This new historical atlas – richly illustrated with photographs, artwork recreations and full-colour maps – explores the world’s earliest civilisations from the first farming settlements of Mesopotamia, via Egypt, Greece and Rome, to the civilisations of the Far East, Europe and America. Informatively written, and ideal for both students and the general reader, it plots the rise and fall of empires, the nature of different societies and the evolution of technology.
John Haywood is the author of a number of books, including The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings and The Historial Atlas of the Celtic World (Thames & Hudson). He lives in Lancaster.
Dimensions
24.36 × 17.88 × 0.71 cm
Publisher
Penguin; Illustrated edition (28 April 2005)
Language
English
Paperback
144 pages
ISBN-10
0141014482
ISBN-13
978-0141014487
Dimensions
24.36 x 17.88 x 0.71 cm
10 reviews for The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations
Rated 5 out of 5
H. A. Weedon –
This comprehensive and informative work by John Haywood presents a helpful introduction to a wide variety of civilisations from all over the world. There’s a preface plus an introduction entitled: ‘What is Civilisation?. After that these are two pages of very helpful timelines. The rest of he work is divided into five sections followed by ‘Further Reading’, index and acknowledgements. The five sections are:1: The Ancient Near East. 2. The African Civilisations. 3. The First Civilisations of Africa. 4. The First European Civilisations. 5. The Ancient Americas. The information about the civilisations is accompanied by a whole host of helpful maps. and there are some very good illustrations.Besides being helpful in itself, this work forms an excellent companion and guide to further, more extensive research concerning any one of the civilisations the reader might be especially interested in. It’s a valuable ‘getting to know’ work. ‘Oh, look what those people did there so very long ago! This is wonderful! I must find out more about them.’ Then the reader can search for more information on the internet and so on. We have here a valuable gate opening work, stimulating us to find out more about what built the world into what it has become. It’s a gem.
Rated 5 out of 5
PenBear –
This book is a fast, easy to read introduction to Ancient Civilizations from around the world, including regional maps, diagrams and pictures. It should server as a good place to start if you’re thinking about learning about the ancient world. The material from this book can be a reference guide to then seek out more specialised books.The only criticism I would make of this book is the title, because it is not a true atlas as one would normally recognise.
Rated 5 out of 5
Lorand Rojneac –
Exactly what I was looking for. Offers a brief entry into Ancient History and how civilizations moved across the globe. Gives you a better picture of which civilization started where and which direction they migrated to. Very beautiful colored maps and pictures of ancient buildings and items. Recommend!
Rated 4 out of 5
Ross –
If you want a quick version of the rise and fall of Ancient civilizations with detailed text and wonderful maps then this is the book for you. It is a good reference of the various states and empires that a rose and explaining why and where and wets the appetite for further interest on each subject.
Rated 5 out of 5
CJL –
Bought this for my husband. He says it’s a good read, physically smaller than he was expecting.
Rated 5 out of 5
Alan Fleming –
Worth it and will buy similar. Thank you.
Rated 3 out of 5
hetty –
I bought this for a junior schoolboy and it’s far too advanced. Also the print is very small and light and difficult to read
Rated 5 out of 5
Best Review –
I struggled to get into this, as I planned on reading cover-to-cover rather than using it for reference.But I’m really enjoying it now, the maps and pictures compliment the text well and it reads like a narrative as it’s in order. Very good for someone wanting an overview, and as a trainee primary school teacher this is a good read to prepare for this aspect of the history syllabus.
Rated 3 out of 5
Amazon Customer –
Expensive A very small book for the price paid
Rated 5 out of 5
gt surber –
Brief electic summary of the ancient civilizations with lots of maps illustrating them Review – Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient CivilizationsThe Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations is another of the delightful series from The Penguin Group. While definitely not a definitive work on the ancient civilizations, this book is an excellent over of the ancient civilizations. This book is a joy to just leaf through casually for a taste of the ancient civilizations.Like all it’s Penguin siblings, this book is well written, well formatted, well illustrated and full of outstanding hard to find maps illustrating and expanding on the points in the essays. The essays are brief and eclectic, but informative. They point the way to more expansion of knowledge. No pretense is made of being a complete history book.I recommend these, and this one especially, to individuals with a quest for quick, overview type knowledge of ancient civilizations.
How much do you know about the “cradle of civilization?” Come explore the legacy of the brilliant ancient Mesopotamians who transformed the world.
Ancient Mesopotamia’s legacy was truly revolutionary. Childlike pictures scratched into wet clay evolved into the first written language. The Mesopotamians wrote the first epic poems, the first hymns, the first histories, and the first law codes. They developed the first wheel for transportation; simple carts that hauled bricks or produce morphed into chariots racing along at thirty-five miles per hour.
They gazed at the sky and mapped it, observing the planets’ retrograde motions and predicting lunar and solar eclipses. They developed the concept of time, measurements, basic counting, higher math, and hydraulic engineering.
Mesopotamia gave birth to the world’s first great empires—the Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Achaemenids—which stretched over three continents.
A glimpse at the questions this overview unpacks includes:
How old is the world’s first city?
How did the Eridu Genesis compare to Noah and the ark?
How fast was the world’s first postal system?
How many times did Babylon’s patron god Marduk get stolen?
How did Hammurabi’s law code compare to the Law of Moses?
Who calculated pi (π) to the value of 3.125 and understood the Pythagorean theorem twelve centuries before Pythagoras was born?
Did Xerxes really have a million men in his army?
Which empire encompassed 44 percent of the world’s population?
What eunuch poisoned most of the Persian royal family?
And much, much more!
Scroll up and click the “add to cart” button to learn the stories of incredible ancient Mesopotamia!
£39.99Original price was: £39.99.£36.79Current price is: £36.79.
This new edition of Aspects of Roman History 31 BC- AD 117 provides an easily accessible guide to the history of the early Roman Empire. Taking the reader through the major political events of the crucial first 150 years of Roman imperial history, from the Empire’s foundation under Augustus to the height of its power under Trajan, the book examines the emperors and key events that shaped Rome’s institutions and political form. Blending social and economic history with political history, Richard Alston’s revised edition leads students through important issues, introducing sources, exploring techniques by which those sources might be read, and encouraging students to develop their historical judgement.
The book includes:
chapters on each of the emperors in this period, exploring the successes and failures of each reign, and how these shaped the empire,
sections on social and economic history, including the core issues of slavery, social mobility, economic development and change, gender relations, the rise of new religions, and cultural change in the Empire,
an expanded timeframe, providing more information on the foundation of the imperial system under Augustus and the issues relating to Augustan Rome,
a glossary and further reading section, broken down by chapter.
This expanded and revised edition of Aspects of Roman History, covering an additional 45 years of history from Actium to the death of Augustus, provides an invaluable introduction to Roman Imperial history, surveying the way in which the Roman Empire changed the world and offering critical perspectives on how we might understand that transformation. It is an important resource for any student of this crucial and formative period in Roman history.
IT WAS AN AGE OF GLORY… …BUT ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD.
‘A riveting account of Justinian’s reign that challenges traditional consensus’ Kirkus Reviews
The sixth-century AD witnessed a remarkable turn-around in the Roman Empire’s fortunes. Justinian’s general, Belisarius, recovered North Africa and Italy from the barbarians. An impressive new law code was inaugurated that would endure to this day. Astonishing building projects, like the iconic Hagia Sophia, rivalled the great monuments of Old Rome.
But rather than restoring Rome’s greatness did Justinian in fact pave the way for its collapse less than a century after his death? Drawing on the contemporary sources, especially those of the chronicler Procopius, Nick Holmes reveals a darker side to Justinian – a ruthless opportunist, whose costly conquests and misguided priorities drained the empire’s wealth and critically weakened its army.
This is the fourth volume in Nick Holmes’ series on the Fall of the Roman Empire. The first three books trace the empire’s story from the ‘crisis of the third century’, through its reinvention by Constantine as a Christian state, and then onto the fall of its western half. A fifth volume will tell of its rapid demise in the seventh century AD, when the first Islamic Caliphate became the new superpower of western Eurasia.
Praise for Nick Holmes’ Books
‘A talent for storytelling’ Kirkus Reviews ‘Clear, succinct and compelling’ AudioFile Magazine ‘Perhaps the best historical story-teller alive’ Amazon Reviewer
£11.99Original price was: £11.99.£10.43Current price is: £10.43.
‘An enlightening and lively interpretation of an important but neglected historical period.’ Kirkus Reviews
It was a time of revolution.
The Roman Revolution describes the little known “crisis of the third century”, and how it led to a revolutionary new Roman Empire. Long before the more famous collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century, in the years between AD 235-275, barbarian invasions, civil war and plague devastated ancient Rome. Out of this ordeal came new leaders, new government, new armies and a new vision of what it was to be Roman. Best remembered today is the rapid rise of Christianity in this period, as Rome’s pagan gods were rejected, and the emperor Constantine converted to this new religion. Less well remembered is the plethora of other changes that conspired to provide an environment well suited to a religious revolution.
Drawing on the latest research, Nick Holmes looks for new answers to old questions. He charts the rise of the Roman Republic and the classical Roman Empire, examining the roles played by sheer good luck and the benign climate. For example, he emphasises the unexpected death of Alexander the Great and the subsequent weakness of the Greek successor states as the ideal political environment for Rome’s expansion. But Rome’s good fortune did not last. The rise of Sasanian Persia, the growing strength of the German barbarians, and the brutal effects of the Antonine plague caused the near collapse of the Roman Empire in the third century. Focusing on the reigns of the critically important but under-researched emperors in the third century, such as Aurelian, Diocletian and Constantine, he vividly brings to life how Rome just escaped catastrophe in the third century, and embarked on a journey that would take it into a brave new world – one which provided the foundations for modern Europe and America.
This book is the first of a multi-volume series that will chart the full course of the Fall of the Roman Empire from the third century AD to the seventh. The second book, The Fall of Rome, continues the story of Rome’s decline up to the sack of Rome by Alaric the Goth in AD 410. The third book, Rome and Attila, covers the period from AD 410 to the western empire’s final demise in AD 476. Further books will look at the Roman reconquest of Italy and North Africa under the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century, followed by the rise of Islam and the demise of the Eastern Roman Empire in the seventh century.
How much do you know about the “cradle of civilization?” Come explore the legacy of the brilliant ancient Mesopotamians who transformed the world.
Ancient Mesopotamia’s legacy was truly revolutionary. Childlike pictures scratched into wet clay evolved into the first written language. The Mesopotamians wrote the first epic poems, the first hymns, the first histories, and the first law codes. They developed the first wheel for transportation; simple carts that hauled bricks or produce morphed into chariots racing along at thirty-five miles per hour.
They gazed at the sky and mapped it, observing the planets’ retrograde motions and predicting lunar and solar eclipses. They developed the concept of time, measurements, basic counting, higher math, and hydraulic engineering.
Mesopotamia gave birth to the world’s first great empires—the Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Achaemenids—which stretched over three continents.
A glimpse at the questions this overview unpacks includes:
How old is the world’s first city?
How did the Eridu Genesis compare to Noah and the ark?
How fast was the world’s first postal system?
How many times did Babylon’s patron god Marduk get stolen?
How did Hammurabi’s law code compare to the Law of Moses?
Who calculated pi (π) to the value of 3.125 and understood the Pythagorean theorem twelve centuries before Pythagoras was born?
Did Xerxes really have a million men in his army?
Which empire encompassed 44 percent of the world’s population?
What eunuch poisoned most of the Persian royal family?
And much, much more!
Scroll up and click the “add to cart” button to learn the stories of incredible ancient Mesopotamia!
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H. A. Weedon –
This comprehensive and informative work by John Haywood presents a helpful introduction to a wide variety of civilisations from all over the world. There’s a preface plus an introduction entitled: ‘What is Civilisation?. After that these are two pages of very helpful timelines. The rest of he work is divided into five sections followed by ‘Further Reading’, index and acknowledgements. The five sections are:1: The Ancient Near East. 2. The African Civilisations. 3. The First Civilisations of Africa. 4. The First European Civilisations. 5. The Ancient Americas. The information about the civilisations is accompanied by a whole host of helpful maps. and there are some very good illustrations.Besides being helpful in itself, this work forms an excellent companion and guide to further, more extensive research concerning any one of the civilisations the reader might be especially interested in. It’s a valuable ‘getting to know’ work. ‘Oh, look what those people did there so very long ago! This is wonderful! I must find out more about them.’ Then the reader can search for more information on the internet and so on. We have here a valuable gate opening work, stimulating us to find out more about what built the world into what it has become. It’s a gem.
PenBear –
This book is a fast, easy to read introduction to Ancient Civilizations from around the world, including regional maps, diagrams and pictures. It should server as a good place to start if you’re thinking about learning about the ancient world. The material from this book can be a reference guide to then seek out more specialised books.The only criticism I would make of this book is the title, because it is not a true atlas as one would normally recognise.
Lorand Rojneac –
Exactly what I was looking for. Offers a brief entry into Ancient History and how civilizations moved across the globe. Gives you a better picture of which civilization started where and which direction they migrated to. Very beautiful colored maps and pictures of ancient buildings and items. Recommend!
Ross –
If you want a quick version of the rise and fall of Ancient civilizations with detailed text and wonderful maps then this is the book for you. It is a good reference of the various states and empires that a rose and explaining why and where and wets the appetite for further interest on each subject.
CJL –
Bought this for my husband. He says it’s a good read, physically smaller than he was expecting.
Alan Fleming –
Worth it and will buy similar. Thank you.
hetty –
I bought this for a junior schoolboy and it’s far too advanced. Also the print is very small and light and difficult to read
Best Review –
I struggled to get into this, as I planned on reading cover-to-cover rather than using it for reference.But I’m really enjoying it now, the maps and pictures compliment the text well and it reads like a narrative as it’s in order. Very good for someone wanting an overview, and as a trainee primary school teacher this is a good read to prepare for this aspect of the history syllabus.
Amazon Customer –
Expensive
A very small book for the price paid
gt surber –
Brief electic summary of the ancient civilizations with lots of maps illustrating them
Review – Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient CivilizationsThe Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations is another of the delightful series from The Penguin Group. While definitely not a definitive work on the ancient civilizations, this book is an excellent over of the ancient civilizations. This book is a joy to just leaf through casually for a taste of the ancient civilizations.Like all it’s Penguin siblings, this book is well written, well formatted, well illustrated and full of outstanding hard to find maps illustrating and expanding on the points in the essays. The essays are brief and eclectic, but informative. They point the way to more expansion of knowledge. No pretense is made of being a complete history book.I recommend these, and this one especially, to individuals with a quest for quick, overview type knowledge of ancient civilizations.