Ancient worlds : the search for the origins of Western civilization

Accompanying the major BBC TV series, Richard Miles' "Ancient Worlds" tells the epic story of civilization, and the cities that made us who we are. The path of human progress is one of enlightenment and cruelty, achievement and bloodshed, creation and destruction. Here Richard Miles reaches back into our distant past to bring alive its most glorious and terrible people and places: from the first ever city in Mesopotamia to the death cults of Egypt, from the Phoenician seafarers who invented the alphabet to the brutal Assyrian empire, and on to the great city-states of Athens and Rome. By choosing to live together with strangers in vast urban settings, Miles shows, humans harnessed the very best and the worst of ourselves, setting civilization in motion and forging the modern world. "Epic and compelling". ("Daily Mail"). "An epic, spanning five millennia and half the globe". ("Daily Telegraph"). "Engaging ...full of interesting things about the radical social experiment of the city-state, and the new ways of living it permitted". ("Independent"). ""Ancient Worlds" really does put flesh on the bones of history and Richard Miles brings long lost cities to life". ("Observer"). Richard Miles is the author of "Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization". A six-part TV series of "Ancient Worlds" was broadcast on BBC2 in 2011. He teaches classics at the University of Sydney and was previously a Newton Trust Lecturer in the Faculty of Classics and Fellow and Director of Studies at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge. Across The Middle East, The Mediterranean And The Nile Delta, Awe-inspiring, Monstrous Ruins Are Scattered Across The Landscape - Vast Palaces, Temples, Fortresses, Shattered Statues Of Ancient Gods, Carvings Praising The Eternal Power Of Long-forgotten Dynasties. These Ruins - The Remainder Of Thousands Of Years Of Human Civilization - Are Both Inspirational In Their Grandeur, And Terrible In That Their Once Teeming Centres Of Population Were All Ultimately Destroyed And Abandoned. In This Major Book, Richard Miles Recreates These Extraordinary Cities, Ranging From The Euphrates To The Roman Empire, To Understand The Roots Of Human Civilization. His Challenge Is To Make Us Understand That The Cities Which Define Culture, Religion And Economic Success And Which Are Humanity's Greatest Invention, Have Always Had A Cruel Edge To Them, Building Systems That Have Provided Both Amazing Opportunities And Back-breaking Hardship. This Exhilarating Book Is Both A Pleasure To Read And A Challenge To Us All To Think About Our Past - And About The Present. The path of human progress is one of enlightenment and cruelty, achievement and bloodshed, creation and destruction. This title tells the epic story of civilization, and the cities that made us who we are. It reaches back into our distant past to bring alive its glorious and terrible people and places.