Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations

Special Features
Preface
Note on Spelling and Pronunciation
About the Author
PART I. THE ORIGINS OF HISTORY
1. Civilization Before Civilization (2,000,000-3000 BCE)
PART II. THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
2. Mesopotamia and the Bronze Age (6000-1200 BCE)
3. Egypt and the Bronze Age (5000-1200 BCE)
4. Coastal Civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean (2500-800 BCE)
5. Iron Age Empires: Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia (850-500 BCE)
PART III. THE ANCIENT GREEK WORLD
6. Greece in the Dark and Archaic Ages (1100-500 BCE)
7. Sparta, Athens, and the Classical Age (500-387 BCE)
8. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age (387-31 BCE)
9. Civilization beyond the Near East, Greece, and Rome (2300-31 BCE)
PART IV. THE ANCIENT ROMAN WORLD
10. The Rise of Rome and the Roman Republic (753-120 BCE)
11. Crisis, Recovery, and the Creation of the Principate (150-21 BCE)
12. The Roman Peace (27 BCE-192 CE)
PART V. THE WORLD OF LATE ANTIQUITY
13. Crisis, Recovery, and the Creation of the Late Roman Empire (192-337)
14. The Christian Empire and the Late Roman World (337-476)
15. The End of Antiquity (476-640)
Credits
Glossary
Index

INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES
Primary Resources
PowerPoint Slides
Videos
Test Bank
.
STUDENT RESOURCES
Self-Quizzes
Primary Resources
Flashcards
Videos

Ralph W. Mathisen is Professor of History, Classics, and Medieval Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has authored, edited, or coedited thirteen books and has published 100 scholarly articles. He is a Fellow of the American Numismatic Society, founding editor of the Journal of Late Antiquity, and Director of the Biographical Database for Late Antiquity Project.

Special Features

• Presents an understanding of the ancient Mediterranean that emphasizes evolution and continuity, connections and causality, and cultural diffusion and cultural diversity.
• Integrates material culture directly into an appreciation of how history is reconstructed.
• Covers the full range of the ancient human experience in the Mediterranean, from the Paleolithic to the end of antiquity in the 7th century CE.
• Includes an entire chapter that examines cultures outside the immediate margins of the ancient Mediterranean: Chapter 9: "Civilization beyond the Near East, Greece, and Rome (2300-31 BCE)".
• "Digging Antiquity": Illustrated features that discuss specific archaeological sites, many of which can still be visited.
• Looking Back": Chapter summaries, followed by "Looking Ahead" sections that preview the following chapters.
• "History Laboratory": Concise observations on how historians use different methodologies to interpret historical evidence and to debunk pseudoscience.
• "Historical Controversy": Reflections that explore conflicting modern interpretations of ancient phenomena.
• "A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words": Illustrations of distinctive material artifacts, accompanied by brief essays.
• "Mysteries of History": Selections that address puzzling and intriguing aspects of the past.
• "In Their Own Words": Extended quotations that exemplify each chapter's main themes.
• Sticky Notes: Notes placed in the margins at key points that remind students of commonalities, patterns, or connections.
• A stunning interior design featuring more than 200 maps and illustrations, including an eight-page color portfolio.
• An Ancillary Resource Center at www.oup.com/he/mathisen-mediterranean3e provides digital learning resources for students (including chapter quizzes, flashcards, and videos) and a test-item file and PowerPoint lecture slides for instructors.

• "Subversive Personalities," a new illustrated feature added to all the chapters that highlights the actions of a person or persons, particularly women, such as Eve, Enheduanna, Akhenaton, Jezebel, Judith, Sappho, Hypatia, and Theodora, who challenged traditional institutions, beliefs, or social conventions.
• "Cultural Encounters,", a new feature, focuses on the engagements of the Romans with other peoples.
• New discussion of G"bekli Tepe, Old Europe, Sumerian dream interpretation, Buddhism, Artemisia, the temples in the Largo di Torre Argentina, recent scientific developments, and the Alamanni
• Expanded coverage of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Scorpion kings and Egyptian trade, and the Battle of Salamis, The Muses, early Roman source material, early Roman social relations, the Second Punic War, Pompey, the Golden Age of Latin literature, the reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, and Commodus, the Roman economy and trade, Judaism, the Imperial Crisis, Diocletian and Constantine, and barbarians.