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This volume offers an account of early world history from the rise of the first cities to the fall of the Roman Empire. Though Greece and Rome occupy center stage, the author also surveys the cities and empires of Mesopotamia, India from the early Indus civilization to the Gupta state, and China from the Hsia dynasty to the Han empire. He has revised his discussions of early humankind to account for the most recent findings; he presents a new view of the Jewish revolt against Rome led by Bar Kochba. In addition, his account of the end of the Roman Empire has been rewritten in light of the most recent thinking by classical historians. Numerous maps and illustrations, carefully composed and selected, highlight the text.
During the three centuries from 800 to 500 B.C., the Greek world evolved from a primitive society--both culturally and economically--to one whose artistic products dominated all Mediterranean markets, supported by a wide overseas trade. In the following two centuries came the literary, philosophical, and artistic masterpieces of the classic area. Vital to this advance was the development of the polis, a collective institution in which citizens had rights as well as duties under the rule of law, a system hitherto unknown in human history. In this study, the first systematic exploration of the forces that created the political framework of Greek civilization, Chester Starr shows how the Greeks emerged form a Homeric world of individuals to the polis of 500 B.C. The age-old conflict between the self-serving demands of human beings and the less vocally-expressed needs of the community serves as the backbone of Starr's interdisciplinary analysis of the rise of the polis.
Traces the development of man from the earliest food-gatherers through the origins of civilization to the consolidation of the Persian Empire.
Reassesses the importance of sea power in the ancient world, discusses important naval battles, and explains the limitations of ancient navies
Explains how the empire survived for more than five hundred years and discusses the age's economic conditions, intellectual revival, and management of conquered nations
**** A reprint, without changes, of the Knopf edition, 1961 (which is cited in BCL3). Like the original (undoubtedly), this, too, is printed on acidic paper. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR