World History Ancient Civilization

In this comprehensive survey, updated for this new edition, Henderson explores the entire Maya cultural tradition, from the earliest traces of settlement through the period of the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. His wide-ranging account treats diverse aspects of the Maya world, from religion and philosophy to the environments of the various Maya peoples, using deciphered Maya texts to reconstruct the ancient societies.

Travel back to AD 17, during the fourth year of the reign of Wang Mang of the Han dynasty, a vibrant and innovative era full of conflicts and contradictions. But as different as the Han culture might have been to other great ancient civilisations, the inhabitants of ancient China faced the same problems as people have for time immemorial: earning enough money, coping with workplace dramas and keeping your home in order.

Africa may have given rise to the first human beings, and Egypt probably gave rise to the first great civilizations, which continue to fascinate modern societies across the globe nearly 5,000 years later. From the Library and Lighthouse of Alexandria to the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Ancient Egyptians produced several wonders of the world, revolutionized architecture and construction, created some of the world's first systems of mathematics and medicine, and established language and art.

Dominated to this day by the sprawling white marble complex of the Acropolis, Athens is a city which is immensely and rightly proud of its past. For a period of roughly three centuries, the polis of Athens stood, if not in a position of unchallenged supremacy among the cities of Hellas, then at the very least among its three most important polities.

There are many civilizations which existed in prehistory, and most of them are now lost to our knowledge and ken. Many of them were lost when the oceans rose during the melting from the last Ice Age. Some were just buried and have recently come to light. In this audiobook, we examine many of these lesser-known civilizations and cities and look at incredible extensions of how far back in history civilization actually goes.

On August 24 and 25 in the year 79 A.D., a Volcanic eruption from Mt. Vesuvius spewed fire, lava, smoke, and ash upon the city of Pompeii, burying it and many of its inhabitants. Before this catastrophe, the streets of Pompeii had been bustling with the activity of its people, busy with commerce supported by its shipping trade and its role as a link between interior Italy and the outside world. In Pompeii, based on the Time Life Books series Lost Civilizations, you'll visit this ancient, lost city as it was in its heyday and how it exists today, its ruins lying in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius.

From our democratic way of government to timeless elements of architectural design, the civilization of the ancient Greeks has influenced virtually every civilization on earth, past and present. The influence of the Greek culture, whether it be in philosophy or the tradition of the Olympic games, is buried so deeply in modern life that we're often unaware of it. This full cast audio production takes the listener back to the origins of Ancient Greece in its Golden Age to revisit elements of daily life and milestones of achievement. In this informative and entertaining journey, the listener will discover how that ancient culture reaches through time to touch our modern world.

Writer, activist and journalist Joan Smith has worked for years to raise awareness of violence against women and girls, and has been instrumental in bringing the innate misogyny of the police to public attention. Unfortunately, She Was a Nymphomaniac reinterprets the bloody, violent story of twenty-three women closely associated with the Julio-Claudian emperors of Rome. Fewer than half a dozen of them can be said with any confidence to have died of natural causes.

Most scientists believe the evolution of humans has a history as long as life itself. Anatomically modern humans and all other life that has existed on the planet first came about from the single-celled microorganisms that emerged approximately 4 billion years ago. Through the processes of mutation and natural selection, all forms of life developed, and this continuous lineage of life makes it difficult to say precisely when one species completely separates from another.

The evolutionary path from the original primates to modern man is a long one and has taken many twists and turns, but naturally, as the fossil record grows, scientists gain a more complete understanding of our own mental and physical history in terms of genetics and anatomy. However, the correct order and relationships of the various specimen types are difficult to pin down.

With the advent of the internet, any topic we want to know about is instantly available with the touch of a smartphone button. With so much knowledge at our fingertips, what is there left for our brains to do? At a time when we seem to be stripping all value from the idea of knowing things—no need for math, no need for map reading, no need for memorisation—are we risking our ability to think? As we empty our minds, will we one day be incapable of thoughtfulness?

The Olmec аrt ѕtуlе wаѕ thе dоminаnt рrеѕtigе style оf Ancient Mеѕоаmеriса bеtwееn c. 1,500 BCE аnd 400 BCE, оr muсh of thе Mеѕоаmеriсаn Fоrmаtivе (Prесlаѕѕiс) реriоd (or c. 1500-400 BCE calibrated). Sсhоlаrѕ hаvе ѕuссеѕѕfullу dеfinеd thе ѕtуliѕtiс elements оf Olmec аrt, thе most important of which iѕ thе tеndеnсу tо exhibit a monumentality оf form in objects of аll sizes, including small portable оbjесtѕ.

La historia de un pueblo que supo mezclar democracia y esclavitud, conocimiento y mitología, belleza y violencia, convirtiéndose así en la cuna de la civilización occidental. En la historia de Grecia aparecen infinidad de factores que influyen en la creación de una cultura que sienta las bases de todas las culturas occidentales posteriores.

A History of Atlantis must differ from all other histories for the fundamental reason that it seeks to record the chronicles of a country whose soil is no longer available for examination to the archaeologist.

Immerse yourself in the history of ancient Rome - from its origins as a small settlement on the Palatine Hill to its peak as an empire reigning over 90 million people, and its tumultuous decline. Covering more than 1,000 years of history, and an empire that stretched from Scotland to Syria, Ancient Rome reveals in vivid detail all of the key political, cultural, and military events that shaped the Roman Empire and explores what it was like to live in a society that laid the foundations for many aspects of the modern world.

Ancient Iran: Cosmology, Mythology, History presents Iran's pre-Islamic history within the context of both its complex cosmology and rich mythology. The audiobook uses the concept of farr to show how authority, finding guidance in the cosmic realm, organized the lives of Iran's hero-saints in the mythic realm. It also discusses how historical monarchs organized their hierarchical societies according to the dictates of Ahura Mazda.

Ancient Egypt wasn't all pyramids, sphinxes and gold sarcophagi. For your average Egyptian, life was tough, and work was hard, conducted under the burning gaze of the sun god Ra. During the course of a day in the ancient city of Thebes (modern-day Luxor), Egypt's religious capital, we meet 24 Egyptians from all strata of society - from the king to the bread-maker, the priestess to the fisherman, the soldier to the midwife - and get to know what the real Egypt was like by spending an hour in their company.

The indigenous Africans known as pygmies have interested outsiders for thousands of years. In the 2200s BC, the Egyptian pharaoh Pepi II referred to one as a "dancing dwarf of the god from the land of spirits", and the Ancient Greeks were also familiar with them. Today, of course, anthropologists know a lot more about the pygmies, a collective of indigenous groups in Africa who are still defined by the fact that they have an average height of less than five feet tall.

The Romans hated Pompey’s greedy father, Strabo, with a vengeance. Yet when Pompey rose in prominence, Plutarch notes that he developed the opposite character, and the Romans loved him for it. Pompey had many great accomplishments in his military and political life, but his legacy lies in forming the First Triumvirate with Crassus and Caesar. When the alliance eventually dissolved, and Pompey fled from Caesar to his death, the Roman world would never be the same.

In 2012 especially there was a renewed focus on the Mayans, whose advanced calendar led many to speculate the world would end on the same date the Mayan calendar ends. The focus on the doomsday scenario, however, has overshadowed the Mayans' true contributions to astronomy, language, sports, and art.