Ancient Worlds
The Search for the Origins of Western Civilization
1st Edition
Published on 29. September 2011
400 pages
978-0-14-196300-6 (ISBN)
Description
Across the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Nile Delta, awe-inspiring, monstrous ruins are scattered across the landscape - vast palaces, temples, fortresses, shattered statues of ancient gods, carvings praising the eternal power of long-forgotten dynasties. These ruins - the remainder of thousands of years of human civilization - are both inspirational in their grandeur, and terrible in that their once teeming centres of population were all ultimately destroyed and abandoned.
In this major book, Richard Miles recreates these extraordinary cities, ranging from the Euphrates to the Roman Empire, to understand the roots of human civilization. His challenge is to make us understand that the cities which define culture, religion and economic success and which are humanity's greatest invention, have always had a cruel edge to them, building systems that have provided both amazing opportunities and back-breaking hardship.
This exhilarating book is both a pleasure to read and a challenge to us all to think about our past - and about the present.
In this major book, Richard Miles recreates these extraordinary cities, ranging from the Euphrates to the Roman Empire, to understand the roots of human civilization. His challenge is to make us understand that the cities which define culture, religion and economic success and which are humanity's greatest invention, have always had a cruel edge to them, building systems that have provided both amazing opportunities and back-breaking hardship.
This exhilarating book is both a pleasure to read and a challenge to us all to think about our past - and about the present.
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
Illustrations
16pp colour
File size
17,83 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-14-196300-6 (9780141963006)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
09/2011
Penguin Books Ltd
€24.10
Shipment within 15-20 days
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.
