Author: Charles Gates File Type: pdf Ancient Cities surveys the cities of the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Greek and Roman worlds from the perspectives of archaeology and architectural history, bringing to life the physical world of ancient city dwellers by concentrating on evidence recovered from archaeological excavations. Urban form is the focus the physical appearance and overall plans of the cities, their architecture and natural topography, and the cultural and historical contexts in which they flourished. Attention is also paid to non-urban features such as religious sanctuaries and burial grounds, places and institutions that were a familiar part of the city dwellers experience. Objects or artifacts that represented the essential furnishings of everyday life are discussed, such as pottery, sculpture, wall paintings, mosaics and coins. Ancient Cities is unusual in presenting this wide range of Old World cultures in such comprehensive detail, giving equal weight to the Preclassical and Classical periods, and in showing the links between these ancient cultures.User-friendly features includeulluse of clear and accessible language, assuming no previous background knowledgelllavishly illustrated with over 300 line drawings, maps, and photosllhistorical summaries, further reading arranged by topic, plus a consolidated bibliography and comprehensive indexllnew to the second edition a companion website with an interactivetimeline, chapter summaries, study questions, illustrations and a glossary of archaeological and historical terms.lulIn this second edition, Charles Gates has comprehensively revised and updated his original text, and Neslihan Ylmaz has reworked her acclaimed illustrations. Readers and lecturers will be delighted to see a new chapter on Phoenician cities in the first millennium BC, and new sections on Gobekli Tepe, the sensational Neolithic sanctuary Sinope, a Greek city on the Black Sea coast and cities of the western Roman Empire. With its comprehensive presentation of ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern cities, its rich collection of illustrations, and its new companion website, Ancient Cities will remain an essential textbook for university and high school students across a wide range of archaeology, ancient history, and ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and classical studies courses.ReviewWell written without prejudice or polemics. The explanations of complicated subjects are succinct and without jargon... Will work well as a beginning text to introduce students to the civilizations of the Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome... Also a good text for classes exploring this world from the starting point of the ancient city. - William Biers, Professor Emeritus, Department of Art History and Archaeology, University of Missouri-Columbia. About the AuthorCharles Gates is senior lecturer of archaeology and art history at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. His research focuses on Minoan, Mycenaean and Greek art and archaeology. Since 1993 he has participated in the excavations at Kinet Hoyuk (Turkey), a Bronze and Iron Age port city in the north-east Mediterrean.

Author: John Man File Type: pdf The name Attila the Hun has become a byword for barbarism, savagery and violence. His is a truly household name, but what do we really know about the man himself, his position in history and the world in which he lived? This riveting biography reveals the man behind the myth.In the years 434-454AD the fate of Europe hung upon the actions of one man, Attila, king of the Huns. The decaying Roman empire still stood astride the Western World, from its twin capitals of Rome and Constantinople, but it was threatened by a new force, the much-feared Barbarian hordes. It was Attila who united the Barbarian tribes into a single, amazingly-effective army. He launched two violent attacks against the eastern and western halves of the Roman empire, attacks which earned him his reputation for mindless devastation, and brought an end to Romes pre-eminence in Europe.Attila was coarse, capricious, arrogant, ruthless and brilliant. An illiterate and predatory tribal chief, he had no interest in administration, but was a wily politician, who, from his base in the grasslands of Hungary, used secretaries and ambassadors to bring him intelligence on his enemies. He was a leader whose unique qualities made him supreme among tribal leaders, but whose weaknesses ensured the collapse of his empire after his death.