Robin W. Winks and Susan P. Mattern-Parkes
What is a city, and what forms did urbanization take in different times and places? How do peoples and nations define themselves and perceive foreigners? Questions like these serve as the framework for The Ancient Mediterranean World: From the Stone Age to A.D. 600. This book provides a concise
overview of the history of the Mediterranean world, from Paleolithic times through the rise of Islam in the seventh century A.D. It traces the origins of the civilizations around the Mediterranean--including ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome--and their interactions over time.
The Ancient Mediterranean World goes beyond political history to explore the lives of ordinary men and women and investigate topics such as the relationships between social classes, the dynamics of the family, the military and society, and aristocratic values. It introduces students not only to
the ancient texts on which historians rely, but also to the art and architecture that reveal how people lived and how they understood ideas like love, death, and the body. Numerous illustrations, chronological charts, excerpts from ancient texts, and in-depth discussions of specific art objects and
historical methods are included. Text boxes containing primary source materials examine such diverse subjects as warfare in early Mesopotamia, sculpting the body in classical Greece, the young women of Sappho's chorus, and early descriptions of the Huns. Combining excellent chronological coverage
with a clear, concise narrative, The Ancient Mediterranean World is an ideal text for undergraduate courses in ancient history and ancient civilization.
List of Maps
List of Chronological Tables
List of Boxes
Preface: The Value of History
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER ONE: The First Civilizations
What Is History?
The Origins of Civilization
The Archaeological Record--The First Modern Humans--The Beginnings of
Agriculture--A New Complexity: Some Neolithic Sites
The First Civilizations: The Eastern Mediterranean in the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age--Mesopotamian Civilization--Egypt in the Bronze Age--The Canaanites--The Hittites--The Agean--The Collapse of Bronze Age Civilization
Israel and
Judah
Myth and History--The Hebrew Bible--Early Israel--The Monarchy and the Babylonian Exile--Society and Family--Religion and Law
Summary
CHAPTER TWO: Greek Civilization: Hellas and Hellenism
The Dark Age
Population Decline and Dark Age Culture--Lefkandi--Homer and Oral
Poetry
The Archaic Age: Hellas and the City
Hellas--War and the City: The Rise of the Polis--Literature and Culture in Archaic Hellas
The Classical Age: The Empire and Culture of Athens
The Persian Empire--The Persian Wars--Herodotus: The First History--Greeks and
Barbarians--Democracy and Empire: Athens at Its Height--Culture in Imperial Athens--The Peloponnesian War--Athens after the War--Society in Classical Athens
The Hellenistic World
The Macedonian Conquerors--Greeks and Natives--Judaism in the Second Temple Period--Greek Culture in the
Hellenistic Period
Summary
CHAPTER THREE: The Romans and Their Empire
Roman Origins
Who Were the Romans?--From Village to City--The Etruscans
Government and Society in the Early Republic
The Ruling Class--Plebeians and Patricians--Society in the Twelve Tables--Warfare
and the Conquest of Italy--Conquests Overseas--Imperialism and Culture
The Late Republic: Society in Crisis
The Aristocracy--Peasants: Gracchus' Land Reform--Slaves--The Knights: Provincial Government and Corruption--Soldiers: Marius' Military Reforms and Sulla's Dictatorship--Cicero and
Roman Society--Pompey and Ceasar--The First Emperor
The Empire
The Emperors--The Emperor and the City of Rome--The Army--Taxes--Roads and Cities--Law--Greek Culture in the Roman Empire
Life in the Provinces
Imperial Rule: The Example of Judaea--The Army in Roman Britain--Society in
Roman Egypt
Crisis and Reform in the Third Century
Wars and Emperors--Economic Crisis--Diocletian and the Later Roman Empire
Summary
CHAPTER FOUR: Christianity and the Late Antique World
Paganism
The Rise of Christianity
The New Testament and the
Gospels--Paul--Persecution and Martyrs--Bishops and Theologians
Christianity in the Later Roman Empire
The Conversion of Constantine--Heresy and Schism--Monks and Ascetics--Christianity and Social Change--Literature: St. Augustine and the Classics
The Decline of the Western
Empire
Franks--Visigoths--Ostrogoths--Vandals--Barbarian Legal Codes--Justinian
Muhammad and the Rise of Islam
Summary
Suggested Readings
Index
There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.
Robin W. Winks is at Yale University. Susan P. Mattern-Parkes is at University of Georgia.
Writing History - William Kelleher Storey and Mairi Cowan
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