Ancient Empires before Alexander

Complete your knowledge of the ancient world with this comprehensive look at the dozen empires that flourished in the 2,000 years before the conquests of Alexander the Great. Over the course of 36 insightful lectures, you'll follow the Egyptians, the Mycenaean Greeks, the Persians, the Carthaginians, and others as they rise to glory, create administrative and military structures, clash with one another, and eventually collapse.

Professor Dise immerses you in the political, administrative, and military details of these thrilling civilizations, analyzing three basic questions: How did this particular empire emerge? How was it governed and defended? How and why did it ultimately fall? These questions raise a host of profound issues on the growth, development, and failures of vast imperial systems.

Grounded in a chronological approach, you'll find no better guide through the palatial halls, administrative offices, and war-torn battlefields of these empires than Professor Dise. Each lecture is packed with a range of rich sources on which our current understanding of the ancient Near East rests, including cuneiform tablets, colorful narratives, and archaeological remains.

As you comb through these intriguing records, you quickly become more informed about how the past is recorded and passed down to subsequent generations. Spanning thousands of years of human history and encompassing regions both familiar and forgotten, this course is a remarkable tour through the farthest reaches of the ancient world - in all its marvelous diversity.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2009 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2009 The Great Courses

Great narrative of the ancient world

Easiest-to-follow ancient history book/course that I've heard. highly recommend to get your bearings on the topic.

Fantastic book

I am a big fan of the great courses, and this is one of the best I have ever listened to. Robert Dise is an exceptional teacher for this course and his narration is elite, reminds me of Ray Porter. The content was simply fascinating. Highly recommended, I hope Mr Dise will add additional courses to the Great Courses library.

Solid Instruction on Ancient Med. Empires

Any additional comments?

This course is great to guide you through the ebb and flow of ancient in Empires of the Mediterranean region. It doesn't end when Alexander dies but continues to speak on the Roman Empire as well. The Professor may incorrectly pronounce a few words here and there, but perhaps his education has taught him differently, and I am the one who is incorrect. I enjoyed this course and found it to be a great stepping stone as I continue learning about history, and now target each individual history of the Empires spoken of in this course.

Wonderful

Very interesting, informative and interesting. I enjoyed it very much and will listen to it again!

Captivating and Haunting

All of these lectures were great. However the two lectures on Mycenaean civilization are two of the greatest lectures I've ever listened to. They are captivating and truly haunting, especially at the very end where he reads the contemporaneous account of the very last days and of the human sacrifices offered to Hera and Zeus as a final plea for salvation.