The New Penguin Atlas of Ancient History

Arrived next day, great quality and exactly what I need.

This is the thrird copy I have bought as I keep giving mine away to friends, also interested in this. It is a great way to tie in the many aspects of individual local histories on my travels. For instance, how else do you work out what was happening in Filitosa, Corsica when they were carving their menhirs with, say where the 'Sea People' were coming from?. Or , if as we did, visit the early bronze age site near Cheng Du, wonder what was happening in Mesopotamia at the same time - who won the race? (Mesopotamia - the Chinese did not even have to go through the dangerous arsenical bronze period even!). This is the book that will tell you and make you chuckle at the same time.

This book has been criticised for not being something else. If you want an in-depth history of the Egyptians, Hittites, Indo-Europeans or Romans, look elsewhere. This is a history of Europe as a whole (which includes the Near-East and North Africa) over a long period of time. For anyone who wants to understand the transition of the region AS A WHOLE from prehistory to history, it is excellent and almost unique. It's not quite as good as its Medieval counterpart , but it's splendid nonetheless. It starts in the Ice Age and ends in 362AD, with Emperor Julian about to lead his legions against the Persians and with the Huns in Kazakhstan, looming ominously. It overlaps with the Medieval book, but should have overlapped a bit more in order to show the end of the classical world. There are printing errors - a missed character on one map; Ireland disappearing briefly at the end of the Ice Age - but the story of the creation of our world is well told with McEvedy's trademark deftness and wit. Where else would the non-specialist learn about Sargon of Akkad, the Seleucids and the Tocharians - not to mention the linguistic development that made nearly every language from the Orkneys to the Indus related to each other? This is a light, easy read that can be dipped into at any time for an easy, broad introduction to early history. Recommended.

As a first book on ancient civilisations i don't think this can be beaten, especially if, like me, you love maps. A very enjoyable, and pretty quick read.

ECELLENT, IN FACT THIS IS MY SECOND COPY

This is one of those books that really helps the reader understand how events affect our present.

This is a scholarly read rather than an easy access. It is informative and there are maps as you would expect in an atlas. But the print is small, making it uncomfortable for older eyes and the maps lack clarity being in blue and white only and overcrowded with data shown as various styles of black-line shading.

Excellent

Está atualizado, o que é maravilhoso.

Mapas sinopticos de la Historia Antigua. Buenos resúmenes en idioma inglés; quizá la letra un poco pequeña. Excelente complemento para los libros, o series de televisión, de ámbito histórico o como repaso de la Historia Antigua.

molte mappe di vario interesse (popolazione, lingue, alfabeti, città, commerci). Per il periodo degli imperi antichi (centrale quello Romano) molto bello avere mappe intervallate di pochi anni in modo da poter seguire i cambiamenti dei confini degli imperi e delle nazioni

I purchased this and the Atlas of Medieval History, expecting them to be dry but useful reference material. What I didn't expect is that the writing is really excellent and I've found myself reading both books cover to cover. They really capture what was happening and tie it all together into a compelling narrative, supported by a range of useful maps on different topics that support the writing.

If you love history buy this book. You will be richly rewarded when you take the time to read--patiently--what is written. This is not a simple read, although the story of a period of history usually only spans one page. But it is a deeply rewarding read for those who invest the time in studying the book. The single most brilliant feature of the book is the map that does not change. We study the same significant chunk of the world through a succession of eras. The flow of people changes, the important cities rise and fall, and the battle sites shift from age to age, but the real estate never changes. The writer's dry wit makes for, at times, laugh-out-loud fun!