Ancient History

In the newest installment of the best-selling series Mythos, legendary author and actor Stephen Fry moves from the exploits of the Olympian gods to the deeds of mortal heroes....

In this brilliant conclusion to his best-selling Mythos trilogy, legendary author and actor Stephen Fry retells the tale of the Trojan War....

A groundbreaking dive into the role psychedelics have played in the origins of Western civilization, and the real-life quest for the Holy Grail that could shake the Church to its foundations....

A lively and engaging narrative history showing the common threads in the cultures that gave birth to our own....

The evidence revealed in this book shows beyond reasonable doubt that an advanced civilization that flourished during the Ice Age was destroyed in the global cataclysms....

In Pandora’s Jar, the broadcaster, writer, stand-up comedian, and passionate classicist turns the tables, putting the women of the Greek myths on an equal footing with the men. With wit, humor, and savvy, Haynes revolutionizes our understanding of epic poems, stories, and plays....

Here in a single volume is the entire, unabridged recording of Gibbon's masterpiece....

Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor details the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth....

Here are the thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of the Greek myths, stylishly retold by Stephen Fry. The legendary writer, actor, and comedian breathes life into ancient tales, from Pandora's box to Prometheus's fire, and transforms the adventures of Zeus and the Olympians....

Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt....

The story of the tumultuous years that set the stage for the fall of the Roman Republic....

The past truly comes alive as you take a series of imaginative leaps into the world of history's anonymous citizens....

Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....

In this landmark work, one of the world's most renowned Egyptologists tells the epic story of this great civilization, from its birth as the first nation-state to its final absorption....

Mythology succeeds like no other audiobook in bringing to life for the modern listener the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths and legends that are the keystone of Western culture....

This erudite book tells the fascinating, often violent story of kings, generals, and the peoples they ruled....

In this landmark biography, Goldsworthy examines Caesar as a military leader, as well as his other roles, and places....

In a series of short and humorous essays, Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants explores some of the questions about the Greeks and Romans that ancient historian Garrett Ryan has answered in the classroom and online....

Erich von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods is a work of monumental importance....

Civilization was born 8,000 years ago, between the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, when migrants from the surrounding mountains and deserts began to create increasingly sophisticated urban societies. In the cities that they built, half of human history took place....

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed archaeologist and best-selling author Eric Cline offers a breathtaking account of how the collapse of an ancient civilized world ushered in the first Dark Ages....

These lectures consistently deliver a fresh level of understanding about medieval England, its rulers and subjects, and their significance....

The secretive Mysteries conducted at Eleusis in Greece for nearly two millennia have long puzzled scholars with strange accounts of initiates experiencing otherworldly journeys....

Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator....

Here, you will meet the fascinating, ancient polytheistic peoples of the Mediterranean and beyond, their many gods and goddesses, and their public and private worship practices, as you come to appreciate the foundational role religion played in their lives....

Thanks to ancient Greece, we know more about philosophy, politics, the democratic system, mythology, art, the Olympics, and many, many lingual references imbedded in almost every European language. Ancient Greece has had a significant impact on many concepts we still hold true today.

 Nuclear War BEFORE recounts an ancient description of what was undoubtedly a nuclear war in India thousands of years ago, and was referenced in our era by J. Robert Oppenheimer the moment we detonated our first atomic bomb in 1945. 

When we think of Ancient Egypt, we picture movies with mazes, pyramids, traps, mummies, and symbols. And although some of these things were definitely part of it, there is so much more to this ancient civilization. Ancient Egypt was a North African society that grew in the lower banks of the Nile River, in what's now the nation of Egypt. Let’s explore some of the most important features of that society today, and try to grasp what transpired in the culture, the thoughts, the problems, and the development of the Egyptian region more than 5,000 years ago.

The Anglo-Saxon period, stretching from the fifth to the late eleventh century, begins with the Roman retreat from the Western world and ends with the Norman takeover of England. Between these epochal events, many of the contours and patterns of English life that would endure for the next millennium were shaped. In this authoritative work, N. J. Higham and M. J. Ryan reexamine Anglo-Saxon England in the light of new research in disciplines as wide ranging as historical genetics, paleobotany, archaeology, literary studies, art history, and numismatics.

The Picts were an ancient nation who ruled most of northern and eastern Scotland during the Dark Ages. Despite their historical importance, they remain shrouded in myth and misconception. Absorbed by the kingdom of the Scots in the ninth century, they lost their unique identity, their language, and their vibrant artistic culture. Among their few surviving traces are standing stones decorated with incredible skill and covered with enigmatic symbols.

The reign of Hammurabi is a convenient point at which to observe general changes in and later introductions to the pantheon of the Sumerian gods. The political alterations in the kingdom were reflected in the sacred circle. Certain gods were relegated to the cold shades of obscurity, while new deities were adopted and others, hitherto regarded as negligible quantities, were exalted to the heights of heavenly omnipotence. The worship of Merodach first came into prominence in the days of Hammurabi.

The name of Sargon of Agade, or Akkad, bulks mainly in later Mesopoatmian tradition, and modern writers have regarded his reign as marking the most critical epoch in the ancient history of his country. The reference in the text of Nabonidus to the age of Naram-Sin has caused the Dynasty of Akkad to be taken as the canon, or standard, by which to measure the relative age of other dynasties or of rulers whose inscriptions have from time to time been recovered upon various early Mesopotamian sites. 

The Hittites were mentioned in the Bible. They were an Anatolian people that contributed to creating a kingdom in Kussara before 1750 BC, the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom between 1750 and 1650 BC, and finally an empire based upon Hattusa in north-central Anatolia around 1650 BC. Under uppiluliuma I, the empire reached its peak in the mid-14th century BC, when it ruled over much of Anatolia and areas of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia.

Spend a year in the company of the ancient Egyptians, during the twenty-sixth and final year of the reign of Amenhotep II (c.1400 BC), which saw a royal transition bringing Thutmose IV to the throne of Upper and Lower Egypt. Following the Egyptian calendar year, which was divided into three seasons (inundation, sowing and harvest), we will meet a farmer and his family, an embalmer, an artisan, a royal physician, a priest and even a royal wife as they live their lives in Thebes and Memphis during the eighteenth dynasty of the New Kingdom in this year in ancient Egyptian history.

The most mysterious Anunnaki governor of all was Ur-Nammu of Ur, who subsequently became an independent Anunnaki king (2113-2096 BC) and founded a spin-off Anunnaki dynasty known as the Third Dynasty of Ur, which endured for more than a century. This Anunnaki empire was more compact than the Sargon of Agade and showed an advanced Anunnaki Sumerian civilization. It was a highly organized bureaucratic society, reflected by cuneiform tablets from this period, represented in world museums to the number of well over 100,000; most of these are waiting to be published. 

When man first came, there is another matter. The earliest archaeological proof of human presence is only from a century or two before 7000 BC, but it cannot be ruled that Anunnaki Sumerian settlements were already there much earlier. Even today, archaeologists argue this. The Anunnaki Sumerian settlements were created with hydraulic engineering in mind. Historians admit the writings of the Sumerians declare the Anunnaki gods came first, that they gave them all this knowledge, and admit that the archaeological record reflects this; however, they outright label it mythology.

Don't think that because it is such a small country with only about 17 million people, it should be neglected. The Netherlands has a long history, with a high influence on our cultures, trading routes, the stock market, business, and art. The Dutch were all over the world. They "owned" and colonized a big portion of what was then the known world. They were among the first settlers, had the biggest haven, and biggest fleet for some time. The Dutch East-Indian Trading Company, or VOC, is probably the biggest or at least one of the biggest companies that has ever existed.

Ur was a considerable Sumerian city-state in old Mesopotamia, situated near modern-day Tell el-Muqayyar in the Dhi Qar Governorate in Southern Iraq. Ur was formerly a seaside city on the Persian Gulf, near the mouth of the Euphrates, but the shoreline has modified, and the city is now well inland, on the south bank of the Euphrates, 16 kilometers (about 9.9 miles) from Nasiriyah in modern-day Iraq.

Whether you have played a Prince of Persia video game, seen the movie, or just heard about it in history class, it is hard to ignore the Persian Empire, which was among the greatest empires of the world for some time. The typical area for the Persian Empire was what is now Iran. The Persians had a vast influence on surrounding countries and regions. Their style, art, music, rule, and culture have had an influence on the development of science and the forming of nations. Learn more in this audiobook about this empire of old.

Political disintegration is a persistent feature of world history. The Collapse of Complex Societies, though written by an archaeologist, will therefore strike a chord throughout the social sciences. Any explanation of societal collapse carries lessons not just for the study of ancient societies, but for the members of all such societies in both the present and future. Dr. Tainter describes nearly two dozen cases of collapse and reviews more than 2,000 years of explanations.