Ancient Worlds

About This Book

"Historian Michael Scott challenges our traditionally western focused perception of the past, connecting Greco-Roman civilisation to the great rulers and empires that swept across Central Asia to India and China -- resulting in a truly global vision of ancient history. With stunning range and richness "Ancient worlds" illustrates how the great powers and characters of antiquity share ambitions and crises, ways of thinking and forms of governing: connections that only grew stronger over centuries as political systems evolved, mighty armies clashed, universal religions were born and our modern world was foreshadowed, Scott focuses on three epochal "moments" across the ancient globe, and their profound wider significance: from 509-8 BCE (birth of Athenian democracy and Rome's republic, also the age of confucius's teachings in China) ; to 218 BCE (when Hannibal of Carthage challenged Rome and China saw their first Emporer) ; to 312 CE (when Constantinople sought to impose Christianity on the Roman world even as Buddhism was pervading China via the vast trading routes we now know as the "Silk Roads"). A major work of global history, Michael Scott's enthralling journey challenges the way we think about our past, redraws the map of the classical age to reveal its hidden connections, and shows us how ancient history has lessons for our own times." -- Inside front cover.