Lukas de Blois is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and specialises in Roman and Greek history and ancient historiography. Robartus van der Spek is Professor of Ancient History at the Free University of Amsterdam, and specialises in the history of the ancient Near East.

Introduction Part 1: The Ancient Near East 1. The Origins of the Civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia 2. The Third Millennium BC 3. The Second Millennium 4. The First Millennium 5. Religion 6. Economy and Society 7. Government Part 2: The Greek World 8. The Early Iron Age 9. The Archaic Period (c.750-c.500 BC) 10. The Classical Period (c.500-c.330 BC) 11. The Hellenistic World (c.330-c.30BC) Part 3: Rome 12. Early Roman History (753-265 BC) 13. Further Expansion and New Social Tensions (264-133 BC) 14. The Century of the Civil Wars (133-30 BC) 15. The Early Imperial Age (27 BC-AD 193) 16. The Crisis of the Third Century AD and Late Antiquity. Epilogue Part 4: Appendices 1. Greek and Roman Names 2. Greek and Roman Money 3. The Roman Emperors. Bibliography. Index

Integrating the results of scholarly work from the past decade, the authors of An Introduction to the Ancient World: Second Edition , De Blois and Van der Spek, have fully-updated and revised all sixteen chapters of this best-selling introductory textbook. It is unique in covering the history and culture of the ancient Near East, Greece and Rome within the framework of a short narrative history of events and offers an easily readable, integrated overview for students of history, classics, archaeology and philosophy, whether at college, at undergraduate level or among the wider reading public. Focusing mainly on the social, political and cultural processes which have influenced later western civilisations, this revised second edition offers a completely new section on early Christianity and more specific information on the religions, economies, societies of the ancient Near East. There is extended coverage of Greek, Macedonian and Near Eastern history of the fourth to second centuries BC and the history of the Late Roman Republic. The consequences of Julius Caesars violent death are covered in more detail, as are the history and society of Imperial Rome. Benefits and features of this new edition: Comprehensive: covers 3,000 years of ancient history and provides the basis for a typical one-semester course Lavishly illustrated: contains maps, line drawings and plates to support and supplement the text, with updated captions. Clearly and concisely written: written by two established and respected university teachers with thirty years' experience in the subject areas. Well-organized: traces the broad outline of political history but also concentrates on particular topics User-friendly: includes chapter menus, an extensive and expanded bibliography organised by subject area a