
Ancient Worlds
The Search for the Origins of Western Civilization
Richard Miles(Author)
Penguin Books Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 1. September 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
432 pages
978-0-241-95136-1 (ISBN)
Description
Accompanying the major BBC TV series, Richard Miles's Ancient Worlds tells the epic story of civilization, and the cities that made us who we are.
The path of human progress is one of enlightenment and cruelty, achievement and bloodshed, creation and destruction. Here Richard Miles reaches back into our distant past to bring alive its most glorious and terrible people and places: from the first ever city in Mesopotamia to the death cults of Egypt, from the Phoenician seafarers who invented the alphabet to the brutal Assyrian empire, and on to the great city-states of Athens and Rome.
By choosing to live together with strangers in vast urban settings, Miles shows, humans harnessed the very best and the worst of ourselves, setting civilization in motion and forging the modern world.
'Epic and compelling'
Daily Mail
'An epic, spanning five millennia and half the globe'
Daily Telegraph
'Engaging ... full of interesting things about the radical social experiment of the city-state, and the new ways of living it permitted'
Independent
'Ancient Worlds really does put flesh on the bones of history and Richard Miles brings long lost cities to life'
Observer
Richard Miles is the author of Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization. A six-part TV series of Ancient Worlds was broadcast on BBC2 in 2011. He teaches classics at the University of Sydney and was previously a Newton Trust Lecturer in the Faculty of Classics and Fellow and Director of Studies at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge.
The path of human progress is one of enlightenment and cruelty, achievement and bloodshed, creation and destruction. Here Richard Miles reaches back into our distant past to bring alive its most glorious and terrible people and places: from the first ever city in Mesopotamia to the death cults of Egypt, from the Phoenician seafarers who invented the alphabet to the brutal Assyrian empire, and on to the great city-states of Athens and Rome.
By choosing to live together with strangers in vast urban settings, Miles shows, humans harnessed the very best and the worst of ourselves, setting civilization in motion and forging the modern world.
'Epic and compelling'
Daily Mail
'An epic, spanning five millennia and half the globe'
Daily Telegraph
'Engaging ... full of interesting things about the radical social experiment of the city-state, and the new ways of living it permitted'
Independent
'Ancient Worlds really does put flesh on the bones of history and Richard Miles brings long lost cities to life'
Observer
Richard Miles is the author of Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization. A six-part TV series of Ancient Worlds was broadcast on BBC2 in 2011. He teaches classics at the University of Sydney and was previously a Newton Trust Lecturer in the Faculty of Classics and Fellow and Director of Studies at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge.
Reviews / Votes
Epic and compelling * Daily Mail * Engaging ... full of interesting things about the radical social experiment of the city-state, and the new ways of living it permitted * Independent * An epic, spanning five millennia and half the globe * Daily Telegraph * Ancient Worlds really does put flesh on the bones of history and Richard Miles brings long lost cities to life * Observer *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
16pp colour
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
512 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-95136-1 (9780241951361)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
09/2011
1st Edition
Penguin Books Ltd
€9.49
Available for download
Person
Richard Miles is the author of Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization. He teaches classics at the University of Sydney and was previously a Newton Trust Lecturer in the Faculty of Classics and Fellow and Director of Studies at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge. He has written widely on Punic, Roman and Vandal North Africa and has directed archaeological excavations in Carthage and Rome.