Library

The foundational treatise on military strategy, composed by the legendary general Sun Wu during the late Spring and Autumn period. Thirteen chapters distill the principles of warfare into concise, penetrating maxims that have influenced strategists for over two millennia.

A compilation of political strategies, diplomatic speeches, and historical anecdotes from the Warring States period, organized by state. Edited and arranged by the Han dynasty scholar Liu Xiang from earlier court records and bamboo slip texts.

Essays on Legalist political philosophy by Han Fei, a prince of Han who synthesized the traditions of Shang Yang, Shen Buhai, and Shen Dao. His writings on rulership, power, and institutional control so impressed the King of Qin that Qin invaded Han partly to acquire his services. Selected chapters on political theory, famous parables, and Warring States diplomacy.

The foundational work of Chinese historiography, composed by Sima Qian during the Western Han dynasty. Selected chapters covering the Warring States period: the basic annals of rulers, hereditary houses of the seven states, and biographies of the diplomats, generals, and strategists who shaped the era.

Iran's national epic, composed by Ferdowsi around 1000 AD. The Fall of the Sasanians — the final chapters covering the collapse of the last pre-Islamic Persian dynasty, from the grandeur of Khosrow Parviz through the Arab conquest. Persian verse with annotated English translation.

The defining work of political realism. Four key episodes from the war between Athens and Sparta: the Funeral Oration, the Melian Dialogue, the Sicilian Expedition, and the destruction of Athens' army. Ancient Greek with interactive word-level morphology — hover for definitions.

The father of history. Croesus and the Oracle, the rise and fall of Cyrus, Xerxes' hubris at the Hellespont, Thermopylae, and Salamis — the great stories of the Persian Wars. Ancient Greek with interactive word-level morphology — hover for definitions.

How a weak peripheral state builds alliances to overthrow a dominant empire. Selected alliance-building episodes from Xenophon's idealized biography of Cyrus the Great — coalition diplomacy, force arithmetic, and the art of turning enemies into allies. The structural parallel to 合縱 (vertical alliance) strategy is near-exact. Ancient Greek with interactive word-level morphology.