This major dictionary provides a comprehensive, yet concise, guide to all features of the ancient world, including campaigns and battles; personalities and institutions; Greek and Latin authors, and the themes of their work; major deities and religious practices and festivals; philosophers, scientists and mathematicians. Beginning in 776 BC - when the first Olympic Games were held - and ending with the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in AD 476, the Dictionary is a compendium of current knowledge of the Greco-Roman world, containing entries on the people and events the cradle of Western civilization. Greek and Roman history; literature; art and architecture; philosophy, science and mathematics; society and economics - all are included and described in accessible detail by the team of specialist contributors. Designed to complement Pierre Grimal's Concise Dictionary of Classical Mythology (Blackwell, 1990), the Dictionary is an essential companion for all those interested in classical studies, whether as students or general readers. Read Less