The History of the Ancient World - Book 2 - Classics Spin!

The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer is a chunkster of a book, 777 pages and was my Classics Spin which challenged me to read it by January 31st.  I did it!

I enjoyed reading the book immensely though I must say that towards the end I grew weary of battle after battle after battle.  Basically history is about empire building which means lots of regicide, fratricide, patricide, lots of trickery and infighting and wall building and battle going, murder and mayhem, torture, slavery, famine and plague.  All so some guy can say he's king of some territory for a while before it gets taken from him when he's murdered or dies and a power struggle breaks out all over again.

However, Susan Wise Bauer writes very clearly with a subtle tongue in cheek sense of humor that keeps things moving briskly.  She pulls from archaeological findings and classic historians like Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, court records from Sumer, Assyria and Babylon, the Old Testament, Josephus, Plutarch, Livy and others too.  And what's really interesting is that she also includes China and India in this history, so it isn't just Western Civilization.  There were subtle differences in cultural attitudes that sprung up, influenced by religion and circumstances of each civilization and the dominant men who molded the cultures, but mostly it's about empire building and lots and lots of battling.

We meet all the greats:  Gilgamesh, Abraham, Hammurabi, Ramses, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius and Cyrus, Solon, Pericles, Romulus, Confucius, Siddhartha, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Constantine. There are some women in there too.

Many timelines are sprinkled throughout the book to compare what was happening in one area to what was happening in another.  Lots of maps too. Both the timelines and maps are very bare bones, I think to make them very clear, however, they were almost too bare bones and simple for me.   I could have used a little more context to help orient myself. 

Wise Bauer does like to spice things up with references to various sexual practices or foibles.  I guess it's part of history and keeps things interesting.  So now I know Alexander the Great's mother liked to sleep with snakes and this made Philip of Macedonia lose his desire for her.  (He kinda found that repulsive.) The author gives you little tidbits like that throughout; mostly pretty perverted and illustrating just how nutso and depraved many of the conquerors were.  Lots of castration going on in various places too.

I actually found a typo on p. 574.  In the very last line the verb should be 'send' not 'sent.'  I always feel smug when I find a typo like that!

I challenged myself to read all three of Wise Bauer's history volumes this year.  I've decided to divide the year up into fourths.  January, February and March are given over to Ancient history.  April, May and June will be given over to Medieval history, beginning with her book entitled The History of the Medieval World.  And then July, August and September will be given over to her Renaissance history book.  Each of the first three quarters of the year, I will also read other corresponding histories and historical novels.  The last quarter of the year, I will read whatever I want!  By that time I'll need a lot of light reading, I can tell!

I highly recommend this book if you want to read a concise, clear and rather wry comprehensive history of the Ancient World.  For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.