For courses in Ancient History (Ancient Near East - Egypt/Mesopotamia), Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome.    The Ancient World is a comprehensive, multi-perspective, and integrated chronicle of the history of the ancient world, from Sumer to the fall of Rome, that explores the distinctive forms society took--particularly the unusual (by the standards of college students today) relationships between society and the state that characterized the social order of antiquity.   By closely integrating social and cultural histories with the political, institutional, and military climates in which they unfolded, this text provides fascinating insights into family, gender relations, class structures, public vs. private realms, slavery, popular culture, religion, art, architecture, leisure styles, philosophy, science, and education, and explores their complex relationships to ideology and political events.

Table of Contents:
Preface Maps PART ONE: THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST Chapter 1: The Early Civilization of Mesopotamia and Egypt Why Mesopotamia? The Agricultural Revolution The State and Urban Revolution Early Mesopotamian History: The Sumerian Period (3100—2000 B.C.) The Egyptian Alternative: The Old and Middle Kingdoms   Chapter 2: An Age of Empires: The Middle East, 2000—1000 B.C. A Time of Turmoil: New Peoples East and West Mesopotamia in the Age of Hammurapi The Hittite Empire The Egyptian Empire Egypt in Decline   Chapter 3: The Middle East to the Persian Empire  The New Peoples of the Middle East  The Glory of Assyria and Babylon  The Persians  Religion and Culture in Israel  PART TWO: THE GREEK WORLD Chapter 4: The Emergence of Greek Civilization  Geography and History  The Origins of Greek Culture  The Minoan and Mycenaean Ages  The Mycenaean Age  The Dark Ages  Out of the Darkness: The Archaic Age  The Example of Two Cities: Sparta and Athens  Polis Society  Culture and Society in the Archaic Age  Chapter 5: The Wars of the Greeks  Persians and Greeks  The Military Situation after the Persian Wars  The Great War between Athens and Sparta  The Hegemony of Sparta and Thebes  Chapter 6: Classical Athens  The Early Classical Period (ca. 490—450 B.C.)  The Classical Age, Part I (450—430 B.C.)  The Later Classical Period (430—338 B.C.)  Athenian Society  Chapter 7: Philip, Alexander, and the Hellenistic World  Backward Macedonia Challenges Greece  The Genius of Philip  The Orator and the King: Demosthenes and Philip  Alexander the Great  Campaigns in Central Asia (330—323 B.C.)  Alexander’s Successors  The State and Society in the Hellenistic World  Hellenistic Society  Culture and Religion in the Hellenistic World  Greek High Culture Adapts to a New Environment  Becoming Greek: Education in the New World  The Hellenistic Age: Achievements and Limitations  PART THREE: THE ROMAN WORLD Chapter 8: Early Rome  The Western Mediterranean and Early Italy  The Latins and Early Rome  The Republic  The Social and Political Achievement of Early Rome: Consensus  Chapter 9: The Building of an Empire  The Growth of Rome in Italy  The Punic Wars  Roman Territorial Expansion after the Hannibalic War  Society and the State in the Roman Republic  An Estimate of Roman Society  Chapter 10: The Transformation of the Roman Republic  The Old Order Fades  The Gracchan Revolution: Social and Political Context  From the Gracchi to Augustus: The Roman Revolution  The Fall of the Roman Republic     Chapter 11: The Roman World from Augustus to the Third-Century Crisis  The Reforms of Augustus  Rounding Out the Empire  The Severan Emperors  Chapter 12: The Roman Peace  Challenge and Response  Society and the State in the Empire  The Government, the Army, and Society  Chapter 13: The Empire from the Third-Century Crisis to Justinian  The Third-Century Crisis  Political Anarchy  Diocletian and Constantine  The Emperor and the Administration  The Army, the Empire, and the Barbarians  The Collapse of the Western Empire  The Rise of the Byzantine Empire     Chapter 14: The Transformed Mediterranean  History Moves Northward and Eastward  The Transformation of the Classical Tradition  The Empire and the Church Come to Terms  The Christian Way of Life  Civilizing the Barbarians  Diverging Beliefs  Islam and the Transformation of the Mediterranean  Religious Legacies  Epilogue  Suggested Readings  Glossary  Index