The Ancient World: A Social and Cultural History (6th Edition) [Paperback]

D. Brendan Nagle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 20, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0131930419 | ISBN-13: 978-0131930414 | Edition: 6

This comprehensive chronicle of the history of the ancient Mediterranean (from Sumer to the fall of Rome) explores the distinctive forms society took in the ancient world–especially the unusual relationship between society and the state (unlike anything we encounter today) that characterized the social order of antiquity. By closely integrating social and cultural histories with the political, institutional, and military climates in which they unfolded, this book provides fascinating insights into family, gender relations, class structures, public vs. private realms, slavery, popular culture, religion, art, architecture, leisure styles, philosophy, science, and education–and their complex relationships to ideology and political events. An excellent resource for anyone interested in politics and culture; this book is a font of information; if we understand the past, we can understand the changes that politics and society have undergone, and the reasons for those changes.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

In Ancient World: A Social and Cultural History, Third Edition, Nagle examines the distinctive forms society took in the ancient world, focusing on the unusual relationship that characterized the social order of antiquity--society and the state. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

This comprehensive book chronicles the history of the ancient Mediterranean. It emphasizes social and cultural history, closely integrating the political, institutional and military climates in which they unfolded. Aspects of social history consider the family, gender relations, class structures, public vs. private realms, slavery, and popular culture; while the cultural perspective spans religion, art, architecture, leisure styles, philosophy, science, and education. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 6 edition (June 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131930419
• ISBN-13: 978-0131930414
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #811,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A concise yet thorough history of the Ancient Mediterranean, March 15, 2003

By 

Brigette Russell (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Ancient World: A Social and Cultural History (5th Edition) (Paperback)

I have used this textbook, along with the companion volume of primary source readings, in teaching a freshman level university course on the ancient world, and found both books to be excellent. _The Ancient World_ is written in a style that is accessible to college students while still preserving the complexities that by necessity characterize historical writing. In addition to covering traditional political and military history, Nagle's text includes substantive discussions of social, cultural, and intellectual history.

Having read the previous reviewer's comments, I must disagree about the relative weight given to the different civilizations covered. Every textbook on the ancient world allocates more space to the Greco-Roman world than to the Ancient Near East, and for valid reasons. First, there is a far larger amount of primary source material, both literary and archaeological, on Greece and Rome, with the result very simply we know more about these cultures than about the Ancient Near East. Secondly, part of the function of an introductory history such as this is to familiarize students with the civilizations that have had an impact on our own culture, and for better or worse, more of our Western, and American, history is rooted in the Greco-Roman world than in the Near East. Including China and India in this text would make it another sort of book altogether, a *world* history rather than what it is, a history of the ancient Mediterranean world. As such, it succeeds admirably.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction, November 9, 2003

By 

events3 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ancient World: A Social and Cultural History (5th Edition) (Paperback)

Nagle provides us with an interesting and highly readable work on those "ancient" cultures from which "western" and Anglo-American civilization originated.

Part One, dealing with Mesopotamia, Egypt, early Asia Minor (largely dealing with the Hittites) and the sprawling Persian Empire, sets the stage for the rise of the Greco-Roman world.

Part Two deals with the early origins of the Greeks, including the Minoans and Myceneans, the conquests of Alexander and the rise of the Hellenistic period. Unfortunately, the section on classical Athens, by far the most important period in Greek history as far as it relates to the development of Western thought and philosophy is a fairly small section - although still quite enlightening and descriptive.

Part Three takes us from the Etruscan period (with its important influence on Rome) through the Republican period, the Punic Wars and the fall of Carthage, the Empire, the rise of Byzantium and the "fall" of Rome.

The Ancient civilizations of China, India, Kush and Axum had far less direct impact on the development of Western civilization than did Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia or Greece and Rome; therefore, they were not included in this work. Similarly, Ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations were much further back in time (3000 years passed between the time of the rise of Sumerian cities or the unification of Egypt and the reign of the first Roman Emperor while only 2000 years have pass since the reign of Augustus). Since Greece and Rome not only transferred ancient knowledge and culture but also added so much more to it, the book rightly focuses most on those two cultures.

The whole is a lively and worthwhile introduction to the classical origins of modern Western culture.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nagle : The Ancient World (5th edition), July 15, 2009

By 

Chester Bean - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ancient World: A Social and Cultural History (5th Edition) (Paperback)

If you are taking Greek and Roman history, or any ancient history class for that matter, and your syllabus requires this book,don't get the newest edition(7th at the time of this review)unless you want to pay extra dollars
for very limited changes.I used the 5th edition, which cost me less than 10 dollars, compared it to a classmate who had paid over 100$ for a new edition in the school bookstore, and there were no changes that i could notice, except there were different photos, and the topics were on different pages, but the information was the same.Also i was able to obtain an A in the course.