The ancient civilizations of the world, the first social structures in which culture and religion were born, are the subject of this comprehensive, wide-ranging encyclopedia. Featuring the work of over thirty international experts, including Colin Renfrew, O.R. Gurney, Richard Leakey and many other leading academics in the field of ancient history, "The Penguin Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations" provides a fascinating overview of the prehistoric world and a detailed analysis of separate ancient civilizations.The art, architecture, language, mythology and chronology of early societies as diverse as ancient Egypt, Troy, India, West Asia, South America and Europe are fully discussed, and there is a special section of references for further reading. It is structured to enable the reader to draw together contemporary events and to locate geographically connected civilizations, like those that flourished in Mesopotamia, the encyclopedia contains over 300 illustrations and twenty-eight maps.
Arthur Cotterell, former Principal of Kingston College in London, has spent many years combining senior educational management with historical research. He is the respected author of more than thirty books, and is now writing on the Chinese empire, from the history of which he considers one can learn as much about leadership as from Ashridge or Harvard.
Interesting overview especially in terms of civilizations of Mesopotamia (Sumerer, Asyrian). Also in terms of comparision, time tables and so on. But there is to many summaries of history events of concrete countries and insufficient generalizations. Pretty hard to read.