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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 942480, member: 19463&quot;]For the money, I consider Michael Grant a first choice.&nbsp; The book is not recent but neither is the material covered and there are many used copies available:</p><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0760700915/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&amp;condition=used" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0760700915/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&amp;condition=used" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0760700915/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&amp;condition=used</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Chris Scarre is good as well and has more pictures.</p><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chronicle-Roman-Emperors-Reign-Reign/dp/0500050775/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.amazon.com/Chronicle-Roman-Emperors-Reign-Reign/dp/0500050775/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Chronicle-Roman-Emperors-Reign-Reign/dp/0500050775/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a</a></p><p><br /></p><p>His book is part off a series with a volume on the Republic which I have not seen.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Both are Roman Empire only but that is where most coin collectors begin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Greece is harder because many beginner level books really emphasize Athens and Sparta to the exclusion of other important regions.&nbsp; Since Sparta did not issue coins, it would seem nice to have a book that had more on Corinth, Syracuse etc.&nbsp; From the standpoint of collectors, much of Greek coinage comes after much of the popular history covered.&nbsp; I don&#039;t have an easy suggestion for the early period.&nbsp; For years after Alexander the Great, I enjoyed the rather expensive:</p><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Actium-Historical-Evolution-Hellenistic/dp/0520083490/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1278606125&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Actium-Historical-Evolution-Hellenistic/dp/0520083490/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1278606125&amp;sr=1-1" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Actium-Historical-Evolution-Hellenistic/dp/0520083490/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1278606125&amp;sr=1-1</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Non-Classical is harder and some of the interesting coin producers did not do a lot of writing about themselves.&nbsp; I&#039;d like to see an ancient history overview that leaves out Greece and Rome on the theory that folks already know that material but would introduce things like Persian, Parthian, Sasanian, Indian and a hundred other interesting places (many of which issued coins).&nbsp; I don&#039;t know this book.</p><p><br /></p><p>I know you specified &#039;book&#039; but much of this material is available on Wikipedia.&nbsp;&nbsp; For example:</p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire</a></p><p><br /></p><p>You can click on blue links in the article and wander all over the place.&nbsp; If you know nothing about ancient history, the following page has a timeline that might prove interesting:</p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_history" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_history" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_history</a></p><p><br /></p><p>A mistake I made in the early days was to fail to recognize the links and relationships of various civilizations.&nbsp; It is great to study Greece, Rome, Persia, China and India separately but while in one of those places, pay attention to what was happening in the others at the same time.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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