ELECTRUM - Journal of Ancient History' has been published since 1997 by the Department of Ancient History at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow as a collection of papers and monographs. In 2010 it starts as journal with one monographic issue per year. Journal publishes scholarly papers embodying studies in history and culture of Greece, Rome and Near East from the beginning of the First Millennium BC to about AD 400. Contributions are written in English, German, French and Italian. The journal publishes books reviews.

The volume contains 12 studies presenting political, social, economic and religious aspects of history of Central Asia and Iran in period from IVth century BCE to Vth century CE. Their authors are leading specialists in the field. They are interpreting and reconstructing the past of the area researching various kinds of evidence: literary, archaeological, linguistic and numismatic. In some papers are the first time presented results of recent archaeological excavations in Old Nisa and Uzbekistan.

This issue of 'Electrum' is focused on various aspects of a phenomenon which is very characteristic for history of ancient world. In several papers authors are discussing problems relating to colonization and its effects in the Mediterranean area. Papers cover period from the archaic Greece till the Byzantine times.

Volume contains eight studies written by scholars from Great Britain, Israel, Poland and USA, specialists in the Greek history. Published papers are dealing with different aspects of history of the period: historiography, political history, military history.

Journal of Ancient History has been published since 1997 by the Department of Ancient History at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow as a collection of papers and monographs. In 2010 it starts as journal with one monographic issue per year. Journal publishes scholarly papers embodying studies in history and culture of Greece, Rome and Near East from the beginning of the First Millennium BC to about AD 400. Contributions are written in English, German, French and Italian. The journal publishes books reviews.

The history of the Hasmoneans has long caused disputes among scholars, who are far from agreement about the chronology of events, their importance, and the identities of all their actors. There are no indications that such doubts will be resolved anytime soon. The aim of this study, therefore, is not to present a new reconstruction of Hasmonean history, but to describe the institutions of the state they created. This issue usually remains on the fringe of scholarly dispute and has not been closely investigated so far. Nor has an attempt been made at a synthetic presentation of how the Hasmonean state functioned in all its aspects. For this reason, it could not be explored to the full extent possible.