This was a really fun read about my 3 favorite ancient civilizations that bordered the Mediterranean Sea. It was very informative, and I really enjoyed it. I felt like the chapters were a little bulky, but that wasn’t too much of a problem, though. I do recommend this as a read. ( )

If you are looking for a thick, ribeye steak of a history book then look no further. This book lays it out without being boring and it goes on forever. Just when you think you might be getting stale with it, the subject changes. It is long and drawn out. But in return you get a ton of good references that lead you to other history tomes. It does what a history book should by showing you a much broader world. The author encourages the reader to pick up other history books to round out the ideas he formulates. One of the amazing things about this book is that the author easily sets up the entire framework for the Dark Ages. The onset of the Muslim advance may have well be one of the driving forces and saving graces of the Ancient and Classical way of thinking. Their expansion was timed as Europe was a mass of fractured pixie sticks just waiting to be put back together. From Constantine on the reader really gets a sense of the damage that Christianity caused to an already fracturing establishment. It is easy to see how many of its followers systematically dismantled nearly 6000 years of culture and ideas into one close minded capsule. I was glad to have finished this massive book. But what did I do. I picked Oman's The Dark ages (which is a great companion to this. Even if it is a little outdated.) ( )

I started this book when I was in college and made a determined effort to finish it as part of a New Year's resolution. It is a long book with small print covering 4,000 B.C. to 640ish A.D. and has to be the most comprehensive history of the three civilizations ever written.

Freeman covers everything from governments & conquests, to literature and pottery, economic life, cultural & religious life, and the enduring impact these civilizations have on society today. There are plenty of aside chapters on philosophers and artisans, architecture, etc. I feel there are very few details he leaves out. Whether you're interested in specific battles or historical figures, you'll find plenty of info and further recommended readings in the back. A comprehensive timeline is also included and plenty of maps.

In the closing chapters there is a history of the rise of Christianity. It's interesting to read from a secular perspective and I appreciate how little I know about the early church and the development of the major manifestations of the Christian religious orders.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5. I am now glad to move down the list of other dusty books on my shelves asking to be read. ( )

Good overview of the three major civilizations of the ancient world. Freeman does a good job of spanning a wide swath of history in a way that captures enough detail to give the reader a solid grasp of the history but no so much that he gets bogged down. ( )