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Sto caricando le informazioni... History of the Ancient World: A Global Perspectivedi Gregory S. Aldrete
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. Oodles of information and fascinating detail, made all the more engrossing by the lecturer's obvious lifetime enthusiasm for the subject. ( ) I've been collecting the Great Courses audio files for awhile but never got around to listening to one of them completely - I will listen to a few lectures and get distracted or forget about it. I was not sure I will finish this one either (knowing my pattern) but it started with the first civilizations and my World History project is at that stage as well so I figured I may as well listen. I ended up listening to the whole thing - and enjoying it a lot. Aldrete defines the Ancient world a bit differently than how it is usually defined - he stretches it to the 9th century and the formation of Charlemagne’s empire (which is between 2 and 5 centuries later than the usual definitions) which would later become the base for the formation of Europe as we know it. His explanation on why in the last lectures makes sense - especially in a narrative which is not just based on the old definitions of the Classical World (as Greece and Rome more or less). The facts that the Tang in China is in decline at the same time (it falls in in 907 technically but the Golden age is done a century earlier), the Arab and Muslim world is starting to show up on the world stage and to influence it a lot more than before (with the reign of Harun al-Rashid almost matching the end of the period here) and the classical Mayan civilization is going into decline at the same time, it indeed looks like a better date to put a line through - the old civilizations and patterns are going down and away; the new ones which will be important for the world are getting established. It is not a perfect date, one can never be found when one tries to encompass the whole world but still... So how global is this history? Maybe not as global as some would wish but that has more to do with the period than with the author. He starts with two stipulations: most of the history we know of is Urban history (because this is what we have data for mostly and because someone who is growing food has a somewhat boring life) and history starts when writing appears in a specific place (or when the place is described by someone else). That does not make pre-literate societies less civilized - but when writing is not there, these societies need to be examined in a different way - the lack of records and literature renders the usual tools of historians kinda useless. With these in mind, Aldrete takes us on a trip around the world to check on what is happening everywhere from the Mesopotamian Mud, Egypt, the Indus Valley and China to the Mayas, Tang, Charlemagne and Islam; from 3,500 BC to a bit after 800 AD. It sounds like 24 hours of lectures will be a lot of lectures but they are just enough to scratch the surface of a lot of these times and peoples - 4,300 years and almost as many kingdoms (it feels like that anyway). And yet, somewhere in there, he finds time to visit with the smaller kingdoms which influence the big ones, to check on the Hunter-Gatherers and Polynesians (because they don't fit the Urban models in that timeline), to have a whole lecture devoted to Homer and Indian Poetry (no weird theories on who copied whom - he has a better explanation on why they are so similar in places) and to have multiple lectures comparing different cultures in different ways. At the end I wished it was at least 3 times longer than it was - there is so much more to be said about all these cultures. But as an introduction and an overview, it is a great series of lectures - as long as you are not against a mix of culture, society, politics and warfare. And as this is ancient history, how we know some of things we know is as important as the things themselves - so Aldrete mixes this as well. The PDF that comes with it has the highlights (and a bibliography both per lecture and overall). And it also gives you the spelling if all the names you may not have heard before. Which does not make these lectures perfect (besides the length... they are definitely too short). I have minor issues with the Romans being so prominent in the lecture list (maybe because I knew the most about them and I was really curious about the rest; looking back it makes sense but it still felt a bit too Roman-centric in the middle) and the lack of maps. There are a few in the PDF but I hoped for more. As this also comes as a DVD, I hope there are more maps in the presentation -- but even without them, as long as you know where things are on a map (or can look them up), the audio-only format works. If anyone is interested, the list of lectures is as follows: 1. Cities, Civilizations, and Sources 2. From Out of the Mesopotamian Mud 3. Cultures of the Ancient Near East 4. Ancient Egypt: The Gift of the Nile 5. Pharaohs, Tombs, and Gods 6. The Lost Civilization of the Indus Valley 7. The Vedic Age of Ancient India 8. Mystery Cultures of Early Greece 9. Homer and Indian Poetry 10. Athens and Experiments in Democracy 11. Hoplite Warfare and Sparta 12. Civilization Dawns in China: Shang and Zhou 13. Confucius and the Greek Philosophers 14. Mystics, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians 15. Persians and Greeks 16. Greek Art and Architecture 17. Greek Tragedy and the Sophists 18. The Peloponnesian War and the Trial of Socrates 19. Philip of Macedon: Architect of Empire 20. Alexander the Great Goes East 21. Unifiers of India: Chandragupta and Asoka 22. Shi Huangdi: First Emperor of China 23. Earliest Historians of Greece and China 24. The Hellenistic World 25. The Great Empire of the Han Dynasty 26. People of the Toga: Etruscans, Early Rome 27. The Crucible: Punic Wars, Roman Imperialism 28. The Death of the Roman Republic 29. Augustus: Creator of the Roman Empire 30. Roman Emperors: Good, Bad, and Crazy 31. Han and Roman Empires Compared: Geography 32. Han and Roman Empires Compared: Government 33. Han and Roman Empires Compared: Problems 34. Early Americas: Resources and Olmecs 35. Pots and Pyramids: Moche and Teotihuacán 36. Blood and Corn: Mayan Civilization 37. Hunter-Gatherers and Polynesians 38. The Art and Architecture of Power 39. Comparative Armies: Rome, China, Maya 40. Later Roman Empire: Crisis and Christianity 41. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire? 42. The Byzantine Empire and the Legacy of Rome 43. China from Chaos to Order under the Tang 44. The Golden Age of Tang Culture 45. The Rise and Flourishing of Islam 46. Holy Men and Women: Monasticism and Saints 47. Charlemagne: Father of Europe 48. Endings, Beginnings, What Does It All Mean nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Appartiene alle SerieThe Great Courses (3850) The Great Courses: History (3850) Appartiene alle Collane EditorialiThe Great Courses (3850)
"This course combines a sweeping survey of all world history, from the beginnings of civilization up until the origins of the modern world were established, with targeted in-depth analysis of key figures, moments, and inventions. Its goal is to provide a solid foundational knowledge of the ancient world and deeper insight into the present."--Page 2 of scope note. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriNessun genere Sistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)930History and Geography Ancient World Ancient HistoryClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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