Table of Contents

List of Figures
List of Sidebars
List of Maps
List of Chronologies
List of Tables

Preface: The Approach to Classical World Civilizations
Introduction: From Human Prehistory to the Ancient World

Part I. Emerging Civilizations: The Bronze Age
1. The Near East in the Early and Middle Bronze Age (3300–1600 BC)
2. Ancient Egypt (ca. 3100-1069 BC)
3. Aegean Civilizations and Wider Societal Collapse (2200–1100 BC)

Part II. Civilizations in Flux: The Classical/Early Iron Age
4. Iron Age Near Eastern Civilizations (1000–300 BC)
5. Ancient Israel (the United and Divided Kingdoms) (1850–539 BC)
6. Ancient Civilizations in the Indian Subcontinent (South Asia) (2600 BC–500 AD)
7. Classical Greek Civilization (1000–27 BC)
8. Ancient Chinese Civilization (2000 BC–200 AD)

Part III: The Roman Era and Wider Societal Collapse
9. State Formation in Ancient Rome (753–275 BC)
10. Roman Imperialism and the Formation of Empire (275–27 BC)
11. The Pax Romana and the Sustained Trajectory of the Roman Empire (27 BC–565 AD)

Conclusion: The Ancient World System, Natural Adaptive Cycles, and Patterns of Societal Collapse

Glossary
Credits
Index

About the Author

Nicholas K. Rauh is Professor of Classics at Purdue University and an award-winning teacher. He is the author of The Sacred Bonds of Commerce: Religion, Economy, and Trade Society at Hellenistic Roman Delos (1993) and Merchants, Sailors, and Pirates in the Roman World (2003).
Heidi E. Kraus is Assistant Professor of Art History and Director of The De Pree Gallery at Hope College.

Reviews

"Impressively interdisciplinary in its approach, A Short History of the Ancient World is peerless in its sweep and scope."--Judith P. Hallett, University of Maryland
"Rauh's book offers an unusually broad coverage, taking into its scope the major civilizations of ancient Eurasia and Africa, and posing challenging questions about their formation, structure, values, monuments, and ultimate demise. Rauh's well-established expertise as an historian provides for a welcome, searching introduction to the connections and parallels, as well as the key disjunctions, betwen societies rarely treated together in textbooks. The author's presentation of the fascinating history at his disposal is judicious, clear, and incisive."--William Bubelis, Washington University in St. Louis
"A Short History of the Ancient World is a welcome first choice for any aspiring initiate into ancient history. Relying on a variety of sources from legal texts to archaeological finds and fittingly illustrated with art images, charts, an maps, this book brings together and traces the development of all of the major ancient civilizations and allows us to see the many and diverse ways in which these civilizations continue to influence our lives. Rauh demonstrates, with detail and passion, that we owe much more to the ancient world than we typically might think."--Sviatoslav Dmitriev, Ball State University