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8vo, br. ed. 278pp.'What are states but large bandit bands, and what are bandit bands but small states?' So asked St Augustine, reflecting on the late Roman world. Here nine original studies, by established historians of Greece, Rome and other ancient civilisations, explore the activities and the images of ancient criminal groups, comparing them closely and provocatively with the Greek and Roman government which the criminals challenged. Contents: Introduction -- Keith Hopwood -- 1. The Mafia of early Greece: Violent exploitation in the seventh and sixth centuries bc -- Hans van Wees (University College London) -- 2. Workshops of villains : Was there much organised crime in classical Athens? -- Nick Fisher (University of Wales Cardiff) -- 3. Condottieri and clansmen: Early Italian raiding, warfare and the state -- Louis Rawlings (University of Wales Cardiff) -- 4. The revolt of the Boukoloi: Geography, history and myth Richard Alston (King s College London) -- 5. Native rebellion in the Pisidian Taurus -- Stephen Mitchell (University of Wales Swansea) -- 6. Bandits between grandees and the state:The structure of order in Roman Rough Cilicia -- Keith Hopwood (University of Wales Lampeter) -- 7. You speculate on the misery of the poor : Usury as civic injustice in Basil of Caesarea s second homily on Psalm 14 Susan R, Holman (Brown University) -- 8. The violence of the circus factions -- Michael Whitby (University of Warwick) -- 9. Crime and control in Aztec society -- Frances F. Berdan