Over forty years, a professor behind the Iron Curtain published astonishing international best-sellers on Antiquity. People knew about them in the West, but Russian Cold War policies and their lingering effects made it impossible to publish them in English.
And now, finally, here they are.

For forty years, a professor behind the Iron Curtain published astonishing international best-sellers on Antiquity. People knew about them in the West, but Russian Cold War policies and their lingering effects made it
impossible to publish them in English.
And now, finally, here they are.

Get these three hardcover classics 40% OFF

USD79.97 USD44.99

Free shipping in the US, UK, and the EU.
Allow up to 2 weeks for delivery.

Get these three hardcover classics 40% OFF

USD79.97 USD44.99

Free shipping in the US, UK, and the EU. Allow up to 2 weeks for delivery.

About the Author

Aleksander Krawczuk (1922-2023) was a classical scholar, a professor at the Jagiellonian University, Poland's minister of culture, and... a publishing phenomenon. The conversational style and unusual format of his books made them truly unique and appealed to the general public. They became best-sellers across Eastern Europe and their author--a TV celebrity.

Aleksander Krawczuk (1922-2023) was a classical scholar, a professor at the Jagiellonian University, Poland's minister of culture, and... a publishing phenomenon. The conversational style and unusual format of his books made them truly unique and appealed to the general public. They became best-sellers across Eastern Europe and their author--a TV celebrity.

What's Inside

Seven Against Thebes

To the heroes of the Trojan War, the heroes of the Theban War were peerless and unattainable role models. What was that war? Who fought it and why? What do we know about the history underlying the ancient myth? And how did the ancients of the 4th century BC - Athenians, Thebans, Spartans - think about the myth? How did it shape the way they felt about themselves and each other? How was it relevant to them? How is it -- and how is our own past --relevant to us?

6 x 9 inches
246 pages
1.12 pounds
ISBN: 978-9998795211
Publication Date: October 5, 2022
$27.99

Seven Against Thebes

To the heroes of the Trojan War, the heroes of the Theban War were peerless and unattainable role models. What was that war? Who fought it and why? What do we know about the possible historical facts underlying the ancient myth? And how did the ancients of the 4th century BC - Athenians, Thebans, Spartans - think about the myth? How did it shape the way they felt about themselves and each other? How was it relevant to them? How is it -- and how is our own past --relevant to us?

6 x 9 inches
246 pages
1.12 pounds
ISBN: 978-9998795211
Publication Date: October 5, 2022
$27.99

The Last Olympiad

A rich and highly readable panorama of the intellectual life of the Roman Empire of the last Olympiad--the Roman Empire about to fall. Here they are, debating topics ranging from the moral consequences of bathing and chariot races to national character and demon possession: the zany, crafty, and weird doctors of the Church: Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine; the dyspeptic historian Ammianus Marcellinus; three fanatic historians of the Church; the grumpy rhetorician Libanius; the blood-thirsty pagan defenders of the Alexandrian Serapeum; the author of a rabid anti-Christian diatribe which somehow miraculously survived to our times (The Lives of Sophists); and the quirky and mysterious figure of "Jorge Luis Borges of ancient Rome" (Authors of Imperial History).

6 x 9 inches
217 pages
15.3 ounces pounds
ISBN: 978-2919820399
Publication Date: April 3, 2023
$25.99

The Last Olympiad

A rich and highly readable panorama of the intellectual life of the Roman Empire of the last Olympiad--the Roman Empire about to fall. Here they are, debating topics ranging from the moral consequences of bathing and chariot races to national character and demon possession: the zany, crafty, and weird doctors of the Church: Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine; the dyspeptic historian Ammianus Marcellinus; three fanatic historians of the Church; the grumpy rhetorician Libanius; the blood-thirsty pagan defenders of the Alexandrian Serapeum; the author of a rabid anti-Christian diatribe which somehow miraculously survived to our times (The Lives of Sophists); and the quirky and mysterious figure of "Jorge Luis Borges of ancient Rome" (Authors of Imperial History).

6 x 9 inches
217 pages
15.3 ounces pounds
ISBN: 978-2919820399
Publication Date: April 3, 2023
$25.99

A Meeting In Oea

The quirkiest serious book about Plato ever written by a scholar. Or anyone. Meet Apuleius, Rome's all-time best-selling author (of The Golden Ass, no less!), a Platonic scholar, a part-time magician, and a dowry-hunter, as he works on his treatise on Plato at night and schemes to marry a rich African widow by day.

6 x 9 inches
201 pages
1.101 pounds
ISBN: 978-2919820382
Publication Date: March 23, 2023
$25.99

A Meeting In Oea

The quirkiest serious book about Plato ever written by a scholar. Or anyone. Meet Apuleius, Rome's all-time best-selling author (of The Golden Ass, no less!), a Platonic scholar, a part-time magician, and a dowry-hunter, as he works on his treatise on Plato at night and schemes to marry a rich African widow by day.

6 x 9 inches
201 pages
1.101 pounds
ISBN: 978-2919820382
Publication Date: March 23, 2023
$25.99

Get these three hardcover classics 40% OFF

USD79.97 USD44.99

Free shipping in the US, UK, and the EU. Allow up to 2 weeks for delivery.

Get these three hardcover classics 40% OFF

USD79.97 USD44.99

Free shipping in the US, UK, and the EU. Allow up to 2 weeks for delivery.

About Our Hardcover Editions

Translating Aleksander's books is a labor of love for us. We adorn our editions with gorgeous prints from some of the most interesting collectible books ever published.

The whimsically delightful illustrations in A Meeting in Oea are by Jean de Bosschère (1878-1953), a Belgian author and illustrator, who illustrated the 1925 Bodley Head limited edition of Apuleius’s Golden Asse.

The whimsically delightful illustrations in A Meeting in Oea A are by Jean de Bosschère (1878-1953), a Belgian author and illustrator, who illustrated the 1925 Bodley Head limited edition of Apuleius’s Golden Asse.

We have illustrated our edition of Seven Against Thebes with the beautiful, evocative illustrations by Adolfo de Carolis created for the 1929 Italian edition of Sophocles' tragedies, translated by Ettore Romagnoli. They showcase De Carolis's Symbolist style with rich detail and dramatic flair, typical of his renowned work for D'Annunzio and his important murals.

We have illustrated our edition of Seven Against Thebes with the beautiful, evocative illustrations by Adolfo de Carolis created for the 1929 Italian edition of Sophocles' tragedies, translated by Ettore Romagnoli. They showcase De Carolis's Symbolist style with rich detail and dramatic flair, typical of his renowned work for D'Annunzio and his important murals.

We illustrated The Last Olympiad with a series of gorgeous seventeenth-and eighteenth-century prints. This one, representing the god Serapis, is a 1791 engraving based on a seventeenth-century illustration of a work by Pierre Mussard.

We illustrated The Last Olympiad with a series of gorgeous seventeenth-and eighteenth-century prints. This one, representing the god Serapis, is a 1791 engraving based on a seventeenth-century illustration of a work by Pierre Mussard.