book reviews in the magazine or blog or for the podcast. As we near the end of 2024, I thought I would share my top three reads of the year, with a few honourable mentions, as it was very difficult to narrow it down to three. So, starting with my honourable mentions, here are my favourite reads of 2024!
2024 started strong for me, as I read a couple of the books in this list in January, starting with the first honourable mention: Tracy Arden’s Everyday Life in the Classical Maya World. This was a thoroughly engaging and enlightening book. I admit that I knew nothing about the Maya when I started reading this, and that may colour my opinion, and readers more familiar with the Maya might have issues with the book (if you do, let me know!). For me though, this was a succinct introduction to the Maya that brought the Classical Mayan world to life in vivid detail.
Another honourable mention is Anthony Kaldellis’ The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium. Again, like Arden’s book, this is meant as an introductory overview of the Eastern Romans – more commonly referred to as Byzantines. However, unlike Arden’s book, which focused on the minutiae of everyday life, Kaldellis here offers a sweeping, grand epic of narrative history, chronicling over 1000 years of history. It was as dramatic as any historical fiction and an exciting read. As it focuses more on medieval history, this book is in the honourable mentions. Had it only focused on the ancient world, it would have made the top three!
The final honourable mention is John Ma’s Polis. Just as Kaldellis offers a grand sweeping history of East Roman history, so too does Ma cover 1000 years of Greek history, from the Early Iron Age through to Late Antiquity. Reading Polis, it was evident that Ma had done an immense amount of research into the ancient Greek city state. It’s a masterclass of ancient history writing. However, personally, I feel it is a bit too academic for a general audience – some readers may find it a bit too dense, at times. For this reason, it is in the honourable mentions.
Now for my top three books of 2024!
In third place is Peter Sarris’ Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint. Justinian has long captivated modern audiences, from his campaign to reclaim the Western Roman Empire to his life-long love for Theodora, and Peter Sarris has written an excellent book that will only serve to increase people’s interest in his reign. From his humble beginnings to his wrestling with Constantinopolitan elites around the Nika Riots and his religious reforms, Sarris’ account wants for nothing. Additionally, unlike other biographies of ancient persons, which tend to be hampered by a distinct lack of biographical material, Sarris even manages to offer readers a glimpse of the real Justinian through his letters and laws, and even through his criticisms in authors such as Procopius. This is an incredible biography of not just Justinian but the world he lived in. It has reignited my interest in the reign of one of the most enigmatic Roman emperors, and I will certainly be exploring it further, when I can.
In second place is Olivier Hekster’s Caesar Rules. While, like Polis, this is another academic work, Hekster presents the evidence and his interpretation in straightforward terms, painting a clear picture of what it meant to be the Roman emperor, both for the men who held the office and for the millions of people beneath them. From the emperor’s clothes to the assumption that they were meant to be a military leader, Hekster offers an insightful commentary on how people viewed the emperor and how successive emperors pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable. In doing so, this book charts not only the development of the office of Roman emperor, but in some ways, it even charts the development of the Roman world.
Finally, the best book I read in 2024 was David J. Mattingly’s Between Sahara and Sea: Africa in the Roman Empire. I was flawed by this book. It was a monumental, magisterial masterpiece. The sheer amount of information contained within its pages was astounding, from the North Africans’ penchant for raising horses to the evidence for oasis agriculture and the workings of the Roman ‘security zone’. Like other books in this list, this was intended as an introductory overview of the state of the study of ancient North Africa (what does that say about my tastes?), as well as a critique of previous academics’ approaches to the region. As an introduction, it is not comprehensive, and aside from a few mentions where appropriate, both Christianity and the Late Antique period in the region are not covered in any great detail. Mattingly acknowledges this though, and these elements are simply beyond the scope of the book. What is in the scope of the book, though – the Roman Empire’s control of North Africa and North Africans’ experience of the Roman Empire – is masterfully done. I read over 100 pages of this book in one sitting. There is something for everyone in this book, and I hope people read it!
With so many books published every year, it is hard to keep up. What were your favourite books of 2024? Did they make the list or do you have more suggestions? Let us know!
