Ancient History Books

If you are at all interested in bibical history, then this book is for you. Mr Yadin writes extremely well and there are innumerable pictures to support the text

This is an excellent book about the "dig" at Masada and the history of that dominant piece of rock in the Judean desert. I have been there and "kicked the tires" in May 2007 and was interested in expanding my knowledge of what has transpired there over the centuries. Excellent historical, archaeological narrative and pictures and as the Israeli Soldiers say when taking their oath on the rock..."Never Again".

Yigael Yadin is a gifted author who narrates history with captivating excitement. I have read several books and articles on the subject of Masada over the past several years and would recommend this as the most informative and understandable of them all. The before, during and after, excavation photos are amazing and contribute volumes in giving the reader the "Masada Experience." This book is valuable for both the novice and the scholar. It's an excellent introduction to what Masada is all about for the novice. The scholar will find Yadin's love of history details and his awesome photo illustrations compelling and helpful for instruction as well as understanding.

I have started reading a lot of historical fiction and nonfiction, and have found Haywood's Altas to be very useful. It works well as an introduction, being quite readable and succinct. In addition, it is an excellent reference to use when reading nonfiction tombs that presume we all know where all the Hittites came from, or how the Illyrians migrated to Italy. Just easily finding Zhou, or Thrace on a map has been a big help for me. A good atlas, well worth the reasonably price.

Any of the historical atlases by John Haywood is excellent. They combine readable text with great illustrative maps. The combination makes history easier to understand and remember. This atlas covers the time of human origins to 500 BC. Those of you familiar with Haywood's Atlas of World History should note that this atlas contains all of the material as the ancient world section of that comprehensive, one-volume atlas plus about fifty percent more. The only problem is that all of Haywood's atlases seem to be out of print.

This is another fine history book and atlas by Dr. Haywood, whose historical atlases are some of the best out there for readability, ease of use, and price. I have his Atlas of World History, and it's excellent as well. This one seems to be a little less technical than that one, but both are very readable and not dry like your typical historical atlas. I practically collect these things and have 7 or 8 of the major ones, and as I said, Haywood's are often the most readable and often the best value in terms of price.

Haywood has his usual nice touch with the material and he pays more attention to skillfully integrating graphics and illustrations with the text. In fact, his Atlas of World History used a team of graphics experts which worked specifically on that aspect of the book, and it shows compared to the other atlases on the market. I assume the nice layout and design on this book means the same approach was used here. The only other major historical atlas that competes with Haywood's in terms of visual design is the big Dorling-Kindersley one, which, although great, is four or five times the price of this one.

This book contains two-page spreads covering the historical periods from prehistoric times up to 500 B.C. The maps are well done and not too busy like the ones in some atlases, where they're so dense with symbols and other junk that you can hardly read the map. This book and the Atlas of World History overlap somewhat as this volume contains all of the material on the ancient world in that volume, but since it's specifically devoted to the ancient world, there is quite a bit more additional material as well. Overall, another fine history offering from Prof. Haywood.

My class really liked the format of this book, and it encouraged them to find out what this culture was about.

Excellent bite sized tidbits of history presented in an interesting format. Inside you will find a map of the Aztec empire, articles detailing every day life of the Aztec from agriculture, the Spanish invasion, war, the ball game, a guide to the ancient city of Tenochtitlan, a girl talk section, food and classifieds that provide an insight to the culture. What a great series! I purchased a copy as a gift for my 9 year old niece and was so impressed that I am purchasing the whole series for her! What a find! A clever and delightful way to introduce history to youngsters.

I am in the process of doing a school project on the Aztec and this book has all the info I need! I would recomend this book to anyone! It has everything enterusting in it, there is not one boring word!

I wanted a book with a easily understood story of the history of Roman Britain for my own personal knowledge. I found it in this book. Highly recommend.

I should preface this by saying that I am not a person who usually reads histories for fun, but this book is quite impressive. Salway manages to present a massive amount of detail without overwhelming the reader. At no point is the narrative stuffy or dull, and it is frequently amusing and very interesting. I would have prefered at least some photos or drawings (there are none), but the facts and commentary are colorful enough to keep you interested. Based on other books I've read on this period, and a course on the topic, Salway's information seems quite accurate. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Roman history and culture, Celtic history (what there is of it), and the relationships between Britain and the rest of the ancient world. Most historians seem wed to the dry listing of dates and battles, but Salway presents enough cultural information to keep things interesting enough for laymen (or even anthropologists...). Its a bit long - several hundred pages, but I highly recommend this book.

Peter Salway's book offers a good insight into the evolution of Roman Britain from Julius Caesar's first expeditions in 55 and 54 BC to the fall of the Roman Empire c. 475 A.D. Rather easy to read, its a book that can be enjoyed by historians and casual readers.

Peter Salway begins his book with background information on pre-Celtic England and the Celtic culture and then proceeds to discuss Romes first contacts with the Island under Julius Caesar. As the book notes, Julius Caesar's British expeditions were failures in terms of conquests but successful as exploratory ones. The book then glosses over the period between Caesar and Claudius to discuss Britain's full invasion under Claudius. The book discusses the effects of the invasion on the Celtic cultures and how they eventually incorporated many Roman customs into their own lives. The book also covers trade and economics in the region.

This is altogether a great book that covers the subject quite well. It's easy to read by anyone whether they have an advanced understanding of the subject or not.

Very happy with transaction, book arrived early with an awesome condition! I recommend this seller!

This text is a brief summary of the history of the Mesopotamia from 3000 BCE to 300 BCE. It is clear and concise. Van De Mieroop offers a very engaging introduction to this topic. It is an excellent text for those who want to survey the period. He also includes bibliographies for those who would like to go deeper.

This volume is a good introduction to the history of the Ancient Near East. The author surveys the history of Sumeria, Babylonia, Assyria, Persia and the Hittite Empire in a highly readable style. Quotes from numerous important texts are included in each chapter and the author does a good job of not only telling us what happened, but also why it happened.

The book is well illustrated with black and white photos and numerous, highly useful, maps. At the end of the book is an excellent bibliography that will point the interested reader to other good articles and books on the topic.

This book was published in 2004 and incorporates the latest scholarship in the field. The author has done a great job of making ancient history come alive!

`[...] contains a marvelous range of information on many aspects of life in the Holocene of the eastern Sahara. The publication is of a very high standard - well finishes and proofread - and should grace the shelves of Saharanists, as well as any university library where African history is taught.'

Journal of Anthropological Research, 59 (2003)

`[...] it is important to stress the objective contribution that these volumes make to the prehistory of the eastern Sahara. They are extremely well produced, with ample illustrations and statistics, and no detail is spared in the description of habitation sites and small finds. Volumes 1 and 2 of Nabta Playa are a superb addition to the prehistory of the eastern Sahara.'

Antiquity, 77:297 (September 2003)

`The Archaeology of Nabta Playa is truly an opus magnus; it is not a casual read, and it will be cited for years to come. As a valuable reference work written for interested experts, it will be of most interest to those who share similar regional and topical foci. This book is thorougly and unequivocally recommended for students of African prehistory... In terms of value for money, however, this work speaks volumes.'

Rabbi Leibel Reznick blends archeology, biblical and talmudic sources, stunning drawings, rare photographs, and keen scholarship in search of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. An exciting read, couldn't put it down all night.

A fantastic synthesis of archaelogical finds and ancient rabbinic literature.

The author has done a brilliant job of researching and presenting to the lay public the history and archeology of the Temple Mount. This book is a definite must read for those interested in the subject. -Prof. Albert Bressnan, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

A beautiful and accessible translation. The notes in the back are an added bonus.

For those unfamiliar with the "Homeric Hymns," translated in this case by Diane Rayor: they are a set of thirty-three or thirty-four short and long poems in honor of the major -- and a few minor -- Greek Gods, in the dactylic hexameter used in the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," and other early Greek poems. They are attributed to Homer in the surviving manuscripts, and some allusions and quotations in classical writing. This is not taken seriously, but provides a label. Some are clearly early, a few are suspected of being Hellenistic, or even post-Christian. The longer hymns combine invocation, praise, and extended narratives; the shorter hymns lack the narrative, and in few cases are little more than invocations. They also vary considerably in the solemnity with which they approach the gods (see the trickster Hermes as a baby in Hymn 4). The two opening hymns survive in one damaged manuscript, so "To Dionysos" is a set of fragments, and, "To Demeter," has several gaps. The third, "To Apollo," is suspected of being two separate works linked by an ancient editor. The last piece, "To Hosts," is sometimes excluded, as it is a reminder that hospitality is a sacred duty, and not actually a hymn, and is also found in other contexts. All but a few are clearly intended for public performance, either as short introductions (proems), or as major pieces in themselves.

As I have commented in reviews of other translations, by Apostolos N. Athanassakis (Johns Hopkins, 1976), Jules Cashford (Penguin Classics, 2003, with Introduction and Notes by Nicholas Richardson) and Martin L. West ("Homeric Hymns, Homeric Apocrypha, Lives of Homer," Loeb Classical Library, 2003, with a newly-edited Greek text), this long-neglected body of texts has received several bursts of attention over the last few decades.

After a gap between World War I (Evelyn-West's old Loeb bilingual edition of 1914, last revised 1936; probably still available for awhile) and the 1960s, we now have English renderings by Boer (1970; a second edition [1975?] restored a Hymn to Apollo), Sargent (W.W. Norton, 1973), Athanassakis, Shelmerdine (Focus, 1995), Crudden (Oxford World's Classics, 2002), Cashford, West, and now Diane Rayor (University of California, 2004) -- counting only those currently in print. There are also editions and translations of individual hymns. Although English readers await a modern full critical text edition (the most recent are Italian: West, following the Loeb format, gives only major manuscript variants and those emendations he uses, with minimal, albeit useful, notes), and a full commentary to replace the venerable Allen, Halliday and Sikes (second edition, 1936), this is still a superabundance. "Get just one, or collect the whole set!" comes to mind.

A recent review by a professional classicist (Stephen Evans, on-line in the "Bryn Mawr Classical Review" 2004.08.02) points out that the Crudden, Cashford, and Rayor translations all have annotations and / or introductions which survey recent literature on the hymns, but that they tend to favor different approaches, and so display remarkably little overlap in their coverage.

Rayor does join Crudden in discussing Near-Eastern parallels to the hymns. Where Crudden cites comparisons of Hymn 3, the great Hymn (or Hymns) to Apollo, to Babylonian and Assyrian compositions about the exploits of the warrior-god Ninurta, though, Rayor is willing to go back to their Sumerian predecessors for the Hymn to Aphrodite. Unfortunately, I am not convinced that the stripping of the love-goddess Inanna (= Ishtar) of her magic vestments as she passes the gates of the Netherworld has much to do with the undressing of the disguised (as a mortal) Aphrodite by the Trojan prince Anchises in Hymn 5 -- particularly since the living body of Inanna is described throughout in terms of the materials of her own cult statue (something even the smitten Anchises would have noticed). The passage comes from "The Descent of Inanna," which Rayor calls a hymn, although it is usually classed as a narrative. These are not mutually exclusive, as both Greek and Mesopotamian examples show, but if it *is* a hymn, it is *not* to Inanna, but to her rival, the Queen of the Netherworld: it ends with the invocation "Holy Ereshkigal, sweet is your praise!" Still, taken as a "type-scene," it is an interesting parallel, particularly since the setting of the Hymn to Aphrodite is explicitly *not* Greece, but "foreign" (Asia Minor); and Greek re-workings even of Greek sources can be rather drastic.

Diane Rayor's translations are not only the product of a distinguished classicist; they have been polished over several years of public readings, and with her students, to create a version which actually works in performance -- at least in American English. Most other available translations are worth reading aloud (with perhaps the exception of Boer's visually experimental free verse, and certainly of Evelyn-White's stodgy prose), but Rayor's alone invites it.

Here is a sample of three recent versions of The (Delian and Pythian) Hymn(s) to Apollo (Hymn 3), lines 331-339, for comparison. Hera, Queen of the Gods, is furious over the many children fathered on others by her husband Zeus, the successful rebel against their father Kronos and his fellow Titans, and current King of the Gods -- particularly the "motherless" Athena, who emerged from his head.

*Cashford*
When she had spoken, she went away from the gods,
Her heart very angry. Then immediately
She prayed, the lady Hera with her cow-eyes,
And she struck the earth
With her hand flat against it, saying:
`Hear me now, Gaia, and broad Ouranos high above,
and you Titan gods who live beneath the earth
around great Tartaros from whom men and gods come.
Listen to me now, all of you,
And give me a child apart from Zeus
And one not lesser than him in strength.
Rather, may he be as much stronger than Zeus,
Who sees all things, as Zeus, for his part,
Is stronger than Kronos.'

*West*
So saying, she went apart from the gods, angry at heart. Then straightway she prayed, did the mild-eyed lady Hera, and struck the earth with the flat of her hand and said, "Hear me now, Earth and broad Heaven above, and you Titan gods who dwell below the earth around great Tartarus, and from whom gods and men descend; all of you now in person, hear me and grant me a son without Zeus' help, in no way falling short of him in strength, but as much superior as wide-sounding Zeus is to Kronos."

*Rayor*
In great fury, she stormed from the gods.
Eyes dark and wide as a cow's, Queen Hera prayed
And with down-turned palms struck the earth:
"Now hear me Earth and wide Heaven above,
and Titans, gods beneath the earth, dwelling around
great Tartaros, from whom men and gods derive:
all hear me and grant me a child apart from Zeus,
in no way weaker in strength than he, a child greater
than Zeus by as much as Zeus is greater than Kronos."

These dynamic translations will interest both beginners and more advanced readers, whether to read these as poetry and great stories, for their importance in World Literature, or their particular relation to classical antiquity. The hymns are immensely readable in Rayor's smooth and engaging translations, and the length of the hymns, and their appeal to myth, makes them really perfect for classroom use. Readers will be fascinated with their speculations on the origins, powers, and mishaps of the gods and goddesses, and they provide a great take-off point for writing assigments, in my classes. Rayor's notes are clear, to the point, giving just enough detail for readers who want more, and signalling where we can look further. The text throughout is well-informed by recent anthropological approaches that have expanded knowledge of ancient Greek culture, evident in the valuable introduction and notes, which attend to the interrelation of literature, folklore, religion, and geography. Rayor's introduction adopts a practical-minded, functionalist approach to literary problems such as genre and authorship, describing a hymn as a poem of praise, sometimes narrative, addressed to a god, and noting the importance of oral performance in Greek culture. I took personal delight in the maps and glossary, whose easy-to-follow pronounciation guide anticipates and lays aside the uncertainties about proper names that many students find to be the greatest single obstacle to the Hymn and to classics. Casual readers will appreciate the clarity and accuracy of the language, with its fast-paced readability: the English of the hymns neither extrapolates nor subtracts from the original texts, balancing the desire for accuracy with creating a translation that is at once concise and musical. The introduction is clear and the bibliography offers a well-balanced selection of recent criticism. Of particular value are the the notes, which point to additional ancient and contemporary sources, always stressing the poems' contexts in poetic performance and religious worship in the ancient world.

Schmandt-Besserat is not only an acknowledged leader in epigraphy, she is one of the only linguists to study the slowly evolving history of the assyro-babylonian literary culture. This book, and any other by this author, is strongly reccommended for any library or archeological department.

This book will take you through the ruins of an ancient city in Mesopotamia and then will explain the meaning of certain tablets and clay coins found there. The author is very clear in her explanations, there are plenty of pictures and graphics which make your understanding of the text easier. This book is for those who like reading scholarly material because it is very concise and precise on the subject but it could seem dry reading to those who prefer the material to be presented in a more entertaining way.
I found it very interesting, and it helped me understand the transition from letters to numbers. I loved it!

Holy Moley! By Internet standards, the first (and only, until mine) review of this book is of a seemingly archaeological date, seven years ago, that is. Well, I suppose this review won't make much difference when (if) it's read seven years from now! This book is, obviously, a work by a scholar, which is an entirely different category of "being smart." We don't call upon scholars to fix our plugged-up toilets or change the flat tire on our car or restore the electricity, but, if you know just enough history to be grateful to live in our consumer-friendly epoch, you'll be grateful that some out there have dedicated their lives to recording and analyzing the long process of human growth, and the growth of civilization. You can have your Back To Nature fantasies--I'll take the hot shower and electric coffee maker, thank you very much. This particular work, apparently, is a condensation of a two-volume scholarly work, one which, I am sure, that I will never read. But the current volume (the second half of which I read last night, while eating fancy crackers and drinking humble red wine--giving me a connection, I felt, to the agrarian Past of Sumer and Uruk, etc.) is about as good as it gets for laymen (me). For me, it's almost like a religious text, transcending race, language, skin color, nationalism; it's like a Time Machine that takes you back within the range of a subtle sniff of our "egalitarian" prehistoric ancestors; "egalitarian" meaning a small-population culture where you pretty much fed yourself and participated in the group without the framework of authority other than myth and ritutal. A fun read for those who have exhausted the cultural potentialities of SIMPSONS reruns. I wholeheartedly agree with the author's thesis that counting preceded writing. In fact, it was my hunch--from my own reading and thinking--that this was so that prompted me to search for a book with this theory. It just makes sense. I highly doubt that any early resident of a city started the road to high civilization talking about "ennui" or "existentialism." They talked about, "Hey! I paid you this much last month. And you owe me this much tomorrow." Makes sense to me. Just the evidence-supported argument alone that breaking the counting-beyond-three barrier took thousands of years was worth the cover price to me. The single concept (and revelation) that in no way is the faculty of counting beyond three inate to brain function and hence, inate to our modern minds, is simply stunning to me, and adds a dose of gratitude to my daily life, a realization that makes it easier to laugh off the troubles of modern life. We owe so much to the hundreds of generations of men and women who have gone before us, most just living day to day. A good read, especially when enjoyed with fancy crackers and red wine...and about forty years' worth of reading, living and reflecting. So far as what the next review will address: I ain't holding my breath--and that is a very archaelogical attitude.

This book is fascinating. It covers the Mississippi River past and present. It is more than just a history book, for it covers geologic time as well as modern history. But it is more than a geology book as it covers the river's ecology. But then it is more than an ecological book as it focuses on the necessity of the river's economy. To sum it up, this book covers the Mississippi River in a way that few books do their subject's justice. Reading it makes me proud that the river is part of my world here in the Twin Cities. I've driven over it, walked over it, walked up to it, pondered its power and might, but never knew the river until I read this book.

The river is three million years old. Man has been active around it for a few thousand years. Modern economies have influenced it for a mere 170 years or so. It is not a simple thing. It is a force to be reconciled with. What humans do to this river is profound, but only so far as our vanity allows us to understand our relationship with the river. It has had several sources over the years. It took modern white men years of guessing just trying to find the current source.

This river supplies our needs. It allows for barge traffic that come and go with products Minnesotans (or any of the other states whose boundaries it forms) need and make (or grow). We recreate upon it. We dam it, bridge over it, pollute it, draw water from it, try to make it conform to our wills, then wonder what went wrong when it floods (as in 1993).

This river truly is immortal. Calvin Fremling does the river justice by his book documenting its story. His writing style is pragmatic and relatively unbiased, though extremists (both right and left wingers) my suffer his ridicule. The Corps of Engineers, the environmentalists, the riverats, sportsmen, politicians all receive adequate and relatively accurate assessment and criticism by the author. If there is one person who truly knows the river, it seems to be Fremling. He leaves the reader with the impression that the river's age will allow it to survive inspite of what modern man is doing to it. Who knows, it may be around for another three million years. As Fremling concludes, somehow, I find comfort in that.

Dr. Fremling, I will address this to you. You were graduate advisor to my dad, Glenn Jergens, when he earned his Master's degree. You were my most revered college professor many years later. Now I have my Master's and will teach biology when our son doesn't need me at home quite so much. Your influence on my dad, and on me, was profound. If I am half the teacher you were, much of the credit will be yours. I remember the slide-peppered lectures and the frequent field trips that made scientists of your students. I appreciate more than ever your gift for making learning so effortless because the teaching was so relevant and so rigorously planned. I have rated your book as worthy of five stars even before I've read it, as I suspect it will reflect this gift as well. I'm purchasing two copies, one for my brother and his wife, which will be passed around, I know, and one for my family. Thank you, Dr. Fremling, and congratulations. With all best wishes, Merri Beth Nord

As a person who grew up on the Upper Mississippi I assumed that I knew that great river. Not so. Calvin Fremling's book opened my eyes to the river's past and alerted me to the significant environmental problems that confront the river today. This is must reading for anyone who uses the river or has an interest in it.