History and Culture of Ancient Western Asia and Egypt

Human History–What is it? When does it begin? And where?

Past human history is exceedingly difficult to reconstruct. The historian must possess the objectivity of a scientist and the subjectivity of a humanist. Some of the most dramatic cultural and technological developments in human history–agriculture and animal domestication, control and use of fire, metallurgy and the use of the wheel, urbanization–took place in a prehistoric setting. To understand these developments, historians must make the mute archaeological record speak.

This book offers an introduction to the ancient world, encompassing a broad spectrum: from prehistoric times to the death of Alexander the Great in Babylon; from Western Asia and Egypt through the eastern Mediterranean to the borders of Greece. It endeavors to discern how past cultural achievements–art, literature, religion, and science–arise from and reflect historical circumstances.

From the Author’s Introduction