Book Reviews

In April of 2003, the Iraq Museum in Baghdad was looted of over fifteen thousand priceless artifacts. In only two days, from the 10th to the 12th of April, historical artifacts from ancient Sumerian cities like Uruk, Ur, and Eridu, as well...

Ancestral Journeys: Peopling of Europe from the First Venturers to the Vikings, by Dr. Jean Manco, a historian who has taught at Plymouth and Bristol universities in the UK, offers a new perspectives on the rise and history of Europe's prehistoric...

The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People, by Dr. Barry Kemp — Emeritus Professor of Egyptology at Cambridge University and the director of the Amarna Project — is undoubtedly the most comprehensive source on the mysterious...

The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science Is Rewriting Their Story, by Drs. Dimitra Papagianni and Michael A. Morse, provides a series of balanced and original perspectives on a close hominid relative: the enigmatic and yet pigeonholed...

Elizabeth Scholl's work Ancient Mesopotamia is an excellent introduction to Mesopotamian civilization for children. Part of the How'd They Do That In...? Series, Scholl's book begins with a story of a young girl named Kammani going to visit...

A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC by Marc Van De Mieroop is an excellent resource for anyone interested in the region of ancient Mesopotamia. His writing style is very accessible and the chapters are carefully constructed...

Another wonderfully informative book from the World of Art series. This one makes a marvelous introduction to Mesoamerica as not only does it cover the fascinating and utterly distinctive art of civilizations such as the Maya, Aztecs and...

Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome is the exhibition catalogue of a landmark show at the Getty Villa in Malibu, California, covering the achievements of an ancient Sicilian golden age that lasted from c. 480-212 BCE. The catalogue's...

The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy (2009) was written by Dr. Adrienne Mayor, a Research Scholar at Stanford University. Examining the tumultuous life of this most tantalizing of ancient kings, Mayor...

Covering the conflict between Sparta and Athens and their respective allies in the 5th century BCE this is a fascinating insight into ancient Greek politics, war and society in a crucial period of Greece's history. Not only are the major...