Ancient History / Archaeology

The alluvial lowlands of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Mesopotamia are widely known as the “cradle of civilization”; owing to the scale of the processes of urbanization that took place in the area by the second half of the fourth millennium bc. This book draws on the work of modern economic geographers to explore how the unique river-based ecology and geography of the Tigris–Euphrates alluvium impacted the development of urban civilization in southern Mesopotamia. It argues that these natural conditions granted southern polities significant competitive advantages over their landlocked rivals elsewhere in Southwest Asia, most importantly the ability to transport easily commodities. In due course, this resulted in increased trade and economic activity and higher population densities in the south than were possible elsewhere. As southern polities grew in scale and complexity throughout the fourth millennium, revolutionary new forms of labor organization and record keeping were created, and it is these socially created innovations, the author argues, that ultimately account for why fully developed city-states emerged earlier in southern Mesopotamia than elsewhere in Southwest Asia or the world.

This is both a defense of the importance of aristocrats in Greek society and a reassessment of their social, cultural and political roles. The author provides a concise portrait of the aristocratic way of life, the roots and nature of aristocrats' economic power, their patronage of the arts, and the influence they had on the way the Greeks visualized their gods. A concluding chapter examines the lasting influence of the aristocratic ideal in late Western history.

This history of the Celts from origins to the present draws on archaeological, historical, literary and linguistic evidence. It is divided into three parts. Part One covers the continental Celts in prehistory and antiquity, complete with accounts of the Celts in Germany, Italy, Iberia, and Asia Minor. The second part follows the Celts from the departure of the Romans to the late Middle Ages, including the migrations to and settlements in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Brittany. Discussions of the Celtic kingdoms and the rise and fall of Celtic Christianity are also given. The final part brings the history of the Celts up to the present, covering the assimilation of the Celts within the national cultures of Great Britain, France, and Ireland. Included in this consideration are the suppression of Gaelic; the declines, revivals and survivals of languages and literatures; and the histories of Celtic culture. The book concludes with a discussion on the recent history of the meaning of Celtic in contrast to, for example, Germanic, and the effect this has had on modern perceptions of the Celtic past and attempts at Celtic cultural renewal.

During the first millennium bce, complex encounters of Phoenician and Greek colonists with natives of the Iberian Peninsula transformed the region and influenced the entire history of the Mediterranean. This book brings together a multinational group of contributors to explore ancient Iberia's colonies and indigenous societies, as well as the comparative study of colonialism. These scholars—from a range of disciplines including classics, history, anthropology, and archaeology—address such topics as trade and consumption, changing urban landscapes, cultural transformations, and the ways in which these issues played out in the Greek and Phoenician imaginations. Situating ancient Iberia within Mediterranean colonial history and establishing a theoretical framework for approaching encounters between colonists and natives, these studies exemplify the new intellectual vistas opened by the engagement of colonial studies with Iberian history.

This book is a brief but concise collection of lectures which discuss the nature of early Indian society during the mid-first millennium BC and relate it to the ancient Indian historical tradition in its earliest forms. It also looks at the particular character of social formations, their genesis, and continuity as part of the later Indian social landscape. Examining the social and political formulations of the period, this volume analyses the transformation of lineage-based societies into state formulations. It considers the migration and arrival of the monarchies in the middle Ganga valley, where the evolution of these societies resulted in the formation of a state. It provides insights into environmental influences on settlements, the particularities of caste, the role of rituals, and the interaction of ideology with these changes. The volume presents an account of the interplay of a range of variables in state formation.

This book explores how the political history of ancient India has transpired in various geographical orbits, the definition of which has long bothered scholars. Contrary to widely held assumptions, there was no fixed boundary line or ‘divide’. The Oxus-Indus orbit is the most popular and well understood geopolitical orbit. The idea can be attributed to T.H. Holdich in the late nineteenth century, when the question of delineating a permanent border between British India and Afghanistan became a crucial issue. This book explores whether such orbits are fixed entities in our geographical understanding of Indian archaeology and history, or whether they should be considered nothing more than useful concepts to understand the geography of the flow of historical events in India. To address this issue, it is necessary to historically trace the persistence of all such orbits throughout the course of political events in ancient India.

This book presents a complete and accessible description of the history of early India. It starts by discussing the origins and growth of civilizations, empires, and religions. It also deals with the geographical, ecological, and linguistic backgrounds, and looks at specific cultures of the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Vedic periods, as well as at the Harappan civilization. In addition, the rise of Jainism and Buddhism, Magadha and the beginning of territorial states, and the period of Mauryas, Central Asian countries, Satvahanas, Guptas, and Harshavardhana are also analysed. Next, it stresses varna system, urbanization, commerce and trade, developments in science and philosophy, and cultural legacy. Finally, the process of transition from ancient to medieval India and the origin of the Aryan culture has also been examined.