The Ancient Mediterranean World From the Stone Age to A.D. 600

by Winks, Robin W.; Mattern-Parkes, Susan P.

• ISBN13: 9780195155631
• ISBN10: 0195155637
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-02-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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 aconcise 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 overtime. 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 tothe 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 andhistorical 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 coveragewith a clear, concise narrative, The Ancient Mediterranean World is an ideal text for undergraduate courses in ancient history and ancient civilization.

Table of Contents

Maps, Boxes, and Chronological Tables	vii
Preface: The Value of History	ix
The First Civilizations	1	(53)
What Is History?	1	(1)
The Origins of Civilization	2	(11)
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	13	(31)
The Bronze Age
Mesopotamian Civilization
Egypt in the Bronze Age
The Canaanites
The Hittites
The Aegean
The Collapse of Bronze Age Civilization
Israel and Judah	44	(8)
Myth and History
The Hebrew Bible
Early Israel
The Monarchy and the Babylonian Exile
Society and Family
Religion and Law
Summary	52	(2)
Greek Civilization: Hellas and Hellenism	54	(64)
The Dark Age	55	(3)
Population Decline and Dark Age Culture
Lefkandi
Homer and Oral Poetry
The Archaic Age: Hellas and the City	58	(16)
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	74	(27)
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	101	(16)
The Macedonian Conquerors
Greeks and Natives
Judaism in the Second Temple Period
Greek Culture in the Hellenistic Period
Summary	117	(1)
The Romans and Their Empire	118	(66)
Roman Origins	118	(5)
Who Were the Romans?
From Village to City
The Etruscans
Government and Society in the Early Republic	123	(10)
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	133	(12)
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 Caesar
The First Emperor
The Empire	145	(20)
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	165	(12)
Imperial Rule: The Example of Judaea
The Army in Roman Britain
Society in Roman Egypt
Crisis and Reform in the Third Century	177	(5)
Wars and Emperors
Economic Crisis
Diocletian and the Later Roman Empire
Summary	182	(2)
Christianity and the Late Antique World	184	(35)
Paganism	184	(3)
The Rise of Christianity	187	(8)
The New Testament and the Gospels
Paul
Persecution and Martyrs
Bishops and Theologians
Christianity in the Later Roman Empire	195	(13)
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	208	(8)
Franks
Visigoths
Ostrogoths
Vandals
Barbarian Legal Codes
Justinian
Muhammad and the Rise of Islam	216	(1)
Summary	217	(2)
Suggested Readings	219	(12)
Index	231