An Introduction to the Ancient World offers a thorough survey of the history of the ancient Near East, Greece and Rome. Covering the social, political, economic and cultural processes that have influenced later western and Near Eastern civilisations, this volume considers subjects such as the administrative structures, economies and religions of the ancient Near East, Athenian democracy, the development of classical Greek literature, the interaction of cultures in the Hellenistic world, the political and administrative system of the Roman Republic and empire, and the coming of Christianity, all within the broad outline of political history.

This third edition is thoroughly updated and some chapters are completely rewritten to cover recent historical research. Changes include:

• more attention to economic structures and developments, and to the history of the later Roman Empire (third to sixth centuries AD);
• incorporation of the results of recent archaeological and historical research, and recently published studies of ancient literature;
• 'boxes' that support the main text, on topics including economic and political systems, religion and terminology;
• redrawn maps and new, higher-quality images;
• the inclusion of useful websites in the bibliography.

An Introduction to the Ancient World provides an easily readable, user-friendly, integrated overview for students of ancient history, classics and archaeology. Lavishly illustrated, clearly and concisely written, and well organised, this fully updated and revised edition will remain a key resource for students beginning to investigate the civilisations of the ancient Mediterranean.

Lukas de Blois is Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He published books and articles on the history of the Roman Empire in the third century AD, the history of the Late Roman Republic, ancient historiography (Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio), Plutarch's biographies and Greek Sicily in the fourth century BC. His most recent contribution is Image and Reality of Roman Imperial Power in the Third Century AD (Routledge, 2018).

R.J. van der Spek is Emeritus Professor of Ancient Mediterranean and West Asian History at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He specialises in the history of the ancient Near East in the context of Mediterranean history. He has published on Hellenistic Babylonia and economic history. He edited two volumes in the Routledge Explorations in Economic History on market performance (no. 68) and the history of monetary policy (no. 80) from ancient Mesopotamia to the modern world.

An Introduction to the Ancient World offers a thorough survey of the history of the ancient Near East, Greece and Rome. Covering the social, political, economic and cultural processes that have influenced later western and Near Eastern civilisations, this volume considers subjects such as the administrative structures, economies and religions of the ancient Near East, Athenian democracy, the development of classical Greek literature, the interaction of cultures in the Hellenistic world, the political and administrative system of the Roman Republic and empire, and the coming of Christianity, all within the broad outline of political history.

This third edition is thoroughly updated and some chapters are completely rewritten to cover recent historical research. Changes include:

• more attention to economic structures and developments, and to the history of the later Roman Empire (third to sixth centuries AD);
• incorporation of the results of recent archaeological and historical research, and recently published studies of ancient literature;
• 'boxes' that support the main text, on topics including economic and political systems, religion and terminology;
• redrawn maps and new, higher-quality images;
• the inclusion of useful websites in the bibliography.

An Introduction to the Ancient World provides an easily readable, user-friendly, integrated overview for students of ancient history, classics and archaeology. Lavishly illustrated, clearly and concisely written, and well organised, this fully updated and revised edition will remain a key resource for students beginning to investigate the civilisations of the ancient Mediterranean.

List of maps

List of figures

List of boxes

Preface to the Third Edition

Chronology

Introduction

PART I: THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

1 THE ORIGINS OF THE CIVILISATIONS OF EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA

2 THE THIRD MILLENNIUM

The Early Bronze Age

Egypt, the Old Kingdom (c. 2600 - c. 2150)

Mesopotamia, Sumer and Akkad

Epilogue

3 THE SECOND MILLENNIUM

The Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000 - c. 1600)

Egypt, the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000 - c. 1800) and the Second Intermediate Period (c. 1800 - c. 1550)

Mesopotamia, the Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian periods

Northern Mesopotamia: the city of Assur and the kingdom of Shamshi-Adad I (c. 2000-c. 1760)

Southern Mesopotamia, the Old Babylonian empire (c. 1800 - c. 1600)

The Late Bronze Age (c. 1600 - c. 1200)

The 'concert of powers'

Egypt, the New Kingdom (c. 1550- c. 1100)

Babylonia and Assyria

Mitanni

The Hittite empire

Crete and Mycenae

International relations

4 THE FIRST MILLENNIUM

The Early Iron Age (c. 1200 - c. 750 BC)

Disruption and recovery

Egypt, the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1100-715 BC)

Syria and the Phoenicians

Israel

The West Asian empires (c. 750 BC-AD 651)

The Neo-Assyrian empire

The Neo-Babylonian empire

The Persian or Achaemenid empire

The Hellenistic kingdoms

The Parthian or Arsacid empire

The Neo-Persian or Sasanid empire

The Roman empire

The Arabs

5 RELIGION

Polytheism

Henotheism and monotheism

6 ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

Agricultural economy, land tenure

A 'Redistribution economy' and market economy

Trade and means of payment

Social organisation

7 GOVERNMENT

Kingship

The administrative machinery

The army

PART II: THE GREEK WORLD

8 THE EARLY IRON AGE (c. 1200 - c. 750 BC): 'THE DARK AGES'

Disruption and recovery

9 THE ARCHAIC PERIOD, c. 750 - c. 500 BC

Introduction

Demographic and economic changes

The polis

Colonisation

Social changes

Military changes

Cultural changes

The alphabet

Literature

The visual arts

Architecture

Religion

Philosophy

Political changes

Tyranny

Sparta

Athens

10 THE CLASSICAL PERIOD, c. 500 - c. 330 BC

The Persian Wars

Sparta and Athens after 479 BC

The Delian League (477-404 BC)

Athenian leaders in the fifth century

Athens' state income

The Great Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC)

The years between 404 and 336 BC

The Second Athenian League (377-355)

Social and military changes

The rise of Macedonia

Philip II (359-336): the end of the Classical period in Greek history

The Athenian population in the fifth and fourth centuries BC

The metics