Ancient Civilizations Of The Near East And Mediterranean

Beautifully illustrated in full-color with detailed maps and lavish photographs throughout, The Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations of the Near East and Mediterranean provides a comprehensive political and social history of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. This handsome, accessibly written reference work presents in one convenient volume a detailed view of each civilization using specially prepared and researched maps, site plans from archeological fieldwork, highly informative text, and colorful photographs and illustrations. Fifty-four magnificent full-color spreads supplement the material, providing an in-depth, visually exciting focus on specific aspects of the history, including Ziggurats, The Origins of Writing, Warfare in the Ancient Near East, Greek Medicine, Pompeii, Roman Roads, and Constantinople.

Publisher description

This book is an elegant account of the development of the great ancient civilizations of the Near East and how did the knowledge of the people of the Orient spread over the surrounding regions. In a lucid, concise, and well-organized style, the authors provide a clear analysis of how the ancient Near East provided the West with the foundations of civilization from the domestication of plants and animals through the development of writing, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, law, and industry to the formation of governments, states, and empires. Each of the various aspects of civilization is treated independently, rendering the book an accessible source of information and an easy to use reference book.

"Today, the politically volatile Middle East sits above two-thirds of the planet's oil reserves and holds our attention as never before. However, the ancient Middle East was just as important to the world of its day, for it was here that permanent settlement first took root, and the first complex societies emerged onto the world stage. These cultures produced the earliest agriculture, metalworking and writing systems, as well as the earliest centralized governments and legal systems, priesthoods and kings, and large-scale organized warfare." "The Middle East: The Cradle of Civilization Revealed synthesizes the latest research and information from a range of disciplines to tell the compelling story, from the Neolithic period through the Arab conquest, of how a group of linguistically disparate, nomadic tribes responded to specific social, economic and environmental factors to form the world's first complex societies."--BOOK JACKET.

In 'What Makes Civilization?', archaeologist David Wengrow provides a vivid account of the 'birth of civilization' in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (today's Iraq). These two regions, where many foundations of modern life were laid, are usually treated in isolation. Now, they are brought together within a unified history.

Incorporating the latest scholarly research, the third edition ofA History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000–323 BCpresents a comprehensive overview of the multiculturalcivilizations of the ancient Near East. Integrates the most up-to-date research, and includes a richerselection of supplementary materials Addresses the wide variety of political, social, and culturaldevelopments in the ancient Near East Updated features include new “Key Debate” boxes atthe end of each chapter to engage students with variousperspectives on a range of critical issues; a comprehensivetimeline of events; and 46 new illustrations, including 12 colorphotos Features a new chapter addressing governance and continuity inthe region during the Persian Empire Offers in-depth, accessible discussions of key texts andsources, including the Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh

Ancient Civilizations offers a comprehensive and straightforward account of the world’s first civilizations and how they were discovered, drawing on many avenues of inquiry including archaeological excavations, surveys, laboratory work, highly specialized scientific investigations, and both historical and ethnohistorical records. This book covers the earliest civilizations and the great powers in the Near East, moving on to the first Aegean civilizations, the Mediterranean world in the first millennium, Imperial Rome, northeast Africa, the divine kings in southeast Asia, and empires in East Asia, as well as early states in the Americas and Andean civilization. Ancient Civilizations includes a number of features to support student learning: a wealth of images, including several new illustrations; feature boxes which expand on key sites, finds and written sources; and an extensive guide to further reading. With new perceptions of the origin and collapse of states, including a review of the issue of sustainability, this fourth edition has been extensively updated in the light of spectacular new discoveries and the latest theoretical advances. Examining the world’s pre-industrial civilizations from a multidisciplinary perspective and offering a comparative analysis of the field which explores the connections between all civilizations around the world, Scarre and Fagan, both established authorities on world prehistory, provide a valuable introduction to pre-industrial civilizations in all their brilliant diversity.