Table Of ContentAn Introduction
to the Ancient
World
An Introduction to the Ancient World is an engaging and useful introductory text
for students who are encountering the ancient Mediterranean and Near East for the
first time. It is an excellent mix of erudition, concision and clarity that even advanced
students and professionals will find valuable and suitable to their needs. Few
introductory ancient history texts compare with An Introduction to the Ancient World,
and none surpass it. Having used it as a textbook in both my Western Civilization and
World Civilizations courses, it gives students a coherent overview that committee-
produced, expensive textbooks lack.
– Edward Dandrow, University of Central Florida, USA
An Introduction to the Ancient World offers a thorough survey of the history of the
ancient Near East, Greece and Rome. Covering the social, political, economic and
cultural processes that have influenced later western and Near Eastern civilisations,
this volume considers subjects such as the administrative structures, economies and
religions of the ancient Near East, Athenian democracy, the development of classical
Greek literature, the interaction of cultures in the Hellenistic world, the political
and administrative system of the Roman Republic and empire, and the coming of
Christianity, all within the broad outline of political history.
This third edition is thoroughly updated and some chapters are completely rewritten to
cover recent historical research. Changes include:
• more attention to economic structures and developments, and to the history of the
later Roman Empire (third to sixth centuries ad);
• incorporation of the results of recent archaeological and historical research, and
recently published studies of ancient literature;
• ‘boxes’ that support the main text, on topics including economic and political
systems, religion and terminology;
• redrawn maps and new, higher-quality images;
• the inclusion of useful websites in the bibliography.
An Introduction to the Ancient World provides an easily readable, user-friendly,
integrated overview for students of ancient history, classics and archaeology. Lavishly
illustrated, clearly and concisely written, and well organised, this fully updated and
revised edition will remain a key resource for students beginning to investigate the
civilisations of the ancient Mediterranean.
Lukas de Blois is Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at Radboud University,
Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He published books and articles on the history of the
Roman Empire in the third century ad, the history of the Late Roman Republic, ancient
historiography (Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio), Plutarch’s biographies and Greek Sicily
in the fourth century bc. His most recent contribution is Image and Reality of Roman
Imperial Power in the Third Century ad (Routledge, 2018).
R.J. van der Spek is Emeritus Professor of Ancient Mediterranean and West Asian
History at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He specialises in the
history of the ancient Near East in the context of Mediterranean history. He has
published on Hellenistic Babylonia and economic history. He edited two volumes in the
Routledge Explorations in Economic History on market performance (no. 68) and the
history of monetary policy (no. 80) from ancient Mesopotamia to the modern world.
An Introduction
to the Ancient
World
THIRD EDITION
LUKAS DE BLOIS AND
R.J. VAN DER SPEK
First and second editions translated from the
Dutch by Susan Mellor
Third edition published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Lukas de Blois and R.J. van der Spek
The right of Lukas de Blois and R.J. van der Spek to be identified as authors of
this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known
or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
First published in 1983 by Uitgeverij Coutino b.v.
First published in English by Routledge 1997
Second edition published by Routledge 2008
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-50456-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-8153-7241-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-24546-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Avenir, Bell and Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
v
CONTENTS
List of maps xiii
List of figures xiv
List of boxes xx
Preface to the third edition xxi
Chronology xxiii
INTRODUCTION 1
PART I
THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST 7
1 THE ORIGINS OF THE CIVILISATIONS OF
EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA 9
2 THE THIRD MILLENNIUM 15
The Early Bronze Age 15
Egypt, the Old Kingdom (c. 2600–c. 2150) 15
Mesopotamia, Sumer and Akkad 17
Epilogue 20
3 THE SECOND MILLENNIUM 22
The Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000–c. 1600) 22
Egypt, the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000–c. 1800) and
the Second Intermediate period (c. 1800–c. 1550) 22
Mesopotamia, the Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian periods 24
Northern Mesopotamia: the city of Assur and the kingdom of
Shamshi-Adad I (c. 2000–c. 1760) 25
Southern Mesopotamia, the Old Babylonian empire
(c. 1800–c. 1600) 25
The Late Bronze Age (c. 1600–c. 1200) 27
The ‘concert of powers’ 27
Egypt, the New Kingdom (c. 1550–c. 1100) 28
Babylonia and Assyria 32
Mitanni 32
The Hittite empire 32
Crete and Mycenae 33
International relations 35
vi CONTENTS
4 THE FIRST MILLENNIUM 38
The Early Iron Age (c. 1200–c. 750 bc) 38
Disruption and recovery 38
Egypt, the Third Intermediate period (c. 1100–715 bc) 39
Syria and the Phoenicians 40
Israel 42
The West Asian empires (c. 750 bc–ad 651) 44
The Neo-Assyrian empire 44
The Neo-Babylonian empire 47
The Persian or Achaemenid empire 49
The Hellenistic kingdoms 53
The Parthian or Arsacid empire 53
The Neo-Persian or Sasanid empire 54
The Roman empire 54
The Arabs 54
5 RELIGION 55
Polytheism 55
Henotheism and monotheism 63
6 ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 66
Agricultural economy, land tenure 66
A ‘redistribution economy’ and market economy 66
Trade and means of payment 69
Social organisation 72
7 GOVERNMENT 76
Kingship 76
The administrative machinery 77
The army 79
PART II
THE GREEK WORLD 81
8 THE EARLY IRON AGE (c. 1200–c. 750 bc):
‘THE DARK AGES’ 83
Disruption and recovery 83
9 THE ARCHAIC PERIOD (c. 750–c. 500 bc) 85
Introduction 85
Demographic and economic changes 86
The polis 87
Colonisation 89
CONTENTS vii
Social changes 92
Military changes 94
Cultural changes 94
The alphabet 94
Literature 95
The visual arts 96
Architecture 96
Religion 96
Philosophy 104
Political changes 105
Tyranny 105
Sparta 106
Athens 109
10 THE CLASSICAL PERIOD (c. 500–c. 330 bc) 118
The Persian Wars 119
Sparta and Athens after 479 bc 121
The Delian League (477–404 bc) 123
Athenian leaders in the fifth century 124
Athens’s state income 125
The Great Peloponnesian War (431–404 bc) 127
The years between 404 and 336 bc 131
The Second Athenian League (377–355) 132
Social and military changes 133
The rise of Macedonia 133
Philip II (359–336): the end of the Classical
period in Greek history 134
The Athenian population in the fifth and fourth centuries bc 135
The metics 135
The slaves 135
Women in Athens and Sparta 137
Further development of the Athenian democracy 138
The Council of the Areopagus in 462/1 139
Pericles 140
The democracy and the fleet 140
Old and new politicians 141
The stability of the Athenian democracy 141
Criticism of the Athenian democracy 142
Athens as the centre of Greek culture in the Classical period 143
Attic drama 143
Philosophy 145
Historical writing 150
viii CONTENTS
The Greeks in the western Mediterranean 152
The economy of the Greek city states 154
11 THE HELLENISTIC WORLD (c. 330–c. 30 bc) 159
Introduction 159
Alexander the Great 160
From Alexander to the Roman conquest 162
Macedonia: the Antigonid kingdom 165
Athens and Sparta 165
Leagues of states in Greece 166
Asia: the Seleucid kingdom 166
Egypt: the Ptolemaic kingdom 167
The government and the cities of the Hellenistic kingdoms 170
Economy and society 172
Greece 172
The Near East 173
Cultural aspects 175
General 175
Greek religion 177
Near Eastern religions 180
Philosophy 180
Science 182
The Judeans (Jews) in the Hellenistic era 183
The impact of Hellenistic culture in the Parthian
kingdom and the Roman empire 186
Conclusion 187
PART III
ROME 189
12 EARLY ROMAN HISTORY (753–265 bc) 191
The western Mediterranean 191
The Etruscans 192
Carthage 194
The origins of Rome 194
State and society in early Rome 196
A note on Roman names 198
The army and the Comitia Centuriata 198
The early republic (509–265 bc) 199
State and society 199
Roman expansion in Italy (509–265 bc) 200
Colonisation 203
CONTENTS ix
Municipia 205
The military character of Roman society 206
The struggle of the orders (c. 500–287 bc) 206
History of the struggle of the orders 209
The institutions of the Roman Republic at the end of
the struggle of the orders 211
The magistrates 211
The Senate 214
Nobiles, senators and equites 214
Social composition of the Roman population 217
The popular assemblies 219
An oligarchic government 221
A new type of client 222
Some demographic data 222
13 FURTHER EXPANSION AND NEW SOCIAL
TENSIONS (264–133 bc) 224
Roman expansion between 264 and 121 bc 224
The Punic Wars 224
Wars in Spain, the Po Valley and the Hellenistic east 229
Two forms of Roman expansion 230
The administration of a province 233
Disadvantages of Roman control 234
New social tensions 234
The consequences of Rome’s expansion 234
Slavery in Italy and Sicily 238
Slave revolts 238
Piracy 239
Some demographic data 240
The city of Rome 240
Inadequate organisation 240
A change in mentality 241
Greek influences 241
Literature and other forms of amusement 242
14 THE CENTURY OF THE CIVIL WARS (133–30 bc) 244
Serious problems and discontent 244
The Gracchi 246
Tiberius Gracchus 246
Gaius Gracchus 246
Political consequences of the Gracchan reforms 247
Marius’s military reforms 248
