by Joyce Milton
First published 1980
This historical survey examines how human civilization developed through the rise and fall of great empires. Milton traces the patterns of power, culture, and society from Ancient Egypt through Alexander's Hellenistic world. The book combines full-color photographs with narrative accounts of each empire's most significant cultural achievements. Egyptian temples reveal kings dramatized in battle and receiving tribute from conquered peoples, though their individual personalities remain largely hidden behind ritual activities performed for the gods. The Hellenistic period presents a more complex picture, where the cosmopolitan atmosphere created both tensions and stimulating exchanges. Macedonian dynasties gradually transformed Greece, Syria, and Mesopotamia, establishing a new Western order that incorporated the legacies of Greece, Palestine, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Egypt into Hellenistic civilization.
Genres: history, historical-fiction, non-fiction, ancient-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: cultural-exchange, historical-drama
Setting: Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Syria, The Levant
Period: Ancient, Hellenistic
167 pages · Hardcover · Boston Publishing Company